I dunno. Iāve been loving my Note 20. Everything feels so seamless and fluid. That might just be because I came from Huawei though 
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Specifically whatās good about it?
Honestly, I just want a good nfc, and hopefully top mounted, not middle of the back, thatās just a awkward placement
Pixel phones are as close to a pure Android experience as you can get. They donāt have the bloat and needless stuff that other people throw on top of the OS
That sounds pleasing
What are the chances of getting a nfc unlock happening?
I kinda Accepted I wouldnāt have it on apple but android presents options I suppose
Damnā¦ I WAS looking forward to playing with apple tags
An official implementation? Next to none. Iāve been working on a Tasker script on and off for the past month to allow a secure NFC unlock. Iāll post about it if I can get it completed, but itās a very hacky workaround.
Software upgrades directly from google is the biggest thing for me. Many android phones donāt get updates for up to a year after a new Android version releases, and the length of software support tends to be quite terrible as well. My 4a was guaranteed at least 3 years of updates, and the 6 is supposed to have 5 years. My previous Samsung got only got 2 updates, and my last Motorola (G7 Power) only got one major update.
They also have no carrier bloatware. I bought mine factory unlocked, so thereās no garbage on it, and I can take it to any carrier I want. My previous phone was stuck with Facebook and Uber installed until I rooted it.
Google allows for the bootloader to be unlocked simply in the developer settings, meaning that rooting and third-party ROMs arenāt reliant on some kind of software exploit like with Samsung and KNOX. This also means that even after Google ends support, new ROMs (like LineageOS) can be updated and installed.
The cameras are also insanely good on Pixel phones, even the budget ones. The 4a camera beats the S20 Ultra in some reviews, due to the photo processing onboard, despite being less than 1/4 of the price.
Regarding NFC Unlock: not likely. Thereās some apps that fake it, by having a second lock screen essentially, but this is easy to bypass. The support for it in Smart Lock was completely ripped out. It might be possible with a third-party ROM, but it would be a lot of work. Not sure if anyone is up to the commitment.
Thatās fair, better to temper my expectations now
I knew it wasnāt really a thing anymore but didnāt know the details
Personally weāve been quite happy with OnePlus. No bloat on OxygenOS, and decent long-term support for security updates.
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For Pixels there is Calyx Os and Graphene Os
That would be the only reason for me to get a Pixel Device.
I got the sound module orderedā¦
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Whatever happened with CyberPunk 2077?
Seems like everybody was super hyped about it before it came out. (and hoping for a surge of new implantees) Then all I really heard when it came out was that your playerās penis tended to glitch through your pants. Now nothing.
Was the game crap or something?
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Yep 
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Great. Sounds like it followed the āNo Manās Skyā route then.
I could use a new game.
I would really like a Fallout 5 that didnāt disappoint the way 4 did, or fail utterly like 76.
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I think that that is all that anyone said about it probably tells you everything you need to know.
Honestly, playing it as a bi fem character itās more of a feature than a bug.
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I had kind of a dumb idea. I was kind of bummed about how little functionality Iāll get out of the Apex if I ended up getting it, or even the Spark for that matter. Out of 14 potential future uses for it, we can do 1 as of right now, maybe 2 or 3 in the near future depending on applet releases and upgrading existing home tech. Most of that is down to every digital document you ever have needing its own app which is a real pain in the arse.
I donāt for a minute expect that weāre ever going to be able to have 1 app (or implant applet) that holds all our digital documents, including passport, driverās license, healthcare, etc. But might it be possible have a way to ālinkā to said documents?
I suppose in my mind, your VivoKey identity would be set up (perhaps manually) to know that you have āX documentā which can be accessed from āY appā on the app store or google play store on your phone. And if you open the VivoKey app and say āhey I need to bring up āX documentā to show someoneā and you donāt have the app installed, the phone takes you to the app store to download the app. That way you could have all your digital identity apps installed, but the VivoKey app works as kind of the hub to know where it all isā¦
Donāt know if thatās a realistic idea, but food for thought. Am I nuts? Would you do things differently? Iām not so much of a programmer anymore but I felt that it had legs enough to share.
~ Jamie
I was extremely hyped for that one (yeah, my fault - guess Iāll never learn to keep my expectations down a bitā¦), been following it since the very first short trailer. Pre-ordered it, bought the artbook and all that, because I thought (and still think) it has an amazing style and setting.
The game itselfā¦ well. I played it up to the point where the game told me to finish all side quests, and did so, and never played again afterwards until now. The āside questsā are very repetitive, and though itās fun to play as a more-or-less netrunner, the game just does not deliver what it promised - or what I expected. You never really dive into the net itself, except for one short quest in the main storyline (at least up to the point where I stopped playing), you have little variation in how you approach things - I mean, yeah, you can make some decisions during the main quest(s), but it just doesnāt feel important at all.
Most characters are very generic - like stereotypes youāve seen in tons of other games already. The big buddy with the heart on the right spot, the glamourous gay rockstar, the female hacker with baaad experiences with guys who decided to become a lesbian afterwards, the corrupt corporation bosses, the taciturn but loyal asian bodyguardā¦ itās all so well known already. And quite full of annoying clichĆ©s.
And another little thing that bothered me a lot - I think itās really great that you can choose to play as a male or female character, or as a female with a dick, or as a male with tits, or whatever, and I like the possibility to have sex in games as well (at least if itās fitting into the atmosphere). So, I played as a female bisexual character, just to find out that there are exactly one female and one male char I could engage with - as a male main char, there is the one other important female char and one different male char to get attracted to. So, exactly four people to have sex with (plus the very generic prostitutes), in a game that focused heavily on sex during teasers and such. Well, sex sells, thatās obvious, but even the few sex scenes themselves were very tame and boring after all, at least for a game where you can find quite a lot of kinky stuff in several shops and questsā¦
The game is definitely not bad on itself, it just fails to deliver all the stuff I was excited forā¦ and thatās maybe even worse.
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Itās an idea ā¦ some places are different than othersā¦ Belgium for example has a national eID based on a Java card applet and there are open source codebases that could be deployed!
NFC passports also contain digitally signed versions of your passport data and yes you could emulate this functionality as well on an Apexā¦
But the most likely thing is going to be links to specific documents etc. For that we are exploring our first actual service, the VivoKey Vault. Itāll be accessible via spark or apex or any supported VivoKey device. Itāll allow document storage as well as password management.
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Can I suggest naming it something else?
Hashicorp already has their vault, Ansible also has a vault, Azure has their Keyvault. I am already asking people which vault they mean when they say āvaultā.
VivoKey hidey-hole?
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