Absolutely. Between Ticketmaster and LiveNation, almost every performing venue in the United States is completely dominated.

We desperately, desperately need legitimate anti-trust actions in the United States; we need something that will reintroduce some actual competition into the market.

The first failure of the federal government that led to this path was in the 1990s and the Microsoft Antitrust Trials. That was the point at which there really could have been another way–but the billionaires, at that point, had all the inroads to government that the Reagan Administration made possible. Because Microsoft could buy politicians, the vast majority of people on the planet have never used any operating system other than Windows, and the Microsoft company gets billions upon billions of dollars from state/federal/municipal contracts.

Google and Apple, then, just followed the path that Microsoft bought and paved through government regulations. And that made it easy for other billion dollar companies like Ticketmaster and LiveNation to do the same thing in other realms–simply buy the laws, buy the politicians, buy the system that’s supposed to regulate them, and then use that system to remove all competition.

All the apps that collect user data that has nothing to do with the actual function or purpose of the app.

Like–why does this solo word puzzle game need access to my contact list, camera, and location?

Maybe they’re trying to get potential players of Elder Scrolls VI so hyped that they’ll still play the new game even if it’s sold ‘games as a service’ style

in which case, fuck that

Investigators were alerted to his accounts after finding an unusually high number of log-ins and failed log-ins from an unfamiliar devices, locations, or networks. That information is tracked by Google, per the affidavit. Other unusual activity was traced through Payne’s VPN or network provider.

So, Google stopped him, and his VPN provider. I’d like to know who his VPN provider was.

Yep. A Linux build + Firefox (with Privacy Badger and ublock origin plugins)

Now I’m imagining this too.

This game is so good. I hope Larian builds something even better for their next go.

Fuck Android.

I hope a consistent, user-friendly alternative that works on all Android phones arrives soon. I’ve tried so many with an old phone and they’re always a pain to install and then don’t work quite right. I also don’t want to spend $500USD for a phone designed specifically to sidestep Android.

It would help if Android/Google didn’t consistently try to block every single thing that would allow you to get rid of Android, but they’re never going to allow that.

I hope that something user-friendly and consistent arrives soon. I will ditch Android in a second when that happens.

Yeah, I have an older Motorola phone that I’ve used to try and get Android alternatives, and none of those three systems will work on my phone. It doesn’t look like any of them will work on my new phone either, but that might just mean I have to try it.

Google/Android also seems to make it as difficult as possible to install any alternative system. The easiest I saw was /e/OS because it was all automated, but after about 10 minutes it informed me that my Motorola phone just wasn’t supported.

There’s such a long ways to go with this sort of thing, but I think it’s pretty clear that the world desperately needs a user-friendly, non-corporate alternative to Android/iOS.

It’s really a bummer that we’re all carrying around powerful little computers with us but the corporate operating systems for them use much of that processing power for their own data collection/profits/purposes and tries to prevent us, those of us who own the phones, from using that power for our own purposes.

There’s a lot of good stuff on F-Droid, and it’s nice to see a university doing a project like this.

I’m still waiting on a solid, consistent alternative to Android. It seems we might be getting there with tiny steps.

The Zionists are carrying out a genocide.

Yeah … it’s great that this research was conducted and this result achieved before the current Executive Office came to power. They’re doing everything they can to starve the systems (and the people) that produce results like this.

This is fucking awesome.

I read this thread to find out what I should know but I still don’t know it.

And from the paragraph you cited: “Berlin police confirmed the incident on their official X account…insisting that the officers had no choice but to use force against protesters who they claim were acting violently.”

They say shit like this even when there are hours of video demonstrating otherwise. I’m sure afterward they’ll investigate themselves and find no wrongdoing.

The story is really what makes it so good–you start to feel invested in the character, in the world, and that helps with getting deeply immersed in the gameplay. It’s an incredibly well written game.

Beyond that, the screenshots show a lot–it’s a world that feels very lived-in.

Also the gameplay is a ton of fun. Open world, lots of places to explore–some of them beautiful, others treacherous, some both.

I don’t think Saleh is saying anything about all police being this way.

But the fact that any of them are like this, and that there are enough of them like this, is a genuine problem for the well-being of regular people.

This isn’t an all-or-nothing situation. We can recognize that there are a significant number of police using violence to accomplish political ends without having to make a disclaimer about not all individual police being this way, because there are clearly enough of them behaving this way that there is real cause for concern.

Wouldn’t you agree?

I agree.

I also just can’t really play games that force me to think about my bank account while I’m playing, charging fees or subscription rates just to fully participate in the game, like seeing a bounty hunting mission that requires me to send money before I can start it. Totally breaks the immersion–I play games so I don’t have to think about the real world for a bit. Making me enter bank details wrecks that.

Pro-Palestine protestors really seem to get the pigs into a rage. They must believe that they’ll be able to get away with it.

And so far, it looks like they have. Right now, in the U.S., the Trumplicans (and Leon) are revoking the visas of international students who took part in protests to support Palestine. I’d guess for every couple we hear about there are a hundred more we don’t.

It seems strange the countries all over the world are using similar violence against anyone protesting the Zionist genocide.

I loved playing this game.

The online version of it fucking sucks though.