SPYxFAMILY Season 3 just started. :)
It's a spy anime with this kid who is as adorable as she is dumb. And we love it. It's more of a comedy than anything, I think. Kids like it because the adorable little four-year-old saves the day, adults love it because the dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks four-year-old makes adorable faces. We all win.
Who?
Oh... you mean Captain Killy!
You got me there. I can probably get a gently used iPhone from a generation or two back and maybe get down to $300, but I dunno about $200. You're 100% right on that one, and more to the point, mid-range Android isn't nearly as bad as it used to be. One of the biggest secrets in mobile is that performance has plateaued.
You can only block ads OS-wide on Android if you're rooted. AdAway (and I suppose others like it) edit the HOSTS file which trumps DNS. DNS is what iPhone users use, and what unrooted Android users use. The problem with DNS isn't that it doesn't work — it does — it's that bad actors can tunnel around it. So Google, great example, the app I mean, has its own DNS. They have various reasons but what it boils down to is "we can tunnel around your ad blocker." They definitely do this on iOS. They probably do it on Android. But editing HOSTS can beat that. And no, I don't get ads on YouTube, either — but I do not use the app. You can, if you're on Android and you're rooted and you have a good HOSTS file. I can block YouTube ads with Safari and uBlock Origin (yeah, we got it now) but it's just DNS. I will concede that the best way to browse on a phone is Firefox for Android with uBlock Origin. Us iPhone users wish we had that. We don't. But we can get close. Really, the only ads I see are in the App Store. It's become a cesspool of shit.
I don't sail on my phone. I've tried, a few things don't work. I have computers for that. I have a good/decent emulator that works good. As far as movies, music, shows, audiobooks, I have a Plex server and my iPhone has no problem accessing that. I bet you could use an Android phone as a Plex server though. Not that I'd want to. But you probably could. Maybe. Like with root? I dunno. But anything on my iPhone (not counting Plex stuff), I can get on your Android phone. And vice-versa. I mean, not to use your Android phone as an example, that's kinda hostile, I mean if I have an iPhone in one hand and an Android phone in the other, I got no problem getting stuff from one to the other. Either way. Best if they're on the same WiFi, but I can make one a hotspot in a pinch.
Actually, the first phone to do a lot of things was actually an Android — good and bad! The first fingerprint reader, I think may have been the Motorola Bionic? But it was like an electric razor, it had these things you roll your finger across. It was weird. Not like what we have now. Likewise, I'm pretty sure an Android phone was the first one to pull the headphone jack. It was just because Apple did it right when they brought out the AirPods that people cried foul (rightly so). Memory card? Apple never supported them (they're too slow), and Android phones famously didn't support them... I think the Nexus phones? Pixel too. I don't think any Google-branded phone had a memory card slot.
More expensive does include the foldables, and you can't say they don't count because they exist. I wouldn't count the diamond-crusted Android phones, those are super limited edition. But anyone can go buy a fold or a flip, so they have to be considered. Right now the top iPhone costs $2000 in the US. It's a 2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max. Android gets higher, albeit with folds, but it does get higher, and the performance isn't any better.
As far as Samsung specifically: the chip in the Galaxy S25 is faster than the one in the iPhone 16 Pro/Max, but it also loses more power when it throttles for getting too hot. That really only means anything in high-end gaming, though. For day-to-day usage the Samsung will clock higher. It's only going to get 3-4 years of support though, if that, and they still sell your private information. You can't even use Samsung Health without agreeing to let them sell your private medical data (whatever you put in it). So no, it can't do everything an iPhone can do. It can't keep your medical information private, which is enshrined in law in many countries, but if you agree to let them sell it, that goes out the window. Why would you give that up when you don't have to?
What about it is better? Honest question, from someone who uses both.
So yeah, on Android you can do a little more with home screen customisation. It used to be a lot more — I can't believe it took Apple how many years to figure out how to place an icon to the right of or below an open space? It's closer now, they both steal from each other, but you can do a lot more. My Android phone is partly a cosplay prop: it's a real-life NookPhone, from Animal Crossing. My icons are huge, they're the ones from the game, but they open real apps, and they're in a 3x3 grid. Definitely can't do that on iOS. But I don't need that on my daily driver. And many people say — and I'm inclined to agree — that when an app is on both, it's better on iOS due to fewer hardware configurations to support.
Also, we have Delta, the emulator that backs everything up to, ironically, Google Drive. So I can show you this app on my iPhone. I can also AirDrop you any game I have. Long press, share, AirDrop, find your iPhone, you open it with the same app, you got it now. Super easy. But I can also uninstall the app, it removes all the files and whatnot. I can go into Files, double check all my games are gone. Saves, all of it. Then I reinstall it. Nothing... but as soon as I sign into Google Drive, it re-downloads everything. I just wish the emulator ran on the Mac, too — I'd have cross-device sync. Also, the emulator is Nintendo only, no PlayStation, no Sega, nothing like that.
And then the privacy issue. I think it's wild so few people care about their private information being sold. Then again, Facebook, TikTok, and others are huge. So I might be the outlier caring about that. But I still do.
Could be. I suppose I'll never really know.
I think I remember those terms.
GravityBox was a module/app you could use if you were rooted that had a bunch of cool settings, right?
I haven't really used much of that stuff since Jellybean, maybe KitKat.
It's sugar.
And yes, it might be vanilla. Tons of things have vanilla in them that aren't "vanilla." Like chocolate chip cookies. Like frosting. It's not enough to give it a "vanilla" flavour, just enough to give it something. That's why vanilla is considered boring/default, because in baking, it is.
Now if you're talking roasted marshmallows, you're applying heat to sugar — you're caramelising it. Before you say "I know what fucking caramel tastes like," I'm just describing the process for what is happening to the sugar, and yes, that is actually how caramel is made. It's also how a lot of hard candy is made, too, like those little white and red peppermint discs. Those just use mint extract rather than vanilla. Same concept. Heated more (hard ball stage rather than soft ball).
Look at the ingredients though. If vanilla is listed, it's vanilla. If it's not, you're just tasting sugar. If you're roasting them, you're tasting caramlised sugar (possibly with some vanilla).
It's not a secret ingredient. They have to disclose all ingredients. There are no true mystery flavours out there. White/clear Lifesavers? Those are pineapple. Same with white jellybeans. It's only a mystery to kids, and to those who don't research.
Pretty obvious why. They want to strike while the iron is hot.
Netflix has nearly the complete attention of preteen and teenage girls between Wednesday and Kpop Demon Hunters. They're not about to let somebody else take it, because that's a valuable market. I'm just wondering where all the KPDH merch is at, I need my Rumi plush, and as a guy pushing 50, I don't care who knows it. My 8-year-old niece loves Mira, but I bet I get more Rumi merch than she gets Mira merch. I will fight that battle. (She also loves Wednesday. And SPYxFAMILY (mostly Anya).)
The danger is, anywhere a male partner might put his mouth, he could also ostensibly put his cock, and if the woman is only trying to be pleasured by a tongue, she has to consider that if she's exposing herself to anonymous oral, there's little to stop a man on the other side from penetrating her, either with his cock, or, considering the seat posted in the comments, an object, like say a bottle. And if he can get an arm behind one or both knees, she's not going anywhere.
With a glory hole for men, I think the danger is minimised. You don't know whose mouth it is on the other side. Could be a woman, could be a guy. You have no idea what they look like. And I think that's the point? Now somebody could back up to it (male or female; the latter taking it either way) and I think the excitement for that is also the point. But sex has always been less risky for the one doing the penetrating. The one receiving risks injury and pregnancy (if female and fertile) and I think they have a higher risk of infection if disease comes into play. So it's naturally safer for men/AMABs. For women, it's far safer to vet a partner. If they want something anonymous, a better bet for them is to employ someone to help them, someone to do the vetting for them, and have them tied and blindfolded, and have this other person supervise to ensure everything goes their way. If you're the giver, you'd have to make yourself known to this third party, but it would be a lot more anonymous for you than going to a place with a glory hole. And in a situation like that, you'd both likely be tested for disease/infection before doing any deed. This mitigates most of the risk to the woman/AFAB and allows her/them to relax and enjoy the surprise.
I reject your notion that it's shameful to be an outlier.
On a completely different topic, everyone is going nuts for the new Taylor Swift album. The Weather Channel even reviewed it. The fucking weather channel. Oh, you think I'm kidding? I would too. Here, look: https://weather.com/news/weather/news/2025-10-06-taylor-swift-life-of-a-showgirl-opalite
Anyway, while I do plan on listening to the Taylor Swift album (I subscribe to Apple Music, so it will cost me nothing extra but ~41 minutes of my time), I'm way more excited about the ReoNa album, "Heart," dropping today. Or because Japan is like 12 hours ahead of us, it's probably already out. She's my second favourite singer right now, behind Enya, who is fairly popular, at least as far as New Age-adjacent performers go (it's a label she does not agree with, but that's how people know her), but still seems to be an outlier. She does not do concerts. She hasn't done an album in 10 years. She literally lives in a castle with modern security systems with her cats. She doesn't date (has before, doesn't care for it) and has no children. She's most likely aroace, though music is her romance, it's kind of weird saying she may be aromantic. But toward people, definitely. She has a few close friends and some family but no romantic connections to speak of. And she makes music that makes you feel like it's straight from Heaven. Even if you're not religious. It sounds straight up otherworldly.
I have no shame in being an outlier, and it's not just music. Maybe OP thinks everyone should be the same. I've never had much interest in that.
At no point does the article even try to explain what the Friend device (that's its name) does. A bit of a sharp oversight for a site like Ars.
Nobody calls them out in the comments, maybe because nobody cares? As a self described technologist (that they claim to serve), I'm curious. So it listens to everything said around you, obviously it's a microphone, a chip, and some storage. I'm guessing it pairs to a phone which does the heavy lifting, since the device will retail for only $129, it doesn't seem it would have a very powerful chip. So I'm assuming it's a dumb recorder that pairs with an app over Bluetooth?
What's funny, though, is the CEO of the tech company says defacing the ads was the point and he wants people talking about his product. I don't mind talking about it in spite of that; I'm outside the target age range anyway. This is not a product I would consider buying.
There is one comment that stands out in the article's comments. They're clearly trying to get Meta or Google to buy it. I don't know why Google would, though — they already have Android. And Facebook already listens to what you say on phones on both platforms. This sounds like more of an explicit opt-in from users, but neither of those companies cares what you want with regards to privacy. And yet the masses still flock to them.