Tsikbal: from my perspective

Nothing , company behind the Nothing Phone (1) asked for people to apply for beta testing for Nothing OS 1.5, the company's implementation of Android 13 , to be pushed to selected participants on the December 15th of 2022. After sleeping on it, I decided to jump on the chance to become a beta tester. Though I had the Nothing Phone (1) for a couple of weeks before that, the experience with it had been quite good. Though I know that testing a beta version of any software, specially on hardware you use as your daily driver, is quite risky the idea of getting Android 13 on my smartphone was quite hard to skip. After a couple of day of using it, I'm happy to report that I've been one of those use case where I haven't seen no deal breaker bug. Actually, it seems that it works a bit better that it did with Nothing OS 1.1.7 , which is based on Android 12 . Though it's still early on the beta testing phase, it makes me hopeful that when the final version of Nothing OS 1.5 w...

Whit time, Android has proven to just work for me. While I tend to jump from one brand to another of Android smartphone as time goes by, Android itself keeps solidly as the mobile OS I prefer. As newer Android versions come along, each has corrected things I disliked from previous versions and added new things that I actually like. For example, Android 12   has made the setting menu a lot better, and made it easier for me to manage notifications, and permissions, of the apps I've installed. Both have improved my user experience, and really made my user experience all that better. Currently I've a Nothing Phone (1) , which is expecting an upgrade to Android 13 in the coming months. Which is good news for me, since I'm looking toward to seeing how Google improved on Android. I don't really expect much on the side on improvements on the user experience, but the refinements promise to be worth the wait. While I see iOS as something of a good mobile OS, and one that kee...

When people ask me why I prefer Android and Linux Mint , the answer is because they just work for me. Would I recommend them to others? Well, that depends on their needs. Not everyone's use case fits either OS. While Android fit a wider set of users, Linux Mint doesn't. That's why I ask what do they need, even expect, to use their smartphone or computer for, since the answer depends on their user case. The OS that better fits your needs, is dependent on things like what you are going to use your computer for, what software you need to use, among other things. Trying to say that any OS is the best, is depends on what the end user needs and not on the OS itself. There is no OS that fits all user cases, so the best OS for a given user case depends on the details of each user case. Besides, there is no such thing as a perfect OS, since each OS is made to fit a certain set of needs.

I freely admit that when wireless Bluetooth headphones began to become a mainstream, I was somewhat reluctant to make the jump. Mainly because all the bad press they got of bad audio quality for streaming music, and audio in general. Until I got to try some Otium Beats that I got as a present some six years ago. They have a good audio quality, and a good battery life. The pretty much sold me to the Bluetooth headphones, mainly when I'm on the go. The main thing for me, was not having to worry about a cable snagging on something, or it getting tangled on my bag. Yet, the fact that still has a cable paring the headphones was not optimal for me. Not a deal breaker for me, but I had the feeling that going for a pair of Bluetooth earbuds without the cable was the way to go for me. So when the time came to replace them, I went with the JLAB GO Air True Wireless earbuds . So far, they have worked great for me. The sound is more than good enough for what I expect from the earbuds I use...

The existence of third-party repair shops for computers , smartphones , and home appliances so that people can repair them and extend their useful lives, should be something people can have easy access to. Not only so they can save money, but also to reduce the electronic waste . Yet companies making their products harder to repair , not allowing third-parties having access to whats needed to conduct the repairs, and some repair shops malpractices , show that some level of government regulations should be put in place if companies and the people who run the repair shops don't clean-up their game. People have the right to repair things when they choose to do it, only replacing when they see fit to do so and not because its made artificially difficult by companies to do so. The right to repair doesn't strife innovation, since to make repairs technicians don't need to know the internal workings of things, or access to the source code of the software that runs our devices. Th...

Each time I upgrade my Android smartphone , I get remained why Android has become my go to mobile operating system . While the iPhone and iOS are great, Apple fails to give what I expect from an smartphone at a price point that's good for me. My Motorola One Fusion started to restart itself at random times, and getting stock on while booting, so I decided to upgrade my smartphone taking advantage of the discounts of the El Buen Fin here in Mexico. After a couple of weeks of shopping, and doing some research, I choose the Nothing Phone 1 . The Nothing Phone 1 is a really solid mid-range Android smartphone, that comes with a near vanilla Android. The biggest change it has from stock Android, is the Nothing OS user interface . While Nothing OS is quite nice, I changed to Discreet launcher , which has become my go to Android launcher. The Nothing Phone 1 has proven to be an upgrade from the Motorola One Fusion in every aspect. While the Motorola One Fusion was a solid smartphon...

Elon Musk take-over of Twitter , has made it a lot more toxic than it already was before. While there was toxic behavior before hand, as in many other social media sites, it was kept at somewhat acceptable levels. Yet, since Elon Musk took over there has been a increased level of toxicity from people who believe that free speech means they shouldn't face the consequences of its use. Seems like those people believe that any kind of moderation on what they post is censorship, when in reality good moderation is there for people being able to have a base level of respect and security. The fact that people seem to believe that they should be able to say whatever push back is something to be expected. The irony is that they don't really expect it in reality, since they are conscious that you can't say all you think all the time. There is always some level of moderation, even censorship, in our everyday interactions. Not saying all we have in our mind is something we have to do i...

Since Monday I couldn't stream Disney+ on the Linux Mint laptop I use to stream media, and it turns out that its a bug that prevents the service to stream on Linux. To be honest it was quite confusing, since I've been able to stream Disney+ for more a year now without any issues. What's more, that Netflix , and Prime Video , continue to work as usual only added to the frustration. Hope the issue on Disney+ gets resolved soon, since it should be an issue since they have official support for Linux for quite a while now. Users should be able to use any OS they like on their computer, and should be able to access any service they like on the Internet . This specially true for payed sites, like streaming services. The Internet has to be built on open standards , since it has become the one of the most important public forums, and repository of knowledge humanity has seen so far in history. The Internet has become a piece of infrastructure vital for the world as we know it. Al...

Afer Elon Musk took over Twitter , there has been a lot of talk about how freedom of speech will be restored to the platform and such. The thing is that, those claiming that their freedom of speech was breached by being banned from Twitter forget a couple of things. To begin with, freedom of speech doesn't mean one is free from the consequences of exercising it. People can answer you back, stop talking to you, or sue you for defamation . There are some other consequences you could face, both positive or negative, but there you can't escape from them. Secondly, Twitter is private company. As such, it can ban of using its platform to spread speech that goes against the user agreement. When you open an account on any social media platform, everyone agrees to a set of rules to follow. If a user breach the user agreement, the platform can ban the user. Who can't take away your freedom of speech is the government, and you can't be banned from used public forums. Yet, that do...

The fact the the right to repair our cars, electronics, home appliance, and other thing we own, isn't a given or something that has to be legislated about is ludicrous. The option of repairing thing that we own, like smartphones and microwaves, should always be an option. Specially since being able to extend the life of devices helps our pockets, since most of the time repairing is cheaper that replacing, it also means less waste over time. Yet, most importantly we paid to be able to fully own our devices. Companies shouldn't be able to artificially restrict our right to repair what we own, by raising artificial walls to prevent us to repair the devices we purchased from them. That we can't repair our devices artificially shortens the lifespan of our devices, and only benefits the companies by forcing us to buy a new one we want it or not. Not only that, repairs should be able to be performed by third parties or even by the owners of the devices. Such repairs shouldn'...

When I jump to using Ubuntu full time on my personal computer about a decade ago, I couldn't have imagined that I'd be using a Linux distro for my work as well. While I moved to Linux Mint since 2019, I've been able to do my job since 2022 without much trouble using Remmina to connect to the remote desktop I need to connect to do my job. The best part is that it has given me the chance to work remotely , which has allowed me to have more flexibility on how I manage my time and be more productive. My work place uses Windows computers for everything. So, when we had to start working remotely because of the pandemic, and bringing the desktop computer I used home with me, I was worried about losing some income because of it. Yet, with a few hours of research I found Remmina and it has worked like a charm ever since then. Actually, when I showed to the IT team at work, they were surprised how well it worked. Mainly because the software they had tried to use to connect to a...

Every time someone says they are against communism , because the government will come to take away their things I get they don't really understand what communism is about. Communism isn't about communal ownership of everything. Personal things can be privately owned, yet the means of production is what would fall in communal ownership. What this means, is that you could own your car but the factory that produced it would be own by the workers or community. Government ownership of the means of production is not the what communism seeks, but that the workers become the owners of the means of production. At the end of the day, governments as we think of today are not needed in a communist society. While communism was created as a reactionary response to capitalism , how it should be implemented has changed as time has gone by. Free trade is seen as desirable, while the means of production remain in the ownership of the workers. Most importantly, communism doesn't mean everyo...

One of the things made a lot better for me by mobile apps , is my relationships with banks . Being able to manage my bank accounts , and my money, through my smartphone has made it a lot easier. Being able to access by money from where I am at the moment, independent of the time, has made managing my finances a lot easier. Not only that, being able to send or receive money at a moments notice, without depending having to go to a physical branch of my bank, makes it a lot easier to go out with friends without being worried if I've got enough cash with me. It also have made it a lot easier to reduce my need of cash, and to plan my expenses a lot better. Being able to have less cash with me, also helps me feel safer. Adding to that, that I don't need to have my debit card with me to withdraw money makes thing a lot more convenient for me. While there still some things that could be done to make it a lot better, like allowing to withdraw a bit lower denominations via the app, I sti...

It's borderline bizarre that a company like Apple , that paints itself as a progressive company, to have a hard stance against Apple store employees forming labor unions . Specially since the kind of person that tend to work at Apple Stores , tend to be people who would actually use the labor union as a body to actually negotiate in ways that benefit both the employees and the company. That even Starbucks has an anti labor union stance on their coffee shops is worrying, since it also tries to paint itself as a fair company with their workers and their providers. The fact that they are trying so hard to impede their workers to form labor unions, could also cast shadows on how fair are their deals with coffee growers. The common trend it the anti labor union stance of both companies, is that they view labor unions as perjudicial for everyone involved by default. The truth is that there are not, it comes down to how workers manage and how the company relates to the labor union. A w...

One of the things made apparent by social media , is that not everyone receives the same quality of education . Our education systems are failing society at large, by not giving every member of society the same education. Education is one of the elements that actually has a big impact on how society as a whole can advance, and build a better future for humanity as whole. Yet, it seems that if you don't have enough money, the education that have access to doesn't give the individual the tools needed to be able to adapt to the changing world or make the best of the opportunities presented by life. This is specially evident when critical thinking comes into play, or there is a need to process new information. There is a large segment of people who aren't capable to deal with changes in well, alright refusing to make any change no matter how beneficial it is to them. There are people whose education is not giving them the tools needed to be able to make the most, and benefit, ...

After about using Evie as my go to launcher for my Android smartphone, I started using Discreet launcher for a couple of weeks now. So far, Discreet has been the first launcher that I've actually liked enough to replace Evie for an extended period of time. Evie was my go to launcher, but it hasn't been updated by its original developer for a while. While it has been picked up by another set of developers, it has lost a bit of what I used to like about it. As such, I started to look for a replacement. It took a while since no launcher I tried game the combination of simplicity with the ability to use some of my favorite icon sets like Delta , or  Viral . I just prefer to use icons rather than texts on my launchers, its just a personal thing. Discreet is that launcher that just ticks most of the boxes of what I look for in a launcher. It isn't perfect match, since the search function just allows to search for apps, and to makes use of Google search. Yet, to be honest that ...

Apple moving to USB-C from the Lightning port on the iPhone could be a great thing. Apple getting behind the USB-C standard could benefits all users, and it also mean a lot of less waste in the long run. Personally, I believe that Apple could have used the USB-C on the iPhone for a couple of years now. With Apple behind the standard, USB-C can be a better option than the Lightning port with the added benefit that a bigger selection of cables and more people using it. The number of times I've seen iPhone users not being able to charge their smartphones because they forgot their cable, and no one else got a compatible cable, happened a lot more often that the people with Android smartphones. For once, Apple moving to USB-C is something the company does that I can get behind.

With time, technology has advanced in such a way that many administrative positions can be done remotely. Though at times face-to-face meeting are sometimes needed, most of the time meetings can be conducted using tools like Zoom , or Skype . This allows a lot more flexibility for both employers, and employees. Not only that, working from home can be a great motivator for many people. Mainly because it helps employees to feel more in control of what is going on around them, and to have more time for family. More people are seeing home office as something that they prefer, so much so that it has become a major reason to switch work. Its simply more convenient, even if you have to go to the company offices a couple of days a week. The ability to work remotely has become one of the biggest motivators to do a better job. Hope more companies take note of this, an allow whenever possible for their employees to take advantage of working remotely.

As time goes on, the combination of laptop and smartphone has proven to be the most useful for my needs. It gives me the computer power, and the portability, that allows me to make the most out of things. While there are desktop computers that are much more powerful than the laptop I use as my daily driver, they don't give me the portability I want. Besides, I don't really need much computing power, and most middle of the market laptops give me more than enough for my needs. But most importantly, laptops are just a better fit for my lifestyle, both at my work and personal life. Tablets simply don't fit my needs as well as smartphones do, specially on the go or when I'm with friends or family. When I'm not at home, or at work, a smartphone is the best fit to communicate or to the information I need on the fly. My smartphone is the better option, in ways a tablet would be a bit to cover-some. Most importantly for me, is that the laptop and smartphone combination s...

The current Russian invasion of Ukraine show how propaganda spreads through the Internet, and how hard is to detect and fight it by some people. There is a proportion of people that seems unable to identify propaganda, and help its spread by sharing it across social media, e-mail, and other means. What makes it worse, is that some people don't even question any of the information that the propaganda contains. The propaganda is taken at face value, which means misinformation, and even lies, are perpetuated without being challenged just because it fits the narrative that its already hold by the people who keep sharing it. Furthermore, many are blind to the fact that propaganda is used not only by governments, also by political parties and companies that want to influence the narrative in a way that benefit them, or hurts they opponents. Propaganda is a tool that looks to change how people view issues, no matter that the view it is pushing doesn't benefit them in any way. At the ...

The best thing about working remotely for me, is that I can manage my time a lot better compared when I'm at the office. There are a lot of factors behind it, but one of the most important ones is that I'm not interrupted as much allowing me to focus on my work a lot more.   The worst part of the interruptions at the office, is that more often than not they don't directly relate to my job or they things that could be solved without my involvement in them. Most importantly, I simply work better working remotely since I don't like to deal with people all that much. Working remotely allows me to just deal with people on my terms, or at least on terms I feel a lot more comfortable with. As such, I tend to be able to focus more on what I need to focus rather on things that I don't really matter for me. To be honest, I've come to realize that I prefer remote work and I'm willing to change jobs to keep working remotely.

People have a hard time detecting propaganda , or believing that propaganda is a tool used not only by all governments. Propaganda is also used by companies, religions, and groups of people that want to influence the behavior and beliefs people hold. Propaganda is part of our daily lives, since is used to try to shape our behaviors and beliefs in a certain way. Governments wants us to behave in a certain way, or to support certain causes, while certain groups within the society might want us to act differently. Companies might want for us to have a positive view of them, while having a negative view of their competitions. All of them create propaganda to influence us in a way that benefits them. Importantly, propaganda is not always done overtly. Most of the time it is done in subtle ways, so we don't immediately realize that we are being targeted by it. The realization that we are targets of propaganda, can be very off putting for most people making it a lot less effective. As suc...

I find it sad, and somewhat interesting, that a quick internet search doesn't make anyone an expert on anything. To become an expert in any subject require years of either practice, or study, in order actually have the skills and understanding to actually master the subject. A few hours of research on any subject, just give you a basic understanding on any subject. It takes years of study, or work, at any matter to actually become a master at anything, specially when the amount of information in just about anything takes years to gained. To gain mastery takes years of practice, research, and work.   That you have a working understanding of something, doesn't make you an expert. It just means that you know enough to know the basic, or how something works. Yet, it takes more than that to actually become a master. When you say that you understand something because you watched a couple of videos, or read an article on it, just come to show how little you know about you are talkin...

It's impressive how integrated our digital lives have become to what we do on the real world. So much so, that we don't think twice about how much of what we do in one affects the other one. In many respects they are not parallel to each other, but have become virtually indistinguishable from each other. In itself, it's not something good or bad. All comes down to how we manage them, since the results of the use give them will dictate the outcome of their integration. Most importantly, there is still a lot of people that aren't conscious about what they do on the Internet will have an impact on their lives on the outside world. It has become almost impossible to separate what we do online from what we do on the real world. Many of our interactions online are an extension of what we do in the real world, and the same goes the other way around. Not to mention that it's possible to almost completely conduct almost all of lives online in some cases, and almost impossibl...

I find it worrisome how many people blame technology for their shortcomings, rather than actually working on them. It has become easier to say that technology is to blame, rather than working to better oneself. All technology is just a tool we use for a mean, yet not everyone is being trained to make the best use of the new technologies relevant to their needs. That is why so many people find themselves displaced by new technologies, they simply don't have access to the training they need to be able to make use of them in a relevant way. The fear of new technologies is not unfounded. Yet it could be easily put aside if the training needed to make the best use of it was widely available, so that people could actually know what those technologies are about and use them to look for work. At the end, education is what is most lacking. Not everyone is getting the education they need to be able to deal with how technology is changing the world around them, and they are being left behind....

Once again, the ability to connect remotely to work has proved that I can work from anywhere with my laptop and a Internet connection. While the tools have been there from a while now, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced most of the administrative personnel to work from home, and we have proven that for most of us working remotely is something we could continue doing in the future. Personally, I use Linux Mint on the laptop I use work from home. While we use Windows Server at work, using Remmina to connect as a remote desktop I've been able to work without any problem at all. Remmina has allowed me to work as if I'm at the office, no matter where I'm physically at that point in time. What I'd like to see after the pandemic is over, is at least being able to have a hybrid work schedule at least. Working from home is has become my preferred way to face my professional life, because it simply gives the most flexibility with my time, and allow me to be more productive sinc...

Over the years, Spotify has become a staple of my daily life. While I still have my favorite music on my laptop's drive, Spotify has become my preferred way to listen to music, and podcasts , on the go.   While I do listen to music on the Spotify Linux desktop app, I find that it has become the main way I listen to music and podcasts on my smartphone while I'm on the go. I enjoy more the experience of doing so than having to connect my smartphone to my laptop in order to copy my music library to it. Besides, Spotify gives me far more options to listen to while on the go. What I like the most about using Spotify on my smartphone, is that I don't have to worry much about filling the memory. I can choose from a far wider library of options than I could otherwise. In a way, I feel that I can take all my music with me to access at a moments notice. The limits of the amount of music at my finger tips feel almost non existent. While there a few titles that aren't available, t...

With the amount of information at our fingertips that smartphones, and computers connected to the Internet is easy to get lost the shear available. It has become a question of being able to ask the right questions, not if the information we are looking for is there.   The ability to filter out the information out there to find which is relevant, is becoming one of the most important abilities to have to be able to actually function in the modern world. It has become easy to get lost among the sea of information available for any given subject, even not to know what sources to trust. Feeling overwhelmed with the amount of information bombarding us almost continuously, makes it easy to become numb to it. This can be a problem in the long sun, since it can make it easy for some not be able to access the relevant information for their needs. Without that information, it becomes harder to make the right decision. Which becomes worse when one takes into account that there are people who ...

Linux has stopped to be just for techies for quite some time now, with distros like Linux Mint and Zorin OS it has become far easier for people with not much technical skills to actually use a Linux distro with ease to do what they do on Windows or macOS . Both Linux Mint, and Zorin OS, come with all the software that most people already uses on Windows, or macOS, or something that can be a direct replacement for what they have been using so far. Besides, most distros now come with a software store that allows to install with a few clicks the software that doesn't come installed by default. Dropbox , Zoom , and Spotify can be installed quite easily this way. Most distros use either Chrome or Firefox as default, or both can be easily installed via the software store used by the distros. Since Chrome and Firefox are supported, accessing Disney+ , Netflix , or Amazon Prime Video is something you do as you do on Windows or macOS using said web browsers. The same can be said of...

One of the things I like the most about Linux , is that the user can pick and choose the desktop environment that works for her/him. When I made the jump to Linux, I Linux distro of choice was Ubuntu using GNOME 2 . Now, Linux Mint using Cinnamon has become my favorite Linux distro. This combination just works for me, and it runs like a charm on all laptops I've installed it on. For while I used Ubuntu with Unity , but when they decided to drop it in favor of a highly customized version of GNOME 3 I decided to move to Linux Mint. The idea that the user can choose the desktop environment that just works for her/his workflow, is a big benefit. Computers are a tool, an as such users have to be able to make it work according to their needs. The desktop environment they use is one of the most important ones, since its one of the things users interact directly when using a computer. While the number of desktop environments on Linux have consolidated somewhat over the past five years...

The idea that computer hackers are bad by default is not true. While some hackers are malicious, many hackers are not out to do bad things. Many hackers got into hacking out of curiosity, wanting to know how computers and software work or extend their capabilities. Hackers have a set of skills that can be used for good or bad, depending on the individual. This is true for anything that people do, skill sets are not good or bad in themselves. Yet, in a world that ever more dependent on computer systems to work, hackers are described as people who are out  to no good by many media outlets. Yet, hackers can be a force for good. In fact, a good proportion of them use their skills to actually improve computer systems we use. Some by helping patching vulnerabilities in the computer systems, others by finding ways to extend their capabilities, while others help keep systems alive that have been dropped by their original developers. As computer systems become more important for our daily ...