Steam uses the Chromium embedded framework in case anyone doesn’t know. This renders the web pages in the Steam client. As mentioned, there’s no point in Valve maintaining the code base themselves when upstream Chromium drops support for 7.
This is similar to when browsers dropped support for Flash. Adobe stopped developing it and the major browser vendors removed their in-house flash plugins.
This reference will never get old tbh.
Very easy for a majority of people.
As an alternative, for those who want to dive in or have more control: Self host PiHole or AdGuard Home DNS. Either use WireGuard VPN and set the DNS manually, or setup a DoT/DoH service. Either way works.
https://knockout.chat/thread/49305
Test Drive Unlimited 2 in particular is one I use on occasion. https://www.tduworld.com/
The Crew server side is being reverse engineered so you can eventually play it in the future.
Someone made a mistake here. It’s not getting your IP address. An IP address is assigned by the gateway when you’re connected to an access point. An IP address is not an identity. They are always changing and can be shared. This has already been tested and upheld in court.
It’s actually collecting your MAC address. Which is exchanged when your phone or tablet scan nearby WiFi points or Bluetooth devices. However, this can already be defeated. By default iOS and Android both have the option to randomise the MAC address in intervals. Making it extremely difficult to prove anything. This feature exists because the devices real MAC address never changes. It is unique. Alternatively, users can disable WiFi and Bluetooth scanning entirely. However, your device no longer participates in the Find My Devices program by Apple and Google, location does take longer to acquire in some scenarios, and accuracy may take longer to triangulate.
It’s always been bad practice to just blindly update software. That’s why we have different distros.
Ubuntu and Mint hold your hand and make it easy for newcomers. Great way to dive into Linux. I completely agree these are great for “it just works” and no fuss. I’ve not had one break on me.
Arch and Gentoo expect you to have experience and know what you’re doing. You build it up how you want it. That’s what makes these so great. But you need the experience and knowledge.
I’ve personally tried openSUSE and in my opinion it feels like a good middle ground between both ends. In the past I’ve recommended Mint to get started, openSUSE once you’ve got experience, and then Arch for when you want total control.
You either set the DNS settings per device to the system running PiHole / AdGuard Home, or if your router allows, set the DNS there. It’s ideal to set it on the router.
Any time a device makes a DNS request to a domain, it’s checked against the list. If found, it’s stopped. If not found, it gets sent upstream to your choice of a public DNS configured during setup. I use Cloudflare (1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1).
By being ripped out and sandboxed the same way other apps are, Google services isn’t free to siphon battery. This means you can restrict battery use and cut the constant communication down. Thus saving battery. If you allow it, yes it is not different than if it was preloaded.
From their own privacy policy they outline what they do:
For research and development purposes, we may use datasets such as those that contain images, voices or other data that could be associated with an identifiable person.
To provide location-based services on Apple products, Apple and our partners and licensees, such as maps data providers, may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device.
Apple’s websites, online services, interactive applications, email messages, and advertisements may use “cookies” and other technologies such as pixel tags and web beacons.
We also use personal information to help us create, develop, operate, deliver, and improve our products, services, content and advertising
At times Apple may provide third parties with certain personal information to provide or improve our products and services, including to deliver products at your request, or to help Apple market to consumers.
Apple may collect location, IP Address, network information, Bluetooth information, connected devices, accessories, personal demographics, browsing history, browser fingerprint, device fingerprint, search history, app data, usage data, performance, diagnostics, product interaction, transaction information, payment information, purchasing records, contacts, social graph, watch history, listening interests, reading list, call metadata, device information, messaging metadata, email addresses, salary, income, assets, health data, ad interaction, in-app purchases, in-app subscriptions, app downloads, music downloads, movie downloads, TV show downloads, Apple ID, IDFA, Random Unique ID, UUID, IMEI, Hardware serial number, SIM serial number, phone number, telemetry, cookies, Nearby WiFi MAC, Siri request history, Web sign-in, songs played, play and pause times, playlists, engagement and library.
Literally all of this is what Google does. The only thing Apple does differently is hinder 3rd party apps to a greater degree, whereas Google is more permissive. But to be fair, Google has been improving the Privacy features of Android with each version.
Being able to do this is why Linux is so amazing. If Windows finds a corrupt file and can’t repair itself, you gotta find the package it’s part of (Windows update catalog), or create an ISO that’s updated to do an offline repair. If the registry gets fucked, good luck fixing that.
Security cameras are everywhere in and around buildings/homes. Dash cams are pretty common these days and some even record when the car is off and alone. Someone is filming a vlog or some snap/insta/tiktok clip in the area.
Arch is not meant to be a daily driver if you’re expecting “shit just works” stability long term when you just blindly run updates. You have to understand what you’re updating and sometimes why.
It is targeted at the proficient GNU/Linux user, or anyone with a do-it-yourself attitude who is willing to read the documentation, and solve their own problems.
If you want to use Arch, you need to invest in snapshots using rsync or dd. Given how it’s a rolling release, you should do this weekly. If something fucks up, grab all your logs and put them somewhere safe. Roll back and look at your logs to see what broke. Then apply updates as needed. You can ignore packages for quite a while. If you’re not smart enough to understand it now, you may in the future. It takes time and practice.
Debian based is only “out of date” feature wise because they do a package freeze. They ensure stability before release. Updates are largely security related.
The evidence you want to see is literally something you can do or search the Internet yourself. There’s thousands of results. CPU is better than a GPU no matter codec you use. This hasn’t changed for decades. Here’s one of many direct from a software developer.
https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/latest/technical/performance.html
It’s not odd at all. It’s well known this is actually the truth. Ask any video editor in the professional field. You can search the Internet yourself. Better yet, do a test run with ffmpeg, the software that does encoding and decoding. It’s available to download by anyone as it’s open source.
Hardware accelerated processing is faster because it takes shortcuts. It’s handled by the dedicated hardware found in GPUs. By default, there are parameters out of your control that you cannot change allowing hardware accelerated video to be faster. These are defined at the firmware level of the GPU. This comes at the cost of quality and file size (larger) for faster processing and less power consumption. If quality is your concern, you never use a GPU. No matter which one you use (AMD AMF, Intel QSV or Nvidia NVENC/DEC/CUDA), you’re going to end up with a video that appears more blocky or grainy at the same bitrate. These are called “artifacts” and make videos look bad.
Software processing uses the CPU entirely. You have granular control over the entire process. There are preset parameters programmed if you don’t define them, but every single one of them can be overridden. Because it’s inherently limited by the power of your CPU, it’s slower and consumes more power.
I can go a lot more in depth but I’m choosing to stop here because this can comment can get absurdly long.
Same. My jaw dropped. Absolutely loved it.