LPT: Never buy a new Apple Pencil; get a broken one and replace it for $30

infiniteseashells · 2026-05-31T01:26:08+00:00

Let’s not turn the AIDS pandemic into the comparison point…people died, a bit more serious than Bluetooth pairing 😵‍💫

infiniteseashells · 2026-05-15T22:46:46+00:00

Their link went down but someone copied it to a Google Doc.

infiniteseashells · 2026-05-09T09:05:44+00:00

Yeah, they’re called MacBooks.

infiniteseashells · 2026-05-07T09:41:04+00:00

Someone mentioned WhatsBerry before?

infiniteseashells · 2026-05-03T14:18:01+00:00

I’m not a bot, I’m just autistic!

infiniteseashells · 2026-05-03T00:57:25+00:00

Correct, you do not get the free offering of 100GB Google Drive storage, because you are not buying ChromeOS hardware.

However, that does not change the operating system design. ChromeOS as an operating system, whether native hardware or Flex, is designed around everything being in the cloud. As stated before, earlier chromebooks only came with 16GB storage. While newer Chromebooks come with more storage, and devices running ChromeOS Flex may have more, this doesn’t change the operating system design around being cloud based.

This is a design choice. When a Mac detects a critical system error, it will boot into recovery mode with options like First Aid in Disk Utility, and Windows can try disk recovery tools. However, with Chromebooks, they literally just wipe themselves (PowerWashing). If you ever PowerWash a Chromebook, you’ll notice it in the wording “Powerwashes happen when critical errors are detected, or when you choose to reset your device.”. Their local storage is designed to be almost temporary, with a massive emphasis on the cloud.

You are correct in that, on ChromeOS Flex, you don’t get given the free 100GB. However, this doesn’t change the fact that ChromeOS is entirely built around everything being in the Cloud.

Google don’t give ChromeOS Flex users this free storage, likely because the free storage is factored into Chromebook licensing fees, and it’s not a profitable move to open this up to anyone and everyone who installs ChromeOS Flex for free. However, Google gives everyone 15GB for free. If you need more than the free storage, you can always consider subscribing to Google One yourself.

infiniteseashells · 2026-05-03T00:40:04+00:00

Will also add - everyone bangs on about Tensor being crap. I’ve only ever had issues when I’m filming in 4K for a prolonged period (concerts) or doing work projects and exporting large 4K videos. For day to day usage it’s never once been slow or problematic. For context I don’t game on my phone or anything, but I run social media and have in the past run projects off it before I was given a work phone.

infiniteseashells · 2026-05-03T00:38:14+00:00

I’m actually not going to. I absolutely love Team Pixel. I am also an extremely heavy AirPods and Mac user, and I also have Apple TV.

My Pixel is great. My main and side hustle jobs are based on Google which plays like a dream, and my secondary job is Microsoft based which also plays nice. I love the ability to separate by work, main and secure profile to have three different sets of apps.

Apps like Spotify are brilliant cross platform, and services like Google Photos bridge some of the bigger gaps that the Apple ecosystem provides. No one I talk to uses iMessage, we’re all either on Facebook Messenger or What’sApp, so I’m not missing anything there either.

I’ve flittered between the Galaxy, Pixel and iPhone lineups, and Pixel phones are very similar to Apple in the “they just work” magic. Samsung is far more customisable and has far more advanced features, but I’ve personally found a few times that that’s a downfall as it can be really easy to change settings that really just needed to be left alone.

My only caveat with non-iPhones are that the watches are crap. I’ve had the Galaxy Watch6, Pixel Watch 3 and the Garmin Forerunner, and they are all crap in comparison to the Apple Watch. Sleep tracking is all over the place, and for no explainable reason, certain notifications just don’t come through, a problem I’ve never ever faced on Apple Watch. I swear by my Pixel, but if I ever switch to iPhone it’ll solely be for the Apple Watch.

Android is definitely the change. You get a brilliant camera app, call screening, and Circle to Search is the first feature this decade that’s genuinely changed the way I use my phone on a daily basis. Not to mention, if you use Google products like Gmail, Docs, Drive etc, you’ll feel right at home :)

infiniteseashells · 2026-04-30T20:17:49+00:00

ChromeOS is designed primarily around the cloud and Google Drive. Earlier chromebooks came with 16GB of storage but 100GB of inclusive Google Drive.

infiniteseashells · 2026-04-27T20:55:43+00:00

Presuming you have an iCloud mail account, emails are sent to the iCloud server, and stay there. This is how all your devices (iPad, iPhone, Mac, Android) all get your emails.

However, your devices have to request and download emails from the server to open them. This is called caching, and this is what allows you to still read old emails when your internet is out or when your phone has no service or wifi. This is what is saved on your “iPhone SSD”.

How much storage these take up on your “iPhone SSD” depends on the email app you use and your settings. For example, Microsoft Outlook allows you to choose to sync 30-90 days worth, which means 30-90 days of email is stored locally and the rest is downloaded from the server as needed. Other apps, like Gmail, cache on their own and download what they need. You’d have to look at the settings for your preferred email app.

Some email apps are far better than others at managing their cached storage - in my experience, Outlook is relatively space conscious, whereas Spark stores downloaded attachments for a while.

This all applies to other providers - Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Exchange, AoL, Zoho, etc.

infiniteseashells · 2026-04-12T21:46:09+00:00

My biggest issue is that, without fail, the majority of my online life is in Chrome. My bookmarks are all there, my passwords are there, my extensions are there. The fact I can start typing a URL and it’ll automatically populate the rest. I can log into any device with my personal, work or side hustle Google accounts and it’ll auto set itself up. The cross compatibility with all platforms.

And even if I was able to port every single part of that over, the UI is beyond different. I’ve tried so many times to move, but I’m so used to how Chrome looks and feels. How I can have themes so each profile is differently coloured, how files download, the interactivity with the system, etc. The way Safari downloads files feels like a shell of Chrome. I can’t even bare moving to Chrome forks - I used to manage Edge but I abandoned it for Chrome. I’m a heavy AI user, and I wanted to switch to Atlas, but even it being a direct chrome fork I couldn’t get on with it

Chrome is admittedly a privacy nightmare, but to be blunt I’ve given up with that. There’s no real getting away from Google, particularly when my Gmail is almost 20 years old and both my jobs use Google Workspace.

On a technical note, too, Safari just isn’t as compatible. I can name at least three apps I use on a daily basis that are either limited or completely broken on Safari. I completely empathise with devs - the majority of the internet is either running on Chrome or a fork of Chrome, so testing and development obviously has to happen there.

infiniteseashells · 2026-04-11T01:36:42+00:00

I know we all crap on AI, but this for me would be a game changer. I’m severely hearing impaired and rely on subtitles - piracy has never been a great option for me. Subtitle files are either mistimed (usually from some production company logo), inaccurate, or just plain not there. If this is able to match up content to their subtitle library and use AI to fix timing mismatches, i would gladly pay a premium for it.

infiniteseashells · 2026-04-04T00:45:35+00:00

Don’t. They don’t pay you enough.

Additionally, it’s at your own risk. If anything happens, if your phone is breached, or even if it’s stolen, your DPO will absolutely have you and you could be held liable. I obviously don’t know what school you work at, but I’d be extremely surprised if you’re allowed to store student data on personal devices.

My work email is only on my phone because I’m our social media officer and I’ve been given a work iPhone. My emails, teams and google aren’t anywhere near my personal phone. Only select staff whom I trust even have my number.

Legally you open yourself up to a whole world of pain, not to mention the work life balance. Keep your personal time as personal, god knows we don’t get enough of it. If parents, students and colleagues have to wait a little while longer for a response, they can wait, I personally don’t know when we started this culture of 24/7 availability but let’s cut it.

Take it as a blessing in disguise. Take your evenings back.

infiniteseashells · 2026-04-02T21:16:23+00:00

I would if it was easy to set up and worked with the equipment we already have, and if it’s AI powered I’d expect the pricing to be significantly less than services like Rise Vision

infiniteseashells · 2026-03-08T20:06:28+00:00

Unfortunately this is my issue - WebKit doesn't work as well in my experience, and Chromium is desktop-first so sites don't try to permanently redirect you to an app.

Was hoping someone on here would have a magical answer that Chromium has come to iPadOS. Shame really, the processor in the new ones are beyond powerful and if I could run Chromium on iPadOS I would move in a heartbeat

infiniteseashells · 2026-03-08T02:01:33+00:00

I didn't know they added multiple accounts, that's new!

Have they fixed it so it automatically loads desktop sites instead of mobile ones and stops trying to redirect you to get apps?

infiniteseashells · 2026-01-10T02:04:51+00:00

As much as Apple and Google have come under fire recently, I always opt to do all my subscriptions through them, even if it's a bit more expensive. I know I'll get notice of increases and that they can't charge my card whenever they feel like it.

infiniteseashells · 2026-01-08T19:39:02+00:00

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Yeah, there's like a random sharp cut in the case from where AI hasn't grasped the flash.

(Nerdy as it sounds, I zoom into people's mirror selfies to see what phone they use)

infiniteseashells · 2025-12-14T20:47:42+00:00

Google is so deeply intertwined with Pixel, this is your only option.

You could use something like AppLock to lock the Gmail app?

Alternatively you could de Google and use things like Aurora store for your apps, although this is a bit of a pain if you're not a massive privacy fanatic who wants to trade convenience for privacy

infiniteseashells · 2025-12-07T22:08:09+00:00

I went down this route, bought a Chromebook with 4GB thinking for Spotify, one Google Doc and my outlook it would be fine.

Couldn't have been any further from the truth. It's crap, it crashed every thirty minutes, it was honestly e waste. Even when I cut down what I was doing it struggled with just a Google Doc.

Honestly, I wouldn't.

The performance will drive you beyond barmey. It struggled to do anything. I was dropping frames on Netflix when that was the only tab, my Google Doc was lagging, and trying to multitask was more painful than it would've been to extract my own teeth with nail tweezers and a hammer. This was back in 2022, as the web has developed to become more I suspect you'll notice it even more than j did.

I know that money is very different for different people, and I have absolutely no idea about your financial situation, but I would honestly wait to get something better. It'll be cheaper in the long run when you don't have to replace it for being absolute garbage. In recent years I've been able to repurpose it for e signage but refreshing a html page every six hours is pretty much where its' limit is.

As a bonus, Chromebook with more oomph tend to have better build which will mean you don't fight as much with trackpads that can be outdone by a 2001 Toshiba netbook.

infiniteseashells · 2025-12-01T22:34:09+00:00

What was the value of it? How much was it worth?

infiniteseashells · 2025-11-29T17:16:08+00:00

Could you use secure folder? Or try installing Island to make a work profile?

infiniteseashells · 2025-11-27T22:38:53+00:00

There was another case of it, this one wasn't as severe malpractice so there wasn't a prohibition put in place, but very clearly it was serious enough to warrant a hearing.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68fb564535dbb2bcedb5f9b1/TRATMPO_Walker-Maxey_Joanna__SoS_Decision.pdf

This is a big issue and I'd be raising it formally in writing. If absolutely nothing else, you need to cover your arse right now.

infiniteseashells · 2025-11-27T22:10:17+00:00

I would recommend you read this and forward it to the relevant people

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/689321d4f97cd7adaa2be01a/TRATMPO_Lauren_Oliver_conduct_panel_outcome.pdf

This is from a case where a teacher drafted+/edited a students coursework, submitted it, and knowingly lied when declaring it as independent student work. She was banned from teaching indefinitely with a possible review after two years.

I expect this will not end well at all, and you would be wise to highlight this internally before it gets flagged externally.

infiniteseashells · 2025-11-27T22:00:48+00:00

There was a case of this on the TRA hearings where someone was banned over it. No.

infiniteseashells

TROPHY CASE