virtualbriefcase

Yes. Brave focuses on providing random data points each time it's asked (e.g. screen size). A hardened Firefox will try to provide a generic fingerprint.

Apples to oranges more or less, I'm unaware of any proof that one or the other is considerably better across the board. Though my gut does tell me that randomization is a lot better in the specific situation of regularly signing in and out of accounts.

What, social lives? Get outta here with that nonsense and be a hobbit like the rest of us :)

Seriously though, if you're thinking on a phone I'd reccomend just creating a second profile instead of getting a whole new device. The apps won't be running when the profile is running, and as a bonus you can usually restrict the profile's permissions. Also consider checking out web wrappers (e.g. frost) or PWAs.

On a desktop you can always just use the web version, bonus points if you auto clear cookies or have a separate profile.

Edit: if you already have a spare then that might work better than profiles.

Maybe I didn't word that right. Meant that they run out of the box, but if they break they can be repaired fairly easily.

DIY Edition Build it yourself and bring your OS, including Linux. Starting at $1,399.00

I hate to crap on a project like framework too much, but I fail to see the value it brings to the table compared to other options. 900$ for a Chromebook, 1.4k for a "DIY" laptop, 1.7k for the same laptop but assembled.

300-400$ used gaming laptops can be found on eBay, are repairable, and run Linux just as easily (minus maybe switching to official Nvidia drivers, but it's still only a couple commands a way). For 1k I'm sure you can get a variety of very premium laptops.

Edit: by repairable meant they're easy to repair if they break, not that they come pre-broken.

A monopoly in itself is not illegal, it's the misuse of monopoly power that is.

Now there's a million ways Google has been alleged to misuse it's power, which is why there's a court battle ongoing.

But even if a company has 100% market share (and the government/company/courts/public agree on how that market share is defined) as long as they don't abuse their power no antitrust violations have occurred.

Edit: under US law. Also not a lawyer.

Political statement? Ease of use? Social experiment? Ideological preference? Spending crypto you were paid in? A stand in until more merchants accept Monero directly? For no reason, but it's not hurting anybody and it's not illegal so why not?

Pick any of the above.

The reasons why it isn't suitable to be used as a currency are exactly what I listed, and you failed to interrogate ...

My original point I meant to make was just that your first argument, XMR = bad because NFTs/FTX/Luna was either that you didn't understand the differences of them, or that you did and were presenting a disingenuous argument.

The other points are more of a come to your own conclusions type of deal. But, if we're on the topic:

Volatility? I'd point out that, yes, it's volital like every other thing that's new. It'll figure out a stable price (what price that'll be, or if it'll be 0, I can't say). New tech and volital speculative markets and all that, churning out crap and jems alike.

Anonymity, consumer protections, & no transaction reverses? Again, cash, see what my take on it is above. + If tracking serial numbers stopped crime they'd be doing that already.

Energy useage? Yup, there's a lot, and that's a good criticism. But as these things grow there's work towards more efficient models. Also, it's not like everything else (from mining gold to making a PlayStation) uses energy in an often inefficient way.

No use as a currency? There's already a growing amount of using it as a currency. A lot of people are talking about the "Monero circular economy" with the idea being a community both earning and spending Monero amongst themselves. There's also a surprisingly large amount of merchants accepting Monero compared to a few years ago, and a large number of crypto services (including Monero) that offer a middleman type service to allow you to spend XMR and have a business get fiat.

Addendum: to elaborate on eccommerce a bit more, last I checked it's a good idea to buy from trusted platforms. What's to stop food I buy from being contaminated with lead? Buying that 80 cent box of pankake mix from wish is just probably a bad idea. So is entering your credit card details and social security number on totallynotascam(dot)legit that you got spam emails about.

Beyond that, though, it's not like Monero existing makes credit cards not exist. Any danger to the user isn't really an argument against something existing if the user chooses to use it.

My point on the comparison wasn't that that they're 1:1, but more so when a market does crazy stuff in a speculative frenzy there's things that potentially have legitimate value and things that don't. Comparing potentially good projects to obvious BS isn't really a a good way to debate the value or lack of.

As for unlicensed banks, yeah probably an imperfect comparison, but not entirely irrelevant IMO. Something like Coinbase (that does have licenses BTW) is probably a lot less likely to go bust than some shady exchange based in the Bahamas. Now, as a counter point ftx probably had the appropriate licenses for their US based front, but then just funneled that elsewhere right.

And sure, they were one of the biggest, but back to my original point: in a crazy speculative bubble the scams and legitimate projects all have to be evaluated individually.

Speaking of banks though, its kinda hilarious you brought up Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank. Last I checked two of the three were kinda involved in a pretty big thing known as the 2008 financial crises and would have collapsed had they not been bailed out. Their executives aren't in prison, but many people believed they should be.

Finally criminal useage is valid criticism, but Monero is not the first thing to be used to transfer illicit funds. Cartels, hitmen, and people who kidnap children for ransom all seem to like cash (well, that and the banks, some of which have a horrendously bad record of transferring illicit funds). If you were to convince me that Monero is making the world a way worse off place then maybe you'd change myind, but right now as it stands it appears a small percentage of criminals find Monero slightly easier than cash and are using it because it's the path of least resistance. Last I checked, the drug trade, computer hacking, and any other active criminal enterprise existed before the use of Monero.

If you're going to use Luna, FTX, and NFTs as arguments about something like Monero, and I don't want this to sound to mean (hard to convey tone through text), but you probably don't really understand any of them.

I have been both a long time supporter of crypto and the ideas behind it, and I was quick to make fun of the NFTs and have always warned against both keeping large sums money in exchanges and warning against trusting stable coins. I certainly can't garuntee crypto's future, but your argument sounds a lot like somebody saying "a trading card site and two unlicensed online banks went broke so you're stupid for buying Cisco stock" right after the dot com crash.

I reccomend looking into it just a bit more. Even if it's just to be a better anti-crypto advocate.

Bear forearms only. Doesn't apply to any other animal

Tux Cart (racing game) might be fun

They say smart people think alike right? There's a lot of duplicate content spread across similar communities, but I guess that's probably because we're all interested in similar things.

XKCD somebody else shared recently that's sorta on topic