Venko's recent activity

  1. Comment on “Tomato” versus “#FF6347”—the tragicomic history of CSS color names in ~comp

    Venko
    Link
    There's a great article here from 37 degrees that discusses a better alternative to the conventional colour system in CSS.

    There's a great article here from 37 degrees that discusses a better alternative to the conventional colour system in CSS.

    4 votes

  2. Comment on United Kingdom electric vehicle owners to face pay-per-mile tax in ~transport

    Venko
    Link
    For electric vehicle owners who park their cars on a driveway this is unlikely to make electric cars unattractive. They will be charging their cars overnight on special electric vehicle energy...

    From April 2028, electric car drivers will pay a road charge of 3p per mile, while plug-in hybrid drivers will pay 1.5p per mile, with the rates going up each year with inflation.

    For electric vehicle owners who park their cars on a driveway this is unlikely to make electric cars unattractive. They will be charging their cars overnight on special electric vehicle energy tarrifs and paying a couple of hundred pounds extra per year in tax.

    The great majority of British drivers do not have a driveway and parallel park their car wherever they can find space on a given day. As a result they cannot benefit from at-home charging prices instead paying significantly more to use public chargers. I feel that persuading these people to buy an electric car was already extremely difficult (after all they're far more expensive to buy and the fuel efficiencies don't apply for people without driveways) and now the perceived cost of pay-per-mile will make this far worse.

    I'm not familiar with the exact details around plug-in-hybrid company car taxes but I believe that the taxes were far lower in the past. Adding a rate of 1.5p per mile onto cars that perhaps weren't actually being plugged in anyway will be interesting.

    13 votes

  4. Comment on Windows: Linux GPU gaming benchmarks on Bazzite in ~games

    Venko
    Link Parent
    On that point I dropped my favourite and most-played game on Windows when they introduced a kernel level anti-cheat: League of Legends. I realise that it doesn't give them access to much more than...

    On that point I dropped my favourite and most-played game on Windows when they introduced a kernel level anti-cheat: League of Legends.

    I realise that it doesn't give them access to much more than a regular administrator process but considering it loads before almost anything else it's the perfect place for a malware infection to hide. I wouldn't trust the security practices of Riot to be robust enough to risk such an attack vector.

    So whilst it's unfortunate that these games block Linux I think it's an acceptably small number of games to skip to avoid the risk of additional exploit channels.

    11 votes

  5. Comment on Windows: Linux GPU gaming benchmarks on Bazzite in ~games

    Venko
    Link
    The team at Gamers Nexus did a lot of work on analysing and benchmarking on Linux albeit with a lot of caveats. I recommend watching the twenty-minutes introduction where Steve discusses the...

    The team at Gamers Nexus did a lot of work on analysing and benchmarking on Linux albeit with a lot of caveats. I recommend watching the twenty-minutes introduction where Steve discusses the complexity of benchmarking on Linux and how they approached it.

    What was really interesting is how inconstent Nvidia is on Linux and huge 1% low drops versus AMD. The definitive advantage that Nvidia has over AMD on Windows doesn't seem to apply on Linux where 9070 XT seems very good and far cheaper than the alternatives.

    16 votes

  7. Comment on A new era of intelligence with Gemini 3 in ~tech

    Venko
    Link
    It's been a year and a half since I last looked into Google's AI offering. Back then I commented that existing Google One customers weren't actually able to try their AI offering without tripling...

    It's been a year and a half since I last looked into Google's AI offering. Back then I commented that existing Google One customers weren't actually able to try their AI offering without tripling their Google One subscription price and moving to monthly payments.

    I just took another look and it's still pretty similar. Google does now offer an option to pay yearly for AI access for £190 (so £110 for AI access on top of the £80 for Google Drive backups) or you can pay monthly like before which appears to work out cheaper for the first 12 months.

    I just wish they'd offer a separate subscription to try out their AI models without holding our family backups hostage. Google's inability to just sell their AI offering versus their competitors (Anthropic and OpenAI) seems crazy.

    It STILL looks like the only way for my wife or father-in-law to try out Gemini Pro is to leave the family account we backup our documents and photos to.

    5 votes

  8. Comment on Digiphile - Return of the immersive sim in ~games

    Venko
    Link
    If this become a regular thing then it's probably worth me examining @talklittle's firefox extension to see if I can add support for the Digiphile pages as it takes a while to manually compile...

    If this become a regular thing then it's probably worth me examining @talklittle's firefox extension to see if I can add support for the Digiphile pages as it takes a while to manually compile these things in Obsidian.

    8 votes

  9. Digiphile - Return of the immersive sim

    ~games Ask (recommendations)
    After this Tildes post I was curious about the review scores, Steam Deck compatibility and ProtonDB ratings for the first Digiphile bundle and figured it's worth sharing. I've added two extra...

    After this Tildes post I was curious about the review scores, Steam Deck compatibility and ProtonDB ratings for the first Digiphile bundle and figured it's worth sharing. I've added two extra columns compared to the Humble Bundle posts:

    • Early access because some of these games are "early access" releases.
    • All Time Low sourced from isthereanydeal

    Digiphile - Return of the Immersive Sim is now available with the following games, grouped by payment tier.

    $9 Tier (aprox £6.85, €7.77)

    Steam Page OpenCritic Steam Recent/All Operating Systems Steam Deck ProtonDB Early Access All Time Low
    Blood West 81 89 / 89 Win ✅ Verified 🎖️ Platinum No $9.37
    Ctrl Alt Ego N/A 93 / 93 Win ❓ Unknown 🟨 Gold No $9.45

    $13 Tier (aprox £9.89, €11.23)

    Everything in the $9 tier and the following:

    Steam Page OpenCritic Steam Recent/All Operating Systems Steam Deck ProtonDB Early Access All Time Low
    Shadows of Doubt 68 67 / 82 Win ✅ Verified 🎖️ Platinum No $9.24
    System Shock (2023) 77 88 / 90 Win 🟨 Playable 🎖️ Platinum No $16.08
    Fallen Aces N/A 95 / 98 Win ✅ Verified 🟨 Gold ⏳ Yes $10.83

    $20 Tier (aprox £15.22, €17.27)

    Everything in the $13 tier and the following:

    Steam Page OpenCritic Steam Recent/All Operating Systems Steam Deck ProtonDB Early Access All Time Low
    System Shock 2 (Remaster) 82 81 / 86 Win ✅ Verified 🎖️ Platinum No $12.60
    Peripeteia N/A 72 / 88 Win 🟨 Playable 🟨 Gold ⏳ Yes $20.80

    $5 DLC add-on (aprox £3.80, €4.32)

    They all sell this as a separate addon for an additional $5:

    Steam Page OpenCritic Steam Recent/All Operating Systems Steam Deck ProtonDB Early Access All Time Low
    Blood West: Dead Man’s Promise N/A 80 / 80 Win N/A N/A No $5.58

    Does anyone have experience with any of the games and, if so, would you recommend them? Is there anything in here that you're particularly excited to play? Should we post other Digiphile bundles or is this a terrible selection compared to Humble Choice?

    20 votes

  10. Comment on Python Foundation goes ride or DEI, rejects US government grant with strings attached in ~society

    Venko
    Link
    Looking at their financials and expenses (pages 24 and 25 respectively) it looks like their annual conference costs roughly 1.5 million USD more than it raises in revenue. So perhaps cutting that...

    Looking at their financials and expenses (pages 24 and 25 respectively) it looks like their annual conference costs roughly 1.5 million USD more than it raises in revenue. So perhaps cutting that back, shutting it down completely or raising ticket prices could account for the income loss.

    The bigger issue that I can see that many of their highest tier sponsors are also American companies that may capitulate to the American government such as Meta and Nvidia and withdraw their funding. Both firms have already capitulated in other ways to the Trump administration.

    10 votes

  11. Comment on ‘This is what we’ve been afraid of’: British Jews after the Manchester attack in ~society

    Venko
    Link
    For those who weren't aware: Manchester synagogue attack Guardian podcast link:...

    For those who weren't aware: Manchester synagogue attack

    Guardian podcast link: https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2025/oct/08/this-is-what-weve-been-afraid-of-british-jews-after-the-manchester-attack-podcast
    Apple podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/today-in-focus/id1440133626?i=1000730713412

    I'm a huge fan of the Today in Focus Guardian podcast and recommend it in general. It covers so many different things and this time it's covering how life has become for British jews. At only thirty minutes I recommend people listen to the whole thing.

    4 votes

  13. Comment on Humble Choice - October 2025 in ~games

    Venko
    Link Parent
    I remember deeply concentrating for thirty minutes every month editing a markdown table and cycling through browser tabs checking all of the source websites. In case @kfwyre hasn't said it to you...

    I remember deeply concentrating for thirty minutes every month editing a markdown table and cycling through browser tabs checking all of the source websites.

    In case @kfwyre hasn't said it to you enough: @talklittle this browser extension is so, so brilliant!

    4 votes

  14. Comment on Humble Choice - October 2025 in ~games

    Venko
    Link
    I have no experience with any of these games. But after the bundle was unveiled I watched trailers and gameplay videos for every single game here. Wow - what a great looking selection this month....

    I have no experience with any of these games. But after the bundle was unveiled I watched trailers and gameplay videos for every single game here. Wow - what a great looking selection this month. I'm usually either indecisive or quick to skip a month but this is month a clear yes from me.

    Based on Steam reviews the only game that I'd give a clear miss to trying out is Hotel Renovator because of the number of game-breaking bugs reported. I note that Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town isn't playable for the Linux gamers but I doubt that it comes close to Stardew Valley anyway.

    3 votes

  15. Comment on First-time competitor from Norway has stirred up success by claiming the coveted title of world porridge making champion in Scotland in ~food

    Venko
    Link
    It doesn't seem that unusual for international competitors to win one of the two prizes. They have two categories: traditional porridge (oats, water and salt only) specialty porridge (other...

    It doesn't seem that unusual for international competitors to win one of the two prizes. They have two categories:

    • traditional porridge (oats, water and salt only)
    • specialty porridge (other ingredients welcome)

    This year an Australian won the speciality porridge prize. In 2021 the specialty porridge prize was worn by a Dutch vegan food blogger. In 2016 an American won the traditional prize.

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Google details Android developer certification requirement, and it’s as bad as we feared in ~tech

    Venko
    Link
    Surely this means the end of Signal messaging on Android or at least secure use of it. Google could replace the binary with a compromised one for specific users at the direction of governments and...

    Surely this means the end of Signal messaging on Android or at least secure use of it. Google could replace the binary with a compromised one for specific users at the direction of governments and surely will be compelled to in secret courts.

    Which makes me wonder how do Google's signing rules compare with that of Apple?

    22 votes

  17. Comment on CGA-2025-10 🕹️⏰ 🗺️ 🐸 INSERT CARTRIDGE 🟢 Chrono Trigger in ~games

    Venko
    Link
    In my opinion the best version of this game is the enhanced Nintendo DS release of Chrono Trigger but getting your hands on it and the hardware to play it is tricky. My New 3DS XL's cartridge...

    In my opinion the best version of this game is the enhanced Nintendo DS release of Chrono Trigger but getting your hands on it and the hardware to play it is tricky. My New 3DS XL's cartridge reader has started to fail so I picked up the Steam release of the game.

    The Steam release's user interface isn't as good as the DS release. For example: on the DS version's equipment screen the increase or decrease in a stat from equipping an item is shown whereas on the Steam release only the new stat and a colour to indicate if it's an upgrade or downgrade is shown.

    Here are a few tips for new players:

    1. The Steam release let's you change the battle speed. Increasing battle-speed increases the speed that the enemies take actions but your reaction times to select things are still the same. So for new players I recommend playing with the default battle speed until you get comfortable.
    2. Under settings on the DS release, Steam release and presumably the mobile releases you can change the ATB mode to wait. This means that if you open the techniques submenu in battle player and enemy ATB gauges will temporarily pause. It does not pause ATB modes otherwise. This makes the game easier and I recommend it.
    3. The position of enemies is pretty important. Your characters will learn techniques that target an area or direction which allows you to effectively take out multiple enemies at once.
    4. Talk to NPCs every-time you enter a new area. They'll share valuable insight including enemy weaknesses that you can then exploit later.
    5. At a certain point in the story you'll unlock one more character than you can keep in your party. If you keep the party member with healing techniques in your party then you'll potentially save a lot of money on potions at this point in the game.
    10 votes

  18. Comment on imgur.com geoblocks the UK in ~tech

    Venko
    Link Parent
    Reddit only blocks VPNs for unauthenticated access to the site. You can create a Reddit account whilst using a VPN and then log in.

    Reddit only blocks VPNs for unauthenticated access to the site. You can create a Reddit account whilst using a VPN and then log in.

  19. Comment on CGA-2025-09 🕹️🚂 REMOVE CARTRIDGE ⏏️ The Last Express in ~games

    Venko
    Link Parent
    It looks like this sale was now extended until 6th October on Steam. Which should work nicely for anyone that needs to pick it up once the dedicated topic lands.

    It looks like this sale was now extended until 6th October on Steam. Which should work nicely for anyone that needs to pick it up once the dedicated topic lands.

    4 votes

  20. Comment on Deimos Loading Screens mod for Fallout: New Vegas in ~games

    Venko
    Link Parent
    The guide and mod-list for A Tale of Two Wastelands is far smaller so you're sacrificing a lot of the new vegas extras. However I did notice that there's a second guide which builds upon the first...

    The guide and mod-list for A Tale of Two Wastelands is far smaller so you're sacrificing a lot of the new vegas extras.

    However I did notice that there's a second guide which builds upon the first one although I think this isn't from the same team. I have no experience with this so if you try it then please share your experience.

    3 votes