mSak

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mSak
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  • Critical security flaw is exposing older Wemo Smart Plugs to hackers

    mSakmSak
    diz_geek said:
    Absolutely inexcusable to not fix this. There are enough of these plugs functioning perfectly fine to consider these a “dead product” for a security flaw fix. 

    Totally agree. This is absolutely inexcusable. Given that a quick firmware upgrade will protect others (and also with the potential to reduce e-waste) Belkin should be obligated to fix this. This is one reason I'm very wary of so-called "smart" devices because iteration after iteration they seem to quickly lose life. I mean, when has an ordinary electric outlet come to end of life so quickly? Not typically and it can be in one's home for decades without needing to change it. But these e-devices? yeah, the plug aspect may work but its main reason to be goes kaput.

    Not acceptable.
    diz_geekFileMakerFellerwatto_cobra

  • Two good car antitheft measures are AirTags and stick shifts

    mSakmSak
    mikethemartian said:
    It has to be embarrassing when you try to steal a car and can’t figure out how to drive it.
    I can imagine this will be increasingly more and more the case where more US folks don't know how to drive manual due to the proliferation of EVs.
    gregoriusmbaconstanglolliverradarthekatwatto_cobra

  • Apple's slower hiring allows it to avoid wave of big tech layoffs

    mSakmSak
    Rather than viewing human as "losses and costs", how about we view them as investments? That when days are not as sunny, cutting cost doesn't mean cutting some humans out of the picture. Capitalism has a yucky way to treating human beings like inanimate objects: take when you want, throw away when you want. With climate change, we too are learning that there is a cost in taking and throwing away as if the only "cost" to think about is the immediacy when there is a whole period of the future ahead that will have consequences. In fact, one should go so far as to argue that human beings LIKE animate or living things, and inanimate things (like minerals) are not just there to take willy nilly. We have to think long term not just grab madly and then throw away without thought.

    Is capitalism day-by-day looking like a long and tired way of doing things that we should be abandoning? Yeah, I say so.
    muthuk_vanalingamronnFileMakerFellerwilliamlondon

  • Banks teaming up to fight Apple Wallet & PayPal

    mSakmSak
    I hope this doesn't mean that those banks planning to use this new system means they won't be supporting the Apple Wallet any more as this would mean a very discombobulating experience for Apple end-users. Imagine Card A is in the Apple Wallet which you double-click to get to, but Card B is in X Wallet which you have to launch an app to use. That just makes me want to throw out the whole digital wallet concept and not use it. 

    Right now, some stores like Harris Teeter (a grocery store) has its own wallet and if you want to pay by your mobile phone, that is the only way it would accept digital credit or debit cards. I've hated it and do not use their wallet. 

    A fundamental reason I don't use Harris Teeter's own wallet system (or any other app's wallet system) is because you actually have to store your actual credit card number with them. F**K that! That's just another layer of weak security. In the days of early internet, I would store my credit card info with merchants, but no longer. Have we not learnt that these systems are not that secured? Apple's Wallet system, at least for the Apple Card, doesn't store the actual credit number, so there's some layer of protection there.
    FileMakerFeller

  • LastPass password vaults crackable for $100, alleges 1Password

    mSakmSak
    NDW said:
    Absolutely, there are so many apps that require subscriptions that people just cannot afford them all. I bought 1Password 4 then when I had the cash I upgraded to v7. There is no way I’m going to add another monthly charge to my bank balance. When v7 no longer works for me I’ll jump to another, one time purchase, app. Failing that Keychain passwords will work for me. 1Password has lost me as a recurring customer. 

    Exactly as you said! It is very hard to keep track of these kinds of expenses. And, even if one were to argue that it is not hard to keep track, there is absolutely a psychological burden. For instance, I find it absolutely burdensome if I had to keep remembering that, oh I have a subscription to 1Password, DEVONThink, Scrivener, Gentler Streak, WorkOutdoors, HealthMate etc. etc. (btw, some of these apps mentioned here are NOT under subscription model; just using examples of apps that I have or still use). That's insane!

    Currently, I have zero software under a subscription model but I do have some services under subscription model which is so-far acceptable because they are providing an ongoing service that I don't already have. This includes iCloud storage, newspaper subscriptions to about 3 different sources (NYT, Washington Post, Apple News+). That's it! Of course, I'm not counting ones that almost anyone who is housed would have such as electricity, gas, water, etc. :)

    But yeah, it is absolutely insane to keep track of software subscriptions. Too many! We have even come to the point of ridiculousness of monetization when companies like BMW are charging their customers a subscription fee for using heated car seats (in certain regions only). Like how the F are heated seats a service at all that requires BMW to provide ongoing maintenance?
    watto_cobra