• Limonene@lemmy.world
    1·
    3 months ago

    Meanwhile on Openstreetmap:

    name Golfo de México

    name:en Gulf of Mexico

    official_name:en_US Gulf of America

    Showing just enough acknowledgement to confirm they’ve discussed the executive order, but they aren’t going to follow it.

    • Korhaka@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      Surely that is following it? Change the name in American. Leave it the same in English.

      • balsoft@lemmy.ml
        1·
        3 months ago

        It’s kind of a malicious compliance thing. The new name will not show up on any map renders, moreover it’s not likely to be shown in most apps even if you select the object (because official_name:* is not supported by most apps).

  • hulfpa@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

    This move makes zero sense to me. Why, change it? It’s not it’s official name or international recognized name so wtf

    • Steve Dice@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      The USA is now part of a list of “sensitive countries” with authoritarian states with their own version of reality. When users in one of the countries on this list visit Google sites, they see that government’s version of reality. This is nothing new. Google does it all the time with disputed territories. It’s only news because it’s the first time the US has an authoritarian government.

      Here’s how it looks when visiting from a Mexican device with the language set to Australian English while located in Hungary.

      1000019054

      Edit: undoxxed myself lol

    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      3 months ago

      Distraction from:

      • closing down the Consumer Protection Agency, USAID, and the Education Agency
      • cutting off funding to the universities
      • stealing our student, treasury and health records while taking over the purse
      • not following federal judge’s orders
      • building an unregulated concentration camp in Cuba
      • etc.

      Edit: That’s why trump did it. All tech companies are in his hands now.

      • Mirshe@lemmy.world
        0·
        3 months ago

        No, there are no smokescreens. Trump is literally this stupid. Don’t attribute to maliciousness what can be attributed to narcissism.

        • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          3 months ago

          Thank you for giving me the opportunity to post this somewhere else:

          “The opposition party is the media,” Steve Bannon, who helped run Trump’s 2016 campaign, told PBS Frontline five years ago. “And the media can only — because they’re dumb and they’re lazy — they can only focus on one thing at a time.”

          So the solution, per Bannon? Overwhelm them.

          “All we have to do is flood the zone,” he said. “Every day we hit them with three things. They’ll bite on one, and we’ll get all of our stuff done, bang, bang, bang. These guys will never — will never be able to recover. But we’ve got to start with muzzle velocity.”

          https://www.npr.org/2025/02/07/nx-s1-5289315/trump-week-in-review

  • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.comEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

    Time for a repeat comment: Organic Maps does everything Google Maps does (except traffic conditions), and is FOSS. Please encourage places to contribute business information to Open Street Maps.

    • AugustWest@lemmy.world
      1·
      3 months ago

      I think this is important. That said, traffic info is the whole ballgame for many people. People who live, work, and drive in metro areas frequently use map applications even when driving everyday routes to avoid traffic.

      I don’t see Google/Waze/Apple maps getting any less popular unless there is a FOSS alternative that includes live traffic, which does not seem possible while remaining free. People will choose free every time, especially since Google maps works so well.

      Personally, I would pay some amount for a privacy-minded alternative, something like OrganicMaps with live traffic. But I doubt it could ever attain the user base it would need to provide accurate traffic info.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
      1·
      3 months ago

      “Except traffic” is not a little thing. It’s like putting up an ad for a house with all the features you’d expect, except a roof.

      With my daily commute, there are a dozen routes I can take and traffic conditions make it so that from day to day, there can be an hour difference between different routes. It’s literally the only reason I use navigation apps over a cheap GPS unit with no live online connection requirement to navigate.

  • eldesgraciado@lemm.ee
    1·
    3 months ago

    This is pathetic and reeks of insecurity big time. Hope that this debacle improves your QoL, Americans.

    • Zink@programming.dev
      1·
      3 months ago

      American here. It’s freaking embarrassing. Not as much as all the other shit, and certainly not as sad and tragic. Our neighbors elected a cartoon villain and his best buddy, another cartoon villain.

      • hash@slrpnk.netEnglish
        1·
        3 months ago

        It’s a funny irony but a Pixel with GrapheneOS is the gold standard for mobile device security. Buy it secondhand and cut out their profit.

        • the_weez@midwest.social
          01·
          3 months ago

          Sure, sure. As long as you can trust Google’s custom silicon and custom security processor. I sure as fuck don’t, regardless of what Graphene OS claims. They are going to need to go to much greater lengths to assure me of that, and I can pretty much guarantee the Graphene devs won’t be able to do that.

            • the_weez@midwest.social
              1·
              3 months ago

              Honestly? In 2025? In the real world? Apple is the only alternative. And it really actually hurts my soul to type this reply out. I hate Apple. I think they are clowns. I hate closed platforms, and I think Mac’s are trash because of it. I have used every single version of Android. All of them, even pre-stable. The only alternative to Google is 2025, in regards to a mobile OS that works with my services and devices that I already own is iOS. The only way to get that is to buy a phone from Apple. And ‘normies’ care VERY MUCH about being able to use their already purchased shit. I wish Europe or Asia would actually try to compete against US big tech. It’s a very strange marketplace, nearly the entire planet trusts US companies with basically their entire infrastructure. The only major players in computing are US based companies, aside from MAYBE Canonical/Ubuntu. In the mobile market, I don’t see a way out of the duopoly at the current moment. If my phone died today I would replace it with an iPhone. And I wouldn’t be happy about it.

              • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
                1·
                3 months ago

                Nah. If it’s a choice between GrapheneOS on a pixel or an iPhone I’d take my chances with the pixel.

                It would be pretty easy to detect if there was unexpected traffic with any google services.

                You do you but IMO Graphene is your best chance in 2025.

              • Cris16228@lemmy.today
                0·
                3 months ago

                Apple is the only alternative.

                Nah. Fuck Apple! I know it may be too much but they’re dead to me after I bought AN OFFICIAL REFURBISHED Apple device for my dad (old had problems) and received it with a motherboard problem (?), it couldn’t read the sim for more than 1 hour straight. Contacted support multiple times and “Try this useless troubleshooting steps you already tried countless times” or "The sim is ruined so it doesn’t touch the sim pins correctly (or some bs like that) " or “It’s your carrier” or “From our remote tests, the phone works perfectly” or other Apple shit I forgot. After my last call I said “You either take my phone and check it or refund me”, they took it to check if was the phone, got it back ~2 days later FUCKING WORKING as it should. I guess was really the sim, not the phone 🤔🤔

                The worst part is: They didn’t even care to give me something in return for the trouble! No, not money but they could’ve extended my warranty for a month or 2 as an apology but “Nah, we can’t. Fuck you now”

                • the_weez@midwest.social
                  0·
                  3 months ago

                  I’m reading this as Apple fixed your refurbished phone like you asked them to. I do not see how you should be entitled to extra warranty because of this, or any other compensation. I can assure you that Google would also not extend your warranty for an issue of this nature. My friend is dealing with pixel warranty support as we speak and it sure as hell doesn’t sound any better. I totally understand ‘writing off’ a company after you feel personally wronged by them, but I wasn’t including warranty issues on refurbished phones in my requirements for my next mobile device. You asked what the alternative is and realistically that’s the only one for 99.99% of the population.

      • the_weez@midwest.social
        01·
        3 months ago

        100% These people think they are sticking it to Google by buying a pixel and installing a custom ROM. Instead they just inflated Google’s user count.

        • sorghum@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          3 months ago

          This will be a problem until a non-google open OS is adopted for mobile phones. Right now that list is incredibly short and nothing competes in the flagship department. I don’t see it changing anytime soon because gen x and millenials may be the last generations that have a signifigant portion of itself that has a grasp of how computers work beyond “tap app icon, app does things”.

          Thing I took for granted like how a file system works is lost on my kids (late Z early alpha). Explaining what a file extension is like teaching a new language. I used to think “training wheels” for learning computering via tablets and phones and touch screens were a good thing but there is nothing that compels people today to shed themselves of them. It feels very reminiscent of my childhood and teaching my boomer dad how to right click. I think computer literacy needs to be required education, but I’m afraid that the definition for computer literacy might be meaningless nowadays if it doesn’t go beyond open app store, install app, run app.

          • the_weez@midwest.social
            01·
            3 months ago

            US public education computer literacy is dead, and it’s not going to get better for at least 5+ years, best case scenario. Even if the person that is elected after Trump is a Democrat, it will take years to rebuild to where we were before big tech started bribing school IT departments. You think Apple/Google/Microsoft give a flying fuck about computer literacy being taught in schools? Because that’s who currently decide the computer literacy program that the public school will provide. Whichever vendor they decide to go with. At this point I’m not convinced that Google is a better choice than the others, but it’s also akin to choosing the least shitty sandwich at a shit-sandwich buffet.

      • SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 months ago

        Apparently…

        The Maya referred to the Gulf as Chactemal, meaning “the red place,” likely referencing the reddish hues of the water at sunset or its fertile coastlines. Indigenous names were often descriptive, reflecting geographical features or spiritual beliefs tied to the environment. Unfortunately, much of this indigenous nomenclature was lost or overwritten during European colonization.

        Link. I’m sure there are better ones. Hard to find good sources.

  • HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world
    1·
    3 months ago

    It’s even weirder because America doesn’t mean just the United States

    Geographically, America is too ambiguous of a name for the Gulf of Mexico

    Wouldn’t the Gulf of California also qualify as being the Gulf of America?

    The Caribbean Sea?

    Basically every river system from the Mississippi and and the Amazon are also “American” from northernmost point of North America to the southernmost point of South America, it’s all “America”

    Naming the Gulf of Mexico “America” is almost as bad as naming a country “earth”