Fej

Location: NYC metro area/NJ/New Jersey/NY/New York (US)

Remote: Yes; physical presence may be preferred in the future once the present crisis has passed, but is not required

Willing to relocate: not right now

Technologies: HTML5/CSS3/ES7+ (JavaScript), Python, Java, C

Email: j at the domain immediately below

Résumé: https://fej.io/resume

A bit more info: https://fej.io

GitHub: https://github.com/nuclearfej

Recently graduated from the Stevens Institute of Technology in NJ, right next to NYC - CS bachelor's degree with a minor in philosophy. Worked with Node.js, Postgres/MySQL, React, and Vue.js in the web ecosystem, plus a bit of PHP here and there; I use Python for everyday scripting and a heavier language (Java or sometimes C++) for larger tasks.

Always excited to try new languages, frameworks, methodologies - you name it. I love to learn new things and branch out.

Serious recruiters also welcomed.

Please don't hesitate to leave a comment with any questions. Thank you for looking.

I am a citizen of the US.

You're thinking of this:

https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/the-birth-and-death...

at about 13:10.

The PSVR has sold 5 million units or so to date, and there's going to be a second generation. There are a lot of games which support it due to this install base. That's pretty mass market.

(It's popular enough that Sony actually has made a second iteration of the headset, but it's not an upgrade.)

It's not as accessible as the Oculus Quest, but the PS4 has sold roughly 106 million units to date, and gamers are probably the biggest market at present for VR devices.

> Apart from extensions requiring whitelisting, how is it worse than the old mobile FF?

This is the most important point by far. First-class add-on support was the one differentiating feature that Firefox for Android had over every other browser on the platform. There are a handful of other browsers with add-ons on Android, like Kiwi, but they aren't nearly as seamless as Firefox was.

I'm using Fennec to write this comment because of Refined HN, I just turned off auto-updates. Not going to switch (at least for now) and I love Firefox but who knows where we'll be in a year? If we're in the same spot then I'll have to switch to Kiwi for these use cases.

I have Nightly installed and it's faster - whitelisted uBlock Origin alone solves a lot of problems in addition to GeckoView's massive speed improvements - but it doesn't fit every use case, so I have to keep Fennec installed.

The devs seem obstinate about ever allowing non-whitelisted add-ons outside of Nightly, which is... odd, it's the one feature they have over the competition. They seem similarly obstinate regarding about:config on stable.

There are other grievances (I actually disagree with the detractors on the default position of the address bar - it's far easier to use on tall devices) but this is the one thing that can't be found elsewhere, and it's gone now.

To reiterate, this feedback comes from a position of love, not hate, and I think most other people here feel the same. The devs are getting a lot of heat on places like reddit though, and the Play Store reviews for another. My limited understanding is that Fennec had to go eventually.

The New 3DS/2DS enhancements don't stop at the camera & eye tracking - very few people, I think, ever understood the massive leap in specs. It's like the jump from the Game Boy to the Game Boy Color, except perhaps even bigger.

- CPU got double the ARM11 cores (now 4, was 2) at triple the clock speed (exactly)

- RAM doubled from 128 MB to 256 MB.

- VRAM upped by 2/3 to 10 MB, was 6 MB (which sounds like not a lot, which is true, but the top screen is 800x240 with an effective resolution of 400x240 and the viewport rendered twice from slightly different perspectives when 3D is enabled. Lower screen is 320x240, so it's not a lot of VRAM but it doesn't really need that much)

- Added an H.264 hardware decoder (yes, the original lacked one)

- NFC added, not big but an external reader/writer puck was required for the old 3DS models and amiibo is huge among a subset of fans

- ...Wi-Fi still maxes out at 802.11g (come on now)

The hardware gap is great enough that the New 3DS got a Switch port (Fire Emblem Warriors) and a Wii port with the 3D enabled (Xenoblade 3D). It can also be used for Twitch/YouTube streaming, as it has enough horsepower (and apparently extra hardware, but I'm not sure which is required; maybe someone else can enlighten us in this respect) to just dump the display buffer over Wi-Fi to a PC. Even with the 802.11g deficiency.

It's a great console with a huge library of games, especially with DS backwards compatibility, and with mods (all are vulnerable) it's also a capable and very portable emulation machine. Cheaper as well (although not necessarily significantly) than even the Switch Lite, and more moddable (unless you want to shell out for a Switch modchip).

Nintendo could have sold many more but botched the name and the marketing, like the Wii U. But it's worth a look.

For air filters, try McMaster-Carr. They generally sell to businesses but ship to home addresses as well.

This is a fantastic idea - the only thing missing (that I see) is that Oracle would need to see the source code and verify that the checksum of the apps built from that code matches the downloads from the Google Play Store and App Store.

Otherwise the guarantee that no data is being sent to China is not airtight. Oracle could audit the app every time it gets an update and watch network traffic, but this would miss anything sent by code activated remotely after the fact. It wouldn't work for long, but the US government will look for any reason to deny this deal. I don't think Oracle will audit the app constantly anyway. Come to think of it, that could apply to the source code too, if the malicious code was extremely well hidden.

(Written for another post regarding the same topic, copied here)

Oracle purchasing a stake in ByteDance, and maybe handling US operations? It sounds like one of those deals which will end up as a loss in a few years and a write-down. The first comparison that comes to mind is the Tumblr sale, when Yahoo wrote-down $712 million, although the companies are quite different. However, the similarity is the culture difference between the parent and subsidiary companies - Yahoo couldn't figure out how to turn Tumblr profitable as they had no successful examples prior, as far as I remember. Oracle and TikTok could not be more different: Oracle is a cold cloud technology supplier with no business advertising to teens.

If Oracle wishes to only be the cloud partner holding US data (a possibility mentioned in the article) it's possible that it could work out, but whether it is possible is dependent on politics and potentially who is elected as the next President.

Oracle purchasing a stake in ByteDance, and maybe handling US operations? It sounds like one of those deals which will end up as a loss in a few years and a write-down. The first comparison that comes to mind is the Tumblr sale, when Yahoo wrote-down $712 million, although the companies are quite different. However, the similarity is the culture difference between the parent and subsidiary companies - Yahoo couldn't figure out how to turn Tumblr profitable as they had no successful examples prior, as far as I remember. Oracle and TikTok could not be more different: Oracle is a cold cloud technology supplier with no business advertising to teens.

If Oracle wishes to only be the cloud partner holding US data (a possibility mentioned in the article) it's possible that it could work out, but whether it is possible is dependent on politics and potentially who is elected as the next President.

TL;DR: These rules were written to ensure that none of the companies implementing game streaming will follow them. It's effectively the same as banning them, and the expertise required and cost of starting a new cloud gaming service is so high that there are few companies capable of it, so we probably won't see one started to fill this iOS niche (although it's not impossible).

Service-by-service:

Project xCloud (beta name), it's Microsoft's cloud gaming service attached to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. The 30% cut is probably not viable to give up. They just announced that EA Play will be added to the service, further reducing their margins. Since they would be required to offer the same price as elsewhere, I don't expect them to invest in iOS.

PlayStation Now. Not currently available on mobile devices, but Sony committed code to Android 10 to make the DualShock 4 (PS4 controller) work properly over Bluetooth, so who knows? That code is also used with their PS4 Remote Play app which is available for both iOS and Android. Sony has not hesitated to kill off loss leaders (I'm thinking of PS Vue in particular) and the service isn't all that popular as it is, even though it beat all the other competitors to market by years, so I don't see them investing further into this service unless it picks up a lot more customers. (They may see this as an opportunity though, so it's a possibility.)

Nvidia GeForce Now. This is a complete non-starter as games are not sold at all by Nvidia, their subscription is effectively selling server time. Players can play a subset of games they already own on other digital storefronts. Since games cannot be purchased in any way, neither by subscription nor individually, the "app" downloaded from the App Store would have to be purchased elsewhere which I believe breaks another App Store rule.

Google Stadia. Saved this one for last as it's the most likely of the bunch to give in and follow Apple's rules, although I'd still consider it a toss-up. Unlike all of the other services mentioned here, Stadia does sell games individually in addition to their subscription, which more closely meets the intent of Apple's setup (that each game is "downloaded" separately). Google has the engineering talent to roll this out quickly, if it's possible on a business level, and they are evidently willing to burn the capital necessary to acquire more consumers due to their other actions in this space. So Stadia on iOS is a distinct possibility, even if Apple's rules make it difficult and potentially unprofitable.

In addition to the problems above - for each service, each game would have to be looked at by the streaming provider and potentially altered by the game's original developers on a game-by-game basis to implement Apple's IAP requirement; given in particular the 30% IAP cut, AAA publishers' reliance on microtransaction revenue, and Apple's requirement to not charge a higher price than elsewhere, I don't expect them to bother, but you never know. This also means that the streaming provider might have to use a different version of the game depending on whether the user is streaming from an iOS or non-iOS device, but that's also an unknown regarding the internal implementation of their in-game purchase API. It's the 30% cut that's more important here though.

Valve discontinued their controller and streaming box because they did not sell - to get rid of their stock, they had to put them on fire sale. They're still supporting the controller and afaik the streaming box as well. The controller was innovative but often regarded as awkward, and the streaming box wasn't particularly special.

The Valve Index on the other hand has redefined the high-end VR market and is selling out accordingly. I've tried most of the consumer VR solutions on the market and the Index "knuckles" controllers blow everything else out of the water, it's not even close. Oculus has dropped out of that market, opting to produce more affordable but somewhat less capable headsets and controllers. I don't see HTC turning it around as they don't have the name recognition or the capital and their tech is already weaker.

Point being is that Valve owns the top-end of the VR market already and this project, while impressive and definitely promising, is not competing with Valve. It might in the future, with a lot of work, but it's not insurance against a Valve dominion. There might not even be room in this niche market for more than one competitor, which is awful but that's what we're looking at.

Apogee distributed shareware versions of some of their games over BBSes, but purchases of games required a mail order and games were shipped on disk.

The general public did not use any of these services. Yes, BBSes and the like were notable, but used by a tiny minority. Most computer users bought boxed software, and that was it.

Was anyone actually selling software over the internet in the 80's/early 90's at scale? I was under the impression that the answer is "no", but if there is a counterexample I'd love to see it.

The beauty of the web as we know it has nothing to do with its efficiency. For applications, it is, as you wrote, inferior in speed, as well as many other attributes (memory usage, CPU usage, plenty of others). That is not the point. The point is that web apps are distributed instantly to users, on demand, anywhere, extremely cheaply, with no middlemen necessary. (The web is not the only technology with these traits, but in practice it is the only widespread one.)

Back before the web was prominent, software had to be distributed via physical media, usually floppies and later CDs. This inherently limited the reach and complexity of software - physical media is expensive, especially floppies - so it required either the mailing of software by the creator(s) to users, who would have to pay a fee, or a substantial investment by a publisher, which again incurs a (larger) cost to the end user. Almost any widespread software would require a middleman (publisher) and the end user having to go to a store to purchase it.

Allowing anyone to create and distribute software in a format simple enough to be used easily by anyone has democratized this system. With more programmers who might not practice the craft professionally, and a desire for speedy development, higher-level languages and frameworks sprung up to fill the knowledge gap and enable even easier development.

That's not to say that we should not appreciate older software - as you wrote, the aesthetics ought not belie the challenge and art of software which had to fit into tight spaces, and the constraints required usually forced developers to place function over form. It's a different, not necessarily better or worse, software development paradigm, and older software can be as impressive as or even more so than newer software. But we shouldn't write off the new things either, even if they're worse in areas.

(I don't think all of it looks completely ugly, either: Windows 3.1, for example, exhibits a number of traits of modern flat design - single colors, mostly a lack of shadows, many simple icons and interface elements. Windows 1.0 even used the hamburger menu icon. What's old is new again.)

It's not quite so clear, the Wikipedia article on the subject has a bird's eye view of the relevant case law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_wrap_contract

For this drive, there is no explicit acceptance of the terms given and the terms are unavailable before not just purchase, but before opening of the box.

Thank you for the comment, I've edited mine to reflect the ambiguity.

Adjacent to WD's recent scumminess, I recently purchased an Ultrastar drive (no longer HGST-branded) and it came with a slip in the box informing me that by purchasing this product (from B&H) I had somehow agreed to binding arbitration.

Companies have been abusing the ability to force consumers into binding arbitration but this is another level. I'm not a lawyer but it doesn't seem to be clear if this would hold up in court; it is however pretty clearly a scare tactic, which is almost worse.

Location: NYC metro area/NJ/New Jersey/NY/New York (US)

Remote: Yes, physical presence would be preferred in the future once the present crisis has passed, but not required

Willing to relocate: no

Technologies: HTML5/CSS3/ES7+ (JavaScript), Python, Java, C

Email: j at the domain immediately below

Résumé: https://fej.io/resume

A bit more info: https://fej.io

GitHub: https://github.com/nuclearfej

Recently graduated from the Stevens Institute of Technology in NJ, right next to NYC - CS bachelor's degree with a minor in philosophy. Worked with Node.js, Postgres/MySQL, React, and Vue.js in the web ecosystem, plus a bit of PHP here and there; I use Python for everyday scripting and a heavier language (Java or sometimes C++) for larger tasks.

Always excited to try new languages, frameworks, methodologies - you name it. I love to learn new things and branch out.

Serious recruiters also welcomed.

Please don't hesitate to leave a comment with any questions. Thank you for looking.

I am a citizen of the US.

> The goods are all digital with no lasting or intrinsic value to speak of. The only reason Epic has the cash flow it has is that people don't fully understand this yet.

People understand perfectly well that Fortnite skins have no intrinsic value. They buy them because they enjoy the game and the skins have subjective value to them. Maybe the game will be around in a decade, maybe it won't; it doesn't matter.

Fortnite is far from the only game with paid cosmetics, it's a model that appears to work quite well from a business perspective, even over time. CS:GO has had weapon skins in lootboxes for 7 years now. (That's just one example.)

But Android exists, and has multiple noteworthy alternative app stores (including, relevant here, the Epic Games App) and this has not come to pass; every mass-market app is on the Google Play Store, excepting now Fortnite.

Epic previously tried to build out a Fortnite playerbase on Android outside of the Play Store and was unsuccessful in drawing in players, so they had to upload it to the Play Store (which has now been removed).

Here is the relevant Discourse discussion:

https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/add-on-support-in-new-firefo...

and the relevant GitHub issue, which was locked due to too many people complaining:

https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/11308

which was closed and moved into this issue, which was locked immediately as this change is... rather unpopular, as is their proposed solution:

https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/14034

I would recommend readers to skim the Wikipedia article on tying, or a similar article on the subject:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tying_(commerce)

A shorter article:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tying.asp

Microsoft was convicted by the US for tying Windows and IE in the 90's, and Google was more recently convicted by the EU for tying Android and Chrome. US regulators have declined so far to do the same for the latter, although the political winds seem to be changing.

uBlock Origin is already a bit nerfed on Chrome, and will likely be completely gone in the near future. That's Firefox's killer app for "regular" users, and power users too.

It's a matter of getting the word out. Mozilla likely won't outright bundle its features as to not completely alienate Google, since they are their main source of revenue, but seem to be okay with promoting it otherwise, as it is on the front page of addons.mozilla.org and was the first extension (and the only one, for a time, and still only one of nine) supported in the new Firefox for Android.

There are also "normal" users who do not care about blocking ads and tracking, or do not know about the performance issues, malware risk, and other reasons for using a blocker and have not made such a decision, trusting the browser to act in the best interest of the user. (We know that last bit doesn't work anymore.)

(Regarding uBlock Origin, gorhill has expressed that he will not neuter the extension to work with Chrome's API change, reference: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/338#iss... )

When did they add this?

No reason to shop there anymore. Micro Center and B&H have been great.

Even if it were cleanroom reverse-engineered, the code contains many constants relating to game balance (and many other things) that are identical to RCT2 or RCTC (RollerCoaster Tycoon: Classic, the mobile port which was also released on PC), without which the game would not function, which probably makes it a derivative work.

That being said, I'm fairly certain it was not cleanroom reverse-engineered.

The not-so-legal status, then, is "Atari does not care".

They do, in the UK. Supposedly this is due to the possibility of pens containing disappearing ink. More likely this is to avoid ink being accidentally smeared across the ballot, since it has to be folded.

> The Appellate Court didn’t agree with Amazon’s stance, noting that the product had been listed on Amazon, was stored in an Amazon warehouse, had facilitated payment, and shipped it out in Amazon packaging, proving it to have a hand in getting it to Bolger and thus being liable under California law.

eBay does not meet the second qualifier and rarely meets the last. Additionally, it is more obviously a marketplace - the seller of a given item is highlighted and their credibility made known in the form of their star ratings. Amazon de-emphasizes the seller name for non-Amazon sellers and completely hides their rating on the product page.

Of course, the only way to know for sure is if eBay's liability is litigated.

1f60c probably has, that message has been there for a while. The link was likely posted for the historical curiosity, not because (most of?) those complaints are particularly relevant anymore.

> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

I think you're being downvoted since you didn't explain your position, but I don't think it's wrong, just that it's probably not quite so simple.

A lot of the w3schools hate probably comes from the "old days" when a lot of the documentation was inaccurate.

This is absolutely bonkers - if the Firefox dev tools stagnate, then devs won't test their sites on Firefox, leading to even more users ditching the product for Chrome!