I had to use mine as a desktop for two weeks while my PC was undergoing a repair. It was wholly uneventful: installed OpenOffice and had a wholly normal workweek. It’s perfectly fine to use as a regular, boring desktop if you need it to. Absolutely love the Steamdeck. Every gamer should have one.
I’ve never had a Droid, but loved every other Motorola that I’ve owned. Including the original StarTac and Razr. They made some really nice phones over the years.
Well, while those flexible screen flip phones certainly look like neat tech, it’s not the same as the flip phones we used to have.
And it’ll need a few more versions before I’m comfortable buying one. Those screens tend to be just a bit too fragile.
Jesus, that’s a blast from the past for sure!
It really was the thing everyone latched on to with the N-Gage. I actually still own a first gen model that I bought on release. It was actually pretty decent, both as a phone and the games it played. Of course, it never really took off, but I enjoyed using it.
As for the sidetalking… I bought a headset for it to avoid that :D
For me, it’s just the fact that phones… are phones. They all look the same, function the same, there’s just nothing new happening with them.
Sure, chips get better and faster, they’ll add another camera to it and fiddle with the dimensions a bit, but that’s not innovation. All phones look like boring rectangular slabs.
Back in the late 90’s, phones had way more variety and personality. Candybar, flip, even the sidetalkin’ taco that was the Nokia N-Gage. A Motorola Razr looked nothing like say, a Nokia or Sony Ericsson. And those were distinctly different from your Samsung or Mitsubishi phones (Yes, Mitsubishi made phones!).
I’d love it if we went back to more phone variety, but I fear the smartphone has effectively killed every other style. Most people wouldn’t ditch their big screen smartphone to go back to a small flip phone.
This is a pretty common response to national trauma like this. The US had a million ‘we’re gonna kick their ass’-songs post-9/11. Most weren’t exactly subtle about it either.
Calling out other artists like Dua Lipa though… I’d probably avoid that as a musician. You never know who you’ll end up sharing a podium with down the line.
Well yeah, if your group self-identifies as FOSS nerds, that’s about what I’d expect :D I bet a lot of them are also into Linux, right?
I love my Linux/FOSS brethren, but most people just buy an iPhone or some Samsung and are perfectly happy just using those as is.
It really can depend on where you are. For example, in the US Google had a 4 percent marketshare in 2023. It actually doubled compared to 2022: that was 2 percent.
Buf if you happen to run with a group pf people who go against the grain and buy Pixels, it might very well feel like a dominant brand.
In our company for example, everyone has iPhones. So to me, they appear to have 100 percent marketshare, when reality is closer to 50-60 percent in most markets.
Australia does have some quirks, as many Australians like to point out :D
According to marketshare figures, last year Google had 3 percent marketshare in Australia. IPhone was 43.8 percent, followed by Samsung with 31.8, followed by Oppo (4.5) Lenovo (3.6), HDM (3) and finally: there’s Google with 3 percent.
https://appleworld.today/apples-iphone-now-has-46-5-of-the-australian-smartphone-market/amp/
In the US, iPhone and Samsung have bigger shares and Google is at about 4 percent (was 2 in 2022)
So at least from the statistics, Google isn’t doing particularly well in Australia either. But you certainly might run with a particular group of people who prefer them over other brands. People do like to conform to a group.
It’s certainly more than a bit annoying that THIS is the product that Google keeps alive, while constantly killing other, much more useful products.
I’ve literally never met anyone with a Google Pixel. It’s just not on anyone’s radar when buying a new phone. I’m sure some like it, but it’s not exactly setting the world on fire.
Mazel tov!
I own a few Minolta’s, including the X500 and X700. Those were basically the last of their manual focus SLR’s. I love classic bodies like that; metal built bricks that feel solid and chunky to use. I also bought a ton of Minolta glass back in the 2010’s when they stuff went for pennies on the dollar on Ebay. Good glass is good glass, right?
I’ve never shot HP5 myself; I tend to be more of a Fuji shooter in general with Acros for my B&W needs. I’ve developed my own rolls, especially when I had to shoot that in cut-down form in Minox cartridges. Not exactly the kind of thing you take to a one hour photo place :D
Though I’ve also shot stuff like Tri-X 400, Ektar and a bunch of other stuff from Kodak and Fuji over the years. But the thing I absolutely LOVE to shoot is slide film. Velvia 50 & 100 in particular. Absolutely amazing to see slides on a lightbox. You get a lovely depth and color that you just don’t really see in other negatives in my opinion.
I actually just bought a Fuji X-S20 camera which includes a bunch of film simulations, including Acros and Velvia. That’s how much I love shooting those, that I want to bring that fun factor to digital as well :D Also own a Fuji X100S, which I found out is a ‘TikTok trend’ apparently…
I’ve got plenty of stuff that’s older than I am. I’ve got mechanical cameras dating back to the 1930’s, electronic camera’s from the 70’s, watches dating back to that time as well. And there’s game consoles dating back to the NES, like many here.
I like old tech. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s bad or unreliable. If you treat stuff well and maintain as needed, a lot of things will outlast you. I’ll be shooting film in cameras that are a hundred years old in a few years.
Exactly. I used to carry an iPod with loads of music on it. So did everyone else. But these days, nobody even uses an MP3 player. Heck, I don’t have a single MP3 on my phone. Streaming through YouTube Music is all I really need. And it works great for my normie taste in music.
Now, my brother is really into video game midi music and such, so he does have a digital collection of files. But for us normal people, downloading music is simply a thing of the past.
Fair enough. Personally, I always stream music through YouTube Music. Never downloaded stuff because I don’t need to. I’ve got fast mobile internet with good coverage and I never really leave my city.
I’m not really into music enough to notice if things disappeared. Can’t say I’ve noticed that, but I’ve heard similar complaints from others. As long as there’s enough 80’s and 90’s bangers, I’m content :D
I wouldn’t necessarily say the best proof (that’s probably things like Spotify and Google Music, services which effectively killed any and all MP3 sharing).
But yeah, the Steam Deck is an awesome platform. It’s great to be able to carry games with you that you normally wouldn’t be able to play portable. It’s also an awesomely capable device for playing ROMS though, if you do decide to sail some seas :D
Heck, even if you subscribed to every streaming service out there, some companies simply refuse to make shit available to you.
I once gave Crunchyroll a try here in Europe. I figured there’d at least be something on there that I’d watch, right? Turns out, everything halfway decent wasn’t available in my region. And you COULD get the good stuff on some other service… except that one’s region locked as well, so you can’t get that one here. Oh and even if you think of buying anime on Blu-Ray? Tough luck, that’s not sold in your region due to rights fuckery. Basically, there’s no way for me to legally watch and/or buy particular content.
Piracy is and always has been an access problem. If you make it impossible to acquire legally, well, people will do it illegally.
It’s going to take some getting used to. As someone with a visual disability, I generally absolutely hate when developers mess with UI’s and color choices. This isn’t TOO bad, though I would still prefer darker rather than lighter tints.
I don’t have a cat. I’m always amazed at people who just let theirs roam free about the neighbourhood. I feel like that’s a good way to let your cat get hurt, abducted or worse.
Just yesterday evening, I was coming back from work on my bike. And there’s this lovely orange cat just walking in the middle of the street. No collar or anything, but looked healthy and well kept as far as I could tell. I’ve seen him around once before in the next street over.
If I was so inclined, there’s basically nothing stopping me from picking him up and taking him home. That should be somewhat concerning to his actual owners, no?