Totally agree! If they came back I’d immediately hang up if I heard some annoying ass song instead of a phone ringing.

But a young me really liked them and bought a few!

LG Chocolate! I had the white one. It did everything I needed, supported custom ringtones, had paid ring back tones (remember those?), played music, etc. The best thing was being able to text with one hand while not having to look at what you’re typing. Hopefully it’s not nostalgia affecting me with this phone, but it ran flawlessly for years before I eventually upgraded to a Motorola Droid back in the day.

I miss fun phones. I can either have a folding slab, a black slab, or a different slab that comes in other colours. 🥲

Loved my Lumia 920 back in the day. A phenomenal phone featuring a fun user experience with the Live Tiles. It was a great phone if you didn’t like apps.

Split Fiction is worth the MSRP. Ideally it’s great if you can get it on a discount, but this is one of the few games I’d pay full price for. My spouse and I loved it.

I switched to Linux last year. I’m just a teacher but I’ve got pretty good techy skills having grown up in the late 80s with computers. Switching to Linux gave me some small problems at first, but everything works just fine for me. My husband’s been pretty curious seeing me have fun with it and mess around on my computer more. Maybe I’ll get him to switch one day too! 🙃

I think I know what fight you’re talking about, and I understand why some persons would back out of the game at that point.

In general, if one finishes the first playthrough, they’ll get the first ending. This left me with questions so I played it again, and this time you get the game from Android 9S’ perspective. Each playthrough is shorter, and the goal is to get endings A, B, and C. Which makes for a remarkable, unforgettable game. Definitely have to get through the cliches and some of the common JRPG tropes, but the whole experience greatly outweighed those problems such that I could look past them.

Nier Automata

How dare you feel this way, you scruffy-looking Nerf-herder!

I am unhappy with your comment! But I respect it, so I hope you have a great day ahead.

They’re stronger than Old Cheese

Still using my Nook Glowlight Plus 2015. Haven’t needed to change the battery as battery life is still exceptional. I will be sad when I have to swap the battery one day as I’ll need to break the water resistant seal they manufactured this with.

Haven’t felt any desire to upgrade as this device does exactly what I need: store a shitload of books without distractions.

I didn’t see these listed so I’m dropping some objective masterpieces here:

• Persona 5 Royal
• Golden Sun
• Golden Sun: The Lost Age
• Horizon Zero Dawn

Edit: Added HZD as I didn’t see it while scrolling through this post.

+1 for Beyond Good & Evil.

For those unfamiliar with this game, this was early 2000s Ubisoft when they used to be creative, celebrated, and original.

Reading this shocks me. This is my own Catholic mom exactly! The phrase she always throws around is “family first”, and I’ve had to help her so many times of which she shows appreciation. But when I turn her down, she throws guilt trips at me and sometimes goes as far to suggest I don’t care. Despite setting boundaries for many years, she’ll still test the waters.

Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

We can! So long as they let women speak for themselves in four years.

Unfortunately this is 100% real.

+1 for Linux Mint. I’ve been on it full time since December 2024 and have been incredibly pleased with its performance, stability, and customisation. I found alternatives for all my old Windows workflows, so there’s no way in hell I’ll go back to Windows.

HTTPS with no VPN:

You trust the web site to encrypt your data if and only if the web site has properly implemented encryption along with encrypted DNS traffic. Sometimes you make a connection to HTTP before you’re redirected to HTTPS. Your ISP can see what web sites you visit, but the ISP can’t see what you’re doing because the traffic is encrypted so long as encryption is implemented correctly. ISP knows you went to https://www.website.com/.

Conclusion: Your ISP knows exactly what web sites you visit, but can’t see what you’re doing on the web site (if encryption is properly configured by the web site provider).

HTTP or HTTPS with trusted VPN (e.g., Mullvad):

You trust the VPN provider. Your connections are encrypted entirely. Your ISP can’t see what web sites you’re visiting nor can they interpret your traffic.

Conclusion: Your ISP is completely blind to what you’re doing and where you’re going.

ExpressVPN:

"HTTPS is essential for security, but it can only do so much. Don’t fall into a false sense of security—there are limitations to HTTPS protection:

• HTTPS doesn’t hide what websites you visit. Your ISP or network provider can still see which sites you access, even if they can’t view what you do on them.
• HTTPS won’t protect data stored on a website. If a site suffers a data breach, HTTPS won’t prevent hackers from accessing your saved information.
• HTTPS cannot encrypt all your internet traffic. It only secures connections between your browser and a site—not your entire internet activity.
• You have no control over HTTPS. The protocol is set by website owners, so if you visit a website without HTTPS protection, there is no way for you to enable it." Source: https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/https-vs-vpn/

PureVPN:

"HTTPS:

• Encrypts data between your browser and websites.
• Protects against eavesdropping on web transactions.
• Activated automatically with ‘https://’ VPN:
• Encrypts and routes all internet traffic, including from apps.
• Protects the entire internet connection. A VPN is used to establish an encrypted connection - also referred to as tunnel - between your device and unsecure network like the Internet. Since all your traffic goes through the VPN’s server rather than that of your ISP, nobody can find out what you’re up to online. What HTTPS Cannot Do?
• Hide Your IP Address: HTTPS doesn’t mask your IP address. Websites and your ISP can still see your IP and location, whereas a VPN hides your IP, making your online presence more anonymous.
• Encrypt All Internet Traffic: HTTPS only secures data between your browser and websites. A VPN encrypts all your internet traffic, including apps and services outside your browser.
• Prevent ISP Tracking: Your ISP can still see which sites you visit with HTTPS, they just can’t see the exact content. A VPN encrypts all your traffic, preventing ISPs from tracking your web activities. https://www.purevpn.com/blog/https-vs-vpn/

Here are more sources I won’t quote, but you can read:

• https://www.zdnet.com/article/reader-question-answered-if-i-have-https-do-i-need-a-vpn/
• https://nordvpn.com/blog/https-vs-vpn/
• Mullvad. This is more advanced as the article is targeted to technical users. However, it explains how they handle encrypted DNS in their services: https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls

Great input and you’re absolutely correct. Very important to safeguard backups.

Use of a VPN depends on your privacy threat model.

Using VPN at all times while using the internet like one normally does is beneficial only to the extent that you encrypt your traffic and prevent your ISP from spying on you… mostly. But if you’re logging into known accounts associated with you, then it’s a moot point. Your traffic is encrypted, but your use of services leaves an easy to follow cookie trail of where you’ve been.

If your privacy threat model is much more serious, then you wouldn’t login to any known accounts while on your VPN. You wouldn’t use services that can be pinpointed to you.

Hence, use a VPN to your discretion. If you generally don’t want your ISP spying on you, keeping it on is always best practice. If you have more things to hide, you’d want to use Tor while on VPN and of course don’t use any services that could be linked to you.