Vista made me switch to Mac back then.

Dies ist wohl wahr. Eine dezidierte Kamera ist ja eigens für diesen Zweck geschaffen, qualitativ hochwertige Aufnahmen zu machen. Was mich bei Smartphone-Kameras hingegen ein wenig stört, ist, dass diese bedingt durch die Bauweise dazu neigen, Bilder zu den Rändern hin zu verzerren (krümmen). Aber das ist einer der Kompromisse die man in Kauf nehmen muss, wenn man keine separate Kamera mit sich herumschleppen möchte.

Ich hatte mal eine Digitalkamera von Olympus. Obwohl diese Kamera ganz passable Aufnahmen gemacht hat, war ich dennoch nicht gänzlich zufrieden: Der proprietäre Akku konnte nur mit einem eigens mitgelieferten Ladegerät geladen werden. Super umständlich. Außerdem verwendete die Kamera ausschließlich proprietäre Speicherkarten (werden teuer verkauft). Immerhin ließ sich die Kamera wie ein Massenspeichergerät an den Computer anschließen.

Diese Kamera musste ich später zur Reparatur einschicken (Garantie), da sich das Objektiv nicht mehr hereinfahren liess. Ein paar Monate später war der Sensor beschädigt. Eine Reparatur wäre zwar möglich gewesen, aber die häte den Kaufpreis der Kamera überboten. Dies war dann auch außerhalb der Garantiezeit. Danach sind Smartphone-Kameras aber deutlich besser geworden, weswegen ich keinen Bedarf mehr gesehen habe für eine separate Digitalkamera.

Fazit: Finger weg von Olympus.

That one was indeed disturbing.

Actually, someone already came up with the idea of anal fingerprinting, albeit in another context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJklHwoYgBQ

In addition to my comment I leave this article here:

https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/723755486547181568/autoenshittification

This article sums up the ongoing enshittification with cars and other devices, backed up with further sources.

Things I do what give me a percieved sense of privacy/ security:

• use Firefox with Add-ons (Ublock origin, Idontcareaboutcookies, Istilldontcareaobutcookies, Consent Blocker)
• browser set up to block third party cookies and to delete any cookies after closing
• not allowing to store any credentials in the browser
• using different passwords for different services (not one password for all)
• using Two-Factor-Authentification on services which are connected with banking account
• not using freemail providers for email
• using a temporary email where possible if registration is required
• encrypted hard drive and encrypted backups
• do not use cloud storage (I rely on old school portable hard drives and thumb drives)
• using an additional firewall to stop certain not-quite-legally-obtained programs from phoning home (these programs can't be replaced through FOSS at the moment, or are too ridiculously overpriced to buy them right now)
• restrict/ forbid operating system to collect anonymous data and to phone home (as if that helps...)
• don't do online banking with an android 8 device

The password storage thing sometimes seems to be a hassle. I have stored my passwords in a physical moleskin, written with a pen, like an old person would do. When I have that book not availiable (when travellling), I have to guess my credentials.

At work I have the browser stored all the credentials. It's so much faster and easier. But since it's at my job I don't have to worry about my own private stuff.

A Bronx Tale

A father becomes worried when a local gangster befriends his son in the Bronx in the 1960s. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106489/

Top Notch - https://topnotch.app/

Apparently you need a third party app to switch the color of the menu bar to black so that you can hide the stupid notch.

There is no point. We realised it only recently. If you remember the cell phones from the time before smartphones, there hadn't been much technological progress. My first cellphone, a Nokia, could store up to 10 short messages. It's pedecessor had the same storage capacity. Of course, there were technological milestones that have been passed, e.g. antennas which didn't protrude out of the phone, vibration motors, (in comparison to today) really shitty photo-cameras (and the buggy software that was needed to transfer the photos to the computer), etc.

The point is, that they all were capable to do the same thing: calling and texting. Looking back, there was not really a need to replace the old cellphone. Advertising made us want new shiny things.

This changed when smartphones emerged. Hardware wise, there are not many differences. Some have faster processors than others, others have better cameras. The storage capabilities are sufficient. For the normal user these specifications don't matter. All smartphones are capable of accessing the (real) internet. The main difference today is in the software (operating system). Older phones run on software that is too outdated to keep pace, and the software support is often limited, which as a result leads to possible security flaws - because the user is supposed to upgrade the hardware, not the operating system only. And that's why new phones are bought, despite the old ones would still do.

My smartphone ist running on Android 8 (Nougat). It's still working and is sufficient for my needs. But I wouldn't run my online banking with that phone. Also, it gets pretty hot and slow when navigating with Google Maps.

Conclusion: It's not the hardware specifications which lead to the replacement of smartphones. It's the more complex (security wise) software requirements certain applications (online banking apps, medical apps, e.g. insuline tracking apps, overall more sophisticated apps that runs slow on an outdated smartphone) demand today.

I noticed two things, along with all the good answers in this thread:

1. There is no such thing as Karma, and I hope it will never be implemented into the fediverse. The reason is that on Reddit Karma was handled like a currency, an in order to obtain Karma, the general quality of the content declined, as a result of Karma-farming. Also it was used as a threshold for posting comments in certain communities. Imagine you could join an instance only when you have a certain ammount of a Karma equivalent. That is something I don't want to see.

2. At this moment there are mostly tech savvy users (former heavy Reddit users) here, who are interested in creating content and participation. Also these folks are helping each other. It feels like a little community. I think, the threshold to join the fediverse is still too high for the average mainstream user. Maybe it will be easier to get started when there are mobile apps.

Or dedicate the subreddit to a resource for pirat-related stuff i.e. pirate ships, cannons and all that 15th century pirate culture. Like taking the name litarally.