There was no mention of this, but if you’re dual booting (which I don’t recommend to anyone anymore) that might be causing the Bluetooth issue. Windows doesn’t properly “let go” of some Hardware when you “shut down” with default settings. This is because the default settings are to hibernate instead of properly shutting down. Linux boots up and the hardware doesn’t load correctly.

I’m a fan of the uBlue distros Bazzite (gaming), Aurora (KDE), and Bluefin (Gnome and software devs). Other than that, Mint, Fedora, or Pop beta if you want to try the new Cosmic desktop

I think Spotify is missing the point. People who care about Hi-Fi, care about the music, which means they care about the artists, which means they likely care about the treatment of those artists.

In my eyes the only real value Spotify adds is their discovery features.

I’m guessing the use of AI is partially contributing to this drop.

Question, do you have a gaming desktop? Could you just get a less powerful laptop and use sunshine and moonlight?

Signal is also a great alternative to WhatsApp. Molly for the extra privacy focused.

In order for that feature to work, you need to give google permission to see who’s calling you and when activated (and possibly even when not activated) listen to the phone conversation. That data is going back to google servers for processing. Gemini is also feeding off of that data. If you’re concerned with the original post regarding WhatsApp data being fed to Gemini, why would you be okay with allowing google to listen in on your phone conversations, all for the small convenience of avoiding spam bots?

If you have voicemail and caller ID, just don’t pickup the call if it isn’t from a known contact.

If you’re also thinking that google isn’t collecting data without your consent, they literally just got fined 300+ million for doing exactly that.

A bit more setup is required but I love having a Wise (formerly TransferWise) account for the virtual cards and the low fee currency conversion.

I don’t believe that’s a pixel specific benefit but yes relocking the bootloader is best for security. The unlocking process is needed to install an alternative OS though.

For those on Pixel devices, check out GrapheneOS. If not CalyxOS or LineageOS

Its important that we have devices that we control. If your phone doesn’t allow bootloader unlock so you can install a different operating system, that’s a problem. Claims that security is compromised if bootloaders can be unlocked are just companies using a convenient excuse to maintain control over a device you paid for.