Tootfinder

Podcast: The Government Wants to End Anonymity on Phones https://www.404media.co/podcast-the-government-wants-to-end-anonymity-on-phones/

Some students are directing AI agents to “take” entire online courses for them,
letting the software run in the background while they focus on better uses of their time,
--like doomscrolling on their phone or gaming.
The New York Times unpacked the trend in a recent story,
and it’s a testament to how extreme AI-enabled cheating has become,
but also of the perils of getting an education in a virtual environment instead of a physical one.
Professors can’t re…

A.I. Agents Are Taking Entire Online Courses for Cheating Students
As colleges and students embrace virtual classes, the ease of A.I. cheating is raising questions about the value of an online degree.

A colleague mentioned out of the blue that he had bought the new Commodore phone — and his only connection to the brand was having a C64 back in the 80s. He’s not buying it for anything but getting away from normal smartphones. And even though I had decided not to get one, I feel some amount of envy sneaking up on me after all…

Nothing won't launch a new phone this year in its budget-focused CMF Phone series due to RAM prices (Ben Schoon/9to5Google)
https://9to5google.com/2026/06/19/nothing-cmf-phone-ram-costs/

Nothing CMF Phone is a RAMageddon casualty, memory now the most expensive component
Nothing’s CMF Phone series has released two models thus far and, at least for now, won’t be getting a third,...

Because I prefer to own my own data, I've just had to struggle through the phone setup routine of installing fdroid and then the passwordstore app, then getting my pgp key onto the phone and generating a GitHub token. All this stuff should be easier for normal people, even I had a moment where I looked at the phone and went "how do these pieces go together, again? ..."

Looking at maybe 400k UK phone lines not getting switched to digital before the 2027 deadline?
https://broadbandswitch.uk/reports/the-last-dial-tone/#:~:text=Thirty-three weeks, three trajectories

The Last Dial Tone | Report No. 26 | BroadbandSwitch.uk
Independent analysis of the PSTN and WLR switch-off, the 31 January 2027 deadline, eVAC, and what to do now.

So much is going politically right for Democrats these days.
Trump’s approval is down,
gas prices are up
and an unpopular war with Iran drags on.
But dysfunction and debt inside one of the party’s key institutions
— which is getting crushed in fund-raising by its Republican counterpart
— are creating rising anxiety for top Democrats.
The Democratic Party is so short on cash that leaders at its headquarters have undertaken a new gambit to mask the se…

Inside the Phone-Throwing Drama at the Troubled, Broke Democratic Party
The Democrats should be well positioned to make gains in this year’s midterms. But inside party headquarters, every week brings paranoia, worries about money and, on occasion, emotional eruptions.

I spent $1899 on pre-ordering a new phone but I’m getting $750 off of it from the carrier and $150 off of it from trading in my Pixel 9a (The last non-folding phone I own). A $1899 phone with $900 erased from the price is still a lot of money.