A Technology Rant

[ZahZoo]

I view computers and smart phones as just common tools to get crap done in life and business. Technology has really transformed our lives in so many good ways and some not so good.

It's really amazing how many physical things have been shrunk down to apps that we can carry around in our pocket and use anytime or anywhere. Take the smart phone for example. It's replaced the telephone, pen/pencil/paper, your wallet, mail service, television, movie theater, radios, turntables/CD/DVD players, game consoles, maps, identification cards and you can add apps to do thousands of things that used to require other tools like musical instrument tuners, bubble levels, car diagnostics, etc... All things that used to take up space in your home, garage or office... with more coming every day!!

But what really drives me nuts is how software developers have designed and configured the operating systems and the apps themselves that run all this amazing stuff!!

You don't need to have all these tools flippin turned on, powered up and running all the dang time!! Each one consuming resources, power and competing with each other when you aren't even using them!! Not to mention them all spying on you and secretly reporting your location, how often you use or do something and what color underwear you are wearing, if any!!

If I let Microsoft, Apple, or Google manage my home and tool collection... I would expect to walk into my garage to get a screwdriver and find my lawnmower, weed trimmer, chain saw, power drill, power saw, belt sander, power washer and everything else fired up and running!! My grill and cajun cooker at my desired cooking temperature. My tool box dancing around full of ratchets, wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, etc busily performing maintenance, upgrades and repairs on all the other crap happily running.

What's worse is all this crap, er... app doing nothing that I needed or wanted to do!! Don't even get me started with automatic upgrades that break all the other tools or tools that don't play well with others... Enough already!!

Maybe it's time to get back to something simpler with all these tools. Leave them off when they aren't needed and mind your own business when I choose to use the stuff I bought.

[FORD]

After spending a big portion of this past weekend removing some sort of Russian commie ransomware bullshit from my computer AND being frustrated by the sudden inexplicable failure of the ad blocker on my Android phone, the mere thought of "smart" devices like appliances, lights, thermostats, etc. gives me a splitting migraine.

I don't hate technology. In principle, I actually love it... but only when I'm the one in control of it. That's why I hate Windows 10 (even more now after this latest episode) and wish to fuck there was a Linux phone on the market.

I'd consider saying fuck it all and go hiking in the mountains, except it would be just my luck that I would run into a wildfire, since it's been hot & dry here for a while.

[Kristy]

After spending a big portion of this past weekend removing some sort of Russian commie ransomware bullshit from my computer AND being frustrated by the sudden inexplicable failure of the ad blocker on my Android phone, the mere thought of "smart" devices like appliances, lights, thermostats, etc. gives me a splitting migraine.

Ha! You and asscracksmar are now one in the same. On a similar note, it appears our military doesn't like Commie spyware, either:

"The Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition chief confirmed on Friday in a press conference that they've been silently working on a "Do Not Buy" list of companies known to use Chinese and Russian software in their products."

President of USA Putin is not going to be happy when he hears this.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/government/pentagon-creates-do-not-buy-list-of-chinese-and-russian-software-providers/

[FORD]

My cell phone provider sent me a ZTE phone a while back. I could instantly tell it was a piece of shit even before the spyware. Sent it back almost immediately.

As far as Kaspersky software goes, I think there's a little bit of paranoia going on there. Yes it's a Russian company, but it's funny that they never mention Zone Alarm, which is an Israeli company, and literally founded by "former" Mossad agents. And yet remains one of the highest rated internet security companies (not by me though. Never liked the software, as it's a major resource hog). It's been a few years since I tried Kaspersky, but it was a decent AV program, from what I remember. Lighter than Zone Alarm or Norton, that's for damn sure.

I don't want the Russian bastard NuttyYahoo having easy access to my computer any more than the Russian bastard Putin.

[Nickdfresh]

My cell phone provider sent me a ZTE phone a while back. I could instantly tell it was a piece of shit even before the spyware. Sent it back almost immediately.

As far as Kaspersky software goes, I think there's a little bit of paranoia going on there. Yes it's a Russian company, but it's funny that they never mention Zone Alarm, which is an Israeli company, and literally founded by "former" Mossad agents. And yet remains one of the highest rated internet security companies (not by me though. Never liked the software, as it's a major resource hog). It's been a few years since I tried Kaspersky, but it was a decent AV program, from what I remember. Lighter than Zone Alarm or Norton, that's for damn sure.

I don't want the Russian bastard NuttyYahoo having easy access to my computer any more than the Russian bastard Putin.

I agree on Zone Alarm, in fact they used Kaspersky for their antivirus for a time but I don't think they do anymore. As far as Kaspersky, I don't know. I thought the Russian security services arrested some of its senior people and is one of the reason why Russia's best and brightest are fleeing the country, because their startups can simply be hijacked by the government and turned over to their bribing cronies and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Kaspersky has at least a few FSB agents working within it...

And oh yeah, reboot your router regularly...

[Kristy]

News Flash, you aging cretins. Russia doesn't give a shit about spyware in their shitty anti-virus software but rather fucking over America's power grid which they can easily do.

From the CyberWire:

"US officials think there's a lower degree of Russian activity directed toward election hacking and influence operations during the current midterms than was observed in 2016. Instead, it's believed that Russian intelligence services are devoting more attention to the power grid. Observers find this disturbing. Temporary outages, which might not have much more effect than an ice storm (or perhaps even as much effect) are worrisome, but less so than attacks that might damage or destroy difficult-to-replace power-generation equipment.

Last week's report from the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center is the topic of much chatter. That report described extensive foreign (especially Russia) collection against intellectual property. Politico describes increased espionage against California tech industry targets, where the marriage of progressive hipster sensibility and buccaneer capitalism have not exactly produced a culture of security."

So eat a dick, you buyers of Android products.