Prasenjeet Dutta @pd@curmudgeon.cafe

The smallest Samsung (S10E) launched today is iPhone XS-sized and costs $749. Looks like everyone’s ceding the $500 flagship to Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi and Honor, who are presumably more willing to live with slimmer margins.

The lighting in the new Frozen 2 trailer looks great. And check out the fur on the reindeer Kristoff is riding.

This video from the BBC in 1982, trying to explain email to a lay audience, is absolutely adorable. It even features a proto-webpage (really a BBS screen)!

https://twitter.com/BBCArchive/status/1093819472803254272/video/1

SMS authentication is very problematic — they’re not encrypted and increasingly criminals are taking advantage of that: https://motherboard.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/mbzvxv/criminals-hackers-ss7-uk-banks-metro-bank

Dear #Mac users, do any of you run macOS at 1.5x scaling? (For example, 1440p on a 3840x2160 monitor?) Does it look okay? Would you be able to share a screenshot? (This is to help with a monitor purchase)

📚 Lots of good SF/F books releasing this year: https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/30/18127072/sci-fi-fantasy-anders-leckie-liu-hurley-coreybook-gibson-chiang-recommendations-2019

Lots of European artistes in the #London fireworks music tonight. Sends the right message 👏 https://youtu.be/21EJMIdK1_g (producers confirmed it was by design)

Not an obvious choice for a holiday movie: Brooklyn (2015). Heartwarming, and Saoirse Ronan lights up every scene she’s in. (It did feel very 30s/40s for a movie set in the 1950s though)

We interrupt your social media consumption for this broadcast from Downing Street: https://youtu.be/Tjp5OmoDYQM #Brexit

Stardust (2007) is an excellent family holiday movie. 🎥

Trevor Noah’s standup special “Son Of Patricia” on Netflix is 💯.

Not really happy with the “Microsoft building a Chromium-powered browser” news. It makes sense for the new open-source Microsoft but, on the other hand, an engine monoculture isn’t good for the industry, we learnt that the hard way with IE6. (At lease Chromium is open source.)

Spoiler: in this episode the documentary crew break the Prime Directive. As someone with a troubled relationship with the Prime Directive, this makes me incredibly happy.

BBC #Dynasties Ep 2. Emperor Penguins. The documentary crew wave goodbye to their airplane from their Antarctic research station. It won’t return for 8 months. “It’s just us now”, they say, as they entertain themselves by watching *The Thing* on DVD.

Perhaps — and this is just a thought — you have the wrong fibers in your being? https://curmudgeon.cafe/media/E9jaE3SnrCqyCgpTR24

Ever had a guest at a party who would. just. not. leave. Even after it was clear to all they had overstayed their welcome? https://curmudgeon.cafe/media/E22-XfbvK2Lh7m2WVdo

The team followed the chimps studied by @jillpruetz@twitter.com for over two years, walking thousands of miles with heavy loads. What a wildlife documentary.