Improvement in what way and over what previous phone? The parent mentioned a number of metrics.

That’s not true.

You can swipe up from the bottom, just as you described. That brings up the app switcher.

Or you swipe along the bottom in a straight line (no arc, no corner) to go directly between apps rather than choosing which one. Good for rapid switching.

I’m 90% sure it’s the exact same for Android. I switch every year or two and the most recent was in August I think.

Yep, trash.

An essay is a good gauge of how one can organise their thoughts, argue a position, respond to a stimulus.

In short it’s a good way measure thinking.

This -- and you might just learn how to conduct some research along the way.

> essay writing is no longer a viable form of assessment.

Of course it is. In person, with an unseen prompt/question. By hand or not doesn’t really matter as we can airgap or just monitor via software when in class.

I'm an English teacher - I'll be sharing carefulwords with my students and faculty. Thank you, it's bloody great.

It's great, astounding, divine, amazing, splendiferous.

I agree until your last sentence. Pubs closing can be devastating.

Pubs are often the centre of a community, especially small ones. Not even small towns. Traditionally they have been centered around drinking, but this is changing. Much like libraries had to adapt to falling reading rates, pubs have had to adapt to falling alcohol consumption.

The hard part of this is that food and wage costs are often covered by alcohol costs, though where I'm from the government has exercised vice taxes to make this less tenable. More customers doesn't necessarily mean that much more profit, for a host of reasons.

I hope pubs find a way forward.

Source for my rambling: worked in and managed pubs for a decade. They're not just for heavy drinkers.

Not danger as in being kidnapped by government agents, danger in terms of being denied a job or insurance or anything else.

Your comment is extraordinarily naive.

I wasn’t saying there is no danger — just that I didn’t really think about it or see the problem, your sibling comments have changed that. Maybe i am naive but i was asking genuinely not stating i think otherwise.. Unfortunately i have family members in the us and pretty much all of them happily sent their dna off to various services so im fucked either way at this point…

Good point, you did ask in good faith for an explanation and just fired off a quick comment that didn’t serve to further the discussion!

Good point. Music is much more personal, perhaps?

I'd agree with this. I'll seek out work by specific bands, their members and side projects. I'll do the same for actors in film and TV but Spotify is commissioning work from session musicians I have no relationship to and offering a fictitious name. I'm sure these musicians are capable, but I'd rather discover new, novel music — not something commissioned by a company for a specific mood or playlist. That feels antithetical to what makes music or art interesting.