Ilandar

It's sad that this practice is seemingly common enough to have a dedicated name.

The XDA forums don't have anything listed for your device. You can still improve your privacy by disabling applications (or uninstalling them through Universal Android Debloater) and replacing them with FOSS alternatives where possible. If you don't already use F-Droid and Aurora Store (or equivalents), switching to those app stores instead of using the Play Store for everything will help you to change your app drawer over time. Take note of Aurora Store's privacy report section that lists known trackers bundled with applications, it's a very useful feature that is often overlooked.

I didn't know about this but it does not surprise me at all. Sad how we live in a country where racism against our indigenous peoples is so normalised that we are no longer shocked by these revelations, and yet there is also zero appetite from the public to actually do anything about the broader issues behind all of this.

Exactly. "Sparking backlash" just means these people whined for 2 minutes like they always do, before reaching into their wallet once again.

Sometimes I search for important apps like web browsers on the Play Store to see what people are downloading. It's disturbing how many people scroll past all the mainstream and safe choices and instead download these absolutely terrible, tracker-infested browsers I have never heard of. Those are the same people who would download one of these no-name virus apps. It's at moments like that when I realise how many tech illiterate people there are in the world. Some people are genuinely a risk to themselves and those around them if you give them web-enabled devices.

No one is copying ASUS, they are an irrelevant company with a tiny market share.

Probably because no one here cares about ASUS. It was only relevant because the Zenfone line was small. As soon as that returned to a normal (massive) form factor, any reason to buy an ASUS phone disappeared.

I think the ThinkPhone line gets more consistent update support than others. Motorola promises monthly updates on their website, whereas other devices (like the Edge or razr series) only receive bi-monthly update promises. I have heard from ThinkPhone owners that Motorola pushes the updates out relatively quickly too, which is not the case with its other devices.

The IGA down the road had self checkout but no one ever used them because they would call the operator after almost every item. Recently they just got rid of them and replaced them with old fashioned checkouts.

Actually something similar happened at one of my local Drakes Mini stores. I was wondering why they put these machines in and then removed them within a year, maybe it was staffing related like in your case?

Corbyn was also good friends with Ken Livingstone, who said some very strange things about Hitler and the Jews.

It's not that strange, I have a friend who literally said the same thing today in reference to one of his favourite channels shutting down. He preferred to call the stuff on this channel art, rather than content. I agree with the person above too, the term has always bugged me. It makes it sound so mass produced, like your job is to just produce meaningless "content" for people to mindlessly consume. And to be honest, that's exactly what the mainstream YouTube culture is about.

Confucius is that you?