rockstarmode

I'm not sure what you're saying. If you write software for Apple mobile devices, you're creating it for iOS. If you write for basically any other smartphone, which represent nearly 75% of all devices worldwide, then you create for Android.

In the US they probably have a huge number of potential customers on iOS, so bringing experts and designing for their iOS experience makes sense, as you point out. But saying that platform is the most popular worldwide would be factually incorrect. You don't write apps for hardware (there might be some small tweaks to take advantage of available hardware like on Pixels), you design for the platform.

Also, it appears that the design for iOS is sound, and OP just fundamentally misunderstands how to share specific sets of photos with Google Photos.

None of this is to defend Google's data collection policies.

we aren't in college to learn a specific skill so much as we are there to learn how to be taught.

I really like this idea, but prefer one small change: I think it's best to learn how to learn.

Learning how to be taught is part of that, and a large part. Understanding when to absorb information, rely on experts, and apply yourself until you improve is fundamental. You won't get any arguments from me there.

But being taught is only one facet of learning. Sometimes experts aren't really experts, or don't have the learner's best interests at heart, or omit things to protect their own interests or ideology.

Learning how to learn involves fostering fundamental curiosity, not being afraid to fail, asking all the questions even dumb ones or those with seemingly obvious answers. Finding out "why" something works instead of just "how". Fundamentally curious people who learn as a habit tend to also develop a scientific method-like approach to evaluating incoming information: "Ok, this is the information I'm presented with, let's assume the opposite, can I prove the null hypothesis?" This acts as a pretty good bullshit detector, or at the very least trains learners to be skeptical, to trust but verify, which is enormously important in the age of misinformation.

Being taught generally tapers off as someone gets older, or becomes an expert. Learning never needs to taper off, so long as your brain still works.

singular most popular smartphone

In the US, but worldwide Android leads 74% to Apple's 25%

Sauce

Again, you make some great points, especially about profit motive and lack of strong consumer rights.

If I want a smoker I can monitor on the fly I will look at something like that thermometer paired with a standard steel smoker that will last decades.

When I'm not going old school with my stick burner I run a Yoder YS640S with a Fireboard controller. The Yoder is an extremely high quality pellet smoker which given proper maintenance will last longer than I'll be alive. It and the Fireboard are designed, built, and shipped from the US (where I live), which is also nice. I don't know exactly how Fireboard runs their cloud services, but from looking at the privacy policy and sniffing the unit's traffic (a few years ago) it looks like Google Cloud and Analytics. They also disclose that if you use the Fireboard outside of the US, that your data will be stored and processed in the US, which is interesting, but may be misleading.

Fireboard is an interesting company, they started out by making temperature monitors and blowers for retrofitting into home built smokers, which I think is pretty cool.

I had a fire unrelated to my smoker which destroyed the smart bits of the Yoder, and both Yoder and Fireboard customer support were excellent to work with to help me rebuild my smoker.

I'm not stanning for either of these companies, perhaps just explaining why I've opted to make some tradeoffs for the convenience this particular product offers.

If I need to adjust it remotely I will look at why I need this option first: is it realistic that I would just adjust it without checking the contents?

Yes. I'm primarily looking at internal temp curves. Sometimes that prompts a simple pit temp change, sometimes it means I need to interact with the contents like spraying or wrapping. I've cooked often enough on this unit to know what the contents look like and how they react to smoke given the internal and pit temp curves.

Generally speaking I agree with your take on garbage consumer products being designed to extract money from the consumer before crapping out early and being thrown away. I think I've done well to select the products I have to keep that from being the reality with my pellet smoker.

Depending on the internal temperature curve I may need to change cook temps in the pit, which I can do remotely. I also monitor the curve to determine when to spray and wrap, and other activities, depending on what is smoking.

You make some good points.

I live a mile and a half from the ocean and run my smoker for long periods. It's really nice to monitor and change the temp while I'm drinking the beer you refer to from the sand. I make a few quick runs back up the hill to tend to things, but mostly I'm free to be elsewhere for the 12-ish hours the smoker is running. It's really nice, not a hard requirement, but really convenient.

I pack a couple of extra reusable grocery bags and put heavy stuff in them, then hang them from the stands as close to the ground as I can get without them touching the ground. Also, try to set up your screen where it's protected from the wind, any amount of breeze is going to be distracting.

The projector I have came with a remote and a full Google TV that plugs into one of the HDMI ports. Sometimes I plug in my game console, or cast to it from my phone, it's really flexible.

I recommend a laser projector since they tend to be brighter and you don't have to worry about the light source burning out. Outdoor movie nights have to compete with ambient light no matter how dark it is outside. You'll also probably be projecting into a suboptimal surface, so the extra brightness helps. Here's what I have, it's small and works great for our outdoor showings:

https://epson.com/For-Home/Projectors/Home-Cinema/Epson-EpiqVision-Mini-EF21-Portable-Smart-Laser-Projector-%E2%80%93-Opal-Green/p/V11HB35320

Hook that up to WiFi and a Bluetooth speaker and you're money.

For a screen I use possibly the cheapest projection screen I could find, then I hang it using two movable tripods which I think are normally used for backgrounds like at school picture day. Something like this:

https://www.adorama.com/fpbs10.html

Everything packs up into a medium sized bag, and can run on one of those big cooler sized battery banks when we're car camping.

In the US we call that style of grill a Santa Maria, a style popularized in central California, I believe by the Spanish colonists.

bitwarden became proprietary a while ago

I'm interested in hearing more about this. I recall there being a mixup in packaging and people asked a bunch of questions about licensing. But as far as I can tell the client and server code is still available as open source (under various licenses) and the repos are frequently updated.

This is an honest question, I promise. I haven't found anything that points to regular users being pushed to anything proprietary, and no new discussions since late 2024.

I guess it depends on what you consider passable.

It's loud enough on 25% to disturb my neighbors, it's clear and defined enough for me to watch normally and hear everything at 7%. There's no observable delay, and the installation is clean enough to make my wife happy. It wasn't cheap, but I wouldn't consider it expensive.

Some films are meant to be watched in large formats with insane audio that just can't be replicated at home. The Dune movies and Oppenheimer are a few recent examples I can think of that looked incredible in 70mm IMAX. I live in a major metro area and there are only 3 screens within 50 miles capable of showing 70mm properly. I choose to go out of my way to these theaters once or twice a year, if a great film is showing.

Short of films shot and shown in a true large format there's no way you'll find me in a theater.

I'll watch content on small screens if I'm on a plane. Otherwise it's my 80" living room TV with passable surround sound.