Tsikbal: from my perspective

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'...