Technology exists to keep all your personal data exceptionally secure. Modern encryption is incredibly difficult to break (impossible really).

Humans are fundamentally insecure. Any time you read about a data leak, it’s because somebody stupidly opened an attachment or fell for a scam. Any time someone gets “hacked,” they didn’t. They gave away their information. Human error and a lack of education are the problems.

I’m also in agreement with you there. I’d rather use Windows 11 than macOS, but that’s kinda like saying I’d rather have a lobotomy with a short icepick instead of a long one.

macOS

Private entities have the right to decide what is or is not acceptable content on their platforms. Consumers also have the right to choose which services they want to use.

I encourage everyone to stop using anything involved with Meta. I personally have a list of Meta domains blocked on my home network.

If enough people did this, the problem would resolve itself.

I completely understand what you’re saying; in general, I tend to agree that if a firmware update is available, it’s best to install it. I keep the firmware up to date on all my networking equipment, and the first thing I do when I set up a new PC is install Windows updates (or apt-get update in Linux).

I have two TVs. One in the living room, and one in the bedroom. After the brief time I had my bedroom TV connected to my network, it immediately started serving me advertisements. I hate ads with a passion. When it comes to network security, privacy probably comes second to blocking ads in terms of priority. When it came time to replace my living room TV, I first tried to repair it, but after spending too much on a replacement mainboard that didn’t do shit, I just bought a new TV. There was no way in hell I was letting it connect to the internet and download advertisements.

I have an extensive Zigbee network for home automation, 10GB fiber links between my servers and my home office, etc. My home is very much “connected.” TVs are just one of those things that I will never, ever, under any circumstances, allow to connect to anything other than a video cable. If I’m paying $1000 or more for a device, I’ll be damned if it’s going to show me advertisements.

I use my TV as basically just a dumb display panel. If it can display 4k/60, then there is no bug that needs to be fixed. I don’t even use built-in audio.

I connected my other TV to my network once when my Nvidia Shield wasn’t working. That TV is still showing advertisements in the main menu for shows that were released 3 years ago.

I’m in this same situation and at least for me, no, not even once for a firmware update.

If the TV is displaying the image that’s coming from whatever input source I’m using, then the firmware is already just fine.

I have absolutely zero interest in participating in any kind of social media that isn’t an “anonymous forum.” I have no interest in following particular individuals; I’m really only interested in having discussions with random internet users that share common interests. I used PhpBB instances, IRC, and before that BBS systems, and I’m really just looking for the same kind of experience.

So I will never use Mastodon; I think it’s a fantastic alternative to Xitter, but the format just doesn’t interest me in the slightest.

I love it, and for anyone else who does, I have a suggestion.

Get a SodaStream (or whatever your carbonator-of-choice is) and a cheap adapter to run it from a standard CO2 tank. Not only do you save money on CO2 refills, but you save money on buying cans of seltzer, too. The concentrated flavor additives are only a few dollars at the grocery store.

I think my SodaStream was something like $100. The adapter and hoses were $50-ish. The flavor syrup costs around $5 for enough to make gallons. Every few months or more, I might pay $50 or so to refill a 20lb CO2 tank. It’s already paid for itself, and it’s incredibly convenient.

Holy shit. I’m paying less than 10c per kwh even in the “high usage” tier.

I’m right around the same level, and it actually keeps my server room / workshop at comfortable temperature during the winter. I also have my gaming PC mounted in my server rack; when that’s running, there are times where my AC will still kick in even when it’s 40 degrees outside.

For two servers (one with a lot of spinning rust), two switches, and a few other miscellaneous network appliances. My server rack averages around 600-650W. During periods of high demand (nightly backups, for instance), that can peak at around 750W.

I generally buy almost everything online, but clothes are one exception to that. I generally have 1 or 2 brands of clothes I normally purchase, but even within those two brands, size can vary quite a bit, especially after they’ve been washed a few times.

I can buy two different size 36 pants from my favorite brand, and after washing, one fits comfortably, and the other only fits if I leave them unbuttoned. Being able to test them in-person at least gives me a general idea of if they’re still going to fit after they go through the dryer.

You got an incredible deal on your tape drive. For LTO8 drives, I’m seeing “for parts only” drives sold for around $500. I’d be willing to throw away $100 or $200 on the possibility that I could repair a drive; $500 is a bit too much. It looks like LTO6 is more around what my budget would be.; it would require a much larger number of tapes, but not excessively so.

I remember when BD-R was a reasonable solution for backup. There’s no way that’s true now. It really seems like hard drive capacity has far outpaced removable media. If most people are streaming everything, those of us who actually want to save their data locally are really the minority these days. There’s just not as much of a compelling reason for companies to develop cheap high-capacity removable discs.

I’m sure I’ll invest in a tape backup solution eventually, but for now, at least I have ZFS with paranoid RAIDZ.

What kind of tape drive are you using? My array isn’t as large as yours (120tb physical), but it’s big enough that my only real options for backup are tape or a whole secondary array for just backup.

Based on what I’ve seen, my options are a prohibitively large number tapes with an older LTO standard or prohibitively expensive tapes with a newer LTO standard.

My current backup strategy consists of automated backups to Backblaze B2 for the really important stuff like personal documents or projects and hoping my ZFS array doesn’t fail for everything else.

I really feel like Starfield got a lot of unwarranted criticism. I paid $100 or whatever it cost for early access, I have about 200 hours into the game, and I feel like I got my money’s worth. It’s a fun game with an interesting story, New Game+ is still worth playing, and the graphics are fantastic.

Sure, it has its flaws, but given “hours of fun per dollar,” the only game I’ve played recently that comes close is Cyberpunk.

I can’t wait for datacenters to decommission these so I can actually afford an array of them on the second-hand market.

Even if he “allowed” his adult children to vote as they wish, and for sake of argument suppose he was respectful about it, they’re still justified in not spending time with him.

I wouldn’t want to spend a day with someone who has no shared beliefs or interests in common either. Just because someone is family doesn’t mean you should want or need to be around them. This person doesn’t seem to realize that adults are free to choose to associate with like-minded individuals.

C++ compiler errors still won’t fit on either screen.

From what I understand of the Australian law, companies are prohibited from requiring a government-issued ID. In practical terms, how can this law be implemented, then? Bypassing a prompt that asks for a birthday is as easy as just lying. Other than requiring an ID, I honestly can’t fathom a way this would actually work. I suppose you could require a active credit card number, but that would exclude adults and kids over 16.