HN Reader

I expected some mention of Musk's comments on why he deserves more Tesla shares

> “If we build this robot army, do I have at least a strong influence over this robot army?” he told investors. “Not control, but a strong influence… I don’t feel comfortable building that robot army unless I have a strong influence.”

https://futurism.com/robots-and-machines/elon-musk-remarks-r...

I love Cory’s writing, but this piece leans a bit too much on the metaphor lacking a bit in the mechanics. The walled gardens, DRM, and jailbreak bans long predate the last two administrations. They’re more business model problems and not new authoritarian inventions. Removing an app isn’t the same as adding a backdoor. I think we need to talk more about the real root issue - its a structural one as old as time - closed ecosystems have/will always create the potential for abuse regardless of who is in power.

Now, I'm not sure how we get 'open' ecosystems to a tipping point, but have observed the likes of Apple and Microsoft doing a pretty good job of slowly and steadily 'self-owning'... so maybe it's a waiting game?

You can install 3 non AppStore programs without Jailbreaking onto your iPhone. If you pay $100 per year you can install as many as you want without refreshing and get notifications.

For free: connect your phone to a computer once then follow instructions online then refresh it over WiFi once per week. It does it automatically. Hacked games, Spotify premium no ads, YouTube no ads, or whatever app you decide to make on your own.

I guess I'm not shocked but this is certainly disappointing. That being said, do you need a native app to provide most of the functionality? It seems like you could do most of this stuff through browser functionality and some kind of distributed hosting. At the very least you could capture basic reporting through simpler mediums like SMS.

Unsaid in this article is that these phones quickly become useless if governments are able to just shut off internet connectivity through cell service and perhaps targeted local outages to reduce wifi alternatives. Without some kind of mesh networking it doesn't really matter that Apple and Google already sold you out.

> Every device and every service should be designed so that the people who use them have the final say over how they work.

Hmm. Even nukes?

Declaring ICE a "protected class" or a "vulnerable group" is absolutely disgusting. Nobody who has tanks is a vulnerable group.

Swapped one mad king for another.

>Tim Cook (a man who never found a boot he wouldn't lick)

I can't imagine Jobs (for all his many flaws) rolling over so easily.