If it is a Qualcomm variant for the US, nope. Samsung does not allow bootloader unlocking on those anymore. I think some enterprising people have found unpatched exploits that have allowed some models to be unlocked and rooted. But it is sadly not a common thing with those anymore.

The Pixel is the most friendly to the custom rom scene these days. Although with the recent changes to purging the device tree’s from upstream AOSP, I’ve read that Google is starting to make it much harder to use as a practical feature on the Pixels as well.

Willfully breaking an NDA with one of the most litigious companies in the world for what is essentially fake internet points is a bold strategy Cotton. Doesn’t look like it is going to work out for him.

The stuff you are complaining about are not only not in your control on either platform but are the result of deals between carriers and OEMs, not technical options or limitations of the OS imposed by the OEM post sale. Which is what I was talking about. Your options for getting rid of that carrier junk also expand greatly with ADB.

Additionally the iPhone comes with tons of pre-loaded apps included in the OS image that someone might not want as well (Stocks, Numbers, etc). It is just that it is Apples apps and for some reason a lot of people have a blind spot when the bloatware is coming from the OEM themselves. Some of them not completely uninstallable either, like the calender app if I remember right. The UI says “uninstall” but if you go to the App Store to reinstall it there is no download or install time, the app just instantly “installs” and reappears in the app list. In other words it was still on the file system the entire time, just like Androids disabled apps.

You can, but it is a pita. Having to buy dev certs and sign the .ipa file, etc. But technically, if you really want to, you can.

The reason is that PC is made out of standardized plug&play components that you can make generic OS image for.

Yep, given the history of consumer technology as a whole it is really more amazing that the standard PC became a thing more than it is that people put up with what phones are today.

We all really owe a lot of gratitude to Phoenix for reverse engineering the IBM BIOS back in the day, and going to court to fight the IBM copyright lawsuit that resulted, as well as Compaq and all of the other IBM compatible clones.

I wouldn’t praise Apple too much. They are the poster child of “our way or the highway”. At least Android, to be fair that has more to do with the original roots than Google being a good guy, you nearly always have options to turn this kind of thing off even if the OEM doesn’t want you to. If Apple doesn’t give you a toggle you are usually SOL.

Naturally as this kind of thing moves into use on actual people it will be used on the wealthiest and most connected among us in equal measure to us lowly plebs right…right?

I would imagine she knew full well trying to be the CEO of X/Twitter with Musk so heavily involved was going to be a losing venture as far as her own goals from the jump. But she took the job for the huge pay day and being able to have “CEO” in her list of previous positions on her resume.

I often wonder these days why anyone would have any interest in working for the likes of Microsoft or the other big names. Unless I am just severely underestimating how good that comp package is it seems like knowing you will get the ax within 5 years of your start date more than likely would really dump cold water on the whole affair.

My wife had a rental for a trip she and my daughter were going on for a gymnastics event and I got to drive it back from the rental place and it had lane assist.

Every time another car passed in the opposite lane the damn thing would try and jerk in the opposite direction of that car, sometimes almost running itself off the road into the ditch in the process.

Zip disk users rise up.

What about all of those congress critters that get that big bad “socialized medicine” that the common people can’t (funny how it is fine when it is for them isn’t it.)? I bet that costs a shit ton given the average age of congress critters. How about we make some cuts there?

Cool I guess. But I still find Brave to be a sketchy organization with how they have done some of their schemes to make money over the years. So will continue to avoid anything they make.

In my experience working with devs at game studios (i’m a sysadmin/infra engineer type by trade), it is rarely them that is so against open sourcing code, or giving fans of the game the tools needed to keep it going on their own once the devs move on. Most of the devs I have dealt with would like nothing more than to see the thing they created live on and be enjoyed by people, even if they are not personally getting paid for it 10 years down the line.

It is nearly always the executives looking to make sure no one manages to enjoy something the people that work for them created without the c-suite getting paid for it first that is the road block.

He would have to even think about them to do that. I doubt the ground level costs of his actions and choices ever enter his mind in any real way.

It feels weird to be in support of the goals of an Iranian hacker group.

People that disagree about fundamental things in life tend to not be good matches romantically…news at 11.

Tune in Saturday to watch our round table where several overly serious and over paid people discuss why the relationship between the Jewish woman and her literal Nazi husband fell apart.

Won’t monetize it “to death”, just right up to the line of death.

Wew, my raging negativity will keep them from buying my data then.

See the issue here is Google/Youtube still get to be the ones to decide what “may outweigh the harm risk”. And the answer I bet will usually be whichever one serves their financial interests.

Which on one hand sure, it is their platform after all. But don’t do me dry and claim you used lube.