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1·9 days agoWhy not just use Brave, which blocks ads and allows for picture-in-picture and background play?
Do you need to download for offline play or similar?
How has it been “proven” that all app stores are equally safe?
Heck, just comparing Google Play and Apple App Store - every article over the past year covering malicious apps (including the recent cross-platform SparkCat) mentions at some point or another that these occurrences are significantly rarer on iOS given Apple’s stricter policies and guidelines. Policies that could not otherwise be enforced on 3rd party app stores.
Realistically, no one who purchases an iPhone is doing so under the assumption that they aren’t going to be within the wider Apple ecosystem and ‘walled garden’. Those that do want that additional freedom, and associated risks, have Android and other FOSS options available to them already.
Think of it this way: There are plenty of Android-based devices that are faster, better or have unique features that iOS doesn’t; Apple’s USP is iOS. We were ‘free’ to choose this ecosystem, and by trying to impose your own definition of freedom onto us, you are instead depriving us of our own.
If you choose not to see the inherent risks associated with this, so be it - but I am wary enough to know that if/once the genie is out of the bottle, there is no ability to go back when the shit inevitably hits the fan.
Don’t think of me as a blind Apple fanboy, either: I think there are plenty of valid criticisms of Apple’s handling of the App Store that legislation would be much better suited to targeting - namely their egregious fees and arbitrary policies regarding directing users to their own websites for alternate payment methods.****
Well you weren’t very specific, so I wasn’t sure which point(s) you were disagreeing with.
I’m sure there are a number of apps which were only available on one storefront (Google, Samsung, F-Droid etc.).
China is in an even worse spot, as Google is outright banned - there are a dozen or so competing Android app stores; however their saving grace is that literally every digital transaction goes through either Weixin or AliPay - so there’s a somewhat lessened risk of credit card fraud.
Why would smaller, niche apps move to alternative stores on iOS? To (rightfully) avoid the excessive fees charged - so yes, a restaurant would be a prime example of someone not be willing / able to give 30% to Apple (nor should they, it’s downright extortion).
If you are in Victoria, you should be using the comparison website every year:
https://compare.energy.vic.gov.au/It will find the cheapest plan based on your usage over the past year.
In general, you can usually lock in a rate for ~12 months - after which point in time you will switch to the default rate (which will be higher, but is still capped versus how bad things used to be).
Just because you aren’t aware of it, it doesn’t mean it’s not happening already.
I respectfully disagree.
If I’m out at a restaurant with app-based ordering, or my Real Estate agent requires payment through their gateway, or to track my utilities usage, or am required to use any other number of niche apps that become only available through alternate app stores? Then I very well risk being put in a situation where I am otherwise forced to.
Let alone the headaches that will inevitably come from the older, less technologically savvy, and more vulnerable having their default app stores highjacked, and spoof apps stealing their credentials/credit cards.
Then we get into the more general issues of allowing unsigned code to be loaded and run on our smartphones - it will lead to the era of viruses, Trojans and ransomware.
I am reminded of this piece that Last Week Tonight did on Encryption, which is quite cogent given the topic at hand.
Best security practices involve minimising the number of places your sensitive (financial) data is stored. If a website doesn’t accept a known and reputable intermediary like Apple Pay, PayPal or a BNPL provider - I would refrain from using it.
If this is something that you want - then go ahead and Jailbreak your iPhone, or get an Android - more power to you; but please stop trying to enshittify iOS.
Unpopular opinion, but if I wanted multiple app stores (and all the associated benefits and risks) then I would have opted for an Android.
The walled garden approach works for me, and I don’t want to be inconvenienced and my data put at risk because a particular, necessary app is only available through a 3rd party platform.
Now, Apple being forced to reduce the % of app sales down from 30% to a more reasonable number I am all for.
4·12 days agoToo fucking real…
6·12 days agoIf the right can gaslight enough people into believing that the Minnesota Assassin was a liberal and not a conservative, they can just as easily convince them that this was a secret drag queen child monetisation ring funded by George Soros.
4·13 days agoCorrect; it wasn’t one single thing that got us into this situation - and it’s going to take a multi-pronged attack in order to bring things back to sanity.
However, building more social housing should be a priority for all state Governments. Growing up in one of the commission flats in Melbourne in the ‘90s, I can tell you that stability afforded my family and many others a level of security that we have deprived those that came after by doing to invest and develop more.
Echoing everyone else’s sentiments in saying thank you for the write-up - we really don’t get enough Tas-specific news here, even just across the strait!
What do you think is the likelihood of Labor winning a majority/minority Government as a result of a potential snap election?
That explains the YouTube short from the ABC? which came across my feed earlier today.
Their coverage is woeful as always, is there a succinct summary of what’s happening for those of us outside Tasmania?
4·26 days agoOh, totally! 🙄
I have a feeling I’m going to have a LOT of (unpaid, as I’m on salary) overtime in the next three weeks as a result!
Am meant to transfer to a new department at work next week, but the new team didn’t initiate the transfer correctly - so my old role couldn’t be backfilled…
…now there’s a fight brewing over when I should actually transition. It’s good to be wanted, but I feel like a kid who’s divorcing parents are fighting for custody!
Any recent restaurants that stand-out as worth mentioning?
“Who Framed Roger Rabbit”.
An absolute masterpiece in terms of blending and transitioning between live action and animation; plus the whole Disney/Warner Bros character crossovers… just 👌🏼
Bonus Points for the Undertaker’s (uncredited?) cameo appearance: you’re a dead man, Ramsey!
…oh, and extra credit for birthing the “I wAs FrOzEn ToDaY!!” meme too!
Yeah, one would have hoped that’d be the case - but apparently not.
I just remembered reading this a while back (start of last year, it seems?), and it honestly felt like a tacit admission of wrong-doing - so they’re likely going to be facing an uphill battle, or at least are expecting one.