Internet
So far I’ve been managing the data well enough with my phone as a 20 GB hotspot and a method of doing Zoom and streaming video
So far I’ve been managing the data well enough with my phone as a 20 GB hotspot and using my cellphone for doing Zoom and streaming video. This should get me through the winter, and if it’s still remote work come the spring, I’ll either cut down to 10 GB plan or end it all together in favor of working down at the library or park.
Still Happy With No Internet at Home
It seemed after about seven or eight years that the Time Warner Cable and Verizon had given up on trying to get me to sign up for Cable Television and Internet. And then I got another advertisement in the mail just this week. I chucked it in the paper recycling bin. And sighed. I am quite happy not having Internet at home, especially because with my new 4G Smartphone that can do about 90% of the stuff I need to do on the Internet. When I need larger files or something I can only do on my laptop, I walk down to the library or the park, which both have fast, free Internet which I can use. I also bring my laptop to work, and can connect to the wireless guest network they have there.
I don’t plan on ever having Internet at home. It just seems like an unnecessary expense, not to mention an unnecessary distraction. By walking or driving down to the library, it is a good way to limit your time on the ethers of the World Wide Web, although, honestly, most of that same stuff can be done with a modern smartphone. I don’t want a connected home or the ability of hackers to enter my living space, I’m quite happy building my own dream cabin with 12 volt power, LED lighting, controlled by automotive relays and maybe an Andruino. Don’t get me wrong, I like technology. I blog, I like the Internet. It would be cool to have the LED lights come on in my home at 6:30 with a bright blue colors to wake me up on a cold winter morning. With cellphone service in more and more places, and the StraightTalk data service cap ever growing, it seems like I have all the connection I need to our modern society, without the wires tying everything on in.
In The 2010s, We All Became Alienated By Technology
I’ve spent six years reporting on deeply alienated people on the internet, during which time I’ve come to see conditions of disconnection and frustration everywhere the Digital Nation touches: on social media, in search algorithms, in the digital economy. In myself. The feelings of powerlessness, estrangement, loneliness, and anger created or exacerbated by the information age are so general it can be easy to think they are just a state of nature, like an ache that persists until you forget it’s there. But then sometimes it suddenly gets much worse.
Amazon Ruined Online Shopping – The Atlantic – Pocket
Even determining what’s available to purchase, via a keyword search on Google or Amazon, produces confusion far broader and deeper than the price fluctuations obscured by a Dash button. I recently tried to search for a heat-pump-compatible thermostat on the site. I got a litany of results, all thermostats for sure, but it was difficult to figure out which ones really worked with a heat pump. Eventually I gave up and resolved to visit Home Depot, which I still haven’t done. Another time, I tried to look for a 5-by-8-inch picture-frame mat on Amazon. But every other possible combination of mat came up instead: 8-by-10, 5-by-7, 8-by-8, 5-by-5. A hedge-trimmer battery I purchased came with a charger, but I didn’t realize it from the product description, so I ordered a duplicate charger as well—that charger arrived first, for some reason, and I had opened the packaging so couldn’t return it.
I do often find that online shopping is increadibly confusing. You never know what deals your going to get, you never know what the product really is until it shows up at your doorstop. Sometimes it's a good deal, often it's a waste of money. I often avoid shopping online for just that reason, but also because I don't have Internet at home.
Advertising at Work
Thanks to my gmail account being loaded on my work computer, sometimes I get some very strange advertising on my home computer. I’ve seen ads for:
- Senior citizens
- HIV
- Drug Addiction
- Texting while driving
I think it’s funny how the Internet thinks what I am researching at work, should copy over to my home work.
Amazon Is Aggressively Pursuing Big Oil as It Stalls Out on Clean Energy
In 2014, Amazon announced that it would power its rapidly expanding fleet of data centers with 100 percent renewable energy. Apple, Facebook, and Google made similar pledges two years before that, and pressure from consumers and environmental groups drove Amazon to follow suit. For the next two years, the tech giant made admirable strides toward achieving its goal, bankrolling large solar plants and wind farms. Then, it stopped.