6730b

^^^ Well, 30 usd for a year ain't too bad, surprised they propose it at all. ...anyway, w10 1809 LTSC goes to January 9, 2029 and nothing to pay.

Time for some peaceful dreaming. Skyrim - Music & Ambience - Rainy Day

! That's one positive attitude indeed 🙂

(Ref. post oct 19) The replacement (when the time comes) mx mouse did arrive. Tested, full working order. Very happy, the best mouse in the world :O)

^^^ That is a very personal task, f.ex. I could uninstall Google Maps, Gmail, Play Store (am currently only sideloading) and lots more common apps like those, would maybe \ surely be unthinkable for someone else to do the same. Get to know the phone and disable \ uninstall over time, according to one's prioritiy for the (hoped for 😮) result > privacy ? speed ? battery time ? data usage ? all those ? Lots of reading and tips available, f.ex. https://xdaforums.com/t/debloat-google-and-system-apps-and-services.4687014/ Edit: ps, if finding Appcontrol useful \ great, think about a donation to the deserveful guy who created it.

David Gilmour - Luck and Strange Tour Rehearsal

Now the fun can begin > making it MY phone, not Google's. And of course, Netguard installed > https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.faircode.netguard WIll start the clean-up soon, needs some time to locate main culprits & ascertain what to keep. If afraid of messing up a phone playing with adb (easy with command line and then switfly forgetting things), AppControl keeps track of one's actions, like disabling and uninstalling apps (which are getting backed up to pc, no need for factory reset if making some funny errors), one can save presets (for many phones) etc. ...anyone using some Android, how can one live without this :O) > https://adbappcontrol.com/en/ Edit comment: 'only' 330 stock apps on pixel 8, compared to nearer 400 on Samsungs.

Remembering as a kid, my sister used to play this song, found it so beautiful :O) so borrowed the single and played it continuously. Bee Gees - Massachusetts

Great discount on Pixel 8 Pro, got one in my hunt for camera performance and image quality. From reading tests and reviews it's way up among the best available.

Well, suddenly the Pixel 8 Pro "at a major discount" landed. Saw the 256 gb at 1\2 of current pricing in local shops (no plan\contract) = in practice 1\3 of the launch price 1 year ago! Now, that is an irresistible discount. Have fired it up without sim \ account, done the (seemingly endless nr of) updates, will just play with the setup to get the feel of the thing, later get my basic toolset of apk's onboard. Looks like got one without manufacturing defects or troubles, all working well and a very good 1st impression, both software and hardware. Great display. As for the known shortcomings of pro 8 vs my alternatives (slow charging, "not the best" battery time \ processor \ network sensitivity etc), does not interfere with my phone routines. Looking forward to using the cameras, only reason for phone-money spending. From reading bunches of tests, reviews, owner comments, am expecting a good dose of satisfaction.

Enjoying the breadth & variations in this topic, f.ex. from Vivaldi to Beast :O)

In Flames - Foregone

🤩😁🤩 Small things in life can make big happiness :O) Found a nice Logitech mx518 after looking for a long time. SH online in good shape, should be in the post tomorrow, to replace my 10 years (?) old one, that has been through many repairs and salvage work to keep it going, now falling more or less apart (but there will be some spare parts to keep). Such a great mouse, ergonomically & superb++ tracking on any kind of surface. Over the years there was several iterations with different names, have owned (and worn out) all of them. My old one, and the new one.

What a stupid, needless, uesless mess, must be some poisonous ghost having taken posession of Musk's inflated ego :O) Or too much \ lack of medication, who knows. "as X's value tanks lower than ever—reportedly worth 80 percent less than when Musk bought it" https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/ex-twitter-execs-push-for-200m-severance-as-elon-musk-runs-x-into-ground/

A dose of "Gothic Dark Doom Metal" lol (excuse the vocals...) Wine from Tears - I'm Fine

Here's about a similar kind of supplier, been in the business for a very long time. What I got from them worked fine for me. Large selection of their pricelist in the article. https://www.phonandroid.com/jusqua-62-de-reduction-sur-godeal24-offre-folle-sur-microsoft-windows-11-pro-a-partir-de-1355-e-office-2021-pro-a-partir-de-2331-e.html

Need for some Rant and Anger ! Not about Dell... but vaguely related. Previous Dell small batt shows signs of fatigue now after heavy use, all normal, so now ditching xtra hd space to fill up with large 97wh batt (original of course, ref. earlier posts!). Looking forward to very probably tripling my battery time. Now to the f***ing plague: (French) UPS ☠️ . Battery Amazon bought, Germany to France (am currently still there for work) in 2 days to local UPS depot in France, very good! Then.... 1 week and the damn package not yet delivered, 50 km of road, rescheduled 5 times, no delivery van turning up, no telephone, no emails, me waiting like an idiot ☠️. Calling the socalled support who wastes my time with fake excuses, promises and lies etc. Bastards ! (ps... of course a drop in the ocean vs what's happening in the world) Thanks for reading 😀 and wish you a much better day than mine!

Insomnium - While We Sleep When you realize your life is a one way road We need to slow down :O)

A small thanks to MS for still providing a basic security for 8.1, would have rather expected they'd serve some full screen display about imminent death and destruction if not on 11.

The Necromancers - Servants of the Salem Girl

Latest one. "Researchers found a flaw in a Kia web portal that let them track millions of cars, unlock doors, and start engines at will—the latest in a plague of web bugs that’s affected a dozen carmakers" https://www.wired.com/story/kia-web-vulnerability-vehicle-hack-track/

Been using duckduck on mobile for a good while, very happy, light, fast and no apparent annoyances. Just trying to install it on laptop, but appinstaller does not launch (windows can't open this type of file, ltsc thing?). Must be some solution. ok, quick search, seems some ms store stuff has to be running, nothing of that on my Dell, so must investigate. Anyway, does Firefox got a real competitor ? Anyone using duck, impressions ? https://duckduckgo.com

...wow 🥴 "From April to June 2024, BlackBerry cybersecurity solutions stopped 3.7 million cyberattacks. That’s over 43,500 cyberattacks stopped per day — an increase of 18% over our previous reporting period that ran from January to March 2024." https://www.blackberry.com/us/en/solutions/threat-intelligence/threat-report#threat-actors-tools

09 update done a while ago, all perfect as always. Edit: ...and after all these years, still zero wish, reason or need to try any of the newer ltsc's. And of course even less than zero wish for win 11.

Interesting vintage history collection.