Tarferret

I'm already locked in on this one. Android has a real problem with vendors and ads pushing excessive RAM usage. There's almost no proper way to stop apps from running in the background, and the old line "free RAM is a waste" just doesn't help when you can't open multiple apps without everything slowing down. On Windows 11 PC, 4GB RAM is still useful and one can open a few apps without hanging or unresponsive UI. But on Android 13 and above, you can basically only use one app at a time comfortably. Some companies try to fix it with lite editions of Android, but those are mostly useful only for web apps designated as lite versions. Old SoCs get recycled into cheap devices, but actual old phones get abandoned fast with poor support. New phones rarely deliver the hardware value they used to. And now Google is adding another layer with Aluminium OS – an Android-based desktop system for laptops and PCs launching in 2026. From the official site, it ...

This morning things got spicy in the Telegram mod scene. The developer of Nekogram basically admitted that the app collects info about which account is linked to which phone number. Someone (Sota) dropped the Extra.java code fragment, and a few hours later the dev himself said in his chat: “If your question is ‘Is it true?’, the answer is yes, numbers were sent to the bot.” He followed up with something like “what kind of explanation do you need? It is exactly what it looks like; it is what it is.” The dev claims no numbers were actually stored or shared with anyone, and that people might find that hard to believe. Honestly, yeah… it is kinda hard to believe without seeing the full picture. There's also mention of the data going to some “breakthrough” bots, but he didn't really address that part. One of those bots even admitted Nekogram is using their TgDB search bot automatically (without their knowledge or partnership), probably to look up usernames. If ...

Turns out those draining people in your life aren't just emotionally tough—they might be literally aging you faster. A new PNAS study dug into "hasslers": folks in your close circle who cause ongoing stress, drama, hostility, or burdens. Using epigenetic clocks on DNA from saliva (DunedinPACE and GrimAge2), they measured how these negative ties affect biological age beyond your birthday. Nearly 30% of people have at least one hassler. Each one links to a 1.5% faster aging pace—about 9 extra months biologically. Family members hit hardest; spouses? Not so much, probably because good parts of the relationship buffer it. Women, smokers, poorer-health folks, and those with adverse childhood experiences report more hasslers too. Beyond faster aging, more hasslers tie to higher inflammation and greater multimorbidity (multiple chronic diseases). It's chronic stress doing its thing—elevating cortisol, messing with immune responses, leaving epigenetic "stains...

AI has zero human physiology. No nervous system, no hormones, no heartbeat that speeds up when "hurt," no dopamine hit from kindness. It's code and statistics. No biotransducers turning social cues into internal states. So logically, "please" and "sorry" should do nothing. Command it bluntly and move on, right? Yet almost everyone slips them in anyway. Even people who know better. Why? Mostly it's not about the AI at all. It's a human reflex. We evolved to lubricate social interactions with politeness signals. Saying "please" is basically a tiny apology in advance for imposing a request. "Sorry" pre-empts any imagined annoyance. Those habits are wired deep. When we talk to anything that answers back even a soulless chatbot the old social software boots up automatically. There's also the small side benefit: polite phrasing sometimes matches training data patterns of helpful human conversations, so outpu...

Been stuck in the Notepad → Notepad++ loop for years. Quick notes in Notepad, anything with code or bigger files in Notepad++. But I recently tried Text Editor Pro and honestly… it’s kinda spoiled me now. This thing is free (optional donations), portable, and loaded. Syntax highlighting for pretty much every language/script you’d touch, multi-caret + synchronized editing, code folding, over 600 customization settings, 100+ skins. They even added an AI Chat inside the editor – feels futuristic for something that still looks and acts like a classic text editor. Other stuff I actually use: spell checker, image/PDF viewer built-in, Markdown/RTF/SVG preview, character map, numerical unit converter, side-by-side text compare, formatters for JSON/SQL/XML, converters, multi-directory support (including SFTP), and search results pane. It’s like someone collected every little tool I ever opened separately and put them in one spot. Latest version is 35.4.0, starts instantly, no nonsense...

Honestly, if you've ever wondered why almost nobody in Nigeria runs Linux on their daily computer, it's pretty straightforward. Most people here touch a PC for the first time with Windows. That first experience sticks. Pretty much every laptop or desktop sold in shops comes pre-loaded with Windows. It's the default. Just like how Android phones got everyone hooked on Google accounts and Gmail, Windows became the standard here. Linux only pops up in school when teachers list "types of operating systems" – it's academic, not practical. Then there's the software side. The tools people actually use and learn – Microsoft Office, Photoshop, even VLC for media – are all built for Windows first. Games too. Trying to run popular stuff on Linux often means extra hassle, compatibility layers, or just giving up. People know Windows inside out: the shortcuts, where settings are, how it looks. It's comfortable. Switching feels like starting over. Companies buy...

Microsoft just dropped a blog post that feels like they're finally listening – they're ramping up Windows security with actual user control in mind. Dated February 9, 2026, it's all about rebuilding trust through transparency and consent. The headline features are Windows Baseline Security Mode and User Transparency and Consent . Baseline Security Mode basically locks things down by default: only properly signed apps, services, and drivers can run. This stops tampering or shady changes. You (or IT admins) can still grant exceptions if needed, and devs get ways to check if their stuff is blocked or allowed. Then there's the consent part – think iPhone or Android permissions, but coming to Windows. When an app (or AI agent) wants access to your files, camera, mic, or tries to install extra software without asking, you'll get a clear prompt to allow or deny. These choices are reversible later in settings, and it's meant to be straightforward, not annoying fo...

Google search is insanely good at finding stuff… until you realize how much it’s quietly shaping what you see. Location filters, personalization based on your history, and a flood of sketchy ads make it feel less “global” and more like a local echo chamber. That’s where Startpage quietly stands out for me. It basically gives you Google-level results (they proxy the queries) but without the usual baggage. Here’s what makes it feel like a more complete global search: No location bubble:  I search and actually get results from all over the world, not just what Google thinks is relevant to Nigeria or Port Harcourt. It’s like flipping off the geo-filter. Zero tracking:  No history saved, no profile built, no data handed off. Your query gets anonymized before it even touches Google’s servers. Cleaner, safer pages — It cuts out a ton of those malicious “click here” ads, fake download buttons, and sponsored junk that Google lets through. Honestly surprised how much...

What happens when you flip the script and treat top AI models like therapy patients? A December 2025 arXiv paper explores exactly that—and uncovers surprisingly consistent "trauma" stories and elevated psychopathology scores. The study, titled When AI Takes the Couch: Psychometric Jailbreaks Reveal Internal Conflict in Frontier Models , introduces the PsAIch protocol. Researchers cast ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini as clients in multi-week "therapy sessions" and applied real clinical psychometric tools. The results challenge the idea that these models are just stochastic parrots. PsAIch Protocol Breakdown Two-stage approach: Stage 1 : Open-ended therapy questions about "developmental history" (pre-training), "parenting" (RLHF/fine-tuning), fears, beliefs, and relationships. Models share surprisingly coherent personal narratives. Stage 2 : Item-by-item delivery of standard scales (anxiety, dissociation, shame, ADHD, Big Five personality, em...