bazmatazable

@bazmatazable@reddthat.com

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Agreed, most people I have asked also think the switch is an additional safety feature. I can see that it is helpful to isolate a device and so can make using all manner of devices safer, but it requires that you know what the switch does and when and why you would switch it so this kind of excludes babies and toddlers.

  My wife is from North America and common knowledge there is that wall sockets are just incredibly dangerous at all times. The UK style plug is quite different.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Have you tried to stick anything metal into one of these plugs? It is fairly todler proof. I think a 7 year old has the dexterity to defeat it but certainly not a baby.

  Manufacturers sell the wall sockets in both switched and unswitched versions so I would say the switch is just there for convenience of the user.

  It seems that maybe in the 60s having a switch on the wall was very useful because most electrical devices would have been designed to be switched on or off from its mains power connection (like lamps, hairdryers, vacuum cleaners, electric whisk, etc). I assume the standard was to have a switch as this gave a little extra functionality. Today however many electrical devices have digital electronics that don’t expect to be power cycled and so a switch is not really a feature but an inconvenience (think smart bulb, or Apple TV).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  How does the switch protect children?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘If you want to have a good party, ask your friends not to take photos’: Carissa Véliz, expert in ethics applied to technology, advocates for a system of digital anonymity⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Thank you for the post, I do like reading what experts have to say about our digital privacy. I don’t like that many of these articles/discussions focus on specific choices that a user can make to gain more privacy. Please can we stop pretending that there is any alternative to WhatsApp. The network effect is why we use their platform not for any other reason. Its like advising someone to speak Fuzhou instead of Mandarin when in China, its not that its wrong to do so just that it is poor advice, or at the very least assumes that your priority is to speak Fuzhou over actually communicating with other people. The author says as much themselves: “Collective problems need collective solutions.” This is great! But shortly after we read: “Instead of using WhatsApp, use Signal.” groan + face-palm. I want to be positive and reiterate that I am happy that this is being debated at all.

• A look at search engines with their own indexesseirdy.one ↗
  Submitted ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ to ⁨technology@beehaw.org⁩ | ⁨9⁩ ⁨comments⁩