They say they own the game so presumably did purchase it.

Not having to deal with Ubisoft/similar game launchers frequently forgetting my login, nagging to update itself, etc. is one reason I might choose to run a cracked copy.

Ubisoft launcher being so bad that people prefer the cracked, launcher-free version should go down in the history as example of some of the worst product-management there is.

I'm totally in the same boat; I've not bought several Ubisoft-games I was interested in playing because their launcher is such a cancer (if anyone from Ubisoft is on HN: What on earth are you guys smoking?).

I'm too lazy to bother with pirating games these days (I have more games than time to play them anyway), but younger me would've certainly went to the high seas to circumvent their ridiculous insult of a game launcher.

What're the odds they've licenced the Grinch character for use on their company blog?

This would make this blog notable as the first AI company to proactively respect trademark.

Their games and systems tie into huge gambling operations on 3rd party sites

If you have 30mins for a video I recommend People Make Games' documentary on it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMmNy11Mn7g

Yeah, im sorry. Valve is the last company people should be focusing for this type of behavior. All the other AAA game companies use these mechanics to deliberate manipulate players. IMHO valve doesn't use predatory practices to keep this stuff going.

Just because they weren’t the first mover into predatory practices doesn’t mean they can’t say no to said practices. Each actor has agency to make their own operating and business decisions. Is Valve the worst of the lot? Absolutely not. But it was still their choice to implement.

What makes Valve special is that they were the first mover on those practices like lootboxes, gamepasses... but they never pushed it as far as the competition where it became predatory.

They have a track record of not engaging in these practices. It might be true that someday, we will get the wrong people in leadership positions at Valve that would entertain this behavior, but so far I don't think its going to happen. Valve has been time and time again, on the side of sane thinking around these topics. So IMHO your concern isn't really warranted as of yet.

How much of the video did you watch? I'm not aware of other game companies that enable 3rd party integrations into their item systems. This isn't just "lootboxes bad" - it's Valve profiting from actual gambling happening on external sites.

If you want to see how bad this really is, take a look at AAA games like call of duty where they dynamically alter in game loot mechanics to get people to purchase in game items.

Value is chump change in this department. They allow the practice of purchasing loot boxes and items but don't analyze and manipulate behaviors. Valve is the least bad actor in this department.

I watched half the video and found it pretty biased compared to whats happening in the industry right now.

I feel this argument of Valve deliberately profiting off of gambling not really the whole story. I certainly dont think that Valve designed there systems to encourage gambling. More like they wanted a way to bring in money to develop other areas of their platform so they can make it better, which they did. And in many cases are putting players first. Players developed bad behaviors around purchasing in-game and trading items and have chosen to indulge in the behavior. 3rd parties have rose up around a unhealthy need that IMHO is not Valves doing. And most importantly, since I was around when these systems went into place, allowing me to see what was happening, this kind of player behavior developed over time. I don't think Valve deliberately encouraged it.

The entire gaming industry is burning down before our eyes because of AAA greed and you guys are choosing to focus on the one company thats fighting against it. Im not getting it.

> call of duty where they dynamically alter in game loot mechanics to get people to purchase in game items.

[Citation needed]

> I certainly dont think that Valve designed there systems to encourage gambling

Cases are literally slot machines.

> [section about third-party websites] I don't think Valve deliberately encouraged it.

OK, but they continue to allow it (through poor enforcement of their own ToS), and it continues to generate them obscene amounts of money?

> you guys are choosing to focus on the one company thats fighting against it.

Yes, we should let the billion dollar company get away with shovelling gambling to children.

Also, frankly speaking, other AAAs are less predatory with gambling. Fortnite, CoD, and VALORANT to pick some examples, are all just simple purchases from a store. Yes, they have issues with FOMO, and bullying for not buying skins [0], but oh my god, it isn't allowing children to literally do sports gambling (and I should know, I've actively gambled on esports while underage via CS, and I know people that have lost $600+ while underage on CS gambling).

[0]: https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/7/18534431/fortnite-rare-defa...

this is just willingly turning a blind eye. it's not about the reputation or being a "good company", it's about the facts of what they do.

I'm choosing not to place the blame on them as I don't see it as something they can control. And I trust Valve to do the right thing over most any large game studio out there. The history of reputation and actions matter. I think you want to to try and skew the narrative based on you own particular bias. The situation is much bigger than what you are making it out to be.

> I think you want to to try and skew the narrative based on you own particular bias.

This is exactly what you are doing.

> The history of reputation and actions matter.

The history of actions matter, yes. The history of actions on the gambling topic has been very consistent thus far from Valve.

What do you mean they can’t control it? They could stop gambling tomorrow by disabling trading and disabling case openings. Valve already appear to be preparing for the latter to happen via regulation with the “Armory” feature in CS, which follows Fortnite & other major AAA titles.

(Oh, talking about Valve electing to engage in scummy behaviour, the “X-ray” feature is a classic example of them deliberately subverting regulation against loot boxes.)

If you want to bring up the “let the free market be the free market” angle, I’d at least be amenable to it.

But pretending as if they’re innocent passengers, and that they have no idea what is going on it ludicrous. Don’t baby a billion dollar company.

(I have skin the game too. If Valve blocked trading, I’d lose $400 worth of value in my skins. I’d still rather not support gambling, especially the type that is so incredibly unregulated.)

Can you create the epub and pdf files yourself and have them distributed unaltered?

Technically, yes, but Amazon customers probably wouldn't benefit from that. I don't currently distribute or sell books directly because that creates a tax burden. So it's probably best to let the various stores handle it. I still want to sell books but I don't want my readers to be restricted by DRM for a book they paid for. The honor system is fine for me.

Edit: I now realize you might mean in the Amazon KDP UI. I don't see a way to upload your own.

Yes I wasn't clear - I meant via Amazon's store. Thanks.

As an independent author you can do what you wish. The only restriction is if you are in the Amazon KDP select program then you have promised Amazon exclusive use for a cut of the Kindle Select pie. I also distribute my books on all the other platforms, and for my free sci-fi book host it direct on my web site and on my Ko-Fi shop (the 'buy-me-a-coffee' site). Selling directly and collecting money requires a bit too much work but technically you could do it.

Unavoidable ads in the UI of the TV itself? I would hope not.

On channels/services that you might choose to access via the TV? That's a separate matter.

I think installing KOReader would let you configure it https://github.com/koreader/koreader/wiki/Installation-on-Ko...

That said I have a 2012 Kobo Mini with the option in stock firmware (and an undocumented "only refresh when I choose to" setting too). Maybe there's a firmware update for yours that would add it?

I dug one of mine out of the cupboard and just checked. There's an option for refresh after every: with options from 1 page to 6 pages. I guess better than I remembered, but that's still not what I was after.

What I really want is for the framebuffer to remember past pixels, so that the blacking out is restricted to only areas where there previously were pixel. I don't really mind noise on where the text was while the page is replaced, it the big areas flashing black needlessly that's distracting.

I might try out this firmware over the holidays though. If I get back into using the kobo as an e-reader, maybe I'll look at the issue myself now that it's open source, if it's not been addressed by someone already.

In case it's unclear, KOReader is an application you can run - not replacement firmware.

For the stock reader I believe this was the option I changed to disable automatic refresh entirely : https://old.reddit.com/r/kobo/comments/pbqey3/page_refresh_i...

Thanks, I hadn't realised that. It's so long since I properly used the Kobo, I didn't recognise any of the names.

Firefox's right-click menu has "Copy Link Without Site Tracking"

uBlock Origin can remove them before loading a URL, some examples (they go in My Filters)

    *$removeparam=/^utm_/
    *$removeparam=fbclid
    *$removeparam=si

Anyone know how to make a LG TV wake an AppleTV from sleep?

Once it's awake buttons presses on the LG remote are passed through to it but I have to keep the Apple remote around for that first step.

I had to go the other way. The Apple TV controls the LG. It wakes it, controls the volume and turns it off when it sleeps.

Mine will turn my LG on, control the volume, do all of that, it just won't ever turn it off. The AppleTV will turn itself off, but the TV itself will revert back to its screen saver display complaining about No Input.

I've got a Apple TV -> Denon -> LG C3. CEC on the appleTV remote will turn all 3 on, and long pressing (power button on appletv remote) will turn all 3 off, not just screen saver with input.

My Samsung frame does that too, some TVs ignore the off CEC command. It might be a setting you can control on the tv. Last time I checked the frame did not have that option.

I have an LG TV and I haven't seen the remote in months.

Sit down, press button on ATV remote or console controller. TV comes on.

I only needed it when it started complaining about software updates, but now with the AI version I took the TV offline and won't be updating it ever.

There's even a FOSS client now https://github.com/nicotine-plus/nicotine-plus

Nicotine+ has existed for at least 15 years. I'm pretty sure it was open source all this time.

while Soulseek has existed for 24 years, I mention it in case GP's use didn't overlap.

I thought I'd buy Cory Doctrow's Enshittification ebook direct from his website. Surprised to be redirected to Paypal with no other option.

I remember when Cory would let you download any of his books for free and even said you were allowed to email him and call him a sucker for doing this.

He still does offer them for free as far as I know. Perhaps not his most recent ones.

Doctorow has enshittified himself.

in the end, enshitification comes for us all

You either die a hero or become big tech.