• lynx

lol you win, but it’s the only weird thing on your list

Side note, there was a gui version of lynx that ran on the early Mac.

Best option is to stay watchful and get more educated, I guess. One never knows when it’s your turn to pull a switch.

Oh yeah, that is a cool remote. My observation about the awkwardness of a laptop in the living room is more about furniture and the layout of most media rooms. A second screen or a place for the laptop usually isn’t quite right, or downright bothersome. Even a desktop can be a problem.

My media server is hiding in the tv stand because it is NUC sized, an old mac mini. It could directly play to the tv, but for various reasons I wind up with apple castoffs, so an apple tv running Infuse is the front end. If I didn’t have that gear I would be running a modified android player.

I wind up in a lot of living rooms mucking around in their media systems and the furniture aspect matters to a lot of people. Also convenience is paramount, they want a media appliance in front of the couch, computers are for desks.

I know my family is grateful that I no longer force them to mess with a computer to watch something. Inconvenient and frustrating.

This is awkward in most living rooms and the remote control sucks. Source: my house, and my job.

Less awkward, ironically, when using airplay to an appletv.

Oh, that company is run by millionaires not billionaires and they are pretty sincere in not wanting to keep data that is requested for removal.

Having been hit by accessibility and copyright legal trolls has made them kind of gun shy though.

I have convinced them that they won’t miss it, plus I set up an easy and documented workflow.

I process data deletion requestsfor one of my business clients, and we are quite thorough about it, but with so many intersecting apps engaged in third party data storage it can be challenging tracking down the crumbs.

Nope, basically like a windows pc with some obscure parts. Reformat and go.

Try Mint or Zorin or just Debian for testing and have wired networking available at first. Really old imacs are good but you should worry about the hdd. Before 2014 or under 8GB RAM use a lightweight desktop environment.

Zorin on a 2013 MacBook Air 1.5gHz i3 with 8GB is usable though power management is clunky. Mint with xfce on a 2008 imac is just fine for basics.

2018 i7 mac mini with enough RAM is pretty great with latest distros. A 27" 2019 iMac would be excellent, 5k monitor for cheap and easily upgradeable RAM. Drive replacement is ridiculous but ifixit sells kits.

It’s kind of the same with fewer distros recommended and extra steps loading drivers for wifi and camera.

Fedora works fairly well on 2015 MacBooks.

A 2020 Air is still a fine mac, which doesn’t really need to run Linux yet, and is very reliable and efficient and getting full security updates. It’s possible to lock down macOS to nearly Linux levels of independence and privacy if you want, with far less effort than switching OS, and it would have far better hardware integration, especially battery and trackpad.

Debian on an intel mini is great, I can attest, but on laptops stretch out macOS usage with OCLP or something before switching. Unless, like me, you’re awash in old macs, then you can compare systems side by side for yourself.

Infuse is paid but only requires a SMB share somewhere on your LAN, no special server to fiddle with. Easiest of the bunch, especially if you have an appleTV.

If you must use an llm, and only for simple drudgery like converting a RTF file to html then styling it under direction, you can run a small local model for that job. Keep it offline and private. A 4B coding model will run on most modern computers.

Smedley Butler, where are you when we need you?

When I was young and A.I. was a science fiction topic, I was convinced that increasing efficiency in code and design would be a major benefit, doing more with less, the everyday magic of software disappearing into the walls and devices like magic gnomes.

I forgot about the ads.

Hostile, anti-democratic work environment with indentured overtones: next-level strategies required.

cf. the CIA/OST manual from mid-20th C on sabotage and resistance under the risk of death.

Innocent seeming tactics like work-to-rule or demanding policy adherence whenever possible can slow foolish management. Talk to coworkers carefully. Document spectacular failures of management directives but innocently, as if you don’t know whose fault it is. Set things up so they will break later, when you are not around and without a trace.

Ask for reasons; the last paragraph of the article sums up that asking them to explain the insanity is effective. Remember: it is slow and cumulative effort required to change things, be patient and persistent and alert for opportunities and risks.

Great article full of interviews with workers sharing their plight and solutions.

I support your right to declare ignorance! Your defence of it is incorrect.

There is not “literally nothing” you can do to resist genocide in another part of the world.

In this case, there’s the opportunity to pressure your legislators into international action. There is the individual personal responsibility to avoid funding the genocide through purchases, and in business as well. Then there are activists who can help one be more effective.

The implication that none of this works is fatalism that is blind to the push and pull of history. Get out and push, if you can. If you can’t, then at least learn what you can about why others care so much–before joining the conversation about it.

Anyone who hosts websites can check the logs and see the bots hammering away at wp/admin primarily, even if you are not running any WordPress. Low hanging meat? Fresh fruit?