I have an old flatbed scanner that I occasionally use. I bought it in 2003 or 2004. For scanning I use an old 2010 Macbook Pro still running on MacOS X 10.6.8. The scanner software ist written for Power PC, and MacOS X is the last OS that can execute the software. The scanner still works perfectly fine. Some time ago I found out that there is third party software availiable that probably runs on recent macOS installations, but since I refuse to pay for it, I transfer the scanned documents with a thumb drive onto my M1 Macbook Pro. I tried to connect my recent Macbook Pro with my 2010 Macbook Pro via Bluetooth, but I couldn’t get them to transfer files between them, although they detect each other in the Bluetooth settings. I suspect that it is a compatibility issue, as there is a huge age gap between both operating systems (∼ 15 years)

Like this:

This is and was the current workaround. On my old phone I had to install an app for that because they decided that there is an up and down which didn’t allow for a 180° rotation.

When held upside down the buttons on the side are misaligned to where the fingers and the thumb are placed. Thus, the volume up-and-down buttons are swapped, which is rather unintuitive.

Before a smartphone holder for my car was handed down to me (I never bothered to buy one for myself) I placed my phone inside the cup holder located at where the shifter is. When the phone needed to be charged, it was not possible to have the phone oriented in the “normal” direction, as the phone would have stood on the charging cable resulting in damaging of the cable. For that reason I made use of the app that allowed me to rotate the phone, so that the charging port would have been on the upper side.

Yeah, Big Pants is into this. What if instead of phone cases manufacturers sell pants to carry the phone around. Imagine…
… the iPants. Specially made for carrying the latest iPhone with you. For just 2999,-. You can’t wash it tho, and it will not be compatible with the upcoming model.

It’s not even flagship phones. Even the cheaper ones are huge. When I had to replace my LG phone (6") I went to an electronics store to see what’s on the market right now. Of all phones availiable there only were two android phones (I don’t know which brand) that were sized similarly to my LG phone. Both of them were in the 800-€-price-range.

Similar with iPhones. Almost all models exceeded the 6" screen size, except for one or two models which were in the 1000-€-price-range. They also had an iPhone SE there, that had the desired size. I bought this as a refurbished one online for a fraction of the original price.

It’s harder and harder to find a phone that has a size that either fits in your hand or that can be carried inside your pants without restricting your ability to sit down while the phone is inside the pocket.

A phone with the charging port on the upper side instead of the bottom. This makes using the phone easier when it is being charged. Also, recessed camera lenses. Why do they have to stick out? When placing the phone on a surface, the camera lens cover will get scratches over time. If the phone was just one milimeter thicker, the cameras on the back wouldn’t stick out and one wouldn’t need a phone case, that adds to thickness anyway. It also would be nice if phone manufacturors would still have smaller screen sizes (max. 6") in their portfolio, as it is inconvenient to carry a larger phone in a pocket.

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.

As long as you have multiple backups of your data, you shouldn’t be concerned. HDDs as well as SDDs can potentially fail at any given time.

The key is to have more than one backup. You shouldn#t rely on only one backup alone.

HP printers are the avantgarde of enshittification when it comes to gadgets, although the earliest way I can think of selling a product similarly to a subscription is Gillette shavers. They basically sold a handle, and the first set of razor blades were free. After that one had to buy their proprietary and overpriced blades. HP managed to take this principle into the realm of peripheral devices.

Nowadays other gadgets have been “inspired” by HP in therms of enshittification. For instance, there are headphones that require an app to be set up properly, as the manufactorer can save implementing a physical button and can get tracking data form the user.

The sticker on the USB port is just another (physical) dark pattern.

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.

The “invite your boss for dinner to your home” thing that is often depicted in (US-based) sitcoms or cartoon series, where the protagonist introduces the family to the boss who is invited to have dinner at their home in anticipation to get a raise and/ or promotion. Is that a real thing over there? I never would think of invitng my boss into my home.

Oggy and the cockroaches

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1ghHlhem7676hJfsyoON5Q

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.

I always thought that entering, hot-wiring and driving away with a car was a complete fabrication, as cars have a steering column lock that prevents movement of the steering wheel. This scenario is often depeicted in older movies.

At least I thought so. I recently learned that this doesn’t seem to be true, as there were cars around that do not have such locking mechanism. So this TV trope doesn’t seem to be far fetched. I think it is a safety requirement now to combat car theft. I assume that modern, recent cars are locked electronically rather than mechanically.

However, I don’t think that car manufacturers leave/left a conventient ammount of cable length underneath the steering column to be yanked out and to be hotwired in a comfortable and accessible way.

We are on good terms with our landlord, and repairs (mostly heating) are taken care of quickly. So far there are no problems at all. But we like to anticipate the worst. I too believe that spills on a wooden floor in a kitchen are normal wear and tear. I think it all depends on what else in the appartement is worn out (some things even due to real negligence), if we move out any time in the future eventually.