whs's recent activity

  1. Comment on ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ helmer Michael Sarnoski to direct adaptation of popular video game ‘Death Stranding’ for A24 and Kojima Productions in ~movies

    whs
    Link Parent
    I think the game captures the vibe of "back in my time" that old people often speak of. I don't know if it's a thing in other countries. My mom grew up in a rural town east of Bangkok. She walked...

    I think the game captures the vibe of "back in my time" that old people often speak of. I don't know if it's a thing in other countries.

    My mom grew up in a rural town east of Bangkok. She walked to a school next to a temple a kilometer away on dirt road. Water doesn't come on tap - people stored rainwater for that. Today the same town became a factory town. They have elevated toll roads, a few 7-11, a robot barista vending machine and a hidden picturesque coffee shop in the middle of shrimp ponds.

    Death Stranding is like that - in the third delivery you go through BT infested mountain to deliver to the wind farm. Once you make the delivery and they connect to the network you'll see bridges from other people for sheltering from rain, signs for BT locations and safespots. The journey back is a lot less eventful thanks to all those community members making it better for everyone.

    2 votes

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

    whs
    Link
    I'm playing Heaven's Vault. It's a game about an archeologist trying to learn what happened to the long lost empire by studying the ancient language. Of course, you'd be expected to study the...

    I'm playing Heaven's Vault. It's a game about an archeologist trying to learn what happened to the long lost empire by studying the ancient language. Of course, you'd be expected to study the ancient language works yourself, similar to Chants of Senaar.

    I'd say the game and the story is somewhat interesting. The dialogue system borrows from The Walking Dead where you're expected to reply within a time limit or otherwise an empty response also counts as an answer. The MC and the robot also converse during regular travel which your option are to response, response with a question, or silent. The timeline system looks interesting - it show timeline of events from the long lost empire, from the MC's birth up until the current thing you do. I haven't see the game do anything interesting with the timeline yet though.

    That being said, the execution of all gameplay systems are really bad, perhaps except for pausing that you can pause any time even during conversation. I'd feel like the game would be great in open world settings (although with faster walk speed - this is walking sim speed...), but it is not. Even in a small map the game often forcibly yank your controls to force you into random conversation or force walk you into the next area. The robot often nags "are we leaving yet?" when the map is half way explored - it is okay if the robot ask the question when the game detect that every interactable has been interacted. To learn more about the language, you're expected to trade artifacts with one of the two NPCs, who will give you additional texts. But the game never tells you which ones are important (nor there is any text walkthrough written for this game...). It felt like every single game system try to force your hands instead of letting you explore.

    I wonder if these forced systems are inspired from Outer Wilds, which I also dislike the time limit aspect of it. (Installing a mod to slow the game time breaks the game, as some events only happen at a later time)

    I hope the language system better be even better than Chants.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on Is it possible to completely hide one’s activity on the Internet from one’s ISP? in ~tech

    whs
    Link Parent
    That's a good suggestion. I personally use Tailscale which is free for up to 100 devices. You can setup VPN exit node in your home, which they heavily suggest an Apple TV for some reason. (I use...

    That's a good suggestion. I personally use Tailscale which is free for up to 100 devices. You can setup VPN exit node in your home, which they heavily suggest an Apple TV for some reason. (I use my home server, as I find mobile OS clients unreliable).

    The speed depends on the connectivity magic ("NAT hole punching") that connections on both ends support. In the best case it could be almost as fast as your local connection.

    Tailscale also integrated with Mullvad (which you have to buy though them, cannot bring your existing subs) which adds Mullvad locations to the app, and NextDNS (separate purchase, although it's really cheap) for DNS lookup.

    To be clear, Tailscale does not comes with the "package forwarding center" (exit node). You're supposed to bring your own (which is simple to setup - a checkbox in the app and another in the web), or buy Mullvad through them.

    Note that unlike privacy VPN, Tailscale is intended for corporate use so they do log the connectivity, but the actual communication is peer to peer in many cases (but not all!). Which means traffic does not go through them past the initial connection setup. Their account and billing is also quite not anonymous.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Is it possible to completely hide one’s activity on the Internet from one’s ISP? in ~tech

    whs
    Link
    As an analogy, internet is like sending a mail. You could write your message in a postcard, where everyone can read the back of it. Or if you use VPN or HTTPS it's like sending it in a sealed...

    As an analogy, internet is like sending a mail. You could write your message in a postcard, where everyone can read the back of it. Or if you use VPN or HTTPS it's like sending it in a sealed envelope where the post office still need to be able to read the destination otherwise they don't know where to send it to, but they can't see the contents.

    VPN is like a package forwarder, where you send everything to them (still via your local post office) and they'll unwrap it and resend it from them. But that still means you'll have to trust the VPN's post office and all the distribution centers the mail goes through. On top of that, the VPN provider may also record your information. A good VPN would allow you to sign up with fake name and pay anonymously to ensure they don't know anything, but when you send data through VPN they'll need your real internet address to forward the reply back.

    Even when using package forwarder, your local post office still see that you only send everything to just one recipient (unlike most people), and also they still get to weight your mail in both direction, which may infer additional information. (Most people write to request information, so outbound mails are usually small and response large. Why are you sending heavy outbound mails?)

    One problem with commercial VPN is that it is often used for nefarious purpose, such as hacking, web scraping or simply watching streaming from unsupported countries, the address that the forwarder uses are often end up on a ban list. You might not be able to access some services that you could have without VPN. This is like some retailer blocking freight forwarder addresses when checking out (looking at you Framework).

    Tor works similarly to multiple layers of package forwarder. In fact it's in the name - "the onion router". You wrap your message with several layers of envelopes (like layers of onion), each addressing the next package forwarder. Each forwarder unpeel one layer and send it to the next. However, it is likely possible that one or more of the package forwarder you choose is operated by the feds; which means while they don't immediately know who you are, they may have other sources of information or behavioral analysis to correlate with. Of course it is also possible to use both VPN and Tor at the same time, with VPN in front of or after Tor.

    9 votes

  5. Comment on What if we made advertising illegal? in ~tech

    whs
    Link
    I think one good alternative is to allow the end users to buy/crowdfund advertising for non-commercial uses, especially in a pool that can be used across several advertising spots. Google used to...

    I think one good alternative is to allow the end users to buy/crowdfund advertising for non-commercial uses, especially in a pool that can be used across several advertising spots.

    Google used to have Contributor v1 where you add your own bid to display anything you want if you win. Still, unlike ad blockers Google still receive, store and use your visit history to serve ads. It still needs to display something in the ads space where adblockers tidy up the space. It is also not 100% of the time you will win, even with high monthly budget. It was available for very limited number of countries before it was discontinued.

    There was Scroll, who implemented ads-free subscription for several news websites (it does not include paywall bypass). Twitter acquired it and rolled it into a part of Twitter Blue. Elon killed it when Blue become X Premium.

    There was a time people crowdfunded to buy skytrain ads for art. They raised 2 million baht (~$60k US), and I heard they covered 2 trains for 2 weeks where every single physical ads spot inside and outside (not including the TV) become art display.

    2 votes

  6. Comment on Humble Choice - April 2025 in ~games

    whs
    (edited )
    Link
    I saw 1000xResist on Humble Choice and I regret buying it earlier that I could've gotten it in this bundle. But then again if it's in a bundle I probably never get around to play it. Many people...

    I saw 1000xResist on Humble Choice and I regret buying it earlier that I could've gotten it in this bundle. But then again if it's in a bundle I probably never get around to play it.

    Many people praised 1000xResist, some even voted for Game of the Year 2024. I'd say gameplay-wise it is worse than a walking simulator. The city's layout is confusing even with in-game map - imagine using a children's drawing to navigate Shinjuku station, although it's nowhere near that complex. Many walking simulators like Dear Esther, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, A Bird Story are quite linear and you probably don't get lost. And the walking doesn't add much to the game that visual novels doesn't already do. There's also a section that is similar to the 3rd act of Until Then (you should play!), but in 3D which I also dislike.

    Story-wise I think it is one of those confusing, pretentious arthouse style with nonlinear timeline. Some people like them I suppose; I recently watch Pulp Fiction and I didn't like it either. But once I piece back the backstory I found that I really like the story - I just didn't like the presentation at all (both narrative, and gameplay).

    I can't go in more without spoilers. So here's a spoiler box that provide high-level overview that hopefully doesn't spoil too much. Don't open it if you like to go in blind like I did.

    Not-so-spoiler on why I like the story

    1000xResist involves 3 time periods - distant past (the parent's story), past (the story of our protagonist since she took the Watcher position up until now), present (from the start of the game until the end of the story). The story is told through flashbacks, potentially nested too. The "nested" flashbacks are unreliable narrator - the fact which is told to you both narratively that the flashback may not seems to be how it was in reality, and with how storytelling is done it is unclear if your viewpoint did move in time, or you stay with the main character the whole time and she is indeed experiencing nested flashbacks. The story doesn't do anything to support or contradict the flashback either, so it's not one of those false memory trope.

    Personally I found that the distant past was done really well. The game uses several topics from real world events around 2019-2021 (when the game start development) that I don't often see in games. The delivery is done right in your face, and it felt like the story was written backwards to put those messages in but at the same time removing them now would means rewriting the whole contrived story.

    I read a blog over a decade ago by Strange Loop games (who made Vessel & Eco). I couldn't find the blog now. They said that video games are unique that instead of telling you what happened in history, they're probably the only medium to allow you to feel like how to live as someone else. Papers, Please tell a story of living in communist regime through passport drama. Cart Life tells a story of being poor. Oregon Trails is an early educational games that tell the story of american pioneers. Detention (also available as Netflix series) was set during Taiwan's White Terror period and got me interested in that side of Taiwan. (I think if you make a game about the dark side of war on communism in my country, the military or the police will come knocking). 1000xRESIST is the first game that I could think of that tells that kind of story that sets in the near-present time. I think it is the first time that the game wins game of the year, not because it is the best game released in that year. Instead, it is the game "of the year 2019-2021" - the definite one that you play to remember how life was like in that time period.

    As for the present part of the game, it was delivered with sci-fi theme. I don't like it. There are many better scifi stories, and it felt contrived like Japanese stories - there will be rules that must be followed even if it doesn't make sense to enact such rules (eg. "there's a notebook that cause the people named in the book to die", "there are people with AI cellphone that can arrange anything with billions yen budget each"). Then how people act and work around those rules are explored. Even without scifi, I think the Japanese did it a lot better without the artsy stuff. Once I got past the chapters with the backstory I couldn't care for the game's ending as for the most parts they are only vaguely related to the distant past's topics.

    3 votes

  7. Comment on Confess your food crimes in ~food

    whs
    Link
    I don't know why KFC in Thailand has a hand washing station, but I never see one in any Pizzaria, Burger joints (except McDonalds and Shakeshack who have very fancy ones) or Subway (sandwich)....

    I don't know why KFC in Thailand has a hand washing station, but I never see one in any Pizzaria, Burger joints (except McDonalds and Shakeshack who have very fancy ones) or Subway (sandwich). Without that, I'm using fork and knife to eat my pizza and burgers.

    On the topic, I tried Tabasco sauce with many Thai foods. Stir-fry rice go REALLY well with Tabasco that I can't eat it without Tabasco now. (Usually stir-fry rice shops give you a slice of lemon). The change of taste is tremendous compared to adding Tabasco to steaks. Braised Pork Leg with rice often comes with chilli-vinegar dipping sauce but I found Tabasco to taste similarly and more reliable than using the shop's. Oyster Omelet also goes well with Tabasco but it still can't beat Thai-style Sriracha. I think Tabasco works on Pad Thai but lemon is better. I even try it on noodle with soup (which in many shops they have chilli-vinegar) but I don't think it goes together at least on the one shop I tried, or on instant noodles.

    Basically Tabasco is now my "the food is shit, OVERRIDE ALL FLAVOR" sauce and most times too much Tabasco than normal is harmless compared to too much fish sauce on krapao (stir-fry holy basil with meat and rice, as some people may known from Mark Wien's restaurant) mess that I did today. Speaking of that, I haven't try krapao with Tabasco...

    Also the Japanese invented Mayo on Krapao. Utterly Disgusting.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on Introducing two new PebbleOS watches! in ~tech

    whs
    Link Parent
    Sport watches like Garmin or Apple Watch has built in storage, Bluetooth host and GPS so you can go for a run without your phone weighting you down. Just connect your Bluetooth headphone with the...

    Sport watches like Garmin or Apple Watch has built in storage, Bluetooth host and GPS so you can go for a run without your phone weighting you down. Just connect your Bluetooth headphone with the watch and start activity tracking. It then connects back to your phone once you finish to record the activity. They also advertise that with contactless payment support you also can buy drinks on the way.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Steam Spring Sale suggestions in ~games

    whs
    Link Parent
    I went to bed last night at 1.30am because of Logic Town

    I went to bed last night at 1.30am because of Logic Town

    2 votes

  10. Comment on Intel XeSS 2 SDK released for Arc GPU in ~games

    whs
    Link
    Intel has finally released XeSS 2 SDK, allowing developers to integrate them into games. The new features in XeSS 2 are: XeSS Super resolution: Intel's version of AI upscaler comparable to...

    Intel has finally released XeSS 2 SDK, allowing developers to integrate them into games. The new features in XeSS 2 are:

    • XeSS Super resolution: Intel's version of AI upscaler comparable to NVIDIA's DLSS. Now with Vulkan 1.1 support and it should be drop-in replacement to users of the previous versions. DirectX 11 support is also added, but only available on Arc GPU and not Intel integrated graphics or other GPU vendors (DLSS is the only other implementation that supports DX11)
    • XeSS Low Latency: Intel's version of NVIDIA Reflex/AMD Anti-lag. Only available on Arc GPU in DirectX 12
    • XeSS Frame Generation: Only available on Arc dGPU and Lunar Lake iGPU in DirectX 12

    Previously the OptiScaler author has also mentioned that they might work on XeSS 2 support. OptiScaler is an adapter to convert games with DLSS support to FSR/XeSS

    5 votes

  12. Comment on What are the best truly unbeatable E2EE, presumably P2P messaging apps? in ~tech

    whs
    Link Parent
    I'm not a cryptographic expert but for 1) I believe that while theoretically OTP is unbreakable, any mistake could be fatal. Some cryptographic algorithms, while less unbreakable, include misuse...

    I'm not a cryptographic expert but for 1) I believe that while theoretically OTP is unbreakable, any mistake could be fatal. Some cryptographic algorithms, while less unbreakable, include misuse resistant property, such as AES-SIV which allow for key & nonce reuse (which break some property but doesn't completely break down).

    4 votes

  13. Can I upgrade my XMP memory?

    ~comp Ask (advice)
    My memory kit is G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) 5600 CL36 Black. The CPU is i9-13900KS on Gigabyte Z790 AERO G. I noticed that memory price has been dropped significantly so I think I might...

    My memory kit is G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) 5600 CL36 Black. The CPU is i9-13900KS on Gigabyte Z790 AERO G.

    I noticed that memory price has been dropped significantly so I think I might upgrade to 64GB.

    Online information seems to be conflicting regarding XMP and dual/quad channels, so I'm asking for advice here:

    1. Can I buy one more of the same kit to upgrade to 4x16GB? Will it affect XMP or dual channel?
    2. Can I buy other sticks of the same size (2x16GB)? The leftmost slot is obscured by the CPU cooler fan, so I'll need to either move it up or use low profile one.
    3. Can I buy 2x32GB sticks so I end up with 2x32GB + 2x16GB?

    From what I understand doing any of those options might cause XMP to not work and it'd be the best (but costly) to have 2x32GB as the only sticks in the system.

    6 votes

  14. Comment on Experience with data protection laws (GDPR, ePD, CCPA, etc..) in ~tech

    whs
    Link Parent
    An interesting edge case with the law is the Thai ID card. The ID card lists your religion and blood group, both sensitive information. You're offered to not list them in your card, but it only...

    An interesting edge case with the law is the Thai ID card. The ID card lists your religion and blood group, both sensitive information. You're offered to not list them in your card, but it only recently becomes an option.

    Hence companies have to ask for consent to store those information as well when they need your ID (eg. banking, e-kyc, insurance). Some companies write "please strike that out or otherwise you consent to the store of sensitive information". I've heard some companies even invest in OCR that automatically black out those fields.

    2 votes

  15. Comment on Experience with data protection laws (GDPR, ePD, CCPA, etc..) in ~tech

    whs
    Link
    In Thailand the PDPA law became in effect in 2022 after two year extension. I heard that it took quite sometimes to find people to work in the committee, PDPC. In my personal experience the PDPA...

    In Thailand the PDPA law became in effect in 2022 after two year extension. I heard that it took quite sometimes to find people to work in the committee, PDPC.

    In my personal experience the PDPA implementation by most companies are not done right at all. I've submitted some complaints to some DPO, which larger, non-shady organization seems to work as expected by law, but the PDPC did not response to any complaints at all letting violations roam free. The problems I found are:

    1. We don't have a "Cookie consent" law, yet most website implement cookie consent and not a data usage consent. I did the PDPA implementation in my company with consent recording and stuff, and once we have a DPO they ripped it out and replace it with cookie consent. I don't think cookie consent is legal, and of course PDPC so far haven't made any recommendation against it. Consenting to "store" a cookie doesn't means consenting to the "use" of said cookies, and it doesn't means consenting to the "use" of non-cookie data for that purpose either.
    2. Cookie notice sometimes doesn't actually stop things. Before you consent they might already have loaded Google Analytics & friends.
    3. While Facebook is getting GDPR fines with "legitimate interest" abuse, here it is starting to get abused more and more. My DPO even said that if you provide a phone number, and we want to call you to recommend first party services then it should be in reasonable expectation that a business will do that.
    4. People think implementing PDPA means adding another checkbox "I consent to the collection & use of my data according to privacy policy" without actually providing the privacy policy.
    5. The law states that consenting must not be required for unrelated stuff. In most membership reward program I've found it is mandatory that you have to consent for 3rd party marketing. Last year I signed up with a travelers' insurance which I've found that it is mandatory to provide marketing consent. I contacted their DPO saying that it is illegal to do so, and they told me that the form's text had been approved by the Insurance regulators and the new one is not yet ready (even though the law was published 4 years ago). They offered to remove my consent manually.
    6. Most privacy policy will have the "uses of your data" section, which list everything they will do with your data regardless of consent status. Oftentimes if they're copy pasting it from someone else it essentially list every possible things. For example "When you use our services, we may sell your data to our partners". Even if there is an opt out of marketing consent, it is unclear whether those section will apply to you or not. (and "I've read and agree to the privacy policy" is required nonetheless so the company is somewhat legally covered)

    Last year I was contacted by an insurance broker (which I never have any business relationship with) who says that my 2024 car insurance will run out soon, and offer to renew with them. I heard that it is a commonplace "scam" where some people believe that since the caller know their information they might be related to their current insurance and signed up. I did not fall for them, and so I contacted their DPO asking to use my rights to know where they get the information from. Their website doesn't even have this subject data right request in the system.

    They took a few days and get back to me that "your information was received before the law become in effect" and that they've removed my information (which I never asked them to do so). The only way they could know about a 2024 car before 2022 must means they have a time machine! So, I contacted the PDPC about that. 3 months later I never heard back, so I wrote them an email asking that it is legally required for them to response in 3 months. What's the hold up? They say that in my case it is unclear what are the damages.

    I don't know? They didn't scammed me successfully so it's not like I lose any money here. Do companies get a free pass to do illegal stuff when it is harmless? I wrote them anyway that my damage here is that I lose my rights to find out who is leaking my information, which I might submit another complaint and perhaps get remedy. I never got another response. The law says that the PDPC secretary must submit the case to the next committee's meeting within 3 months, but there's no SLA on when the committee has to issue any verdict or even hold that meeting at all.

    Right now I'm expecting that the law will be reduced to a checkbox that does nothing within the next 10 years...

    3 votes

  16. Comment on Looking for a new mouse (maybe) in ~tech

    whs
    Link Parent
    I have a Prime Mini that I use daily and a Rival 3 wireless in my laptop bag. The Prime is 2 years old and has no issues. It also works with rivalcli on Linux to configure it. My previous mouses...

    I have a Prime Mini that I use daily and a Rival 3 wireless in my laptop bag. The Prime is 2 years old and has no issues. It also works with rivalcli on Linux to configure it.

    My previous mouses were Logitech MX Master 2S and several Microsoft mouses all which the plastic slowly broke down until I have to replace them every 2 years

  17. Comment on Should I self-host my blog? in ~tech

    whs
    Link
    I self host my blog using WordPress. I chose WordPress as it's a common technology, and once in a while someone will ask me to help with their WordPress site so I should familiarize myself with...

    I self host my blog using WordPress. I chose WordPress as it's a common technology, and once in a while someone will ask me to help with their WordPress site so I should familiarize myself with it.

    The problem now is that as many wrote, Mastodon will DDoS your site. Once I post my blog content on Mastodon the site will get hundreds of request per seconds, which is way more than the usual next-to-nothing traffic. I don't want to use a CDN on this site either as it is not true self hosting. Now my strategy is I either post on Mastodon or Facebook first, then wait for a day or two before posting it on the other site.

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Humble Choice - January 2025 in ~games

    whs
    Link Parent
    Comparing Boxes with Doors: Paradox (from Humble - The Great Escape Room Bundle), I think Doors' puzzle is more non-trivial. I'd also say it's like The Room, but the quality is more like Doors...

    Comparing Boxes with Doors: Paradox (from Humble - The Great Escape Room Bundle), I think Doors' puzzle is more non-trivial. I'd also say it's like The Room, but the quality is more like Doors turned up a notch or two. Perhaps the fact that the both games target Android lowers the game quality (The Room originally target iOS)

    1 vote

  19. Comment on Why does Cloudflare Pages have such a generous free tier? in ~tech

    whs
    Link
    My company is on Cloudflare Enterprise, and from what I believe Pages is free for enterprise customers too. Apparently they might charge for the CI/CD, but since we bring our own CI/CD (no way...

    My company is on Cloudflare Enterprise, and from what I believe Pages is free for enterprise customers too. Apparently they might charge for the CI/CD, but since we bring our own CI/CD (no way they gonna clone code from internal repository) there's no chargeable axis.

    From what I can tell the entire sales team that I interact with are shielding the entire country from the internal revenue-focused sale teams. For example, they transferred my account off the team who speak my language to a new team that doesn't. And then the new team asked to meet our team online to "discuss my requirements". The previous team suggested that I should emailed to both teams to ask to be transferred back. After that they almost never upsell things that I don't need (other than renewal/support I don't think I ever talk to Cloudflare last year). The team told me that they created a new team specifically upsell existing customer, which is why my account was transferred. My account even have several paid features license that we used to pay lying around because they didn't bother writing the documents to remove the license from our accounts (not that we were depending on them anyway - more like indefinite PoC license).

    2 votes

  20. Comment on What fictional world would you live in, if you could pick any one? in ~talk

    whs
    Link
    I wonder if Angel Beat's purgatory would be a nice place to live it. Endless school days in a well-funded schools, with various facilities for students' afterhour activities like gardening,...

    I wonder if Angel Beat's purgatory would be a nice place to live it. Endless school days in a well-funded schools, with various facilities for students' afterhour activities like gardening, baseball, fishing, or even starting a band. The only way to leave, is to leave without regrets.

    3 votes