Grumble4681's recent activity
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Comment on Over 120,000 home cameras hacked for 'sexploitation' footage in ~tech
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Comment on Over 120,000 home cameras hacked for 'sexploitation' footage in ~tech
Grumble4681 Link ParentI worked for a company that installed security cameras and it really drove me nuts how insecure they were set up and the owner was somewhat cognizant of the issue but one of the problems is that...I worked for a company that installed security cameras and it really drove me nuts how insecure they were set up and the owner was somewhat cognizant of the issue but one of the problems is that it's just a race to the bottom. Installing cheap chinese hardware with trash firmware/software was seen as necessary because if 'we' (the company I worked for) didn't do it, competitors would do it and get the sale/job. I tried to insist on better security practices for the equipment we were using but the management at that company was nearly non-existent and lacked any ability to exert such a setup process that would be needed to overcome the poor firmware and software of the equipment. We were using rebadged Hikvision equipment.
And I know for a fact there were cameras installed inside homes that customers wanted, primarily in the living room areas but also in some other areas though typically the owner of the company would refuse to install in bedrooms. A couple times parents wanted cameras installed inside their kids bedrooms which at the very least they refused to do.
The worst part about that is, the passwords for basically all camera systems installed at all customer systems was the same. The Hikvision systems had no management user layer generally, like there were certain things you could only do with the hardcoded admin account and if you were a security company wanting to provide a higher level of customer service to customers you needed this admin account, but that also meant you had access to all the camera footage. So combined with the atrocious password management, this meant technicians or really anyone working at the company had full access to nearly every single camera system the company installed, including some systems that customers had cameras installed inside their homes. And the password was not all that complex, so if I had to guess that password is in a ton of databases for security cameras and people across the world could likely easily access them.
Ironically this made some cloud-controlled security camera services more secure within this context, because they could be more easily configured for better security. These services were intended for a middle-man security company which meant the software was built in such a way to satisfy the needs of the middle-man to provide service and shield the company from liability by limiting their access unless the customer explicitly approved it. The ones we used at that company were through Alarm.com and its subsidiary OpenEye.
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Comment on Sling TV celebrates court win with $1 Day Pass offer, vows to continue fight for consumer choice in ~tv
Grumble4681 (edited )LinkThis just says that the court denied Disney's request for a preliminary injunction, which would have prevented Sling from offering this while the case is still ongoing. So it's a court win in the...This just says that the court denied Disney's request for a preliminary injunction, which would have prevented Sling from offering this while the case is still ongoing. So it's a court win in the temporary sense but doesn't determine whether this type of offering will actually be able to stick around.
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Comment on Google backpedals on new Android developer registration rules in ~tech
Grumble4681 Link ParentThis partly highlights one of the problems with a broken legislative system, but also is part of a bigger revelation of the weakness in our judicial systems. We already know many of these...This partly highlights one of the problems with a broken legislative system, but also is part of a bigger revelation of the weakness in our judicial systems.
We already know many of these companies get slaps on the wrist equivalent in fines, a very small cost of doing business; However the other flaw that has been increasingly abused in the judicial system is their rulings are meant to be narrow and tailored to specific actions perhaps to mitigate legislation from the bench, but it ultimately leads to factions with lots of resources to be able to continue tweaking their violative actions and they each get treated as separate.
The Trump administration is doing this a lot, break a law, court says they can't, so they pretend to follow the court but meanwhile knowingly break another law in a similar way and court tells them to stop again, adnauseum. As long as each action is treated independently and they don't directly continue to violate court orders for that one specific action, avoid consequences while continuing to break the law.
This action by Google is flagrantly violating the spirit of the order against them to open up the app store. But they can get away without punishment of violating that order because they can open up the app store in the specific way that was challenged in court, while creating a new way to lock it down so that one has to go through the challenge in court again as a separate action.
Because our legislative branch is so corrupt and broken, there's no legislation specific enough to make challenging it in court an easier time while also broad enough to make sure all varying types of actions don't get treated separately.
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Comment on Halo: Campaign Evolved | The Silent Cartographer – Thirteen minute gameplay demo in ~games
Grumble4681 Link ParentThe first remake of Halo CE is definitely not perfect. There's some original Xbox players of the game including myself that don't like some aspects of the remake because they used the Halo PC...The first remake of Halo CE is definitely not perfect. There's some original Xbox players of the game including myself that don't like some aspects of the remake because they used the Halo PC version to remake and the Halo PC version has some differences from the Xbox version. So if you originally played the game on Xbox, there are certain details that if you notice them, kinda puts a ceiling on the nostalgia feeling.
But I highly doubt they're going to rectify those things here and even if they were it wouldn't justify another remake at this point. It is what it is at this point. They took their shot back when they did and the campaign remake of the Anniversary edition was pretty good but not perfect, the multiplayer included with MCC was an absolute disaster.
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Comment on Halo: Campaign Evolved | The Silent Cartographer – Thirteen minute gameplay demo in ~games
Grumble4681 Link ParentI feel somewhat similar, though from what I've heard, it sounds like it won't be the same game exactly, it's not clear to me though. I was told it will have climbing and sprinting in it, which can...I feel somewhat similar, though from what I've heard, it sounds like it won't be the same game exactly, it's not clear to me though. I was told it will have climbing and sprinting in it, which can drastically change the game play if that is true, and there may also be other things I haven't heard about.
I think after they have botched so many Halo releases lately, they've killed the brand and franchise pretty good. I feel like a lot of old Halo fans would have a hard time trusting them on this. Like MCC was such a complete disaster that my friend group kinda all gave up on Halo because that was totally unplayable on launch and barely playable for a long time after. By the time they even made it playable, so many people stopped playing that not only did it make getting matches difficult, it also meant that you couldn't get matches you want because of how matchmaking systems typically work, the fewer people there are, the less choice of options.
And from what I'm hearing from people who have worked for Microsoft in game development formerly and still have connections there, it sounds like the new remake is possibly going to be another technical disaster like MCC. I believe Halo Infinite also had a shaky launch from what one of my friends told me when they tried it, but I never tried it because my enthusiasm for that franchise is completely sapped.
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Comment on US President Donald Trump has begun demolishing the east wing of the White House, without approval in ~society
Grumble4681 Link ParentI'm pretty sure they use this line in the TV show The Wire, I think in the season finale so it would have come after the New Yorker. Never knew it possibly even came from that. Could also just...I'm pretty sure they use this line in the TV show The Wire, I think in the season finale so it would have come after the New Yorker. Never knew it possibly even came from that. Could also just have been a coincidence but still interesting to know.
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
Grumble4681 Link ParentI saw someone do this while being (eye)balls deep into their phone. When thinking about how they were driving and the observed behavior, I was pretty sure they intentionally got in the left-most...I saw someone do this while being (eye)balls deep into their phone. When thinking about how they were driving and the observed behavior, I was pretty sure they intentionally got in the left-most lane so they could use their phone with the least amount of interaction of other cars on the road. They were going about the speed limit which for the left lane is slow so everyone was passing them. It was 3 lanes in this direction so the right lane is both the slower lane and also the lane where everyone gets onto the highway, and the middle lane is the one people shift to to let others onto the highway without issue as well as going faster than the speed limit but not catch a ticket faster, so there's still a lot of action going on in the middle lane. The left lane has the least amount of interaction and if you're someone who is holding the phone up with one hand and staring at it which is what the woman was doing when I saw her, you don't even really have to look ahead if you want to be careless, you just assume everyone else will work around you.
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Comment on EA is reportedly about to be sold in a record-setting $50 billion buyout to an investor group that includes private equity and Saudi Arabia in ~games
Grumble4681 LinkI haven't played an EA game in ages, even more recently when I have played like Madden, they're so exceedingly unrewarding that I view this as only possible upside (albeit slim chances). I don't...I haven't played an EA game in ages, even more recently when I have played like Madden, they're so exceedingly unrewarding that I view this as only possible upside (albeit slim chances). I don't think EA can be any worse than it is now.
I get that for some people, games like The Sims could take a step back in some content depending on Saudi influence in particular, but even though I loved playing The Sims when I was younger, I put them with Madden and such now. They feel like soulless money grabs rather than something that actually makes me want to play because it's fun or original. I haven't followed The Sims as much recently so my impressions could be off there but that's just how I see it from a distance anyhow.
I view it as, I have nothing to lose with this because EA made mostly such garbage that I haven't bothered with them in years that this can't make them any worse, but possibly could shake things up enough that maybe they will eventually make something of worth to me again.
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Comment on UPS recommendations for home use? in ~comp
Grumble4681 (edited )LinkThis most likely won't fit your use case based on what you have said so far, but just in case you weren't aware and maybe it would fit other factors that you hadn't considered, you could also look...This most likely won't fit your use case based on what you have said so far, but just in case you weren't aware and maybe it would fit other factors that you hadn't considered, you could also look at non-traditional UPS systems that use LifePO4 batteries and these are usually called power stations/solar generators.
Here's an example
https://www.ecoflow.com/us/river-3-plus-portable-power-station
That one is fairly pricey, I just came up with a brand off the top of my head and picked the first result I found so there could certainly be better deals, but that just gives an idea of the type of product.
The main advantage to these is that they have longer lasting batteries and larger battery capacities. My limited understanding is that the battery chemistry for these is such that they can't output their capacity as quickly as lead-acid, so an equal capacity of LifePO4 would not be able to power on all the same devices as a lead-acid would be, therefore to get similar power output capabilities it would necessitate a larger capacity, and as a byproduct also gives you greater on-time in the event the power does go out.
For traditional UPS systems, I own 5 Cyberpower UPS units and had no issues with any of them other than the lead-acid battery dying which isn't really an issue of the UPS, just a matter of whether or not you proactively replace the battery before it dies and don't experience an issue or wait until the battery dies and the potential issue that causes before replacing it. Some of those are the beefier units that I paid $100 or more for. It's worth noting that almost all of these are in storage for me right now, they're effectively useless to me, and I ended up buying a power station for my current living situation though I am not using it for UPS functionality. So basically I mentioned the non-traditional UPS because if they had existed at the price point they do now back when I bought the other UPS systems and I had come across them, I may have valued that more for the versatility of use case they offer and I wouldn't have a bunch of the lead-acid UPS systems sitting in storage right now.
Also with regards to the other comment and the link to CyberPower UPS fires, when I was researching UPS units, almost all of them seemingly had poor reviews here or there because they burst into flames or the unit melted or such. Between APC and Cyberpower especially I saw that, but also Tripp-lite and others had those issues and more. At my former workplace we had a few Tripp-lite units for very important devices that needed high uptime, and those tripp-lites would literally just randomly power off or have some other issue. And you can find this in reviews online that other people experienced it too.
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Comment on "House from hell” — How America’s largest homebuilders shift the cost of shoddy construction to buyers in ~finance
Grumble4681 Link ParentWith regards to the last line about people who may say build more housing and remove some of the regulations, I think the challenge is that some of these people are buying from these corner...With regards to the last line about people who may say build more housing and remove some of the regulations, I think the challenge is that some of these people are buying from these corner cutting homebuilders because they probably couldn't afford the same housing from a more quality homebuilder. Which I'm sure there are some out there, but they will cost more and it will likely be a slower build
As with many regulations, they help people who can afford to and ultimately are able to acquire a home, but it's undeniable that they also gatekeep others out of them.
I live in my car right now. In most places I don't think I'm legally even able to buy a piece of land and sleep in my car on that land. So instead I have to work around the system to find ways to exist in my car in less than legal ways sometimes and leech off public and business property in more ways more than I would have to otherwise if I wasn't regulated out of existing some other way.
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Comment on Why do some gamers invert their controls? Scientists now have answers, but they’re not what you think. in ~games
Grumble4681 LinkSome games both inverted and not inverted feel weird to me. I played tons of Halo back in the day and so I would say first person I play Y inverted and it feels pretty natural, but 3rd person gets...Some games both inverted and not inverted feel weird to me. I played tons of Halo back in the day and so I would say first person I play Y inverted and it feels pretty natural, but 3rd person gets way more wonky for me. I recently replayed Batman Arkham Asylum and I think I landed on inverted, but I switched back and forth several times because they both felt off.
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Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society
Grumble4681 Link ParentI know you didn't specify legal or ethical, but my point is that those things matter. What he was saying was legal, but sometimes quite unethical. And he was profiting off those unethical things...I know you didn't specify legal or ethical, but my point is that those things matter. What he was saying was legal, but sometimes quite unethical. And he was profiting off those unethical things he was saying, which I'd argue is like a multiplier to the ethics of what he's saying.
He effectively made himself a lightning rod with what he was saying, for profit and gambling that lightning wouldn't strike him, but lightning did end up striking him.
This is legitimately a culture war in my view, and he was an active participant in escalating it.
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Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society
Grumble4681 Link ParentThis seems a little more different to untangle because Floyd was murdered by someone hired by local government to perform a job in reacting to that situation. The cause and effect here are...I personally find this explanation entirely unsatisfactory for one simple reason. I do not image anyone who is commenting in this manner to say something along the lines of "I don't celebrate the loss of life but I understand cause and effect, George Floyd should have stayed away from drugs and shouldn't have stolen from a store." Well no, because you're not supposed to get killed for that, that's why we condemn the people who killed him. Well, you're not supposed to get killed for saying things either, so what cause and effect are you talking about?
This seems a little more different to untangle because Floyd was murdered by someone hired by local government to perform a job in reacting to that situation. The cause and effect here are different and the level of impact is different.
To boil it down to "saying things" is like saying the person who shouts "Fire!" in a movie theater to incite panic is just "saying things" when clearly that scenario isn't protected in the same way as saying other things. While I'm not arguing that Kirk was saying anything illegal, we also know that what is defined as legal or illegal isn't necessarily equating to the ethics behind the actions or words.
He did a lot more than just 'say things' and I'd argue that proportionally the impacts of what he was just 'saying' had a greater influence on the effect that came back at him. The price to be paid for profiteering off intentionally divisive and incendiary comments is as steep as the rewards were for doing it. That's cause and effect. Compare that to George Floyd and what he was gaining from the situation before what led to his death was so little that you can easily make the case that the proportionality of the response is nowhere close, and again, it's still more complicated of a situation to untangle the variables to that because of it being a person hired by local government to be put in such a place to respond to that situation.
In culture war, which is what we're effectively dealing with here, words can be weapons, and Kirk was wielding them that way.
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Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society
Grumble4681 Link ParentWhat would it look like for it to be 'getting somewhere'? I ask because to say that seems like you have some expectation for how it should be or what it should look like in order to justify the...What would it look like for it to be 'getting somewhere'? I ask because to say that seems like you have some expectation for how it should be or what it should look like in order to justify the thread continuing to still be going, but I don't know what that actually looks like. Is it supposed to look like one very convincing comment rises to the top and everyone says they change their mind and agree with that?
Discussion around topics like this, or perhaps any topics even, I find to rarely ever show any signs of anyone changing their minds or such right away, but I don't have the expectation that solid discussion looks like that. I think those things happen over time. My comment here would not be the same if I hadn't read or participated in many other discussions over the years that weren't going anywhere, I think they very much shaped how I perceive things even in ways that I didn't recognize at the time when I was reading or participating in those discussions. There were times I was certain the other person was wrong and I was in the right, but later came around to ideas that I was resistant to at the time. Maybe not solely because of that one person but perhaps repetition of seeing those arguments made from various people.
If people are engaging for the 'right' reasons, which I say that in such a way that I don't know if there are some set of strict 'right' reasons or what it even looks like as it probably varies for each person, but if the people who are still engaging are doing so as they think it is beneficial to them and there aren't a lot of other markers indicating it's a negative for them, then that seems to me that the thread is 'getting somewhere' for those people.
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Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society
Grumble4681 Link ParentI don't think they were equating the actions of those figures, rather using those figures to establish that there is a line which is in contrast to the original comment that stated nobody deserves...I don't think they were equating the actions of those figures, rather using those figures to establish that there is a line which is in contrast to the original comment that stated nobody deserves it. Whether that line begins/ends somewhere around Putin/Hitler level or extends towards people like Charlie Kirk is part of other arguments being made.
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Comment on Has anyone else run up against higher costs due to the US tariffs? in ~society
Grumble4681 Link ParentHow would this work on a site like Amazon where it may be common that they do 'free' shipping and they also said they weren't going to separate out the tariff cost? I'd personally prefer to shop...How would this work on a site like Amazon where it may be common that they do 'free' shipping and they also said they weren't going to separate out the tariff cost?
I'd personally prefer to shop somewhere that lists the tariff as a line item if they still had comparable end result pricing to other places that are not putting the line item in, but I'm not sure if any such retailers exist.
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Comment on The sunscreen scandal shocking Australia in ~health
Grumble4681 Link ParentThat makes far more sense, because the Earth being egg shaped would seemingly be negligible with regards to the distance to the Sun from varying parts of Earth.That makes far more sense, because the Earth being egg shaped would seemingly be negligible with regards to the distance to the Sun from varying parts of Earth.
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Comment on The case for cultured meat has changed in ~food
Grumble4681 Link ParentI've never encountered any real substantiated figures on subsidies in meat products so I'd be curious to know just how much it actually is. That's probably why I assumed scale, while I've heard...I've never encountered any real substantiated figures on subsidies in meat products so I'd be curious to know just how much it actually is. That's probably why I assumed scale, while I've heard there are subsidies, without any figures to ascribe to it, I can't really determine the impacts of the subsidies to the resulting prices.
I've been eating some of the plant based meat imitation products off/on over the last 20ish years and I doubt it will change much in the next year 10 years but lab meat will potentially have a better chance. Realistically, many of the plant based imitation products don't deliver enough on the experience/taste as actual meat, and the price difference probably makes that worse. Maybe some could justify buying an inferior tasting product if it were cheaper or even equal price if ethic concerns are also being weighed, but not as much when its 2-3x more. They also don't necessarily offer a ton of health benefits over actual meat (can vary quite a bit depending on the product), so they don't always even have that advantage.
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Comment on The case for cultured meat has changed in ~food
Grumble4681 (edited )Link ParentCertainly it won't be an instant success if they pass on costs and it results in being substantially higher price than what comes from livestock, but I think what will more likely happen is that...Certainly it won't be an instant success if they pass on costs and it results in being substantially higher price than what comes from livestock, but I think what will more likely happen is that they will have to pass on costs, it will be quite a bit higher, and a smaller portion of people will pay the premium for it, and then it will slowly begin to encroach on livestock meat prices over time and more people will convert as the price keeps dropping until it reaches a tipping point.
Livestock meat has truly insane scale of production compared to other food productions aimed at these markets. Like a lot of the meat imitation plant-based products are still fairly expensive compared to actual meat, which you would think not having to raise whole animals with all the inefficiencies that comes with could in no way beat these plant-based meat imitation products, but they do and I have to assume it's largely just due to the scale they operate at since plant based meat imitation products are a very tiny fraction of the market. I think they've gotten slightly better cost-wise over the years but still quite a bit more expensive. I think if they were good enough imitations people would be willing to pay the higher price, the scale would have gone up more, the cost would have gone down more; however that plant-based bacon even on the packaging where it's supposed to look its best doesn't look nearly as good as real bacon.
I think maybe one time I dealt with EZViz but not extensively. I would be way more wary of anything purely cloud based, not necessarily just for security or privacy reasons but because I don't trust the devices to not become paperweights or trust the company not to leverage the possibility of making the devices paperweights unless you pay an exorbitant monthly fee.
Hikvision was also restricted in the US, but from what I recall it was predominantly on federal government properties and the company I worked for didn't do any government projects so that was never an issue.
One of the other notable issues with Hikvision and restrictions in the US is that Hikvision was not offering their cloud management service in the US, which was meant to be a solution for middle man security companies. In theory it would have limited many, but not all, of the security issues that we were encountering with those systems, but I think they were concerned about legal issues so they intentionally excluded the US from the service. They also chose to remove their app from the Google Play Store which made installation of the app more annoying on customer devices since it had to be sideloaded, which is yet another potential security issue because these customers would otherwise have never encountered a reason to sideload anything on their phone in all likelihood.
I wouldn't have necessarily had an issue with using their cameras if they were segmented on an outbound restricted vlan behind a recording system like an NVR or PC running Blue Iris, but I'd never choose to expose them to the internet on my own. And even my recording system I would not expose, I personally use Tailscale to access all my self-hosted services.
What really bothered me is that those cameras were absolutely much cheaper and easier to acquire than many other cameras of more reputable places. Like comparing Hikvision to Hanwha or Axis etc., the prices for the reputable brands were absolutely outrageous by comparison. Now one could easily argue that there's a reason the price of one is so much lower and that it means there is something nefarious about them, but in any case it still made it a very hard pill to swallow to go with more high-end reputable brands when a camera with certain specs from Hikvision could be $150 while a similar spec camera from another brand would be $800.