Kelly

just look at the home screen of a factory resetted phone. facebook, instagram, tiktok, and other literal garbage too is not just installed, but pinned to the home screen by default

That's an inconvenience to be sure, but cleaning all that crap from every device is just part of the ritual just like pealing the protective film off the screen.

Its an interesting read.

I agree with the conclusion, the stable iconography lend the program a air of prestige that might be lost if they changed.

Xbox one era d-pad shows a real attention to detail

In 2023, there were 19.5 million families in the UK, an increase of just over 1.1 million families (6%) since 2013.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/families/bulletins/familiesandhouseholds/2023

Even if we assume that each signatory represents a unique family (i.e. no couples contributed two signatures) then 100k represents only half of a percent.

Im not in UK either but I thought Uber teens was being trialed there too. ( kids of 13 would be eligible). This would allow kids to travel with family linked uber accounts and while that sounds a little iffy it lets the parents see where and when a journey is taken in real time. Some might view that as safer than a bus.

But bank accounts? I opened a prepaid visa card for my 4yo when he started cashing in the recyclable containers we collected at our house. Checking the balance on payday or before a planned purchase has been part of his financial literacy. When he turned 8 real banks deemed him old enough for a keycard and we swapped to a proper transaction/savings combo at a proper bank.

So... kids don't need to catch an uber, check a bus schedule, see what's on at the local cinema,.etc?

The fact is that many services and information channels are now internet first and limiting access to the home seems like it would be a problem.

Edit: checking a bank balance is another one. With an increase in digital transactions and a decrease in available ATMs, having an tool to check your balance seems crucial.

While new game downloads plateaued in 2024, in-app purchases grew 3.8 percent compared to 2023.

They really has plateaued, 3.8% sound an awful lot like its tracking inflation.

Hazelight Studios has been doing OK under their publishing umbrella.

So what I really want is a game that gives me a sense of achievement, and with the vaguest possibility that I actually might finish it. And so it'd be really interesting to know how many games are actually finished, and how many games are just abandoned by what proportion of people. 

It can be fun to go to an achievement/trophy tracker and compare the numbers for the awards for first and last story missions.

For GTA5 some numbers are:

• Welcome to Los Santos: 1,736,456
• To Live or Die in Los Santos: 565,297

For Assassins Creed Odyssey:

• This is Sparta: 417,003
• Odyssey's end: 207,371

Some sacrifices were made... But the end result is a Godot project that works exactly the same, albeit with slightly worse performance.

The write up has lots of hard numbers for the executable size but only describes the performance impact in general terms.

It would be good to see some before and after performance numbers.

Neat

The future is indeed dumb. The 2022 GoldenEye has it's own baggage.

I don't think Nintendo was willing to let Microsoft sell it as a physical product (collectors would view it as superior to Nintendo's NSO requirement).