Tiraon's recent activity

  1. Comment on Denuvo DRM has been cirmumvented using hypervisor based bypass in ~games

    Tiraon
    Link
    Well since this was moved here I'll add my thoughts I didn't feel were good fit under tech. I only care because the manner this was bypassed in is interesting and it may cause lesser use of...

    Well since this was moved here I'll add my thoughts I didn't feel were good fit under tech.

    I only care because the manner this was bypassed in is interesting and it may cause lesser use of restrictive DRM. Probably not though.

    As far as I'm concerned Denuvo using games, or third party account required games or other restrictive DRM scheme using games might as well not exists on PC. Steam is about as much as I'll tolerate nowadays. Paying for a product and then being subjected to massive restrictions on its use alongside data collection doesn't particularly appeal to me and games are not essential services where I absolutely need them, nevermind there being a large indie scene.

    There are a few games I would have really like to play or replay that I won't get to because of this and that's sad but fine.

    6 votes

  2. Comment on Denuvo DRM has been cirmumvented using hypervisor based bypass in ~games

    Tiraon
    Link
    I am actually not sure whether this is better suited to ~tech or ~games. It is a blend of the two so It is not straightforward. I chose ~tech due to the method of bypass and its implications but...

    I am actually not sure whether this is better suited to ~tech or ~games. It is a blend of the two so It is not straightforward. I chose ~tech due to the method of bypass and its implications but if people feel it would be better in ~games then I have no objections.

    This actually pretty well illustrates several points about hw ownership, effective sw ownership, DRM measures and mainly AAA game markets.

    17 votes

  4. Comment on Nvidia CEO declares AI could start, grow, and run a successful technology company worth more than a billion dollars—excerpt from Lex Fridman Podcast in ~tech

    Tiraon
    Link
    Artificial general intelligence is what that suggests and is in an entirely different class than the current LLMs. Not really watched this yet but 'we achieved AGI' is an extraordinary claim that...

    Artificial general intelligence is what that suggests and is in an entirely different class than the current LLMs. Not really watched this yet but 'we achieved AGI' is an extraordinary claim that needs extraordinary evidence. It is on the level of cold fusion or room temperature standard pressure superconductor.

    Without that evidence I am more likely to believe we will see redefinition of AGI similarly to what marketing did to AI.

    22 votes

  5. Comment on Our commitment to Windows quality in ~tech

    Tiraon
    Link Parent
    It is all about priorities. Multi boot is possible, using a vm is possible, even using two computers is also possible and not that expensive buying a used bussiness laptop. I am also not sure how...

    It is all about priorities. Multi boot is possible, using a vm is possible, even using two computers is also possible and not that expensive buying a used bussiness laptop.

    I am also not sure how many people use their home computers profesionally instead of having a dedicated work device. And while a lot of people use mostly phones for everything, any desktop is an incredible quality of life jump.

    I don't think MS is going to pivot at this point. It is all about priorities.

    1 vote

  6. Comment on Our commitment to Windows quality in ~tech

    Tiraon
    Link Parent
    I don't think ability is as much of an issue here as the willingness. Instalation of an OS is simply not very complicated and can be done by following simple and straightforward guides. It can be...

    I don't think ability is as much of an issue here as the willingness.
    Instalation of an OS is simply not very complicated and can be done by following simple and straightforward guides. It can be scary to someone who has never done that before, I know it was for me, but nowadays the actual instalation is easy.

    10 votes

  7. Comment on Our commitment to Windows quality in ~tech

    Tiraon
    Link Parent
    Not many home users are actually forced into using Windows. There are workloads where Windows is defacto neccessary but these are specific. In my opninion it is more a question of priorities and...

    Not many home users are actually forced into using Windows. There are workloads where Windows is defacto neccessary but these are specific. In my opninion it is more a question of priorities and cultural inertia.

    A random person that wants to stop using Windows can do so easily. It would take a weekend as a stretch and willingness to learn

    9 votes

  8. Comment on Android to debut "advanced flow" for sideloading unverified applications in ~tech

    Tiraon
    Link
    This is probably as good as could have been expected given the direction Android is being steered in. Given a few constraints that are not met I would even be fine with this. Such as not being...

    This is probably as good as could have been expected given the direction Android is being steered in.

    Given a few constraints that are not met I would even be fine with this.

    Such as not being introduced and controlled by for profit entity for transparently self serving reasons o a standard ability to reinstall the os of the phone completely.

    It still leaves the issue of developer registration too.

    There are two reasons things are done for that should be examined closely. For the children and for security.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on Hackers expose the massive surveillance stack hiding inside your “age verification” check in ~tech

    Tiraon
    Link
    If we are talking about protecting children and making sure they are not exposed to harmful content my naive approach to that would be expanded social security net, increasing funding for...

    If we are talking about protecting children and making sure they are not exposed to harmful content my naive approach to that would be expanded social security net, increasing funding for education and reforming the education system as the start.

    Less overworked and hopeless parents are better able to engage with their kids. Someone in the habit of critical thought is better able to decide for themselves if something would be harmful to them. I am not a politician though.

    22 votes

  10. Comment on Hisense TVs show ads during normal operation in ~tech

    Tiraon
    Link
    I just want a high quality panel with inputs and a remote. I am willing to pay what it would cost to make plus a reasonable margin but apparently that is not getting made anymore. Just smart tvs....

    I just want a high quality panel with inputs and a remote. I am willing to pay what it would cost to make plus a reasonable margin but apparently that is not getting made anymore. Just smart tvs.

    Alternatives are rare with various dowsides. Commercial panels are primarily a b2b product with different requirements that is priced appropriately, computer monitors have a different use case and only few dumb tv models are being made.

    3 votes

  12. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    Tiraon
    Link
    Midnight Suns - I heard good things about it among the bad so I decided to get it on sale despite not being something I would usually consider. It was both better than I expected and about as...

    Midnight Suns - I heard good things about it among the bad so I decided to get it on sale despite not being something I would usually consider. It was both better than I expected and about as expected in different aspects.

    The actual card game is good. It is varied in heroes, their abilities and synergies. The addition of positioning and enviromental attacks also adds another interesting aspect.

    There are two other gameplay aspects of exploring the small open world and interacting with the heroes.

    The problems I had with it can be grouped in three categories - technical, structural and gameplay.

    Technical
    On playstation I did not have all that much bugs but I was apparently lucky and those I did have were major ones. It is also the only game that I had crash on PS. To be fair it was only one time but it is apparently a lot worse on pc.
    Years after release there are known problems ranging from annoying to game breaking that you need to be aware of while playing the game. They also introduced major problem in later update and simply never fixed it.

    Structural
    Paid currency for cosmetics. Season pass, though now it is more of dlc bundle as the game is finished.
    Denuvo is the reason I got this on playstation. Which I have in part for games I don't want on my pc but still want to play for some reason. I am neither interested in restrictive drm, launchers or third party accounts and keeping that contained to a dedicated box is a compromise. Steam is bad enough but at least it provides added value on top of being drm client lacking basic configurability.

    Gameplay
    While the core gameplay is actually good they decided to go for large respawns and level scaling. Level scaling basically negates any point in leveling characters and it may as well have been left out entirely and create a better game for it. While increasing the challenge with the level is not inherently bad, doing it with numbers go up is possibly the worst and least interesting way.
    The missions also only have a few basic templates that repeat which eventually decreases the appeal of the core part of the game.

  13. Comment on A rant about how devices handle users with language backgrounds other than English in ~tech

    Tiraon
    Link
    It simply seems a small part of effects of profit and data driven development and overall abysmal computer literacy rates. Basically any mainstream sw will assume what the users actually want and...

    It simply seems a small part of effects of profit and data driven development and overall abysmal computer literacy rates.

    Basically any mainstream sw will assume what the users actually want and ignore the input to the contrary while not exposing any settings to change this behaviour.

    It is best visible on search engines which do not even pretend to return useful accurate results anymore or on social media serving their content in how they decide, ignoring user preference altogether.

    I raised topics advocating for more computer literacy and even on Tildes I get at best mixed reactions.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on A case for increasing computer literacy (but also a rant) in ~tech

    Tiraon
    Link Parent
    First off I am not advocating for a deep understanding but for enough to be comfortable actually operating the thing. Basically what would have been enough to operate Windows 7. I honestly do not...

    First off I am not advocating for a deep understanding but for enough to be comfortable actually operating the thing. Basically what would have been enough to operate Windows 7. I honestly do not feel this is a very high bar or needs a lot of commitment.

    Personally I also believe anyone would benefit from being able to do basic scripting in a high level language but that is a different issue.

    The real immediate benefit is being able to fully utilize and have surface level understanding of the thing most people use daily in many different ways to direct their lives and have their lives directed by.

    For the car analogy I don't know. Maybe not being able to use or even knowing what manual transmission is?

    It is the exact same principle as surface level financial, medical and civil governance knowledge. It benefits the individual and raises the floor on the related societal functions.

    1 vote

  16. A case for increasing computer literacy (but also a rant)

    ~tech Ask
    Preemtively this is not about Linux but it does serve as a basic example of a low effort, low cost switch that I personally consider ultimately beneficial long term. Not even necessarily for...

    Preemtively this is not about Linux but it does serve as a basic example of a low effort, low cost switch that I personally consider ultimately beneficial long term. Not even necessarily for itself but how it captures the pre Windows 10 mindset of sw being the tool for the user.

    The old joke of in Russia the television watches you is relevant here. On multiple levels.

    Other and an even easier thing to do would be to switch from Chrome to Firefox as an unideal alternative still but with less default problems and better options to possibly switch to later.

    These are only examples and are not important by themselves. What is important, is how these attitudes enable ever less effort and attention to be placed on the end user in mainstream sw.

    A lot of the time whenever there is any mention of switching to Linux there is a lot of talk about how you cannot expect normal people to want to follow even the basic steps and possible but unlikely troubleshooting needed to get it to work. Where society is concerned opinion is reality. The sw and hw are magic black boxes that cannot be understood so the consensus is to avoid trying to understand even the superficial basics that would be considered trivial even a decade before.

    Neither it is likely to change closer to the ideal of just working than it already is without further adoption. It is not a problem of Linux but of insufficient support by third parties creating edge cases.

    I admit that it is unlikely this changes. There is no societal acceptance for it and arguably more important for the individual topics of financial literacy, basic involvement in governance or medical awareness have abysmally low knowledge levels generally.

    Voting is the most basic, least effort way to have some effect and yet two thirds turn out is usually considered large.

    36 votes

  17. Comment on The AI industry doesn’t take “no” for an answer in ~tech

    Tiraon
    Link Parent
    Teams also does that. So far it is simply short rote phrases but it exists.

    Teams also does that. So far it is simply short rote phrases but it exists.

  18. Comment on Advice on avoiding the hedonic treadmill of endless content? in ~life

    Tiraon
    Link
    For myself it is about adding friction and building habits. A lot of it means only using smartphone for things I cannot do on computer as sw on smartphone is significantly worse on average and the...

    For myself it is about adding friction and building habits. A lot of it means only using smartphone for things I cannot do on computer as sw on smartphone is significantly worse on average and the form factor makes it too easy to randomly start using it at any time.

    It is also helpful to have at least a very basic knowledge about psychology, marketing, probability and programming. Knowing at least in a very broad outline right away what the product likely means to achieve, how and why makes it easier to instinctively want to avoid it. As with marketing effectively no one is immune so it is best to be both aware and skeptical.

    I made the comment here a while back about hidden costs of marketing for the end user and got a reply that of course it is the increased costs of goods you buy, I am not particularly convinced most people make that jump both when watching ads for money free services and when buying products. Then there are all the other costs in how mostly the internet but also physical spaces operate, mental overhead, likely poorer decisions making purchases on average, general availability of different goods and likely so much more. Sorry about not replying and then referencing it in a random topic

    Doom scrolling is similar and consciously attempting to figure out the costs means being less likely to do it.

    I think building the habit of consuming content consciously, having plenty of other options be it social interactions, hobbies or more active or slower media and having alternatives is essential. It is also worth avoiding smartphone as much as possible and using computer instead as it is less convenient alternative with more friction that requires more conscious decision to use.

  19. Comment on How Wall Street ruined the Roomba and then blamed Lina Khan in ~tech

    Tiraon
    Link
    This is bit of sideways to the article. I really do have to wonder what goes through the mind of someone willingly buying an internet required device they don't urgently need. It really goes to...

    This is bit of sideways to the article.

    There are about 20 million active Roomba vacuum cleaners in operation, and unless Trump regulators or antitrust enforcers act, now all the data harvested from our homes will go to China.

    I really do have to wonder what goes through the mind of someone willingly buying an internet required device they don't urgently need. It really goes to show the absolute unwillingness to consider the broader impact. Not to say average person should have to do that but that is the world we live in.
    It also highlights the glorification of computer illiteracy.

    Amazon Sidewalk

    A corporate mesh network for hire in a variety of products.
    Another excellent argument against just don't connect it to the internet stance on smart things. It really is only a question of cost effectivity, public perception and legislation if forced connections are added to more classes of products(for now I am only aware of cars).

    8 votes