Its rhe only thing I wish could change about my experience using Lemmy, for more active users in the communities like NFL or NHL and the affiliated team pages of those sports. I haven't had any social media in decades, my main source for sporting news breaks up until 1-2 years ago was Reddit.

I love the small community that makes up Lemmy. As someone just posted, it feels like a small town community. I like the absence of corporate shills and ads and bots.

Back when I switched from Reddit to Lemmmy, I made an effort to upvote and comment on the NFL and Buffalo Bills communities. I eventually gave up because it was like months of posting, voting and commenting but when I would go back to check the communities, everything would still be sitting at like 2 up votes and 0 comment replies or if it was my own post, 1 upvote and 0 comments. For a majority of cases. Every once in a blue moon I would come accross a post where another user voted or commented but it was never more than me and one other user.

I know there is a certain demographic that uses Lemmy that is mostly driven by the required IT prowess needed to set up, use and even understand the federated concept. I also recognize that this demographic is traditionally disinterested in sports. Im not complaining about this or the users who are on Lemmy. Im also not wishing for any changes be made to aggressively expand Lemmy's user base. Its just an impractical wish I have so I could get my sports news from the same source I get all my other news.

I will prolly spend more time this coming year settling on a 2ndary source for sports news from sources similar to sleeper app but it would be so nice if the Lemmy sporting communities blew up so I could keep everything aggregated to one source.

As the title says, I updated Firefox, tried searching something in the address bar which is set to search duckduckgo.com and the tab will pop open but get stuck with the loading wheel animation continually spinning. So I go to Google.com search duckduckgo and click on the link, same thing happens. Checked status websites for status of duckduckgo.com and all of them return the status "up and running." So I'm at a loss for what to do.

To clarify the difference between home and main screens: home screen is the folded shut front screen, and main screen is the unfolded open inside wide screen.

So before the most recent Android update was installed, I could select from a list of options for the number of columns and rows that you could place your app icons in. Depending on the selection, it would adjust the size of the app icon accordingly. So, for example, 4x4 would hold larger sized app icons than 6x5. The infuriating part has to do with the fact the home screen is like 2"-3"x4"-6" while the main screen is 4"-6"x4"-6" or double the size of the cover screen. Before the update i could independently set the cover screen to grid size AxA, and then independently set the main screen to grid BxB. The screenshot is just where they used to be located. Iver searched thru all branches of the settings menu tree and found nothing. Fuck I hate when updates remove settings options or a user's freedom to customize shit. The worst part is I dont think I can roll back updates on android either🤬🤬🤬

So I was browsing audiobooks to download when I came accross the title you see in the screenshot. The title reads:

Exposed: How Revealing Your Data and Eliminating Privacy Increases Trust and Liberates Humanity - Ben Malisow

Stopped me mid scroll and had to read the description to see if I understood the title correctly. Sure as shit it really is a book defending the trend of diminishing privacy and justifies the mining of your data.

Against my better judgment I downloaded the tor file and plan on listening to it today. Ill try and edit this post at the end of the day with what the book was like or if I couldn't finish it cuz of how ridiculous it is.

To save the click to read the description from the screenshot:

Discover why privacy is a counterproductive, if not obsolete, concept in this startling new book

It’s only a matter of time - the modern notion of privacy is quickly evaporating because of technological advancement and social engagement. Whether we like it or not, all our actions and communications are going to be revealed for everyone to see. ‘Exposed: How Revealing Your Data and Eliminating Privacy Increases Trust and Liberates Humanity’ takes a controversial and insightful look at the concept of privacy and persuasively argues that preparing for a post-private future is better than exacerbating the painful transition by attempting to delay the inevitable.

Security expert and author Ben Malisow systematically dismantles common notions of privacy and explains how most arguments in favor of increased privacy are wrong; privacy in our personal lives leaves us more susceptible to being bullied or blackmailed; governmental and military privacy leads to an imbalance of power between citizen and state; and military supremacy based on privacy is an obsolete concept.

Perfect for anyone interested in the currently raging debates about governmental, institutional, corporate, and personal privacy, and the proper balance between the public and the private, Exposed also belongs on the shelves of security practitioners and policymakers everywhere.

Its a refreshing experience in a world where products and services will push the legal boundaries in order to:

1. Hide or mask spyware and bloatware

2. Make unauthorized system settings changes.

3. Only offer access to certain features or setting if you downlad their app.

4. Changing everything from opt in as default to opt out being the new default.

5. And the cherry on top is the same companies will also burry the means to contact support while face fucking their useless shit for brains AI bot at every selection you choose.

*lookin at you Google, Microsoft, paypal, amazon, Samsung

Snapchat was just the most recent app I used that triggered this realization but there are literally dozens (*insert Arrested Development's 'never nude' meme) of other products and services that are in the same boat of initially being perceived as annoying but now are viewed in a more appreciated light.

Bonus anecdotal LPT: The simplest way I found to describe the enshitiffication movement to Gen X'ers and Boomers is by explaining to them that its when a company actively engages in implementing changes that lower the quality of the product or service you pay for with the intent of providing a solution option that will either cost more money or force the user to grant the product or service permissions that will, for example, allow them to mine your data and sell it for profit.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/28741527

I enjoy playing modded games on PC. My IT competency is all informal and hands on so I apologize if this is a dumb question or it seems like I have no idea what I'm talking about. What I was looking to do without using a 3rd party software was to have a game playing in any type of windowed, borderless windowed, or full screen display window on monitor 1 while also having the ability to navigate an open browser window or even just navigate my desktop on display 2. This is all a very normal set up I know but the brick wall I hit happens because my ability with a keyboard is a huge gaming retardant for me. So what I wanted to try and set up was for the gamepad and gaming window, regardless of what display monitor it's being used on, to remain as an "up front" and active process while being able to use my keyboard and mouse as their normal operating devices to navigate my dektop or other active program windows simultaneously.

I have only looked into this briefly because it was very evident after searching the internet that there was not a way to natively set up my PC to allow me to game on one monitor using a gamepad while also having the ability to freely navigating other open windows on monitor 2 using mouse and keyboard with the gaming window remaining active.

I'm playing Witcher 3 currently but earlier this year on the same PC and Windows 11 setup, I swear I was able set up Fallout London by editing the setting.ini file to do exactly what I describred no problem. Admittedly I'm usually as baked as an apple pie when playing with games or modding, but I flipping swear by editing the fallout ini it allowed me to set the the window as always on top and active (meaning it didn't move to the background, or pause, or cut the gamepad off when the mouse was used on other dosplay). It was a series of of like 3 lines of true/false display parameters I entered that allowed me to choose how the program would respond when my input switched from the program window's gamepad to the PC window's mouse/keyboard input.

Fast forward to me trying to get the same setup for a modded Witcher 3 and the results of my searching was that it is universally accepted technical impossibility to use a gamepad exclusively in 1 open window program while also using a mouse to navigate a PC's desktop or other app's open windows simultaneously.

My questions are all to ubderstand why this would be so difficult to implement as a standard option you can set in your OS settings? I'm certainly not qualified to actually be questioning this but in my limited understanding of the devices and platforms in play, this really seems like a very do-able and sought after feature.

Pc's with touch screens are basically doing everything I would like to happen but using touch screen inputs and parameters instead of a gamepad's input. What am i missing in this workflow that is brickwalling this from being an actual feature?:

1. Creating an OS native setting where the user can choose how the OS handles active and sleeping windows. For example, option A is to keep the default function of determining active windows based on actual cursor location. No clue how it's programed but basically keeping things as they currently are where the hover over an open window without clicking in it but still be able to scroll with mouse wheel. Then option B would allow you disable the function where inactive windows are relegated to only running background processes.

2. The setting would then require a subsequent setting option to pop up for the user set when the step 1 selection was set to have multiple open windows running simultaneously as seperate active windows. This setting would be for the user to choose between utilizing one input device to control the PC globally as normal or to be able to assigned an installed device to only perform within the limits of an assigned program's window when it is open and active.

Basically I'm picturing this working similar to the way a touchscreen laptop allows you to choose between standard desktop mode and tablet mode. Having the actual keyboard and mouse with global permissions as they always had so they will over ride the controller in its assigned program window for troubleshooting, saftey net in case input device 2 (gamepad or w/e) fails mid use. And the 2ndary input device is only able to operate in the confines of the assigned program window.

It also seems like I have messed around with software or device settings in the past that are already doing this for shit like Android Auto, augmented note pads and their stylus, the already mentioned touch screen displays, and I'm guessing but I wanna say some of the more accommodating accessibility options available for different types of handicapable input devices. I mean shit, don't they have to make all computers capable of being used with only a keyboard or only a mouse option already?

I'm fully expecting the answer to be that Windows and Microsoft are too far in the mindset of fuck what users want to include a feature that will require any added operating/programming costs. But like I started, I know that I don't know enough to know if there are major obstacles engineering this to work.

I enjoy playing modded games on PC. My IT competency is all informal and hands on so I apologize if this is a dumb question or it seems like I have no idea what I'm talking about. What I was looking to do without using a 3rd party software was to have a game playing in any type of windowed, borderless windowed, or full screen display window on monitor 1 while also having the ability to navigate an open browser window or even just navigate my desktop on display 2. This is all a very normal set up I know but the brick wall I hit happens because my ability with a keyboard is a huge gaming retardant for me. So what I wanted to try and set up was for the gamepad and gaming window, regardless of what display monitor it's being used on, to remain as an "up front" and active process while being able to use my keyboard and mouse as their normal operating devices to navigate my dektop or other active program windows simultaneously.

I have only looked into this briefly because it was very evident after searching the internet that there was not a way to natively set up my PC to allow me to game on one monitor using a gamepad while also having the ability to freely navigating other open windows on monitor 2 using mouse and keyboard with the gaming window remaining active.

I'm playing Witcher 3 currently but earlier this year on the same PC and Windows 11 setup, I swear I was able set up Fallout London by editing the setting.ini file to do exactly what I describred no problem. Admittedly I'm usually as baked as an apple pie when playing with games or modding, but I flipping swear by editing the fallout ini it allowed me to set the the window as always on top and active (meaning it didn't move to the background, or pause, or cut the gamepad off when the mouse was used on other dosplay). It was a series of of like 3 lines of true/false display parameters I entered that allowed me to choose how the program would respond when my input switched from the program window's gamepad to the PC window's mouse/keyboard input.

Fast forward to me trying to get the same setup for a modded Witcher 3 and the results of my searching was that it is universally accepted technical impossibility to use a gamepad exclusively in 1 open window program while also using a mouse to navigate a PC's desktop or other app's open windows simultaneously.

My questions are all to ubderstand why this would be so difficult to implement as a standard option you can set in your OS settings? I'm certainly not qualified to actually be questioning this but in my limited understanding of the devices and platforms in play, this really seems like a very do-able and sought after feature.

Pc's with touch screens are basically doing everything I would like to happen but using touch screen inputs and parameters instead of a gamepad's input. What am i missing in this workflow that is brickwalling this from being an actual feature?:

1. Creating an OS native setting where the user can choose how the OS handles active and sleeping windows. For example, option A is to keep the default function of determining active windows based on actual cursor location. No clue how it's programed but basically keeping things as they currently are where the hover over an open window without clicking in it but still be able to scroll with mouse wheel. Then option B would allow you disable the function where inactive windows are relegated to only running background processes.

2. The setting would then require a subsequent setting option to pop up for the user set when the step 1 selection was set to have multiple open windows running simultaneously as seperate active windows. This setting would be for the user to choose between utilizing one input device to control the PC globally as normal or to be able to assigned an installed device to only perform within the limits of an assigned program's window when it is open and active.

Basically I'm picturing this working similar to the way a touchscreen laptop allows you to choose between standard desktop mode and tablet mode. Having the actual keyboard and mouse with global permissions as they always had so they will over ride the controller in its assigned program window for troubleshooting, saftey net in case input device 2 (gamepad or w/e) fails mid use. And the 2ndary input device is only able to operate in the confines of the assigned program window.

It also seems like I have messed around with software or device settings in the past that are already doing this for shit like Android Auto, augmented note pads and their stylus, the already mentioned touch screen displays, and I'm guessing but I wanna say some of the more accommodating accessibility options available for different types of handicapable input devices. I mean shit, don't they have to make all computers capable of being used with only a keyboard or only a mouse option already?

I'm fully expecting the answer to be that Windows and Microsoft are too far in the mindset of fuck what users want to include a feature that will require any added operating/programming costs. But like I started, I know that I don't know enough to know if there are major obstacles engineering this to work.

Was checking to see if an extension was available for Android yet when I saw a familiar word tucked into their screenshots lol.

Looking for anyone with experience with helping pick out hearing aides. It's hard for him to describe what he doesn't like about them so I can't provide much in the way of specific issues. One thing he has said was that they change how loud some things are compared to how they should be which I think he means they will make certain pitches louder than other pitches so something like setting spoon on glass plate will be loud but the sound of a low voiced man talking is quiet when normally the low voices are the only ones he can hear. He is the typical old geezer so it's easier to list all the numbers in Pi than it is to get him to a doctors office.

We have tried 2 different very expensive aids costing thousands each, we tried the new apple ones, he tried countless magazine ads hearing aids and doesn't like any of them. He's a very straight forward man so it's not his way of getting around using them or that he's embarrassed. He wants to find a pair he likes but he is also a very picky man who was a mechanical engineer so I feel like his expectations can be a little high sometimes for things to be perfect.

Just thought I'd see what other people's experiences were with hearing aides and if there's anything anyone can recommend.

What would it take for the Goliath to be the hero and David to be the pessimist? Not just in fictional narrative depictions but throught history too. The only scenario I can think of that kinda fits the mold was 9/11. Where America may not of been the hero or "good guy" but the underdog Taliban was unanimously viewed as the "bad guys." I'm not super knowledgeable when it comes to global geopolitical relations so I'm all ears for any scenarios that prove otherwise and would love to hear them.

Edit: I am loving all the responses and its a great conversation, I just wish I phrased the title differently so it wasn't getting downvoted. I didn't mean for it to come accross like I didn't think it ever happened.

I know most replies here will likely encourage Linux and I get it. If it were up to me it'd be done. The problem is I work from home and are bound to certain limitations.

So to the problem at hand, I hope to get some insight on:

The two culprits are bitlocker and Window's gaming service/overlay not sure what actual name of it is without having the error message in front of me. I'm not nearly as irritated at the gaming issue as I am with the bitlocker issue because the bitlocker is causing random crashes forcing PC reboots.

Where I find my hands tied is for both scenarios, I have gone thru Windows Services, Gpedit, regedit, and admin powershell command inputs that all show have successfully terminated the bitlocker and gamepad functions from even being able to be initiated.

As for bitlocker specifically, I have never enabled, used, activated or even owned a version of Windows 11 that provided access to bitlocker services.

I didn't know it even existed before the Windows 11 24h2 update. Neither issue was present before the update. Even went thru the steps back stepping the updates installed to before the 24h2 update.

So by all intensive purposes (lol) the PC is running on a Windows build before the update fucked it up, is running without any group permission, active services, or regestry settings that should allow bitlocker or gamebar to launch.

Yet here I am. Everytime I launch a game I have a popup that informs me there are no available apps to open the gamebar.

As well as almost every other day no matter what I'm doing or what I am in the middle of, my PC just shuts down and reboots out of fuckin nowhere.

When I check the event viewer, the "critical" error message just says "The system rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power suddenly."

The two warning error messages that occur almost in conjunction to the reboot critical message are two identical error messages that state, "Bitlocker timed out attempting to enumerate bands during volume discovery on this hardware encrypting drive."

Before i get to my questions, I would like to add I am also entirely exhausted of reaching out to microsoft for help. They are fucking useless and each ticket I've opened with them results in a redundant cycle that ends nowhere at the cost of hrs of my time sitting on hold or following their recommended troubleshooting suggestions that are just redundant to the previous attempts to help.

My specific questions are as follows:

1.0 Everything I google regarding bitlocker just returns bugs people experiencing from when the are trying to get bitlocker to work properly and not much for scenarios that want it removed completely from a system. Does anyone know of any recommened resources I can do some more learning on the matter?

2.0 Am I wrong to think that turning off, disabling and removing the means for these operations to launch/initiate/run in the background will also prevent the system from attempting to initiate those operations?

3.1 Potential work around I thought to try, any feedback is appreciated, if either of those event viewer error messages are actually telling me that I must install a bitlocker driver for the service to properly launch and the issue will work itself out.

3.2 The fallback plan is to reboot my approach completely and convert Windows 11 back to Windows 10. Have never done this extreme of a fix so any feedback is gratefully recieved. Does anyone have any goto resources for this procedure to help me keep from anything falling thru the cracks.

4.0 Last couple notes if it helps, another bug that I noticed but fixed is my one screen's taskbar does this wierd shit where the whole thing gets super fucking tiny and just floats in the middle of the lower screen. The issue only stopped when I reinstalled the back ported Windows 11 24h1 version or whatever it's called. Since being under the previous update version the taskbar glitch has gone away. Went thru 3 hrs of troubleshooting with Microsoft for this one and despite their most urgent attempts to prove otherwise, we came to the conclusion it was not the hardware, monitors or gou driver. It only happened to whatever monitor was assigned by the system to be considered monitor "1."

Nothing here is life or death so I'm not overly worried but at the same time I'd love to get some insight into either end of this shitshow but to reiterate, fixing the bitlocker shit is enemy of the state numero uno.

Any and all input to follow will be so appreciated. Thank you to anyone in advance who made it this far thru this rant and replies. To them especially but also to anyone else that pops in, I'd also like to wish you all a wonderful fucking holiday season!

My father is not a gamer by any sense of the meaning. He plays the mobile game kinda platform style shooters here and there but that's it.

Was racking my brain for something to get him when for no reason I found myself digging up memories of being 4 or 5 years old sitting on his lap playing some flying shooter game. Him and my mom were 17 & 19 when they had me so I often forget how much of life they missed raising a little shitbrick that early in their lives.

So I really went out on a limb and felt like I was reaching with this present. Going so far as to get an extra Amazon card either for someone else if he liked it or for him if he didn't like it.

Holy shit did he like it. Took me by full surprise. As soon as I showed him the library he was like a kid in a candy shop. So many stories and anecdotes about this game and that game. Told me how the "idiots" at megaman made sequels 1-8, then for reasons before he could google them, they skipped megaman 9 and went to megaman x, megaman x2, and megaman x3.

Told me how when I was around 6 or 7 I was obsessed with tecmo bowl, tecmo super bowl and tecmo superbowl 3. Which I remember. But what I didn't remember was that I used to shut the Nintendo off anytime I (playing only as the Buffalo Bills) was about to lose the game, would quickly shutoff the Nintendo so not to ruin my perfect seasons. Then would throw a bitchfit tantrum over losing that my parents would have to take away the controllers from me cuz part of my tantrum would be biting the soft rubber controller cords. Which were not in their broke ass budgets at the time.

Anywho... that's all. What I thought was a risky Xmas gift turned out to be a wonderfully appreciated gift accompanied by an amazing walk down memory lane with the rents.