Worth adding that Bazzite has been doing this for a while already, and honestly it's pretty solid if you're on Nvidia and don't want to wait. The Game Mode works well, drivers are pre-installed, and the community behind it is active. Not a perfect replacement for the official SteamOS experience, but close enough that most people won't notice the difference day to day.

lol

Honestly, this is being blown out of proportion. For the vast majority of people this is fixed with a normal software update, five minutes tops. Anyone running a seven or eight year old Mac that's never been updated should already be worried about security, not just Office. Neither Apple nor Microsoft are "forcing" anyone to buy anything, this is just basic computer maintenance. Who here is still running a 2017 Mac that's never had an update?

This is the same old trick: forcing replacement through a "security certificate" instead of broken hardware. The Mac still works perfectly fine, it just stopped serving Apple and Microsoft's interests. Anyone still running a 2018 or 2019 Mac that works great is going to get pushed into buying a new device just because a digital certificate expires on July 13. Is this what they call sustainability? How many perfectly functional devices are about to end up as e-waste because of this?

That is such a vital reality check. We are constantly looking for a "magic pill" to fix or optimize our health, but biology rarely works in isolation. The synergy of nutrients in real, whole food—where omega-3s coexist with specific proteins, selenium, and other healthy fats—is something a processed capsule just can't replicate. Plus, it's a great reminder that lifestyle habits like deep sleep and consistent movement aren't optional; supplements can't out-run a poor routine. Thanks for sharing this breakdown!

It's wild to see how the far-right influencer ecosystem in the US has turned into such an out-of-control paranoia machine that it has started devouring its own creators. The bizarre rumor about Candace Owens' death didn't just appear out of nowhere; it exploded because she spent months fueling conspiracy theories that her former ally Charlie Kirk had been assassinated in a geopolitical plot. By creating this constant climate of persecution, Candace ended up paving the way for any temporary absence from the internet to be instantly interpreted by her own followers as a cover-up. In the end, this whole story shows how that digital bubble operates in such an extreme state of paranoia that it's willing to cannibalize its biggest figures for the sake of engagement.

Tay Keith's greatest legacy as a producer was shaping the sound of modern trap with minimalist, heavy-hitting beats. He achieved the rare feat of creating an instantly recognizable sonic identity, which led him to produce massive hits like Travis Scott's "Sicko Mode" and Drake's "Nonstop." Instead of just following industry trends, he dictated the rhythm of mainstream hip-hop in recent years, reaching the top of global charts and earning Grammy nominations before his tragic passing.

**We traded autonomy for convenience**, and the price we paid was our agency over the machines. There is a brutal paradox in modern computing. In the past, the barrier to entry was technical — you had to learn terminal commands, understand what a configuration file was, and resolve hardware conflicts by sheer grit. However, once you overcame that learning curve, the user had absolute control. Today, interfaces have become so spoon-fed that we created an illusion of ease; the result is a generation of users who know how to swipe a screen but don't have the slightest clue how a file system works or where their own data is actually stored. Technology has become an opaque black box. This paradigm shift perfectly reflects **Wirth's Law**, which sums up the tragedy of modern development: software is getting slower faster than hardware is getting faster. It is a technical mockery that the Apollo 11 guidance computer took humanity to the Moon with just $74 KB$ of memory, while today a chat app or a text editor needs Gigabytes of RAM just to run a heavy interface (frequently bloated by frameworks like Electron, which basically run an entire browser in the background to perform simple tasks). The truth is, the computer stopped being a **tool to extend the mind** and transformed into a **value-extraction terminal**. In the past, the machine was passive and silent, awaiting human command to act. Today, it is an active agent dictating user behavior, pushing notifications, collecting telemetry, and forcing updates to feed business models based on engagement and subscriptions. The hardware evolved beautifully, but the philosophy of software drastically decayed.

Sometimes we only give up on a good friendship when it seems like the strongest desire to keep the friendship alive has to come only from your side

That's really interesting. Could you post some of that stuff here?

If there was a screen that popped up that asked for a word or a code, we removed that whole screen. We did this by reverse engineering the game's code itself. So, yes, we were "reverse-engineering the executable directly". In the early days we were using a debugger called "Soft-Ice" which allowed us to press "CTRL-D" and break into the game at the point where the game was asking for the code. In the later days the game authors had become aware of Soft-Ice, and were putting in countermeasures to stop their game from running if Soft-Ice was loaded. In those cases it came down to "disassemble the code. Study what it does. Make changes." OR! We would make a loader that took over the interrupt timer and watched for a value to change in memory (usually in the case of nasty encryption, the loader would watch for the code to get decrypted, and THEN patch it in memory). There was a Chuck Yeager game that had 3 layers of encryption and checksumming so my loader would patch the first checksumming code, let the code run until the next chunk was decrypted, then patch that code, then let it run until the code was decrypted the LAST time, at which point I would patch out the doc check. (word, or "Identify this plane". Something like that). Feel free to ask any questions! I'll answer anything! There's a lot of historical data here: http://fabulousfurlough.blogspot.com/

Disney+ raises its prices regularly and positions itself as a premium service. But when the platform goes down — and it did, for hours, affecting tens of thousands of people — the company explains nothing, apologizes for nothing, and compensates no one. The symptom was embarrassing in its simplicity: the email field on the login screen appeared blank. A failure so basic it would be shameful in a weekend project, let alone on a platform that generates billions in revenue every year. Support on social media responded with automated messages saying they were "working on it." When they finally fixed it, they posted a brief "resolved" and moved on, with no explanation of what went wrong. People with kids waiting to watch a movie were left staring at an error screen. People who paid for the month to have access didn't have access. And the day after, Disney said nothing. The company sells magic. The actual product is far less impressive.

**If Disney+ isn't working, try this in order:** First, confirm whether the problem is on their end. Go to [downdetector.com/status/disney-plus](https://downdetector.com/status/disney-plus) and check if there are active reports. If there aren't, the issue is likely on your side. Second, try opening disneyplus.com on a different browser, a different device, or switch to mobile data. Disable your VPN if you're using one, clear your DNS cache, and restart your router. Third, log out and log back in. On smart TVs, especially Samsung or LG, do a soft reboot — turn the TV off and back on to clear the app's temporary memory. If nothing works, contact support on X at @DisneyPlusHelp or by email at DisneyPlusHelp@Disney.com.

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Thank you for the corrections — this is exactly the kind of firsthand context that's hard to find anywhere. Quick question: when you say you removed ALL of the protection, were you reverse-engineering the executable directly, or was there a more systematic approach THG used to locate those checks quickly?

You said: "For these guys, the focus wasn't necessarily direct financial profit, but rather the technical challenge and a certain philosophy that computer knowledge should be accessible to everyone." Not exactly! I certainly enjoyed the technical challenge, but we at THG were in it to be first. We spent lots of money on expedited shipping and other "tricks" to get the games first so that we could RELEASE them first and "win" for that particular game. We were SOLELY about the competition. I was a co-founder of THG and the original cracker in the group and I played VERY VERY few games that we released. I would play it only long enough to make sure the crack worked, or long enough to develop a trainer, but that was usually it. I didn't keep them even. Once a game was done, cracked, uploaded to Candyland BBS, I would erase it from my hard disk. In the Manuals and Tables section you said: "Crackers solved this by distributing simple text files containing all possible answers.". No, crackers solved this by modifying the code to believe that a correct answer had been entered. And as was the case with THG, you never knew the game was asking you for a word or code. We removed ALL of that. The same with bad sector checks, or dongles. IIRC there were no PC games that used dongles. Those were usually used on applications like 3D Studio, or other expensive packages as the dongles were too expensive to be included with a $30 game.

I have always looked for some answers to which I still haven't gotten concrete answers. Here are some of them, please answer any of them if you know: 1. **Is digital sharing actually stealing?** Back then, people argued that copying a disk didn't deprive anyone of physical property. Today, we say the same about digital files. Where do you draw the line between sharing and theft? 2. **Does piracy hurt sales, or is it just free marketing?** Many users only bought original software later because they fell in love with a copied floppy first. Does piracy destroy industries, or does it actually build their user base? 3. **If a product is inaccessible in your country, do you have a moral right to pirate it?** In the 90s, high import barriers forced people's hands. Today, geo-blocking on streaming apps and regional software locks still do. Is piracy justified when the official market ignores you? 4. **Do we actually own what we buy?** Users used to fight corporate "code wheels" and dongles just to backup their software. Today, we fight unskippable DRM and digital licenses that companies can revoke at any time. Who really owns the software on your machine? 5. **Should vital digital tools be free for everyone?** The early crackers believed software should be free for the advancement of society. Today, as essential tools and research sit behind massive paywalls, the question remains: should software be a luxury commodity or a public utility?

This article perfectly captures the spirit of the era! One fascinating detail worth adding is the crucial role computer viruses played in this ecosystem. Since floppy disks passed from hand to hand (and PC to PC) without any security checks, boot sector viruses like 'Ping-Pong' or 'Stoned' would infect entire neighborhoods within weeks. This hidden danger actually forced the birth of the commercial antivirus industry (like McAfee and Avast), which, ironically, were often distributed... via pirated floppies! Physical piracy didn't just democratize software; it paved the way for modern cybersecurity.

"Excellent piece! It’s fascinating that you mentioned that initial feeling of 'sparseness' or emptiness (much like in *No Man's Sky*). In *Caves of Qud*, this is often a cultural shock for those coming from *Dwarf Fortress*. While *DF* immediately throws you into a whirlwind of social density and macro-simulation, *Qud* operates on a micro scale: the world feels sparse because it is, quite literally, a ruined post-apocalyptic ecosystem. The real 'content' isn't in the number of NPCs in towns, but in how chemical, biological, and physical systems interact underground. Your intuition about emergent gameplay is spot on. Just wait until you cross molecular cloning mutations with flammable fluids, or when an enemy uses a psychic ability that triggers a domino effect on the environment that not even the devs anticipated. The brilliance of *Qud* (just like your lava traps in *DF*) shines through when you realize the game doesn't judge you; it simply simulates the laws of its world and lets you break the balance. Playing on the Switch with Roleplay Mode activated sounds like the perfect choice to absorb the lore without the frustration of post-work screen fatigue. Long live the 'Man Opener'!"

That is precisely why this moment is so fascinating—and a bit terrifying. We are watching the transition from the **Information Age** to the **Infrastructure Age**, where the lines between digital software and physical orbital hardware have completely blurred. But here is the real kicker regarding the global impact: * **The Geopolitical Monopoly:** Unlike Amazon, which faced local e-commerce competitors everywhere, SpaceX is capturing a global monopoly on satellite internet. For developing nations, they aren't just adopting a service; they are outsourcing their entire next-gen telecom infrastructure to a single corporate entity. * **The "Space-AI" Premium:** Wall Street isn’t pricing SpaceX based on rocket fuel and metal; they are pricing it as an AI powerhouse (thanks to xAI and Cursor). If this valuation holds, it sets a brand new playbook: to be a trillion-dollar titan tomorrow, you *must* verticalize AI into physical, heavy industries. * **The Index Trap:** You’re spot on about the systemic risk. Passive index funds (like the S&P 500 or Nasdaq 100) will be forced to buy massive chunks of SpaceX just to mimic the market. If this turns out to be a speculative bubble, ordinary global citizens will end up paying for the crash through their retirement accounts, without ever owning a single share willingly. It’s a massive gamble on the future. Either Musk just built the East India Company of the 21st century, or we are looking at the most expensive financial gravity check in history.

Wow, this is simply historic. Watching SpaceX closing in on $3 trillion and overtaking Amazon shows that the top of the global economy no longer belongs just to traditional retail or software, but to the fusion of space and Artificial Intelligence. In practice, the global impact boils down to this: * **New global infrastructure:** Starlink and the space economy are now seen as the backbone of global connectivity, accelerating digitalization in emerging markets. * **A boost of confidence for Wall Street:** An IPO with this level of success definitely opens the floodgates for a new wave of multimillion-dollar listings from tech and AI companies. * **Systemic risk:** Because the level of speculation is massive and the stock will enter major global indices, any crash or correction in SpaceX will have a domino effect on investment portfolios and pension funds worldwide. It remains to be seen if they can sustain this valuation with real profits in the long run, but the economic game changed today.

Nevermind just confirmed that that style was in the toilet

I didn't sleep a wink last night because I couldn't figure out a problem with some code, and whenever that happens, it seems to cloud my thinking, I think

I agree with you. So you go into a marriage with all the freedom in the world, and then you want to get a divorce because of “irreconcilable differences.”

I think it has reduced hospitalizations by 38 percent and decreased heart and lung problems, so we should seriously consider taking it as we approach those ages. I'm 40 years old and still have plenty of time to think about it.

I would never get a flu shot.

Trashy losers.

Dark times?? I had a BOOT FLOPPY just for Doom. Different config for every game. We didn't have problems, we had character

Bro I spent 3 hours tweaking config.sys just to get 4KB more free memory and the game STILL wouldn't launch those were dark times

Bro Tony Hawk 3+4 on July 2nd AND Vanguard dropping out of nowhere on the 17th?? Game Pass is actually going crazy this month