codesplice's recent activity

  1. Comment on Encrypt. Now. in ~tech

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    This article makes a strong case against the idea that "only criminals want encryption" or that people "with nothing to hide" shouldn't be concerned.

    We have come to a point where end-to-end encrypting all your private data and private communications is no longer an ethical option, but an ethical duty.

    This article makes a strong case against the idea that "only criminals want encryption" or that people "with nothing to hide" shouldn't be concerned.

    29 votes

  3. Comment on How do you test your home network security? in ~comp

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    In addition to running my own internal vulnerability scans, I also set up a Shodan Monitor to keep tabs on the external exposure of my home network as well as various cloud servers. It doesn't get...

    In addition to running my own internal vulnerability scans, I also set up a Shodan Monitor to keep tabs on the external exposure of my home network as well as various cloud servers. It doesn't get super deep, but will send me an alert if the port status of a monitored IP changes.

    I also use Tailscale for remotely accessing all of my systems so that I don't need to expose SSH or other ports at all unless I'm deliberately wanting a service to be exposed to the internet.

    5 votes

  4. Comment on What are my options for two-factor authentication that doesn't require a backing service (cloud/SMS)? in ~tech

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    Why not both? I use it for FIDO2 things where supported, but seems like many more sites support TOTP and not FIDO2. I love the flexibility of being able to use the yubikey in a variety of...

    Why not both?

    I use it for FIDO2 things where supported, but seems like many more sites support TOTP and not FIDO2. I love the flexibility of being able to use the yubikey in a variety of different ways.

    3 votes

  5. Comment on What are my options for two-factor authentication that doesn't require a backing service (cloud/SMS)? in ~tech

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    I've been using Yubico Authenticator to store TOTP secrets on my Yubikey for years: https://www.yubico.com/products/yubico-authenticator/ (I actually enroll new accounts on a pair of Yubikeys -...

    I've been using Yubico Authenticator to store TOTP secrets on my Yubikey for years:
    https://www.yubico.com/products/yubico-authenticator/

    (I actually enroll new accounts on a pair of Yubikeys - one which stays on my keychain, and another that gets immediately returned to a locked fire safe just in case).

    Storing the secrets on hardware makes it easy to switch between mobile/desktop devices without having to sync my secrets through someone else's computer (The Cloud), and keeping them out of my password manager ensures that my two factors aren't reduced to one if the password manager gets compromised somehow.

    13 votes

  6. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

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    Yeah I was going to recommend using Nix + home-manager as a way to try out the Nix approach without having to go all-in right off the bat.

    Yeah I was going to recommend using Nix + home-manager as a way to try out the Nix approach without having to go all-in right off the bat.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp

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    I spent two days this week writing my first from-scratch Go program. All it does is periodically pull a JSON file from a defined set of web servers, parse that, and serve up a webpage with a...

    I spent two days this week writing my first from-scratch Go program. All it does is periodically pull a JSON file from a defined set of web servers, parse that, and serve up a webpage with a nicely-formated table of the results - but it's exactly what I needed for that very specific purpose.

    It's quite basic, but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, as well as all the things I learned along the way.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on Baldur’s Gate 3 could have saved Google Stadia in ~games

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    In Stadia's case, I wonder if more people would have taken a chance on it if they had known that all hardware and software purchases would be refunded in the event of a shutdown. That was a...

    In Stadia's case, I wonder if more people would have taken a chance on it if they had known that all hardware and software purchases would be refunded in the event of a shutdown. That was a surprisingly generous severance package.

    2 votes

  9. Comment on Baldur’s Gate 3 could have saved Google Stadia in ~games

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    Disclaimer up front: I'm one of the 12 or so Stadia fans in the world (yes, we exist!). I was sold on the concept after participating in the Project Stream test, so I preordered the "Founders Kit"...

    Disclaimer up front: I'm one of the 12 or so Stadia fans in the world (yes, we exist!). I was sold on the concept after participating in the Project Stream test, so I preordered the "Founders Kit" hardware bundle as soon as it was available. I loved playing on Stadia from the start up until the last hour the service was online, and I happily maintained a Pro subscription the whole time.

    Stadia made it easy for me to get back into gaming after a 5+ year break. I didn't have to worry about building a computer, configuring drivers, tweaking settings, managing storage space, and keeping games updated. Stadia abstracted all that away so that all I had to do was press play and get in the game, and it worked brilliantly.

    From a fan's perspective, Stadia's biggest problem (aside from the ever-growing Google Graveyard) was Google's lack of understanding. Google didn't understand the gaming industry, didn't understand what gamers wanted, didn't understand what aspects of Stadia users found most attractive, and certainly didn't understand how to market those aspects.

    The confusion and conflicting impressions in this thread is a great example of what a poor job Google did telling us what Stadia was:

    • That the service itself was free, and let you play any games you purchased on the platform without a subscription.
    • That you didn't need to buy the hardware, you could play with keyboard+mouse or a controller connected with USB.
    • That the Pro subscription gave you higher streaming quality, discounted games, and a constantly expanding library of games you could play for no extra charge as long as you kept your subscription (I discovered so many cool indie games through that!).
    • That you didn't necessarily need a crazy-fast internet connection to have a good experience on Stadia. I played a ton over my phone's mobile data and it worked just fine.

    Stadia was never really going to attract the dedicated gamers who already had the latest consoles and/or GPUs and an extensive library of games on another platform. But it was a great fit for more casual gamers or those who had fallen out of gaming as life got in the way. There was a whole "Stadia Dadia" movement of dads (and moms) who were able to rediscover their love of gaming through the convenience offered by Stadia.

    I always knew that Stadia wasn't likely to be around long-term, and I'm sad that things turned out the way they did. But I don't regret a single hour (or dollar) I spent on Stadia. And when they (generously) refunded all hardware and software purchases made over the course of 3+ years, I used my sizable "Stadia Stimulus" to purchase a Steam Deck and a crap-ton of games (including a number of great indie titles I'd discovered in the Stadia Pro rotation). The Steam Deck is in many ways as convenient (or even more convenient) than Stadia was, and it's of course got a much larger library. I now love gaming on my Steam Deck (and Baldur's Gate 3 runs pretty well on it!) - but I probably wouldn't have bothered with it if Stadia hadn't reminded me how much I enjoyed gaming.

    So with my longer-than-I'd-anticipated backstory out of the way,

    Would Baldur's Gate 3 have saved Stadia? As much as I loved Stadia, no, I don't believe any single title could have saved it from Google's poor management and shortsightedness. We saw a small surge of new users join up when Cyberpunk launched and it became pretty clear that the best way to enjoy that without breaking the bank was on Stadia, but Google didn't really do anything to capitalize on that. I don't think it would have been any different with BG3. I did play the BG3 beta while it was on Stadia and it was fine (impressive for a pre-release game, even), but there wasn't really much buzz about it even within the Stadia community. I highly doubt that BG3 would have provided the sort of sustained surge which Stadia needed to prove its worth to Google.

    The 12 of us loyal Stadians gave Stadia way more of a chance than Google ever did.

    8 votes

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

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    Also BG3. I had been enjoying Diablo 4 for a little while but got bored with how shallow and repetitive the gameplay became. I slogged through completing the main campaign out of some sort of...

    Also BG3.

    I had been enjoying Diablo 4 for a little while but got bored with how shallow and repetitive the gameplay became. I slogged through completing the main campaign out of some sort of twisted sense of obligation rather than enjoyment, and then immediately jumped into BG3 and have been so much happier. The depth in the story, characters, and environment is truly impressive to me.

    It's kicked my butt a few times, but I'm having a ton of fun with it.

    1 vote

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

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    I do all of my gaming on my Deck. I don't always have a lot of time for gaming so its portability and instant suspend/resume helps me get the most of out my gaming sessions. I started Baldur's...

    I do all of my gaming on my Deck. I don't always have a lot of time for gaming so its portability and instant suspend/resume helps me get the most of out my gaming sessions.

    I started Baldur's Gate 3 over the weekend and am seriously enjoying it. I had previously spent a bit of time with Diablo 4 but got bored with how shallow, mindless, and repetitive the gameplay became... I don't anticipate having that problem with BG3. The depth in this is kind of astounding, and I think it plays quite well on the handheld. (And, again, that suspend/resume capability is killer.)

    Other titles I've enjoyed recently:

    • RimWorld, which is a bit clumsy on the handheld but perfectly playable if you don't mind a bunch of overlay menus.
    • Dredge, which is a delightful little fishing adventure game and great for a bit of relaxing between heavier games.
    • Stray, which I really enjoyed even though I'm not a cat person. The mechanics were just a lot of fun.
    • Metal Hellsinger, which lets me rock out while killing demons and is a fantastic way to relieve stress.

    And I'm probably going to need to play through the first three Halo games again after getting hit heavy with the nostalgia in this thread.

    5 votes

  12. Comment on What is your favourite cutscene/cinematic in any game? in ~games

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    Just reading those lines takes me back 20 years and gets me pumped up to fight some alien bastards.

    Just reading those lines takes me back 20 years and gets me pumped up to fight some alien bastards.

  13. Comment on From Zero to Nix in ~comp

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    I've also been switching to Nix/NixOS this week. It's one of those things I've known of for a while but I'm very glad to have finally taken the dive.

    I've also been switching to Nix/NixOS this week. It's one of those things I've known of for a while but I'm very glad to have finally taken the dive.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on From Zero to Nix in ~comp

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    WSL adding (manually-enabled) support for systemd has been a real game changer for me. I've been using that for running Docker directly in WSL without needing Docker Desktop. Looks like I'll have...

    WSL adding (manually-enabled) support for systemd has been a real game changer for me. I've been using that for running Docker directly in WSL without needing Docker Desktop.

    Looks like I'll have to get Nix going there now too. Thanks for persevering and sharing what was needed.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on Looking for new punk rock or ska bands in ~music

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    Anyone use Tidal? I dumped (most) of the discography of (most) of the artists mentioned in this thread into a giant playlist. It's not curated at all, and the albums are in no particular order,...

    Anyone use Tidal?

    I dumped (most) of the discography of (most) of the artists mentioned in this thread into a giant playlist. It's not curated at all, and the albums are in no particular order, but I've been really enjoying listening to it on shuffle. (Of course, with 95 108 hours of music (and counting) on there I've only listened to a tiny fraction of it!)

    https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/c170d722-b8e3-4f97-94cb-02c5d37e3d30

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Question about this plate I found at a yard sale in ~hobbies

  17. Comment on Looking for new punk rock or ska bands in ~music

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    Wow, these are all really solid recommendations. Thanks!

    Wow, these are all really solid recommendations. Thanks!

    1 vote

  18. Comment on Permanent archival formats. Do they exist? in ~tech

  19. Comment on Red Hat’s commitment to open source: A response to the git.centos.org changes in ~tech

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    Oracle's response to this is spicy: Oracle also reaffirms their commitment to continue to freely publish their Linux binaries and source for as long as they ship Oracle Linux.

    Oracle's response to this is spicy:

    Finally, to IBM, here’s a big idea for you. You say that you don’t want to pay all those RHEL developers? Here’s how you can save money: just pull from us. Become a downstream distributor of Oracle Linux. We will happily take on the burden.

    Oracle also reaffirms their commitment to continue to freely publish their Linux binaries and source for as long as they ship Oracle Linux.

    4 votes

  20. Comment on Question about this plate I found at a yard sale in ~hobbies

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    I found this on Etsy which seems very similar. I like your plate a lot more though!

    I found this on Etsy which seems very similar.

    I like your plate a lot more though!

    5 votes