I went from a cheap mp3 player that I could just plug in to my computer and drag in music to an iPod which forced me to download the iTunes bloatware create an account and then took 100x longer to transfer music because of the pointless conversion each file had to undergo. This was my first and last experience with a personal Apple device. Ended up putting some old pop music onto it and giving it to my grandmother after 2 days. Uninstalled iTunes and went back to using my cheap mp3 player until I replaced it with a smartphone.

Coming in as a close second place, an all-in-one Sony Vaoi computer that cost a fortune and had shit performance. Took daily nags to Sony before they took it back and gave me a refund. I find that Sony’s hit and miss though. My favourite smartphone (Xperia Play) was Sony, and I love my Sony Bluetooth earbuds. The Sony Smartwatch was shit.

Rather than having my All feed spammed with walled gardens I’d rather mods who don’t want outside participation to be able to stop their communities from showing in All.

European migration laws forces these people to conduct this dangerous voyage because you can’t get asylum without crossing the border.

Offshore resettlement programs exist in Europe and around the world. The problem is that there exists little incentive for people to remain in a refugee camp for what could be years when the option of travelling directly to their country of choice is an available option.

A solution is for countries to relocate all asylum seekers back to these refugee camps where they have no option but to wait with everyone else for resettlement. There would be no incentive to risk your life to cross a border if you’re just going to end up back in a refugee camp along with other people who are waiting.

Currently, in my country at least, there is an onshore humanitarian program and an offshore humanitarian program. Most of the people granted refugee visas in the offshore program are from war-torn countries like Afghanistan or Syria who escaped to a third country. The top five countries of origin for those that apply for onshore protection are from tourist destinations that haven’t seen war in decades. Hosting asylum seekers in UN refugee camps also helps prioritise those most in need.

I agree with you. I wasn’t referring to the actual contents so much as OP’s attitude about the e-mails from the CEO. I think Kagi could benefit from hiring, or at least consulting, with specialists in the field to better define their position. It’s clear that OP has legitimate concerns.

Sure, why not? Though please don’t spread it around, I’m currently under deep cover pretending to be an Australian who frequently comments on Australian news and is registered with an Australian-themed instance.

It’s all part of my evil plan to have the first multinational company with their global headquarters in Antarctica.

You and I have a very different idea of what constitutes harassment.

After reading your comment, my calling the OP an ‘entitled douche’ was not the best response. I remember the fragility of being a teenager, and even being a young adult… While unlikely, if the blog’s author does come across these comments, I would rather they take a moment to consider things from Vlad’s/Kagi’s perspective rather than just take my comment as a personal attack.

TBH, OP sounds like a bit of an entitled douche, edit: not the most appropriate descriptor, but I do think OP should try and look at the situation from another perspective.

In their blog post they complained about lack of transparency and noted numerous issues with Kagi that caused them to lose faith in the company. The CEO personally responds to explain themselves (i.e. make things more transparent) and OP sticks their fingers in their ears and acts liked they’re a victim because the CEO attempts service recovery.

I’ve made public complaints about companies before. I wish I received such tailored and personalised responses.

there’s this really cool alternative to streaming, called you buy their shit directly.

Wow, mind blown! I had no idea money could be used to buy things directly! /s

Seriously though, buying music from artists you already know is easy for artists that actually provide this as an option, but it doesn’t help when trying to find new artists and songs to listen to. Spotify is brilliant for discovering new content and can’t be replaced by ‘buying shit directly’.

Spotify.

An open source music streaming service where I can financially support artists but where I’m not forced to put up with annoying advertisements (even when paying membership fees!), and which allows me to use whatever app I want to play the music I listen to. It is annoying AF that I need to switch between apps to listen to music because Spotify’s shitty native app is inferior in every possible way with the single exception of offering more content.

My sister got a job with a primarily LLM-written cover letter. When trying to sway someone to your side, how you say something can matter more than what you say.

For people who aren’t good at articulating themselves, noting down key dot points about their skills and job history alongside a job description, then asking a LLM to write out a cover letter can be very helpful, even if only to get a rough draft.

As an aside, out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT 3.5 to rewrite my comment above and got the following, not sure which is better TBH.

My sister landed a job using a cover letter mostly written by a language model. When persuading someone, the tone and style of your message can outweigh its content.

For individuals who find it challenging to articulate themselves, outlining key skills and job experiences alongside a job description, and then seeking assistance from a language model to compose a cover letter, can prove highly beneficial, even if only as a starting point.

I learnt my lesson from Starfield; the most expensive video game I ever purchased… I pre-ordered that tripe and suffered the consequences. Never again.

I am so glad I learnt my lesson and decided to wait for the reviews for Dragon’s Dogma 2. Pretty sad that this is the outcome, but I am glad that I decided to wait and see.

How disappointing… At one time Capcom was my all time favourite video game developer, I grew up playing the Breath of Fire series and it remains one of my all time favourite video games. Such a shame that they turned into such short-sighted idiots.

I was looking forward to this game and I would have 100% purchased this if it lacked micro-transactions and the Denuvo bloatware/malware. In their attempt to make more money, they at least received less money from me.

I’m looking forward to games that really do take advantage of AI effectively. Having almost infinite variations of characters and plots would make each play through a new experience. I reckon some interesting games will be coming out in the next few years.

“In effect, Yuzu turns general computing devices into tools for massive intellectual property infringement of Nintendo and others’ copyrighted works.”

So, what’s the point of the Switch then? If all these devices can play any Switch game, yet Nintendo refuses to allow people to buy and run them on these devices, then it sounds to me like they’ve done this to themselves. I empathise for all the work developers have put into their games, but I have no sympathy for the executives who decide to make their games exclusive to an overpriced irrelevant piece of technology.

I expect to pay more too, albeit very begrudgingly. To develop meat you have to feed vegetables to an animal for months/years and then you need to process the meat in a very specific manner to separate the meat, the offal, and the bones.

A vegetable patty? Just mush it all up and call it a day, maybe add some beetroot extract to give it that ‘bloody’ colour.

The lack of competition, the lack of consumer demand, and the lack of government subsidies have turned what should be a very cheap alternative into a luxury good.