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> Oh please yes create a version that applies to your cultural background and how you experienced the net!

As an American, I'd love to see this. Been online since AOL came on 3.5" floppies, but I know the US-centric version is only half the story. An example I was exploring recently was Tetetext which I have no memory of in the US. From what I understand, only a handful of bigger cities tried it and it simply was not that popular here. Growing up, we also had the perception that the BBC, in general, was a stuffy old news corp and had no real idea about the BBC Micro since Commodore and Atari dominated here. As an adult, it feels like I missed out on half the computing world back before things became a bit more interconnected.

If someone is up for making such a site, I'd be interested in watching or even contributing if I have anything valuable to offer.

Ahh, right. Thank you, I do mix them up in my head often.

I still rock my OG Pebble and while I am excited they're coming back, I have no plans to upgrade.

Like you, my needs are simple; vibrating alarm, notifications, but with one key factor; I need a display that I can read in broad daylight that plays nice with my far-sighted eyes. The eInk display on the OG Pebbles hits the mark. Being able to read a text without pulling out my phone is also nice.

Plus they can be got on eBay for about $30 USD and a fresh battery is about $15, so they don't break the bank. The Rebble.io community's work is still functioning well enough for my use, as well.

* Leave meaningful comments that contribute to or prompt discussion.

* Links should be of technical interest to the community at large although politics will sneak in from time to time.

* Assume most everyone here is smarter than you or has good info to contribute. Get in the student mindset, open to learn while you interact, then engage.

* The voting system is not an "agree/disagree" button. Vote up thoughtful and informative, discussion-worthy contributions, vote down personal attacks or inflammatory stuff. It is also not necessary to vote on every comment or post you read, or at all. It's just a way for the community to collectively encourage better engagement.

* dang is busy, so just be good

Those look dangerously fun. Looks like there's electric and gas powered versions, as well.

Much respect to the mad lad slowing his descent in flipflops, by the way.

The difference between 8 and 9 hour days is negligible, in my experience. I typically do four 10-hour days here in the US, leaving me a fifth day that either stays free on my schedule, or is open for 100% overtime pay if there is extra work at my job.

When I started, I was on five 8-hour days with the possibility of working half days on Saturday if things were hectic. It made me extremely prone to burnout because I never got enough time to reset.

Depending on the demands of one's job, the four 9/10-hour days may work or may not. For me, working 8 hours then commuting home meant I was going to spend what remained of my weekday evenings decompressing, getting nothing done at home or with my hobbies because I was drained from the day. Switching to 9, then 10's made zero difference on those wasted days, but granted me 1.5 extra days (free day + no more possible half-day Saturdays) where I typically can do whatever I want. I am lucky enough to be able to drop that free day on Friday or Monday, so I get tons of three day weekends to spend with my wife and various hobbies.

If you focus on the hours per day, it stops making as much sense for some. I find folly in that. I look at days per week. If I am working 5 days per week, because of burnout, those five days are no longer mine. Not much else is getting done. If I am only working 4 days, still moving the same output with the same paycheck, but I'm getting more of my time per week back, which allows me to reset and enjoy the things I enjoy.

Again, this won't work for everyone. Each of us has to be honest about what we'd really do with an extra hour or two in the day, versus an extra day in the week, then decide what works best for us.

A simple search shows that this is widely reported. Here's a BBC link: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57724779

I'm not sure where you grew up, but in the US we had a kid's toy called a Big Wheel which your feet had to turn with when you turned the handlebars. It was wildly awkward, terribly designed, but we got really good at it, anyway. The pedals would even scrape concrete on turns often enough to wear them down.

If you are interested, you can do both. I work for a company that produces machines that tend to get integrated in automation cells for aerospace/automotive parts manufacturers. As the field technician, it's my job to know how our machines play with everything else in that cell so I can fix issues for our customers when things break (and they will break, eventually, for a wide variety of reasons which creates a weird fragility to the whole automation system, but that's a different post).

This requires that I know what's going on mechanically _and_ at what expected behavior of the embedded systems should be (PLCs, device firmware/software packages, network security, etc).

Like you, I was pushed to go to college after high school, only to find out later that college is an industry, not an institution, so the rhetoric about not being able to get a good job without a degree was really just a sales pitch to get my lower-class parents to take out loans they could not afford so me, a veritable child at the time, could make a major decision that would set the tone for the rest of my life. It's a lot of systemically flawed Capitalistic nonsense.

In my field, we _desperately_ need people who understand (at the very least) basic electronics and mechanics, but also the software side of things. The amount of techs from other companies, companies with a much larger and more public reputation than my employers mind you, that do not seem to have a grasp on the basics is astounding and alarming. But even the competent electromechanical techs are weak on how the software or firmware functions, which is often a big key to the "wtf is wrong" puzzle.

I'm not even a coder/programmer, but I know enough to get by and make effort to learn something about programming embedded systems or software for Controls every day, and while I am still an amateur, my god, it gives me quite the edge over a lot of the other guys.

You don't have to be trapped at a desk. Mechanical aptitude can be developed, but it starts by not being afraid to take the screws out and seeing what you can just figure out. The pride you mention comes from that, but you also touched on something else; tangible results. Believe me, I have respect for devs who can create a piece of software from start to finish, but when I manage to bring a slag-crusted horrifyingly-neglected machine back to live after a catastrophic failure that had Automaker X sweating $10000 bullets, it is a real thrill, one that infuses me with great energy for days, sometimes weeks. That's why your friend likes sharing those stories!

> Max security or just peace of mind and a fast machine

Or, to avoid making that choice at all, just don't use Windows.

Soon enough, my Pi-Hole is going to be like the containment unit in the old Ghostbusters cartoon; some weird quantum realm where a bunch of captured nonsense things just sit around and babble at each other all day.

I mean, if we ignore the knee-jerk reaction of "more taxes = bad" we can ask some reasonable questions such as:

1. What would these new taxes go toward funding? Better roads? Charging stations? Improved transportation infrastructure of any kind?

2. If the funds will be allocated toward something worthwhile, is $250/year really that much to ask? I can tell you that I would not miss it but for the day I had to pay it.

If adding a $200+ fee is supposed to be a deterrent to people buying EVs, it's a stupid number to start with. By owning the EV, you're going to save ten times that not buying gasoline each year. Or is the plan to get this passed at this low dollar amount, then turn around and raise it to $2000/year?

Not that I want to deter people from buying EVs.

This is the Liberal Way; complain about the state of things, but when it comes time to do the work and change it, they are suddenly nowhere to be found unless you go to the various social media enclaves where they sure do talk up a big storm of moral outrage, mostly well-reasoned and justified. The problem is they wait for someone else to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

The Fascist Right does not, which is why they are winning this War of Ideology.

They're paying attention to Signal now because Hegseth doesn't know his ass from his elbow when it comes to tech and secrecy, instead acting like someone who has watched too many action films and thinks those are just like real life. The problem is not Signal. The problem is incompetence. Plain and simple. Because he blindly added persons to the group that probably didn't belong there, we now have the infamous "we have OPSEC" line, but instead of questioning why this idiot still has a job anywhere near the intelligence agencies, we're wasting our breath scrutinizing what is easily one of the best opens for secure comes if the user understands how it works.

Now that you mention it, the article does read like curated content. I suppose a piece does not have to be directly selling anything to be an advertisement. Fluff can do just as good a job by simply making readers feel good about a brand.

Maybe, but nobody can package and sell you fasting.

Hmm. That's not been my experience, both as a factory worker and former materials salesman (most of which were foams used as insulation). In the factories, the walls are typically concrete block with hollows (sometimes called cinder block) and I can tell you first-hand that in our Winters, when the temp hits below 32F consistently, those walls are very, very cold, as is the inside of the shop despite the efforts of our +250kBtuH heaters and keeping the bay doors closed as is common practice in the Winter months.

In my travels to other factories in the Southern parts of the US, we encounter the opposite problem. Brick shops are almost always too hot despite reasonable ventilation and climate control measures. There is definitely something to be said about where the structure in is the world when it comes to choosing appropriate building materials.

I recommend making time to build at least one piece of furniture. I did not use hyperwood principles, but I built my own computer desk and workbench to my specifications and I cannot imagine ever buying a premade work surface again. It is rewarding, helps you think about a project from both a production and use-case perspective, and unlike my programming/tech troubleshooting efforts, the results are very tangible and something I can touch and see every day, lending to a lasting sense of accomplishment.

Brick (r value ~0.80) reflects about as much heat as plywood (r value ~0.68). Alone, they are both terrible insulators, which is why we use air gap and better materials like fiber or vermiculite to fill the walls.

That's an excellent additional thing to consider and I'm a bit mad that I neglected it since I have accidentally been that guy.

My job requires me to wear hi-vis (as well as other PPE) and it is crazy how little security pays attention to me in some of the very-big-name plants I visit, often with a laptop bag full of flash drives and a bunch of other tools that allow me to get into the machines.

Early in this part of my career, I found myself in a very large plant for the first time, and my escort got pulled away on some other task (I now expect this to happen since it's such a common occurrence), leaving me to fix the machine I was working on. The place was the size of a small town, and I needed to use the restroom, but nobody was in the vicinity to ask, so I did my best to follow the floor markings and signs. Found it, but took a wrong turn coming back and found myself in a completely different area. Since I was new, I tried to find my way back without asking anyone I saw because I did not want to look stupid, but nobody stopped me, questioned me, etc.

Probably one of the best lessons in social engineering is looking like you're supposed to be there.

I also remember these books if anyone else was fond of them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Adventure

I have a few books from the Micro Adventures series and they can still be found on eBay for around $5 - $10 USD each, I think. Fun times, indeed!

> Possessing the tools that could be used to commit a crime is not necessarily a crime in and of itself!

While I do agree 1000%, I also want people to be careful with this thinking since I have gotten in some minor trouble in the past. Always assume the authority questioning you can and will create whatever narrative they wish, that it will be accepted, and that your own reasoning will likely be used against you.

I will always encourage exploration and curiosity in tech, but if we stick with the Flipper Zero example, there's a few things one should keep in mind, regardless of the jurisdiction they're in:

* Don't carry it around unless you intend to use it.

* Read all documentation before you start practicing, then practice being subtle.

* Taking a note from my outdoorsy side, adopt the "leave no trace" ethos.

* Pay attention to the effect your presence and actions have on the environment and your target and how that might be interpreted by an outside observer, then take action to mitigate suspicion.

These apply to lots of devices, everything from your disposable smartphone to a cheap RFID card copier from Temu.

Our eagerness sometimes gets the best of us, especially new-comers, and we want to jump to the part where we can be like the hackers we see in tv and video games. There's a reason those guys are fictional characters. Innocuous actions or not, the perception of the authority questioning you is all that will matter, in the end.

I'm not even a tin-hatter and that is immediately where my mind went when I saw the headline. Vance and his ilk are so incredibly near-sighted that it would bolster them to think they could plot such a thing and play it off as a coincidence.

The only time it's too late to resist totalitarianism in its various forms is when you're dead.

Have you considered switching to Nebula? A lot of the YouTubers I like and tend to trust are also active on that platform. Will there is still some fluff, Nebula does seem to be far more discerning about the content it hosts.

I'm getting the impression that the book will not be organized in any real linear or iterative order, just sections that allow you to jump around and read what you want.

I don't think you read my whole comment, but carry on.

Paying more =/= quality, unfortunately. Believe me, I wish it were otherwise. Don't be afraid to open up those battery banks now and then if you want to be sure, put a meter on them and scope them if you know how, but you'll find what I typically find; a lot of the same cheap components all wrapped in a pretty package. But because one came from China and one was "made" in the USA, you'll pay a lot more for one than you will the other. You can probably guess which.

I say that as someone who works in manufacturing as a controls and repair tech for industrial IoT and electromechanical integrations (I wear a lot of hats, long story). Trusted brands like Rockwell, Siemens, etc aren't really doing anything that much different than their cheaper competitors and they know it. It's a big part of the reason why their business model includes aggressive pushes to keep their customer "in their world," so to speak, trying to be a one-stop-shop for all their control needs when good number of applications really don't need anything beyond a Koyo Click PLC you can get used for $50 on eBay instead of the $1200 A/B unit. Heck, I've seen automation cells that could have the PLC swapped out with a $20 Arduino and nobody would know the difference except the controls guy. I'd love to say this over-priced cult-like hooey is restricted to the automation industry, but it's definitely not, and bleeds all over a variety of consumer industries, especially those of personal electronics. We are getting ripped off left and right, but if there's a fruit logo or some inventor's name we recognize on the packaging, we're okay taking out a second mortgage to afford it.

In the end, the quality standards in many cases are just a lot of hot air, CYA statements and sales BS. Price is really dictated by the customer's perception of the product, and when you create that trust, legitimate or not, you get to price your product much higher than your competitor, regardless if your product is _actually_ better than theirs. They get away with this because, for the most part, customers don't take the screws out and actually look inside.

Now, that is not to say my experience is always true. There are plenty of companies that make their quality standards and testing pretty transparent so the consumer can review them at their leisure and make a choice. I'm just saying most do not, which creates a lot of shadowy areas where many companies can get away with things simply because they know nobody is looking and taking their word at face value.

I did an experiment for my blog awhile back that never got written up (lack of time, mostly), but it is was just me ordering about $30US of stuff from Temu to see why they were so aggressively marketing themselves, the app auto-installing on my Samsung smartphone I have for work, etc.

The experience left me feeling very, very dirty.

The items in question were some small fire sticks for camping, a couple of solar portable power banks, and two small canvas backpacks. Each arrived in separate packages on different days, all shipped from what appeared to be the same CA facility, so right off the bat, we're two strikes against environmental friendliness.

The items were, as you'd expect, utter trash.

- Fire Sicks: these are those magnesium bars shaped like a little key that you strike with a piece of metal to create a spark, this allowing you to maybe start a fire. Now, I've been starting camp fires without flame for most of my life (probably the only thing I took away from my time in the Boy Scouts), so I've seen plenty of junk products that claim to do the same, but these take the cake. The actual "magnesium" bar was coated in a thick black paint for some reason? And the striking tool is a flimsy piece of aluminum coated in orange paint. Useless. I had to use a bit of sandpaper to remove the paint, giving access to the metal parts of both tools, and even then, the spark created was barely hot enough to catch a pile of dead leaves on fire. I don't know what they actually used to make these, but don't assume they will save your butt in a survival situation

- "Solar" Battery Bank: these are just regular USB power banks with a an extremely inefficient photovoltaic panel glued on. It is only capable of powering the green "charging" LED but definitely does not recharge the power bank itself. After I discharged them to see how long it would take to recharge with the solar panel, they sat in direct sunlight for 3 full days before I gave up with no additional power stored. However, they're not a total loss. They still work as you'd expect a regular USB power bank would, rechargeable with a typical micro-USB cord with two outputs to charge your devices. Didn't notice any weird voltages when charging my stuff, either. At the very least, they will not end up in a landfill because I can make use of them on camping trips.

- Canvas Backpack: the stitching is a joke, so don't expect to put anything heavy in these. My wife sews as a hobby, ended up deconstructing them and reinforcing them with some proper canvas material that made them way more rugged and able to hold gear (I use one for fishing magnet crap and the other for rock-hounding tools) but we could not help but wonder just how little the workers were paid to paid these garbage bags and what those conditions are like.

Their business model is built entirely on selling you garbage you do not need that will likely just be thrown away after a few (if any) uses unless you are more diy, willing to try to find ways to make things work or repurpose them. The entire shopping experience is gamified with spinning wheels and lightning deals, coupons falling from the sky, etc, to the point where it was ridiculous and intrusively preventing from searching for things I wanted to order. It felt like their target audience was the old ladies I see spending 8 hours a day glue to the chair of a slot machine in the local casinos. It was so absurd I felt like was in a cartoon about consumerism and actually experienced guilt for having conducted the experiment.

Correct.

But...

We _do know_ that companies are typically driven by greed and profit, so if it is possible for them to replace their human workers with something that does a similar level of work but also does not require a paycheck, we would be absolute fools to assume that they won't do everything in their power to make that a reality, regardless of the understood reliability of LLMs.