Signal isn’t, and that’s one of mine (and a lot of other people’s) main gripes with it.

I’m concerned about centralization the most.

Their own FAQ: https://simplex.chat/faq/#funding-and-business-model

To be fair, Simplex is also a for-profit company. However, it’s at least decentralized and more open, I’d take it over Threema any day.

Or a Raspberry Pi. Is more expensive ($60 for my Pi 3), but I think it was worth it due to versatility and privacy. Stock Android TVs would be uncomfortable as they spy on you.

To have a massive wall of video, you need to have a home spacious enough for a whole spare wall first! I haven’t seen a <1m screen that would fit in the kitchen corner my TV occupies on an arm - I don’t even think a projector would work with a screen this relatively small. And where would the projector itself go if opposite of that corner is the couch/bed? Sit on my lap?

With banking apps - it actually depends. I found out that in my country, most banks’ apps (like, all the big ones except for one) don’t require Google services, since requiring them would cut off a lot of users with Chinaphones (Huawei being the biggest example). The NFC payments in them are also their own implementation, independent from the Google one.

However, in case of at least one bank, the apk download link was hidden behind some dark patterns (ironically, less hidden than Signal’s apk, lol), trying to instead direct people onto the national app store.

And even if you do manage to get far enough - until your parents veto your choice of a partner.

Yeah. This is ignoring the fact that not only did they live in the same house, but also the adults used to have the absolute authority over their children. Living standards changed and it’s okay. Even now, my parents dread me living with them as an adult because that would mean me never becoming fully independent.

It’s proprietary and centralized. No practical difference. IRC and XMPP are the way.

“don’t worry it’s for a shrine”

A 3d-printed Trump bust

Filming yourself can make sense, though. I do gymnastics, and my coach outright encourages it, since you can see your mistakes better and remember what you were doing during your last visit.

I do make sure no one else is in the frame, though. And ask people whether I’m visible on their recording, to which the answer is always “no”.

I’d be uncomfortable tying my reading to my KYC :/

I’ve heard of them in the context of screwing over people who want an easy income: they’re promised some pennies for their connection being used, then find themselves banned from Netflix and Spotify for “being on a VPN”.

Also, isn’t this where scrapers come from? Edit: just a short while after writing this, saw the news about FOSS projects being DDOSed by AI scrapers from Amazon and such. Yes, they are indeed using such residential IPs.

Where I am, most banking apps are actually indifferent to Google. Because you know what else doesn’t have Google services besides custom ROMs? Chinese phones like Huawei!

Try that on my degoogled phone

Not even just PGP, there are so many options! XMPP with OMEMO that now comes with all the mainstream clients, Matrix, Simplex… Veracrypt for files… Although indeed, PGP has the benefit of you being able to just copypaste the output into whatever chat box you’re currently using.

Too bad it’s only for a handful of Western countries :( I hoped I wouldn’t have to look up bus arrivals in the browser anymore.

A smaller one than that. But yeah, fair - Reddit does deny me entry from it.