thebitstick

I am a happy iPhone user after switching from Android 2 years ago after using the platform since it existed.

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as macOS, is in fact, Darwin/macOS, or as I've recently taken to calling it, Darwin plus macOS. Darwin is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning Unix system made useful by the BSD corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

Many computer users run a modified version of the Darwin system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of Darwin which is widely used today is often called "macOS", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the Darwin system, developed by Next Computer.

There really is a macOS, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. XNU is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Darwin is normally used in combination with the macOS operating system: the whole system is basically Darwin with macOS added, or Darwin/macOS. All the so-called "macOS" versions are really versions of Darwin/macOS.

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Apple's engineers still refer to the OS as Mac OS X. Ventura is technically 10.18, despite the 13 major number in their marketing.

Vertical/Nested Tabs is the main reason I love Orion for macOS.

First thing I do for any *nix install is immediately install Fish. Like many younger computer users I prefer rainbow barf.

Celluloid (formerly GNOME MPV) for Linux is simple but pretty great imho

Would highly recommend IINA. macOS native video player that uses mpv as a backend. 100% free and open source. https://github.com/iina/iina

I am guilty of paying frivolous amounts to VTubers via YouTube Memberships, but I've cut down to just 3 (Amano Pikamee, Hana Macchia and Rosemi Lovelock).

Besides that, I've gone from paying for Apple One Premier to paying separately for 200GB iCloud (down from the 2TB of One), Apple TV+ and Music Family. Didn't make much use out of News or Arcade, and Fitness just made me feel weird. I switch from Ting Wireless to Mint Mobile because it saves me around $80 a year. Switched to yearly Disney+ and Discord Nitro Classic for some price savings.

Helping war victims is not politics.

I nearly died... of boredom...

"Oh no, someone prefers being called by a pronoun they weren't born with, the humanity!"

Grow up.

Hopefully Qt follows suit! I await the future where no X.org dependencies are required just to use desktop Linux.

Librarian here.

Kanopy uses your card number and PIN to access an API for whatever ILS the library allows Kanopy to point to. Libraries allow access when they pay for giving access to Kanopy for their patrons.

However, in theory, this could give Kanopy access to try and harvest checked out materials via our catalog with these credentials. In practice, we haven't seen them doing this. Your PIN/password should after all be different from the ones you use for every website.

Librarian here.

Libraries are just paying for the ability to offer Libby to patrons. Libby then taps into a login API for the ILS a library uses to check if a patron's library card and PIN are tied to an eligible account, and Libby offers its own content based on whatever each library can afford to offer.

You would need to offer your own content, ultimately, with the Libby model. Same goes for OverDrive, Hoopla and Kanopy.

While I am concerned about data brokers and tracking, it's my personal opinion that that's just the sad reality of technology and the internet today, and most people just don't care.

You and I may care about signing up for services and not being tracked across the internet for the kinds of interests we have, but the way I see it, and the way many suburban and rural libraries and librarians may also see it, our patrons were probably already going to subscribe to Netflix or Amazon Prime, and all their egregious privacy violations.

While most (I would hope) librarians would agree that keeping a patron's private information, including their reading and watching habits be kept secret, equal access to materials and information is far more important.

I would love if larger libraries could develop their own systems for free content that can be accessed by their patrons and perhaps even by other libraries, but that's just not the reality we live in. Similar to how every IP holder wants to create their own subscription-based platforms for content, libraries would be like Netflix. The content people actually want will always be not on Netflix. In the end, many suburban and rural libraries are desperate for usage by their populace, no matter the cost to privacy.

Librarian here. Please utilize the services your public library makes available to you for free! Even virtual usage is enough to convince cities to not lower budgets. We took massive hits to usage during the pandemic lockdowns, but you don't need to always come in to use your library! Look out for Kanopy, Hoopla and Libby and more at your local library!