I'm now at the point where I actively seek out variants of devices that don't have wifi capabilities. Did that for a ceiling fan and an AC unit. They were a bit cheaper, too, so win-win.
I wonder how long it will take for the "dumb" versions to become more expensive.
You got a bit trigger happy for the last few points, but seriously, why isn't the first 3 standards now. It can't be that expensive to put that in a fridge, and with an open platform manufacturer could even get away by providing the barest software offering and let us do the job for them.
I see a bright future for "low tech" tech companies soon.
"Here's our new fridge.
- What does it does?
- It cools your food.
- And?
- That's it."
Watch the whole world go "ahaha age verification go brrrrr" in the next months/years, and we'll talk again. I'm particularly baffled at the EU that was all "privacy friendly, consumer first" until a handful of month ago.
I think that was the point. Not only decentralized services, but a lot of small and/or individual services too. The way age verification is done is both stupid, and expensive. Only the big names will remain.
You know, as someone who like the looks and the mechanical side of guns, I find that idea interesting. It would not be practical, I guess, bullets are probably easier to pass under the table than guns, but eh.
They are in the same room with all the third-party support for them, ESPECIALLY from state-built applications that are increasingly being required to do administration stuff and mandatory banking apps that are required for online payment and even opening their websites these days.
That room does not exist.
My current phone, a Pixel 7a, cost me around 350€ (let's say it's roughly the same in $). There is definitely cheaper options. And most of these options will give you a decent phone.
A $200 computer will bring you to basic office stuff and playing facebook games.
EU is moving full steam ahead toward the end of "private" computers and mandatory state surveillance on your devices. They'll be delighted with that. The funky "hey, we're consumer friendly" times are over.
They also managed to remove a feature from the fucking clock app. It's not much, but seriously, it's like a headless chicken running toward a cliff from the business end.
"No, I don't think it will"
We reached the point where companies do shitty things with all their digital services years ago. As long as it's not open source, you'll get shit "features". And even if it is open source, it can be reverted on a whim (hello bambulab).