“Look at me, Morty burp I’m Clickle Rick!”

Riskiest click of my career!

Australia is, for some reason…

From my experience, a whole lot.

Think about how hard it is to join a new company and learn to maintain their codebase - at least in that situation you are likely going to have someone more familiar with it walk you through it.

Now understand that no such resource exists for vibe code - you’re on your own from the get go.

Quite the opposite; these are probably the most savvy opportunists making themselves available for headhunting by clueless recruiters chasing The Next Big Thing.

They will end up getting phat contract offers to tidy up the poorly implemented AI-generated code put in by some C-suite desk jockey after they fired their engine engineering team.

I thought they’d absolutely love objects without flared bases - keeps them employed, and entertained!

Edited to add: sorry, backbone was probably the wrong term to use.

The actual history of Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) is actually needlessly complicated - primarily due to a (somewhat) successful sabotage attempt by our Conservative government in the early 2010s.

But basically, every single new home is built with Fiber to the Home, and every single metropolitan and suburban home either has Fiber to the Home (or Premises), or at the very least Fiber to the Curb through a remediation process to replace the Conservative-implemented Fiber to the Node boondoggle.

We also have a number of neighbourhoods stuck with HFC (again due to Conservstice sabotage) which while still delivering 100+ Mbit connections - are a bit of a technical dead end and will need to be remediated at some point in the future.

Basically, nbnCo serves as a national broadband wholesaler providing high speed connectivity (100, 250, 500, Gigabit) to something like >95% of the population.

The most remote communities are also serviced either through a fixed wireless option or satellite.

Basically though, unlike the US we don’t have a significant number of people still on dial-up and haven’t had so for a very long time.

It’s not so much about being built on a grid, but rather being built with a particularly high population density in mind - and further supported by a robust public transit network.

Chicken and egg situation, Americans drive because that’s how their cities and suburbs are laid out (excluding NYC, for the most part).

They don’t rely on alternatives because they are slow, inconvenient or non-existent; alternatives can’t be built up as the costs can’t be justified based on existing patronage levels.

Except that US ISPs have already been provided upwards of $80b to roll out a fiber optic backbone for rural connections, and have instead largely pocketed the funds and sat on their hands.

It has largely fallen to smaller communities to incorporate their own local ISPs and manage their own roll-outs, as such projects aren’t viewed as worthwhile for private companies.

Honestly, if Australia could roll out a national fiber backbone (almost a decade ago!) across the same approximate landmass as the contiguous 48 states at less than 10% of the overall population; there is no valid reason that the wealthiest nation to have ever existed can’t also do so.

Even if a Federal program (not under this administration, obviously) was to just run fibre parallel to the existing interstate highways, and leave the last (20) miles to local utilities - it would be cheaper, faster and more reliable than LEO - and without all the additional negatives that come with that!

The US is very much on the decline, and thanks to the poorly thought out One Child policy- China has also likely past it’s apex. But like the US, it too can cause a lot of damage during its downfall.

India, thanks to burgeoning population and rapid industrialisation is probably the most notable nation currently ‘on the rise’.

Ah, dang - I was hoping for a 1:1 replacement.

I mostly just use mine to emulate PS1-2 games, so 1080p isn’t all that enticing - but OLED blacks definitely would be.

Is the OLED the same resolution as stock, or is it higher?

Think how truly life changing it would be, if $1m just popped into your bank account one day - you could pay off your mortgage, buy a new car, start a business, or take your family on a vacation to remember.

Mark Zuckerberg could do that each and every single day of the year…

…36 times over…

…just from a 5% return on his current net worth!

Why not just use Brave, which blocks ads and allows for picture-in-picture and background play?

Do you need to download for offline play or similar?

How has it been “proven” that all app stores are equally safe?

Heck, just comparing Google Play and Apple App Store - every article over the past year covering malicious apps (including the recent cross-platform SparkCat) mentions at some point or another that these occurrences are significantly rarer on iOS given Apple’s stricter policies and guidelines. Policies that could not otherwise be enforced on 3rd party app stores.

Realistically, no one who purchases an iPhone is doing so under the assumption that they aren’t going to be within the wider Apple ecosystem and ‘walled garden’. Those that do want that additional freedom, and associated risks, have Android and other FOSS options available to them already.

Think of it this way: There are plenty of Android-based devices that are faster, better or have unique features that iOS doesn’t; Apple’s USP is iOS. We were ‘free’ to choose this ecosystem, and by trying to impose your own definition of freedom onto us, you are instead depriving us of our own.

If you choose not to see the inherent risks associated with this, so be it - but I am wary enough to know that if/once the genie is out of the bottle, there is no ability to go back when the shit inevitably hits the fan.

Don’t think of me as a blind Apple fanboy, either: I think there are plenty of valid criticisms of Apple’s handling of the App Store that legislation would be much better suited to targeting - namely their egregious fees and arbitrary policies regarding directing users to their own websites for alternate payment methods.****

Well you weren’t very specific, so I wasn’t sure which point(s) you were disagreeing with.

I’m sure there are a number of apps which were only available on one storefront (Google, Samsung, F-Droid etc.).

China is in an even worse spot, as Google is outright banned - there are a dozen or so competing Android app stores; however their saving grace is that literally every digital transaction goes through either Weixin or AliPay - so there’s a somewhat lessened risk of credit card fraud.

Why would smaller, niche apps move to alternative stores on iOS? To (rightfully) avoid the excessive fees charged - so yes, a restaurant would be a prime example of someone not be willing / able to give 30% to Apple (nor should they, it’s downright extortion).

Banking Trojans have hit millions of Android devices in 2025 — here are the biggest threats and how to protect yourself

Just because you aren’t aware of it, it doesn’t mean it’s not happening already.

I respectfully disagree.

If I’m out at a restaurant with app-based ordering, or my Real Estate agent requires payment through their gateway, or to track my utilities usage, or am required to use any other number of niche apps that become only available through alternate app stores? Then I very well risk being put in a situation where I am otherwise forced to.

Let alone the headaches that will inevitably come from the older, less technologically savvy, and more vulnerable having their default app stores highjacked, and spoof apps stealing their credentials/credit cards.

Then we get into the more general issues of allowing unsigned code to be loaded and run on our smartphones - it will lead to the era of viruses, Trojans and ransomware.

I am reminded of this piece that Last Week Tonight did on Encryption, which is quite cogent given the topic at hand.

Best security practices involve minimising the number of places your sensitive (financial) data is stored. If a website doesn’t accept a known and reputable intermediary like Apple Pay, PayPal or a BNPL provider - I would refrain from using it.

If this is something that you want - then go ahead and Jailbreak your iPhone, or get an Android - more power to you; but please stop trying to enshittify iOS.

Unpopular opinion, but if I wanted multiple app stores (and all the associated benefits and risks) then I would have opted for an Android.

The walled garden approach works for me, and I don’t want to be inconvenienced and my data put at risk because a particular, necessary app is only available through a 3rd party platform.

Now, Apple being forced to reduce the % of app sales down from 30% to a more reasonable number I am all for.