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Joined 6 months ago
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Cake day: January 10th, 2024

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  • I think that’s why the warranty was three years instead of one; this seems to be a Costco-specific model. Mine broke at three years and three months, and the customer support rep said they could try to extend the warranty coverage to the repair. But I was heading out of town and still haven’t sent it in, so I’m not sure if that will still hold. Kind of thinking of getting another (better) for my bathroom, seeing what happens with the repair, and if it comes back repaired for a low cost putting it in the guest bathroom.



  • I wanting to hijack this thread and ask people what model seats you use? I bought a BioBidet Uspa from Costco on sale for $200. It has all the features of the well-regarded Toto Washlets but I found the spray was not very “focused” so cleaning wasn’t as effective with it as others I’ve randomly been able to try. This meant it usually took quite a few passes with both spray and TP to get clean (still, less TP than if that was all I used). I think the big cost difference between the Uspa and the Toto is they used much cheaper components than Toto. Three years on it’s broken just outside of the warranty period. The manufacturer has offered to consider applying the warranty but would probably still involve some costs. I’m thinking this might be the time to just upgrade to a better model.

    Toto seems like the historic go-to choice and I’m assuming they should still be good quality. With my IBS it might be worth spending the money. But I’d like to know real-world recommendations on what people use, and I suppose how recent their model is.




  • They’re marketed as being recyclable along with the cans that might appear at a picnic. Whether they actually get recycled is another question; I’ve seen more picnic shelters with recycling bins, but certainly not all.

    Some buyers in their online reviews said they were washing and reusing the cups instead of recycling them. I don’t know how effective that is but assume it’s fine. They would be a better choice than glass at places like pools where glass is prohibited.


  • I mostly see them used for 1/2-gallon milk and small juice containers in the U.S. I’m in Canada right now and see them being used a lot for large juice containers also. I could see glass used for those (as they were in the past) but with the higher risk of breakage it’s not as ideal, but have a harder time picturing aluminum being used for milk and at least some of the more acidic juices. Does aluminum work with those beverages?

    You seem informed on the subject: I’ve recently seen aluminum single-use cups advertised, targeting the same market as red plastic cups commonly seen at picnics. Those plastic cups are rarely recyclable, so I’m assuming the aluminum kind are more eco-friendly assuming they get recycled, even with high energy usage?











  • The ad doesn’t actually deliver the malware, just directs people to a malicious download that mimics the Arc Browser. Users then have to follow onscreen instructions to install the malicious application in a non-standard way that allows it to bypass built-in protections in macOS to make it harder to install unsigned apps.

    I’m curious how successful this campaign would be. It requires a lot of bad behavior by the victim to succeed. First, they’d have to decide to download a new web browser just from one banner ad, without doing any research on the browser; just click the link in the ad to go directly to the malicious download and install it directly from there. Second, they’d have to convince the user to right-click and select “Open” instead of simply double-clicking the installer or dragging it to the Applications folder like every other Mac application; otherwise the OS blocks it. I’m sure there are users dumb enough to do either step, but the subset of users dumb enough to do both steps and be on macOS and see this ad, I’m thinking they might only nab a few hundred victims tops, if that. I suspect this might be a proof of concept more than anything; probably most of the downloads were security researchers or potential customers testing it out. It sounds like the security researchers were following the malware seller, then found the ad, not the other way around. And of course, the ad has been taken down by Google now.

    Like most other large advertising networks, Google Ads regularly serves malicious content that isn’t taken down until third parties have notified the company. Google Ads takes no responsibility for any damage that may result from these oversights. The company said in an email it removes malicious ads once it learns of them and suspends the advertiser and has done so in this case.

    Earlier in the article they said Google had “vetted” the company that bought the ad. It seems their process sucks and this policy is a cop-out, and all of that just to net Google, what, a couple bucks on this short-lived fraudulent campaign?



  • If it’s on physical disc in one region but not where you live, it might be possible to purchase that disc and ship it to your home. While it might be region-blocked on the disc, there are ways to bypass that with certain disc players or converting them on your computer. The legality of bypassing region-blocking may vary depending on your jurisdiction, but from a technical standpoint it’s certainly possible. It’s probably less legal liability than going straight to piracy (especially compared to the liability from torrenting where they try to claim someone’s engaged in illegal distribution).