Bonum Certa Men Certa

Before 'Smart' Phones and Home 'Assistants' We Mostly Had Unconnected 'Dumb' Devices (Like PDAs) That Still Work and Still Get the Job Done

Recent: 'Appeal to Novelty' as a Lever for Proprietary Software Monopolies, Bloat (Planned Obsolescence) and More Surveillance



Summary: Palm PDAs are still around and are still being used; that sort of serves to show that novelty (or supposed novelty) isn't always required to get things done (GTD)

THE spontaneous video above was done just to show how I've organised things for nearly two decades. Things that used to work back then still work today. People did in fact make phonecalls even 50 years ago -- in more or less the same way that they do today.



"People did in fact make phonecalls even 50 years ago -- in more or less the same way that they do today."The idea that people must buy the latest of everything to be flattered by the media (or mythical peers) for being "smart" is alluring; it targets the insecure and the class-conscious.

PDAIn some future videos we might shed light on how we run things at Techrights; much of it boils down to plain text files and custom-made programs, not bloated programs that corporate media promotes. In sites like ZDNet they keep promoting terrible things such as Slack and Kubernetes -- even for tasks that require little but K.I.S.S. principles. "Suckless" will continue to gain from fatigue over bloat and complexity; sometimes less is more. ⬆

Palm m500

Recent Techrights' Posts

Secret Microsoft Layoffs and Maybe Another "Voluntary Exit Program at Microsoft in October"
there's a morale crisis at Microsoft
Many Topics to Cover
Drops in a big ocean
Gemini Links 04/10/2026: Peace in Outage, Pen Pals, and deGoogling
Links for the day
 
Brigading Against Women - Part XVIII - Turning Censorship Attempts (Articles About Matthew Garrett) Into Mild Redactions
What Lozza did two years ago
Greenland Needs Digital Sovereignty
the large icy island isn't moving to GNU/Linux as quickly as the rest of Europe
Tracker of Internet Relay Chat Networks Out of Service (But Not Down) Since Thursday
We should note that the number of unique networks they track has grown since we last checked
Gemini Links 05/10/2026: NixOS, Guix, Codeberg Banning Slop, and "Gopher Apps on Android"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 04, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, October 04, 2026
MIT Technology Review (MTR) Reinforces MIT's Role in Promoting Slop (Pyramid Scheme) in Exchange for Money
MIT is a poster boy (or child) of institutional corruption, perverts, and corporate takeover
Proving Wrong Those Slop Maximalists and Boosters, GAFAM Says Slop is a Nuisance and Bans/Hides the Slop Submissions
People who say slop in projects is inevitable or even desirable are usually cheaters with self-guilt
Links 04/10/2026: “AI Torture Chamber” and "Aggressive Push to Integrate Hey Hi (AI) Slop Into Schools Is Turning Into a Disaster"
Links for the day
How Microsoft Hides Massive Layoffs From the Media (as Explained by Microsofters)
"rewards" are not exactly rewarding
Brigading Against Women - Part XVII - The Appeal
more to be known towards the end of the year
Links 04/10/2026: Fires Rage in Borneo and Mass Layoffs at Disney
Links for the day
Garrett's Litigation Partner is Unemployed Again
losing one's job
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 03, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, October 03, 2026
Teaser/Taster
Tomorrow morning we'll have an important story regarding "GGG"
Gemini Links 03/10/2026: Book Swaps and Book Crossing, Hidden Figures (2016), Apps and Tools for Research and Writing
Links for the day
Michael Catanzaro Seems to be Missing the Point
Calling people you disagree with "Ostriches" is lazy name-calling
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 41
People who want humans and communities to maintain their software chains (and by extension their digital life) will back GNU
Links 03/10/2026: "Banned Books Week 2026" and "American Journalist Imprisoned as a Spy in Russia"
Links for the day
In Case Anybody Still Believes Microsoft Lunduke Cares About GNU/Linux...
GNU/Linux users aren't bots
Gemini Links 03/10/2026: Speculative Realism, Paper2SlopBot, Joplin, and Offline Experiment
Links for the day
Union Syndicale Fédérale (USF) Tries to Compel the European Patent Office (EPO) to Actually Function Properly
We'll be covering the EPO a lot more soon
Brigading Against Women - Part XVI - When Your Own Colleagues Complain About You Maybe the Problem is You
"if 2 people tell you that you're drunk, you go to sleep"
Links 03/10/2026: Slop-Generated War Songs and "Privatisation Has Failed"
Links for the day
Proprietary Software Giant Microsoft is Quietly Laying Off Lots of Employees, Insider Explains How It's Done
about Microsoft exits
United States: More Than One in Ten Using GNU/Linux on Laptop/Desktop
Clownflare Radar seems to show a similar trend
Brigading Against Women - Part XV - Trying to Put Women in Prisons
We'll soon get to the 'meat' or the 'beef', showing how "Gas The Jews" Lozza helped Garrett a few days after we had sued him in September 2024
A Leap in GNU/Linux Usage, Japan's Share in Particular
One thing that merits attention right now is Japan. It looks like it's adopting GNU/Linux instead of GAFAM.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 02, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, October 02, 2026