notpushkin

> all you need to change it is a majority of hashpower

Or rather the majority of actual users. Hard forks occur because people install and use the updated clients. If 90% of the miners decide to mine on the “bad” chain, but 90% of users switch to the “good” one instead, the “good” would likely still win out in terms of market cap and recognition (and the miners would naturally have to follow).

It’s a weird one!

  [ro.build.description]: [msm8916_32_512-userdebug 4.4.4 KTU84P eng.huanghonghuan.20250226 test-keys]
  [ro.build.sw.custom.version]: [UFI003S_V03_ZX_DD_250226]

Interesting, I haven’t encountered this problem yet.

> non latest *firmware

https://github.com/FreeXR/exploits is a good starting point for that. I think replacing the Android userland would be the tricky part here.

It seems those modems run Android 4.x with the stock messaging app: https://github.com/u0d7i/uz801#screenshots

But I guess you can install a custom messaging app that would sync the messages? (If there’s one that still supports such an old version of Android)

This is really nice! It so happens that I’ve just bought a $10 4G dongle [1], guess I’ll have to check what’s inside now :-)

[1]: like this: https://img.joomcdn.net/ea91b4418997d83d802339fad0bbcf878b9d...

---

Aside, but it appears some MSM8916-based dongles run Android UI despite having no display: https://github.com/u0d7i/uz801#screenshots

This probably depends on your particular dongle model. Back in 3G era, some carriers offered USB modems with SMS locked out in the firmware, but you could flash a firmware from a different operator (also install their variant of software, the only difference being the added SMS tab and a different skin) and then you can text and even use USSD! (No calls, though.)

> I still like a few AI passes over it to tighten it up. LOL

Go ahead, it’s open source: https://github.com/bomfather/agent

I’m going by my own experience (Estonia) and stories by my friends (mostly Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK). Glad to hear it’s better in Ireland! I’ve also heard some good things about Poland.

***

From my experience in Estonia, any specialty care routinely has month+ waiting list. One example: I was trying to get diagnosed for ADHD, and a couple clinics were ready to make an appointment for me... where I could take the test, then wait a couple months until the actual psychiatrist can see me.

Then there’s dental care. I’ve had a chat with a nice girl who had, like, really bad teeth problems. Asked why she doesn’t get it fixed, and sure enough it’s nearly impossible to get an appointment on state insurance, and paying out of pocket was way too expensive for her. (We’ve joked about getting her a Russian visa so she could just go to St. Petersburg like I’ve been doing for my dental problems; of course, that was before the full-blown Russo-Ukrainian war.)

GP and emergency care are great. One night out I’ve twisted an ankle, decided it was not a big deal, so I got home, and woke up in the morning barely able to walk. Took an Uber, got to the nearest emergency room and got an x-ray and everything in maybe a couple hours. I haven’t been on the insurance plan at the moment, so at first I was quoted around 400 €, but after some back-and-forth I’ve learned that for same day accidents the rate is lower. Told them it was at 1am, so the final price was 5 € :-)

***

I don’t doubt it’s way worse in the US (never been!) My point is rather that regulation doesn’t really help here. We need to make incentives to have more affordable options, and make it easier to get to the market.

I’m now seeing a psychiatrist in Thailand for around $45 a session, and sure, everything is cheaper in Thailand, but the best part is I never have to wait more than a week to get a slot, and it’s all online. The most difficult part for me is going to Thailand every couple of months to pick up the meds.

Galaxy Tab 2 had builtin telephony! I’ve used the 10-inch model in my high school and it was great.

European healthcare sucks. Waiting for your appointment for months is not unheard of. (I can’t compare EU and US, but my guess is the problems are largely the same, just less pronounced.)

You pay Apple more money so that they repair your phone. You don’t pay them so that you can repair it.

Man, I really need to get a label printer. There’s been a whole bunch of stuff I’d like to label already, but I’ve had no idea you could also change the font.

Still doesn’t mean they’re not selling the data?

Neural networks.

I’ve thought about just putting it on the connector itself. It may look stupid though.

The USB-A half is helpful sometimes. I’ve soldered mine to a barrel plug and I’m using it to power various 5V devices now.

For those CD-Rs that you have used, make sure you make a backup soon-ish – they degrade over time!

I’ve cut up a broken USB cable and use the wires to tie up... other wires usually, for cables I have velcro, but I think it could work there as well.

Heatshrink?

> because as it stands I have to pull out my little LED cable tester thing

You can keep it in the same box!

Jimmy Wales is the co-founder and president of Fandom, so I think it’s in a pretty similar position to WP.com in that regard.

It’s been called Equal Earth since 2018. The word “equal” here (likely?) refers to the fact it’s an equal-area projection, although it could be politically charged.

Alipay the wallet app is closer to PayPal. But they also have Alipay+ which connects a lot of different wallets and banks: https://www.alipayplus.com/mobile-payment-provider-list/

My first thought exactly.

  <img src="https://gettogether.dev/post?name=user&text=hello%20hn" />

Haven’t had that luxury in Russia. Though being a script kiddie I’ve set up a shortcode just for myself (there were these “paid content SMS as a Service” thingies that forwarded SMS text to an HTTP endpoint you provide).

.com is probably okay, but like .name, it’s also managed by Verisign. .org is run by a non-profit, PIR, so I’d argue it’s a safer choice (especially since they already got the slap on a wrist for trying to sell it off [1] and likely won’t attempt it again for the time being).

Both of these are in the US jurisdiction. If you’re not prepared to sue in the US if somebody screw you over, the ccTLD route is probably better, and the country you live in is usually a good choice indeed (unless you live in, say, Russia, in which case the government might be the ones doing the screwing-over).

[1]: https://icannwiki.org/.org#Proposed_Sale_to_Ethos_Capital

Judging by his username (strenholme) and the contents of https://samiam.org/ (Sam Trenholme's webpage), he does indeed!

Tangential, but why call out Google specifically? PSL is widely used: https://publicsuffix.org/learn/

I’m using microG without signing in. Could you tell me a bit about what apps you’re using that you’re having trouble with?

A good way to sidestep all those issues is getting your “everyday” apps from F-Droid :-) I’m only using Aurora Store for things like banking, taxi, or food delivery apps, and those are usually working great. Some banks are more trigger happy (shame on you, Revolut) while others seem to be okay. I really only miss Google Wallet.

microG folks are working on Play Integrity, but it’s an ongoing battle: https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/issues/2967