You can also play with it to try and get closer to correct. I had problems with getting an Excel macro working and getting unattended-updates working on my pihole. GPT was wrong at first, but got me partly there and I could massage the question and Google and get closer to the right answer. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to get any of it, especially with the macro.

You need good software to make the most out of good hardware, but I think our definition of good is different. For software, as long as the software doesn’t get in the way of launching the app you want, most normies will consider that good. It doesn’t matter that Android is bloated and inefficient if the user can tap the Instagram or Facebook icon and have that open up without user perceptible delay.

The average person is remarkably able to put up with shit. Look at the experience on smart TVs for example. The vast majority of people are fine with the absolutely shitty experience as long as they can open up Netflix.

Use what you like. Just like Windows, macOS and Linux for the vast majority of people, all these OSes are, are platforms to display apps and webpages. They all have sanded off most of the rough edges meaning that unless you have specific niche needs/wants, you’ll just use what is familar and be happy.

Life is too short to have deep feelings about an OS.

Yeah, I can’t imagine what about Graphene would make that big of a difference. Smart phones and slabs of glass with apps on them. There’s very little that truly impacts the experience after you get past specs.

Damnit. I’ve wanted a sequel to Mankind Divided going on 8 years now. I hope that this is only a temporary setback and the game and franchise aren’t just dead forever.

I think it has gotten worse in that now we have higher bandwidth, faster computers, and more advanced web standards so ads can be an even higher level annoying. If we had the same type of ads back in the 90s that we have today, they would never load and if they tried to they would bring your computer to its knees.

There isn’t a solution where there wasn’t going to be a shutdown. The only option is for Dems to just grit their teeth and hope the collective pain and chaos it causes forces the GOP to end it quickly.

After McCarthy passed the CR, it was done.

It’s common, but probably shouldn’t be for these right wing grifters. Or just grifters in general. If you know someone is trying to start some idealogical bullshit in order to satisfy a personal grievance, you can just kind of assume that you’re not getting paid.

I am right above the minimum requirements, but just barely. If anything, playing it would probably make me want to upgrade my PC.

Perhaps I am cringe, but that makes me free!

…Except for when I wake up at ngiht in a cold sweat remembering cringe from years ago.

Lack of media literacy is becoming a huge problem for society. People either think fiction is reality or just literally don’t understand satire, parody, and cautionary tales.

That honestly makes me happy that it isn’t a must play. My PC is getting too long in the tooth for a game like Starfield and I don’t have an Xbox. But I’m a big Bethesda fan and felt like I was missing out.

I wanted NMS with a more compelling narrative and RPG components and it doesn’t look like Starfield is that.

I am glad I stocked up on chicken thighs from my local butcher shop a few weeks ago. Was something like 99 cents/pound. Now I’m seeing them sitting at $1.70/pound.

But chicken quarters are 89 cents a pound. It’s weird how the pricing works.

False positives happen and it seems like they already resolved it.

It’s unfortunate that MS makes it so hard to take them at their word when they’re so aggressive with forcing Edge down everyone’s throat. That makes even obvious bugs seem nefarious.

Good to see. I was thinking we wouldn’t get a fix until 17.1.

Thankfully I haven’t had any overheating issues after setting up the phone. But it did get too hot to touch on the left hand side during data transfer when first setting up the phone.

Android users spending less money doesn’t mean no money. There is money to be had, it is just less than iPhone users. And devs did try their own App Store and continue to. Epic for example has their own for Fortnite.

But what happened is that no one wanted to jump through the hoops of enabling third party app installs so most had to bend the knee and come back to the Play Store. If Apple is required to allow the same, I see the exact same thing happening. The majority of users won’t want to jump through hoops and won’t do it. Some devs will try to force it, but the loss of income will make them come back.

I’m in my late 30’s, I definitely remember those toolbars and other crapware that was common back then.

But now is not then. And smartphones aren’t the old Windows 2000 and XP machines of back then. I keep repeating it, but we already have a modern example of how this will go. It’s modern Android. And for the vast majority of people (in the West at least) they don’t install apps that are outside of the default apps or the built in Play Store. And I think the same will be true if iOS allows third party App Stores.

Sure, app developers will try. Apple devices are a huge honey pot that scammers and crappy devs would love to exploit. But after that initial gold rush, users that don’t have the knowledge to discern what is safe and what isn’t will be deterred by the difficulty of installing third party stores and inputting their payment methods. Scams will get press and Apple will warn against using them. And then the vast majority will just use their iPhones as is, with some users going third party for piracy and porn and then savvy users going to them for utilities and functions that Apple just doesn’t allow in the App Store.

I think it will be fine and the history of modern smartphones seems to support that theory.

That’s the risk of freedom.

But even still, I again point to Android. You know how you avoid any security or convenience issues? You just don’t use the third party app store. And I think the same will play out if iOS does start allowing third party app stores.

I agree with an asterisk that it would be a worse experience for most users.

But my contention is that the benefit is greater even if it is less convenient, and that alternate app stores on Android have shown that the majority of people don’t use them or know they even exist. So for most people, there won’t be too much change. I’m sure some larger apps will try to force their own app stores and payment methods, but I don’t see that succeeding because again, it hasn’t on mobile. So I think there will be churn in the first few weeks or months, but then it would settle down.

At the end of the day, this is a computer owned by a user. They should be able to install what they want without having it approved by Apple and sold only through their store.

There are so many wild things about that story. Assuming it is all true, he strangled his girlfriend, dismembered her, ran her through a meat grinder and disposed of the bones in three different bags. He got only 11 years. He was pardoned for being part of the Russian Army invading Ukraine. He only served in Ukraine for six months before retiring.

All that is insane. A murder with an already hilariously light sentence is pardoned by being on the front lines for six months?