Tsikbal: from my perspective

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...