alias_neo

This is for the .1 release which allows you to upgrade from the previous LTS.

I had the prompt on my work machine this morning which was previously running 24.04.x and is now on 26.04.1.

Like GP, I too have been on PlayStation since 1, had all of them on day one, and still have most of them, but PS5 is likely to be my last. I haven't played anything on it since Ragnarok, only my daughter (7yo) uses it occasionally to play Astro.

With Sony's recent moves combined with a lack of games I actually want to play (Laufey might be my last on PS5), I can't see my buying a PS6, particularly with no disc drive.

I have a gaming desktop that runs CachyOS and I game on Steam as well as an ROG Ally running CachyOS and a gaming laptop for my daughter to play Minecraft running CachyOS, as well a reservation for Steam Frame, awaiting my order email.

I'm going to go back to PC gaming, buying on Steam or GOG (DRM free) where possible, and encourage my kids (at least my daughter who's into gaming) in the same direction.

Sony's PlayStation division in particular is no longer about gamers, it's been coming for a while, so I think done with them.

That's exactly how I understand it, and from further reading, it seems Sony has now patched it already so it's game over.

Unfortunately the goal here wasn't to get the bounty, it was to keep it out of the hands of Sony who'll patch it.

The issue, as I understood it in this case was that he wanted it kept quiet until GTA6 launches, because announcing it to the public also announces it to Sony, and they'll patch it; normally that's fine, everyone just doesn't update, but given GTA6 is apparently quite popular, my understanding is that he wanted to let everyone get that one last update that allows GTA6 to run before they're stuck on that version.

This absoluteness bothered me; the car clearly wasn't in the same exact place, yet it was mentioned at least twice. I think that's what tipped me off to the AI writing.

The car was further in/out of the drive in the two shots, the wheel orientation was different, the window shade was different; all of which made the commentary on it not being abandoned ridiculous; of course someone parks their car back on their own drive, and it'll be in almost the same place, give or take a meter or two.

Generally no, you're far more likely to get something that DOESN'T do what's asvertised in my experience.

You can almost always tell the second it's in your hand; in order to do the high throughput stuff, 20Gb, 40Gb etc, the wire is much thicker and stiffer, it needs conductors for all of those contacts. Ive never counted but it's something like 20 of them vs 4 in a standard cable.

Of course always C to C; the A connectors with the extra contacts in between the normal USB 2 ones still aren't enough.

I thought about that as I was writing, I think I might do just that!

For USB, if it can carry 65W+ of power to my laptop as well as the Keyboard/Mouse inputs, 4K/60Hz display and audio back to the monitor as well as KB/Mouse and perhaps some external storage or network adapter, that's a pretty amazing cable.

I also have preferences between my cables by the quality and aesthetic, I prefer some over others because they look or feel nicer even if in testing they contain the same conductors, but that's just ... me.

I currently have 3 such cables connected to my work laptop each sending 4K/60Hz video to each of my 3 x 4k monitors, audio to my soundbar and one of them is powering the laptop at 90W and sending my keyboard, mouse and webcam inputs back.

I have a cheaper version, it does basically all one needs by telling you how many conductors the cable has, if it's only got 4 lights lit up it's a simple USB2, more power LEDs is a higher power charging cable, more data pairs, higher data throughput/USB3, nearly all of the lights (usually bar 1 of the CCX) it's full DP/Thunderbot, data, charging, A/V etc.

Sometimes it even shows USB-C connectors that are only wired for one orientation!

I don't group exactly, nor do I want to de-duplicate, but I've organised my boxes on the shelf and sorted and labelled them recently, in what seems the most logical way at the time; I have "networking", "USB", "power", "A/V", "PC" and some as of yet unlabelled ones with random stuff I can't place in the others.

There is some unfortunate crossover regarding where things belong because some USB are for power, some are for A/V etc, others or data...

What I realised, when going through these boxes was two things; it would cost a fortune to replace all of the cables in them, I wouldn't be surprised if replacement cost ran into the low thousands of £££ (should they be on my home insurance?!) and secondly; I'm no longer indecisive about what to do with a frayed or otherwise non-ideal cable, it goes straight in the bin; I used to retain the "nicer" ones and solder new connectors if the microUSB had worn out, or the cable was damaged near the end, that got much harder with USB-C unless I'm going for a simple +/-/D+/D-, so I just don't bother.

As for how often they're used; the USB box comes out almost daily, sometimes several times a day, if I'm charging things in my home office, or connecting something that isn't permanently plugged at my desk, I put the cables back away when I'm done. Power comes out every few weeks, and "networking" only when I need to reorganise things in the network cabinet/server rack.

For USB, the "final form" would be to create a labelling system so I can tell at a glance what each one supports, because as it stands I have to pull out my little LED cable tester thing and see how many light up to know if it'll do DP or high power charging etc.

Off-topic, sorry, but I did a double take when I saw your name just now.

> I think you are taking this a bit too far

I just find it an interesting thought experiment.

I wonder if this has anything to do with why a lot of companies convert your money into a variety of virtual currencies, "bells", "gold, "gems" etc.

I'll leave it there but nice chatting with you about it!

Totally agree. I don't check HN every day, some days I'm too busy, and I don't check on weekends, there are lots of topics I might be interested in, including this one, but missed, including this one, and welcome it coming up again if it's still relevant/ongoing (like this one).

I'd argue, as I think you are, that the repost rule doesn't even really apply here cause as you say, it's not a dupe link, AND it adds commentary.

> because regulators care about products that start looking financially deposit-like

I totally agree with this point, but I don't see how the topic we're discussing would be seen that way.

From a "common sense" point of view (which I know, financial regulation is absolutely not), no matter what you call this act of giving someone extra credit (let's call it "interest") for your service based on the amount they've previously paid for your service (let's call it "deposited"), you're still just giving them monopoly money that serves a single purpose and that is to use more of your service.

If they can't turn it into cash, why should any financial authority care? It's got nothing to do with them.

That said, to take your side for a moment, what's to stop me depositing boat loads of cash up front to pay for your service using the "interest" you'll give me, rather than paying it regularly out of company earnings? Now it starts to sound like something a financial authority might take interest in (pun intended).

Reposts is one thing, but the person I replied to was gatekeeping the discussion.

If the post is flagged, that does the job of solving that for us, but telling people not to start a discussion on a subject "because we've been there before" is S tier gatekeeping, and that's what I was opposing.

> The original post was specifically about why they decided not to do this in the EU because it created additional regulatory overhead

Yes, but I'm not convinced they mean what they're saying, I took that to mean they were trying to do this as _real_ interest.

> If paying interest on prepaid customer balances were legally trivial just because they’re called “credits” or have “no cash value,” companies could structure around those rules very easily

I still stand by my argument, I think it's only "interest" in name; from a banking or financial perspective it isn't. I don't see why it's any different to a company just setting a number in your account. Say I run a SaaS and give you £1000 credit, is that bound by the financial regulations? I don't think so.

If you put a single £10 credit on your balance and I offer to give you "10,000%" "interest" to top it up in credit for my service, I don't think that does either; the wording doesn't suddenly make it covered by financial regulation, it's whether it's _real_ money or not.

Credits on a service, whatever it is, isn't real money, and as long as the ToS doesn't let you turn it into real money, there's nothing complicated to worry about, but if the org _does_ let you turn it into real money, it suddenly becomes covered by financial regulation.

I'm just debating here, I'm not saying I know this to be true, I just think it make sense (to me).

I think there was an original "given" which was that in the US, (where I assume this is), these "credits" don't complicate anything nor create any regulatory burden.

That's not to say in the EU, or the UK (where I am) the case isn't different; but if it _were_ the same as the US, I can totally see why that's fine.

We have loyalty programs, a coffee shop gives you "credit" when you get stamps for your 6th coffee free etc, none of that seems to complicate matters... all because of the key point "it can't be turned back into cash".

EDIT: I would add, in the hope of further supporting my argument, that many places that offer loyalty and discount schemes, their ToS explicitly states that it's "not exchangeable" and "has no cash value", which would support my point (at least in the UK).

Perhaps people missed that, and would like to start a new discussion?

It didn't know there was a quota on discussions of any particular topic, perhaps we should give out tickets to the event in the future to ensure no-one misses their opportunity to join the discourse?

I think you're overcomplicating it.

It's "ok" _because_ the credits can't be turned back into cash (thanks to their TOS).

If some business tried some clever scheme where they offer this "interest" on credits that _can_ be turned back into cash, they'd be breaking the law and would need a banking license, it's already covered.

I have the X4 and it fits on the back of my Pixel 9 Pro XL.

EDIT: I use a "MagSafe" case.

Thanks, will try that now!

Thanks for that. I just looked up the banking app list and all of my (UK) banks are supported.

What's the alternative to Google Wallet for tap to pay and loyalty cards?

The software is the differentiator these days with all the flagship hardware being basically the same.

I would love to de-Google, but I need my banking apps, tap-to-pay and Android Auto and a top-quality camera that just works flawlessly.

If Graphene can do all of those I'll move, but the friction is high, I have passkeys and apps that have to be "migrated" such as banking apps, and various other stuff that is nigh impossible without a second device.

I still have my OnePlus 9 Pro, sadly I smashed the screen on day 2. Despite the broken screen it still feels and looks like a more premium device than my Pixel 9 Pro XL in terms of hardware, but the software really went down hill after the switch to the OPPO software.

Now I want rid of the pixel because they destroyed battery life with an update in march they've still not fixed.

As someone who was a big OnePlus fan from the 3 era to the 9 Pro, I saw the decline, I moved over when Nexus died, and had used a mixed bag before then.

OnePlus was on the decline and it was clear it wouldn't be a contender for much longer here in the UK, especially when they merged OSs with the OPPO (?) OS, and software quality went through the floor. I moved to Pixels and currently have a Pixel 9 Pro XL which I'm looking to change as they destroyed the battery life with the march update and it still hasn't been resolved. The Pixel has been solid otherwise and performance is still excellent, but I can't abide having my phone entering battery saver every day by late afternoon.

Nothing(TM) looks like it could be a decent choice, but they're generally weak hardware compared to a 9 Pro XL class device, and I'm not a fan of Samsung any more as a company, though it seems a S2X Ultra might be the only real option.

You need to click the 3 dot menu and select "open in <browser of choice>", then you can switch apps normally as you'd expect and it'll be a tab in your browser like usual.

I opened this and thought hoooooooold on, I know that; I have a framed A2 print of it on the wall to my left.

One of my favourite parts of my trip to Japan (only been once so far), the tide was out at the time so I stood under that Torii gate and have a few photos of it of my own that I use as wallpapers.

Interesting, that's not been my experience in various places around the world (not US), and I've often been able to access HDMI ports.

In the UK, they'll often put a plate in the wall with hdmi for easy connection, literally to make it easier for you to do.

> It is very tiring to hold back the shot in a position like that. In real life you just wouldn’t do that

That makes a lot of sense, and is kind of obvious when you think about it. They'd just be wasting energy.

I suppose the way we see it portrayed in film (for some reason it's always LoTR that comes to mind), is for dramatic effect, with scores of arrows flying through the sky at once. But I was always mildly irritated (though without knowing why) by the fact that despite so many arrows flying, the vast majority would miss any target.

I think it's just typical that this is allowed because it maximises profits; let's be real, a big fat touch screen and nothing else, is significantly cheaper than all of those expensive buttons, knobs, dials and switches that have been engineered and tested to perfection.

Did cars get cheaper when they took all of those out? I certainly didn't notice.