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Clbull

@Clbull@lemmy.world

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Clbull ,

I'm actually worried about the next few years.

All it takes is for a deep learning algorithm to learn and perform menial tasks better than humans and that is it. Suddenly whole industries of workers could be made redundant, which would spike unemployment rates. We are not ready for that.

And before you say Universal Basic Income will save us, UBI is little more than a leftist pipe dream that would bankrupt any nation that tries to pursue it as an actual policy.

Clbull , (edited )

I'm nowhere near as into MMOs as I was years ago, but I honestly preferred non-DPS roles. Healing was my forte and I actually feel proud of myself for nearly clearing Icecrown Citadel Heroic during my WoW heyday. Had to quit several weeks into joining a decent guild because of sixth form.

Dunno whether it's a European thing but I've always found MMO (and MOBA) communities to be toxic-as-fuck and that's what turned me away from hardcore raiding. Things were once so bad that I got bullied and harassed off of a server (Turalyon EU, horde side) during my teenage years.

I could write an entire novella of negative experiences I've had with players in both game genres, but I'd be going off on a massive tangent.

All I'll say is that this meme is accurate. Healers get a lot of flak when things go wrong, and it takes a certain level of masochism to actually want to play with the kind of verbally abusive, sociopathic, basement-dwelling turbovirgins that flip out with slur-filled nerd rage, messages telling you to off yourself, and wishes that you'll die of cancer, all because you didn't parse highly during a raid boss or didn't carry their hardstuck asses in a Ranked League of Legends game.

The hardest part about World of Warcraft (at least from a PvE perspective) isn't playing your class well. It's having to wade through a community rife with elitism, gatekeeping, unattainable catch-22's to join a raid group and toxicity. Final Fantasy XIV is a bit better, but that's because unlike Blizzard, Square Enix actually invest in customer service and actually enforce their player conduct rules.

Clbull , (edited )

I think the reason FFXIV is enjoyable is more-so that if you act like a toxic dickwad, you'll be yeeted out of the community at record pace by Square Enix, because unlike Blizzard, they actually enforce their game rules.

Healing is fun when the community is supportive and not when people are blowing a gasket over imperfect play.

Clbull ,

Chloromancer? Yeah, I remember RIFT fondly, and I feel sad that Gamigo are milking the rotten husk of Trion Worlds out of every last cent before they inevitably shut all their games down.

A PR disaster: Microsoft has lost trust with its users, and Windows Recall is the straw that broke the camel's back (www.windowscentral.com)

It's a nightmare scenario for Microsoft. The headlining feature of its new Copilot+ PC initiative, which is supposed to drive millions of PC sales over the next couple of years, is under significant fire for being what many say is a major breach of privacy and security on Windows. That feature in question is Windows Recall, a...

Clbull , (edited )

It's not gonna affect their bottom line though. Microsoft are doing it because they know they can get away with it and drag the bar so low that they'd make RealNetworks circa 1999 look like privacy-respecting saints.

Your average Joe cannot afford the second mortgage needed to finance a MacBook purchase, and they'd have an aneurysm if presented with a Linux terminal.

And don't even get me started on business and professional use. Many businesses rely on proprietary or even bespoke software that doesn't run well, sometimes not even at all on Linux. Cheap (even FOSS) alternatives are often dogshit. And before you dispute me on that fact, can you name one web designer that would use Affinity Photo, GIMP or PDN over Photoshop? Or could you name one person that prefer AbiWord, OpenOffice or LibreOffice to Microsoft Word?

PC Gaming is one of those use-cases that has evolved by leaps and bounds... until you realize just how many multiplayer games rely on a form of anticheat. Many of these solutions are straight-up incompatible with Linux.

Clbull ,

Please tell me a lawyer is taking this on pro bono and is about to sue the shit out of Facewatch.

Clbull ,

I thought cartoons/illustrations of that nature were only illegal in the UK (Coroners and Justices Act 2008) and Switzerland. TIL about the PROTECT Act.

Microsoft is testing Game Pass ads on the Windows 11 Settings homepage (www.ghacks.net)

Microsoft's announcement: "We are introducing a new Game Pass recommendation card on the Settings homepage. The Game Pass recommendation card on Settings Homepage will be shown to you if you actively play games on your PC. As a reminder – the Settings homepage will be shown only on the Home and Pro editions of Windows 11 and...

Clbull ,

Jokes on them, I already have Game Pass.

(They're gonna make me switch to Linux, aren't they?)

Clbull ,

In the UK if the goods were over £100 and you paid via credit card, you could raise a Section 75 claim with the card issuer under the Consumer Credit Act.

I used to work for a large train operating company and the sheer number of people contacting us for historic departure info to support a Section 75 claim because the news came out that someone got a 50% refund on their season ticket was astronomical.

Alternatively... Small Claims Court. Amazon will drag you through the coals if you go the chargeback route.

Clbull ,

I've had a lot of shitty experiences with their customer service lately. They were at least somewhat decent a few years back.

Clbull OP ,

There are 5 rules

Clbull ,

As much as I dislike iBleeedBullshit and AssholeTheTurtle, I can respect the fact that they pissed off Spez enough to nuke their accounts from orbit.

Apple Removes WhatsApp, Threads, Telegram, and Signal from China App Store, says it complied with orders from the Chinese government (arstechnica.com)

Apple said it complied with orders from the Chinese government to remove the Meta-owned WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China. Apple also removed Telegram and Signal from China....

Clbull ,

TIL that WhatsApp, Threads, Telegram and Signal were on the Chinese App Store.

Clbull OP ,

Cum M'Lady

Cum Cum M'Lady

(You're my) butterfly sugar baby

Cum being a frame from a Riley Reid meme where she says "oh fuck you're making me cum"

M'Lady being a fedora tipping neck beard.

Roku explores taking over HDMI feeds with ads (www.lowpass.cc)

Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.  ...

Clbull ,

Is this why they made people waive their right to sue them?

Yeah... Fuck Roku.

Clbull ,

Or my personal favourite

THIS GAME WILL MAKE YOU CUM IN 15 NANOSECONDS

Google will start showing AI-powered search results to users who didn't opt in (www.engadget.com)

If you're in the US, you might see a new shaded section at the top of your Google Search results with a summary answering your inquiry, along with links for more information. That section, generated by Google's generative AI technology, used to appear only if you've opted into the Search Generative Experience(SGE) in the Search...

Clbull ,

This may actually be a net improvement to the Google Search experience, since the engine is borderline unusable without uBlock Origin. But also it feels weird that Google would make an AI generated prompt the focal point and not the entire rows of sponsored ads that litter all search results.

How did the big tech industry get this terminally stupid?

Clbull , (edited )

Databases also make the list, and again nothing from Western devs made the cut. But Alibaba Cloud's PolarDB is mentioned, as is Tencent’s TDSQL and a handful of other made-in-China efforts.

That's a big one.

Unless Chinese firms have been straight-up stealing trade secrets and code from the likes of Oracle and have produced such a blatant knock-off of their software that in any other country, they would have been sued out of existence, I can see a five week transition being messy-as-fuck.

Transitions to new database systems take months or even years to implement, not the 5 weeks mandated by the Chinese Communist Party. This is especially the case when you're dealing with important stakeholder data, huge data volumes and/or statutory requirements like financial reporting.

Clbull ,

Who the fuck made Tintin CEO of Reddit?

Ex-Activision CEO Bobby Kotick looks to buy TikTok amid shutdown fears - Dexerto (www.dexerto.com)

TikTok has been at the center of controversy for the United States government in the last few years. Particularly, members of the Senate believe China-based parent company ByteDance could spy on its users and share information with the Chinese Government....

Clbull ,

Bobby Kotick and TikTok are so carcinogenic to society that their union would be like the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.

Clbull ,

I had an old Alpha account. I missed the migration window out of a mix of laziness and not really checking my email.

Surely this cannot be legal and all this shit about forced arbitration cannot hold up in a British court?

Clbull ,

The only times I'd excuse piracy are if the original product is outright unavailable in your region, or if digital rights management leads to a vastly inferior or unusable product for paying users (i.e. strict installation limits, always-online DRM in a single player game.)

I don't condone pirating Minecraft, regardless of Microsoft's anti-consumer bullshit.

Clbull ,

Launching Windows 11 in the midst of a semiconductor shortage was such a dumb move on Microsoft's part, especially when 11 doesn't really offer that much more than 10. The only real 'groundbreaking' new feature (multiple desktops) was something that Linux had fifteen years ago.

Clbull OP ,

"Here's my immediate notice" 😂😂😂

Clbull OP ,

At that point I'd need to call a fuckin hearse.

UK Trial: Pornhub's Chatbot Halts Millions from Accessing Child Abuse Content (www.wired.com)

A trial program conducted by Pornhub in collaboration with UK-based child protection organizations aimed to deter users from searching for child abuse material (CSAM) on its website. Whenever CSAM-related terms were searched, a warning message and a chatbot appeared, directing users to support services. The trial reported a...

Clbull ,

IIRC Xhamster started doing this a few years ago, minus the AI chatbot.

Clbull ,

Depends on the jurisdiction. Indecent illustrations and 'pseudo photographs' depicting minors are definitely illegal in the UK (Coroners and Justice Act 2009.) Several US states are also updating their laws to clamp down on this too.

I'm also aware that it's illegal in Switzerland because a certain infamous rule 34 artist fled his home country to evade justice for that very reason.

Clbull ,

It's surprising to see Aylo (formerly Mindgeek) coming out with the most ethical use of AI chatbots, especially when Google Gemini cannot even condemn pedophilia.

Fanfiction Community Rocked By Etsy Sellers Turning Their Work Into Bound Books (www.404media.co)

Etsy sellers are turning free fanfiction into printed and bound physical books, and listing them for sale on online marketplaces for more than $100 per book. It’s a problem that’s rattling the authors of those fanfics, as well as their fans and readers....

Clbull ,

Not gonna lie, an attractively bound hardcover copy of My Immortal would be a hilarious gag present.

Clbull OP ,

Earnings before interest, taxation, deprecation and amortisation. Interest is classed as other income and taxation is kinda self-explanatory.

Depreciation is spreading the cost of a fixed asset over the course of its useful life. So let's say you spend $40,000 on a machine that you expect to keep for 20 years, and scrap for $1,000 at the end of its expected life. You depreciate it on the straight-line basis (meaning it goes down by a fixed amount each financial year, or depreciate it by $1,950 each year. Straight-line isn't the only form of depreciation. Cars for example go down on a reducing balance basis, meaning their value goes down by a lot more during the early years of their lifespan.

Amortisation is like depreciation, but for long term loans and intangible assets (things like customer lists, patents, etc.)

Clbull OP ,

Their R&D costs seem alarmingly high, when the most 'innovative' things we've seen come out of Reddit in recent years have been canned features like their own cryptocurrency and RPAN.

Other than that and Spez being paid a buttload in stock options...

Clbull OP ,

EBITDA is used moreso in internal quarterly and monthly management accounts, which don't follow the exact same structure as an annual report which companies have to publish annually by law and follow GAAP and IFRS guidelinss when preparing.

Clbull OP ,

Lycos isn't even a particularly bad search engine. It's just been overshadowed by bigger players like Google, Bing, Baidu, DDG, Yandex, etc. I imagine that their low traffic helps to lower their operating costs a lot.

Clbull OP ,

Here's what I'd do:

  1. VIP posts which you have to subscribe to a user to view. Reddit takes a cut of the subscription fee. With the sheer amount of OnlyFans models who astroturf the fuck out of the NSFW subs, it feels beyond stupid that Spez isn't cutting out the middle man and competing with the likes of OF, Fansly, Patreon and Subscribestar.

  2. Add more incentives to subscribe to Reddit Premium, i.e. enhanced search functionality, the ability to time travel back to the frontpage from a previous date.

  3. Improve the official Reddit app to the point where it's on-par with previous third party offerings.

  4. Bring back RPAN as a fully-fledged livestreaming platform with fewer restrictions. Introduce ads (Premium users get ad-free viewing) and revenue sharing for partnered creators.

  5. Change content and moderator guidelines to curb power users.

  6. Pivot towards short-form video content as a separate section of the site to compete with the likes of TikTok.

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