The built in GPU of any sem-modern Intel CPU can do that for you no problem. Probably even the older ones in those corporate computers. Just check for QuickSync support. If you want something seriously low wattage that can still do one or two 4K streams, get one of those mini PCs with an Intel N100 for cheap.

I’ve not had any wear like that on my deck, but I’m not crazy hard on controllers. At worse the whole stick can be pretty easily replaced. The repairability on Valve hardware gets a high priority.

I don’t think you can say there is a “most common” unit for the general public. People probably shop for storage more than they do service providers, so I guess MB?

However I don’t think spelling it makes it any easier. If people aren’t noticing a capital B or a lowercase b, will they notice or understand bytes vs bits when spelled?

I think it’s a case of it just kinda sucks we have similar sounding and spelled words, but the general public is not getting too caught up on it because they’re largely oblivious. So long as manufacturers and sales use the appropriate term on the appropriate product, everything should work out. I’ve never seen a hard drive marketed in bit capacity, so I think this is really a non issue.

Just chalk it up to something you now understand better.

I see what you mean, but what do you propose? The units already exist and they are the industry standard. Should new units of measure be made up just for consumers, or should all numbers but on consumer devices be locked to using only one of them? Who decides what’s consumer packaging and what’s not?

It’s a sticky situation. I think while it may be confusing, the vast majority of people aren’t paying much attention and it’s probably not a big enough deal to do anything about it. The units are most often used correctly as in I can’t imagine an ISP or a router advertising their speeds in Bytes, likewise I don’t see any RAM or storage advertised in bits, so it’s usually an apples to apples comparison anyway.

See that’s where I think you’re still missing it. These are technical terms used by technical people. They were not designed to confuse people, they were designed to clarify the units IT people use in their work.

You might say this is confusing to the general public, and you may be right, but the people making this stuff weren’t thinking about average people at all. The idea these numbers would be plastered all over ISPs and SSDs weren’t even a consideration.

So it’s not bullshit, it’s not designed to confuse, it’s just a technical unit that is not well understood by most people, yet we live in a time when tech-specs are marketed by companies to average people.

Ah, I see the confusion, and it’s understandable. Look for if the “B” is capitalized or not.

Mb, Gb, etc = bits

MB, GB, etc = bytes

Think the larger letter is the larger size.

You’ve actually got that a bit twisted. Not saying the bigger number doesn’t benifit the ISPs, but it actually is the industry standard to use bits per second when measuring throughput. This is because data transfer is a continuous stream, whereas data at rest is chunked so when talking about storage we use bytes. It’s a bit weird but you get used to it.

I don’t think you can compare a park/field to a manicured putting green. You can’t see the ground through the grass. Either way, play it if you like, to each their own.

Lawn darts was a dangerous game to begin with, so I’m not too shaken up about losing it, but I disagree that the bouncing is part of the game. No ground is perfectly even, and you can’t see imperfections from where you throw. It just creates randomness and makes it not worth playing. These aren’t issues in the other examples you cited. My opinion, obviously.

Ah, got it, it’s for VM migrations. That makes a lot more sense.

Can you quickly run me through how USB over IP is helping you out? I get it for devices that are physically distant, but how is the abstraction helping you for reboots? Isn’t it just the server you’re rebooting that talks to the USB device anyway?

So now makers and hobbiest’s just can’t have magnets? Surely that’s an overreaction.

Not sure if you’re aware, but Duracell and probably others coat button batteries in a chemical that tastes bad in order to discourage ingestion.

I see where these regulations are coming from, but we can’t just ban away anything that could be harmful. I just recently bought a bunch of magnets like these for a using in 3D printed models. I don’t have any kids, but I do have pets and so they’re stored away in their own case and not left around. People just need to be responsible. I mean, we don’t ban bleach but you sure as hell shouldn’t drink it!

I was at a company picknic this summer and was watching people trying to play a pitiful version of Lawn Darts. The darts were weighted but would just bounce off the ground and ruin a good shot. Lawn darts, or darts of any kind, simply don’t work as a game when you take the pointy end away. I will say though, that a company outing where there’s people milling about is not a good place to play lawn darts, so I wouldn’t have used the real ones here even if you could.

Proper product packaging, like we use in medicine canisters, and perhaps an extra disclaimer/waiver on purchase is the way to go on these things IMO.

Instantly hot? Sexuality. Dressing in clothing that shows off their body, the way they smile, being flirty, a sparkle in their eye, etc.

Being hot is just about attraction to me. It tells me they can be fun. Now, you can tank that hotness in an instant by being rude to a waiter, being shallow, unable to hold a conversation, etc. In my experience hot people tend to have weaker personalities because they don’t have to work on them as much. Hot is often not worth it, but it can’t be… hot.

Eww, yeah that’s not cool. Was that Samsung forcing that on the phone or the carrier? I know US carries are atrocious for their uninstallable apps like that. Regardless shame on Samsung and the others for allowing it. The only apps that came on mine were Samsung apps.

Regardless, your dislike is completely justified. I really wish someone else could step up and make the phone we need. Repairable, jack/slot, small-midsize, proper updates, but I just don’t think the market is there. The iphone-ification of smartphones is basically complete, and now Microsoft is trying to do it to the desktop. In the future there’s going to be a lot of old people telling stories to their grandkids about how they used to own a computer and choose what was installed…

My very fist Android phone was a Samsung and while it had all kinds of cool features like TV out and an IR blaster, the software never got updated. I ended up installing and tinkering with custom ROMs and that led me to the Nexus line when it first launched. I stayed with Google ever since because they kept the Nexus and A series affordable, and had a much nicer clean OS with constant updates.

When they switched from Nexus to Pixel they decided they wanted to price it like an iPhone, even though it totally lacked the polish and value proposition. I stuck with my Nexus until they introduced the A series. It was affordable and new, but lacked video out, wireless charging, and thr SD card. Things the Nexus line all had. It was the beginning of the iphone-ification of Android IMO, but there were no other good options because every other vendor abandoned their phones after a year.

Now several years later things have only gotten worse. The amount of brands selling Android phone that are actually decent is like 2, maybe 3, they all are just slate designs with nothing interesting, and only a few actually give you proper updates. Samsung stands out in that crowd for having the most interesting phones and still decent support, but I agree that they are too expensive when new, and the locked bootloader sucks.

As you mentioned I’m 100% I’m just talking about Samsung’s phones here. Samsung as an entire company is one I would stay away from in most cases. I also would never buy one of their appliances and while I may have considered their TVs in the past due to them being an excellent panel manufacturer, I would think twice today.

I agree and disagree. I switched from a Pixel to an S series and I have to say I like the Samsung better.

While the Samsung UI used to be a sore spot, I think the Pixel design language shift of the past couple years is far worse. All the big colorful pills with too much whitespace… Samsung brings back a proper notification shade with lots of quick buttons, like it used to be 3 or so versions ago with a Pixel. I put my custom launcher on and basically forgot it’s Samsung.

There’s spots all over Android that have been rough that Samsung just, smooths out. It’s like they’re actually using the phone and willing to take matters into their own hands when Google isn’t, because Google is focused on AI assistants and letting everything else rot. Samsung lets you customize, whereas Pixel keeps walking you toward an iOS style experience one step at a time.

DeX, if you have a use for it, is awesome. During my lunch break at work can unplug my laptop from my dock, connect my phone, and have a personal workstation for watching videos, whatever. I also have a much better Private Folder with multiple apps. It’s like Samsung understands that with one device we need separation. Google has been saying a competitor to this is coming, but at this point it’s so far behind I’ll believe it when I see it.

Samsung doesn’t hold you hostage in format wars. My old Pixel in 20fucking23 couldn’t support external storage with anything but FAT32. That’s insane. It was screwing me up trying to easily back up a large file and that was no problem for the Samsung. Same with casting, Google is all in on Chromecast and nothing else, Samsung can CC but it can also Miracast. So now I can cast to any TV instead of only some.

Samsung’s hardware is usually better. They try new things sooner so you have a refined ultrasonic fingerprint sensor while Pixel was still doing illuminated, depending on your version the processors are better.

Now, places where Samsung sucks are obvious and you stated a few. No unlocking is bullshit. I own the phone, I should be able to unlock it. If you’re into tinkering then stay away, but Samsung’s do tend to have higher resale value, so if you want to get into ROMs then you can always sell the Samsung and grab a cheap used Pixel. Samsung kept the headphone jack and uSD around a little longer, but they’re both long gone on today’s models so that’s moot.

Samsung (and I can see where they’re coming from) was concerned with how much control Google had over Android so they made their own first party apps for everything. This means a lot of duplicate apps. I will say that while some can’t be easily uninstalled, they can be easily ignored. I just don’t use most of them and I’m fine. They don’t really force them on you or keep changing them to the default handler or anything. I’m OK with it, but I could see some people being annoyed.

That’s about it honestly… Samsung reminds me a bit of the early Nexus era days. Lots of customization, interesting tech, and work being put into the OS. Google is just plodding along, content to lock people into an iPhone clone and sell AI. I say give them both a try. If you pick up used or a refurb you can save a fortune and easily switch if you don’t like it without losing much if anything.

The obstacle isn’t just the lack of threat, it’s also the lack of community. Most people know their co-workers far better then their neighbors.

Cars shuttle us in private to work, no need to see people on the street or bus. Commerce is online or in big box stores, no need to know the local business owners. All our services are online and now our relationships and friendships as well.

These abstractions have destroyed any sense of community we have, so even if a similar situation were to happen today, I doubt your neighbors would even know it’s happening, let alone band together to help.

To hide poor frame rate, that’s why. Motion blur was popularized on consoles by AAA studios that wanted everything to look really pretty, but couldn’t sustain a stable frame rate during rapid motion.

If you have the FPS to afford it, turn that shit off.

Yup. I played through BotW always holding onto things I thought were good because the stupid durability mechanic made me hoard stuff.

When I started TotK I decided to turn durability off and see if I enjoyed more and I absolutely did. Made the game way better. The only thing that broke was some balancing around crafted weapons. For example you can take a stick and slap a horn on it and get a very powerful, but brittle, weapon. With durability off it just becomes a very powerful weapon, which pretty much matches or beats any proper weapon you can find. If you think that’s too hacky you can just make a rule for yourself not to craft things like that.

Many games have gone through this and time and time again scarcity makes people not use things. In Witcher 2 you had to craft potions manually by collecting all the ingredients each time. In Witcher 3 they just replenish after a rest if you have alcohol on you. 2 is more realistic, but the work involved (and the fact that you had to drink them before combat started) made them too much of a pain and I just went without. In 3 you can simply use them and not worry.