Mistic
@Mistic@lemmy.world
- Comment on The Magic Keyboard and Mouse now use USB-C! 3 weeks ago:
I agree that the gestures feel great (pretty much the only good part about this mouse imo), but why not just use a track pad instead?
- Comment on Minecraft is losing VR support next year 3 weeks ago:
Oh, yeah, that I agree with.
My head was at the “VR gaming” as a whole back when I was writing the comment.
- Comment on Minecraft is losing VR support next year 3 weeks ago:
Well, I’ve decided to check the financials of a couple of VR companies since your counterpoint sounded reasonable. The only one working at a loss is Meta. I could argue their business model is in Death Valley right now. After all, they have major capital expenses, which aren’t easily covered unless you have a big userbase.
But that’s their VR sector. Overall, Meta’s profitable and can easily cover all the expenses several times over.
Also, what do you mean by “they have to dedicate several multi-person teams to manage the clients?” Firstly, who’s “they,” secondly, if I understood you right, that sounds prepostrous, unless you’re talking B2B.
- Comment on Minecraft is losing VR support next year 3 weeks ago:
Well, Mojang’s Minecraft in VR is dead. But that’s kinda far from VR gaming as a whole, don’t you think?
One symptom does not share the entire story.
- Comment on Minecraft is losing VR support next year 3 weeks ago:
I think what you’re forgetting is scale.
Lemmy is niche. VR is niche. Gaming is mainstream.
You can’t call a niche dead just because there aren’t that many people into it. It’s a niche for a reason.
Linux is booming, even though it’s “dead.” Lemmy has never been this active in its entire existence. Why do investments from large companies matter?
What truly matters is growth. Negative growth is what kills a platform/industry/company/whatever else. VR is growing, Linux is growing, Lemmy is growing. It may not be fast, but they all have active userbases that support their development.
You cannot call a child “failure” just because it never achieved anything in life, can you? They are growing. They can get sick, they can recover. They can also regress due to that illness and die. Only then they’re truly dead.
- Comment on Minecraft is losing VR support next year 3 weeks ago:
- More than 57mil (est.) monthly VR users
- PS5 has 116mil monthly users
For how big PS5 is and how small VR is, VR sure has a lot of people playing.
Lemmy has userbase (not even monthly activity) of 0.6mil. Is lemmy dead?
What constitutes for a dead platform to you?
- Comment on Minecraft is losing VR support next year 3 weeks ago:
That’s not even accurate.
If VR gaming is dead, then what does it say about Linux with about 5 times less users? Like, a low poly game about monkeys has a daily playerbase of a million people there. Mind you, Mincraft has 1 to 1.5 million. Not bad for a “dead” platform. Also, Valve isn’t even the last one to enter the market.
I think what you’re actually trying to say is that it’s niche, which it absolutely is.
- Comment on Nvidia blocks access to video card driver updates for users from Russia and Belarus. 3 weeks ago:
UPD: as of right now, the access isn’t blocked in any way.
It is still unclear whether or not the block was intentional, Nvidia gave no comments.
- Comment on 16GB of RAM Could Be the New Minimum in Apple's Upcoming M4 Macs 2 months ago:
That’s fair. I’ve put it there as more of a possible use case rather than something you should be doing.
Although iGPU can perform quite well when given a lot of RAM
- Comment on 16GB of RAM Could Be the New Minimum in Apple's Upcoming M4 Macs 2 months ago:
If games, modding uses a lot. It can go to the point of needing more than 32gb, but rarely so.
Usually, you’d want 64gb or more for things like video editing, 3d modeling, running simulations, LLMs, or virtual machines.
- Comment on Typing these four characters could crash your iPhone | TechCrunch 2 months ago:
I work in IT as PM, you’re pretty close.
Modern technology is glued together NOT random shit that somehow works.
Everything created has been built with a purpose, that’s why it’s not random. However, the longer you go on, the more rigid the architecture becomes, so you start creating workarounds, as doing otherwise takes too much time which you don’t have, because you have a dozen of other more important tasks at hand.
When you glue those solutions together, they work because they’ve been built to work in a specific use case. But it also becomes more convoluted every time, so you really need to dig to fix something you didn’t account for.
Then it becomes so rigid and so convoluted that to fix some issues properly, you’d have to rebuild everything, starting from architecture. And if you can’t make more workarounds to satisfy the demand? You do start all over again.
- Comment on YouTube Not Accessible Across Russia. 3 months ago:
I look into those regularly. Those are trustable sources, but you have to be very careful with statistics during war periods.
What do you think the majority of people hear when asked, “Do you support actions of Russian military in Ukraine?”. They hear, “Are you a traitor?” and answer accordingly. The majority refuse to answer at all. So, it’s not exactly representative.
What we look at instead is questions that are not this direct. Such as “Do you think Russia should continue or start peace talks?”. The majority (58%) is for peace talks. This number has increased since September 2022 by 10%, whilst the number of pro-war people decreased from 44% to 34%. Their quality also changed. For “absolutely should start peace talks” went from 21% (out of all votes) up to 26%, whilst for “absolutely should continue military actions” went from 29% down to 21%.
The longer things continue, the less support Russia’s government has. That’s what can be said for certain.
- Comment on YouTube Not Accessible Across Russia. 3 months ago:
The government claims it’s Google’s hardware getting outdated. Google says that’s bs.
I think that it’s convenient how they’re telling that to us right before throttling YouTube only with certain providers (and seems to be with only certain regions as well).
- Comment on YouTube Not Accessible Across Russia. 3 months ago:
They’re crap. People will be and are looking for ways to evade restrictions.
Right now, they’re only limiting speed with certain providers in certain locations. There are at least three ways that I know of to avoid it.
The thing is, I don’t know how far they’ll take it. Blocking YouTube is a major political risk. Practically, everybody uses it for one reason or another. So, unlike their “special military operation,” this (as mercantile as it sounds) will potentially have a bigger impact on everybody’s lives. But you really can never be sure with our mafia-in-charge anymore.
- Comment on YouTube Not Accessible Across Russia. 3 months ago:
Not unless you’re making videos from abroad.
YouTube doesn’t serve ads when viewed from Russia anymore, so there is no revenue from this audience. And you can’t take money out from within Russia due to sanctions.
Russian YouTubers are pretty much screwed and have to re-locate. The only other option is earning from product placements.
- Comment on Roku explores taking over HDMI feeds with ads 7 months ago:
Xiaomi has been doing that as well, except it’s whenever.
Now, the TV is forbidden to access my Wi-Fi because screw that.
Any info on how to make it dumber would be appreciated.
- Comment on What Do People Think of Apple's Vision Pro Headsets? 8 months ago:
I was interested in VR for a very long time. Recently, I got to actually try it out.
I primarily view Apple Vision Pro as a proof of concept type of device. Sales being limited both in quantity and territorially indicate that. It has brought 3 major improvements to the table, compared to other headsets:
- Quality of passthrough
- User interface
- Display quality
When you think about it, however, it’s not that much.
Passthough is needed for navigating through space. It does not help with productivity as your vision would be focused on the interface and not the environment. Remember warping on Quest 3? Much less noticeable than on videos for the exact same reason.
There is no buts with the user interface and display. They are simply great, best that there is.
Now, for the part that makes Vision Pro from a great productivity device on paper into a “dev kit available to masses” (I like that description, it does feel that way a lot)
Eye strain is a major issue. It is very difficult to use the device for more than a couple of hours without getting tired. This goes for all of the VR headsets out there. I guess you can get used to it over time, though.
Limited usability. Quest 2/3, Pico 4, Valve Index, they all do things you wish Vision Pro could. Primarily usage of physical controllers. Imagine sculpturing without controllers because I can’t. Hand tracking is just not up to par.
Battery solution is another issue. Not being able to swap what is otherwise a Power Bank without disabling the device and being unable to use any other battery than Apple’s own is at the very least annoying. Not exactly an issue if you’re too tired by the time it runs out.
Finally, the VR space itself is unfortunately not mature enough. There’s a lot of work still to be done. Even when talking games, despite some amazing titles like Half-life Alyx, the vast majority where controls wouldn’t make you dizzy are all pretty much like arcade mini-games, where you either teleport from point to point or not move at all. Developers simply have yet to figure out an organic way of user navigating through virtual space.
Overall, I believe Vision Pro isn’t really a consumer product, but it did do a lot by bringing more attention to VR as a whole, as well as pointing out additional user-cases for the technology. Because of Vision Pro, Meta started paying more attention to details, which ultimately will benefit the consumer (in fact, it already has).
- Comment on Microsoft Ending Support For Windows Subsystem For Android 8 months ago:
That’s not always true.
There are a few reasons as to why one would keep low/no profit or even completely unprofitable projects going.
It’s all tied to their value proposition. For example, if you can sustain a no profit project, it will bring you new customers despite creating no revenue. A glaring example of high-value yet unprofitable product would be Twitch, all because it brings in data.
- Comment on What are some good games with *zero* replayability? 8 months ago:
Storyteller
A short but memorable puzzle-type game where you have to put together scenes and characters to create a story. Actions in previous scenes affect how characters behave or appear in later ones.
Really liked that one
- Comment on How is Russia not Financially Crippled? 10 months ago:
They guy did his research, and he did it right. Even mentioning the “social contract”, that’s not something you hear from an average youtuber.
There’s only a few points I’ve noted
Although the monthly rate can be calculated as yearly÷12, it is inaccurate. Doesn’t change much, but still. ( (1+monthly rate)^12 = 1+yearly rate <= this is the accurate conversion)
Next is “failed pension reform.” It’s failed in political sense. The intent of it was to lessen the depletion of pension fund, which it technically did do. But, yeah, it was absolutely not popular. Not to mention that it didn’t solve the root of the problem, which was obvious from the start. Back during his first or second presidency period, he promised not to raise the age for retirement, yet in 2018, he did exactly that. Needless to say that his ratings have been falling ever since then and up till February of 2022.
The one thing I would’ve liked him to mention is “quality of foreign exchange earnings,” which is a relatively new term. Essentially, companies now need to pay attention to wether or not they can exchange earned currency for something that they can trade with other countries or within Russia. Previously, they traded in dollars, so it was never an issue.
- Comment on How is Russia not Financially Crippled? 10 months ago:
An economics student from Russia here, here’s my perspective.
First, is that a country’s economy is a lot less volatile than we expected. There is also another factor that played into it. During covid, Russian companies amassed a sizable amount of inventory that was already inflated compared to European companies due to how volatile our economy is. This has given them enough time to reroute supply chains once sanctions hit.
Basically, the so-called “grey import” plays a major role in assuring the stability of our economy. Companies either route their import/export through neighboring countries or through affiliated companies.
Second is the competency of our central bank. After most of the major banks were cut off from SWIFT (used for international transactions), they raised the key rate, limited the amount of money you can cash out at one time, and did some other stuff. Higher key rate = higher deposit interest rate, but at the same time, credit became more expensive. All of this was needed for preventing banks from defaulting. Once panic died down, the changes were reverted. Now, they’re dealing with inflation.
Lastly, the majority of our budget comes from oil and gas. Since Europe didn’t want to buy it, Russia started selling it to Asia at discounted prices. Quantity of oil/gas sold drastically increased, which mitigated reduced prices and led to a surplus budget. Not to mention that they started pushing on large companies to reduce the amount of dividends and instead re-invest the money.
I wouldn’t call it “thriving,” however. All of this has definitely led to a slowdown in growth, which, as time goes by, will only get worse. But for now it’s fine.
- Comment on Games that force you to make hard choices 10 months ago:
I’d also add Beyond: Two Souls to the list
- Comment on Family Group Games 10 months ago:
Maybe it’s just me, but I’d play the hell out of BG3 when I was 12.
The amount of time I spent on TES 4 and 5 back then, and BG3 hits just the right spot with the variety of ways it allows you to complete it.
Minecraft is also in my top favorites
What I’m saying is, don’t count BG3 out completely.
Not to mention that it’s very saturated, so a shorter attention span shouldn’t really be a problem, but you never know.
- Comment on Windows 12 May Require a Subscription 1 year ago:
Some windows-specific professional software that cannot run on Linux.
Also, work-related stuff. I may be able to make a custom setup of Linux if I try hard enough, but when it comes to dealing with servers and VPNs it’s a bit beyond me. Not to mention the time it takes to figure it out and set up.
Although, the more I hear about subscriptions from Microsoft the more I want to switch.
- Comment on Windows 11 and local accounts 1 year ago:
Another way that I became quite fond of is using .
When creating a distro with it it allows you to customize it. Set up language, local account, remove hardware requirements and data collection by simoly checking some boxes.
It’s a very handy tool.
- Comment on Soulframe - Official 31 Minute Gameplay Demo Walkthrough 1 year ago:
If we’re being completely honest, all of those are in rotation and although some items cannot be grinded for during that time, it can still be traded for, so it is not an issue.
Dailies and weeklies are here to keep you engaged. They provide some rewards, but I wouldn’t call them mandatory to progression. They’re more of a side-bonus.
Personally, whenever I’m bored of warframe I just leave. After a while new quests appear, new guns and all of the other stuff to work toward.
The best part is that whenever you return you’re pretty much at the same place as you left it off.
Hence I personally see no rush in getting all of the stuff I want. I’ve been playing this game on and off since 2013 and have yet to experience fomo with it, because of the things listed above.
Destiny, for example, is much much worse. Especially after they decided that it’s a good idea to vault planets and remove quests. Made me leave the game, I just can’t deal with it and have life stuff to do. Mind you, D2 is easily one of my most most favourite games.
Same with gacha games like Genshin or Honkai 3rd. It’s exhausting.
Didn’t have thay experience with Warframe.
- Comment on Apple has removed Meduza’s flagship news podcast ‘What Happened’ from Apple Podcasts. Earlier this summer, the Russian state censorship authority had asked Apple to block the show 1 year ago:
Just a couple years ago Meduza was a very prominent news outlet in Russia.
There weren’t that many and they weren’t allowed on TV, but you could always see their presence on the Internet.
Since adoption of a law about foreign agents in 2017 many if not most of such news outlets were deemed as “foreign agents” and faced problems with funding. And yet persisted.
2022 was the breaking point. In February all of the remaining oppositional news started to get blocked. One by one.
By 2023 all of them ceased operation as Russian media and migrated abroad due to de facto being outlawed.
Taking control over media is how Putin started his presidency. This is what came out of it.
If there is nobody to speak, then there’s nobody who’ll listen.