lol Silverlight.

In fairness, a lot of those did take over the web for a time and lead to some cool stuff (and also some wild security exploits).

As for the “Sound Connect App” that’s unfortunately the core of the problem. That app doesn’t exist for Linux. If the hardware relies on that app to set up or manage profiles, it creates an unavoidable roadblock for desktop Linux users.

The app runs on your phone (Android or iOS), and then you use the phone to manage Bluetooth connections for the earbuds. IMO you shouldn’t need a second device, but I guess they just assume 99% of people are connecting to a smartphone.

It just seems to be a non-standard implementation from Sony that doesn’t play well with the standard Linux audio stack.

I think the issue is that the actual Bluetooth connection is obfuscated behind a proprietary connection to the app, and the app exposes the protocol.

I agree it’s a stupid implementation, prioritizing a UI for pairing over literally everything else, but you still might be able to get it to work. I’ve successfully paired my WF-1000XM4 earbuds with my EndeavourOS (KDE) desktop.

Drivers (other than your Bluetooth chipset) generally shouldn’t matter. AFAIK Bluetooth audio device protocol is generic.

How are you pairing the headphones? Are you adding your PC as a device using the Sound Connect App? I have different SONY earbuds, but they can pair with 2 different devices and switch between them with the app. Perhaps they still have another device (like a phone) selected for output?

There is a mind-blowing amount of variety on both TikTok and YouTube. Just because these “someones” to which you refer are posting brainrot garbage doesn’t mean the entire platform is like that.

I guess you took “friction” in the title literally.

It’s amazing how much a little home maintenance can improve daily life. Every time I fix something I wonder why I put it off so long.

There are different sorting options for both posts and comments. You can set a default and also manually switch between them when you want.

Check out the Lemmy docs on Votes and Ranking for more info on how each works.

Yes. They have died down a little due to having a constant barrage of domestic issues to protest as well, but they’re still happening. You probably haven’t seen much, because it’s being heavily suppressed by the media here. There’s large protests going on somewhere in the US every single day about something, mostly about the unlawful arrests and deportations.

FYI: It’s the middle of the night in most of the US, so there probably won’t be a lot of American responses to this for a bit.

Instead of 3 full paragraphs of stuff everybody already knows, why not start by explaining why you think Ladybird and Omarchy are”run by fascists”?

Pornhub is lowkey a very skilled tech company. Delivering a quality video platform on the scale they do is incredibly difficult.

Also obligatory: Year of the Linux Desktop! 🎉

I don’t use the Xbox app, but more client support is always good!

KDE Connect is great, but the simplest solution would be to just pair your phone and laptop via Bluetooth. Your phone will just treat your PC as a Bluetooth headset.

Not 100% sure with Ubuntu, but I do this on EndeavourOS and it just worked without any tinkering.

That sucks. I know what it’s like to feel like the only voice of reason when your company is shooting itself in the foot.

I see from other comments you’re already looking for a new job, which is a very good idea. From your description of this buyout, it seems very likely that you’re about 6 months to a year out from the layoff stage of the private equity playbook.

At the end of the day you’ll always have the experience you gained from building all that stuff. Perhaps you’ll get a chance to build it back even better somewhere else!

You can never be 100% sure, but there are protective factors that make it less likely, and they mostly boil down to incentive structure:

• Ownership - Is the project run by a non-profit? A for-profit company? A hobbyist? This is the best indicator of a project’s long-term trajectory, because it generally indicates the purpose behind creating it.
• Business model - How does the project make money? Donations? Subscription? One time payment? Generally models where you can outright purchase a copy of a particular version is insulated against future updates you don’t like. Donations protect against exploitation, but run the risk of the project being unsustainable and abandoned.
• Source - Open source code isn’t a silver bullet, but (especially with good licensing) it can make enshittification less likely as it’s a lot easier for dissenters to spin up a fork / competitor. It also makes it very difficult to hide sketchy stuff like data collection and back doors.
• Red flags - You should avoid anything that is SaaS, backed by an investment firm, or publicly traded. All of these involve incentive structures that encourage and reward exploitation of consumers and employees for increasing profit margins.

It’s way easier to move from one Linux distro to another if Valve starts enshittifying SteamOS (which would really suck) than it is to move from Windows to Linux. Either way this is a good stepping stone that’s well supported.

Think Different Freely.

When you install Windows, you don’t really control your computer. Microsoft does.