Don’t worry all, the FAQ has reassured me that you can still use offline features like… checking the battery level!

The Trust Thermocline!

iTunes will probably be the toughest. I lean on iTunes for syncing files, media, local backups and if I had to ditch Windows tomorrow and decided Linux, I would set up iTunes in a Windows VM since I don’t think there’s any other workaround currently.

When you say “couch” my first thought is a recent-ish Celeron or Pentium Silver fanless laptop. Performance akin to a Core 2 Duo but no fan to get blocked sitting on the couch. Like the Latitude 3210(?)

Laptops that appeal to me are often bottom breathers so it’s one thing I miss from my old MB Air.

Reminds me of Technology Connections:

“I like to do work on my computer. Not work on my computer. And that’s why I don’t use Linux! Yea, I went there!”

Semi-related but I remember the ancient days when the original iPod touch (not iPhone though) initially had paid OS upgrades - not too crazy for back then when the firmware was often done when the device shipped save for maybe a small patch or three. But there were also larger updates too but not too common.

And then I remember Steve getting up on stage proclaiming that Apple “has found a way!” to make it free.

I missed it (green meant SMS! light blue meant GroupMe!) but Glance (Ambient Display, AOD’s) on my Nokia was a fine replacement (albeit not from across the room obviously) and I eventually got on the custom tones/vibrations train for individuals so I know who it is already.

Now iPhone people who use that option in the menu to use their phone camera flash as a notification light, I fear you.

You’d have to check, my personal X1 Extreme Gen 4 has the toggle but my new work T14 Gen 3 does not.

I’m sure you tried but the definitive option would be a BIOS switch to change it. Sometimes is says S3, sometimes it says Linux sleep (like my personal ThinkPad)

But if you don’t have that toggle at all, the firmware probably dumped S3 entirely - especially if it’s a relatively new machine and you’ll have to lean much more on Hibernate like my new work ThinkPad.

I would investigate whether an older BIOS version still has the S3 toggle since some BIOS updates have removed S3 I believe but a search of forums would probably turn up enough complaints to hit your radar.

It wasn’t killing new versions of Windows, it was the decision to move to more of a rolling release model over the historical point releases which we saw as 10’s lifespan went on and still see in 11 with their “moments”. Specific Windows version was going to become less emphasized in favor of having a larger install base for the Store and whatever MS wants to do to that install base. And the big buyers of Windows were always volume sales too.

And then something changed, whether OEM’s complained, someone decided a change was necessary, etc. and boom, 11.

My favorite is that their seeming takeaway from the success of Barbie is to go heads deep into TOY MOVIES.

Netflix’s crackdown affected me (I was the moocher) and I canned Hulu before some price hikes (I was the provider) and put the money towards a VPN.

I spend the computing power converting some media to play on my PS4 (plus finagling with subtitles) but once it’s done it’s done.

I think about that sometimes, I’m already cringing at new slang like “X is giving me Y” replacing “X is giving me Y vibes” since I’m old and keep wondering “X is giving you Y what?”

I’ve been deleting a lot of the old time-specific ones too in my photo library here and there - I imagine those like the Boat-Stuck-in-Canal or OceanGate memes - assuming the internet kinda survives - will be thought of like that Mesopotamia joke(?) that has lost its context except by super history buffs.

I don’t have a problem with the core concept since it can technically be done well (Fortnite, despite it not appealing to me personally) but since everyone wants the “live service” staying power and money without putting in the “live service” effort it’s become a red flag to me to prepare for an unfinished, buggy, likely money-grubbing “game” with a shaky future - case in point, Halo Infinite’s campaign pretty much going nowhere and being Act 1 of what will be pretty much nothing now since all the campaign staff went bye-bye.

Toad on the 64, I like the Koopas on DD, I’m blanking on 8 right now - I like having the quick acceleration of lighter characters to compensate for my screwups!

I believe the iPhone uses a basic read-only protocol to access media. (MTP?) You can use iTunes to add files to the iPhone but that’s not FOSS. I personally use Photosync, you might like that for wireless photo transfers.

In recent memory the two that have stood out to me are Risk of Rain 2 and Halo 4. I thought some 3rd-person action in the former would be fun but I found the core loop and overall shooting boring after a couple run attempts so I guess it just didn’t click for me.

Now Halo 4… I think gameplay in that title is an exercise in tedium. Add on (what is in my opinion as:) poor AI, a bit too much melodrama, dumb retcons, “do X three times!” a bit much and I got a campaign that felt like a chore and haven’t touched it since I left off at the level with the Mammoth. The Prometheans are a pain to fight and I felt funneled into making do with Forerunner weapons to take ranged potshots at Watchers above all other targets and then rushing to kill the one Knight I was targeting before it regenerates, also above all other targets. Yuck. (Update: Coming back here since it occurred to me that I could sum it up as: my ability to make mid-combat decisions and play in the sandbox was kneecapped by poor enemy and maaaybe level design respectively.)

Good music though.

Really tough question since it’s been a while and I don’t have kids today (man that would suck in the age of TikTok and handing the kid an iPad for a reprieve) but what my parents did was limit computer time to 1 hour in a day until middle school ish so I had to make decisions.

Handhelds had to be downstairs and off at night, and (ideally) one hour before bedtime so no late night shenanigans.

I guess there’s also starting lower tech like flip phones, PDA’s but that’s because I’m more of a nerd and it’ll be my “uphill both ways” equivalent esp. since i’m not ready for unlimited web access and all that entails

This I wish, but I doubt. I still have my old Garmin GPS and play with the idea of a flip phone but I’ve been spoiled by the smaller things like iMessage not dealing with MMS. It’s an idea I come back to occasionally, but I also think about going back to my Palm with AAA batteries for my PIM needs. Had one in semi-regular-use as recent as 2018!

I was coming in ready with a snarky comment about helicopters but I was wrong, that was pretty cool.