I would get a late-model Toyota and call in via the SOS button to disable the telematics. It’s a documented process and isn’t like pulling teeth. A company that respects through-and-through doesn’t really exist.

Find a model that has what you want and doesn’t use any phone apps.

The car itself is more important. You can trade powertrain dependability for a nicer interior with a Kia, you can get superior packaging in a Honda, etc. Options also vary between trims, etc.

Google isn’t necessarily the seller, but Best Buy, Staples, Amazon, Walmart and Target could hash out a deal with Google (or Bing, etc.) for “insights”.

This post is posed as the next big step in internet pricing, not something necessarily happening today.

Today, it’s not standard procedure outside of some specific segments (that I know of, maybe airfare? But the data fed in is more limited) but tapping into the vast amounts of data we leak through the services we use is far too big of a gold mine for companies to overlook researching and tapping into. There’s a lot of things that need to happen (who supplies data? Google is the hypothetical here but what’s their price? etc.) but it’s absolutely feasible at scale.

excellent, glad to hear

Does RCS work reliably on Graphene? I thought Google was fucking with RCS quietly for those on custom ROMs or other things.

Not Just Bikes just put up a video about how fire-fighters and their trucks fight for wider roads while having larger trucks than the rest of the world. Perfect timing there.

Not formally banned but Halo TV show moment

Google removed “Ok Google with the screen off” (made the toggle disappear, replaced with the option to allow its use in apps) on my Moto Z Play via Play Services updates and later advertised it as a Pixel-exclusive feature. (this was when the Pixel 1 was new)

Their support threads were ended curtly with statements of the phone not supporting the feature which I guess was technically true now that they changed it. (but no, the hardware always supported hotwords)

Never got that feature back and I bailed. For the ups and downs, I’m glad Apple doesn’t do that, instead omitting or handicapping new features for older devices. Of course not the best but yeesh, at least I don’t have to worry about “Hey Siri” being pulled to promote the iPhone 20 yet…