If only it were isolated to the UK. I know a website that does not hold content itself but rather links to other sites. Basically exactly what google does.

And yet, me sitting in Germany suddenly saw a nice banned notice when trying to access the site claiming this is because of "a high court verdict yadayadaya".

Why on earth do I now find ways around a UK court order to unblock a website when I am nowhere near their country? They should at least try and keep things within their jurisdiction.

Which is why it is baffling to me that MS won't let the end users alone.

I am still battling with the fact they are hell bend on removing the whole "local users" approach of personal computing.

Why stop giving people the option to use their computer the way they want to? What does MS get out of pushing everybody into online account for an on prem system?

It should be evident to them by now that there is a portion of users that will continue to find ways to use their computer the way they want to.

This cat and mouse game has gone on long enough. MS should be happy to retain any end user they can at this point and not continue to piss of some nerds that still use your operating system under the one condition that they get to do so the way they see fit.

It makes more sense if you replace the person buying with "company" and replace "local user" with "employee".

MS wants control and they will figure out some way to monetize that control. Whether it is using the data stored in the cloud for AI training or something else.

If you want control then install Linux or get a Mac. I installed Linux in 1994 and I've got about 15 Linux computers and 2 Macs. My single windows VM gets booted about once a month if that often.

Still, with Point 1) I wonder what exactly was happening. To think straight away "suspected fraud/criminal activity" for merely entering a voucher code a second time?

As a sane person I would expect a mere popup saying "Voucher code was already redeemed. try another one" Nothing more.

The ONLY other thing I can currently think of why Apple straight away went to "criminal" would be that the brick and mortar store failed to activate the card when they sold it.

You know, someone shoplifts such a card thinking they got it made. Even though you'd think everybody should know that the code you scratch of that card is only active after the clerk at the register did his thing.

If Apple then receives this voucher code that they must have in their databases but it has a big "not activated flag" next to it, THEN I could start to believe why they would lock down the account that tried to redeem, it.

And even then it seems iffy. Because how should I as the consumer know if the clerk did everything right with the activation?

I'm not defending Apple here. But I think the logic is, if you rightfully bought the card then nobody but you should be able to activate it. So the first person activating it is legit, and a second person attempting to activate it is necessarily trying to engage in fraud, having stolen it from a trash can or something.

But this breaks down for the reasons described, that thieves get the code before you do and manage to spend it first once the cashier activates it but before you get home and actually use it.

So maybe that's new and Apple hasn't updated their scam detection logic? It's the only thing I can think of.

Agreed that CEC is weird. Never thought about adding yet another device like the Pi into the mix to help control everything, though...

I have accepted that I am apparently in the minority with my setup. In fact I was actually surprised to read that OP has a Denon as, just by what I have read about the topic of home theater", everyone else seems to be doing just fine with a simple soundbar which has one! hdmi socket.

So, here is my setup: -Dumb TV (Panasonic. So old it doesn't have a CI+ module built in, it is "just" a CI module) -Denon AV Receiver -Nintendo Wii -Nintendo Switch Dock -Original Xbox -Blueray Player -HTPC -Satellite Receiver -AppleTV

Excessive? Maybe but I still own all that stuff, have room for it in my cabinet so I like to convenience of powering each of these on when I feel like it without having to unearth them from a storage room and then fiddle with cables to connect everything for just a short time of usage.

Basically everything is plugged into the Denon. And then a single HDMI cable goes from the Denon to the TV. So the TV stays on one HDMI channel and everything else happens on the Denon. Switch Inputs on there and you get the corresponding Audio/video signal from the chosen device.

So far I have been lucky that in order to switch everything on, I could use a Harmony One. I could simply program the power on command for the TV, then switch to HDMI1 and turn on the Satellite receiver. This was the default. Put it on a news station and you got yourself some background noise. If you want to switch, you just had to tell the Harmony to switch its input to any other device listed above.

It really irks me that the Harmony line is dead and I don't know what I will do should the remote, one day, stop to function. Now I wonder if I would have to go the Pi route to have that switch things around depending on devices announcing themself when turned on.

I still wonder how Steam generally handles Linux' multi user setup.

When I last looked into it, it seemed like Steam gets installed into the user's space of the linux user that did the installation.

As in, you have two Linux accounts and each would not only have to install their own Steam client. They would also have to download their own copy of the games they play into their own steam library.

And if the game is like 100GB in size that would mean you would have to se aside 200GB if both linux accounts would buy this game.

I feel like having to muck about with symlinks and stuff just to get both steam installations to believe this path is their library seems like a bit cumbersome.

Especially since I dont know how steam generally reacts when "someone else" aka not them makes changes to that library. I'd hate having to "repair" the library everytime I play just because my steam detected the changes from my brothers steam to that library as suspicious.

Windows does a lot of things wrong. So much that I would love to switch but the way it handles two windows accounts with their own steam account and one steam installation/library is at least working the way i would expect it to.

I am wondering about this "dedicated 6 GHz dongle". So, I am gathering that this thing, just like the quest will be able to run things locally but is also supposed to be able to stream pcvr stuff from a connected pc where steam is running.

I would have thought they give you a wired connection for that. you know, like the quest. but with the option to do it wireless.

My question would be: given that the wireless solution in the quest apparently is a peer-to-peer pairing of the headset and the pc through the local networks wireless router, just much of a difference will this dedicated 6GHz dongle make?

Would I be kidding myself if I assumed using this dongle would give me the analog experience of when I am using a dedicated dongle to connect my xboy controller to my pc? I mean, I plug it in, the dongle automagically comes pre-paired with the headset, I start steam on pc, hit play on a VR title and I get to play right away? Because that is my current experience with my controller that is connected via a dedicated wireless dongle. I hated the bluetooth connection. But using this dongle is really making a difference here.

So, I wonder just how "painless" this will all be with the new headset. I held out on buying a quest because the wireless connection through my router would not be possible simply because I cant change my router at the moment and while it is fine for everything i use it for, it would not be enough to stream the quest data. Therefore I would have always wanted a "wired" connection, simply because my router wouldnt be able to do it.

Therefore I was a bit miffed when I learned that this new headset would not come with a wired option. But if this dongle can do everything a wired connection can do without having to go through my router then this would be absolutely game changing for me.

Didn't we turn the clocks back recently? Maybe someone just gave it too big a push... oh god, so it's only April 2025? I don't want to go through all that again.

Agreed. The Steam platform has so much value for developers and yet they still complain about the 30%.

To put into perspective, when Epic only takes 15%. They themselves admitted that is not a sustainable thing. EGS is constantly losing money. So now I invite everyone to gauge just how "big" the EGS is. How many "features" they offer etc. This platform in so much smaller than Steam and even they state that a 15% cut is not sustainable to keep the light on.

Judging just how big the Steam platform is, do people honestly think Valve could be forced into reducing their cut to this proposed 15%? When this little hobbyshop that is EGS cannot make it work. Why would it work for a much much larger and therefore more expensive platform?

I am furthermore given to understand when you distribute on Steam you are free to run your own store front. You are free to create your own Steam keys for your games and sell them in your shop which is supposedly have a 0% cut for Valve. Of course then you would have to run your own store with all the effort and cost that go along with it. Or you simply put it on Steam. A storefront visited by millions of paying customers. Which handles everything. From purchase/refund/CDN for Downloading and updating the game binaries/communityhub to directly engage with the customers if you wish

In the end, the only way they are forced to use steam is because that is where the customers are. and since there are alternatives around, these customers could very well shop some place else. but they dont. they shop where they get the best experience. and if that is on steam, thats where they go.

If "developers" were really honest they would all disclose just how much they sold on Steam vs any other digital store front in case they distribute their offerings to any store that will let them. Just because you get 4 sales on Epic vs 4 million sales on Steam does mean Steam is a monopoly. It just means Epic is a steaming pile and given the chance the customer goes to the better option.

30% on mobile platforms if generally frowned upon as source of massive overcharging compared to actual costs (since its a massive revenue & income stream for their owners), but somehow for Steam its fine because... they also generate keys? Or what should be the magical justfication.

No its not fine, its a cash cow milking customers. Valve may be better than their competition but they are not saints (same company basically inventing addictive lootboxes mechanism, albeit not in its worst possible form), its a for-profit company that has tons of profit. I am not saying 15% is OK or X% is OK, but 30% is too much in 2025.

Maybe they should have tiers ie 0-10% for first 5k sales, 20% above 100k etc. There are many options to be nicer to customers & developers.

The difference is that a game with its own market power is free to distribute directly on their website and keep that 30% for themselves, whereas an IOS app is not.

If Microsoft charged every program you download 30% of gross Windows proceeds, that would be inappropriate. If Apple allowed a free tier where you get 0 marketing power but you can link from your website to the ios store for a downloadable app, and charge what you want, it would be another matter.