The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Some games like Half-Life and Age of Empire II shipped with discs where the data was track 1 and the other tracks were the game soundtrack. You could put it in an audio CD player and it'd play it.

Also the Quake II games.

This technique is nearly ubiquitous for Sega Saturn games. To the point that many have a short track of someone saying, "this disc does not have music tracks," or something to that effect. I guess enough people complained about not having the music there.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by ratinox

Also the Quake II games.

Quake 1, too. There's guides to restore the soundtrack to digital versions, thankfully. It makes the game 1000% better!

Here's an article about the making of the soundtrack.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Quake 1, too. There's guides to restore the soundtrack, thankfully. It makes the game 1000% better!

Oh, right! I'd forgotten id got Trent Reznor to do the score for Quake.

[ownedbycats]

A game developer came into a Discord server to promote a game and then called me a conspiracy theorist for asking questions about the game. (Other users also had them, but he ignored them until I asked directly.) Amazing.

The actual conversation (I'm the Bulbasaur):

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

A game developer came into a Discord server to promote a game and then called me a conspiracy theorist for asking questions about the game. (Other users also had them, but he ignored them until I asked directly.) Amazing.

The actual conversation (I'm the Bulbasaur):

On the one hand, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.

On the other hand, they are out to get you.

"He who is afraid in 2025 to download an app from an app-store" maybe reads Bleeping Computer. Couple of examples from the past week:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/new...aling-malware/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/new...million-times/

[ownedbycats]

Even Steam recently had some malware scares: [1] [2].

EDIT: Your first link covered that, lol. I forgot to click both.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Nonremovable battery? I've replaced the battery twice on my phone. Once it swelled, the other time it started turning off at random (figured it out when taking pictures of my cat and the camera flash killed it (the phone, not my cat)).

I just had the battery replaced in my smartphone. I had to take it to a professional because I wasn't able to open the case myself. However, after it was replaced I discovered that my smartphone has a significantly increased battery life. Before replacing it, I had to charge it at least once a day. With the new battery, I changed it on Saturday, charged it to 100 percent* and now it still has a 40 percent charge.

*Per the Tech who did the replacement I should charge it to 100 percent and then recharge it when I get the low battery warning, and then charge it to 100 percent again, and then charge it as normal.

[ownedbycats]

On MR, occasionally a new poster is confused by the anti-spam measures blocking their posts. Meanwhile real spammers can post the same thing multiple times. I don't even know.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

On MR, occasionally a new poster is confused by the anti-spam measures blocking their posts. Meanwhile real spammers can post the same thing multiple times. I don't even know.

Yes, weird that.

See also DRM, which hurts valid honest consumers and doesn't seem to affect piracy.

[ownedbycats]

Software update makes me think some UX designer was told "do something or we'll lay you off" and they made it worse to guarantee future employment fixing it.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

On MR, occasionally a new poster is confused by the anti-spam measures blocking their posts. Meanwhile real spammers can post the same thing multiple times. I don't even know.

You don't see all the spam that gets blocked by the anti-spam measures, only the few that get through.

[BetterRed]

Printer spat the dummy yesterday, decided it wanted to be a toaster.

[ownedbycats]

Interesting.

[DNSB]

You expected AI to admit it's plans for exterminating organic vermin?

[Kieran Seymour]

Originally Posted by Quoth

See also DRM, which hurts valid honest consumers and doesn't seem to affect piracy.

On a related note, I don't know if these were ever really a thing outside the UK, but I picked up a DVD box set of the old Cracker TV series with Robbie Coltrane last week and most of the discs have an unskippable video at the start, lecturing about the evils of piracy. Which, of course, anyone lucky enough to have a pirated set wouldn't be disadvantaged by!

This particular one has become a bit of a joke among collectors over the years, but at over a minute long it's really not very funny when all you want to do is check that all eleven discs of your new purchase are in fully working order.

So, remember, "You wouldn't steal a car..."