“Compact” is a bit of a stretch. But the size of the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro (non-XL) is pretty nice. I currently have a 7 Pro and while the “screen real estate” is nice, it’s really on the upper end of what I’m willing to use. (Both in terms of size and weight) I bought my mom a Pixel 8 recently and I really liked the form factor when I set up the phone. It’s large enough to fit everything on the screen but small enough to use comfortably. Since I really want a telephoto lens the non-XL Pro version seems like it’s made for me. 😄

Thankfully TOS never did any fantasy stuff like galactic barriers, Trelane, massive green hands in space, or Abraham Lincoln. That wouldn’t have been true to Gene’s vision.

I’m not a fan of Disco either, but tardigrades and time bugs are really low on my list of complaints. Star Trek did lots of even whackier stuff over the last 60 years (or did everyone forget the “Fun with DNA” episodes of the 90s?). In fact, that time bug episode was probably the best 32nd century Disco episode. Which is a low bar, but anyway.

Wouldn’t it be better for our digital wellbeing to have an option that makes it unpleasant to use the phone in bed? 😬

I use it when I’m staying at hotels and want to use their WiFi, or any other public WiFi, to protect my private data. Google probably has it anyway but there’s no need to share it with another unknown entity.

This is a belated April Fool’s joke, right? This looks horrendous. Like the ugly child of iOS and Samsung icons.

According to his Wikipedia article he changed his view on climate change a decade ago.

In 2008, Jillette stated that there is not enough information to make an informed decision on global warming, that his gut told him it was not real, but his mind said that he cannot prove it.[46] As of 2014, he has changed his position and now believes that climate change is occurring

I’m still not quite sold on the pill-shaped camera bar but I suppose this design helps with consistency across different types of device (normal phones, foldables, tablets), unlike the current camera visor.

I’m not using two-button navigation but there was one nice thing it did in Android 9: you could flip the pill to the right and hold it to scroll through open apps until you’ve reached the app you wanted to switch to (or move your finger left/right to scroll in that direction), and only then lift the finger.

Unfortunately that only worked in Android 9. In Android 10 you could only swipe to the very next app. Not sure why they butchered that carousel navigation; probably to bring it in line with full gesture navigation.

DS9 gets some well deserved meme love nowadays. Quite a feat considering most fans thought of it as the black sheep of the Star Trek family during its original run.

Asus has always been big on letting you customize your smartphone, to the point that there are two modes for most changes: “Stock Android” or “Asus Optimized.” These two modes can be chosen from your settings, and when setting up your device, you can choose one or the other. It changes how your notifications look, your volume panel, and your power menu

Tim Schofield shows that in his video at 5:13, and from 7:03 onwards. The Asus Optimized looks more feature-rich but the design is clearly pre-Android-12 and clashes with some of the modern Android design elements. I guess it’s especially for those people who want the old notification drawer design back. 🤷‍♂️