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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • Yeah everyone talks about how cheap android phones are for the specs, but specs aren’t important if your device doesn’t even work. The market is too fragmented, and that is where Apple’s iron fisted approach shines. You will have the same experience on every iPhone, and you don’t have to worry about manufacturer, service provider, or anyone putting software on it that the average user can’t remove.

    I’m not gonna pretend iPhones are perfect. They have their own issues, and I’ve recently learned that setting up parental controls requires a second Apple device (I’m certainly not going to intentional have children, so this doesn’t affect me, but it’s messed up), which definitely seems like it should be illegal. I have never had an iPhone die on me, however.


  • I switched to iPhone around the time honeycomb came out. I switched from Windows Mobile 6.5 on an HTC shadow that I adored. When the Google g1 came out, I switched to it immediately. It was amazing and I was so excited about the better experience than winmo.

    I went through about 6 or 7 android phones over the next few years. HTC, Samsung, Motorola (the Cliq, it was fine until I was stuck on cupcake and everyone else had eclair).

    I had two galaxy s 2s die in the same year. I’ve never broken a phone physically. I had an htc espresso (i really liked hardware keyboard at the time) that got capped at froyo. I naturally installed CyanogenMod on it so I could get my that sweet sweet Gingerbread animated wallpaper functionality. Then the keyboard died. By that point I could type on a touch screen fine. Nbd. Then the power button died.

    Obviously my warranty wasn’t honored, as I had changed the software, despite my phone being less than a year old, and having had a hardware failure. I couldn’t reflash it because the power button didn’t work.

    These aren’t even all of the failures I had. I eventually decided to go iPhone, and I’ve NEVER had an issue. I have kept my iPhones for a minimum of 3 years.

    Price? I got the iPhone 15 pro for $170 (free and clear, not that rented bullshit) when I traded in my 3 year old iPhone. I’m not stupid. I’m not illiterate. I just would like my phone every now and then. I don’t use it for all the crazy shit other people do. It’s a gps with texting and sometimes calling/Lemmy usage. It works amazingly.

    I’m sure Android is much better now. But why switch when what I have works and is honestly cheap. I could get a new one every two years for free if I didn’t want to own my phone. But Apple bad so I must be brain washed.





  • My Americanism got in the way I guess. My politicians are doing their best to not enact a law that went in the ballot as a citizen led initiative and received a majority vote. So saying “America thinks this thing because some politicians did a fucked up thing” would be disingenuous.

    My point was that I won’t speak for everyone in the eu, but the members of the European Parliament involved in this directed do want, have wanted, and continue to want this regulation. Saying the “eu” didn’t want this, but “well Apple” is just ridiculous, and the directive I would argue affects other products significantly more simply because of all the laptops switching to usb c. If we just go around pretending the “eu” had their hand forced by one company’s cellphone business (large or not), then we are pretending the other massive corporations are *not committing an infraction against humanity with the large amount of ewaste they are producing.

    So I could have worded “the eu doesn’t want anything) better. I just didn’t want an already long post to be even longer. I wrote a book here before I had to erase it and trim it down and I still feel like it’s too long and maybe doesn’t even effectively explain my position l, so maybe I just suck at communicating.



  • The distinction there is just that your statement about the eu NOT wanting to regulate this is incorrect. This is something the members of the eu have wanted regulation on for some time. And not because of Apple, but because of most major manufacturers.

    Again, no. It’s not because Apple didn’t change their plug for their mobile devices. It’s because of every device using different chargers. Again, laptops are much worse than a single cable that hasn’t changed in a decade.

    By blaming one corporation alone, you are giving every single bad actor a pass. This is how they get away with shit like this.

    I’d argue notebook chargers are even MORE awful at this because they’re usually at least $50 for an off-brand and significantly more from the manufacturer.


  • Looks like you are correct mostly. It looks like it was actually the character and persona from the Colbert report that he can’t use. It would be like taking the show to a different network I guess would be the argument which usually involves the show being bought. It’s also weird because the company was basically suing itself.

    It also led to Colbert mentioning that he didn’t know how to act as the normal him, so I think it’s cool he at least got something positive out of it, even if it’s a huge blow for sure.

    It’s weird, because if the character was named like Sean Spencer, it would be expected that you couldn’t just use the same character. I’m surprised he didn’t have a legal leg to stand on given the character has his name, and he could argue that it’s simply his own personality, but if he and his lawyers didn’t expect it to be winnable I’ll take their word on it.

    Either way, it’s interesting information. Thanks for the correction.


  • That’s not quite accurate. The EU doesn’t want anything, but the people involved in this decision absolutely wanted to regulate this. It’s been an issue for decades at this point.

    It’s also not because of “well, Apple”. This law doesn’t apply to phones alone, it’s pretty much any mobile device.

    It also, and this is one of the big and important parts, requires manufacturers to offer the option to NOT have chargers included. The goal here is to reduce the MASSIVE amount of e waste generated by tablets, phones, cameras, and even (especially in my mind, as these are often not compatible even amongst single manufacturers) laptop chargers. That’s an awesome part of the rule, even if it has a larger compliance window.

    Lastly, while the law itself doesn’t require USB C, the legal annex absolutely and quite explicitly DOES state that manufacturers must use USB C. There is a provision that reports must be made every 5 years or so, and consideration will be made concerning the required standards (wireless is mentioned as not being able to effectively be regulated in this way as of yet).

    This is a huge win in terms of the reduction in e waste, and the option to not receive a charger is, in my opinion, one of the best parts. I have way too many USB C cables that I can’t find a place to use them all, and I’ve got them in every room.




  • Not quite. It’s different than movies, because one person can purchase assets. Typically most talented developers aren’t also incredibly talented artists, animators, and composers. There are certainly people out there that could do that, but the same could be said for indie films made by a group of friends in their spare time with licensed music and improvised sound effects.

    You can’t just compare a solo indie dev to a feature film like it’s not apples to bananas. Comparing an indie film would be more apt.

    I’d say that solo indie dev games would be similar to that one web serial in the early days of YouTube, Marble Hornets, I think it was. It was interesting enough (I only saw bits and pieces personally) that it had a very dedicated fan base, but was made by like… three friends or something.

    Game studios making triple a titles are more comparable to a triple a movie (that’s where AAA comes from - A list actors, A list studio, and A list something else. Triple A games have massive budgets for the same reason movies do. Marketing, voice actors, sound design, composers, animators, developers, project managers, interns, assistants, game designers, etc.

    Triple A games also amusingly have directors and producers just like a Hollywood film does. In all honestly, video games are like interactive movies. We’re seeing now the end stages of that imitation with so many blockbuster sqls and nostalgia grabs in both industries.







  • I guess it is, I just mean it’s not about the App Store itself, so much as the continued costs. I think it’s more the in app purchases that is the problem. Google and Apple don’t allow in app purchases without paying them a huge cut.

    Epic doesn’t really have a problem using the app stores. They just don’t want to pay such a massive commission for no reason. Google makes it difficult to use other app stores, and Apple doesn’t allow it. This means that you either pay them in perpetuity for every micro transaction, or you don’t get to push your app.

    So I guess my point was just that the app stores are the ultimate root of the issue, but it goes a lot deeper than just the app stores themselves to the predatory pricing structure major companies impose. If this is successful eventually, or if the Apple appeal is, we have the potential to see a real shift in the way compensation for developers is handled. I’m being optimistic of course, but it would be nice.


  • I think the way 2k does it is a good model. They release in epic exclusively for like 6 months, and tben steam and epic after. Idk what the different requirements are for the various game stores, but the build version should be the same for a software that large.

    It’s also the publishers job to handle marketing, so that would fall under their purview rather than the devs at least. With 2k’s model for the ‘lands series, they get the best of both worlds for the most part. The only customers they lose are the ones who are staunchly against using multiple game portals or just really dislike epic for one reason or another.

    For a small developer, I do agree though. It comes down to whether they think a larger audience will benefit them. Sometimes being a large fish in a small pond is better, sometimes not. I won’t pretend I’ve got personal experience marketing and selling a game, but I do believe (and not just because I’m a developer) that the dev companies and publishers should get more of the pie than the platform they are selling on.