Sounds like Apple fucked over Imagination Technology by poaching their key employees and executives. Apple even opened a new office for chip development next to theirs.

The company was then doing poorly and got bought out by a Chinese company controlled by the Chinese government.

Pretty sad demise for the company. I remember working with their GPUs in the early 2010s.

The remedies are damaging when you build your business on mafia money from Google to enforce their search monopoly.

This would apply to all consumer electronics besides smartphones, such as smart TVs, gaming consoles, etc.

Android has problems with how each device uses a forked kernel with vendor binary blobs only working for that specific forked kernel. PostmarketOS is trying to avoid these issues by upstreaming the drivers so they can be maintained normally when the kernel changes.

Yes having a trusted entity maintain the software is a big problem.

But giving the option to install your own software would be a big step in keeping the devices in use.

Planned Obsolescence is a problem across all consumer electronics that depend on the software being updated. It’s not limited to Big Tech.

The only way I see to solve it is to force vendors to release hardware specs and unlock bootloaders so you can install your own software on it.

An even better solution would be to force vendors to release their software when the hardware is end of life via their planned obsolescence.

It’s great to see small advances in right to repair for hardware, such as replacing the battery or access to new parts, but those don’t help when you are stuck on an outdated OS version.

The EU actually didn’t force them to implement RCS. Apple did it themselves to try and avoid an regulatory/antitrust scrutiny.

At the moment I think having RCS on iPhone is worse than if Apple was forced to open up iMessage to other platforms. RCS on Android is basically controlled by Google and you can’t use it on custom roms. Google also runs the RCS backend that most carriers rely on (rather than implementing their own). So if you are trying to avoid Google’s spyware, you can’t use RCS to message iPhone users.

Remember when Tim Cook told someone’s mom to just by an iPhone in order to access iMessage. True colors coming out there, total douche bag.

You don’t have to use AI. It’s only being crammed into proprietary software. You can steer clear of it with FOSS operating systems.

I thought VR was dead after Apple’s flop of a launch.

Get a Steam Deck, load it with emulators and indie games.

Yes, pre 2013 models had a screwed in battery. I had a 2011 pro that I changed/upgraded the ram, hard drive, and battery myself.

USB-C has been out for 10 years and it’s a huge mess. For some devices it makes sense to switch like an external hard drive, but for things like a wired keyboard, I don’t need to repurchase it for USB-C, that serves no purpose.

Wired keyboard and mouse, USB sticks/thumb drive, and USB-A to lightning cable. I think I have more USB-A peripherals than USB-C.

The MacBook Pro still doesn’t have USB-A ports. I have an apple silicon model for work and have to use multiple dongles to connect all my peripherals. This is ridiculous for a 2000+ dollar computer.

It’s also not just about photos. If you want to do automatic backup of your phone you can only do that with iCloud. Otherwise you have to connect your phone to a computer and do a manual backup with iTunes/Finder. Apple even killed off automatic local wifi backups by forcing you to enter your unlock code every time you trigger a backup via iTunes/Finder.

Whoops, I thought it said “not opt out”. Too early in the day apparently 😅

Allow third-party app stores for Android, and let those app stores distribute all the same apps as are available in Google Play (app developers can opt out of this);

Developers should definitely be able to pick with AppStores their apps are distributed in. This seems strange they can’t opt out.

Pretty sure Fdroid doesn’t want PlayStore spyware apps.

I wasn’t referring to white people immigrating.

Here is an article today from Deutsche Welle cover this issue: https://www.dw.com/en/do-immigrants-have-to-learn-german-in-germany/a-70467984

The EU isn’t the US.

Most countries in Europe have this idea of integration where the foreigner learns and adopts the language and culture of the country. You’ll see lots of discussions of “failed” integration of foreigners, especially in Germany.

I think this is still a type of colonialism where they think there culture is better and the foreigner must change, rather than the other way around.

I think the US is a bit better in this regard as there is this idea of a cultural mixing pot and foreigners aren’t expected to “integrate”.

At the moment there is no end-to-end encryption as part of RCS. Google created a proprietary add-on for their app. Apple is working with the standards committee to add end-to-end encryption.

RCS on android has only two supported apps, one by Google and one by Samsung. Google is actively blocking phones with custom Roms from using their RCS app.

Google also provides/hosts the RCS backend software used by most telecoms. They can host their own implementation, and most did at the start. But now a lot switched to Google to provide their RCS service.

You can’t get around Big Tech spyware if you want to use RCS.

Yes I think we this in addition to be able to unlock the boot loader. This allows the community to continue to provide security updates after the company abandoned the product through planned obsolescence.