It’s not that they now changed something with data collection and sharing within the update. They always did it, all services free of charge do it and most that cost money likely take the extra money as well.

It’s now that they tell you in a short and informative way (1st sentence) and ask for your consent.

What’s really infuriating, are websites and services that have an “Accept All” button but no “Reject All”. Instead you have to manage individually and sometimes I have to flip 30 separate buttons to disable data sharing, where they even call advertisers a ‘necessary 3rd party’ requiring interaction on top.

I think the article only mentions the prices in the Google store, which are way more expensive than other shops. The Pixel 8 128GB is currently available at 550€.

So the Pixel 8a at 570€ would be the more expensive model.

As you didn’t read the article:

“This move seems driven by the government’s interest in collecting and centralizing biometric data for identification, tracking, and surveillance purposes,” he said. Omar agreed: “Probably to keep track of the refugees.”

They hand out SIM cards to track those SIM cards. Using a certain messaging app on the phone or not doesn’t change SIM card tracking within the network.

Especially living in a city, this looks interesting to me. ‘Fast’ charging I’ve seen was in the range 30-60 min but then it’s like the phone, from about 20% up to 80%. So living in a city, I’d have to wait for half an hour for half the battery.

With a swap-station, it could be nearly as fast as a fossil fuel stop. About 2 minutes for a 0% to 100% stop.

This also allows for smaller batteries, for smaller cars, for lighter cars. You don’t need to carry a lot of overall range if you can swap/refill to 100% in 2 minutes.

As the prices are mentioned in US-Dollar, this offer is likely only available in the USA. E.g. I’m currently getting a Black Friday offer for the full price of 1.099€ for the Pixel 8 Pro but a 100€ store voucher is included.

It’s disappointing that they only exclude the information use regarding ads.

So they will still track everything users do and profile them, just like any other free user. And they can sell to everyone else who pays for user data (e.g. AI learning, market research etc.). With that wording, they could even sell to ad companies, if they e.g. use the data for some algorithm optimisation in their tech department. So they leave the door open to keep selling the data to 3rd parties, while already charging the user ‘starting at’ 12.99€.

In a way kinda. It’s problematic though that China is using Uyghur forced labour to produce cheap solar panels.

This of course allows them to undercut any other manufacturer, driving them out of the market. So the delivery chain is getting kinda small and the products have forced labour attached to them.

“China uses Uyghur forced labour to make solar panels, says report” Published 14 May 2021 (Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-57124636)

The article is quite harmless compared to the silly title.

But the main argument is that Android has too many settings and options where users don’t even know what they are good for. And with further development it’s getting more features and more options.

That seems to be a very minor and rather luxury problem to have more and more features and options.

On the PC, there are lots of programs that already use a short list of options available and then a checkbox with ‘I’m an expert’ or ‘Advanced settings’ to show them all. More settings means more freedom for the user to chose from. Hiding them would be a simple task. But just because they exist and are shown, this doesn’t mean that anyone has to click on anything without even knowing what it does. So it’s not really a problem besides reading 3 more words in the list of settings but not doing anything with it.

For options I don’t know, I just use a web search in case I’m interested. Or I just ignore them as long as I don’t have a problem related to the topic.

In the 1st step, maybe a year ago or so, they updated the Kasa app (v 3?) to only function with account and while being logged in at TP-Link servers to use your devices. And in now the 2nd step, they integrate Kasa into Tapo, which was always account-bound. The 3rd step is then probably the discontinuation of the Kasa app.

Kasa was their more premium product line, that was usable without internet connection and without manufacturer account - which is why I paid more to get those instead of the cheap Tapo products. But now my ‘smart’ power outlets are in a box in the basement collecting dust and I cannot recommend anyone to spend money on TP-Link smart products, as they remove features after sale.

This article is only about the branch “T-Mobile US” but not mentioning it. And yes according to Wikipedia there are about 70,000 employees. The parent company is listed with about 210,000 employees.

You should get/use one external drive for backups that you store separately (can be your 2nd or a new one). Having two separate internal drives for backup is not safe, as the system can damage data on both at the same time (e.g. malware/encryption, data corruption etc.).

RAID is for availability/uptime. I like to compare it to a shop system at the checkout. You can’t have shop payments halted if one drive fails, so you have a RAID. It allows you to repair/replace while the system keeps running and your business keeps operating. In a large business, every hour of downtime can cost you hundreds of thousand of currency, so RAID gets even more sophisticated. Downtime is not an option.

At home this is up to you. RAID can save you some hassle and grant performance, but likely costs you more money than it saves you. Backup is key, so have at least one separately stored copy and depending on the importance of your data, also have an off-site backup.

The siren system was just not used, I didn’t see any reports that it failed.

Already days ago right after the fire, it was reported the fire services communicated to the public they had the fire under control. So it makes sense to not use the emergency siren system in such a case. But then suddenly - according to media and fire fighter reports - the fire started spreading super fast and it was no longer under control. But then it was too late for many.

As per the intro, this whole article is only about southern Europe with extreme heat. Same for the solar output, which across Europe fell in July 2023 compared to 2022. It’s just higher in southern countries compared to 2022.

In most of Europe, this summer is cold, wet and windy. So for most of Europe, without that much sun in summer, it’s the very windy conditions causing the cold summer, that pumps most of the renewable electricity. Just last week, wind generated 22% more electricity compared to the week in 2022.

So overall it’s split and respectively the other renewable technology having large gains, depending on where in Europe you look.

Those are various ideas regarding charging problematic.

I’m still on the range topic that people apparently see as the main problem with EVs but I don’t. I’d be even fine with less range than the current top models offer.

Regarding the range problem, that is my personal conspiracy theory. It makes a lot of sense but no way that I or anyone can ever prove it.

Theory: Range was never a real problem and car manufacturers seeded that topic to journalists/press, as the companies already had the solution available before communicating the problem.

More range is done with a larger batteries, usually higher quality cells/chemicals. So making the car bigger and more expensive. That’s what manufacturers desire to do and sell anyways.

It never was or is a real problem. They can just charge the customers more and it’s solved.

As I’ve already seen posted, the real problem that cannot be easily solved is the charging time. Right now I ‘charge’ 0% to 100% in 1-2 minutes. No preparation, no special fuel, no special fees or subscriptions, no fuel stations only for specific brands, no apps, summer or winter same 1-2 min, no strain on the fuel tank by filling fast, sometimes waiting lines at the stations but they move quickly with 1-2 min per vehicle.

I don’t see battery or charging tech anywhere close to that in the next 5, 10 or even 20 years.

That’s hard to advance, with decades of research behind us and decades ahead, so car manufacturers focus on their favorite topic: range, where they can just throw their customers money at to solve it immediately.

Hm I have not heard about such an issue so far but I also don’t have as many UPS as you.

I see you holding a red cable which could be +. When I switch UPS batteries, I do it the same way as it’s recommended for car batteries to avoid sparks/arcs. Remove - (black) first, as it won’t spark/arc. Then remove + (red) as it can’t get a circuit closed any more, so also no spark/arc.

When plugging a car battery in, it’s the other way around. + (red) goes in first and only then you connect - (black) to avoid spark/arc for both connectors again that way.

I’m quite disappointed by most comments so far talking about RAID and data loss. That is not what RAID is for at all.

RAID is for uptime/availability. When a drive fails, the system will keep running and working. For companies, that would lose thousands of currency per hour with a downtime, this is super important that the system keeps running. At home, it’s convenience that you can order a new drive and replace without hours of setting up and copying before you can watch the next episode again.

Backups are against data loss. If a single drive fails, a RAID fails or you get some encryption malware or an employee destroys stuff on purpose, then everything is destroyed. It doesn’t matter if it was a single, any RAID, HDD or SSD. You order a new drive, make a new volume and restore the data from your backup.

You can add drives later and you can also change the RAID type later when adding a drive.

Online RAID Level Migration supports the following RAID migrations:

Single drive to RAID 1

RAID 1 to RAID 5

RAID 5 to RAID 6

But you can only migrate to a different RAID within that scheme when adding 1 drive, as the new drive will be used to create that new RAID level. Changing the RAID type otherwise will require making every fresh and all data will be removed.

QNAP HowTo: https://www.qnap.com/en/how-to/tutorial/article/online-raid-level-migration

Hm but that adds a lot more complexity, as then every single network item has to have an UPS as well, right? Certainly not a problem for a company with server room and racks. But at home in a house, the hardware might be spread out across rooms and floors. If there is a switch somewhere without UPS, it will cut off certain clients from receiving the signal via network upon power outage.

Is this doable with one UPS? I’m thinking of the signal wire so the device knows it’s running on battery and has to shut itself down sooner or later. We have 2 (who need shutdown, +1 can just lose power I guess) different devices mentioned here.

I have one older APC UPS on the PC and one newer Eaton UPS on the NAS. Each UPS has a signal port with a cable connected to the main device that runs some software to notice when it’s on battery and supposed to shut itself down after X minutes battery time.

The NAS UPS also has the router, phone and zigbee hub connected, but only the NAS will shut itself down, the rest will just lose power at some point, but those don’t matter.

How do you get the server and NAS to both get the signal and both shut down after X minutes? Is there a specific UPS features required?