I read this in some other article, but it seems like the margins are slim for their hardware because while (IMHO) the interface is still best in a very poor class, almost everybody else does it more or less adequately, so they can't charge much of a premium. They've been making more money on their ad-supported streaming, both on-demand and their collection of all the free linear streams that you use to convince your rerun-loving gramma not make you climb into the attic to install an OTA antenna. The SAG and WGA strikes have done a number on how much advertisers are buying and at what prices. While I always wonder if there aren't other places to cut first (coughexecutivecompensationcough) I don't doubt that they're in a way worse place than they were a year ago.
I tried to run an HTPC for awhile, but all the random restrictions and issues made it more of a hassle. Stuff like streaming sites capping the resolution when played through the PC, not native apps, etc. It really was a worse experience for me than a dedicated streaming box.
I have never liked Rokus interface… I prefer android TV. Most people don’t realize there is an app only mode on android TV that is exactly that, just apps in a drawer. No ads, no fuss. I also like that there is much easier side loading on Android TV.
I switched from a Chromecast to a Roku TV and I’ve been looking the interface a lot more. There’s probably some settings I didn’t mess with, but Roku’s default setting displays a lot of info in a good space, and it looks good, and I’ve only seen the occasional ad off to the side, not taking too much screen real estate. I also am a sucker for customizable and seasonal themes, though lol.
In a similar affair, they were forced to unb(l)unde® Internet Explorer from the OS and provide a tool to help the user choose their preferred web browser during install/first startup.
People are installing survellience devices in their homes because they now trust the most invasive advertising company connected to NSA with complete insight into their lives.
Some people would argue that most people no longer cares if they are being watched by governments and corporations, even at home.
Looks great, but I’m skeptical if it’ll ever see an actual release. Remastering the entire game with the kind of asset quality we see for this single room would require an enormous amount of time and effort, especially with people working for free.
the modders are also using an early version of RTX Remix to add extra model detail (through Valve’s Hammer editor) and rework materials with physical-based rendering properties.
From what I’ve seen the RTX Remix tool has some AI for texture upscaling and assigning materials but a lot of stuff (like making higher resolution models) still has to be done by hand.
You’d be shocked at the work modders are willing to put in for free when working on a game that they love - and Half Life is a series that a lot of people absolutely adore!
That’s true, but it would also be far from the first time for a mod to go nowhere due to people biting off more than they can chew. I’d be happy to be proven wrong though.
Yeah, I could see that for kids or just like in that screenshot, as macro pad.
Even the SN30 Pro was bit too small and uncomfortable for me, and I don’t even have big hands. The 8BitDo Pro 2 on the other hand, is a solid and affordable controller.
I like what 8BitDo has been doing over the years, good quality products under affordable price range, and sometimes quirky / out of the box designs. I do wish they’d make more PS5 compatible controllers, because PS5 is definitely lacking affordable 3rd party controllers.
I hate musicals mostly. I think the original Annie was the only one I liked (because I was a kid and didn’t know better :P). I find musicals are a sign that the writers are running out of ideas and it’s the last season but this episode blew my expectations all away. It felt like an episode with singing, and not singing to skate by for an episode.
Folks, don’t worry, just sharpen up your pitchforks.
Here’s the bit that doesn’t get talked about much: For thirty years, money has been effectively free for these people, and they’ve been spending it all to build up this big Orwellian house of cards on the idea that people would never be able to do this without big corporate money. This was a deliberate action on the part of government and capital to “make the internet happen”.
Now the thing is, the internet was already happening. It just didn’t have video. In 1995, you still mostly got video on physical media or via cable/sat. MP3s weren’t there yet, so there also wasn’t really audio, to speak of, just little .wav clips that we swapped on irc for amusement.
But there were vibrant communities on usenet talking about every type of interest (EVERY type), there was trolling and DOS attacks on irc and even a bit of friendly chatting, and the good thing that we get from all this - more easily connecting to people we can relate to - was 100% already present for anyone who bothered to get a PC and modem. Believe me because I was there, we already had The Internet in full swing, while we played our CDs and VHS (DVDs if you were affluent).
Got that whetstone wet?
So what did they bring to the internet? Well, not music - MP3s showed up around 1998, and the music industry was taken entirely by surprise. It took them three years to figure out what was going on, by which time Napster had introduced the world to peer-to-peer file trading.
Back in the 8-bit days, we had to have swap meets, people would gather in large rooms, bring their 64s and 1541 drives and a box or two of fresh (or culled from your existing collection and freshly-formatted) 5.25" floppy disks which we had cut a notch out of so we could use both sides, and get a fresh supply of games, demos, sid files, useful software, etc, to mess around with for the next month or so. Napster and Bittorrent, however, represented a far more easy and accessible version of piracy: no need to carry 10-40lbs (cause CRT monitors, remember) of gear to a different place, just load up the program, choose your own adventure.
There was a lost opportunity to humanity around this time, because at some point around 1998, each entertainment industry conglomerate’s board of directors, either in groups or individually, had someone (probably from IT, but possibly a child in their family) sit them down and demonstrate downloading and listening to music on Napster.
If only, each time that happened, they had thought to point a video camera at the face of the executive or shareholder or CEO.
These would have been, these SHOULD have been, the world’s introduction to reaction videos.
Instead we have a bunch of video of people watching women eat poo.
Anyways the thing is they saw this happen and they found their most badass but cooperative front men to sit on their horses while they sicced the hounds on the uppity peasantry who think they are entitled to have joy in their lives without paying.
They ended up making Metallica look like landed gentry, basically, and nothing stopped, and that’s been the dynamic ever since: They have been focusing all this money, which the Federal Reserve was good enough to make available at zero interest (ie. free) on creating the infrastructure for a paid version of the internet where they control it entirely, just like they used to control access to music and movies by doling it out one disc/tape/record/cylinder/music sheet at a time, and just trusting (i’m loling as i type) that people really do want to pay what they used to charge for a single record, and we are all just waiting patiently for them to decide how much our lives they need to cut away from us, and we’ll be happy with whatever dregs they leave us, just like that vauntedly docile peasantry of old.
I hope the tines of your pitchforks are shiny like chrome now.
Cause again, we already had the internet working before they got here, 100% functional in all the ways it needed to be, before they got here. We don’t actually need them at all. I mean sure, some people can’t even pump their own gas, let alone change their own oil, so yes, some people will just need crayon-level functionality delivered with big bright icons, but most of us can figure out how to launch a desktop application and browse a discussion board, we’re all doing it right now on Lemmy.
The bottom line is that we don’t need them to manage distribution anymore - we actually never did, all we need is bandwidth for all. They are desperately trying to make us not see that.
And meanwhile, since covid, the Federal Reserve has been calling in the bill, and everyone who has a mortgage knows it’s gonna cost you more for the next few years at least, if you weren’t lucky enough to renew right before covid. But we were already paying interest and used to the idea; we are honest people trying to have a nice place to live. Those without mortgages, please, laugh at us right now because our problems don’t even approach the magnitude of the problems faced by rent-payers right now. You have a scumbag trying to skim their life off the top of yours.
I KNOW your pitchforks are ready, and you might even have a few torches in the shed out back.
But, imagine how it must feel for someone who has been pulling free money out of a bag for thirty years, and has now been told that not only is there no more money in the bag, that in fact, they must start putting money back IN the bag now?
That’s Netflix, That’s Google, That’s Elon Musk, That is Zuckerberg and the Metaverse [edit: and let’s not forget our very favorite here on Lemmy, u/Spez…].
I’m a little old for pitchfork crew, but I’ll be sitting here with my popcorn watching these bastards burn, very soon.
Honestly its quute nice seeing old bastards like you giving us the summary of shit their in, im personally hoping this shit show will spell the end of “web 3” not with a bang but with the feds calling their dues.
Either that or the whole shitshow is atleast funny, I thrive on hate and there is nothing better for a hate filled asshole like me than watching rich fucks get bent over the table by the feds.
NES is one I think is on the verge of “not holding up” vs SNES/Genesis where you can just release a game for it now and it would still do well for an indie.
Still, solid enough library. Favorite game is Jackal.
I dunno, there’s so many great NES games with interesting mechanics, and totally hold up today. Stuff like the OG Mega Man series, Bionic Commando, Castlevania (especially CV3), River City Ransom, Batman (Sunsoft version), Metal Storm, Double Dragon 2, Mighty Final Fight (IMO better than the original), Ninja Gaiden series, Contra, Tecmo Super Bowl, Shatterhand… list goes on.
There’s a lot of great games for the system if you can look past the graphics. And there are still games being made either for it, or as homages. Stuff like Micro Mages (actual NES game that’s also on Steam and it’s great), Blazing Chrome (inspired by Contra/Contra 3), and stuff like Legend Bowl and Retro Bowl (retro inspired American football games), and The Messenger, which was Ninja Gaiden and Metroidvania inspired.
It’s already in the local Whole Foods. I totally don’t trust it, and probably never will. At some point I’m sure they’ll make it impossible to shop anywhere without it but I plan to hold out indefinitely. No thanks.
Good for you. When I say I won’t use stuff like this my friends and family mock me for being paranoid. It’s disturbing how quickly people will just do something because it seems cool and/or convenient.
You can change your password if it gets compromised. You can’t change your bio-metrics. Once a digital version of your retina, fingerprint, palm print, whatever gets leaked…you’re screwed.
I know they claim these things are locked away in HSM devices, but I don’t care. You’re trusting every single engineer, coder, tester, and mid-level manager with access to these things. It’s a long chain of trust in the typical “rush it out the door” corporate environment.
Real security and QA are the last things on their minds when they develop this stuff.
I may be reading this wrong, but am I the only one for whom this sounds a lot like fracking, minus the gas extraction? I’d be curious to see the knock-on effects in the surrounding area.
Hopefully I’m wrong, because I feel like this could be a pretty big leap for energy generation.
My understanding is that it can also cause a lot of soil instability and subsidence in the area, but this may be different? Like I said, I’m happy to be wrong.
Likely causes problems. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, nasty chemicals from the bedrock are released by the creation of the “fracture network” (shattering the bedrock), which gets into the water used for steam generation. From there, if it’s a closed loop system, the damage is somewhat limited, although this likely ruins the groundwater in the area, but if it’s an open loop system, then it emits all the toxic gases stored in the bedrock (including methane and carbon dioxide) and creates a constant stream of contaminated water that has to be dealt with.
If this proves to be a viable alternative energy source, it will employ most of the extant petro-industry. This is a win for the status quo economically speaking
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