Venko's recent activity

  1. Comment on As Internet enshittification marches on, here are some of the worst offenders in ~tech

    Venko
    Link Parent
    I really want to get an Apple TV but I've been waiting patiently for Apple to release the next model. MacRumors is currently suggesting that it will release around the end of the year.

    I really want to get an Apple TV but I've been waiting patiently for Apple to release the next model.

    MacRumors is currently suggesting that it will release around the end of the year.

    1 vote
  2. Comment on A surprising immigration raid in Kern County foreshadows what awaits farmworkers and businesses in ~society

    Venko
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    From the article it sounds like 75% of the workers aren't legally working in USA. If the employer is aware of that then how do they get away with employing them? In the UK an employer faces up to...

    From the article it sounds like 75% of the workers aren't legally working in USA. If the employer is aware of that then how do they get away with employing them?

    In the UK an employer faces up to five years in prison or an unlimited fine for every single incident of employing an illegal worker.

    6 votes
  3. Comment on US Supreme Court unanimously backs law banning TikTok if it’s not sold by its Chinese parent company in ~tech

    Venko
    Link Parent
    Considering how close the referendum was I think it's reasonably likely that Meta was the deciding factor in Brexit. Up until now the political party in power in the UK was made up of an...

    Considering how close the referendum was I think it's reasonably likely that Meta was the deciding factor in Brexit.

    Up until now the political party in power in the UK was made up of an increasingly large number of Brexit supporters. Now that's changed I wouldn't be surprised if foreign companies responsible for electoral interference that's caused horrific damage to the country are held responsible.

    Especially considering the war that Twitter/X is waging on the British government and how politically aligned Meta is. These companies appear to be deeply political and their interests don't align with those of the British public.

    19 votes
  4. Comment on US Supreme Court unanimously backs law banning TikTok if it’s not sold by its Chinese parent company in ~tech

    Venko
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    I wonder if this will be used as justification to ban Twitter and Meta apps in other countries. They've both already demonstrated the impact that they have on foreign populations and on elections....

    I wonder if this will be used as justification to ban Twitter and Meta apps in other countries. They've both already demonstrated the impact that they have on foreign populations and on elections. Then recently they showed their strong links to the American government. I can't really see a difference in terms of risks.

    52 votes
  5. Comment on US Food and Drug Administration to revoke authorization for the use of red no. 3 in food and ingested drugs in ~health

    Venko
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    This kind of thing is why I'm so uneasy about food safety when visiting USA. The UK passed legislation in 1995 based on an EU directive to ban E127 in almost all cases. In other words, Americans...

    This kind of thing is why I'm so uneasy about food safety when visiting USA. The UK passed legislation in 1995 based on an EU directive to ban E127 in almost all cases. In other words, Americans have been eating E127 for almost thirty years after Europe banned it (except for cherries) for safety reasons. For many other artificial food colours we have mandatory safety warnings.

    See this NYTimes article for some other potentially unsafe food additives that are common in the USA. Even bread is potentially dangerous in the USA and, even if you were to try and make your own, lots of flour is unsafe because it contains the same ingredients used in store-purchased bread.

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

    Venko
    Link
    Orwell: Ignorance is Strength - the sequel to Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You. Much like the original game you play an agent using a super spyware network called Orwell. Your job is to investigate...

    Orwell: Ignorance is Strength - the sequel to Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You. Much like the original game you play an agent using a super spyware network called Orwell. Your job is to investigate citizens and form a version of truth alongside another agent. The twist in these games is that whilst you have access to lots of information on citizens the only action that you're able to take yourself is sending datachunks to the other agent by adding them to the Orwell database. Doing some unlocks other documents that relate to those datachunks. Although the other agent can message you you cannot message them yourself. This means that you can control the "truth" by controlling which datachunks you send. I really enjoyed both the original game and this sequel. There's some crossover between the stories in both games so I suggest anyone interested start with the first game.

    3 votes
  7. Comment on Nvidia announces four next-gen RTX 5000 GPUs in ~tech

    Venko
    Link Parent
    Thanks for the heads up. It sounds like the recommended retail price isn't realistic in the UK and the card will be a lot more expensive then. It may be a lot cheaper to get the 5080 founder...

    Thanks for the heads up. It sounds like the recommended retail price isn't realistic in the UK and the card will be a lot more expensive then. It may be a lot cheaper to get the 5080 founder edition from Nvidia than buy a 5070 Ti and this will push the price of my build up drastically.

    As for the 1440p high refresh rate monitor I plan to do exactly that - swap one in months later when I see a good deal.

    1 vote
  8. Comment on Nvidia announces four next-gen RTX 5000 GPUs in ~tech

    Venko
    Link Parent
    Here's my draft PCPartPicker parts list based on PCPartPicker's "Magnificent AMD Gaming/Streaming Build" with changes following suggestions from you, @infpossibilityspace and swapping out the GPU...

    Here's my draft PCPartPicker parts list based on PCPartPicker's "Magnificent AMD Gaming/Streaming Build" with changes following suggestions from you, @infpossibilityspace and swapping out the GPU to the yet unreleased 5070 Ti.
    Considering the UK list price for 5070 Ti, assuming I can get a founders edition from Nvidia, this lands near my £2,000 target price. If I'm unlucky with stock/checking out quickly then I'll probably have to pay extra for a third-party 5070 Ti.

    1 vote
  9. Comment on UK users: Lobsters needs your help with the Online Safety Act in ~tech

    Venko
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    When Ofcom's rules come into play on 16th March then will a geoblock for the UK also be applied to Tildes?

    When Ofcom's rules come into play on 16th March then will a geoblock for the UK also be applied to Tildes?

    9 votes
  10. Comment on Nvidia announces four next-gen RTX 5000 GPUs in ~tech

    Venko
    Link
    I have an over ten year old gaming desktop that's really showing its age with an Nvidia 970 3.5/4GB GPU. I'd like to build a replacement soon. For the GPU I'm wondering about the 5080 versus the...

    I have an over ten year old gaming desktop that's really showing its age with an Nvidia 970 3.5/4GB GPU. I'd like to build a replacement soon. For the GPU I'm wondering about the 5080 versus the 5070 Ti as both feature 16GB of RAM (I can't justify buying a card with less memory). I don't have a 4k monitor but am considering getting a 2k one.

    In the UK the list prices are:

    • 5080 £979
    • 5070 Ti £729

    Does the 5070 Ti look suitable?
    Which processor would people recommend pairing with the GPU? I know that I'll need to figure out all of the other components too.

    3 votes
  11. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech

    Venko
    Link
    Ironically this website blocks access from the UK, EEA and EU so nobody in Europe can read the article.

    Ironically this website blocks access from the UK, EEA and EU so nobody in Europe can read the article.

    10 votes
  12. Comment on Slay the Spire 2 | Official gameplay trailer in ~games

    Venko
    Link
    I'm really excited that Slay the Spire 2 is built in Godot instead of Unity. There have been a few popular Godot games recently such as Brotato and Cassette Beasts but it's good to see more Godot...

    I'm really excited that Slay the Spire 2 is built in Godot instead of Unity. There have been a few popular Godot games recently such as Brotato and Cassette Beasts but it's good to see more Godot commercial successes.

    Mega Crit, the developer of Slay the Spire, is also a gold sponsor of Godot. Re-logic, the makers of Terraria, are silver sponsors but they also made a 100k USD one-time donation. It's really good to see these things in a market dominated by Unity / Unreal.

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

    Venko
    Link Parent
    There are only two servers in Turtle: The RP-PvE one and the PVP one. Pretty much everyone, myself included, plays on the Nordanaar PvE server for which a lot of features are exclusive. Also in...

    There are only two servers in Turtle: The RP-PvE one and the PVP one.

    Pretty much everyone, myself included, plays on the Nordanaar PvE server for which a lot of features are exclusive.

    Also in TurtleWow, although quests and such are faction exclusive you can group with the opposite faction.

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

    Venko
    Link Parent
    Yes, thank you. I think it's possible that Tildes stripped out everything except the final part of the URL from my bbcode link.

    Yes, thank you. I think it's possible that Tildes stripped out everything except the final part of the URL from my bbcode link.

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

    Venko
    (edited )
    Link
    Turtle WoW - I saw a post a while back about how the private World of Warcraft server, Turtle WoW, was remaking the WoW classic engine in unreal 5. This is still quite a way out but on the mention...

    Turtle WoW - I saw a post a while back about how the private World of Warcraft server, Turtle WoW, was remaking the WoW classic engine in unreal 5. This is still quite a way out but on the mention of Turtle WoW I decided to check it out.

    It's basically an expanded version of classic WoW with lots of tweaks, balance changes (including talents revamp and more class skills) and so, so much extra content. It knocks Season of Discovery out of the park and there's no rush/fear of missing out.

    It took me a while to apply optional patches to the client and set up some addons to my liking but since then I've been enjoying playing a High Elf paladin. I plan to set it up on my Steam Deck next.

    6 votes
  16. Comment on United Kingdom's new Prisons Minister, James Timpson, thinks 'two thirds of inmates shouldn't be there' in ~society

  17. Comment on Nebula strikes deal with Spotify to stream video content in ~tech

    Venko
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    It looks like the the selection of episodes on Spotify is very limited. For example, Game Maker's Toolkit has only thirteen videos on Spotify as opposed to hundreds of videos on Nebula and...

    It looks like the the selection of episodes on Spotify is very limited. For example, Game Maker's Toolkit has only thirteen videos on Spotify as opposed to hundreds of videos on Nebula and YouTube.

    This strikes me as really odd from Spotify's business perspective. I've watched through quite a few episodes of Game Maker's Toolkit whilst working and now, if I want to watch more, I have to leave Spotify and use one of their competitors: YouTube or Nebula directly.

    3 votes
  18. Comment on Nebula strikes deal with Spotify to stream video content in ~tech

    Venko
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    Links to the first slate of Nebula creators kicking off the content partnership on Spotify: CinemaWins Charles Cornell Hello Future Me Captain Midnight Tale Foundry Game Makers ToolKit Todd in the...

    Links to the first slate of Nebula creators kicking off the content partnership on Spotify:

    Does anyone watch any of these channels and, if so, would you recommend them? Why do you think we should check out a particular channel?

    12 votes
  19. Comment on Spotify hikes fees, passing on its tax burden, after the French government introduced a levy to support the nation's music industry in ~music

    Venko
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    As per the article it's still substantially cheaper than Spotify Premium in the UK. Country Premium in USD France 12.02 USD (11.12 euros) UK 15.24 USD (11.99 pounds sterling) USA 10.99 USD The...

    As per the article it's still substantially cheaper than Spotify Premium in the UK.

    Country Premium in USD
    France 12.02 USD (11.12 euros)
    UK 15.24 USD (11.99 pounds sterling)
    USA 10.99 USD

    The French and UK numbers include taxes which the USA does not. I suspect that Spotify is actually cheaper in France than both the UK and USA after taxes.

    17 votes