It's fucking insane how addicted corporations have become to #tracking everything you do, everything you look at, everything you type, everything you think about.
They've gotten so brazen about it. Shit like this - the #Microsoft#Edge browser routing every image through some "AI enhancer" that also tracks what you're viewing - is now a default setting. I suppose at least people who use Edge can opt out, for now, if they know to.
Microsoft Edge has many convenient features to improve your browsing experience. However, some of those features raise privacy concerns. One, for example, sends images you view directly to Microsoft.
I’m not sure who’s to blame in the #EU for giving up to the lobbying efforts of #Apple and #Microsoft (I can’t think of anything short of public official corruption behind the last minute reversal of the #DMA definition of “gatekeeper” for the two most valuable companies in the world), but these are some consequences of this decision:
If Apple isn’t labelled as a gatekeeper when it comes to #iMessage (an app used by 1.3B people), then they won’t have to comply and open up their walled garden to 3rd-party clients, while, for example, Messenger and WhatsApp will have to.
If Microsoft isn’t labelled as a gatekeeper when it comes to #Edge (a piece of software installed as the default browser on an OS used by at least 1.5B people), then they’ll be free to keep rewriting https:// URLs as microsoft-edge:https:// just for the sake of intercepting everything and breaking compatibility, they’ll no longer have to provide browser selection pop-ups on fresh Windows installations, and they can keep opening all the web views and PWA on Windows devices in their own browser without providing alternatives - while, for example, Chrome and Safari will have to comply.
Shame on the EU for bending to them. Shame on these companies. Shame on their filthy lobbying efforts. Shame on everybody who uses their products.
The DMA and the “gatekeeper” definition was supposed to be the proof that these companies are now run by responsible adults. Being a “gatekeeper” is the acknowledgment that you are running platforms used by billions, and with great power comes great responsibility - towards society, towards the rules of the open market, towards your own competitors.
My employer might be included on the list soon as well, and I’m more than happy to comply. Large tech companies like ours have enjoyed lavish profits and outrageous market shares and ignored anti-competition laws for too long: now it’s time to prove that we’re all grown ups who want to play by the rules.
Instead, Apple and Microsoft have unleashed their overpaid legal counsels and lobbying crews, who have engaged in a pathetic dance to gaslight Brussels officials, and force them to say that one of the largest messaging platforms and one of the most used browser in the world, run by the two companies with the highest evaluation in the world, for some reason are not expected to play by the rules written for everyone else.
Shame on them, and shame on the childish selfish sociopaths who run them.
So, I was thinking about this video on Chrome/Edge accessibility. Basically, it shows that the memory and CPU hog isn't the screen reader, it's the browser/accessibility pipeline. And honestly, it shows how, once again, being disabled is expensive. Not only are we told from a young age that we'll need to work twice as hard as abled people in order to get to the same level as the abled person, and then get a job that pays about $9 an hour for factory type work, or $20 per hour for highly specialized tech knowledge work, we have to buy expensive technology that can allow us to give that 200% of ourselves to our job and lives. Like, you see us buying an iPhone 15 or 14? That's not, for almost all circumstances, as a status symbol. That's because accessibility is so unoptomized that it slows our devices down. Because we have to have modern devices, a good 8 GB RAM (minimum) on a laptop, or a modern A-series chip, or, hell, probably an M-series Mac, just to keep up. I'm not sure about the M-series Mac part as I've not spent enough time with one to see how it compares to my 2019 Intel Mac.
We see this a lot with Android phones. A sighted person may be able to get by with a $250 Samsung phone. But when I worked with one, I felt the lag with TalkBack acutely. We may be able to blame the phones, or the PC's, or Intel Macs. But then why does an Intel PC run just fine with NVDA? No, digital accessibility is all about software. If it can run well for a sighted person, it should run well for a blind person. And that's why I always say that the OS is at the root of all digital accessibility, followed of course by whatever you run above that stack, like the browser. So we have to work 200% more, buy a good 200% more expensive, and we're still slowed down. Do not praise us for overcoming these things. Help us by eliminating the need to overcome them in the first place!!
Today I discovered that Windows launches #Edge in the background at startup by default. If you use a different browser like #Vivaldi or #Firefox, disable Edge in "Settings > Apps > Startup" and "Settings > Privacy > Background apps" to speed Windows startup and improve performance in general, especially on old or low end PCs.
J'avais un télé-atelier imposé par Pole-Emploi dans le cadre d'un changement d'activité.
À l'heure dite, je reçois le lien et me prépare à me connecter.
Oh, surprise, je dois utiliser #chrome ou #edge et pas #firefox que j'utilise depuis 18 ans.
Je décide donc de ne pas installer ces 2 navigateurs, donc de ne pas participer à l'atelier.
J'envoie un mail en ce sens à mon "gestionnaire de compte" Pôle-Emploi : en gros, il est hors de question que j'installe ces logiciels sur MA bécane, libre à eux soit de m'en prêter une que j'utiliserais le temps de la formation , soit de m'y faire assister en présentiel.
Réponse de l'Anpe à ce jour :
"En refusant, blablabla, vous vous exposez à la suppression de vos aides, blablabla."
Après consultation juridique, je suis plutôt serein.
Moi qui suis hyper procédurier, je sens que ça va m'occuper quelques mois.
😊
So as part of the Reddit AMA, I got questions about which browser I would use if I did not use @Vivaldi. The point is that the reason for building Vivaldi in the first place, after already having built Opera, was that there was no browser like Vivaldi out there!
What other browsers have:
Single key keyboard shortcuts.
Mouse gestures.
Work spaces, tab stacks and tab tiles.
Web panels.
Quick commands.
Custom themes, including custom buttons.
Mail client, calendar and feed reader.
This is just to name a few items and for me those things are not optional.
Similarly I would not like to use a browser that does user profiling, including locally, and crypto. I would also not like to use a browser from a company that is also an ad company. These things are for me not negotiable.
"There's nothing going on. There is no hard feelings between me and WWE. I love WWE. It's my dream gig. It's all I ever wanted to do. I didn't come at them with some crazy contract or anything. They didn't deny me. I have a contract extension sitting in my inbox. I just don't know what to do. The first time I had to retire, it...
I believe that the Digital Markets Act (#DMA), has the potential to make a significant difference.
Explained a bit what I have experienced over the years with #Microsoft , #Apple and #Google.
Talked about the importance of not leaving holes through not designating products, such as #edge
Talked about the importance of regulating use of data. Data may be the new oil and oil is ruining the planet. We can allow use of data for services, without saying that the data can be used for profiling and marketing as well!
I've finally done it. I've uninstalled #Microsoft#Edge from all my devices.
My browser setup will now be #Vivaldi as my main, #DuckDuckGo as my amnesiac and academic and #Safari (on iOS) as my main mobile, and Vivaldi on #iOS as a companion to the desktop version.
I've installed some PWAs as windows, but have shifted most to Vivaldi's web panels, this has actually cleaned up my #WindowsTaskbar!
Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft, here is how to disable that (www.neowin.net)
Microsoft Edge has many convenient features to improve your browsing experience. However, some of those features raise privacy concerns. One, for example, sends images you view directly to Microsoft.
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