Nah they identify the protocol handshake and block it altogether, so you need to find a VPN with a proprietary protocol that keeps updating.

It’s probably a modified openvpn with some package obfuscation, but works surprisingly well.

Astrill, only VPN with a good track record in China where I happen to live.

Most others crap out after a few weeks or months, and never bother to fix their protocols.

A mix of avira and malwarebytes locally, and virustotal if I’m especially sceptical.

Key Messages rocks. Comes with built-in badword filter and some other nifty config.

Not open source though.

He was also doing a PhD at the same time, and writing a dissertation is not exactly a small feat.

Exactly. And lifetime is just about 100 bucks, who cares. Sure it sounds like more than the casual $2 you throw at a random app to remove ads, but considering that I used Sync daily for ~12 years, it’s really just peanuts in the long run.

I’ve bought a bunch of seemingly cheaper apps and then used them 10 times over 2 years and they ended up discontinued, that’s like 20 cents per use.

I’d have racked up tens of thousands with Sync that way. Easily the most used app on my phone.

If it’s open source, the developer can’t monetize it. Everyone will just be able to remove ads and compile it from scratch.

FOSS is all fine and dandy, unless being a developer for a popular service (or app) is your sole source of income.

Ultra is another subscription with different benefits altogether.

Adfree is the regular pro version, which is way cheaper. Make sure you double check before you recommend pirating software.

That’s pro. Ultra is something else entirely.

$20 is what it takes to remove ads. Ultra is another subscription with different benefits altogether.

Sync is back. !syncforlemmy@lemmy.world, currently in closed alpha, public beta only days away.

Which launcher is that? I love Nova, comes with all the gestures I need.

14 years primary account, 11 years alt. Mod in several >1 million communities.

Deleted everything, replaced my comments (>15k total) and posts (>500, including announcements on subs moderated) with a message stating my reasons, and then deleted both accounts. Plus 4 alts I sparsely used, between 3-8 years old.

The app is asking for a million permissions that are completely unnecessary. They are just as much of a data kraken as facbeook, google and apple, with the exception of people being fully transparent about professional achievements and qualifications. That’s a definite reason to never give them access to my phone.

IMHO whenever you actively need something and the owner either doesn’t make it available or the price is prohibitively expensive, it’s justified. That especially includes papers, books and other tuition material that’s been paywalled or made expensive as hell without any actual reason, even more so if the author gets next to no compensation.

Downloading series and movies that aren’t being streamed anymore, by all means.

When it comes to current movies, it depends on what’s available. Unfortunately most streaming platforms don’t have Chinese subtitles, and my wife often struggles to fully follow the original audio and the English subs often disappear too quickly.

For software, my personal stance is that if you use something every once in a while, pirate away. If you use it regularly and/or generate income from it, then pay your dues.