I don’t even understand what the theory is. Plastic is plastic. What does it matter if it’s attached to the bottle?

Maybe you don’t care, but the OSI definition does.

In fairness, they didn’t release anything open at all.

Is that site still around?

I’m tempted to say it’s better, but, unfortunately, in many ways it’s not.

What Reddit had, most of the time, was semi-canonical communities. There was /r/python, /r/linux, /r/privacy, etc. The diaspora of Lemmy is a shadow of all of that. Surely, there are a dozen or so (at least) /c/python communities on Lemmy, but is there a single one that’s anywhere near as active as the Reddit one? No. Not so far, at least.

And unfortunately, I can say as an instance admin, the lemmy moderation tools are just flat bad. We had to turn off open registration and enable email verification, not because we would otherwise need it, but the Lemmy moderation tools are 100% reactive and only operate on a 1-by-1 basis. If a spambot signs up 100 fake accounts, I have to go and individually ban each and every one of them. There’s no shift+select, ban.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad to be here, and Lemmy’s great, and there’s far less toxicity (so far). All I’m saying is, (1) there’s work to do, (2) don’t gloat.

Yeah, Thinkpads are still usable, though I don’t think most people would want to run an x230 today. It might be usable on Linux with XFCE. But Windows? Eh…

Either way, what’s stopping phones from lasting longer isn’t really batteries. You could take a phone in for a replacement battery every 2 years and it would still be unusable before too long because of software updates.

I do think requiring OEMs to provide security and software updates for at least 5 years would be a sensible regulation. Maybe even 10 years for devices over $1000.

I wouldn’t say I use my phone for productivity, but I do just play and consume content with it when I’m board. So for me, the biggest screen I can fit and hold is the best one.

The added battery life is just gravy.

Either way you’re giving up some space to have a battery that’s easily replaced.

You can certainly make the argument that phones (and computers) are slowing down. It used to be a revolution every year or two, now it’s very incremental.

I would not say though that you can effectively use a 10 year old phone. There are some old networks out there, but major networks shut down 3g.

You might have seen Joanna Stern’s attempt to use an iPhone 4 on YouTube last year (if not watch it for some amusement). Even if the battery on that device were fine, the device was really pretty unusable.

Also: even if the battery were easily replaceable, replacements will only be easy to find for the most popular older phones.

And has a shit ton of casing.

That’s fine and all. And you should be able to replace the battery.

I just don’t want the compromises that I suspect are required to get to one that’s easily swapped out like in the 2010s. I don’t want to lose MagSafe, water resistance, or capacity. For me, those are more important than easily replacing the battery.

I suspect this plays into why small flagships are mostly a thing of the past.

The maximum a phone will ever last is probably ~10 years, because that’s about how often 2g, 3g, lasted. By then it certainly isn’t getting any software updates and on the Android side, security updates won’t even last 5.

So the maximum lifespan of a phone is, reasonably, 5 years. That’s taking into account software updates, and other wear and tear.

During that time, if you use and abuse the battery, you might go through 2 batteries, which you can have serviced.

So I’d say it’s more akin to a timing chain that’s a pain in the ass to replace. Most car owners would not try to replace a timing belt, much less a timing chain.

As long as they’re reasonably replaceable, I don’t see it as a big issue for longevity. I’d rather have a bigger battery (less plastic casing), wireless charging w/ magsafe, better water resistance, etc.

If the battery is toast 3 years in, I can just replace it, which I’ve done on other devices (including my last Pixel). It’s not much more inconvenient than taking a car in for an oil change. Besides, on my 18 month old phone, capacity is at 95%. These days batteries often last as long as you’ll need them.

I see the much bigger longevity issue on the software side. Many phones (especially budget ones) only get 1 major OS upgrade and very infrequent security upgrades.

I don’t really see the benefit anymore. My current device lasts ~40 hours on a charge, so I seldom find the need to swap anything out. Even if I did, those little USB battery packs that charge multiple devices are more practical. On a long flight, my wife and I just share one and it works on the Switch and tablet too.

Sealed devices have way better water resistance, less plastic makes the batteries themselves bigger, and wireless charging (especially with magnets) will be challenging to add to a battery that’s also the back cover.

I’m sure I’ll be in the minority on this, but, I don’t really have any interest in a removable battery, especially if it involves other compromises on size, capacity, and features.

That hasn’t worked in a while, has it?

Presumably they’d enforce it by requiring social media companies do age verification.

“By clicking here…”

BIOS passwords have only ever been to deter unsophisticated attacks. Though this is more unsophisticated than the rest.

But that’s a good example. Google Maps’ biggest competition is probably Yelp, which Apple Maps leans heavily on for review content. Yelp has been involved in some very, very unsavory practices. Yelp has basically extorted small businesses for positive reviews. It did so, presumably, because on its own it’s a very hard business to be in. Yelp’s sales team is under pressure to generate revenue in a way that Google Maps’ sales team, frankly, is not.

Google Maps, for all its faults, does not seem to have the same widespread abuse problem that Yelp does. But it might if you break it off into its own business.

As for Google favoring its own properties: that is challenging, because they all do it. Apple Maps is arguably more favored by Apple than Google Maps is by Google, and in markets like the US, there are more iPhone users than Android users, so Google is arguably at a disadvantage. I think for that, a good starting place would be regulation to control that. For example, both Google and Apple should be prohibited from using APIs in their constituent properties that aren’t available to third party competitors.

If you break them up, make sure you’re breaking them up into viable businesses.

For example, instead of requiring Google to sell of its whole ad tech business, require it to spin off competitors. Then put a cap on the percentage of marketshare any ad tech business can have.