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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 4th, 2023

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  • All I have to ask is why though? They already have access to skinned aosp and from there can(and do)quite a bit of tweaking on their own. Fireos has been a worse version of android for some time now and Im unsure what the benefit of making their own in house OS would be.

    If it’s a true GNU/Linux OS with compatibility with linux programs, then that would be kind of neat, and if it’s open enough to let advanced users install flatpaks(I suspect it’s going to be immutable so at least flatpaks would be nice) then that could be neat. Currently it’s very easy to sideload on fireos devices and even install the play store in full so it’s possible the end product could be more like the steamdeckOS which is very much a user friendly store front end with a power user true linux experience underneath.

    That said, for some reason I suspect that they will be locking things down even more and its going to be one of those many user facing linux devices that’s technically linux but very limited. Like a smart fridge interface or something. If this is the case then dropping android support would be a bad move. You lose easy/lazy portability to your store from developers who already have a product to sell and you lose many apps that already exist, and for power users you lose access to the many apps that can easily be side loaded like tachiyomi(though I imagine amazon would rather you buy from them than buy their subsidized $80 tablets to read pirated manga/comics and library books on libby)

    But who knows if they actually do an OK job this could lead to a new wave of GNU compatible touch forward apps for the rest of us. Linux has gotten a lot better at touch forward design over the last 4 or 5 years on its own, but its still fairly rough.



  • The idea behind it per the video where they introduced it is that its a means of creators to take ownership of their own content. The idea being that if you follow creator X on youtube you arent actually following creator x you’re following them on youtube. If something happens or youtube removes a video for whatever reason of they have to leave the platform then you lose access to their content.

    If you’re on this app you follow creator x on whatever platform they are on. So in theory it’s not just an all in one app but a way to solve the youtube monopoly and make for an easy transition.

    In concept I think it sounds really cool, but whether it actually is able to deliver on it’s goals remains to be seen.






  • Gargoyles was made to go head to head with batman tas and they both did a great job of going right to the end of the line of what a tv-y7 could get away with(and probably couldnt get away with today). That said like Batman they both were designed to target kids and for all the brilliance there were episodes that skewed a little younger, and little touches like how shows of that era had to dance around words like “kill”.

    In addition to the usual stigmas surrounding animation I wonder if another factor in this is that it’s a pure Disney branded product. While they have plenty of edgier stuff in their back catalog that should let people know their cartoons arent just for small children, the rep is there and they may not be ready to put out a tv-14 or even tv-pg cartoon that targets young adults and teens. It was find when its some licensed anime on d+, or if it’s star wars or marvel, but this is a pure Disney badge.

    Of course theres also the usual explanation of cost. Good animation costs a lot of money to produce and while lord knows disney has the cash it might be cheaper for them to just shoot this series in front of the giant tv. I feel like a show with characters like the gargoyales would be counter productive to be live action since they regularly fly, and would need expensive suits or full cgi anyway to work, but I suspect they do the math and no an effects guy is cheaper than a team of animators.


  • Hopefully its decent. Personally I would rather an animated reboot, but I imagine theyre going live action to target an older audience.

    Lately Ive kind of taken a bit of an indifferent approach to the onslaught of remakes, sequels, and series coming back from cancellation years later. If it’s good it’s good and thats neat. If not meh, I dont have to watch or engage with it and hopefully it dies a quick death. I kinda wish that Hollywood would focus more on new and original ideas instead of their focus on sequels, IP, and reboots, but that’s not going to change anytime soon.

    At least Gargoyles has been off the air for about 30 years so it’s not like theyre beating a dead horse here. If done well it could be interesting and would be very possible to provide a fresh take. That said it being live action doesnt leave me feeling optimistic.





  • I am pro-opensource when possible. I use linux on desktop and laptop, I use foss android apps where available, and am happy to keep that trend alive.

    That said, I am not a foss purist. There are things in my life where you gotta do what you gotta do. I have google’d android(a pixel even), I make use of steam and other proprietary game stores, I of course bank using bank things. Sometimes I waste time looking for an alternative only to find I’ve wasted my pre-bed time and Ive stayed up late chasing my tail. It’s just easier to live well.

    One thing about FOSS ui is that as frustrating as it is to be forced into someone’s esoteric workflow, it isnt always counter intuitive, just different from how the mainstream does it. There have been a few foss programs where once it clicks I kinda get where they were coming from(and of course many others where I feel the devs are intentionally out there spreading chaos)


  • The acting and set design and visuals were super well done and I liked how irreverent and tongue and cheek it could be. That said yeah it definitely gives this vibe of “wow heehee look how progressive we are” and the story is kind of all over the place. Overall it was alright and kinda fun but it also had a lot of mixed messages and while it had lines criticizing consumerism and such it is still very blatantly a big multimedia joint venture to sell a ton of stuff.

    At the same time I understand that as a child growing up in the US that a lot of our nostalgia and childhood memories are intrinsically intertwined with marketing, IP, and big business. I’m a guy so my barbie experiences were only when I was playing with at the house of a friend who was a girl or a cousin or something, but I know how ingrained in my youth my old gi joe toys, transformers, powerrangers, superhero stuff, and etc is.





  • More and more the chickens are coming to roost with the venture capitalist fueled modern internet.

    So many services take the money and either reinvent a wheel or dont pretend to but offer the same service but for FREE. Then once they gain their audiences and cripple the competition they either drop all the customer first policies and start embracing anticonsumer monetization, or they raise prices so that essentially it’s the same as the old industry it was “disrupting” (but like with an app so totally different).

    If they dont do that, or fail at doing that, then they wind up freefalling into decline and possibly going out of business as the venture capitalists realize they waited too long before passing their investment onto someone else and got caught holding the bomb when it went boom.

    That said I understand why people use discord. It’s a feature rich free to use chat app that also does voice chat very well. It makes the barrier of entry for starting a group chat easy and free. It’s mature software that also runs really well. I think for a lot of users they dont care if the business model is unsustainable because that model benefits them and if and when discord goes broke or starts making bad choices then they will jump onto alternatives.