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TheFeatureCreature

@TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.world

Hello!

I’m a nonbinary Canadian Blender artist! You can find my work here: Galleries, commissions, prints, and more!

she/her

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TheFeatureCreature ,
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New AI technology promises to-

Hmm, where have I heard this before...

TheFeatureCreature ,
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It's almost like it's a requirement for every landscaping company to use the most noisy, ear destroying, gas-powered leaf blower that they can buy that can be heard from 2 city blocks over.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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Weaving together your little home on the slumbering body of an angry giant.

Awesome.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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The important part that you should know (and should already be using):

Remember, you can always opt out of sending any technical or usage data to Firefox. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to adjust your settings.

Black man who borrowed father's BMW questioned, forcibly arrested outside home ( www.cbc.ca )

tl;dr - Black man driving his dad's BMW is detained for being suspicious because he doesn't look like the sort of person who drives that car. He is subject to a rough arrest as his mother watches. Gatineau police insist there was no racial profiling.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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Ah yes, a 14 year old generic BMW. How suspicious. Could these pigs have come up with any more of an obvious lie? This was just flat out racially-motivated assault.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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Almost never. And neither do computers in general, now that I think about it. Which is weird considering how much time I spend using them.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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I'm sure Smith will find some way to blame trans people and/or Trudeau for the fires.

A bike light that promises to get you seen "5.5 times sooner", plus a hologram-powered smart bike, propeller-powered Seabike + loads more tech news from 3T, Oakley, Continental + more ( road.cc )

We've also got an updated aero bike from 3T, another 3D-printed saddle that weighs just 100g and new lids from Rudy Project to tell you about this week

TheFeatureCreature ,
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That light will have safety benefits simply from being a brighter red light that illuminates more of your body so drivers can see you and your position easier

But it's not going to do anything to help the problem of drivers seeing cyclists as subhuman scum. It's not going to stop road-raging pickup drivers from attempting murder of people on bicycles who are not even in their way.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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The perfect powerhouse chip to handle the iPad's cut-down OS and half-baked apps because Apple refuses to take the iPad's software seriously.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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I was just talking to my dad about this the other day and I told him that it was only a matter of time before the US government goes after Chinese EV's at the request of the US auto lobby.

I didn't think it would be this soon, though. Hurray for more garbage EV's for $50,000+

TheFeatureCreature ,
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They will if there is enough demand for 'em.

After announcing increased prices, Spotify to Pay Songwriters About $150 Million Less Next Year ( www.billboard.com )

When Bloomberg reported that Spotify would be upping the cost of its premium subscription from $9.99 to $10.99, and including 15 hours of audiobooks per month in the U.S., the change sounded like a win for songwriters and publishers. Higher subscription prices typically equate to a bump in U.S. mechanical royalties — but not...

TheFeatureCreature ,
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Please, people, for the love of the gods, stop using Spotify. There are numerous other services that are so much better value for your money and don't treat artists (as much) like trash.

And that being said, try to support your beloved artists directly as much as you can. Buying digital downloads or physical media will give them more money than a lifetime of streaming ever would. Plus you get to keep the higher-quality music even if the platform or artist goes tits-up.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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You are not wrong, but there are other services that are just as convenient and for less money. Spotify knows they are the "default" music streaming platform and they are exploiting that.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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Sure, although keep in mind this will vary by region due to licensing issues.

Deezer is probably Spotify's best direct competitor. They are priced equally (depending on region) and now offer high-res streaming as default instead of a paid extra. They've been expanding with new features such as lyrics, collab playlists, song identification, and they recently improved their recommendation system. They also offer a discount if you buy subs yearly instead of monthly so you can save if you like the platform.

Apple Music is also an option now that Apple has put in some work to make the platform easier to use on non-Apple devices such as the recently added Windows app. It's not as feature-rich as Deezer but if you don't use those added features anyway then it is an option. I personally would phrase it as "has less bloat". If you own any Apple devices already then it will have tighter integration with them.

Tidal is the old favourite of audiophiles and music appreciators. They have been expanding their platform with new features and music and, somewhat recently, have also lowered their prices. High-res streaming is now included in the base sub tier. All of these alternatives pay artists more than Spotify but Tidal has one of the best artist payouts.

Qobuz is similar to Tidal and is a premium platform with a focus on quality. They are a newer service and are still expanding their regions, so I don't have personal experience with them as they only recently opened up to my country. Their price and feature set looks competitive, though, and their UI does look slick. They also have better artist payouts.

Amazon Music apparently has better payouts for artists but Amazon is a shit company so I've never looked into them further. I'll include YouTube Music here as well which has shitty payouts and is a shitty company.

TheFeatureCreature , (edited )
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W11 is such a great example of how out-of-touch Microsoft's management and shareholders are. Its market share is tiny compared to W10 and is actively decreasing and they think pulling stunts like this is going to be beneficial in some way. Like even if you follow the usual routine of enshittification, they've missed the entire part where they expand their userbase first before making things worse.

MS needs a leadership shakeup so badly.

A Justin Trudeau Ally Nearly Quit the Party Over its Israel Policy ( www.politico.com )

Anthony Housefather, an outspoken Jewish MP from Montreal, toyed with leaving his party to join the Conservatives after most of Trudeau’s Liberals voted in favor of a non-binding motion in the House of Commons that took direct aim at Israel. It’s the latest example of how the conflict is straining center-left politics across...

TheFeatureCreature ,
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Why is “healthcare” never an option?

That private healthcare lobbyist money is just too good.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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I've considered the Light Phone before but there are just some things I think it goes too far with such as lack of email and texted images. I consider these to be basic communication fundamentals and should be standard on dumbphones. It's not like they're closed-source software tied to specific companies.

The Best Secure Email Providers in 2024 ( blog.thenewoil.org )

Like it or not, email is a critical part of our digital lives. It’s how we sign up for accounts, get notifications, and communicate with a wide range of entities online. Critics of email rightfully point out that email suffers from a significant number of flaws that make it less than ideal, but that doesn’t change the...

TheFeatureCreature ,
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A lot of lists for private alternative email services start and and with Proton, seemingly. Services like Posteo, Mailbox, Hushmail, Fastmail, etc are frequently overlooked. It's a shame because many of these other services are great and Proton is one of the most expensive and not suitable for everyone. I've been with Posteo for years and I have nothing but praise for it.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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I haven't shopped there in years and have no plan to. I used to work for them and detest spending any more time in their stores.

All the ways streaming services are aggravating their subscribers this week ( arstechnica.com )

Below is a look at the most exasperating news from streaming services from this week. The scale of this article demonstrates how fast and frequently disappointing streaming news arises. Coincidentally, as we wrote this article, another price hike was announced....

TheFeatureCreature ,
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Late-stage capitalism going full steam ahead.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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I run Windows 11 on my workstation rig out of necessity and it's serviceable as an OS... as long as Microsoft keeps their greedy fingers out of it - which they do not. W11's lack of uptake is entirely their fault and they have done nothing to grow any good will amongst their customers and, in fact, constantly treat them like money pinatas to beat repeatedly.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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This. I have dabbled with various Linux distros over the past 15+ years out of curiosity. I have, without fail, had to spend days troubleshooting and fixing various problems of all kinds. Sometimes it was WiFi drivers, sometimes it was GPU drivers, sometimes it was power management issues, and most recently it's soundcard drivers and poor audio control/quality issues. I always installed Linux as dual-boot so I had my normal Windows install to fall back on but I just couldn't see myself able to fully switch primary OS over.

Nowadays I couldn't switch over even if I wanted to because numerous programs I use for my work are not supported properly or at all. Linux has indeed come a long way over the years in terms of UX and software compatibility, but not everyone uses their computer just for games. There is a lot of creative and productivity software (and devices!) that have limited or zero Linux support and many FOSS alternatives are not sufficient. I hate Adobe as much as the next person and Photoshop is a bloated pile of trash, but part of my soul dies whenever a Linux fan tells me I can just replace Photoshop with GIMP. GIMP is clownware.

Another major issue I had was the community itself. When troubleshooting the issues I've had over the years, one big problem that kept popping back up was how toxic and condescending the Linux community can be. On more than a few occasions my requests for help on forums were met with passive aggressiveness and hostility because I "should have known better" or something along those lines. The most recent example I can think of was someone asking me to post a debug log to troubleshoot an issue I had and I had to ask him where to find the log. He told me the folder it would be in but not the folder path to get there. When I asked again where to find the log, he just told me that "maybe Linux isn't for you".

You know what? Maybe it isn't. It sure isn't for most people and I can't see that changing soon.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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His commitment to pissing away his wealth is pretty hard core.

Can we all agree that whatever version of predictive text we have nowadays is crap, and has been for a long time?

I'm sick of random capitalisations mid sentence. I'm sick of common words being replaced by less common ones or even downright nonsense. I'm sick of it taking three attempts to successfully get the word I want. I swear it's been like this for five years or more. Can we have a better version yet, or at least the old one back?

TheFeatureCreature ,
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My phone knows my age, my account(s) know my age, the phone maker knows my age, so please for the love of the gods stop removing my cusses. It should damn well know that I have almost never intentionally typed "ducking" and yet I often correct words to "fucking"enough to be able to learn some basic usage patterns. I'm 30 years old, stop "correcting" my text like I'm 5.

Also some really obvious words are constantly "corrected". My phone will not let me start a sentence with "We'll". It will, without fail, change it to "Well" and I have to fix it.

TheFeatureCreature , (edited )
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I'll believe it when I see it. Despite there being plenty of options in my area, the parking lots of Loblaw's stores are still overflowing with cars. I was driving around the city yesterday taking care of some errands and I drove past several stores and they were absolutely packed. One even had a lineup of cars to enter the parking lot that was overflowing out onto the road.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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Way ahead of you. I haven't shopped at a Loblaw's location in years.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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Wow, that list of cons is pretty damning. Requiring an awful app just to check the charge level of a non-removable battery?

This is some really expensive e-waste.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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I've been largely unaware of a lot of these things going on with Asus but the other day I was reading up on Armoury Crate, which Asus integrates as a hardware-level rootkit on many of their motherboards. That is absolutely goddamn absurd. Bloatware baked right into the hardware itself? I cannot express how scummy and disrespectful to your customers that is.

I'm very glad I picked no Asus parts for my latest build.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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I live in an area with numerous grocery stores around and it always amazes me how often the Loblaw's parking lot is PACKED despite their absurd prices and the security measures treating customers like escaped convicts.

Tech brands are forcing AI into your gadgets—whether you asked for it or not ( arstechnica.com )

Earlier this year, Microsoft added a new key to Windows keyboards for the first time since 1994. Before the news dropped, your mind might’ve raced with the possibilities and potential usefulness of a new addition. However, the button ended up being a Copilot launcher button that doesn’t even work in an innovative way....

TheFeatureCreature ,
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Like when tech companies forced "Cloud" everything upon us in the early 2010's, and then the digital home assistant craze that followed after.

These things are not meant for us. Sure some people will enjoy or benefit from them in some way, but their primary function is to appease shareholders and investors and drum up cash. It's why seemingly every company is desperately looking for ways to shoehorn "AI" into their products even if it's completely nonsensical.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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and then abruptly cut its price so it could quickly get rid of existing inventory.

Why would anybody buy a new car that has no future of warranty or parts availability?

'Vortex Cannon vs Drone' - Mark Rober shows off tech from a "defense technology company that specializes in advanced autonomous systems". That seems bad

I've enjoyed Mark Rober's videos for a while now. They are fun, touch on accessible topics, and have decent production value. But this recent video isn't sitting right with me...

TheFeatureCreature ,
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I stopped watching his content after his ableist campaign with NEXT For Autism (another shitty autism "charity" like Autism Speaks) and his subsequent removal of comments and banning of users who criticised his campaign or attempted to inform him of the dangers of the organisation.

It's good to see that his morals and ethics are still, to this day, not exactly heartwarming. /s

TheFeatureCreature ,
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DDG's classic "Trust me bro" privacy policy.

I don't dislike DDG and I do use it, but goddamn I'd love to see a public audit of their privacy claims. DDG is closed source and they've only ever given Their Word ^TM^ about their claims. The privacy community puts a lot of faith in DDG despite not being able to test anything it says.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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Considering DDG's privacy claims cannot be independently verified (and their MS tracking fiasco 2 years ago) they should be treated with the same level of caution that Startpage gets.

TheFeatureCreature ,
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They probably will eventually, but it's just not priority. Most people interact with YouTube via Chrome (or one of the 400,000 rebranded Chromimum browsers) or the YouTube app, both of which Google can more tightly control. Firefox, with it's smaller market share, just isn't worth chasing... yet.

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