We are going to be seeing so many of these investor-backed, AI-focused, trend-chasing startups dropping like flies in the next few years as the interest (and VC money) dries up. The landfills of the world are going to fill with even more disposable trash as so many cloud-dependant gadgets go offline.

A few thoughts as a 3D modeller that has done hired work based off provided AI concepts:

• The usability of those assets will depend on the kind of game you are making. Are they 2D? 3D? Sprites? etc AI can generate 2D pictures but cannot generate 3D models that are useful in a proper production workflow/pipeline. Every generated 3D model I’ve seen is a dogshit mess.

• Will you be the only one working with these assets? Sending untouched AI content off to another artist in the pipeline can cause extreme headaches depending on what it is.

• Things generated with AI have a very inconsistent artistic style. This is fine for rapid prototyping and quick concepts but awful for finished products.

• AI content is extremely difficult to edit and work with and may not even be editable at all.

• Legality varies by location, region, and storefront.

• Your customers will notice and you and your product will be ridiculed for using AI, especially if you use a lot of it.

Lastly, and this is going to get a bit spicy: If you care about the work you do and take even a tiny amount of pride in your work then please, for the love of the Gods, use assets made by real people. If you do not have the skills or equipment to make them yourself then there are plenty out there that are cheap, reasonably priced, or even free and royalty-free. Using AI content in a public release just screams “I am cheap and couldn’t be bothered to hire actual talent.” and indicates that you do not care about your work.

It hasn’t been updated in ages, so maybe. It does still work well for now at least.

Not going to change unless Microsoft does a complete 180 on how they’re handling Win11 which I don’t think they will do because it’s just not in their corporate strategy at the moment. I imagine most people are just going to keep using Win10 after the support period ends.

Microsoft seriously needs an upper management shakeup. They have been dropping the ball badly in numerous areas and have their heads lodged too far up their own asses to see it.

If you are using iOS then there is really only one place to get them- the App Store.

I’ve used both Memmy and Mlem and both are decent apps.

“We heard your concerns”

More like: “Oops, someone actually stopped to read our predatory contract.”

From a user perspective: A tablet that folds up to the size of a phone. Or a phone that flips to the size of a compact little square.

From a business perspective: A phone with an extremely fragile screen that will require frequent replacement and a hinge that has limited life, ensuring customer retention and re-purchasing.

I do keep a loose eye on them, especially flips as I like the idea of a phone that can fold up really small for tiny pockets. Their unfathomable prices and durability issues put me off, though. I have seen foldables that have been kept past the usual 2-year contract window and… oof. They do not age gracefully. For the $1,800-$3,200CAD asking price that is unacceptable. Does not help that the only foldables with major retail presence here are from Samsung and Samsung’s customer service and warranty support here is atrocious.

I always did find it amusing that they are called the United States when it seems like it’s constantly teetering on brink of another civil war.

But think of the shareholders!!

I wouldn’t use either as they both use google’s browser engine. They’re just two flavours of Chrome.

Depends on the company and where you live, I feel. Some has gotten worse, some has improved.

But they have all gotten more expensive. So goddamn expensive. These days I can order a well made, flame-grilled burger at a burger joint for the same price as fast food slop.

Average users do not even remotely care about federated software and/or decentralisation. That is techno-babble to them and their eyes will glaze over if you try to market that to them.

That being said: Mastodon does a shit job at explaining how it works, how to use it, and what its advantages are. The Joinmastodon landing page just assumes you already know how a fair bit about instances work and what federated software is and does a very poor job explaining it. And even then, most users won’t care either way. They just want to click a Join button and be done.

Should’ve rounded it up to 1B. And then tripled it.

The inability to use my own client was the deciding factor of why I did not go with Tuta when I was email shopping. They’ve got good features and a fair price but that one decision is a serious turn-off imo.

Posteo isn’t a monthly charge to your credit card. It uses a credits that you can top up whenever you feel like it. I usually put in a year’s worth of credits in advance which costs me around $17CAD.

I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with Posteo. Their features list is very good for the pittance they charge per month.

I was able to use that trick to cancel my Adobe sub without a cancellation fee and then bought Affinity Photo 2 right after. I’ve integrated it fully into my workflow now and won’t ever look back.

Fuck Adobe and fuck their stranglehold on creative industries.

A phone which can fit snuggly into even the tiniest of my jeans’ pockets sounds really appealing. I’ve kept a loose eye on these things for a while now, but I’ve been constantly put off by the price, durability, and sacrifices made to other features. My carrier also rarely (if ever) seems to extend any sales or promos to folding/flipping phones like they do for others. They are extremely expensive - exceeding even top shelf iPhone Pro’s and Pro Max’s for price.

They did used to make really good games. It was just a very very very long time ago. Many of the gamers that associate Ubisoft with being shit weren’t even born back when they used to make decent, innovative games.

There are certainly some people that willingly choose not to vote, but there are also a lot of people that can’t. Either because of inability to get to a polling station, employer that won’t give them time off (or threatens punishment), or they live in a state that is actively attacking their voting rights and/or making it extremely difficult to vote.

It’s important to remember that one of the parties in the US two-party system is effectively a fascist party and they hold power in many states. It is often not as simple as “just go vote”.