Just read an article published a few hours ago that said the “only downside” to Beeper Mini was its subscription fee. I mean, unless I’ve missed some tech news today, I’m pretty sure there’s one other *pretty big* downside to Beeper Mini right now…

(It honestly still baffles me why companies don’t provide clean, usable grabs for coverage, as a matter of course. A product isn’t better advertised when covered in captions and shapes, turned into a lossy JPEG and shoved inside the outline of a phone.)

Current #Twitter thinking:

• X: dying (and dead-to-me) Twitter
• LinkedIn: business Twitter
• Bluesky: comics Twitter
• Threads: a-bit-too-much-like-Twitter Twitter
• Mastodon: not Twitter – thankfully

Me: Hmm. It’s been a quiet afternoon for email.

Mail: *had crashed*

Me: Oh. *opens email*

Inbox: MWAHAHA

@christianselig The first rule of Vision Pro lab is

The press response to Apple results today is everything wrong with capitalism in microcosm. One of the biggest companies in the world, making billions in profit, is beleaguered and in a rough patch because it cannot maintain endless massive growth and has ups and downs.

Parts of the world are on fire. We should be prizing sustainability. But no. And we are never going to learn this lesson.

On that Guardian piece, I see the “I went to a non-uniform school and children were bullied for what they wore” mob rocked up. I went to a secondary *with* a uniform policy. Guess what? Bullying was rife there too. And *still* about garments and accessories. Your coat. The shoes you wore. The trainers you had in PE. The bag you had, how tatty it was and whether it had a brand. It’s a bullying culture problem, not a uniform/non-uniform one.

Interesting that primarily US journos are today Team Apple Would Have Gone USB-C Anyway, saying the EU had nothing to do with the changes.

Quite possibly. But also possibly not. Personally, I think something had to give re wired transfer on the iPhone Pro. But that’s for a *tiny* user base, so: <shrug>

And in the hmm camp, remember how a company exec initially responded to the legislation: https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/26/23423977/iphone-usb-c-eu-law-joswiak-confirms-compliance-lightning

If you’re a newcomer to this fine place, looking to escape the Musk binfire, welcome!

I wrote a guide for Stuff you might find helpful: https://www.stuff.tv/features/what-is-mastodon-all-you-need-to-know-to-switch-from-twitter/

Also bookmark and regularly explore the excellent https://fedi.tips

My #Stuff article this week is:

Screen Time = scream time. Parents need more human device tracking • https://www.stuff.tv/features/screen-time-scream-time-parents-need-more-human-device-tracking/

And, yes, it is the school holidays. And, no, there is no SHUT IT ALL DOWN NOW switch.

@aral I found it quite something that the reasoning was I could lose my freelance income at any moment, apparently. Despite my five years of accounts. I noted anyone on PAYE could also lose their income at any moment, but that apparently is totally different, for reasons.

@aral Although if my situation last time was anything to go by, the UK is no better. Tossed out my US earnings, because it was “overseas work”. Then dumped all my UK freelance because it was “not guaranteed income”.

I hope you have more luck.

I bought a couple of SSDs on Amazon in November. The same model is now listed as a Prime Day deal, at 50% off, for a third more than I paid.

@glynmoody Albeit a full-fat clickbait story. There’s no way Orkney will get to make that decision.

Everyone today: CAPTCHA is evil and getting worse!

Me in 1985: *grumbles at Lenslok*

The more things change…

#retrogaming

Almost up to 2000 posts. And almost 2000 followers. More than I expected for both, to be honest. Still enjoying it here. Not really enjoying the other place these days, and I wish more people would move over here.