# Showerthoughts

Appstore == Rootkit

(ever thought of it this way?)

When nobody understands how it works, it’s magic. Modern software development tools are advertised to work like magic.

Android app development: Be forced to use an excessively complex build system that tries to squeeze every byte out of your compiled code like it’s 1980, then adds a compat library that’s 10 times the size of the actual app.

sigh

Just because I need to probe devices with DummyDroid. Currently, I gather the needed information d by pushing a tiny DEX file (~50kb) to the device and talk directly to the various system services via IBinder (that’s what shell tools like pm do, too). But of course, for some strange reason, the AIDL files are not standardized, so this solution is unstable. I really need a Context, a Context can only be build by an ActivityThread and there’s no way to start one directly from ADB - the whole system was designed by lunatics.

I just had a terrible business idea:

1. Create a shitty, low effort Android app (dunno, something like a weather widget, horoscope, or calculator knock off).
2. Publish on Play, let it rot ripen for a couple of months, then buy 100k+ installs (see email spam folder for offers), add some 5* reviews for good measure.
3. Sell that app to those asshats that keep spamming me about buying my apps for a song.

Yes, those scavengers DO annoy me. Especially when having a disclaimer in their footer, informing me that I received their offer because I subscribed to some mailing list.

OK Google, why is my third grader so bad at reading and writing?

⌛

Hello $NAME, children learn from their parents. You have shown your child how to use Google Now. Voice search is a feature that enables you ask a question and get a spoken answer. There’s no more reason to read or write yourself!

(True story, actually - the part about bringing kids up to be lazy)

Optimism is just a lack of experience.

Whenever I see MS Office and Open Office fanboys argue which is the better product, I always picture a scene in a hardware store where two guys argue which hammer to buy in order to drive screws into the wall.

When you want to print your writing, use LaTeX, just saying.

PSA for those, thinking that privacy shouldn’t matter all that much during the COVID-19 crisis:

On average, every infected person passes the virus on to 2 to 3 others. For your “victims” that spells 14 days home alone without sex. Plenty of downtime to ponder who’s responsible.

Apropos corona virus: did it ever occur to you how unhygenic smartphones are? Just imagine it ringing right after you leaving a public restroom — doorknob touches hand → hand touches smartphone → smartphone touches cheek. Whatever lived on the doorknob will probably feel right at home in those greasy fingerprints covering the display.

Is it just me or does the corona pandemic feel a bit like a rehearsal for the zombie apocalypse?