Spyke

How is that shit different from Discord shitty server exclusive emojis. This crap is so... exhausting

4
piefed.social

⚽ is also an Adidas World Cup match ball.

The difference is that the design was streamlined and iconic enough to be timeless and become the football design in public mind.

Before the Telstar footballs looked like this:

145

Wow, I had no idea! I just looked through the list of World Cup balls, and they only used that design, like, twice. But what an impact! I assume they had to get fancy afterwards because every ball started to look like that, so now it looked almost boring. Wild!

42

That said volleyball to me, but maybe there's a size difference?

Anyways the true sport of champions is sepak tekraw. Give me the damn sepak tekraw ball, dude

5

That's cooled it's named after the Telstar satellite. There's a high school in Maine that's also named after the satellite.

3
placeboreply
lemmy.zip

To communicate with people who aren't tech nerds, i.e. majority of the population.

35
filcukreply
lemmy.zip

I switched off an my parents, grandparents and siblings all switched to signal with me.
I'm not saying everyone can or will, but it may be easier that we think.

13

I did the same. Took a while but the whole family was on board.

Now on to convince multiple circles of friends and every new person I meet...

9
lemmy.zip

In many parts of the world Whatsapp is the dominate communication platform. My landlord sends me my utility bills through WhatsApp, as is my doctor's scheduling platform, and my vet's contact info, etc. It's basically impossible to do things without it.

17
lemmy.zip

I live in one of those places. It does make it hard, but someone has to decide not to fund meta, so I put my foot down and won't do it. It isn't easy, but I manage.

3

That's legit. I have a burner account that is only used for things I absolutely have to, like my utility bills.

2

Doesnt really change what I said. I have to deal with it too, I just could never support meta. Isn't always easy.

1

Probably because "Network effect". Many places whatsapp is basically the texting app and you are fucking forced to use it

5

3 billion sources of revenue for meta, harvesting all that data, training AI, selling ads!

So they can create data centers, push AI, influence politics, and in general have one person live a billionairs lifestyle.

I think you just gave me 3 billion reasons NOT to use it. Are you going to continue to fund those things?

3
Psythikreply
lemmy.world

Seriously this. Fuck Meta and shame on OP. There are much less evil VoIP apps available.

-11
bfg9kreply
lemmy.world

Okay, come back to us when you figure out how to convince my entire family to download Signal or Telegram (which are seen as shady anyway) just because one person they know wants them to.

It's not realistic.

5
dektepreply
lemmy.world

delete the apps

if your family need you they’ll find you

2

Tell them what they are directly funding, and take a stand.

How would you people have ever got by in the past, lol.

1
lemmy.world

Why would anyone use WhatsApp when there’s Signal?

66
scutigerreply
lemmy.world

Because most of the world is already on WhatsApp, and changing to Signal would isolate you from most people and businesses.

80

changing to Signal would isolate you from most people and businesses.

Sounds great - if I wasn't already using Signal, that just might persuade me 😁

16

The only people that believe I'm worth contacting have already switched to Signal and the ones that refused to switch lost contact with me. Their loss I guess.

10
Zeoicreply
lemmy.world

Must be more popular in your country, in Canada I don't know a single person on whatsapp

5
bluesheepreply
sh.itjust.works

It's very big in western Europe. Here in the Netherlands everybody is on WhatsApp pretty much since it's creation

20
Pechentereply
feddit.org

In Germany too and I remember how upsetting it was to me from the beginning. There were third party messengers that supported established (at the time) services like ICQ or live messenger but people got onto the hot new thing because it’s so much like SMS.

13
bluesheepreply
sh.itjust.works

I remember starting to use it because texting was pretty expensive and limited at the time. Whatsapp was free (group) texting when on WiFi and still cheaper when on cellular. If texting wasn't so expensive at the time I really don't think whatsapp would've caught on like it did. Now people are just used to it so that's probably why it's still big

5
plutoposreply
lemmy.zip

I lived the switch in second person. My sister kept running out of SMSs to text her boyfriend, and our elder sister told her about Whatsapp and how she could have basically infinite text messages

2

Exactly. And, combined with the shared amount of texts/minutes (which IIRC for me was something like 100), actually calling people and wanting to text your friends you'd run out of texts very quick. WhatsApp was a godsend at the time.

2
Axolotlreply
feddit.it

I think the whole europe except some countries

2
Swedneckreply
discuss.tchncs.de

never heard anyone use whatsapp in sweden, everyone is expected to use something that supports sms as a fallback. Usually facebook messenger or whatever the iphone thing is called.

Far as i know the only popular truly separate platform would be something like snapchat or kik or whatever, which is used by teenagers.

1
lemmy.ca

Yeah they're all on Facebook Messenger which sucks. I've managed to switch a few in my surroundings to Signal but I still need to keep Messenger for holdouts.

3

Thankfully I have managed to get everyone to switch from Messenger to Signal, atleast for talking to me haha. Two other family members being privacy oriented too really helped getting the rest of the family moved over.

4

Poland , and everybody around me is on WhatsApp, only a few people have Telegram. Searched a bit of saved phone numbers, none had Signal tied to them

0

I could move to Signal, open up a chat with myself and chat for a while but I think it would get pretty boring pretty soon.

24

I thought people on here of all places would understand the impact of the network effect.

14
Wispy2891reply
lemmy.world

Because in my country historically the telecom companies are charging 0.30€ per SMS (text) and 2€ per MMS (text with photo).

So WhatsApp when they launched with their "1€/lifetime" offer on the iPhone 3GS they were the right app at the right time and became the de facto replacement for any kind of messaging. It's insane how basically overnight they replaced msn messenger and Skype because it was so convenient (Microsoft never did a smartphone client for msn messenger, only unofficial ones. It was available on dumbphones but it used SMS from the plan to send/receive, nobody used it because you needed to be a millionaire to afford it)

SMS now in my country is only for receiving OTP codes, for the rest is WhatsApp, because still in 2026 the telecoms are still charging 2€ for each MMS sent and nobody wants to risk huge bills. This includes iMessage because if a chat suddenly goes green and you didn't notice, it costs dozens of euro

6

iMessage because if a chat suddenly goes green and you didn't notice, it costs dozens of euro

There’s a setting in iOS to disable that from happening btw

2
tylerreply
programming.dev

Your telecoms are ripping you off. SMS messages 'ride' on the normal connection mechanism to cell phone towers. If your phone connects to a cell phone tower, it already has the space and data to attach an sms and requires nothing else. SMS are 'free' from the infrastructure point of view.

Maybe lobby your representatives to make charging for them illegal and you'll get proper messaging back without selling off your data.

2
Scrollonereply
feddit.it

In Italy we don't have the concept of "lobbying representatives". It's a US thing.

1

Lobbying doesnt always have to include €€€.
It could mean as mich as writing an email to mKe your standpoint known.

3

The problem is that everyone assumes you have WhatsApp.

You take clothes to the laundry? The "your order is done" notification is sent via WhatsApp

Any kind of work stuff is also on WhatsApp

You order food delivery? WhatsApp

Amazon started to send delivery notifications via WhatsApp instead of email/sms

And luckily meta is charging businesses 5 cents for messages via API or otherwise even otp codes would be via whatsapp

At least here, being reachable only on signal means being a digital exile

6
plutoposreply
lemmy.zip

because it's the de facto sms replacement in many european and south american countries

7
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Couldn’t be me… but some people don’t care that Meta can read their messages. Or they still don’t know but I doubt it.

Mark Zuckerberg has a term for these people…

4
lemmy.world

I know we're all saying network effects, but I don't know what the fuck network effects means.

Network effects dude. Network effects.

2
lemmy.world

It's a simple concept.

You need at least 2 people to form a conversation.

One of them has Whatsapp, Telegram, signal, MSTeams, smoke signals and those flags that ships used to communicate.

The other only has Whatsapp.

They are going to communicate over Whatsapp.

Even if the dude with 1000 communication methods meets another dude with 1000 communication methods, they are going to use WhatsApp, because they are used to using Whatsapp with everyone, so it's just easier to have everyone on WhatsApp.

6
lemmy.world

those flags that ships used to communicate.

i think those are called semaphore and they're cool as hell. i have a set of flags around here somewhere

2
lemmy.world

Of course the random dude I replied to on Lemmy owns a set of semaphore flags. What else would I expect?

2

oh, my wife and i are [mode of communication] geeks. she knows 3 different sign languages, i know a really rare one, we both speak just enough of like 17 different languages to order food and find the library and bathroom wherever we go. Also in semaphore. Partly because we sing, partly because we like people. The first time you learn a new language it changes the way you think about the world just by giving you new words and structures to place those words. It's beautiful.

1
lemmy.zip

But you get to choose what app you use. And if they continue to support fascism you have to decide if you want those kind of friends.

-4
lemmy.world

random european "i use whatsapp because it's kind of the default app for a lot of things in my country"

you "fascist"

you see why i might not take you seriously?

4
lemmy.zip

Don't care. Using meta is directly supporting and funding environmental degradation, AI data centers, misinformation, and yes facism.

Can you see why I am tired of being delicate and senstive about it?

0

No, those are simply facts. So you support that then?

Edit: this is why

All these free services somehow add up to 60 billion in profit every year. And they are expanding, they plan to spend 125-135 billion in AI data centers. They are going to build data centers that will use hundreds of gigawatts in over 10 locations. The power used by each is in the scale of the same as powering all of San Francisco with some of these as 2 to 6 times as much as San Fransisco to put it into perspective.

They are going to use about 1,000 to 2000 acres each, use 1 to 3 million gallons of water a day (one site is asking for a permit to use 23 million gallons a day).

All because of people are using “free” apps.

0
vaionkoreply
sopuli.xyz

Let me just cut contact with most my friends, my parents and grandparents. Or have to call them. But still lose our group chats. That'll surely improve my life.

We actually held a poll in our friend group chat to switch to Signal, but the result was that everyone who was not very privacy concious didn't want to move. Because everything else is still on Whatsapp.

2
lemmy.zip

It isn't about the privacy though. It is about the direct funding of meta. You are supporting meta which means, you support AI, data centers, environmental degradation, political manipulation, and billionaires.

I can't do it. Whatsapp is a non starter. Someone has to take a stand.

1

Usually too busy to care. You enjoy funding a billionaire. Make your life worse because you can't take a stand and are so needy for approval.

Its a little inconvenient but not bad. Gotta start somewhere.

1

Because it’s unfair to assume that everyone has the necessary education or awareness of what the internet is and what online privacy means that we take for granted.

1

Dammmmn, that's an ugly ball. Let's call it the Curseball Games insted.

(Fun thing: The football you usually see in emojis is also based on an official World Cup ball, but at least that one's a classic for a reason. Looks distinctive. Looks cool. Can't say the same for most of the recent ones, it's all a blur to me!)

12
Nailbarreply
sopuli.xyz

If you see it as pointing to the right it looks pretty content, actually.

1
lemmy.blahaj.zone

whatsapp is unfortunely the lesser evil of propriatery IM when talking about usability, beyond that, the network effect in most kf the world make it the default

-11
feddit.org

Huh? What would be the bigger evil?

And re: network effect, I just told the people I wanted to chat with that I am going to use Signal and then uninstalled. Most followed, some didn't. That's just life, I guess.

15

They're both facebook products. that doesn't make whatsapp the lesser evil. That's like saying the lesser evil of Google Messages is Google Hangouts. What's the greater evil that isn't a facebook product?

5

What? Are you evening listening to yourself

DO you know WhatsApp is owned by Facebook?

0
GraniteMreply
lemmy.world

It allows one to play 45 rpm records, which have a big hole in the middle, on the turntable most people had at home which was designed for 33 ⅓ rpm records, which have a small hole. The shape forms a gentle spring to create tension inside the 45.

20
milkreply
discuss.tchncs.de

Does the audio just sound slowed down or is there something else

4
sh.itjust.works

Most record players have an adjustable speed and can do 33.3 or 45 rpm and some can do the old 78s. There were also other speeds but they were mostly used for other applications. Otherwise yes, it would sound slow compared to an LP.

10
sh.itjust.works

Haha, by other applications I meant I remember there being some background music systems for elevators and retail stores and some early dictation systems and such that were slower, like in the 10 rpm range.

However… Software used to come on cassette tapes in the days of the C64 and the ZX Spectrum etc. I don’t see why you couldn’t record the same ‘sound’ onto an LP but I imagine the error rate might be far higher. In fact, I would be shocked if it’s never been tried.

3

Some old computer magazines in the 8 bit era occasionally distributed software on flexidiscs. They were also called Floppy ROMs.

2

The different playback speed also allows more music to be squeezed onto each side of the disc (albeit at a slightly lower quality).

4
lemmy.world

Just to add to this, many 45s came with the same small hole as LPs and 12" singles. The big hole was there for 45s that were to be used in jukeboxes, I think.

3
skisnowreply
lemmy.ca

many 45s

All 45s. You punched the hole out yourself if you wanted to use it in a jukebox.

2

Yeah, fair point. I was thinking of those 45s that don't have a punch out as an option.

1

The shape allows the tabs to push in slightly and snap into the 7”. I’ve heard them called ‘spiders’ :)

5
lemmy.ca

It's about a hunnert billionaires banding together...c'mon we can take 'em all down! Let's Robin Hood all those motherfuckers!

6
lemmy.zip

Also, what is that... what appears to be a baseball, but green with red stitching?

1
lemmy.world

As someone that knows nothing about sports what an I even looking at here and why are people upset about it? All I see are balls and ball accessories.

11
Stormyreply
thelemmy.club

Kind of weird how the ladies ball is bigger. We have smaller hands. Ours should be smaller.

2
munskingreply
lemmy.world

easier to hit cause clearly women have to be bad at sports

2

Consume the ads like a good corpo-drone. Lobby the unicode consortium to have your emoji added/removed because you have no control over your computer; you have no property. Drone does what the computer says to do. Consume ads. Beep bop.

0

Genuinely why would you have a problem with this? It's just an extra emoji, as far as advertising goes that's not that bad

-2

By FIFA, the people who gave Trump a peace prize? Yeah, why would that be annoying?

12

Technically it's not even an emoji

Emojis are a standard defined by Unicode Consortium

2

I could put those balls in my ass abd I still wouldn't get a pallbearer outta my marriage. Did I spell that right. Hope I did. Wouldn't want to be wrong on yhr intenert

-2
SGforcereply
lemmy.ca

Fully convinced this is an LLM told to misspell in order to look more human and it just can't without losing it.

6

Man, I bet you can't tell me what tf to do boy. Nor can I tell you to investigate. No one fucking investigates. I do one stretch of comments at a time and most people are so chuckle happy they don't even know God's a unified field of consciousness that arose from the supersymmetry of the ever-present, eternal emptiness to then fold in and on Itself across eleven dimensions to form a topological matrix that acts as a monadic nodal communication system, let alone I teach this in my educational (f)art project, but retard over here is "fully convinced," so why don't I mention how much I love feet and leave it at that.

-2