All three major console platforms offer some sort of subscription at this point, and PlayStation, if I recall correctly, was the earliest to adopt the subscription requirements for multiplayer experience. What this means for anyone living abroad is they need to make a decision that will stick unlike no other. Currently Sony has a yearly plan for Essential tier of PlayStation Plus, which is $79.99 per year. “PlayStation Plus” is the name of the subscription, and the Essential is the name of the cheapest one available. Don’t worry, it gets even more confusing.
From Op-ed
App Store, Refund, and DLCs
I didn’t think to see the remains of the wild west of App Store in 2024. I had bought an app that is working rather well with a minor glitch, and the developers’ response to the glitch was that the feature is actually part of the “pro” version. The pro version of the same app was sold at $9.99. I went ahead and bought it, and surprisingly I saw the same glitch again. After some googling, I found out they are actually identical apps only that the free version of the app has $9.99 in-app purchase to unlock the pro…
HDMI Nightmares, Switches, and Dongles
Few years ago, when I was looking for a replacement USB hub in South Korea, I quickly realized I was in the world of trouble. The listings for a powered USB hub with at least USB 3 rating were swarmed with Chinese knock-offs, and a lot of them didn’t ship with the power adapter when it clearly needed one to be “powered”. USB-C hub didn’t help either; majority of the hubs were meant to be a dock, not a hub for laptops with USB-C.
Data Center, NIMBY, and Due Diligence
There was a letter addressed to the resident of my family condo unit, asking if we would be willing to hear them out. There is a plan drawn, and possibly already under way, to build a data center near my family home. The condo is in a small village with measly 40k population, —that’s considered small in South Korea— and the village happens to be near Seoul, the capital of South Korea with 9.4 million population. The condo association and neighborhood association are already up in arms, protesting against the construction of the data center.
CE Ultrawide, Aspect Ratios and Photography
What is the aspect ratio of your display? Was it ever the core concern behind a purchasing decision? I am aware of this rave behind the ultrawide displays, canonically “21:9”, but mathematically “64:27”, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It only became a concern not because I was in the shop for new TVs or monitors, but because I was updating featured images on the website. (side note: all featured images on Mad Tea Party are now adjusted to either 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio.)
Apple Intelligence, PCC, and M4 Macs
Apple Intelligence is in beta still. Some articles I’ve read unfortunately did not understand Apple Intelligence is to be deployed gradually, and while I would argue Apple’s ‘sell now, build later’ tactic to be disingenuous, I would simply disagree current Apple Intelligence is what will be for the remainder of fiscal year. But let us not dwell on the features that are promised or still in beta; let us discuss the hardwares that are supposedly powering Apple Intelligence.
Microsoft Office, Windows, and Subscriptions
Subscription is the new bane of the internet. It’s been the bane of the modern technology as many users would wail. We are living in a world where some products and services are inherently subscription-based, where it is simply not possible to acquire the said products or services without subscription, say Netflix. But this isn’t about some shows exclusively on Netflix. No, this is about products that were originally sold as one-time-purchase, now in the process of rough transition to subscription model.
Windows 10, Subscription, and Security Update
Microsoft announced that the company will provide a subscription-based security updates, $30/year for “legacy” PCs. It is truly a diabolical plan considering Windows 11 has the infamous TPM requirements, thereby the older PCs simply became obsolete. On Bootcamp side of the business, we are yet to hear from neither of the companies on whether or not Windows 11 will finally be supported on Mac machines. (reminder: although it is possible, officially Bootcamp does not support Windows 11)
Silent Hill 2, Innocence, and Fog World
This post contains a major spoiler of Silent Hill 2, albeit it is about 20 years late and all the other installments do share the same principle behind the world of Silent Hill or Silent Hill phenomenon in The Short Message. If you are unfamiliar with the world of Silent Hill, I will try my best to cover basis from what I understand the lore of it, however please do be mindful that I don’t claim to be expert on the subject.
Raspberry Pi, VLAN, and Docker
A bit of rant while exploring different routes to host multiple OpenVPN clients on a single Raspberry Pi device. If you are a subscriber to paid VPN services, you would immediately know most services offer multiple server destinations. And you would also know, by following the previous post, that the said how-to only allows one connection to be made on one Pi board. While Pi is underpowered in terms of performance, it’s certainly enough to support multiple OpenVPN clients. That’s how the train wreck of a DIY project started.
Surviving the Abyss, Early Access, and Abandonware
There are several games on my radar I am eagerly waiting to see the final copy of. Since Steam has started Early Access (i.e. preorder now and start playing beta, or pre-beta version), many developers have built their new business models around the idea that there is another source of revenue until the actual release of the game.
PS5 Pro, 4K TV, and HDR
The new PS5 Pro is released at $699.99, and I’m here to ask a question: Is a gamer not entitled to sweat of —I meant— pixels of his consoles? Enough Andrew Ryan quotes, but it is a serious question nonetheless. At $700, PS5 Pro has a tough battle ahead of it to win the spotlight in the entertainment room. And that rivaling champion is no other than the TV itself.
Diablo IV, Console Support, and DualSense
Part 2 on the most recent title from Diablo franchise, and frankly found more often on the indie games, the dubious controller support and lack of documentations thereof. As strange as it sounds, there are aspects of a video game where a spec is necessary. Not just “minimum requirements” and “recommended” specs of your hardwares, but specs of what a game includes. You could, in theory, play an 8 bit retro game on a surround sound system, but that would be an overkill.
Diablo, Controller Support, and Lock-on
With Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred just released, —and yes, “emergency maintenance” requires me to publish this story before I could give my fair share to the game— I though to ask where do games stand on supporting controllers. Or, more specifically, supporting features that are not bound by keyboard and mouse.
Mis-Recipes, Dis-Recipes, and AI Recipes
When ChatGPT-craze was still booming, there was a YouTuber who put the AI recipes to the test. It doesn’t take professional baker to immediately catch what is off with the recipe GPT-3 has written for her. Her video mostly focuses on the experimentation and information on where AI technology stands on food.