Yes, all these email services want you to pay up for them. I think this is the price tag for privacy.

I have switched to Mailbox org a couple of years ago. I had a freemail provider before that. Unfortunately, this providers’ data got leaked, and therefore I got pwned, luckily only resulting into a tsunami of spam. The entry-tier with Mailbox is 1 € per month (= 12 € per year) which is compareably cheap in my opinion. Of course, it depends on what features you desire - more features cost more money. They also offer a free trial for 30 days (but it is wise to start the free trial at the begin of a month, as far as I recall).

The process of switching the email provider took me at least 6 months, where both the old and the new email adress have to exist simulatiously.

If you need to register quickly to an online service, i can recommend Temp-Mail org. Its free, but you need to have the tab opened for the registration process, as all data (including the free temporary email adress) will be deleted once the tab is closed. I used this service to register with my home instance, because back then I didn’t want to expose my real email adress.

You should look into this

This is because waterproof devices will be might be exempt from having to have replaceable batteries.

Some manufacturers are already eyeing an exemption for batteries used in “wet conditions” to opt out electric toothbrushes and possibly wearables like earbuds and smartwatches. The exemption is “based on unfounded safety claims,” states Thomas Opsomer, policy engineer for iFixit, in RepairEU’s post.

Source

No wonder with these incidents happening.

Rawdogging the internet applies to those who do not set up their phones properly. This applies to both IPhone and Android users. It is uncool that Apple only allows Webkit based browsers, where uBlock Origin doesn’t work. But even Safari Browser can be set up properly in the settings. Additional to that, there are extensions that block ads and trackers. I use a combinatiion of three extensions and I haven’t seen any ads so far:

KaBlock!
Hush Nag Blocker
Ad Guard (I only use the free tier)

This is awful. Similar to the deportation of Jews in the 1940’s in the Third Reich.

Apples eco system does have pretty good safety features. As far as I have heard, Apple is indeed not up to sell user data outside their eco system. However, they collect data from their users and use it for their own purposes. It is always a good advice to go through each setting (of phone as well as laptop) and evaluate if it is needed for functionality (e.g. location services or access for the camera or contacts). Not only will this measurement reduce the amount of (usually) unneccessary data that is being transmitted otherwise, but it will also improve battery life as well.

Do you mean iCloud Mail? I assume it is as secure as all the other iCloud services themselves. Personally, I don’t use iCloud (except for the “Find my” feature). But you can set up any third party Email service with the Apple’s Mail app. I use Mailbox.org as email provider and have it set up with the Mail app on my iPhone. It works flawlessly. Third party email providers often come with additional costs (the lowest tier with Mailbox.org was 12 € each year when I switched from a freemail provider a couple of years ago). I don’t know if iCloud Mail is free of charge, other than additional storage space.

Try cobalt.tools. It does what you want to do inside a browser tab (although I only used it on desktop so far), but it might work with an IPhone as well. You can convert YouTube links into either mp3, ogg, wave and opus files (with various bitrates), or mp4 or webm video files (with various resulutions). I use it constantly.

All car companies do. Their data also got leaked (German Source in more detail).

Even Tesla showed that they are able to gain control over customers cars remotely (article is from 2022). They are able to add or remove features at their own will. In this particular case it was a sign of good will by enabling this feature. But it can also go into the opposite direction (e.g. they disable features).

I cannot imagine that gaining control over someones car is a good thing in the future, considering Musks power and political influence. Next things are that cars of people who dare to citizise him or his politics are spied into or being altered immoveable. And soon other bootlicker manufacturers will be following the same path, in fear of economical disadvantages.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m all in favor of the EU Directive that states that all such devices must have the same charging port from now on. I think that this should have been introduced way earlier.

I also realize that this law doesn’t apply to Apple exclusively, but you don’t find the Lightning port on any other non-Apple devices. If the Lightning port didn’t exist at all, Apple devices probably would have been equipped with USB C ports instead.

But one thing that affects all kind of devices is that they will be outdated at least software-wise mostly deliberately, no matter what charging port they are euqipped with. This even happens with Android-based phones, as there is a wide range of phones that can’t be fixed with alternative software (ie. Graphene, LinageOS and similar).

In my opinon it should be law that manufacturors should allow for end-of-service-devices to be opened up and upgraded with an alternative OS/ software, to extend liftime and to avoid being discarded. This affects mobile phones as well as smart lightbulbs, headphones, or vacuum robots and many more. This indeed has nothing to do with the EU Directive for charging ports, but it could have been another step towards keeping devices longer in the life cycle and thus avoiding landfill.

Too many devices are being bricked by manufacturers deliberatly, and there are barely any ways to repair such devices, because manufacturers do not let it happen.

I really hope so.

I wonder what happens to all those devices that are brand new, but can’t be sold any longer due to having the lightning port. My guess is that these devices will be shreddered and land up in a landfill - better for the environment than having to use a different cable (/s).

This EU Directive only applies to devices sold as brand new. Frome here on devices sold as new have to be equipped with a USB C charging port.

You still can buy a refurbished device equipped with a lightning charging port from a second hand market seller.

Nothing changes for most people. If you own a device that still has a lightning port, you probaly also have a lightning cable for it. The three most common types (USB C / Lightnin / Micro USB) will still be around for a couple of years.

From the enviromental point of view it would be best to keep any device until it is not usable any longer.

I’d rather would like to see that Apple is being forced into revealing the software code for end-of-life devices than having to switch to a new charging port. That would have a more severe impact, as devices often still work well hardware-wise, but are outdated software-wise. Even Apples glued-in batteries can be changed (albeit it is very complicated), in order to prolong a devices lifespan. If outdated Apple devices could be revived with a FOSS software solution to be still compatible for a longer time, it would be way better for the environment - given, protecting the environment was the goal all along.

your overly detailed explanation is very believable

I hope so, that’s why the explanation is so detailed.

I am right-handed, and I tought myself to use my mouse with the left hand when working on my laptop.

The reason for that is that I have a couch, where the ottomane (the “long” part where you can rest your legs on) is attached to the right side (referenced to my seating position), meaning that, when sitting on this side of the couch, the arm rest of the ottomane is to my right side which doesn’t leave enough room to operate the mouse without obstruction.

The side left to me (where the rest of the couch is), is unobstructed and leaves enough room to place and operate the mouse there.

At first, it was hard to navigate with the non-domiant hand, and I used it for navigating within the web browser. The majority of mouse navigation in a browser is scrolling anyway.

After a just a few of weeks I noticed that handling the mouse with the left hand became more and more precisely. Now I use my left hand exclusively with the mouse. I even noticed that when doing stuff in Blender or Affinity for example, keyboard shortcuts are more accessible to me with the right hand when working with a laptop.

When at work however, I use the mouse with my dominant (right) hand, as the desk layout allows me to do that.

Seeing these Powerpoint slides again makes me realize that grapic design is really their passion.

I can elaborate why I have Google Maps installed on an iPhone, despite that I can use Apple Maps, which is pre-installed:

Google Maps is way better in announcing directions when travelling with a car, because it announces several times ahead: at 4 km before an intersection, at 800 m and finally when to actually drive through an intersection. This is more helpful than Apples announcement, which is just once a few kilometers ahead of the point where to change direction. Also, intersections are depicted more clearly in Google Maps.

Additional to that, I find that the woman from Google sounds way more nicer than that bitch from Apple. Apples voice has a pissed-off undertone, probably because it needs to tell you directions in the first place.

On the other hand, the street-view feature is better on Apple Maps.

I discovered KaBlock first, and it did its job. I did not test it with Youtube tho. A couple of weeks ago someone mentioned Hush Nag Blocker and I installed it as well. I think they complete each other, as Hush makes Cookie-Banners disappear, which KaBlock doesn’t. Both KaBlock and Hush seem to block ads from Youtube - I haven’t experienced ads on smartphone so far (I skipped into maybe 3 to 5 videos on it in the last couple of weeks, as I have a data plan that isn’t tailored for video streaming).

See my earlier comment: https://feddit.org/comment/3765971

I use KaBlock and Hush Nag Blocker. Both apps are availiable for macOS as well as for iOS. They are made to work with Safari. So far I haven’t had any issues with ads, even when watching Youtube videos. They are free. I would give them a try first. If they don’t work for you, you always can purchase wipr later.