Don't VPN services usually require you to pay through means only available to adults? Isn't that age verification enough?
Game key cards are just digital games with added plastic. Sure you can resell/lend them but that is as far as any benefit goes.
In 10 years from now if you pop one of these in your console for some nostalgia you’ll be met with shut down download servers and disappointment.
If SKG get what they want I’ll be even better off when buying games on sale 8 years after release.
Imagine it’s already unsupported and thus:
Games are ironically going to get better, like a fine wine, as they age and lose support. The alternative is that publishers make them as good at release so people don’t wait until end of life too buy it.
Downer take: I don’t know if this has been addressed by SKG but my biggest fear related to this is that publishers will push controversial updates that fundamentally change the game like EoC in RuneScape or disable core features before shutdown. That way they can say they left it on the newest patch. The game works, but nobody who enjoyed it before is going to want to play it. Even in this scenario the added regulation is a net positive though.
There is a valid argument against the DRM being that your ancient air-gapped system should be able to run the game still but can't run the DRM due to the requirements changing after the point of purchase. Perhaps there is a discussion to be had about whether DRM should be removed once you change the system requirements drastically, but this feels like a rare circumstance.
The simple solution is to get DRM-free copies from GOG where possible. Archive the installers if you're worried about future compatibility. That way you can have a nostalgic Windows 98 machine or whatever that only plays games and won't bug you with random unprovoked changes and updates from day to day.
Oof, Windows 11 is really needy as far as an OS goes. I forget that the machine is supposed to serve me, not demand things me from the all the time.
The grass really is greener in the Linux world. Hope more people get to experience that soon.
Oh so that’s what happens when you give the most talentless, bigoted imbeciles, that couldn’t dedicate two hours to learn a little image/video editing, the tools to generate content.
No, not downplaying the effort it takes to master these skills. This is just how long I imagine it takes a normal person to learn how to splice a few clips or make some memes/shops in gimp.
So a terminally online person is going to tweet about how they saw some idiot pretending to read the Metamorphosis on the metro?
Yeah this is rage bait. Just read what you want and enjoy your life.
I’ll normally tell my managers etc. when they have an idea that would not work well in the real world. However, many people seem like they have an almost theistic belief in the power of AI (maybe because they’re deeply invested) so I’m holding my tongue at work.
For the time being I’m doing my job properly but if I’m forced to do things a certain way even if it’s clearly worse I will comply and let them waste their money. I’m tired and I won’t police decisions above my pay grade.
Still biding my time and waiting for the bubble to pop and the next buzzword trend to arrive.
Apparently some gamer streamer with a much bigger platform put out a bunch of videos criticizing the initiative and intentionally misrepresenting their goals.
He also refused to talk to the guy behind the initiative to get clarifications whilst still putting out more videos dunking on it. Most likely the critic got paid by the industry to muddle the waters and turn people against their own interests (as per usual).
How is this going to affect battery life? Some of us don’t have the switch connected to power 24/7. Sounds like a bad idea for an underpowered handheld device.
For phones 5+ years of updates is good compared to the alternatives, and is why I have one. For a computer, on the other hand, it’s just not very impressive. Perhaps FairPhones come close (don’t know how long their software is supported but their selling point is longevity), but their specs aren’t that impressive. On the flip side you get something repairable.
MacBooks are often built better with higher quality materials than many other laptops, but it is essentially a computer. Most computers that have high enough specs will always run the latest version of most Linux distributions or Windows barring any need for weird drivers from the past century. Feels a little iffy to have a perfectly good computer that won’t update software anymore just because. Up until recently you could just install some Linux OS on your old MacBooks when it went out of support but honestly I don’t know whether you can still do that after they started making non-x86 stuff.
With all that said, haven’t seen many laptops physically outlive MacBooks’ updates. With the exception of some ThinkPads and possibly some XPS models. Plastic laptops with plastic hinges tend to struggle keeping up, especially if the display is on the larger side. A large gaming laptop living the life of a typical MacBook, going to cafes and university in a backpack every day is probably gonna have more stress on hinges etc.
As for HP I have only heard bad stuff about them for the last 10 years or so. Don’t think I’ll buy stuff from them due to their evil printers that won’t scan without ink etc.
Not many specific recommendations here but just some observations I have made. Hope it’s helpful.
This really sounds like it’s by design. The American prison system is designed to keep people in.
Perhaps there is some tech using flash storage that can be read/written by a floppy drive, but I doubt the prison would let it in if it looked odd.