Hot Takes
On the Freedom Phone and Other Alt-Tech Scams
Don’t get me wrong, I strongly support software and hardware that is free/libre and open source. Ideally, I support software that permits the basics of human rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of information. Unfortunately, these days, the majority of users are on big-tech websites. While I normally don’t associate with these sites (Facebook, twitter, etc), for normalfags, it’s what they are used to and that’s were most of the interesting groups and topics can be found besides politics. It’s the reason why sites like Bitchute will never take off as a supposed “YouTube Killer”. Not only are they locked behind UK laws regarding internet conduct, but the entirety of Bitchute (or Bitch-Chute as I like to call it) is completely dependent on political commentary channels. While that could be a good thing if you are Q-boomer or MIGAbum, it’s completely useless for other content like gaming, music discovery, and other various topics. If you want to develop the next “YouTube”, you have to cater to more than just political dissidents. The Free Software Movement in theory is open to all kinds of users, regardless of their political beliefs. If more websites were to adopt the ideals of the Free Software Movement, the internet would a better place for discussions, debate, and discovery.
These alt-tech alternative sites are none of those. Aside from Bitchute, let’s take a look at the “newest” buzz on sites like /g/ and /pol/. The “Freedom” Phone is supposed to be this phone that will “push back against the big tech corporations censoring cuckservatives from posting about how somehow Trump is still president, Q is pulling the strings in their favor, let’s just sit our assess down and hope for the best, trust the plan and other gay shit. How are they able to accomplish this? By re-branding a cheap Chinese android phone you can get off Amazon for less than $200, putting a flash LineageOS and Aurora store for the low low price of an additional $300. Yep. You’re paying mid-range prices ($499 to be exact) for a bottom of the barrel Android phone with a custom rom you can do yourself on a supported rooted phone. Now I don’t expect the target audience (asbestos infected boomers) to know how to do any of those things, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that this “Freedom” phone is little more than a scam at best and potentially a honeypot at worst just like Gab, Parlor, and other shitware software.
The solution to big tech censorship already exists. It’s called Free and Open Source Software. You don’t even have to dedicate 100% of life to it either. Not to mention, you should probably use alternative accounts/emails on big tech websites if you really have to use them. I mean, it’s common sense to not say “Trust the plan Q(ueer)-Bros” on Facebook using your personal account with your real name, address, and employment history. I’m not saying you can’t have fringe opinions and share them online. You just need to find reliable and proven places to post them that aren’t going to bite you in the ass. Don't buy the Freedom Phone!
Should This Even Be A Hot Take?: Windows 11 is a NWO Steaming Pile of Shit
I doubt anything I am going to say is controversial by any means but it goes without saying that every version of Windows released after Windows 7 has been a dumpster fire one after the other. First with that abhorrent Windows 8 UI that was designed more for tablet babies than for desktop users (back when they were trying to push for tablets as a replacement for laptops and desktops and failed miserably). Windows 9 doesn’t even exist because M$ is retarded. Windows 10 was a Orwellian nightmare despite going back to a “somewhat” sane user interface with botnet features that put even Bonzi Buddy to shame. And now here we are with Windows 11 (or Windows 9/11 as I like to call because the whole thing is a catastrophe of new features). None of which are any good for the user end.
For starters, they decided that the Gnome 3 desktop design philosophy seemed modern and Mac-Like so why not rip them off with our new UI interface! That’ll surely fool normalfags who usually strive to buy Apple computers right? Because that surely worked for Lenovo when they changed the Thinkpad design after the 30s series laptops to pretend to compete with Macbooks when they went with a button-less trackpad that was so painful to use, they had to return to the button style trackpad by the 50s series. Oh but don’t worry, you could still go back to the original windows taskbar layout that you were accustomed to for decades. Just make sure your Windows key is activated (money signs for eyes). Also you better enjoy our new minimalist icons and appearances as your going to be stuck with what Microsoft think looks good and you’re going to like it! Did you also see the strict hardware requirements just to run on your PC. That’s assuming your PC is even capable of meeting the hardware requirements. Do you have an stable rig capable of doing basic tasks like browsing the web and playing some video games? Too bad! You need to have this new of a CPU architecture and this much amount of ram for our bloated and poorly optimized operating system. For starters, you’ll need a DX12 compatible graphics card. Considering how the prices of those are going these days, you better have deep pockets for one or you’re going to be stuck with Windows 10 until they decide to stop supporting it entirely. You’ll also need a Trusted Platform Module on your computer since it’s totally for the safety of the user and not because Microsoft wants a backdoor to spy on you even further. Your CPU better be “modern” or else you don’t deserve to run Windows 10 according to Microsoft. Ryzen 1, Intel 6000/7000 CPUs will not even do. Forget about it if you are running even older hardware like I am. Never mind the fact that we are dealing with a chip shortage that’s making newer devices harder to produce and the stock for these computers are so low, they are impossible to get without paying scalper prices. Way to go on ignoring the economic and social climate of PC owners M$!
I’m going to feel sorry for normalfags that are going to rush to upgrade Windows only to find out Windows 11 will not work on their hardware, either forcing them to trash their perfectly working computers (nice environmental impact M$. I am sure you actually care about the environmental impact like all of these corporate companies like yourselves claim) or sell them on Ebay. The latter is kind of a positive from all this if you are someone like me who has dumped the Windows drug and embraced the GNU/Linux pill. Unlike M$, GNU/Linux as well as various alternative operating systems that are free and open source will not only respect your user freedom, but they are also more likely to run on so called “dated” hardware. If you need a beginner recommendation, look into Linux Mint or Manjaro, both are perfectly fine beginner distros that will make former Windows users very happy. As you can imagine, there’s going to be a lot nice hardware going up on Ebay real soon for a reasonable price, might as well take advantage of a bad situation. As for Windows 11, don’t even bother. I’d go further and not recommend using any Windows operating systems as best as you could.
Hot Take: 8gb of ram is more than enough.
All of my laptops (as well as my desktop) have 8gb of ram. To upgrade to 16gb of ram (The """new""" minimal or whatever these filthy nerds are saying these days) is rather expensive for a poorfag college dropout such as myself to even afford at the moment, let alone to justify any reason to save up for an upgrade in the first place. 8gb of ram has been serving me well as of 2021 in part due to my software useage. I don't use software like Windows except for "muh games" or "muh music software", so the majority of my actual (and arguably productive) use of computers is entirely on the GNU/Linux ecosystem. This means that even on a desktop enviroment like XFCE (or even better, on a WM like I3), I'm not using a ton of resources by doing the things I do on computer.
Perhaps if I were running virtual machines, doing some very important engineering simulation, or rendering videos, then maybe just maybe, I'd ever consider upgrading hardware like ram to be a good thing. But considering that all I do is browse the web, edit my blogs, watch videos, listen to music, and maybe play a low spec game, I don't see a reason why I should upgrade my ram. I see all of these people using more than 8gb, web browsers with a million tabs all opened at once, some shitty client like Discord and Steam runinng in the background, Spotify open and stremaing something, and then some other useless shit all running at once, it's just messy and honestly, it's digusting. People need to be more organized with their computer usage. Even if they were, operating systems like Windows 10 usually require more than 1GB just on standby which is INSANE? I bet most of that ram usuage is all that telementary backdoors working non-stop while you play Amongus or whatever meme game you spent $1000+ for your pc just to play. Maybe it's just normalfags being very tech illiterate, or perhapss I'm just being jelous that some NEET on the internet was able to convince their parent or guardian or goverment to give them enough money to buy a gaming rig while I am here using a 10 year old buisness Dell desktop with a 2nd gen Intel I5.
Honestly, if it were not for the gaming market, I'd think even 4GB would still be viable in 2021. I used to get by in my classes with 4GB of ram and that was back when I was running Wangblows 7. So I don't even know what gives. The way I see it, it's just mindless consumerism that justifies wasting money on something that really isn't necessary if all you do is browse the web. I can sympathize with people on lower end hardware since usually they are more computer literate than your average pc gaymer. They know the limitations of their devices and are willing to work around those limitations by being smarter computer users. It's people like these who will take decade old laptops and keep them running for the following years to come. as opposed to throwing them in the dump and wasting resources. I just don't like the idea of disposible technology. Something as expensive as a computer should be used longer than what people normally use them. I know someone online who still runs a Toshiba Satellite Laptop from the 90s! What a champ!
Hot Take: Why I Don't Like 1080p on a 12-13 Inch Laptop Screen.
I think we all agree that the higher the resolution, the more "stuff" you're going to get out of from your screen. I generally don't have a problem with this if the screen itself is large enough to take advantage of the extra resolution. But what would it be like if you take something like 1080p screen and put it in a 12-13 inch format like the Thinkpad X240/X250, one of those smaller form laptops?
I actually went ahead and did that a while back. I bought this IPS 1920x1080p screen that was compatible with the Thinkpad X250 laptops. Prior to that, the only laptop resolutions I have been familiar with are those with smaller resolutions like 768p and 800p but I haven't had a 1080p laptop up till that point. My Desktop resolution was 1920x1080p so I had some knowledge of what it looks like and it's been more than enough for my desktop needs. When I replaced the old crappy display on my Thinkpad X250, I was impressed at first. The IPS screen look just as good as my IPS screen on my X220 and there was more space on my 1080p screen than my old 768p screen. Media such as videos and vidya games looked a lot better for sure. But where the problems I had with the new upgrade was the fact that text was far more spread out and smaller, making it harder to see the text clearly. I would constantly have to zoom in on websites whlie I would browse them. Maybe this is in part due to my bad eyesight but everything look rather microscopic compared to the old laptop resolutions I have been used to for many years. I know it's popular to hate on 768p resolution laptops (and for a good reason especially on 15 inch laptops) but I found lower resolutions to be better for reading content online and writing blogs, essays, or programming in my experience. Ideally, I would prefer something like a 4:3 aspect display for reading documents, websites, and blogs but apart from the used market, nobody really offers a good 4:3 aspect monitor and all laptops that support this kind of resolution are more than a decade old already. It seems like these days, laptops are made for consumer purposes primary, even those business laptops which all have that 16:9 aspect ratio which is ideal for stuff like gaming or watching videos, but kind of a strain to my own eyes when it comes to reading websites.
Like I said, maybe it's just my bad eyesight, or maybe I am just too old fashion. In any case, I have yet to see a 1080p screen on a laptop that is larger than the X-series Thinkpad so perhaps that has something to do with my somewhat negative experience with the display upgrade but even then, I don't think older displays are as bad as most people think they are. At the end of the day, I could say for certain that IPS screens are miles better than any TN panel I'd ever use and regardless of resolution, you can't go wrong with a IPS screen. I really don't like those glossy screens in some modern laptops lmao. They never look good in anything other than pitch dark ambient lighting. The last thing I want to see while using my computer is my own face.
Hot Take: Stallman did nothing wrong
I won't lie when I say I don't agree with all of Stallman's views. However, when it comes to the subject of Libre (Free and Open) software, there is really no one else who is more qualified to speak on it than Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation movement. Those who want him out are not allies to the free software movement cause. They don't care about backdoors in proprietary software nor do they care for the freedom of users behind software. They are more concerned with identity politics and globalization, a form of control that puts all of humanity under one banner in which the elites rule over a populace that is restricted in their personal freedom and on the verge of owning no personal belongings. Stallman (despite his left leaning views) is against this sort of control by all measures and is one of the few ideologist out there who is willing to stand by his beliefs in user freedom without any compromise. This includes the freedom to say what you want, do what you want, and modify whatever you want regardless of your politic agenda, religious views, and/or programming skills. Without Stallman, we would not have free and open source software alternatives to horrible locked down software like those offered from Adobe and Microsoft. We would not have GNU/Linux as a option to oppose the tyrannical operating systems that are Windows and MacOS.
Some may call Stallman an extremist, and in many ways they are right. However, his views are only extreme to those who do not like the idea of personal freedom. With that said, there are some views outside of free and open source software that should be debated (assuming his opposition can even debate him properly without screeching and name-calling). His position on the promotion and use of libre software is morally just and the goal of keeping software open and without backdoors is beneficial to society as a whole. Extremism is necessary for this sort of topic as pretty much most software and hardware in the mainstream has some sort of backdoor, ranging from telemetry in Windows, Intel Management Engine, the backdoors on AMD cpus, websites like Google and Facebook that sell your data to advertising corporations that use and abuse data.
So, I 100% stand behind Stallman returning to the FSF organization. I couldn't care less about his opinions on other subjects but I absolutely think he is essential to keeping enemies of the FSF movement out. Free Software isn't for corporations, it's for the people. Technology should not be political like most of these awful authoritarian companies running a tech mafia in Silicon Valley. If we lose the FSF movement, we are exposed to even more coporations abusing their control and monopoly over the internet. Doesn't matter if you are politically left or right. You should care about user freedom when it comes to software and should support the FSF and Stallman by any means necessary.
Hot Take: Why don't I have new computers?
You’d think that being a tech enthusiast, I would have access to high end computers and tech. NOPE. I generally like to run rather old, and sometimes inexpensive hardware.
Why is that? Well for starters, all of my devices just work. I am not trying to play the latest shitty movie game on my pc, nor am I opening up thousands of Chrome tabs at once (why would anyone want to use Chrome anyways. Shitty spyware browser). I browse the web, listen to my music collection, watch vids, watch movies in 1080p, edit my website, shitpost, and compose my music all with my shitty hardware and it just works. On occasion, I play retro games from Gamecube era and prior, or I play some old or poverty optimized games sometimes.
That’s really it, and these shitty computers and laptops do it just fine for me. Fast enough to load the stuff I want, fast enough to run what I want, and fast enough to get my work done. Even faster when I am using Linux. No bloated DE and crappy desktop effects. Usually all under 1GB of ram usage while I am multitasking on i3 WM. Not even using all of my 8gb of ram which isn’t even the standard anymore for wangblow users. I have no reason to upgrade my equipment if it just works. Now if my pc were to ever crap itself. Sure I may invest into a better PC just so I can have some kind of future proofness in my setup but as it stands. My current hardware works fine for me. I don’t need anything more, I am not a coonsumer.
Hot Take: The Quest for Perfect Audio
Don't fall for the audiophile meme. Spending extra money on a decent dac, a pair of cans, and maybe a pre-amp if your headphones really needs one is as far as I could recommend spending in terms of audio equipment. What's it all for though? It's all for the goal of getting the best audio quality out of whatever you mainly listen music from. This can vary from listening to analogue formats like vinyl lp, cassettes, reel to reel if you are really hardcore or digital music like the various audio formats both compressed and uncompressed (What.CD used to have a really great guide on this kind of subject but the French authorities pretty much pwned them out of the world wide web. RIP), compact disks, or if you're a weirdo, even blue-ray audio disk.
I primarily listen to digital music. Usually, I'll listen to music on my desktop or laptop. Other times, I more likely to listen to stuff on my phone. The main issue with these devices is the fact that the DACs (digital audio converters) aren't all that great to begin with. I don't really have anything for my laptops audio so I am kind of stuck with the standard headphone/microphone jack for the time being. On my desktop, the built in dac is really awful. If you plugged in any kind of headphone or speaker, you could hear static coming from the output of the computer. It was rather annoying and distracting. In that case, I had to get myself a DAC (a Creative brand DAC I can't find on Amazon anymore that was around $70). In the end, I am not really sure if it was really worth it. Sure the static is gone now, the audio output is now 24bit 198kHz rather than 16bit 44.1kHz, there's even a bunch of options to plug in a surround sound speaker system (which I don't even have), there is a high quality microphone and line input that comes in handy with recording tracks off KORG M01D, and even a volume potentiometer that allows me to adjust the volume or mute without having to use my mouse on some gui interface or use keyboard shortcuts, but it's not that big of an improvement or noticeable one in my observation to warrant spending all that money on a decent DAC.
Headphone wise, you can kind of settle with less than $200 in price range and sometimes even less than $100 and have a good audio experience. Not all headphones are created equal though so you have to do your research on what kind of headphone you want. Some headphones are going to be more spacious in part due to their open design like the Koss PortaPros or Grados but will not have as much clarity as closed back studio headphones like the Sony MDR7506 or Audio Technica M40x. Some headphones will require some amplification (high impedance) to get any sound from the drivers, others have low impedance which make them ideal for portable devices like laptops or smartphones (especially when it comes to streaming music from Spotify or YouTube). Honestly there's so much diversity in the kind of audio equipment you can use from all sorts of price ranges that you will end up getting sucked into owning multiple headphones and devices all for specific reasons and frankly you could just spend your money elsewhere once you find that perfect equilibrium for your listening sessions.
All of this audio terminology and research would be pointless if the music you listen to is mixed poorly (like my own music ahahahahahah). I think in terms of modern music, I think artists and sound engineers realize that most people are going to listen to their music on portable devices so they mix the songs and tracks in a way that is suited to a "subjectively good" mix that will sound just fine with whatever equipment normal people usually listen to music to. Once you go into more complex, sophisticated, and more involved styles of music is where you start to reap the benefits of having a good audio setup. I'd say if an album from a general well known artist has some sort of depth to it, it's usually going to have some integral audio engineering that benefits from a good setup. From my experience however, apart from some Bluetooth headphones on the cheaper end of the spectrum. Even cheap audio equipment like JVC gummy in ear monitors which usually cost less than $10 are good enough to listen to music on your phone without feeling like you are missing any sort of detail in more expensive headphones. At the end of the day though, audio is subjective in the same way music is so just like everything else in life, you just have to figure out what it is that tickles your hearing fancy. Some people can't stand budget-fi while others like myself can't justify spending hundreds of dollars for slightly better audio. Just don't be like this: yare yare
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