halcyoncmdr
@halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
- Comment on Google will pay a $1.375 billion settlement to Texas over privacy violations 1 day ago:
This is a settlement… Meaning that Google figures not that this amount is less than they would pay if it went to court and they lost. Since there is no way they’d be spending a billion dollars on defending this in court, they know they would definitely lose, and paying an insanely high penalty is the best outcome for them.
- Comment on Epic reduce their cut to 0% for the first $1 million in revenue for devs on the Epic Games Store 1 week ago:
A physical storefront has to deal with asset depreciation however. A product can sit on the shelf and reduce in value as it ages, there is no such thing with digital distribution.
Based on estimates, and various reports, leaks etc. since they aren’t a public company… Steam makde an estimated $10.8 Billion in 2024. They made $780,000 per employee as of 2018 based on an internal report, more than nearly every other company on the planet. They’re not spending anywhere near that on operations.
- Comment on Epic reduce their cut to 0% for the first $1 million in revenue for devs on the Epic Games Store 1 week ago:
Eh, I would argue that the expansion of broadband internet and the increased expectation of instant gratification by consumers made it a perfect time for Steam’s expansion. The death of physical media is a side effect of the ability to near instantly download anything you want.
- Comment on Epic reduce their cut to 0% for the first $1 million in revenue for devs on the Epic Games Store 1 week ago:
Didn’t Steam essentially create the “standard” for 30% price point for digital distribution in the first place? While a 30% margin makes sense for physical retail, it’s never made sense for digital distribution.
- Comment on Nintendo apologizes as Switch 2 demand overwhelms supply in Japan 2 weeks ago:
Nintendo, like many Japanese companies, only produces what they know with 100% certainty they can sell. They purposely underproduced the Wii so it constantly sold through retail and absolutely no stock stuck on shelves for long. They don’t actually care about complaints of supply issues, that is intentional.
As a side effect they also get to constantly stay in the headlines as their constant lack of supply keeps being reported. So they get free marketing as well, just by operating as they always have. And with current global supply chain conversations, they get a free smokescreen with the general populace going out of their way to blame someone else.
- Comment on 4chan Is Dead. Its Toxic Legacy Is Everywhere 2 weeks ago:
It’s entirely likely. That site hasn’t changed a bit in over 2 decades. .
While publicly known external security vulnerabilities may have been found and patched over the years, having the source leaked means a look behind the hood at new weaknesses and a field day with exploiting them.
If 4Chan does come back, I think it will look significantly different.
- Comment on Stardew Valley Baldur's Gate 3 mod back online after D&D owners "mistakenly" send a copyright strike 5 weeks ago:
This is the type of thing that law firms will send without consulting their client first as soon as they were made aware as a default response, without considering any context to verify proper action. Which in most cases would be fine, but in this particular genre, because of shitty companies like Nintendo, can cause direct reputational harm.
It is Wizards of the Coast though, historically they’re not much better, so this would be 100% believable coming from them on purpose.
- Comment on SpaceX Starship blows up twice in a row. 2 months ago:
Could say the same about Facebook, and Google. Yet they don’t have any issues funding talent.
Money makes the world go round, at least most of the time. And enough of it can make just about everyone shove their principles into a box.
- Comment on SpaceX Starship blows up twice in a row. 2 months ago:
Despite what he may say at times. He’s not necessary for SpaceX operations. Gwynne Shotwell runs the day to day company, and they aren’t public so no need to say anything publicly for headlines like he does with Tesla.
- Comment on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services proposes to review social media of people applying for US citizenship, green cards, and asylum or refugee status, to comply with Trump's Executive order. 2 months ago:
I assumed this was already part of their process. Surprised it wasn’t to be honest.
- Comment on A 25-Year-Old Is Writing Backdoors Into The Treasury’s $6 Trillion Payment System. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? 2 months ago:
Technically, this is the executive branch working within itself.
Now, the check on executive stupidity to this extreme is impeachment, but that’s never gonna happen with the Republican party in charge of both houses of Congress.
- Comment on TikTok Users Gleefully Embrace Even More Chinese App To Spite US TikTok Ban 3 months ago:
IIRC Lemon8 at least will have to stop just like TikTok. It isn’t TikTok specifically that is being banned. Rednote likely is affected as well.
They’re jumping ship to other sinking ships because the media has been providing incorrect information about what’s happening, as per usual now.
- Comment on OpenAI whistleblower who died was being considered as witness against company 4 months ago:
Whistle lower deaths need to be treated by the courts like other destruction of evidence, because that’s what it is. The jury being instructed to assume the most damaging version of what that evidence could have contained.
A whistleblower isn’t going to kill themselves out of nowhere. To get to that point they were undoubtedly being threatened by the company.
- Comment on HDMI 2.2 will be announced next month — and it may require a new cable 4 months ago:
Cool… So give it a different number. Not a damned point release.
Why does everyone want to follow the stupidity of USB-IF and make it impossible to know what the damned thing is capable of?
- Comment on Three Men Die When Google Maps Tells Them to Drive Off Unfinished Bridge 5 months ago:
After working retail for more than a decade… Those people deserve it. The type of person to argue with an employee about whether they carry something or not solely because Google said so, are the quintessential Karen. They deserve every bit of unhelpfulness right back at them for the misery they sow everywhere they go.
- Comment on Ted Cruz wants to overhaul $42B broadband program, nix low-cost requirement 5 months ago:
- Comment on Terrified friends burn to death trapped in Tesla as doors won't open after crash 5 months ago:
Same with the Model 3.
I have to disagree with them not being obvious however. Nearly every new person in my Model 3 goes to grab the emergency release immediately. I even added vinyl door open stickers next to the button to make it more obvious and it still happens almost every time.
- Comment on MKBHD is getting cancelled over $12/month wallpaper app, ad overload, and excessive permissions 7 months ago:
No idea why anyone is surprised that an influencer product has a price premium.
- Comment on Just 5,000 people use the Rabbit R1 every day 7 months ago:
The last person I’d trust to give accurate numbers. If that’s what he’s saying publicly, it’s likely even worse.
- Comment on Just 5,000 people use the Rabbit R1 every day 7 months ago:
Surprising it’s that high. How are they getting these numbers? Actual daily use or some other fudged metric?
- Comment on Android apps are blocking sideloading and forcing Google Play versions instead 7 months ago:
This is exactly what it is. It is not enabled by default, a developer has to specifically enable it. Meaning the developer wants to force you through the Play Store for whatever reason they may have.
- Comment on Starlink says it will block X in Brazil 8 months ago:
They’re not really though.
Brazil’s complaints are about misinformation being actively spread on the platform, andTwitter not only failing to moderate it on their own, but refusing to moderate when the accounts are specifically pointed out either.
The TikTok ban fundamentally goes back to the Chinese government controlling the company. Regardless of what TikTok and the government claims, only an idiot would believe they don’t have control over a social media platform based in China. Even if the servers are US-based, the Chinese government will have access whenever they want.
- Comment on Starlink says it will block X in Brazil 8 months ago:
Oh look, he caved already. Guess that’s what happens when your accounts are frozen and you can’t make money in the country.
- Comment on Star Wars Outlaws Is A Crappy Masterpiece 8 months ago:
That sums up my thoughts pretty well honestly. It is a generic Ubisoft open world game, with all the same tricks. But the story is decent, different than the traditional Jedi stuff usually made, and some aspects of the game play are pretty fun. Others are the generic Ubisoft formula, which is to be expected.
It’s better than I expected, nowhere near worth $110 or whatever for the game and season pass, but worth the U+ subscription for a month to try it out.
- Comment on Steam now identifies reviews that come from Steam Deck players 8 months ago:
I can understand why they don’t put a Linux-specific icon, because there is such a variety of builds and hardware permutations that people could start complaining “it said it could run on Linux but it doesn’t run on my Linux.“
Steam already indicates which games will run on Linux, without any distro or configuration caveats. There’s literally an entire section of the store for “SteamOS & Linux” games, and games that support multiple platforms have the system requirements listed for each of those supported platforms.
We’re just talking about putting the icon for the platform they used on the review, to help you filter reviews that may be more or less relevant. Linux users complaining about Linux related issues aren’t relevant to Windows users for instance, and vice versa. Same goes for the 15 or so MacOS gamers I guess too.
- Comment on Telecom will pay $1 million over deepfake Joe Biden robocall 8 months ago:
I’ve been saying for years that fines for these issues need to be based on revenue, not profit, and tripled. Unless they’re selling their products for a 300% profit margin, they still lose money because of the bullshit. Anything else can still be justified as a cost of business.
- Comment on Steam now identifies reviews that come from Steam Deck players 8 months ago:
I was referring more to just like Windows, Linux, MacOS icons. Not specific distros. As a Windows user for instance, Linux issues from any distro probably don’t matter to me.
- Comment on Steam now identifies reviews that come from Steam Deck players 8 months ago:
Just have another option for multiple devices or types used beyond a certain threshold. Just like here they’re using a majority of time spent playing on a Deck to show that icon.
- Comment on Steam now identifies reviews that come from Steam Deck players 8 months ago:
It should also show icons for the OS as well. Since games can have dramatically different issues and performance depending on the OS sometimes. Having an icon showing a review is from a Linux machine compared to Windows for instance can help figure out if your system might be affected by reviews mentioning something that all seems to be from one type of OS.
Heck, I’d even take it a step further and have it include basic system specs for each review since Steam already gets that info.
- Comment on Police pulled over a Waymo car that drove in the oncoming lane in Phoenix 10 months ago:
They already are, the media just reports on every one of these crashes. Even just reporting on each human fatality daily would put things closer to perspective even with every autonomous accident being reported as if it were the end times.
