Tech Tho(ugh)ts

We were on the Verge of Greatness… we were this close.

Right to Repair has become a mainstream movement. Bills have been drafted all around the United States with a common goal: being able to fix your things.

…

It’s just a shame it all had to go down like this.

Sources:

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Dark Synthwave by MOKKA

Happy New Year! Or, well, Mediocre Concerning New Year might be more accurate, for you. It’s 2022 (by the time we are recording this)- and it’s finally time to say goodbye to Season 4!

And, what better way to say goodbye than describing the absolute backwards-logic of Apple’s control over the iOS ecosystem. If you’re an iOS user- well, imagine if you couldn’t use the tagging feature of an entire social media website.

Sources:

• Apple.com, App Store Review Guidelines (25 Jan 2022 Snapshot)
• Tumblr’s Banned Words Google Doc
• TechCrunch, 29 December 2021, “Intel to acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4B to build on custom foundry strategy

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Dark Synthwave by MOKKA

Well, some big names in that title. Apple has recently announced a big change to their opinion on right to repair! Meanwhile, Blizzard… .. … wow guys, are you okay?

Sources:

• Right to Repair
  • Apple Newsroom, 17 November 2021, “Apple announces Self Service Repair“
  • Engadget, 21 July 2021, “FTC votes to fight back against right to repair restrictions“
  • Apple Insider, 11 June 2021, “New York State Senate passes right to repair legislation“
• Activision Blizzard’s Culture Controversy
  • The Wall Street Journal, 16 November 2021, “Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Knew for Years About Sexual-Misconduct Allegations at Videogame Giant“
  • The Verge, 16 November 2021, “Activision Blizzard’s rot goes all the way to the CEO, alleges bombshell report“
  • The Verge, 16 November 2021, “Activision Blizzard board rallies around embattled CEO hours after damning report“
  • The Verge, 23 November 2021, “Amid calls for CEO resignation, Activision Blizzard announces a workplace committee”
  • Activision Blizzard Employees’ Petition for the removal of Bobby Kotick

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Synthetic Pleasures by MOKKA

NOTE: This episode was made before the release of Legends Arceus- it is promising and addresses many of our concerns.

You all know the game about catching them all and… animal fighting rings? Well, the last couple of Pokemon generations have been… disappointing, to say the least- so let’s see exactly how far they’ve fallen.

Sources:

• Nintendo Life, 10 November 2021, “You’ll Really, Really Want To Ensure Your Pokémon Diamond/Pearl Remakes Are Updated At Launch”
• ParallaxMedia.one, 24 November 2018, ‘How To: Making Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee More Challenging”
• Kotaku, 21 October 2013, “Think Pokémon X & Y Are Too Easy? Try This.“
• DualShockers, 12 October 2018, “In Defense of Pokémon X and Y, Five Years Later“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Synthetic Pleasures by MOKKA

NOTE: Released late and out of order due to technical difficulties!

We told you, we’d be back with this. Nintendo has made some pretty strange choices as of late. Well… actually, they’ve always had a few awful approaches to things. So let’s get right into it, let’s talk about the worse side of Nintendo.

Sources:

Fan-Games:

• Polygon, 12 September 2017, “Metroid: Samus Returns review“
• TheGamer.com, 17 September 2020, “10 Fan Remakes Of Nintendo Games You Have To See”
• Nintendo Life, 6 January 2021, “Nintendo Issues Mass DMCA Takedown, 379 Fan-Made Games Forcibly Removed”

ShackNews.com, 29 June 2017, “Fan-Made Halo Game Installation 01 Gets Blessing From 343 Industries”

Nintendo on Competitive Smash Bros.:

• Iven Global, 18 March 2021, “Sony’s Evo acquisition reveals Smash missing from Evo Online 2021 lineup“
• Polygon, 19 November 2020, “Smash Bros. tournament The Big House 10 canceled over netcode“
• Destructoid, 10 January 2020, “Nintendo president tries to explain why they haven’t supported the Smash Ultimate esports scene“
• Destructoid, 12 July 2013, “Nintendo wanted to shut down Smash Bros at Evo entirely”

Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack:

• Screen Rant, 20 October 2021, “Nintendo Switch Online Expansion’s High Price Possibly Because Of Sega“
• Metro News, 18 October 2021, “Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack gets release date after pricing backlash“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Dark Synthwave by MOKKA

Things have been… happening lately on the internet. No, we don’t mean your local favorite meme (but man it was funny, wasn’t it?) What we mean is.. sanitization, across the board. Come on in, and find out which corporations just seem to Hate Fun and Information.

Sources:

YouTube Dislikes:

• Youtube Blog, 10 November 2021, “An update to dislikes on YouTube”
• TechCrunch, 10 November 2021, “YouTube is removing the dislike count on all videos across its platform“
• Youtube Rewind 2019 @ Youtube.com
• The Verge, 17 November 2021, “YouTube co-founder predicts ‘decline’ of the platform following removal of dislikes“
• “Update to Youtube’s Dislike Account” @ Youtube.com

Sexually-Explicit Content on Fandom Wiki:

• Fandom.com, Community Creation Policy (accessed 27 January 2022)
• Kotaku, 16 November 2021, “Monster Girl Encyclopedia Wiki Will Be Sacked By Host Due To ‘Fetish’ Content”

“Removing sexually explicit content from r/all” @ Reddit.com

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Dark Synthwave by MOKKA

Things in the Right to Repair world keep heating up! The framework laptop has arrived to change the landscape of the industry, and even some bigger companies seem to be buckling under their pressure. …and of course, some are stringently not.

Sources:

• Framework Laptop:
  • Frame.Work, “Support Guides“
  • Frame.Work, “Preparing to Ship and Respecting your Right to Repair”
• Other Companies’ Repair Efforts:
  • Microsoft
    • Ars Technica, 8 October 2021, “Shareholders pressure Microsoft into expanding its right-to-repair efforts“
    • As You Sow, 24 June 2021, “Investors Urge Microsoft to Give Consumers Right to Repair Electronic Devices”
  • Valve
    • Engadget, 6 October 2021, “Try to fix Valve’s Steam Deck at your own peril“
    • Valve @ Youtube.com, 6 October 2021, “Take a look inside Steam Deck!”
• iPhone 13 Woes:
  • 9to5Mac, 2 October 2021, “Video shows it’s possible to replace an iPhone 13 screen and not lose Face ID“
  • Computerworld, 29 September 2021, “Apple’s latest right-to-repair trick is delightfully evil“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Synthetic Pleasures by MOKKA

[Gaming Arc 6/6]

The Video Game Industry is going through an… interesting phase. Pre-orders are pushed, games are released unfinished, and even (some) major publishers seem to be dropped the ball left and right- whether it be in game quality or their morality.So, come end this journey with us: to see where the industry (from a consumer perspective) stands.

Sources:

EA Sports Games:

• IGN, 2 September 2021, “Madden NFL 22 Review“
• Forbes, 20 August 2021, “Madden 22 Review: The Good, The Bad, The Bottom Line“
• GameSpot, 17 August 2021, “Madden NFL 22 Review — Momentum Shift“
• IGN, 9 October 2020, “FIFA 21 Legacy Edition (Switch) Review“
• PC Gamer, 9 September 2020, “Madden NFL 21 Review”

EA’s Star Wars Battlefront II:

• EA.com, “Star Wars Battlefront“
• GameSpot, 22 November 2017, “Star Wars Battlefront 2’s Loot Box Controversy Explained“
• GameSpot, 14 November 2017, “Star Wars: Battlefront 2 Reddit Post Receives Over 680,000 Downvotes“
• The Escapist, 18 May 2016, “Battlefront‘s Campaign Was Cut so it Could Launch With Episode VII“

The Sims 4:

• Plumbella @ Youtube.com, 1 October 2021, “A deep dive into the failings of The Sims 4”
• Screen Rant, 21 December 2020, “How Much Sims 4 Costs In 2021 With All Expansion, Game, & Stuff Packs“

Mario 3D All-Stars:

• Nintendo Life, 19 September 2020, “Random: Some 3D All-Stars Players Aren’t Happy About The Visible Debug Cubes In Super Mario Sunshine”
• WIRED UK, 17 September 2020, “Super Mario 3D All-Stars does the unthinkable: it messes up Mario 64“

Cyberpunk 2077:

• The Verge, 29 March 2021, “Cyberpunk 2077’s latest patch fixes hundreds of bugs“
• Windows Central, 23 December 2020, “List of Cyberpunk 2077 known bugs and launch issues“
• TheSixthAxis, 12 October 2020, “Cyberpunk 2077 has serious frame rate issues on PS4 and Xbox One”
• Seizures
  • The Gamer, 8 December 2020, “CDPR Vows To Address Epilepsy Concerns In Cyberpunk 2077“
  • Game Informer, 7 December 2020, “Cyberpunk 2077 Epileptic PSA“

Activision Blizzard:

• Kotaku, 28 July 2021, “Inside Blizzard Developers’ Infamous Bill ‘Cosby Suite’“
• Kotaku, 21 July 2021, “Activision Blizzard Sued By California Over Widespread Harassment Of Women“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Dark Synthwave by MOKKA

Uninterruptible Power Supplies! Little boxes that… might not be so little. They’re heavy, you can plug things into them, but what makes them so important?

Sources:

How a UPS Works:

• TrippLite.com, Accessed: 12 October 2021, “What is an Inverter?”
• SparkEnergy.com, Accessed: 12 October 2021, “The Difference Between a Blackout and A Brownout”
• PCMag.com Encyclopedia, Accessed: 12 October 2021, “Brownout”
• CyberPowerSystems.com Blog, Accessed: 12 October 2021, “How does an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) work?”

PFC Circuit:

• Tom’s Hardware, 8 June 2016, “Picking The Right Power Supply: What You Should Know“, PFC
• SilverstoneTek.com, Accessed: 12 October 2021, “Why we need PFC in PSU”

Sine Wave & Modified Sine Wave:

• LifeWire.com, Accessed: 12 October 2021, 28 November 2019, “Can a Modified Sine Wave Inverter Damage Electronics?”
• TheInverterStore.com, FAQ, “What is the difference between modified, pure sine wave inverters?”

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Synthetic Pleasures by MOKKA

[Gaming Arc 5/6]

Emulation. The path to play your old favorite games, even if you’re missing the associated console! But, how does it even work?

Sources:

Emulator Definition:

• Merriam-Webster.com, Accessed: 29 September 2021, “Emulator”

How Emulators Work (HLE vs LLE):

• PC Gamer, 5 February 2016, “How Emulators Work“
• Stack Overflow, Response: 20 June 2020, Accessed: 5 February 2021, “How do emulators work and how are they written? [closed]”
• Alexandro Sanchez @ Personal Github Blog, 18 April 2018, “LLE vs HLE and their tradeoffs”
• Reply from one of the Dolphin Emulator Developers, Reddit.com

Hardware Emulation:

• WePC.com, 6 April 2021, “PlayStation 3 Model Guide: PS3 Model List and Comparison”
• Analogue.co, Accessed: 29 September 2021
• Racketboy.com, Accessed: 29 September 2021, “MiSTer FPGA: The Future of Retro Game Emulation and Preservation?”
• MiSTerAddons.com (Addons for MiSTer FPGA)
• MiSTer wiki @ Github.com

Newer Console Emulation over HLE:

• yuzu-emu.org, 21 July 2018, “Progress Report 2018 Part 2”
• yuzu-emu/yuzu repository @ Github.com

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Dark Synthwave by MOKKA