Today, I'd like to answer a simple question for myself: Can I, personally, use an Android phone as my primary computer -- both for work and personal uses?
While I'm not the biggest Android or iOS fan in the world, the alure of being able to use a single, pocket-sized computer for 100% (or nearly 100%) of my computing is simply far too compelling an idea to ignore.
Plus... I rather enjoy breaking outside of my Computer Comfort Zone (TM). While I certainly enjoy using Linux (typically on a laptop) as my primary computer... are there better ways? Am I missing out on some amazing experience by limiting myself to desktop Linux on a "traditional" form factor laptop?
While I push myself outside of that Comfort Zone regularly... It has been quite a long time since I've tested out the viability of using Android in such a full-time way. The last time I made such an attempt... The results were mixed. To say the least.
So... Here we go.
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Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.
It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.
Check out the red circled areas in this picture of King Charles. You can tell it's AI generated because of the artifacts in those circles areas. Especially the top left one.
I was just struck by this on a project I'm working on. sort of art derived from technology interaction with nature... a form of tide chart, if you will.... actually, the path of a ship swinging around on an anchor chain for 4 days.
Facebook & Onavo. Waaay back in 2013, a few days after the news hit Facebook is buying Onavo, one guy figured it out.
I think Onavo is of interest to Facebook because of what it will offer in terms of mobile analytics. One of the benefits of its app is that it gleans traffic data on hundreds of thousands of mobile apps across millions of devices. Onavo has built tools that can differentiate between users who have found an app directly through an app store and downloaded it versus those who click on a mobile ad for an app and download it that way. Onavo can also go one step further to compare and contrast different kinds of activity and results across various networks--including Facebook.
If your jaw didn't drop after reading that, you need to spend some time researchin information security. :) And yeah, I'm pretty sure of two things by now: 1. Onavo was decrypting from the very start and 2. they never planned to get their income from users paying for compression (after all, the...
The Lunduke Journal Week-in-Review: March 24th, 2024
Hard-hitting news, nerdy goofines, & a dash of controversy. You know. A normal week.
It’s been a heck of a fun week at The Lunduke Journal. Just shy of a dozen new shows — across a wide range of topics.
Just to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the good times, here are all of the shows (and a few other odds and ends) from the last week alone — across all three sites in The Lunduke Journal Universe.
Hot diggity, that’s a lot of nerdy shows! A combination of “You’ll only hear about this on The Lunduke Journal” hard-hitting news topics… and more than a little happy, goofy nerdiness.
YouTube has a long history of making things difficult for The Lunduke Journal.
In the early days, The Lunduke Journal published all shows exclusively to YouTube (yeah, I know... a mistake). And, for over a year of that time, YouTube demonetized every single video with the word "Linux" in the title.
Seriously. They really did that.
If a video said "Linux is nifty" it was instantly demonetized. As you can imagine, for someone who talks about Linux a great deal, this made earning a living from those videos incredibly difficult.
Now, in 2024, YouTube has kicked things up a notch.
The Lunduke Journal is no longer allowed to upload any videos to YouTube. Not even allowed to post comments or text posts. No communication with the YouTube subscribers, whatsoever, is allowed.
Why? Because I speak my mind... I report the truth. And that is not allowed on YouTube. (I go into further details elswhere -- as it is a very serious, political topic -- but that, as simple and ridiculous as it sounds, is truly the gist of it.)
Luckily, this has very little impact on The Lunduke Journal.
The good news is that this was always inevitable... and I planned for it.
Any "YouTuber" who speaks their mind will eventually get banned or heavily censored on YouTube. It's simply going to happen. We all know that.
For that reason, over the last few years, I have encouraged people (rather strongly) to migrate their viewing (and reading) habbits to non-YouTube (and non-Google) platforms. And that has been successful.
As such, in 2024, YouTube is not the primary way most people get my shows. There may be roughly 60,000-some-odd subscribers on The Lunduke Journal's YouTube channel... but those viewers represent a small portion of the overall audience.
Losing 60,000 subscribers is a bummer. But The Lunduke Journal will survive.
To those who have clung to YouTube: It's time to subscribe elsewhere.
There are lots of amazing ways to get videos from The Lunduke Journal. Here they are... in order from "most recommended" to "still good, but not as awesome":
If you subscribe at one place: Lunduke.Locals.com is it. That will ensure you see everything -- including the exclusive stuff. But free videos (including free live streams) are also available on Rumble and X going forward.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go fight the urge to begin writing a "YouTube Sucks" show...
The Lunduke Journal has a priviate, invite-only Discord server. Only for subscribers (keeps the trolls out). You can find the invite link at the bottom of Lunduke.com.
There's some... uh... political stuff over at ConservativeNerds.Locals.com. A few articles and shows this week. Pretty darn good ones, too. Nerdy. But, you know, very political.
A quick reminder to check out the Content page (or Content Tab on the Locals iOS/Android App). All videos and articles are there. Searchable and sortable. It exists on each Locals site and it's really handy to make sure you don't miss any of the big stuff.
There's now a small (permanent) discount when picking up a Lifetime Subscription with Bitcoin. Since there's less total processing fees with Bitcoin, I'm just passing the difference on to you. No biggy. But if you use Bitcoin already, and you are looking at a Lifetime Sub... worth going that way to save a few bucks. Of course picking a subscription up straight through Locals is pretty sweet too. 😉
Have any issues? Have a Triple Pass but missing access somewhere? Email bryan at lunduke.com. I can usually sort out any issues pretty doggone quickly. 😎
That's it for now. Just a few odds & ends to make sure nobody misses out on some of the fun stuff.
The Lunduke Triple Pass (details right below here)
or you can pick up discounted, individual subscriptions to NerdyEntertainment and ConservativeNerds (only available to existing Lunduke.Locals.com subscribers, with links at the bottom of this page).
Lunduke will then grant you full access across all three sites (may take a couple hours depending on time of day).
The Lifetime Triple Pass
What if you want to pay once... and never again? You can get all three sites (Lunduke, ConservativeNerds, & NerdyEntertainment) -- for life -- for $335. Pay once. No recurring payment necessary.
Want to give the gift of The Lunduke Journal to nerd in your life? Easy peasy. You can gift a full, Lifetime Subscription to anyone you like (which includes all three sites -- Lunduke, ConservativeNerds, & NerdyEntertainment) for $335.
Go to this page for details and instructions. (Including on how to have a custom, pixel art, digital gift card sent with the gift.)
Individual Site Discounts
If you are already a subscriber to Lunduke.Locals.com, you can also get discount codes for both ConservativeNerds and NerdyEntertainment below. The individual discounts aren't quite as good as the Triple Pass. But still a good way to save some scratch ($15 off for each).
Bonus: Below you will also find the invite link to the super-secret Lunduke Journal Discord Chat Server. This is only available for full subscribers, which makes it a nice place to hang out. No riff-raff.
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