tomkatt
@tomkatt@lemmy.world
- Comment on Microsoft still can't convince folks to upgrade to Windows 11 5 days ago:
I upgraded from Windows 11 to EndeavourOS. No regrets, it’s a huge improvement.
- Comment on "Very dramatic shift" - Linus Tech Tips opens up about the channel's declining viewership 1 week ago:
Had to look up what asmr was. No, I don’t think that’s me. I don’t think I’d dislike it, but I don’t seek out that sort of content.
- Comment on "Very dramatic shift" - Linus Tech Tips opens up about the channel's declining viewership 1 week ago:
I just find his voice very irritating. I know not everyone feels that way.
- Comment on "Very dramatic shift" - Linus Tech Tips opens up about the channel's declining viewership 1 week ago:
Thanks for that. Not entirely as bad as originally indicated, but still pretty shady on LTT’s part
With everything I know of it, Linus was just rug-sweeping it before the exposé. Feels like Billet Labs got screwed but took the high road to prevent drama because LTT has a big community.
- Comment on "Very dramatic shift" - Linus Tech Tips opens up about the channel's declining viewership 1 week ago:
About the Billet Labs thing, they have shown, and Billet Labs verified it, that the original agreement was that LTT would keep the cooler.
Shown where? I’ve seen no evidence of that anywhere, and I was following that controversy when it happened.
- Comment on "Very dramatic shift" - Linus Tech Tips opens up about the channel's declining viewership 1 week ago:
For example they found out one of their main sponsors Honey were scamming their viewers and essentially stealing from people, they just kept it quiet rather than owning it.
That’s one of the things I was referring to. GamersNexus did an expose on the Honey thing and filed a class action suit over it because they were essentially stealing money from creators. Linus was complicit and aware and said nothing.
Let’s also not forget the time Linus literally received a prototype cooler from Billet Labs for testing, was supposed to return it after review, and he not only reviewed it poorly (and used it for the wrong hardware), but then basically stole it and auctioned it off, later referring to this as “a small mistake.” Supposedly he only offered to pay for the prototype after this was also exposed by GN.
Dude’s just scummy. I’ve no idea why people will defend him to the ends of the earth.
- Comment on "Very dramatic shift" - Linus Tech Tips opens up about the channel's declining viewership 1 week ago:
I stopped watching LTT years ago. His channel is crap. He’s a tech personality who seems to barely understand technology, so most of his videos are just over the top bullshit. Not to mention his awful annoying vocal fry. He’s like the male Fran Drescher.
- Comment on Big Surprise—Nobody Wants 8K TVs 2 weeks ago:
- Comment on Big Surprise—Nobody Wants 8K TVs 2 weeks ago:
I mostly use my TV for gaming and watching old movies and anime.
The former task will be unviable at 8k and make my GPU cry, and the latter one makes 8k unnecessary.
I really don’t see the point in 8k displays right now.
- Comment on Hollow Knight: Silksong Will Release for Only $20, Release Times Revealed 2 weeks ago:
At $20 this is a day one Steam purchase for me. Even if I don’t get around to playing it for the next several months.
- Comment on Hollow Knight: Silksong - Release Date Trailer (September 4) 3 weeks ago:
Of course there’s bugs, it’s a sequel to Hollow Knight. It was all about bugs.
- Comment on LibreOffice is right about Microsoft, and it matters more than you think. 4 weeks ago:
Micros~1
I see what you did there. 😆
- Comment on A Tech Rule That Will ‘Future-Proof’ Your Kids 4 weeks ago:
I generally keep to this rule as an adult, for the most part. Yes, I have my phone since it doubles as my alarm, but if I’m looking at a “screen” in bed, it’s an eReader with a warm light. I figure I sleep better that way, without all the blue light.
- Comment on Imagine being a billionaire, running one the most powerful, corporations in the United States, and prostrating yourself to Donald Trump in this very public and embarrassing way. 5 weeks ago:
I’ll bet those boots taste disgusting.
- Comment on I bought a £16 smartwatch just because it used USB-C 1 month ago:
Should I Buy One?
That’s up to you, champ. I’m not your real dad and I’m not trying to take his place. But I’m here for you if you need me.
Love it. 🤣🤣🤣
- Comment on A whole bunch of racing games are cheap at the moment, and there are so many that it's difficult to look through them all. What are your recommendations? 1 month ago:
That’s actually something Wipeout did, it’s one of the few things from Fusion that people liked enough for it to be brought back.
Ah, I didn’t know that, I’ve never played the series past 3 and XL/2097.
Just a heads up to, BNG has a 2097 mode as well, with entirely different physics/control. It’s still in dev builds but it seems like the goal is to integrate both styles from OG Wipeout (2085 and 2097) within the game as separate campaigns.
- Comment on A whole bunch of racing games are cheap at the moment, and there are so many that it's difficult to look through them all. What are your recommendations? 1 month ago:
Redout is a weird one. It got a lot of comparisons to F-Zero because of the speed but it plays a lot more like Wipeout, or like an F-Zero/Wipeout hybrid. It’s very fast, and the steering mechanics are interesting as it requires using both joysticks to steer through a lot of turns. I like it, but find it pretty difficult. The ships tend to be a bit floaty and the main thing is controlling well to not hit walls as they utterly kill your momentum.
With BallisticNG, it does ape on Wipeout a lot (by design) but it’s an absolute love letter to the series and is extremely polished. It also has workshop support for all kinds of custom tracks and ships.
There are things BallisticNG does though that are really interesting, like solo races where your goal is to go as far as possible without exploding from damage. You can’t use the brakes and it gets faster every few sections. Those are probably my favorite races.
- Comment on A whole bunch of racing games are cheap at the moment, and there are so many that it's difficult to look through them all. What are your recommendations? 1 month ago:
Since you mentioned AG racers, check out BallisticNG and the Redout games.
- Comment on The AI bubble is so big it's propping up the US economy (for now) 1 month ago:
You can probably just use ollama and import the novel.
- Comment on What's your preferred way of buying games? (digital/physical/physical digital) 1 month ago:
I’ve got games ranging from PS2/PS3 going all the way back to the NES and Atari 7800 on my NAS. The PS3 stuff is hit or miss, but everything PS2 and down is great to play today via emulation.
For modern digital games, it’s a toss up. Some have DRM, some don’t. There are games you can buy digitally on Steam, install, and just copy out the folder somewhere else, zip it, and move it to another system to play, it won’t care. Others, DRM prevents it. GOG is good for the DRM free stuff.
Funny enough, I have Madden 08 for PC. Bought it on Amazon many years back. Installed updates, patched the exe, and it’s good to go. It’s zipped on my NAS and completely portable. Last year I even installed it on my Steam Deck, works perfectly, just extract to a folder and launch the game. And it’s still way better than the modern Madden games.
- Comment on What's your preferred way of buying games? (digital/physical/physical digital) 1 month ago:
Digital everything. Books, games, movies, TV. I don’t want a bunch of physical stuff cluttering my space.
I do prefer things I can archive to my NAS whenever possible though. I make exceptions for gaming with Steam, but all my books, video, and music are locally stored, I don’t like streaming services as an indefinite solution.
- Comment on Amazon is considering shoving ads into Alexa+ conversations 1 month ago:
It’s really just that only Amazon uses AZW3 and KFX. KFX is DRMed to hell, and I’m not sure about it, but most AZW3 files are just DRM wrappers for EPUB anyway. This is why the KindleUnpack plugin for Calibre can strip out EPUBs from most AZW3 files and retain formatting without needing conversion.
Basically, AZW3 and KFX are for Kindle, and only for Kindle. EPUB is an open standard that literally every device that’s not a Kindle uses.
- Comment on Good racing games on Steam? 1 month ago:
No worries. I’ve heard of BeamNG but don’t own it and am not familiar with it to recommend. I mean BallisticNG, it’s an AG racer in the style of the Wipeout games.
- Comment on Amazon is considering shoving ads into Alexa+ conversations 1 month ago:
No, Amazon took away the “Download and transfer via USB” option when downloading your books. Making it more difficult to strip DRM, but also to conveniently add it to multiple devices.
Regarding sideloading EPUBs with Calibre, it’s not really doing that. Under normal circumstances Kindle can’t read EPUB format at all, so Calibre will convert it to a native format, either MOBI or AZW3 generally. But with a jailbroken Kindle and KOReader, you can actually read EPUBs natively. I’ve actually converted my entire collection to EPUB and deleted the AZW3 and KFX files.
- Comment on Amazon is considering shoving ads into Alexa+ conversations 1 month ago:
Depends on the model and firmware, but for most, Winterbreak is the current method.
Do note if your Kindle is updated to version 5.18.x currently it’s not possible to jailbreak. There is ongoing work on a new exploit though, and a new jailbreak method (or update to Winterbreak) is expected later this year.
- Comment on Amazon is considering shoving ads into Alexa+ conversations 1 month ago:
I never found much worth watching on Prime, to be honest, even before the ads issue.
As for Prime, I still benefit from the Prime shipping, but a lot of stores on Amazon ship free now even without Prime, and given where I live, 2-day shipping is not a thing. It’s usually more like 4 to 7 days. I’m generally in no rush either way.
My main benefits were shipping and books, plus free games on Prime and GOG. But now the shipping is almost irrelevant, they’ve screwed the book thing, so all that’s left is the games, many of which I won’t even play.
- Comment on Good racing games on Steam? 1 month ago:
How’s Redout 2 compared to the first one? I have the original, but have been on the fence with the sequel.
- Comment on Good racing games on Steam? 1 month ago:
- WRC 7, 10, Generations
- Dirt Rally 2.0
- Rush Rally Origins
- New Star GP
- Forza Horizon 5 (I don’t own this one, but hear it’s very good)
- BallisticNG
- Wreckfest (don’t own this either but I’ve played it in the past)
- Assetto Corsa
- Assetto Corsa Competizione
- Descenders
- Grid Autosport
- Redout
- Automobilista 2
- V-Rally 4
- Sebastian Loeb Rally Evo
These vary between arcade and simulation racing, and things in between. For some (Assetto Corsa games, Automobilista, WRC and Dirt Rally games) a racing wheel is highly recommended.
- Comment on Amazon is considering shoving ads into Alexa+ conversations 1 month ago:
Not this one. I’ve been a Prime member for many years out of convenience (and because I live in the rurals and need to ship a lot of things to the house). Amazon completely fucked it up for themselves with regard to my subscription this past year or two, I’m done.
- Removed the ability to download and sideload Kindle books
- Ads in Prime Video
- Followed by even more ads in Prime Video
- Now this, and I don’t even own an Alexa device
I’m done. Subscription is cancelled. Video was already trashed, but I barely used it. Now though… I’ve jailbroken the Kindles, converted all my books to EPUB, and installed KOReader. Wasn’t a hard transition since I’ve had a Boox device as my main reader for some years now anyway. I’ve started buying my books from Kobo and other sources.
Looking into other services for online purchases and shipping. It’ll be less convenient, and I’ll still buy from Amazon in the event I have to, but I’d like to minimize that now.
- Comment on Octopath Traveler 0 – Announcement Trailer 1 month ago:
The main story points are further apart level-wise, leading to more grinding. There’s also more fluff side story content involving multiple characters instead of just one. Which isn’t bad in itself, but none of it is actually optional because of the leveling curve.
The way it was done, the story beats for individual character plot arcs are very far apart. 30 hours in, I only had a few characters through the second parts of their stories.
