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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)SA
Sphere @reddthat.com
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Comments 35
There's a baby drought in Australia. Maybe we should fund IVF?
  • Perhaps it's unfair to people who want to have kids but can't that IVF is so expensive, but really, there's one thing that affects birth rate more than anything else: cost of housing with decent nearby amenities, infrastructure etc. If housing were cheaper, people would have more kids... Simple.

    So if you want to solve the social equity problem, subsidize IVF. If you want the birth rate to increase, knock down the barriers to entry and high costs in the housing market.

  • Google abandons “Web Environment Integrity”
  • This was an utterly terrible idea to begin with and it's still a terrible idea for Android apps as well. Apart from messing with ad blockers, this has the ironically "helpful" feature of allowing malware to be force loaded into your browser. If it ends up in Android, some popular app that uses it will get owned and then every user of the app will also end up getting owned as well.

  • YouTube Premium family plan price update ($17.99/month -> $32.99/month!)
  • It's times like these when I'm glad I refused to even log into Google to view YouTube, let alone buy subscriptions. I also refuse to view downloading content (without logging in) that's freely available to be viewed as piracy.

    These subscriptions are undoubtedly a rip-off. For those saying creators get a "cut", there's a reason why sites like Patreon exist. It's substantially better for creators if you subscribe to them directly that way and get your videos from Patreon. Same with Nebula etc. If I really had to pay then I'd do that (and do already for some stuff that was never on YouTube anyway).

    You can get enough subs for the price of a YT premium to get plenty of content to watch, even if you don't want to subvert Google. So there's zero reason to throw money at them for this. None at all.

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  • The alternative exists, but it costs money. Most big YouTuber accounts (at least the ones I'm subscribed to) post on either Nebula, Patreon or some platform like that. It would cost quite a lot to subscribe to them all, but still less than YouTube premium in my country. So in the worst case scenario where YouTube really blocks all ad free interfaces except paid use, that's my answer. I don't like it as I think a lot of the content is overpriced for what it is, but it's better than having $$$ swallowed up by some mega corporation that is just interested in screwing authors and viewers over as much as possible.

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  • Web environment integrity is a non-starter because it offers avenues for bad actors to enforce "integrity" that forces malware to be loaded as well as legitimate page elements. However, that doesn't mean Google won't keep trying to stop ad blockers, alternative interfaces etc in the future.

  • Victoria to expand vacant residential land tax across state in bid to increase housing supply
  • We need the New Zealand solution: automatically rezone all property in good locations to allow higher density. Override/reject "objections" intended to help NIMBYism and increase property values for owners at the expense of everyone else. Anything but a serious supply increase is just tinkering say the edges and really a waste of time.

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  • Signal. Also, the solution to the "no-one on signal" problem is simply to refuse to use insecure platforms like WhatsApp. If people want to talk to you then, they have to download signal. They might get annoyed with you, but sometimes a bit of coercion is necessary to get people to do what's good for them.

  • Australian students shun education degrees as fears grow over ‘unprecedented’ teacher shortage
  • Stressful training and work environment, long hours, and the pay isn't that great either. This really is the government's problem to solve - and it's probably not going to be solved just by paying people once to complete their degree, it will have to be throughout their career by providing more pay and more support. Which of course means the public will eventually end up footing at least some of the bill - but the alternative, where education is compromised, will end up costing even more.

  • Brave releases its own privacy-preserving image and video search
  • Brave Search is now frequently beating DDG and Startpage for accuracy of search results. It's like using Google 10 years ago when it was actually good but without the ads, tracking and pestering to "log in". Good stuff.

  • TikTok ban on Australian government devices should also cover WeChat, parliamentary committee recommends
  • Social networking should be done on personal devices anyway. Bearing in mind the risk still exists even in that scenario that bad actors can still buy data from data brokers to infer location, personal particulars etc of most users of the big social networks anyway.

  • ACCC finds million of Australians are paying more than they should for energy
  • There should be a law forcing energy companies to charge the best pricing they have on offer to all customers at all times, instead of the current nonsense of having to ring up the power company every year when the year's pricing deal "is expiring" to avoid being put on extortionately high "default" rates. Not only to save money, but also time, as I am sure I am not the only one who hates having to wade through which "deal" is supposedly the best each year on pain of being given a big bill if I don't want to be bothered.

  • Victorians to pay the highest property tax rates in the country according to report
  • High levels of infrastructure spending = eventually, high levels of tax. A "big build" is not a "free build".

    And infrastructure spending is almost certainly needed, so that isn't much of a point to argue on either. What the opposition should be asking is whether the right infrastructure is being built, as that will ultimately determine whether we get an improved standard of living out of it rather than just a big tax bill.

  • Do you think there will be a future where your phone can automatically detect if you are trying to record police activity and disables your camera? What do you think the odds of this happening is?
  • If this kind of thing becomes widespread, then people will find a way to broadcast fake anti-camera signals as well. Imagine a thief breaks into your house and you want your security cameras to record them... but guess what, the thief broadcasts an anti-camera signal and they all switch off, completely neutralising your security system. "Unintended side-effects"