#i would use this iphone se as my main phone

[boookends]

florida mickey

#i would use this iphone se as my main phone #but it doesnt have phone service and its kinda fucked up #it just glitches out because theres smth wrong w the screen #but its got me fr considering buying a good one on ebay #and then getting phone service on it like #idk i just love it #me #mine #ethel cain #girlblogger #girlblogging #indie sleaze #outfit #lana del rey #the 1975

[zeldahime]

I did math on David Tennant's hands (so you don't have to)

EDITED WITH MORE ACCURATE PHONE INFORMATION AND A DIFFERENT CONCLUSION.

I swear all I wanted to know was what kind of phone Crowley has in season 1.

See, I have an iPhone, and one of my gigs shares a building with an Apple Store. I was taking a screenshot of his contact picture for Aziraphale, and noticed that the camera on the back of his phone is laid out horizontal. Most iPhones aren't! So, I fell into this rabbit hole: what phone does Anthony J. Crowley have?

(The bit where you can see the cameras, immediately before the cool heart-in-flames picture he has for Aziraphale's contact, is basically impossible to screenshot; the phone moves very fast and reflects the environment. But his contact photo for his angel is so neat and I love it ❤️‍🔥)

I figured out very quickly the only iPhone with that camera layout is the iPhone SE series, but there have been only three generations: 2016, 2020, and 2023. Season 1 of Good Omens was released in 2019. The iPhone SE first generation was also Apple's "budget" phone. It just didn't make sense to me that Crowley would have an old budget phone, but the new SE wasn't commercially available so it also didn't make sense to me that the prop department could have given him a new phone.

The main visual differences between gen 1 and gen 2 are threefold: gen 1 didn't come in black; gen 2 has slightly more beveling; and they are different sizes. The first two visual differences are basically meaningless, because it's trivial for a props department to turn a white phone black and the beveling difference only is obvious in comparison. So I had to figure out what size Crowley's phone was.

We see Crowley's phone in s1e4 and s1e5, but the only thing in its environment we can really measure to get an accurate read on its size is... Well. David Tennant.

More specifically, we get a fairly good shot of the phone in his hands, held level with the screen, and thumb easily available to use as a reference.

But if anyone has done David Tennant Hand Math before, they weren't on page 1 of Google and therefore may as well not exist. So I took up this quest myself.

So first, I had to find a picture of David Tennant holding something of known dimensions. I am, first and foremost, a Doctor Who nerd. There's only one answer to that.

Another Doctor Who nerd on the internet went and figured out 10th Doctor's sonic screwdriver was about 160 mm and the head of the sonic from tip to the joint with the middle section was about 40 mm.

I then got out my actual goddamn fabric tape and measured this man's fingers on my computer screen. After converting the measurements back to scale, first to second knuckle on his middle finger was 54.55 mm.

Then to figure out how long his thumb is, I needed a photo of his hands. This one is courtesy of the GO Reference Server:

His thumb came out to being approximately 68mm long. (My thumb came out to 55mm long. Not relevant, I just got curious while I was doing all this measuring.)

Finally, the data necessary to the main event: the goddamn phone.

Using the thumb as a reference, the phone came out to 136mm in length.

The iPhone SE Gen 1 was 123.8 mm long; the Gen 2 was 138.4 mm long.

Given that I rounded quite a bit during my calculations to keep things at 2 digits or less, I'm very comfortable saying: Crowley had an iPhone SE (second generation) during the events of Good Omens Season 1, a phone that would not become commercially available until April 2020.

I don't know how the props people got their hands a phone that wouldn't be released for a full year and change after filming, but they did that for us. It's a character note that practically nobody noticed, for a prop that gets barely a full minute of screentime. They could easily have used an iPhone XR or iPhone XS Max, which were the newest iPhones actually on the market at that time and which people would have recognized when the episode aired, but they knew Crowley would have the newest iPhone before anybody else had the newest iPhone and by Jove, he did.

After I posted this in Discord, @giveintomay pointed out that the iPhone SE second generation used the same build as the iPhones 7 and 8, which came out in 2016 and 2017 respectively. So, he most likely had an iPhone 8, which would have been the latest generation while filming (as generation 10 became commercially available over the summer and fall).

#my writing #good omens #good omens tv #crowley good omens #good omens crowley #good omens meta #neil gaiman #david tennant #this took me like three or four hours btw #all i wanted was a single screenshot and what i got was this goddamn rabbit hole

[exeggcute]

there's a developing story in Australian media about Tiktok pixels collecting unauthorised data in an aggressive manner via their ads on thrid party websites, and I was wondering what a Professional like yourself made of it

ooh reading into this now... full disclosure that (1) until/unless I get another job in adtech I am technically not a Professional anymore lol and (2) pixel tags weren't a big component of my last role so I only have a fairly basic understanding of how they work. but from what I'm seeing here it sounds like the main issue with tiktok rn isn't the data collection per se, since these pixel tags are functionally identical to the ones employed by facebook and others, just that tiktok isn't obtaining user consent the way other companies are ostensibly do. although even that seems like a convenient lead-in for the whole Oh My God A But Chinese Company Is Doing It thing.

and tbf I kinda can pull that in both directions—on one hand facebook in particular has gotten in a lot of trouble before for bad data collection practices and putting that data in the hands of people who used it to (maybe, allegedly) sway public opinion, so the general fear underpinning this thing is like, not unfounded right. (even though I don't think the issue behind the cambridge analytica scandal was centered around tracking pixels specifically?) on the other hand the very nature of facebook's rocky history re. data and privacy proves that western companies can and will spy on their users and it's for sure disingenuous to act like ~shady foreign governments~ are the only ones with any incentive to do so lol.

I guess you could argue that facebook's incentive for all the spying was simply Making Money, even if they took money from people who did use that spy data to spread propaganda; like, to the parent company, the propaganda wasn't the goal. whereas many will obviously argue that with tiktok data some undefined form of propaganda is the goal. but seeing that tiktok ads are a multi-billion dollar enterprise(!) I'm way more inclined to believe that tiktok is also spying for the sake of Making Money. clearly a whole fucking lot of money!

this is something I've for sure said before but I also wholeheartedly believe (and to some extent, know, although again pixel tracking isn't my exact wheelhouse) that advertising data is a lot less granular and therefore less useful than most people imagine it to be, which severely limits the kind of compromising shit you can pull under normal circumstances.

even in the article I linked, where they talk about tiktok pixels being able to track the shopping/browsing habits of users, basic device info, and occasionally some PII like phone numbers and email addresses... like, okay, so let's say tiktok knows that [email protected] used an iphone to look at a website that sells orthopedic shoe inserts. or even maybe something more salacious like, idk, questionably legal gas station dick pills. from a "let's use tiktok to spread propaganda" perspective I really struggle how that information would be valuable or what you'd do with it other than emailing that person outright to taunt them about their fucked up feet and/or dick? (if the goal is to show people certain kinds of content in tiktok's app then certainly you have both the means to do so and plenty of behavioral data to draw up on in the app itself. it's a literal video platform lol.) otoh from a "let's use this data to create advertising segments" perspective then you can easily monetize this info by telling advertisers that you know a guy who's a prime target for ads about podiatry treatments or whatever, in which case advertisers are more eager to spend money on ads because they think they're talking to a relevant audience. and in that case advertisers don't really care what the guy's name or email is, just that he ticks certain boxes that make him a worthwhile use of ad dollars. and even in cases where bad actors do want more specific data for shady purposes, it's pretty difficult to collect it and even harder to propagate it across different platforms; one thing I think gets overlooked a lot with cambridge analytica in particular is that it happened on a platform where users willingly share their full name, birthday, gender, relationship status, political leanings, job title, etc. outright, and then create connections between other people who also willingly share all that info. in some ways I don't think it could've happened anywhere but facebook, because this is a situation where you really didn't have to squeeze anything out of users—they just came out and told you! (it's also part of why non-shady facebook ads are so lucrative; you don't have to guesstimate audience data when you can literally just specify that certain ads should only be shown to people whose profile says they're between the ages of 35 and 55.) and as far as I'm aware tiktok just does not have anything remotely approaching that kind of profile data.

anyway lol. as far as I can tell I think this is a GDPR-y consent issue first and foremost, which will probably turn into a thorny battle over whether tiktok can/will be held to EU data standards or similar statues with a good helping of Chinese Company Bad mixed in for good measure. also side note but remember the whole thing about tiktok data transparency but the american company they put in charge of it is fucking oracle?

[blameitonmyjuuse]

For @austonandersen who wanted quarantined Freddie and Auston.

--

Though Freddie would never admit it, the NHL’s pausing of the season was not a wholly unwelcome idea. It was horrible, yeah, and incredibly frustrating because the Leafs were still solidly in the playoffs and slowly coming back out of their downward spiral, but.

But. 

It’s not that Freddie was exhausted, per se, but being the starting goaltender for a team who seemed to constantly hover on the edge between absolute greatness and the absolute laughing stock of the NHL could sometimes take its toll. Game after game, night after night-- sometimes Freddie did wish for a break in between wishing for better defense and a Cup.

For just a single night to pause, relax on the couch, and not think of an impending match where it would either be a win and he’d have to push himself harder and harder to get to the next one, or a loss and it would be him against the entire Leafs fan base.

He did, however, wish that a global pandemic wasn’t the cause of this break.

Nevertheless, the lack of people on the afternoon streets while Freddie rounded the final corner to his apartment, sweat creating a tacky sort of stick on his back as his final few moments jogging faded into deep breathing, was not the worst thing in the world. 

The Doorman tipped a professional greeting as Freddie made his way to the elevator, taking mouthfuls of water in and switching his AirPods into their protective case. 

The ride was short; short enough that Freddie was still half reading a Danish news article about new cases when he stepped out, and traced his way down to his apartment, and opened the door. 

He took a step beyond the doorway, half a second to read the sentence, træffe beskyttelsesforanstaltninger for at bremse spredningen---

And then stumbled. 

Damnit.

Freddie sighed and glanced down at the pair of black and white Nikes about three sizes too small and 90% too flashy to be his own in the middle of the doorway. They were no doubt toed off without a thought, even though their owners most certainly knew that Freddie would be coming in from his afternoon jog and wouldn’t be able to miss them.

He stared balefully at the shoes and stepped over them, passing the shoe rack a couple steps further inside the hallway, where two other similar pairs had been forgotten over time.

Freddie toed off his own shoes, took another sip of water and peeked around the hallway. No sign, so that meant the owner of these ridiculous shoes had ventured deeper down the hall and into the master bedroom. 

Sure enough, as Freddie passed through the entrance to his bedroom, shucking off a sweat-soaked tank top to the dirty clothes hamper, he noticed steam billowing from the master bath’s doorway.

“Matty?” Freddie called, as though the visitor would be anyone else. 

There was a pause and the shower water turned off. A few seconds passed and Freddie used the brief moment of silence to open his dresser to pull out a pair of black boxers. 

Then the bathroom door opened and a dark head peeked out, “Yeah?”

Freddie didn’t answer, just took in the sight as Auston emerged fully, hair slick and white towel tied haphazardly across his waist. Auston dragged a smaller towel through his hair, “What’s up?”

Freddie tossed him the black boxers, “How many times have I asked that you put your shoes on the rack?”

Auston grinned and ran the towel through his hair again, flexing his biceps. Freddie, of course, was drawn to the movement, to the way the muscle clenched and relaxed, before flicking cool his eyes back to Auston’s flushed face. Auston shrugged, “See, I meant to do that, but the promise of your shower was too much.”

Freddie didn’t buy it. When not focused on hockey, Auston’s main goal seemed to be driving Freddie insane. Insane, in several varying ways that both pissed Freddie off and made something burning hot burrow in his chest.

“You mean-- the identical shower to yours downstairs, in your own apartment?”

Auston shrugged again and scratched at the cut of his hip, where tiny rivulets of water were pooling and absorbing into the towel. “My apartment is missing things.”

“Hm,” Freddie murmured before shifting by Auston, taking care to pass close enough that he could feel the heat of the shower on Auston’s skin and smell his own shampoo and body wash on him, but not quite close enough to touch him. He shut the bathroom door behind him and pulled his jogging pants and underwear off. 

Showering was a quick, perfunctory affair. Freddie didn't let his thoughts linger or stray-- especially not to the boy no doubt making himself comfortable on the couch. If he did, he'd be in there for hours and Auston, who might just be the most impatient boy in the world, would certainly have something to say about it.

Sure enough, when Freddie was dressed in soft grey sweatpants, socks, and nothing else, Auston was lounging across the couch, face buried in his phone and thumbs moving rapidly across the screen.

The TV was off, like it had been since the PGA announced that golf had been suspended for the time being. Freddie frowned at the thought, but leaned over to swipe the remote from the coffee table. When he glanced back at Auston, Auston’s eyes were on Freddie. He wordlessly curled his legs up to his chest, and when Freddie sat down, taking up the space where Matty’s feet had been, Auston spread out again and rested his calves on Freddie’s lap.

Freddie traced a line down Auston’s shin in thanks and turned the TV to the NHL channel. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes; Auston texting and then pausing and texting again, and Freddie mindlessly drawing patterns on the warm skin of Auston’s legs while watching highlights between a Stars and Predators game from last month. 

Auston shifted and poked Freddie’s abs softly with his toe. “Mitchy wants to know where I am.”

“Does he want to come over?”

“He can’t. We’re self-quarantining, remember? Players aren’t supposed to be around each other.”

“Oh yes,” Freddie said with a pointed glance to the distinct lack of six feet between them, “Self- quarantining.”

But Auston’s attention was back on his phone. Freddie allowed it for a few more minutes, but as Auston’s eyebrow furrows like they do when he begins to start stressing about something hockey related, he sat up and snagged the IPhone from Auston’s hand.

“Dude,” Auston groaned half-heartedly, briefly trying to grab it back before giving up and laying back. He looked up at Freddie from under his eyelashes and the thing is--

The thing is, Freddie loves it when he does that. For a kid who had an entire dynasty thrust upon him, for a kid who’s had to grow up in one of the harshest spotlights in their sport, when he’s looking up at him like that, Freddie is reminded that Matts is still just a good-hearted kid. It reminds him that the quarantine isn’t all bad because it has given him quiet times where he and Matty can just be. 

He must be doing that intense creeper stare that Auston bitches about, because Auston was nudging him again, “What?”

Freddie wanted to tell him all of that, but he doesn’t think he has the words in either English or Danish to try and get what he meant across. So he shrugged, “You’ll see him soon. All of them.”

“I’m just bored. I want to play hockey.” Auston threw his head back on the pillow his head was cushioned on, “That’s all I want to do right now.”

The inflection Auston uses, the slight undercurrent of whine, well, Freddie has never pretended that it didn’t do things to him. 

It always had; even when Auston was a fresh faced nineteen year old who was just learning how much he could push before Freddie would react. 

And Auston knew it, whether he used it meaningfully or not. 

Freddie tilted his head and added some tone in his voice, “That’s all you want to do?”

Auston picked his head up slowly, “Well I mean-- not all I want to do. I- I mean, I can think of other things I’d be fine doing.”

Freddie let the fingers grazing against Auston’s shin drift higher, smiling slightly when Auston automatically opened his legs, “No, if you want to play hockey, we could play Xbox hockey.”

“Hm,” Auston hummed, lips quirked up at the ends as he pretended to be deep in thought. When he grew tired of waiting, he sat up, and Freddie had no problem using his larger frame to haul Auston up completely, until he could resettle in Freddie’s lap, either leg sprawled adjacent to Freddie’s thighs, “I actually think I just got a better offer.” 

He did love the sound of that. Nevertheless, Freddie let his hands splay over the stretched cotton of Auston’s boxers. When Auston smiled wider and let his eyes flicker closed, eyes draped loosely around Freddie’s neck, Freddie lifted his right palm and brought it down hard.

Auston’s eyes opened wide at the pop.

Freddie lifted Auston off and climbed to his feet. He made his way around the couch and started towards his bedroom without a look back, “If you had picked up your shoes, you wouldn’t have to wait.”

Freddie privately smiled when he heard Auston curse and stumble over himself to put his shoes on the rack. 

#for miss katie #who has been wanting auston and freddie fluff during the virus for a hot moment #auston x freddie #maple leafs #toronto maple leafs #auston matthews #frederik andersen #freddie andersen #also its been a million years since ive written #so apologies if its trash #i also have never written rpf before #sorry to my mother and to the real auston and freddie #if anyone shows this to them they can die by my blade #hockey

[purplesurveys]

907

Are you one of those lucky people to own a walk-in closet? lol lucky people. No I don’t have one of those. Is there a random object you own that has a huge personal significance? Well it’s more significant today because we had our virtual graduation this morning... so I’ll go with my graduation sash. Ever since I started university I’ve always wanted to wear my own sash in a physical ceremony so again, it sucks that our batch got affected by the pandemic. Do you use Google? For just about everything, yeah. Would you like to go swimming right now? That would be soooooo so nice. I’ve been going through old vacation photos and I really miss the beach. Can you play electric guitar? Nope.

Do you have an HDTV? My parents do. When was the last time you drank something through a straw? Around a month ago when my dad bought milk teas for me and my sister. Have you ever tried to teach yourself a different language? I didn’t teach myself per se, but I have tried my hand learning Spanish on Duolingo several times. It always comes in phases – I get passionate about learning and use the app for weeks, then it kinda burns out after a while. Right now I haven’t used it since I got sick in May. How long was your last phone call? A little longer than an hour, I think. It was pure silence though; we just wanted to hear each other’s surroundings. Do you need to repaint your nails? No, I never get it painted. Has there ever been a horoscope that came true for you? Psh. Are you a fan of industrial metal? Holy shit I feel so stupid right now. I thought this was referring to a literal kind of metal and I thought, that is such an odd thing to be a fan of...Google quickly taught me that it is in fact NOT a material for building infrastructure jdsskfjskf. Anyway, no I am not a fan. Are you one of those people who chew two pieces of gum, not one? Yeah, occasionally. I don’t like how one piece loses flavor all too quickly so I go ahead and pop two in. Do you have a wall calendar? Not since 2008. We only had a wall calendar in our old house; when we moved here we started to rely on digital clocks and our phones to tell the time. Have you ever taken the pictures from a calendar and used them as posters? I haven’t had a calendar like that, so no. I’ve done this with magazines though. Can you handle the cold? Hahaha no, I can’t. I was already in so much pain in 20ºC weather in Sagada, and I fared much worse in 12ºC Japan weather. I would still pick living in a colder climate in a heartbeat over a tropical one, though. Have you ever been to Canada? Nope.  Do you believe in superstitions? Just one superstition involving my university that doubles as an inside joke, so it’s not like I take it 100% seriously. It’s a generations-old joke that’s impossible to ignore if you’re a student, so I just jumped in. When was the last time you took a taxi somewhere? It was from the airport to back home, but I forgot where we landed from. Bohol I think? Palawan? I don’t even know anymore. It was so inconvenient I begged my dad that we stop using taxis as transportation for our future trips. Would you ever join the army, airforce or navy? No. How old is the person you last kissed? 22. Is there a friend that you can always rely on to get you out of a jam? I don’t think so. When it comes down to it they all have their own different things going on and I can’t just call them whenever and expect them to come to me, and that’s okay. Generally though, I think my most reliable friends are probably Andrew and Angela. What was the most embarassing thing you've had to buy? I’ve never felt embarrassed by anything I had to buy, but it can get a little uncomfortable trying to buy napkins when my dress or pants are already soaked. I get over it quickly though, since menstruations are normal lol. Have you ever tried to balance the light switch between off and on? When I was a kid. I haven’t tried it in a while. Do you believe in ghosts / supernatural occurences? They’re fun to think about, sure, and I do enjoy watching the supernatural episodes of Buzzfeed Unsolved where they go ghost-hunting. I like to think that they somehow exist, but I still also very much maintain my skepticism at all times. Have you ever mistaken a person's gender? I’ve used the wrong pronouns accidentally but I always correct myself and apologize once I’ve noticed my blunder. What was the most expensive thing you've broken? My old iPhones. I’ve also sported a few dents on my car, but I wouldn’t say I broke the car. Has anyone texted you yet today? Not text, but online chat. We had our virtual graduation this morning so my inbox was swamped with congratulatory messages and such. Did you stay calm during the whole swine flu scare? I did, but I mean I was 11 and had no clue how serious it was supposed to be. I remember cheering when they suspended classes for a week because of a local swine flu case, so yep – still ignorant back then. Is there a light on in the room you're currently in? There is, but it isn’t turned on. Are your feet touching the floor? Nope, they’re on the bed. Have you ever been in a car accident? Mild ones, nothing too life-threatening. Do you usually make back-up plans? Yeah man I’m so anxious I always have at least plans A-C lined up in my head and ready to go whenever necessary. Can you focus well in high-stress situations? Usually. Without the aid of mascara, do you have long eyelashes? I do. I get compliments on it all the time too. I didn’t realize it was apparently a nice feature to have until more and more people pointed it out haha. Is there a kind of music you listen to that helps you release your anger? Yeah I have a playlist that’s lined up with all of my favorite loud, angry punk rock music specifically for when I’m pissed off. Are you one of those people who keep their feelings bottled up? I can, particularly whenever I feel like it’s not worth it to blow up. Is one of your friends extremely odd but you love them regardless? Not really. Aya’s pretty weird but I wouldn’t call her extremely odd. Is there anyone you dread going into public with? My mom when she’s mad. Are you a victim of writing run-on sentences? For the most part, I wouldn’t say so. If I write a run-on sentence it’s almost always in an informal setting where I’m more loose with punctuation, like if I’m chatting on IM or writing an answer on here. Still, I try to avoid them and I never do it in a formal situation. Graffiti: an art or an act of vandalism? They can be both. Some people who genuinely just want to fuck around vandalize, like how I’ve seen “Mark <3 Erica” in spray paint on public walls or some similar shit lol. But a lot of graffiti are art as well; many have important messages or symbolisms to say. Do you buy things online? I’ve done it a few times. Not regularly. I like being able to see and touch something before buying it. Are you easily frightened? I definitely am but at the same time I’m really into horror movies and serial killers and a ghost-hunting series? Hahaha it’s weird. I guess I enjoy the thrill that comes with having those interests. Do you have a favorite model? Over the years I’ve loved Elizabeth Jane Bishop, Kiko Mizuhara, Taylor Marie Hill, Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, and (controversial pick!) Kendall Jenner. Have you ever watched Titanic? So many times. Honestly, one of my favorites. What's your current facebook display picture of? It’s my official graduation photo wearing my graduation sash! :) I finally changed it last Friday after I got the email saying I’m on the list of graduates. How about your IM display picture? My main IM is my Messenger, which also uses my Facebook photo. Is there anyone whose hair you envy? Gabie’s for one. Hers is really smooth and silky and wavy. Would you act in a movie if it offered a role? If I was going to be a mostly unseen extra in a blockbuster film and still be paid like $600 for it, then I don’t see why I wouldn’t take it. Does speaking in front of people make you nervous? Only if there’s going to be an unscripted aspect to it that’ll make me have to come up with answers on the spot, like miting de avances or thesis defense. If I have a script or even just a general gist of what I want to say, I have no problem improvising and speaking in front of a crowd. Can you read in a moving vehicle or does it make you sick? It makes me sick but it hasn’t stopped me before. Have you ever dated someone who was extremely shy? I’m the extremely shy person... Or have you dated someone who took things too fast? I felt that way with Gab at first when she wanted to have sex like two months after we started dating, though I was scared mainly because it was going to be my first time and I wanted to make sure I was comfortable. Now that I’m a little older, two months seems like a healthy amount of time. Does the idea of driving 220 mph sound exciting to you? Sounds terrifying. It could be fun, but only if we’re in the middle of nowhere where there’s loads of space to go that fast and no chance of crashing. Everyone has a weakness, what's yours? Food. Do you or anyone you know have an account on Deviantart? I had classmates in high school who had accounts but I’m not sure if they still have it, or if Deviantart is even still as active as I knew it to be. Thoughts on the Dunkin Donut commercial that says "America runs on Dunkin'"?  It’s a creative slogan but if I was American I wouldn’t want a doughnut place claiming to represent my country. It cute though. Do you bother buying movies on DVD anymore or do you just download them? I watch them on Netflix, which is still technically like buying them since we pay for the subscription anyway. Do you listen to Daughtry? No. Do you get your eyebrows waxed? I don’t. Waxing looks so painful to me. How do you take your coffee? Lots of creamer or milk, a little sugar. I like trying out different coffees, but when I’m simply relaxing I do want my coffee as least bitter as possible.  If you have a dog, what breed is it? I have an aspin mix, though we never figured out what Kimi’s other half is. And I also have a beagle. Have you found someone who makes you unconditionally happy? I don’t know if 'unconditionally’ is possible but yes, I do have people who make me very happy. Do you have a friend who always seems to be dying their hair? Not anymore. Jo used to dye her hair like every month though and she must have been able to go through the entire rainbow. She looked sooo good in each of the colors. Would you swap names with a friend? I love all their names but I don’t see why that would be necessary. Do you plan on going to university? I did. I graduated today. Guys who wear muscle shirts, yes or no? Idk man, they can wear whatever they want. Are you a fan of Carrie Underwood? No. I liked some of her singles when I was younger, but I’m not a fan in that I have her albums and know her lesser-known songs. Do you make playlists on iTunes? I used to, when I still used iTunes. I make playlists on Spotify now. Have you ever forgotten someone's birthday? I don’t think so. Are you scared of being left behind? Yessir. I’m super competitive, so I hate the feeling. Do you remember your last dream? No. I’m really bad at remembering them unless they’re nightmares or insanely strange. I do know that I dreamt while we were watching mass earlier on the television though, hahaha. Do you know someone who is an obsessed Star Wars fan? So many people in my circle are. Is politics something you don't care about? No. If there’s anything I give tons of fucks about, it’s that. What's a movie/tvshow/book/series that is way overrated? I’ll go with the first things I thought of...in that order: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before; Stranger Things (it’s good, but not as good as people hyped it to be); I don’t really read anymore; and what do you mean by series? Just realized I only gave 2 out of 4 answers lol oh well. Do you think Barbie presents an unhealthy image to young girls? I don’t like how its physical features are still unrealistic; but I appreciate their attempts at diversity. I can’t say it was upsetting seeing a Filipino-themed Barbie :) Is there a pet that you desperately want? All I ever wanted were dogs, and now I’ve got two of them. Would you ever get your bellybutton pierced? Nope. Are you musically talented? Hahahahaha Have you ever shot a gun? Not a real one, so no. Athenna’s dad had this practice gun he used for target practice (duh) and I messed with that a few times. Do you have a friend that always changes their mind last second? That’s Gabie. She’s lucky she’s my girlfriend and that I love her, because it’s actually a big pet peeve of mine. Are you not afraid to voice your opinion? Yup. The only time I don’t say it out loud is if it’s unnecessary and if it’s going to be simply disrespectful. An example would be when my uncle offered to make me a carrot cake for my grad gift, and I just said yes because it was already generous enough for him to offer me a free cake when he runs a food business. In reality it’s not my favorite cake at all; it wouldn’t even be in my top 20. Are you one of those people who are always pushing their limits? Yes, I definitely overwork myself to the point of exhaustion and burnout. But I honestly prefer doing things and being busy than sitting around. Is there a word that you will always find humorous? Bubbling. Because Drake and Josh.

Do you frown upon immature people? Typically. Have you ever slipped on ice and hurt yourself? This may have happened to me once or twice when I was still regularly visiting the ice skating rink at the mall. People were always super nice and helped me get up, though. Do you try to have an intimidating impression? I don’t try. Apparently it’s naturally the vibe I give off. Living in the big city or chilling in the country? BIG CITY. Always the big city. I’ve gone to the country/province so many times; I already know what it’s like there. I’ll always prefer a noisy city. No one seems to obey the legal drinking age, do they? Hahahaha a lot seem not to. I know so many high school kids who’ve had a drink before turning 18. Do you like your country's flag? Sure. I like that we can switch up the colors depending on if we’re at war or not. Have you ever made a totally amazing snow fort? I’ve never even seen snow before. Do you use Bounty Paper Towels? No. Are you the one usually behind the camera or the one in the picture? BEHIND If you get married, will you have a traditional wedding? Traditional, yes. Religious, no. Do you feel you’re slowly losing one of your friends? No. But now that I’m no longer in school, I really hope I’ll continue to be friends with my orgmates. I’ll certainly keep in touch as much as I can. If you draw, what's one thing you always have trouble with? Everything about it. Is there someone you know moving away any time soon? No. I do know my friend’s sister had already moved and started her new job in California, but when the pandemic started she had to go back here. This virus is just ruining so many great things for everyone, man... Allergic to anything? Nope. How many cars have you owned? Zero. I drive one; can’t say I own it because my parents bought it. What are you going to do after this? Maybe take another survey.

#survey #surveys

[hellyeahheroes]

“If you are poor how do you have an iPhone”

This is something that was gnawing at me for several weeks by now. Very recently comicbook twitter has gone on an anti-piracy outrage when one of the indie creators found out their comic book, that same one that had to change from selling in floppies to only selling in trades due to low sales, had hundreds of thousands of views on a pirate website. Due to the respect I have for that creator, I want to preface that what I am about to discuss is not a defense of piracy per se. it is not an argument that even applies in a large scale to indie scene that by far avoids some of the issues I will be talking about.

While I would never openly condone piracy, I have found myself playing devil’s advocate on that day out of sheer anger at one very specific argument that I have seen being thrown around by people condemning piracy. The exchange usually went like this - someone would go and try to say that comics are too expensive and that person would then be mocked for posting from their iPhone or another company equivalent. Every time I saw such behavior I have called it out. In some cases, people would apologize upon me explaining why this line of argument is out of the line. But in one a person had gotten furious I dared to question them, quickly devolving to childish insults and outright toxic behavior (the fact this person is an editor at Geeks World Wide made me completely give up on that website). But that is beside the point.

I want to just make it very clear that this “argument” is rooted in classism and, quite frankly, doesn’t even work. Let us explain the latter first

1. Why You Cannot Just Buy A Single Book

First I want to give the benefit of the doubt to the people using this argument. So we will do something dreadful and talk about math. For the purpose of this argument, I’m even going to go as far as not address the fact that even if you buy an iPhone through installment payments, at one point you are supposed to just have finished paying for the hardware. Meanwhile comic books expect you to keep buying if not one title, then hopefully another effectively forever. This fact in itself breaks the whole line of argument; A person could have wrapped up paying for the iPhone long before they ended in a financial situation where they cannot afford even comics. I will be ignoring this to address what I believe to be a steel man version of the argument - the strongest possible interpretation I can imagine. But even if we assume we live in a capitalist nightmare of endless payments, the rhetorics do not hold water.

Currently, on Apple official store, the newest iPhone11 costs you 30 dollars a month, while iPhone11 Pro is for 25$. In theory, the comparison that is presented should therefore work. After all, if you can afford 25$ dollars you can easily spare $5 for a comic book, right? For that price, you could buy as much as 4 comic books each month. Except that this assumption comes from a perspective that in order to read a single comic book all you need to do is buy that one comic book. Which is not the case. Or rather, it might be a case if we’re talking about independent publishers or markets like European or manga. But is certainly not one for Marvel and DC. While the problem is better than it once was we still regularly end in a situation where, in order to understand what is going on in a single Big 2 book, you need to read several others. This is a common case with big events. Let’s take a look at recently finished Absolute Carnage

This event had the gall to ask you to buy seven books and then upped it to nine. Nine comic books roughly 5 dollars per issue is 45$. To buy all of it would be to spend the equivalent of your iPhone11 Pro fee for five months.

Someone might now say that you obviously do not need to read the entire event. But the truth is, you do not really know that when it comes to making preorders. The event comics are deliberately constructed in such a way to trick people into thinking they have to buy all of it to understand what is going on. It was true when they were humongous, reaching even a hundred issues like the first Civil War, and it is true now. And while veteran fans have learned that usually you only need to follow main series and tie-ins written by its writer, even that can be a strain on someone’s budget. It might be that this person could only afford this one, single comic book. So when they suddenly find what might be their only source of entertainment incomprehensible without paying more money, they may face a dilemma. Deny yourself your one source of joy for any duration of time from a month to half of a year. Or quickly pirate that one book you never wanted to and was never interested in buying in the first place until you had the title you were paying for effectively held hostage.

I want to underline this is not just events. The most outrageous case of this issue right now is the X-Men line since Jonathan Hickman’s takeover. Which has become so self-referential you need to read all the titles in order to understand any single one. Without doing it the books become incomprehensible. This is me speaking from experience here. I was only interested in a single title from the initial launch. But the moment I saw characters talking about events from another book in a way that assumes I’m up to speed, I dropped it. 

In order to get into this so-called great new jumping-in point as it launched fans needed to first spend around $20 a month to buy two miniseries for 3 months. And as Dawn of X rolled in, the number of books rose and keeps rising. X-Men, X-Force, bi-weekly New Mutants, Excalibur and Fallen Angels already request you to invest an equivalent of the monthly price of an iPhone11. And they soon shall be joined by Wolverine, Hellions, Cable, X-Men/Fantastic Four and possibly monthly Giant-Size X-Men. Those keeping attention to the math part might have noticed we are a single series (and we are lead to believe there is more than one coming) from X-Men becoming an investment equal to paying for two separate iPhone11s each month. It is proof that the Big 2 has adopted a “more eggs, fewer baskets” mentality. This customer-unfriendly approach to storytelling seems by design prone to weeding out and turning away all but big spenders who can afford to regularly buy multiple books. it is not different from the exploitative systems we find in video games, designed to prioritize so-called “whales”, as the industry came to call people who can blow ungodly amounts of money on a game, over regular customers.

2. The Rhetoric Itself Is Flawed

However, even if the hypothetical scenario presented by people using the “why do you have an iPhone” argument was true, we need to recognize how toxic this argument is. First of all, this whole line of reasoning is out of touch and assumes that a working iPhone is a luxury, while more and more times in modern society it becomes a necessity. I live in Poland and have not encountered this issue yet, I keep hearing of people who simply cannot get a job without having an iPhone. It’s because more and more fields require you to have working company apps or use them to find new workers in the first place. The miniature computer in your hand has become such a utility tool it now is actively getting harder to operate in modern society without affording it. This line of argument only betrays that you are out of touch almost as much as a similar argument being used to claim people who have flatscreen TVs are not “really poor”. Currently, flatscreens are only TVs being produced and sold anymore, cheap for purchase and cheaper to maintain than a full-sized TV long time out of use and with spare parts likely no longer produced.

Moreover, you don’t really know how exactly that specific person’s financial situation is. It may be that yes, they can afford an iPhone out of necessity but it does require them to be on a tight budget. Maybe the phone itself is actually passed on from a family member - speaking here as someone whose every phone ever was such a gift. It may even be that the person had to work extremely hard and save up a lot to afford this phone and simply is not able to expand on their profits anymore. Or, as mentioned above, that they once could and finished paying for the last installment but have fallen on hard times ever since. The list goes on. The crux of it is that you do not know other people’s stories and have no right to hold them to some arbitrary standards without that knowledge.

Which brings me to my final point - the whole argument relies on perpetuating a myth of “properly poor” people. The made-up image of nobly suffering poor who deny themselves any and all form of luxury in life (and remember, we established that the whole argument relies on seeing modern phones as a luxury, not a necessity they have become) to save money to get themselves out of poverty. Not to mention a similar myth of “kindhearted poor” who gladly give up what little they have to help others - the kind media love to perpetuate to distract from how bad the state of society is to lead to this situation in the first place. This not only does mispresent how the whole capitalist system is rigged to make it easier to save money the higher up the financial ladder you climb, but it also does not understand human nature. Human beings aren’t machines and it is impossible to really go through every single day without some sort of relief. Sometimes it may be a video game or a dinner at a fancy restaurant. Sometimes it may be a smartphone. Or a luxury item you never plan to use but just want to have to remind you what your goal is.

Yet our society made a game out of shaming and being judgmental to every poor person who spends even the tiniest amount of money on escapism, on any sort of relief from how stressful poverty is. And, speaking as someone who had panic attacks caused by sudden financial expenses wrecking my monthly budget, it is stressful. We expect people to act as all forms of entertainment and escapism aren’t also contributing to one of our human needs, the need to simply be able to wind down for even a moment, and thus not worth spending money on. Then we judge them if they resort to illegal means to fulfill that need. 

I would go as far as making the argument this is a self-perpetuating problem. This very line of thinking, that poor must be at all times miserable and them spending even the slightest amount of money on anything nice is worth scorn? it is what actively encourages them to resort to piracy even if they could afford to buy comics. They are being constantly told by society they shouldn’t buy themselves anything not essential. And then the society acts surprised when they then fulfill their needs through illegal means to save money. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

I am not making this post to defend piracy. But I think we need to seriously consider what kind of rhetorics is being used to condemn it and what it actually says about people who use it and those who silently nod in agreement.

- Admin

#Marvel #DC #Piracy

[dxitydoo]

So... the iPhone SE...

Alright this one is gonna be a long one so scroll on past if you’re not interested. If you are, then buckle up because here’s a multi-part essay about my opinions on the new SE.

For anyone that saw my post about getting a new phone and wondered what phone I got, I got the new iPhone SE (yes, I’m an Apple person. Don’t come for me).

At first, I was seeing videos of people getting excited over the phone but now, as time has gone on, those same people are now making videos criticising the phone.

Admittedly, they have some good points to bring up. The battery of the new SE is not amazing. It doesn’t outlast my dad’s XR which is somewhat annoying to say the least.

My counter-argument to that is that it lasted a whole day of me playing games on full brightness in the sunlight and didn’t die on me once which is honestly incredible after the last phone i had but anywho we’ll discuss this later.

My problem with a lot of those videos is that I feel like they’re getting the wrong end of the stick about what the SE is trying to be and they’re comparing it to the wrong phones.

The Original SE

The original SE’s main selling point (seriously why did Apple name them like this this is confusing) was that it had the newer internals of the 6S (so the faster processor, the better camera, etc) in the smaller body of the older 5S.

That was why I, and a lot of others I’m sure, liked it. Because it was a newer phone but in a size I preferred.

It also didn’t break the bank.

The old SE was praised for combining new and old in a way that complimented the old form-factor and rejuvenated in while also allowing people to access the newer features that were coming out in updates. At the time of writing this (27/04/2020), the old SE still supports new iOS updates and runs iOS 13 with minimal hiccups (not counting the fact that iOS 13 isn’t the most bug-free of updates).

But now, in 2020, the new SE is released and people are criticising it for the same thing they praised it for back in the day. They’re complaining that it has Touch ID, that it doesn’t have a edge-to-edge display, that it’s small, that the battery isn’t good, that the camera doesn’t stack up.

Look.

Everyone is free to have their own opinion. If you don’t like the SE, that’s fine. You don’t have to. No one is forcing you to. Just keep scrolling coz I do like the SE and I’m about to defend it til I run out of breath.

The “Old” Body

The SE combines old and new. That’s it’s schtick, that’s its gimmick. It was the thing for the 2016 SE, its the same for the 2020 SE. Although I would’ve loved to see an SE with an edge-to-edge display like any of the X or the 11 range, I’m not super surprised it hasn’t happened.

In fact, the small changes they have made, such as all colours now coming with a black bevel (and the better colour matching between the bevel and the screen), make it look really high-quality and beautiful honestly.

It has the same body as the 6, yes, but it doesn’t look like the 6 because of that colour-matching. And I appreciate that.

Oh! And the back being the non-metallic colour? God that’s sexy. The back is more reminiscent of the 11 (or the XR, I suppose, depending on what colour you got) than the 6 or 7. So it’s not unchanged?

Touch ID and Haptic Touch

Again, a controversial topic. The Touch ID in the SE is like the 3rd Gen or something?? I don’t actually know. But it’s several generations in at this point and it shows.

I came from the original SE, which had one of the first ever generations of Touch ID (if not the first) and the speed with which this new phone unlocks is incredible compared to the older model.

I tap the button once and the phone unlocks instantly. That is it.

Maybe it’s cumbersome to have Touch ID back again after all this time but if you’ve come from a Touch ID phone, especially one of the older models (which really... I think that’s probably the intended audience), it’s a big improvement.

And look no further for someone who was viscerally against the fake button Haptic Touch thing.

I hated the idea of it. My view was I either wanted the real button or no button at all. Full stop. End of story. You’d never change my mind.

Yeah... the new SE changed my mind.

I have the haptics turned up to the highest setting and it actually feels like a real button. Its less spongy than a real button, of course, and feels stiffer (kinda? Maybe just shallower) but its actually a really satisfying feature.

I remember first trying the fake button on the 7 and it vibrated at the wrong time or you’d try to press it to do one thing and it’d do another. It was confusing and made it very difficult to use.

I will say now I haven’t actually tried using an 8 so I can’t pass judgement on that but i like the SE.

And the Haptic Touch is really really nice.

I never thought I’d have a phone that has built-in rumble when playing games but here we are. This is the future.

Aside from being kinda nifty to feel the vibration in your hands when something happens on-screen, the Haptic Touch vibrates under your finger when interacting with the rotating dials to set timers or reblogging posts on tumblr. It’s a weird experience but not an unpleasant one and I like it way more than I was expecting to.

The Small Size

As for the size?

I really like it.

It’s big enough that it feels like a step-up from my old phone but not so big that I’m struggling to hold it (*cough cough* the XR *cough cough*).

Okay so my touch-typing is suffering a wee bit at the moment but tbh I started to struggle on my old phone before I upgraded coz the screen was just a little too small so it’s more a me thing than an it thing. I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

The camera.

I feel the need to mention that my last phone was the 2016 SE so, maybe it’s because my standards are really low, or maybe I’ve never owned an 11 and, therefore, have no comparison for it that way? But I don’t think the camera is bad.

In fact, I would even go so far as to say the camera is really fricking good.

After using a phone with a front-facing camera that could barely shoot 480p, stepping up to 1080p on the front is Wild™. The difference between this new camera and the old one is incredible.

If you want a camera that shoots good quality photos, has good colour balance, can actually show the sky as blue when shooting through a window (yes this is how low my expectations are), then omg this phone is incredible.

Obviously, its never gonna beat the 11 with its two cameras and its not gonna be able to contend with the 11 Pro series with their three cameras but hey, the phone is like half the price so??

The Battery

Okay, so lets talk about the battery.

I know this is a bit of a sore spot with people because iPhones recently have been coming out with bigger and better batteries every year.

I did a quick check through and, according to Apple, the battery life is about the same as both the 7 and the 8, which makes sense as they all share the same body. Unfortunately, that means that its probably a size issue. As in, thats the longest a battery of that size can last in a phone. Which is kinda annoying.

But, this is a post about my experience with the SE and I haven’t ever owned a 7 or an 8. My mum owned a 7 and the battery on that was god-awful and I’ve had a much better experience with my SE than she did.

First of all: some context.

Again, a friendly reminder my last phone was a four year old SE. It was a 64GB one as well, so you know I’m being legit (they stopped selling the 64GB (in the UK at least) about a year after the phone’s initial release).

So the battery on my old phone was absolutely fine. At first. As time went on and the phone got older, it did, unfortunately, begin to struggle.

As a reference, a few months before I replaced it (given lockdown doesn’t give the most accurate overview of what it was like to use on a day-to-day basis), it wouldn’t make it through a day at school without dying at least once, sometimes twice.

I had to carry a portable charger with me everywhere I went.

I left my house when it was on 100% and, by the time I got to school after an hour on the bus, it would be on 60-70% on a good day.

Letting your battery die everyday is really not good for it but, try as I might, I couldn’t stop it from happening.

I tell you this to let you know that my criteria for a good battery is literally just “lasts me through the day”.

I’ve had my new phone for about three days now and it hasn’t died on me once.

I played games on it in bright sunlight with the phone on full brightness for several hours straight yesterday and yet it still lasted me through the day and then some. After being off charge for 11 hours, it just about hit 20% before I put it on charge.

Today, I was on social media: tumblr, instagram, youtube, for the majority of today. Both tumblr and instagram had an uncanny ability to completely decimate the battery life of my old phone. They could reduce it from 50% to 40% after 5 minutes. But, again, no problemo for my new phone.

It got to about 50% today before I put it back on charge to go have dinner.

I’d say that lasts through the day quite nicely.

Especially given it’s getting a lot more use than it would normally because a) I’m stuck inside with nothing to do and b) shiny new phone!!!

But I digress.

So, Why Does The SE Exist?

I’m gonna be real. I don’t think the iPhone SE (2020) is trying to be anything fancy. It’s not trying to be the next iPhone 11, it’s not trying to replace the XR. If anything, it’s replacing the 8.

I don’t think the SE is a bad phone. It does everything it says it does and it does it well.

I think the YouTube reviewers have it slightly wrong. I don’t think they should be comparing the SE to the 11 or the XR because, realistically, the people who own those phones aren’t gonna be buying the SE for themselves.

The people who are gonna be buying the SE are the people who have the 5s or the old SE or the 6s or even maybe the 7. (I’m not sure how noticeable the jump would be from 8 to SE, given they have very similar specs).

They’re the kind of people who want a new phone but don’t have the money to go for the more expensive XR or 11 range.

Or maybe they don’t want a giant phone because idk bout you but I have small hands and the XR is both large and heavy and that’s not practical. Plus, the XR with women’s jeans? Really? Not happening.

So, while I understand why reviewers are comparing the SE to the 11s or the XR—because the SE has the internals of those two and is closer to them in terms of release date—I don’t think it’s actually realistic.

TL;DR

YouTube reviewers are comparing the SE to the recent phones when they should be comparing it to the older ones, which is the more likely transition. The iPhone SE has a lot more going for it than people say and I really like it.

#long post #iphone SE #the new iphone #i have opinions #kinda a rant #apple #ios #apple ain’t perfect but the iphone SE is a decent phone #funny how i made that same argument bout the 2016 SE too #huh #makes ya think

[morganvetter-blog]

Zero SR vs Energica SS9: EV Race

Brandon and I recently drove down from Monterey to LA on business. He rode an Energica Esse Esse 9 while I rode my Zero SR. One of the main features of the Energica is the full support of level 3 CCS stations which can deliver a full charge to the bike in as little as 20 minutes. One of the goals of the trip was to visit as many CCS stations down Hwy 101 as we could and determine if it was possible to make the trip entirely utilizing CCS.

Meanwhile my Zero SR was equipped with 4 digiNow SuperChargers capable of delivering 13kW from the plentiful selection of level 2 stations available at every town and sometimes in between. This gave my Zero with a Power Tank a consistent 1 hour charge time if totally empty but required use of either dual J1772 stations or a single Tesla Destination station.

On Thursday we drove down and mostly explored what was available for CCS while meeting with friendly fellow riders and documenting stations. Late Thursday night we stayed with a friend in Hollywood and discussed the plans for the rest of the trip and reviewed footage taken earlier that day.

The next day Brandon and I parted ways to take care of business but hatched the idea of a race back to Monterey on Saturday. I would be starting in Irvine and Brandon in Long Beach. Neither of us thought the other stood a chance, and we both proclaimed our own easy victories. Obviously I would win, I had consistent 11-13kW and a nearly infinite amount of stations. Brandon had powerful 23kW stations as long as he was in the greater LA area. Beyond that they grew fewer and fewer, sometimes only one per town, and in some cases the single one was offline. I fully expected him to be far ahead in the morning with me easily overtaking him when he was forced to subsyst on level 2 charging at 3.3kW. He, on the other hand, figured he would gain an insurmountable advantage early on and the times he would have to utilize level 2 would be inconsequential. We were both wrong.

The night before the race I mapped out my route via PlugShare. It should be noted that I had rode this route once before with Brandon about 15 months prior. He was my guide because he had ridden these roads constantly and knew every station along the way. I remembered a couple of his preferred stops, but not all of them. On his end, he was going on the information he'd learned on the trip down. He knew the roads but not the level 3 stations. I would also like to note that I was carrying all of the gear. This includes about 40lbs of 6awg wires and portable charging stations in the case on my bike because primadonna Brandon refused to sully the beautiful Energica with things like luggage or straps.

Saturday morning I awoke shortly after 6am. My gracious host was already awake and playing Hearthstone on his PC but offered to cook breakfast for me, which I readily accepted, not knowing which charging stations were near any sort of amenities. I was also accutely aware of Brandon's inability to function before 8am and figured I would ensure my victory by starting early. By 7:15 I had said goodbye and was on the road. Please note the awesome matching Teslas of my host. Zero hidden in middle of shot.

My first stop was a complete failure. I had planned out a reasonable office complex in Santa Monica that had a non-shared ChargePoint. I made great time, but one of the stations was taken by an EV car. As I plugged into the single station I quickly scanned Plugshare for alternatives. The Wells Fargo building nearby promised 8 J1772 stations, but I quickly discovered it was locked for the weekend, and also apparently under construction. I then wandered, seemingly aimlessly, for some time as my GPS on my aging iPhone 6 is spotty and unreliable. I eventually found myself in a paid parking lot at some sort of recording studio fussing with Tesla Destination chargers. They worked but shut off after ~4 minutes. I tweaked the settings on my chargers to skip the ramp procedure so I could just reset every 4 minutes and grab full power, but this grew tedious. A security guard wandered out after 20 minutes to investigate what I was doing, but wished me luck after I explained what I was doing. I found another potential spot for consistent charging and left having only gained about 25% battery and paying an astronomical $12 parking fee.

Brandon was awake by this point. Not only awake, but also apparently playing in Malibu Canyon a mere mile or two from me.

My next stop was perfect. It was a 4 story parking garage between Sherman Oaks and Van Nuys that promised 4 ChargePoint stations on the roof. As it was Saturday I figured it would be empty. I was right. Not only was it empty but it also had a shaded alcove with 3 benches where, presumably, employees took smoking breaks. I popped the drone out and took a little footage. I was able to get full power off 2 stations and completely top off having wasted over an hour getting lost in Santa Monica.

At this point I made sure to share my location on my phone with Brandon. He had already done so for me so I felt it was fair that he should see what I was doing. Due to the inconsistency of my GPS this did make him paranoid as apparently my map location had a tendency to warp. My next stop was one I remembered from the previous trip, the Amtrak station in Carpenteria. This one was extremely important because I remembered 4 Chargepoint plugs, bathrooms, a mini mart, and a beachfront burger joint. I arrived at around 15% charge and discovered, much to my dismay, an EV car plugged into one of the stations. These were shared stations meaning each station has the capacity to deliver 6.6kW total between 2 plugs. In order to get full power I would need to be the only one at the 2 stations. This proved impossible so I plugged in 3 of my chargers into the 2 plugs and set myself to 3/4 charging capacity.

I checked my map to discover I was actually ahead of Brandon but he was closing in fast. I thought he might watch his map and come say hi but instead just blew by on highway 1 at high speeds. 

Sadly my 3/4 charging speeds meant I would need over an hour, so I had a burger at the tiny beachfront joint. It was noon by this point. After I was done there it came time for one of the most enjoyable legs of the trip: Highway 154 to Chumash Casino. This is an absolutely gorgeous twisty road that climbs up and down the mountains and a must for anyone traveling the 101 on a bike. As it ends it spits you out at Chumash Casino which is jam packed with free level 2 charging stations. I plugged in, went inside the casino, and had some sort of asian steamed veggie bowl at the food court so I could feel good about patronizing the establishment. I don't have a photo of this because I was trying to do a facebook livestream but apparently the signal in the garage is insufficient. Refreshed and full of bok choy, I resumed my trek north.

My next stop was the Lowe's parking lot in Santa Maria. I had scouted this out on PlugShare and knew it was a goldmine. 10+ free J stations? Heck yeah. I used to live near another Lowe's that had a similar setup so I was certain this was a good choice. It was. I parked, plugged in, and checked my map. Brandon was a mere 0.3 miles away at the CCS station at a BMW dealership. It was at this point my brother texted us and said he had made a ton of cheeseburgers on the grill and we should hurry home to eat them. I found out later Brandon had not eaten all day and was basically drooling in his helmet the next few hours thinking about burgers. I sat down behind a shaded wall in the parking lot and uploaded the following picture to FaceBook:

This generated a buzz because Brandon was posting about his progress and people realized we were damn close. This, to me, indicated some theatrics were in order. I noted that my batteries were quite warm at 120F, and Zero's safety measures shut them off around 136F. However, the cautious way I was riding meant my batteries cooled down as I rode and warmed up as I SuperCharged. I knew this, and I knew how to keep them from overheating. But I posted like I was concerned about this to generate a little drama. Obviously I was going to win at this point. Brandon was a couple hundred yards away and running out of CCS stations. What chance did he have? In fact, his very last CCS station was next and it only gave 17kW. I topped off, packed up, and headed to Paso Robles.

Because I was so confident in my imminent victory I decided to delay posting of my photos until I was done and packing up rather than having just arrived. I had planned to use a high-power Tesla Destination charger in Paso Robles, but some inconsiderate Tesla owner, no doubt a paying guest of the hotel, was using it instead. Disgusted, I backtracked to the South edge of town and the promise of 4 open ChargePoint stations. There I encountered 2 homeless men keeping out of the sun thanks to a large tree on the south edge of the parking lot. I asked if I could share their shade and struck up a conversation. It was a father, Jim, and his adult son who had fallen on hard times, had been living in a shelter in San Luis Obispo, but took the train up to Paso to visit mom for Mother's Day. We chatted and he charged his phone off my bike. As we talked I checked my map and realized Brandon was literally about to pass by within 50 feet.

"Wait for it," I said to my new friend Jim. About 10 seconds later the banshee wail of the Energica could be detected. Brandon breezed through town, looked right, and gave a friendly wave and beep while heading to his CCS station. Jim was over the moon with newfound excitement. I hope he gets back on his feet.

Despite pulling ~12kW from the 2 ChargePoints, Brandon was fully topped off and heading North before I was even done. This is where it truly got interesting. North of Paso the headwinds kick in STRONG and there was literally no more CCS for Brandon. I planned to stop at a place called The Mill at 43 Olive Ranch which has several Tesla Destination chargers and a Clipper Creek J1772. The final stop would be King City which had a single Chargepoint station. Brandon would have to stop at The Mill to top off before King City, and it was basically all over for him at that point.

I pulled into The Mill to find it totally empty. No Brandon. Turned out he found a nice, fat truck to draft behind and, AGAINST ALL ODDS, made it from Paso to King City in 30mph headwinds on a naked sportbike. Hell, it killed half my battery to get to The Mill a mere 30 miles away. Tiny voices of doubt started to make themselves known. But surely he could only charge at a paltry 3.3kW in King City, right? I was drawing 12kW and could draw 6.6kW once I hit King City which was double his rate.

I cautiously drove to King City. As Brandon pointed out in one of his posts during all of this, the Zero batteries were never meant for this sort of duty. They are meant to be bulletproof. The cells are encased in a flame-retardant epoxy. This keeps them super safe but makes cooling them a bit of a challenge. Running air, water, or ice along the outside does not appreciably lower the temperature of the cells deep in the middle of the pack. They have to naturally dissappate heat. I'm aware of this so I almost never went above 70mph to allow my pack to deal with the constant stress of lugging me and all of Brandon's 6awg charging cables. My batteries never went above 124F which is, as I posted on FaceBook, where stuff gets REALLY fun. The hotter the battery the less resistance there is and in Brandon's bastardized phrasing, more opportunities for 'dank whoolies'.

I arrived in King City. This was our first stop a mere couple days before. We were both around 30% if memory served but I was charging at twice his speed at this point. This was where the biggest decision was made. Brandon assumed he had it in the bag at this point, because the road ahead was Carmel Valley G16, an incredibly twisty difficult path. I have driven this road. I've driven it in both daytime and nighttime. It is completely acceptable in daytime. Welcome, in fact.  In nighttime is is full of families of wild boar crossing the road in packs and moths that suicide into your visor and render it inoperable. No thanks. I opted to stay on Highway 101 to Salinas and deviate to Highway 68 from there. Brandon's smirk shriveled when I told him this. "But.. the twisties are where I have an advantage!" he bemoaned

"I know," I said, "I'm not a complete idiot."

To pass the time we headed to the local diner and consumed our pre-battle milkshakes while Rampage played on the TV

As my Zero SR finished charging, Brandon was only at 74%. He insisted I couldn't leave before him, and some other words I couldn't hear from my helmet as I left before him. I drove to Salinas VERY, very carefully. The headwinds were very strong and constant. I probably never went above 60mph. Up ahead were milestones I knew from months of commuting and were also the most harrowing parts of the journey. I *knew* that at the turnoff I was headed towards I would need 15% battery under normal riding conditions. I reached the turnoff at 14%. I *knew* that it would take me 7% battery to climb Los Laureles Grade to get to the EV station on the other side. I reached the grade at a low 7% and drove it at 30mph, waving any car past me. At the peak of the grade I was casually climbing at 25mph and wondered what would happen if I twisted the throttle all the way. Nothing happened, actually. I crested the peak at 2% and was horrified to remember that regenerative braking doesn't work when you're that low. I coasted all the way down to the EV stations at 2% and found all parking spots were full. Just about to give up I realized only 2 out of 3 cars were actually charging, and the 6.6kW Clipper Creek was open. Carefully I wedged my Zero between the cars without touching them and, with about an inch to spare, plugged into the station for some sweet sweet sip.

I checked my map and Brandon was lost in the deep, dark, receptionless land of Carmel Valley. I *knew* I needed at least 10% from that particular EV station to the finish line, so I opted to charge to 11% and pack up. I checked my phone again and Brandon popped into view less than a mile away. Aw, crap. I hastily packed up my EV cord and avoided hitting the charging Teslas as the unmistakable motor in the Energica passed me. Single lane road. No way to catch and pass him. Double crap. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we finished within mere minutes of each other. He arrived at 2% battery; I arrived at 1%.

Final thoughts:

I was really pushing the Zero to its limits. Brandon was regularly dumping ridiculous amounts of power both to and from the battery. As long as Zero motorcycles have the 1C limitation on charging they won't be aimed towards any sort of touring. Or, to put it another way, if you plan a day trip that has more than 2 full charge stops, the Zero is probably not the right choice. But this was NEVER what the bike was intended for. I'm literally trying to shove a square peg in a round hole. The Energica battery, on the other hand, is more suited to dissipating heat as Brandon was not only charging at 2C or more, but as he admitted later he was often driving well above the posted speed limit*.

*allegedly

If you are in an area with plentiful level 3 CCS charging, an Energica is an incredibly viable choice for not only a daily commuter, but also for a killer weekend twisty beast. Personally I think we should embrace both. What do you guys think?

Also for real neither side is paying me for this write-up. Both Brandon and I agreed we'd like to do more of these races in the future. If you'd like to get in on this with your electric motorcycle please drop us a line. The more the merrier.

#zeromotorcycles #electriccowboyracing #energicamotorcompany

[dwyer74boyd-blog]

Little Methods That can help Make The Sims 4 A Lot A lot better.

TubeMate YouTube Downloader is an app to download and install online videos from Youtube straight onto your cellphone, because of which you can easily have all your beloved videos conserved within your SD card mind as well as check out whenever you wish. If you want to upgrade to the brand-new iPhone annually and you are FINE along with trading in your apple iphone as opposed to offering it on your own or passing that on a good friend or member of the family you should pick the AT&T Next Yearly or Apple iPhone Upgrade programs. This suggests you can easily examine what is actually going on in a certain room or even shut the doors to defend on your own at any moment. View Give Thornton's article on the Tax of inventory possibilities pertaining to exactly how they are actually exhausted. Our team monitor some discoloration on lighter apple iphone 7 colour choices when users leave all of them in an instance for extended periods as well as subject all of them to moisture and then warmth. He's a good man, responds to every person's question but I do not presume he makes a significant quantity from funds off exchanging. why not try these out provides much more Galaxy S6 colour choices, yet in the United States we'll only observe 3 main options off the United States service providers. Additionally, trouble concerning Obamacare's health plan exchanges-- where costs seem readied to climb significantly for a minimum of some clients as well as fewer insurance companies will certainly be actually offering plans for upcoming year-- has actually exhilarated rate of interest one of Democrats and also various other fans from the medical care law in extending wellness protection as well as lessening prices. Something that you should consider is that the Gold as well as Flower Gold iPhone Se different colors can show discoloration a lot more if you do not care for your apple iphone. The 15-incher includes a maximum from 16GB, a choice that was clarified through Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller in an emailed feedback to a MacRumors viewers that quized the lack of a 32GB possibility. Users improving coming from the iPhone 4s or iPhone Nines will certainly view brand-new shade options as well as Apple repaired the scratching issue with the apple iphone Eights, therefore you may safely decide on color choices. Setups > About Phone > Body amount (Faucet the construct variety 7 times, you'll acquire a timely as it acquires close.) And also's this. This is actually that effortless, and also you are actually currently a programmer as well as possess full accessibility to the significant programmer options menu, however use caution. However in a postponed appointment on the phase-out, posted on Wednesday, representatives acknowledged that the last coal power plant was likely to shutter in 2022 also without government assistance, urging telephone calls coming from campaigners to advance the cut-off year. The alternative that you choose is dependent upon the quantity from effort and also achievable financial expense that you prefer to commit. The rooting dynamic, nevertheless, continues to be unmodified: In the upcoming few days, as the White Property and also congressional leaders meet to hash out the method ahead, the votes show up to exist to include a social option. If you push Cmd + Alternative + +/-, this will definitely Focus or away from the display and also you can easily after that relocate the mouse to easily pan around the web page. For each option a message string could be specified, as well as additionally a graphic as well, if the Dropdown is setup to sustain it. The Samsung Galaxy Notice 3 has a Micro SD card slot that is actually great for images, however if you would like to store a bunch of motion pictures or even various other apply for get access to on the Notice 3 a USB travel could be a better possibility. When asked them about the demo station closures, Oculus representative Andrea Schubert confirmed to TechRadar the Facebook-owned provider is actually creating the action. Incomes for put choices are formed when the market value from the hidden resource reduces. Nonetheless, when producing an associated with discuss files through SkyDrive, you have the option to regulate whether the data has Sight simply", Perspective as well as edit" or Community" access. My thought and feelings are actually to utilize choice 132 on the information DHCP server to get the phone to follow up on the vocal vlan and afterwards car regulation with alternative 66 or 150. Right now staying lives they truly don't wish, each one is hiding some quite deep, dark keys that even those closest to them will certainly never feel. Now, Facebook is growing its gender-neutral possibilities to feature member of the family, the Advocate took note. There is actually likewise an alternative to acquire Insider bodies from Microsoft window 10. This component permits you to become a beta tester of Microsoft window, yet that requires you to visit along with a Microsoft account and also enhances the quantity from info that your computer system provides Microsoft when you obtain a crash. The Corta Hélio business mines helium-3 for Planet's electricity demands, but the owner and also matriarch Andriana Corta is actually senior as well as harmful. Besides New York Urban area, transit directions are actually offered in Baltimore, Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico Urban area, Philly, the San Francisco Bay Area, Toronto and Washington D.C. Regarding 300 urban areas in China, featuring Beijing, Chengdu as well as Shanghai, are actually additionally getting the transit therapy. Commonly, you won't view this in smaller towns, but much bigger cities along with much larger school devices are going to sometimes have their personal iPhone application that you can install from the iTunes Application Shop. The NASA contract, worth concerning $10 thousand over three years, will approach developing a model that could possibly operate at high electrical power for a minimum required from ONE HUNDRED hours, the business stated in a press release. Due to the fact that modern technology possesses an effect on the cost acquired in the production from flicks as well as their streaming to consumers, firms that have managed to embrace that properly have actually understood far better return consequently boosting competitors. You could today choose the Hibernate choice from the beginning food selection whenever you desire to hide for getting back to work swiftly.

[blousejudo6]

The Top Rated First Smart Phone For Teenagers Does Not Have A Display In Any Way

Picking the 1st phone for your children can be a difficult task and just one that you need to control from the start, you should setup situations pertaining to using the cell phone along with what site and apps are best for your little ones. There is no correct or incorrect time to give your kid their initial mobile phone, yet almost all authorities think that the much longer you wait to provide your kids their first smart phone, the better. Then again, what if you are a parent who wishes to have the ability to connect with their child with out allowing them with their personal phone too soon? We’ve identified a resolution. Relay is a interface-free, water-resistant, cellphone that allows your son or daughter to speak to your cellphone with the push of a button. Mother and fathers can speak with their boy or girl’s Relay gadget utilizing a Relay application from their personal smart phone. For couples with children who would like a cellphone with very little contact numbers to give a call to their children and teenagers, Relay permits young adults to contact parents when they are at home from school or out with friends, while eliminating the added worry of what they might be watching at on the displays or all of the other dangers involved with allowing a child cell phone use ahead of time. Adults can additionally use the Relay app on the phone to customize their child’s gadget to play audio tracks, present language talk and translation to their good friends who've Relay telephones. The Relay mobile phone by itself is usually $50 and there exists a $10 monthly charge to run it on the network system. Relay is at many discount stores. It will come in 5 cool designs, so you’re sure to get the perfect last-minute surprise on your own little one, or a niece or nephew. The perfect smartphone for young adults come in all sizes and shapes, from a single-button touch-to-call safety gadgets, to powerful Android cell phone with drop guard, to the lowest cost iPhone if you would like your children on your iCloud family storage area plan. It is still a painful choice when shopping for the littlest person in your personal life. We are here to offer help to uncover the ideal phone for your child, preteen, or young adult - any age, actually. We are authorities on choosing mobile phones for children, as much as we are able to aptly select the ideal cellphones within the United States. We have contemplated crucial attributes, like parental controls, toughness, ability limitations, device tracking, and cost. The recommended cellphones for teenagers will be extremely simple products generally meant to start a path of dialogue with mom and dad. For teenagers, we went forward and aimed for low cost simple smartphones that enable phoning and text messages without way too many product features for your children to get swept up in. For high-school students, we included low cost mobile phones that provide a decent balance of worth and efficiency while maintaining robust parental adjustments by using Android and iPhones. Since newer iPhones and Android smartphones operating the latest operating systems (like iOS 11.4 and iOS 12 beta) have plentiful parental configurations build in, adults should feel confident choosing such cellphones for teens and children at their discretion. Android Moto E5 The Moto E5 is not merely just one smart phone but rather a group of cost-effective smart phones with different product highlights. Although their difference, each of them make great spending budget choices for your teenager. Even though many budget Android devices can be performing on out of date hardware or technology, the Moto E5 is current with recent Android and processor chips 8.0 software programs. Finally, the Moto E5 Play is certainly toned down a little bit, defining it as much more budget friendly at less than a hundred dollars. In England, a typical Moto E5 and the Moto E5 Plus will be accessible soon. Besides the standard Moto E5, most of the others add a water-repellent coating that will assist make sure your kids do not ruin their mobile phone. Galaxy S8 If you prefer to give your young adult a highly capable mobile phone but be concerned they could ruin it and waste lots of money, the Samsung Galaxy S8 Active is the best option. It offers all of the performance a modern Android smart phone demands, but it’s made tough.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Active screen is sharp, the camera is great, and the battery is forgiving if your teen forgets to charge it one night. All of that is packed into a chassis with an great rating. In other words, it can handle a complete lot of carelessness. We dropped one screen-first onto a rock floor from five feet up, and the display was fine. The Samsung Galaxy S8 Active will come in the United States on Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Clients on other platforms and in the UK can look in its place at the Galaxy S8 and the best Samsung Galaxy S8 cases. Iphone SE The iPhone SE may not be the most modern iPhone, but it’s currently backed by Apple with the most up-to-date iOS 11 enhancements. Despite their years, it works very well with Apple’s A9 microprocessor still, and it shall offer your child all the smart phone features they should demand. The perk of its generation can be that it is available at a very low price for an Apple piece of equipment. One of the primary shortcomings about getting your teen an iPhone SE is that it is not built to end up being exceptionally heavy-duty. Nevertheless, this is an issue that should be corrected with a cost-effective iPhone SE phone case conveniently. iPhone 7 or 8 If cost is not a major dilemma and you want to buy a phone case (or your children has revealed themselves never to be clumsy), the iPhone 7 can result in exceptional solutions. Your son or daughter should never feel held back by any insufficient functionalities (or style) on these newer devices, even though you may feel safe that the parental settings on iOS will be all that is needed to watch your teenager’s usage. Even though the advance expense might be excessive, program help and support for these newer iPhones should go on for more time, so you won’t need to be stressed about upgrading anytime soon. As an extra incentive, the iPhone phone cameras are exceptional, so you’ll get to check a large amount of awesome shots of those things your teen is doing. Discover one cause to offer your daughter or son a cellphone: if they are often out of view of trustworthy individuals and may need to get in touch with you or some other caregiver. Don't purchase your child a high priced, high-end mobile phone. The Wait Until 8th effort, that advocates only giving kids cell phones after they reach the 8th grade, makes some good reasons, although it too quickly avoids smartphones and social websites, which are not the same things. The marketing campaign's main position, though, is the fact that younger children generally solely require cellphones for calling and limited text messaging. The best smart phone for tweens and children is a plain voice mobile phone, a screenless Republic Wireless Relay, or a pure monitoring device just like the Hynt Token. The instant you manage to step up to a smart phone, do not waste too much money. Kids aren't liable. That's the rationale of the things that will make them kids. They may lose cell phones, drop cell phones, dip cell phones, and break cellphones. Presume it will sooner or later happen. There is a lot of decent phones in the price range that run relatively new, protected versions of their operating systems, are not frustrating to utilize, and do not appear shamefully uncool. You will uncover even a handful of decent ones below two hundred. We are not going to enter the endless debate, never resolved, about mobile phone radiation and kids, but a decent amount of mother and fathers have indicated concern to all of us about it. The great information is the fact that radiation concerns only essentially come into play when a phone is placed exactly up to our brain for extended intervals of time, and young children do not communicate on the mobile phone with all their classmates and friends much anymore: they will text. Rapid conversations with mom or dad on a plain mobile phone, for everyday safety or misc uses, won't harm any person. For long conversations, get a hold of an affordable wired headphone. Regardless of the telephone you buy, make sure you purchase a good, tough case for it. My little princess uses a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 within an Otterbox Commuter cellphone case. I did not anticipate how artistic my child turned into by working with the S Pen, frequently doodling and making ideas. As a result of the smart pen, the Samsung Note 4 is not simply a cellphone, it clearly is an countless diary. Try to make a bargain with your teen: Just in case they end up getting a telephone, you're allowed to glance at it. I check my child's cellphone systematically. She is fine with that; that's the arrangement. I do not peruse her text messages, nevertheless she is aware I've that option. Yet another requirement before buying your son or daughter a cell phone is to find the perfect service package. The most affordable alternative is Wireless internet-only, with no SIM chip. If so, your kid will only have coverage in determined Wifi networks, and can't send out standard texts or make ordinary phone calls. Your daughter or son can, however, use iMessage on Apple iPhones, or Google Hangouts for texting and calling to other Google friends on Android mobile phones. Your phone service provider may make available a smart phone on a payment deal. If perhaps you are using a data bucket with a kid, make sure you set a limit on their smartphone to a particular volume of monthly data to make certain that your kids may not eat up all of yours.

#social media #cellphones

[lovingtheroyals]

The Duke of Cambridge’s speech at the Children’s Global Media Summit

Good afternoon and thank you for having myself and Catherine here.

First of all, a word if I might about this great city of Manchester – to which most of you are visitors.  You may have seen, if you have had a chance to go outside, the symbol of the bee everywhere in the city – the bee is Manchester's symbol, a reminder of this city's industriousness and creativity.

It is also a reminder of Manchester's community spirit, the sense of pulling together.  Manchester has had a tough year, and I personally stand in awe of the way that the people of Manchester have united in bravery and support of one another.  This community is a great example to all of us, wherever we are from.  I hope you all have a chance to witness some of this remarkable place for yourselves while you are here for the Summit.

So, the Children's Summit.  We are all here today because we know that childhood matters.

The years of protection and education that childhood provides are the foundation for our society.  The programme makers and tech leaders in this room understand that.

Our childhood years are the years we learn.

They are the years we develop resilience and strength.

They are the years where our capacity for empathy and connection are nurtured.

They are the years where we impart the values of tolerance and respect, family and community, to the youth that will lead our nations in the future.

Parents like Catherine and me are raising the first generation of digitally-immersed children – and this gives us many reasons to be optimistic about the impact of technology on childhood.

Barriers to information about the world are falling.  The child of today can learn about far flung corners of the world with previously unimaginable ease.

Social media holds the promise for children who can feel isolated to build and maintain friendships.

Digital media is seeing today’s young people develop a passion and capacity for civic involvement that is without parallel in human history.

Programme makers have access to real-time research that helps them shape engaging, educational content for children in ways that would have been unheard of in years gone by.

We should celebrate and embrace these changes.          

What we cannot do, however, is pretend that the impact of digital technology is all positive or, indeed, even understood.

I am afraid to say that, as a parent, I believe we have grounds for concern.

I entered adulthood at the turn of the millennium. The generation of parents that Catherine and I are a part of had understood the world of mobile phones, the internet, email, and the like for some time. We had every reason to feel confident.

The changes we have incorporated into our own lives as adults have often felt incremental, not revolutionary.

The vast array of digital television content that many households enjoy today did not spring up overnight.

The birth of the smartphone was heralded as a landmark moment.  In truth, though, we incorporated constant texting, checking of email on our devices, and 24/7 availability into our lives over the course of many years.

The centrality of the internet for education, shopping, and the organisation of domestic life has been the work of two decades.

And it is the gradual nature of this change – the slow warming of the water in the pot if you like– that I believe has led us to a moment of reckoning with the very nature of childhood in our society.

The latest Ofcom research into the media consumption habits of British children shows us just how dramatically the landscape has changed without most parents pausing to reflect on what actually is happening.

Parents who were born before the invention of the World Wide Web now have children aged 5 to 15 who spend two hours a day online.

Ten years after the introduction of the iPhone, over 80 percent of 12 to 15 year olds have a smartphone.

Most of my contemporaries graduated university before any of us had Facebook accounts – and now 74 percent of 12 to 15 year olds are on social media.

And a generation of parents for whom watching television was something that happened as a family around a single set have given a fifth of our 3 to 4 year olds their own tablets.

Now, I am no Luddite – I believe strongly in the positive power of technology; but I am afraid that I find this situation alarming.

My alarm does not come from childhood immersion in technology per se. My alarm comes from the fact that so many parents feel they are having to make up the rules as they go along.

We have put the most powerful information technology in human history into the hands of our children – yet we do not yet understand its impact on adults, let alone the very young.

And let me tell you parents are feeling the pressure. We need guidance and support to help us through some serious challenges.

Everywhere you go, mothers and fathers are asking each other the same questions.

‘Did you see that so-and-so's friend had an iPhone at the playground?’

‘How can I keep my daughter off social media if all of her friends are on it?’

‘How do I know what my children are doing online in their bedrooms?  How do I monitor what they're messaging to other children?'

‘How do I find out what apps my children have downloaded?’

How do we protect family time and teach our kids about actual connection, when all their communication is through their phone?

How do we convince our children to go outside and be active and fit, when all they want to do is play online?

These conversations are happening right now in our towns and cities and right across the world. We have all let technology slowly creep into our lives. And now we are waking up to the enormity of the challenge technology and modern digital media will mean for children.

The people in this room may be the best placed in the planet to help today’s parents, teachers, and caregivers to grapple with these questions. As I said earlier, you are only here because you are passionate about childhood. Your combined experience and insight can be a powerful force for positive guidance.

Parents are eager for your advice about how best to combine technology and  innovation with the timeless goal of safe and innocent early years that are filled with love and genuine connection.

Like all of you, I believe firmly in the power of bringing people together, people with knowledge and passion, to tackle big issues confronting our society. That is what I did through the Royal Foundation when we established the Taskforce for the Prevention of Cyberbullying.

Bullying through phones and social media is an issue that caught my attention after reading about children who had taken their own lives when the pressure got too much.

As a HEMS and Air Ambulance pilot, I was called to the scenes of suicides and I witnessed the devastation and despair it brought about.  And I felt a responsibility to do something about it.

The Royal Foundation brought together the leading players in digital and social media, the ISPs, academic researchers, and children’s charities. And importantly, we brought children and parents themselves to the table, so their voices could be heard directly.

What we heard is that cyberbullying is one of those issues that had been allowed to slowly take root. An age-old problem had been gradually transformed and accelerated by technology that allowed bullies to follow their targets even after they had left the classroom or the playing field.

The technology we put into the hands of our children had for too many families shattered the sanctity and protection of the home.

After a year and half’s work, the taskforce announced a plan of action last month. The sector agreed to four main areas of work:

the implementation of standard guidelines for the reporting and handling of bullying;

a national advertising campaign to establish a code of conduct for the online behaviour of children;

the piloting of an emotional support platform on social media;

and finally the members have pledged to continue to work together to offer consistent advice to parents and more material for children to help them thrive online. And you will hear more about this next.

I am proud of what was achieved, but, as I said at the time of the plan’s launch, I had hoped we could go further.  I am very pleased that the BBC has taken up the challenge of supporting one area that I believe merits further discussion: the creation of a single, universal tool for children to report bullying when they see it or experience it – regardless of which platform it happens on.

What we have shown through the taskforce – and what we show when we gather on days like today – is that solutions to our challenges are possible when we work together.

We can be optimistic about the way digital media will help our children when we can be frank about our concerns.

Families can embrace technology with confidence when they can access the best the best support and advice.

And we can be hopeful about the future of our society when we all know that protecting the essence of childhood remains our collective and urgent priority.

Thank you.

Manchester, England || December 6, 2017 || (source)

#William #Duke of Cambridge #britishroyalfamily #speech

[townshade6]

Finding the Right Smart Phone for your Young Children

Purchasing the 1st phone for your children can be a trial and just one that you have to control from the start, you should setup occasions intended for using the mobile phone in addition to what site and applications are good for your children. There’s no right or wrong time to provide your kid their first smartphone, but various authorities think that the longer you procrastinate to give them their first smart phone, the better. On the other hand, imagine if you are a mother or father who would like to have the ability to connect with the teen without allowing them with their private smart phone too soon? We’ve uncovered a solution. Relay is a display screen-free, water-repellent, cellphone that allows your pre-teen to speak to your phone with the click of a button. Parents can speak with their boy or girl’s Relay gadget using a Relay software employing their personal mobile phone. For parents who want a smart phone with few telephone numbers to give a call to their young children, Relay lets children to call their father and mother when they are at your own home from school or out with good friends, without the added stress of what they could be looking at on their displays or all of the various other dangers involved with allowing a kid smartphone access too soon. Mother and fathers can even utilize the Relay app on their cellphone to personalize their kid’s device to play music files, have language translation and talk to their best friends who have Relay mobile phones. The Relay telephone alone is normally $45 to 55 and there exists a $10 charge every month to run it on the network system. Relay, for example, is offered at many outlets. It will come in 5 pleasing styles, so you’re sure to choose the best last-second surprise for your own teenager, or a nephew or niece. The ideal smart phone for young adults come in all shapes and sizes, from 1-button touch-to-call safety products, to high tech Google cell phone with drop guard, to the most affordable iPhone if you like to have your children use the same smart phone plans. It is still a hard find when shopping for the child in your personal life. We are here to support you look for a mobile phone for your little ones, pre-teen, or teen - any age, really. We are professionals on choosing cellphones for children, as much as we can appropriately choose the very best smart phones in America. We have factored in key concerns, like parental configurations, durability, ability limitations, GPS device tracking, and price tag. The preferred smartphones for small children will be very basic devices largely intended to open a path of notifications with parents. For teenagers, we went ahead and aimed for cheap basic smartphones that allow calling and sending text messages while not having so many features for your children to get swept up in. For older individuals, we included affordable cell phones that suggest a decent balance of worth and efficiency while keeping sound parental configurations using Android and iOS. As more recent Android and iPhones smartphones running the hottest operating systems (like iOS 11.4 and iOS 12 beta) come with sufficient parental settings build in, parents should feel secure choosing such cell phones for teenagers and children at their discretion. Moto E5 The Moto E5 is not simply a single smartphone but instead a family of good value mobile phones with different abilities. Even though their difference, they all make great budget choices for your children. While many affordable Android smartphones can be functioning on out of date software or components, the Moto E5 is current with present-day chips and Android 8.0 latest operating system. The Moto E5 Play is normally toned down a little bit, making it further more budget-friendly at less than $100. In the UK, a standard Moto E5 and the Moto E5 Plus will be available sometime soon. Apart from the normal Moto E5, each of the others provide a water-resistant finish that might help make certain that your teens may not harm their cellphone. Galaxy S8 If you'd like to really get your teenager a very equipped cell phone but get worried they could harm it and squander lots of money, the Samsung Galaxy S8 Active is your most desirable option. It has almost all of the performance a front runner Android mobile phone demands, yet it is made tough. The Samsung Galaxy S8 Active screen is sharp, the camera is fantastic, and the electric battery is forgiving if your teen forgets to charge it one night. All of that is packed into a chassis with an great rating. In other words, it can handle a whole lot of carelessness. We dropped one screen-first onto a rock floor from five ft up, and the screen was fine. The Samsung Galaxy S8 Active is supplied in the United States on Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T. Consumers on other systems and in the United Kingdom can look instead at the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the best Galaxy S8 skins. iPhone SE Right from the Apple group of cell phones, the iPhone SE is definitely not the preferred cell phone, but it’s still helped by Apple with the most up-to-date iOS 11 revisions. In spite of its time, it performs admirably with Apple’s A9 processing unit still, and it'll offer your daughter or son all the mobile phone features they could demand. The benefit of their generation can be that it comes at a very good deal for an Apple device. One of the primary shortcomings about handing your teenager an iPhone mobile phone is that it is not created to end up being very tough. Fortunately, this is a situation that may easily be addressed employing a budget-friendly iPhone SE phone case. iPhone 7 or 8 If expense isn’t a huge thought and you expect to purchase a case (or your child has proven themselves never to be clumsy), the iPhone 8 present you with superb solutions. Your children shouldn’t feel held back by any deficiency of features (or design) on these new devices, while you can rest assured that the parent adjustments on iOS will be all that is needed to pay attention to your teen’s usage. Though the advance price tag will be higher, software customer support for these types of more recent iPhones will last for more time, so you won’t need to be concerned about upgrading anytime soon. As an extra benefit, the iPhone phone cameras are exceptional, so you’ll get to watch a lot of fantastic shots of those things your teenager is doing. There may be one reason to give your teen a mobile phone: if they're often out of sight of honest people and may possibly have to get in touch with you or some other care-giver. Please don't purchase your child a pricey, high-end mobile phone. The Wait Until Eighth effort, that promotes only allowing kids mobile phones after they start the 8th grade, makes some good arguments, though it too quickly supresses mobile phones and social networking, which are very different elements. The plan's main position, though, is that young kids generally merely require smart phones for calling and limited text messaging. The preferred phone for tweens and younger is a plain voice telephone, a screenless Republic Wireless Relay, or a pure tracking device just like the Dottwalk. The minute you do advance to a cell phone, do not spend a lot of money. Children and teenagers are not trustworthy. Which is the reason of what precisely makes them teenagers. They are going to lose mobile phones, drop mobile phones, dip cell phones, and damage cellphones. Believe it may happen. There is a large quantity of great phones in the price selection that run almost new, secure versions of their operating systems, are not irritating to work with, and don't look and feel shamefully uncool. Many wonderful mobile phones are under two hundred dollars. We are not going to enter the never-ending debate, never solved, about cell phone young children and radiation, however a good amount of mother and fathers have expressed concern to all of us about any of it. The great news is the fact that radiation concerns only actually come into play when a phone is placed directly up to our head for lengthy amounts of time, and children don't talk on the smartphone with their best friends very much any more: they will text. Rapid chats with parents on a normal phone, for safety or misc uses, won't injure anyone. For longer conversations, acquire an inexpensive wired headphone. No matter what mobile phone you buy, be sure to purchase a good, rugged case for it. My daughter uses a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in an Otterbox Commuter case. I didn't anticipate how innovative my kid turn into using the S Smart pen, painting and writing ideas regularly. Because of the smart pen, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 isn't only a mobile phone, it certainly is an limitless diary. Try to make a trade with your children: Assuming they get a hold of a smart phone, you get to look at it. I check my daughter's phone systematically. She's alright with that; that is the agreement. I do not start reading her messages, however she knows I've the option. Once you buy your teen a phone, be it a new one or a refurbished one, you will need to discuss what provider plan it will be on. The lowest priced alternative is Wifi-only, without SIM chip. So, your daughter or son will only get internet in known Wi-Fi systems, and can't send conventional text messages or place traditional mobile calls. They can, nevertheless, use iMessage and FaceTime on Apple iPhones, or Google Hangouts for sending a text and contacting to various other Google friends on Android cellphones. Your phone service provider may offer a smart phone on a payment plan. Whenever you're using a data plan with a children, be sure to limit their cellphone to a particular volume of monthly internet data to be certain your kids would not eat up most of your data.

#smartphones #social media

[oakjoke41]

The Most Trendy First Smartphone For Children Doesn't Have A Screen At All

Couples with children today have a hard decision to make in relation to choosing what age group a daughter or son should access a smartphone. Remaining in connection with your teenager means providing them with a smartphone that’ll keep them linked, yet it also sharing them up to the universe of social media and its obsessive distractions. There is no right or wrong period to give your kid their initial cell phone, but various researchers acknowledge that the longer you procrastinate to issue them their first mobile phone, the better. Then again, what if you are a mom or dad who would love to have the ability to reach the teen with out allowing them their very own cell phone too early? We’ve identified an option. Relay is a screen area-free, water-repellent, cell phone that allows your son or daughter to contact your smartphone with the touch of a button. Fathers can check with their child’s Relay gadget utilizing a Relay application from their own phone. For mother and fathers who want a smart phone with very little numbers to call to their little ones, Relay permits teenagers to phone parents when they’re at home from school or away with close friends, with out the added worry of the things they might be seeing at on the screens or all the other risks involved with giving a kid mobile phone gain access too early. Adults can even utilize the Relay app on the phone to personalize their child’s device to play music, offer language chat and translation with their good friends who've Relay telephones. The Relay telephone alone is usually $45 to 55 and there is a $10 monthly charge to run it on the network. The device Relay is offered at many discount stores. It comes in five cool styles, so you are sure to choose the best last-minute present for your own child, or a nephew or niece. The top rated cellphone for young children come in all sizes and shapes, from 1-button press-to-call safety gadgets, to high tech Google phone with drop protection, to the least costly iPhone if you want your children on your iCloud family storage plan. It is still a tricky choice when searching for the littlest person in your personal life. We’re here to support you find a smart phone for your family, preteen, or teen - every single age, really. We are professionals on finding the ideal cellphones for young adults, as much as we are able to appropriately choose the preferred cellphones in the US. We’ve taken into account valuable characteristics, like for example parental controls, endurance, ability limitations, GPS unit tracking, and cost. The perfect smartphones for teenagers are going to be very simple devices primarily intended to open a path of dialogue with parents. For teenagers, we went ahead and aimed for low-cost simple cell phones that allow phoning and texting without too many product features for your kids to get caught up in. For older individuals, we added in low cost smart phones that deliver a good balance of worth and efficiency while keeping powerful parental settings using Android and iOS. Since most recent iPhones and Android cell phones operating the most recent operating systems (like iOS 11.4 and iOS 12 beta) incorporate adequate parental configurations build in, parents should feel comfortable selecting such mobile phones for teens and pre-teens at their discretion. Moto E5 The fresh Moto E5 is not simply just one cell phone but instead a series of inexpensive phones with numerous product features. Even though their difference, each of them make great spending budget picks for your child. Even though many budget Android smartphones can be running on out of date software or equipment, the Moto E5 is caught up with up to date chips and Android 8.0 Oreo. The Moto E5 Play is toned down somewhat, rendering it more budget-friendly at less than $100. In England, a standard Moto E5 and the Moto E5 Plus will be available in the near future. Besides the basic Moto E5, each of the others feature a water-repellent layer that might help make sure your young adults don’t break their smart phone. Samsung Galaxy S8 Active If you wish to really get your young adult a highly capable smartphone but worry they could damage it and waste lots of money, the Samsung Galaxy S8 Active is the best choice. It provides each and every one of the overall performance a top of the line Android smart phone calls for, yet it’s built up tough. The Galaxy S8 Active screen is sharp, the camera is great, and the battery is forgiving if your child forgets to charge it one night. All that is packed right into a chassis with an great rating. In other words, it can handle a lot of carelessness. We dropped one screen-first onto a stone floor from five feet up, and the screen was fine. The Samsung Galaxy S8 Active is available in the US on Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile. Buyers on other platforms and in the UK can look rather at the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the top Galaxy S8 cases. Iphone SE Apple's iPhone SE will not be the latest iPhone, but it is currently backed by Apple with the latest iOS 11 features. Although its years, it continually functions very well with Apple’s A9 chip, and it'll provide your son or daughter many of the mobile phone capabilities they could need. The perk of their generation is that this is marketed at a very low price for an Apple device. One of the main problems about giving your teenager an iPhone mobile phone is that it’s not created to be amazingly resilient. Luckily, this is a challenge that can easily be dealt with with a budget friendly iPhone SE case very easily. Apple's iPhone 7 or iPhone 8 If price isn’t an important challenge and you want to purchase a case (or your teenager has proven themselves to not be reckless), the iPhone 7 or 8 make for superb solutions. Your teen shouldn’t feel held back by any lack of features (or design) on these new gadgets, although you may feel safe that the parent settings on iOS will be enough to watch your teen’s usage.

Even though the upfront expense will be larger, application customer support for these more recent iPhones should go on for substantially more time, so you will not have to worry about upgrading anytime soon. As an extra bonus, the iPhone cameras are exceptional, so you will get to witness a large quantity of pretty shots of everything that your kid is doing. Discover one justification to give your son or daughter a smart phone: if they are often out of sight of honest people and may possibly need to get in touch with you or another caregiver. Please don't purchase your child an expensive, sophisticated smartphone. The Wait Until 8th program, which encourages only giving children cell phones after they initiate the 8th grade, makes some really good arguments, though it too very easily avoids mobile phones and social media, which are very different things. The system's central point, though, is that young kids generally only require telephones for calling and limited text messaging. The perfect smart phone for tweens and kids is a basic voice telephone, a screen-less Republic Wireless Relay, or a 100 % pure tracking gadget like the Findster. The instant you manage to step up to a smartphone, do not waste a lot of cash. Children and teenagers aren't cautious. That's the reason of the things that would make them children. They would lose cell phones, drop cellphones, dip mobile phones, and smash cellphones. Realize it will happen. There is a bunch of sound phones in the $300 to $400 selection that run fairly brand-new, protected editions of the operating systems, aren't irritating to utilize, and don't appear to be entirely not cool. You will uncover also some decent ones under two hundred. We are not going to get into the never-ending argument, never solved, about mobile phone radiation and children and teenagers, however many couples with children have expressed anxiety to all of us about it. The fantastic information is the fact that radiation problems only really come into play when a phone is held directly up to your head for prolonged amounts of time, and kids don't talk on the smartphone with all their classmates and friends much anymore: they text. Short chats with mom or dad on a basic phone, for safety or logistical uses, will not injure anyone. For longer chats, purchase a cheap wired headphone. No matter what mobile phone you purchase, make sure to buy a good, rugged case for this. My girl has a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in an Otterbox Commuter cellphone case. I didn't foresee how innovative my child become by working with the S Smart pen, frequently doodling and making comments. Because of the smart pen, the Galaxy Note 4 is not simply a phone, it certainly is an unlimited journal. Make a trade with your teen: Whenever they obtain a mobile phone, you will get to take a look at it. I examine my teen's phone periodically. She is good with this; that is the offer. I don't peruse her messages, but she understands I've the ability. Another obligation after choosing your teenager a smartphone is to choose the ideal company package. The lowest priced approach is Wifi-only, with no SIM card. In this case, they only get internet in well-known Wifi networks, and won't be set to send conventional texts or make common mobile calls. Your kid may, nevertheless, use iMessage on Apple iPhones, or Google Hangouts for sending text messages and contacting to various other Google accounts on Google Android cellphones. Your phone company may recommend a mobile phone on a monthly installment plan. In cases where you are sharing a data plan with a kids, you should place a limit on their cellphone to a particular volume of regular monthly internet data to be sure that they may not eat up most of yours.

#smartphones

[dipulb3]

The Moto G Power is a phone battery behemoth that costs only $250

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The Moto G Power is a phone battery behemoth that costs only $250

The Moto G Power ($230 at Best Buy) is one of the newer members of the Motorola G budget phone family. It follows in the same steps as last year’s Moto G7 Power with both a wallet-friendly price and a gigantic battery. At its core, the $250 Moto G Power is similar to the more expensive Moto G Stylus ($270 at Amazon). (It’s sold as the Moto G8 Power in the UK for £220. It’s not available in Australia.) Both came at a time when sheltering in place meant many of us depended on our phones to stay connected with friends, family or work. Many of us still are. At the same time, millions of people are in financial distress and can’t afford a new phone or to replace a broken one, especially when new phones can cost upward of a thousand dollars.

Like

Long battery life so far

Headphone jack

Low Price

Macro camera is so much fun

Don’t Like

Video recording is rough

Photos suffer from noise

This is where Motorola stands out from the growing crowd of budget phones, by offering both an affordable price and premium features. That’s not to say that the Moto G Power isn’t without compromises. It doesn’t have an IP rating for dust and water resistance and it lacks wireless charging and NFC. But Motorola sensibly traded away such features to keep the price low.

Read: CNET’s in-depth review and comparison between the Moto G Fast and Moto E

Apple followed a similar formula with its new iPhone SE this spring, which omits features found in its higher-end phones such as the iPhone 11 ($699 at Amazon) and 11 Pro in order to hit a $399 price. That’s affordable for an iPhone, but it’s still a hundred and fifty bucks more than the Moto G Power.

If you’re on a budget and looking for a phone with an absolutely mind-blowing battery life, the Moto G Power deserves your consideration. Its 5,000-mAh battery is the same size as the one in the $800 LG V60 and the $1,400 Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. To use a different metric: You could buy five Moto G Power phones for the price of a single Galaxy S20 Ultra and use the money left over to take a loved one out to dinner.

Moto G Power vs. Moto G Stylus: Key differences

Moto G Power costs $250; the Moto G Stylus costs $300.

Moto G Stylus has a 4,000-mAh battery; the Moto G Power has a 5,000-mAh battery.

Moto G Power has 64GB of storage; the Moto G Stylus has 128GB of storage.

Aside from the macro camera, the Moto G Power and Moto G Stylus have different rear cameras.

Moto G Stylus has a built-in stylus.

Moto G Power comes in Smoke Black; the Moto G Stylus in Mystic Indigo.

The Moto G Power packs an enormous battery into a slick package

See all photos

Moto G Power has a hole-punch display

The Moto G Power has a 6.4-inch full HD display with a hole-punch that houses the selfie camera. The aesthetic is nice and gives the phone a premium look. It’s reminiscent of Samsung Galaxy phones and their hole-punch display.

It has a USB-C port for charging and a fantastic headphone jack. On the back is a fingerprint reader that doubles as the Motorola logo. It lacks wireless charging and doesn’t have an IP rating for dust or water resistance. It does have a “splash-proof” coating, however, that withstood being in standing puddles of water for several minutes when I was filming footage for a comparison video. But don’t take that as an endorsement to submerge the phone.

The Moto G Power comes with 64GB of storage and supports expandable storage up to 512GB. The phone comes in Smoke Black, which looks fine, though the finish collects more fingerprints than an investigator on CSI. But none of that matters if you’re planning on putting it in a case.

The screen is surrounded by thick bezels that are actually thinner than those on the iPhone 11. The forehead and chin are a bit chunky but at least Motorola got rid of the name on the bottom of the phone, which we saw on last year’s Moto G7.

Moto G Power performance and battery

The Moto G Power has a Snapdragon 665 processor, 4GB of RAM and runs Android 10 with a number of mostly helpful touches from Motorola. In our performance tests, it fared better than last year’s Moto G7, but still fell behind last year’s Google Pixel 3A and Samsung Galaxy A50 ($229 at Amazon).

Geekbench v.4.0 single-core

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

Geekbench v.4.0 multicore

Note:

Longer bars indicate better performance

In everyday use, I had no problem surfing the web or watching YouTube videos. I played PUBG with graphics set to “smooth” and the frame rate at medium and I had no problems. But when I played Alto’s Odyssey, sometimes animations stuttered.

I’m still running battery tests on the Moto G Power, which takes a while. Motorola promised that the phone would last up to three days of regular use on a single charge. During my time with the phone it lasted easily four days between charges. I should point out that last year’s Moto G7 Power, which also had a 5,000-mAh battery, lasted longer in our battery test than every other phone we reviewed in 2019.

Now playing: Watch this: Moto G Stylus vs. Moto G Power: Which budget phone you…

11:50

I’ll update this piece with final results and ratings when we finish running our video tests for battery life.

Moto G Power’s triple rear cameras

On the front is a 16-megapixel selfie camera which takes decent photos and video. It’s the same one found on the Moto G Stylus. The dynamic range isn’t the greatest, and the colors in video aren’t as accurate as they could be.

A selfie photo taken with the Moto G Power.

Patrick Holland/CNET

And then there are the rear cameras, which… can we acknowledge how cool it is to see a $250 phone with three rear cameras?! The Moto G Power has a 16-megapixel main wide-angle camera, an 8-megapixel ultrawide-angle camera and a macro camera all of which can be used for photos and videos.

The $250 Moto G power has a triple-rear camera

Patrick Holland/CNET

In good light, photos are decent, but pictures taken indoors or in low light are soft and noisy. The HDR mode works well to help the Moto G Power’s main camera punch above its weight and actually yielded a few decent snaps.

A shot from my backyard with HDR turned on.

Patrick Holland/CNET

There are a few of these flowers along the side of my house. The Moto G Power’s HDR captured the lush color of the scene.

Patrick Holland/CNET

Videos from the phone suffer from a limited dynamic range and have the contrast cranked up too high.

The macro camera, which allows you to take ridiculously close-up photos and videos, is one of my favorite features on the phone. I’m astonished at the macro photos the Moto G Power was able to get.

Here is the same flower as above taken with the macro camera.

Patrick Holland/CNET

But I want to manage your expectations: The camera system on the Moto G Power is fine for the price. But you can get the Google Pixel 3A, normally $399 for $300 right now. That’s just $50 more than the Moto G Power. The Power’s a better all-around phone, but if you’re into taking photos on your phone, the Pixel 3A deserves your consideration. 

Motorola Moto G Power specs compared to Moto G Stylus, Moto G7 Power, Moto G7

Motorola Moto G Power Motorola Moto G Stylus Motorola Moto G7 Power Motorola Moto G7 Display size, resolution 6.4-inch LCD; 2,300×1,080 pixels 6.4-inch LCD; 2,300×1,080 pixels 6.2-inch LCD; 1,520×720 pixels 6.2-inch LCD; 2,270×1,080 pixels Pixel density 399ppi 399ppi 271ppi 403ppi Dimensions (Inches) 6.29×2.98×0.38 in 6.24×2.98×0.36 in 6.28×2.99×0.37 in 6.18×2.96×0.31 in Dimensions (Millimeters) 159.85×75.8×9.63 mm 158.55×75.8×9.2 mm 159.43x76x9.3 mm 157×75.3×8 mm Weight (Ounces, Grams) 7.01 oz; 199 g 6.77 oz; 192 g 6.98 oz.; 198 g 6.07 oz.; 172 g Mobile software Android 10 Android 10 Android 9.0 Android 9.0 Camera 16-megapixel wide-angle, 2-megapixel macro, 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle 48-megapixel wide-angle, 2-megapixel macro, 16-megapixel ultra-wide angle 12-megapixel 12-megapixel, 5-megapixel Front-facing camera 16-megapixel 16-megapixel 8-megapixel 8-megapixel Video capture 4K 4K 1,080p 4K Processor Snapdragon 665 Snapdragon 665 1.8GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 1.8GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 Storage 64GB 128GB 32GB 64GB RAM 4GB 4GB 3GB 4GB Expandable storage Up to 512GB Up to 512GB Up to 512GB Up to 512GB Battery 5,000 mAh 4,000 mAh 5,000 mAh 3,000 mAh Fingerprint sensor Back Back Back Back Connector USB-C USB-C USB-C USB-C Headphone jack Yes Yes Yes Yes Special features Stylus, Action Cam Water repellent with P2i nano-coating; TurboPower charging Water repellent with P2i nano-coating; TurboPower charging Price off-contract (USD) $250 $300 $249 $299

First published on April 16.