bluescrn

5 ms·

1.
by bluescrn 7d ago
A $2200 device and still limited to running dumbed-down touchscreen 'apps' from the App Store.
2.
by bluescrn 7d ago
I used to obsess over audio quality. But then I reached my 40s, and it started to become clear that my ageing ears were becoming the limiting factor. Now I just embrace the convenience of Bluetooth and usefulness of noise cancelling. (But t
3.
by bluescrn 1mo ago
Some sort of signatures to verify legitimate unmodified photographs (taken with a relatively secure device, e.g an iPhone) seems like a reasonable idea But even then, people will be able to point that camera at a manipulated/generated
4.
by bluescrn 1mo ago
TV shows on the other hand, have suffered extreme shrinkflation. From 20+ episode seasons every year to maybe 8-10 episodes every 2-3 years. Yeah, budgets/production values are higher. But characters and storytelling were often bette
5.
by bluescrn 1mo ago
Retro gaming is rising in popularity for good reasons. And it's not purely nostalgia. A lot of people aren't enjoying modern games (with modern monetization)
6.
by bluescrn 1mo ago
TV quality isn't what it used to be, though. Got a fairly expensive LG OLED and after 5 years it's developing clusters of dead pixels down one edge. And even if the hardware doesn't fail/degrade, the software is often en
7.
by bluescrn 1mo ago
There's also 'Drinkflation', the ABV of beers being reduced. (Maybe it's mostly a UK thing due to the tax system, weaker beer = less tax) Pretty sad state of things when simple pleasures like beer or chocolate are hit so
8.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
At this point, it’s the ExBox :(
9.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
Why are cold drinks with sugar and caffeine seen as problematic, while hot drinks with sugar and caffeine are seen as perfectly good?
10.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
What I liked about the older, simpler Arduino was that you could move an ATmega328p project from an Arduino board to a chip on a breadboard then to a custom PCB with minimal complexity - with just hobbyist-level skills. But the boards and m
11.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
It's just down to age. I had a C64 growing up, but it was mostly a games machine. I played with BASIC a bit, but C64 BASIC wasn't great compared to BBC BASIC on the school BBC Micros. And I was a bit too young/lacked resource
12.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
Aside from games, most software is available for both these days
13.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
The first one was 8 years ago, in the pre-Covid world.
14.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
But their timing was amazing, doing it just days before they announced that they were ending releases of games on physical media.
15.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
Retro gaming is an increasingly popular option, too. These days I have more fun messing with Amigas, C64s, and cheap emulation handhelds than big modern games. Retro hardware prices have been going up fairly significantly though, especially
16.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
Consoles don't have true 'generational leaps' any more either, the huge leaps forward in tech used to drive excitement/sales. Now we get incremental improvements, cross-generation games, and backwards compatibility. And
17.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
PC gaming isn't exactly in a healthy place either (at least when it comes to hardware pricing/availability). Post-Covid GPU prices were bad enough even before the AI bubble ruined everything.
18.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
Taking metalworking tools to a very expensive machine with very limited spare parts availability seems rather extreme.
19.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
Bad experiences with heat, fan noise, and poor battery life on Windows laptops.
20.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
Hearing also degrades over time. In my 20s I was a lot more fussy about audio formats and hi-fi gear. Approaching 50, with less sensitive ears and a bit of tinnitus, I’m happy with the convenience of Bluetooth headphones and whatever format
21.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
Yes, building prisons is expensive. But the current UK government seems to treat it as a physical impossibility, while releasing violent offenders early due to lack of capacity.
22.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
Somewhat enjoyed the (less-visually-impressive) PC version way back in the day, there weren't many good shoot-em-ups on a 286 PC that could barely scroll the screen, but Silpheed played fairly well on it, and IIRC it was one of the few
23.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
The word 'colonization' has become rather toxic, though. Maybe we need a new word for occupying barren planets where there's no native life being displaced?
24.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
Surely those who need refuge from the worst Islamic regimes are the women, not the men? As for the housing market, yes, it'd still be in a bad state with zero migration. But at the moment, it seems that we can't build enough to ke
25.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
They thought climate change was the next war-level crisis, and worked towards that. They didn't anticipate the Ukraine invasion, or the Middle East blowing up again.
26.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
No, it requires adhesive-removing chemicals, IPA as a bare minimum, dental floss, plastic prying tools, and some idea of battery safety (so you don't turn it into a fireball by trying to extract it aggressively with a screwdriver). Gen
27.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
The drone war will be quite limited by chip production. And once the chip fabs have been bombed, civilisation is set by by decades, and may end up fighting a lower-tech war.
28.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
> The left wing parties just wish to honour existing international treaties which we have signed to allow genuine asylum seekers. But these are treaties are no longer fit for purpose, as can be seen by the boatloads of mostly young male
29.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
War requires industry. But we've deindustrialised and outsourced the manufacture of almost everything to China.
30.
by bluescrn 2mo ago
Probably a reference to Helen Joyce, a prominent gender-critical author/activist. Formerly an editor at The Economist.

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