MrPoopyButthole

This is correct. I've worked for AT&T, had a co-worker from Verizon, and have been a customer to both.

Manufacturers generally make one model of their device that's fully universal, and then carriers install their own custom tweaked firmware on them.

Verizon is by far the most locked-down and they do not unlock. You would have to flash a custom firmware specifically for the device, and even then there would probably be issues with the bootloader being locked.

It's terrible and infuriating, but you just can't take a Verizon-tainted phone to any other carrier.

I've been raving mad about this exact shit for years.

I'm not a developer, but I remember how long pre-smartphone would last with little 500mAh batteries. Even after 3g and into 4g connectivity and well after the proliferation of less efficient Bluetooth a phone would last anywhere from 3-14 days between charging.

Now every phone has 3,000-4,000mAh batteries and, besides 5g, the wireless standards have become significantly more efficient.

The only notable offset is the big touch screens, but even those have gotten more efficient, and seems not to matter because standby time is still trash now too.

I doubt there's a continous A/V feed to servers, but 100% our phones are always listening for keywords/phrases locally and then sending "relevant" data back for ads, on top of the always on location tracking.

It's hilarious that phones cost as much as they do, considering how unwieldy and low screen-time they've become, on top of the idea that we're paying to be tracked.

I know why

I don't see this as a problem, the media is terrible at understanding/caring about real cultural trends.

The fact that I have a better time on Lemmy than Reddit on my phone, despite the huge difference in user numbers, says it all to me.

Reddit has been seeing a meaningful and lasting decline since they decided users don't matter, and there's no coming back from that.

Just like Facebook has suffered a permanent user loss and failure to grow, so will Reddit. It won't be overnight, but newer generations are increasingly tech-literate, even when they aren't more media-literate.

I never thought Mastodon would become a place to be, despite always hoping. Never imagined a real Reddit alternative would start to form, but here I am.

Cambridge Analytica laid the foundation of general disdain for centralized social media, and Elon Musk single-handedly exhausted the public's patience with corporate bullshit.

I think decentralized options are here to stay, and I think the only centralized platforms that will take longer to upend are video-dependant ones.

All in good time.

I felt the same way by the end of the series.

What bothered me even more was the number of situations that could have been solved with a cell phone or computer.

Like the world-building is absolutely busted. They even have these big-ass libraries and put all this emphasis on learning, but they haven't even started to digitize.

Never once saw a middle-school or teenaged student in a standard math or science class. Weasley's dad was the only one that even thought "muggle stuff" was interesting, but he understood about as well as Ariel understood forks.

Bunch of illiterate magic-dependent isolationists that can't do math or use Google Search. Dumbledore would shit a brick if he found out Hogwarts was on Google Earth that whole time.

Why did I read this in Scottish accent?

I'll also note that I had skipped college and had been working, and was about to go back to school. She was about to start her second year in college.

There are multiple ways people can find themselves on the same path and there was some serendipity for sure.

To the point of many other people here, yes, over the next five years she is going to evolve more than you as a person. So just understand going that growing apart is more likely than if you were both in your 30's.

Nothing wrong with that, just a reality to acknowledge.

I'm turning 31 this year, and my girlfriend is 25.

We've been together six years now. I didn't realize she was still 18 until the end of our first date, and she caught that I was visibly startled by it.

I owned up that I didnt realize and assumed from our interactions that she was at least 20-22 and she laughed and apologized, saying she thought I knew her age.

After going home and thinking about how well we hit it off, and how she found my concern amusing, I decided I was being silly and that if the age gap was a problem it would make itself evident.

Best decision ever. Nothing wrong with paying attention to those things, just keep open communication with each other 👍

It's a great reason. Especially with climate change.

I met someone the other day that said they moved from Portland to Cincinnati because of their climate change concerns.

Over the next 50 years, we're going to see MILLIONS of people in the U.S. moving for the same reasons.

My girlfriend says "bless you" whenever I fart

That's how I always felt, but after using Apple track pads for so long, my reflex for scrolling has changed.

Because I use my track pad and mouse interchangeably all the time, I just need them to use the same direction for scroll.

That hair dryer must pack a helluva punch