Today I’m donating my streaming sticks. I got a ONN brand 2k one I bought for 15 and I got an Amazon Firestick 4K I got for $3 from a thrift store because they didn’t know what it was.

And I love the concept of stream sticks, I really do. Too fucking bad that corporate interests got in the way and now everything has to have a bundle of ads at every damn turn. Not even some of the things I’m subscribed to is free from ads because this is the future apparently, we’re here.

Shame because I don’t want to let these go and even if I were to subscribe to Netflix’s ad-free subscription, that’s only one source. Why do that when I can just grab a long HDMI cable, plug it into my desktop and to my TV and I can watch everything that’s there, without ads because of the extensions I use to block ads.

  • superkret@feddit.org
    1·
    29 days ago

    Slackware Linux. For a while I thought, when it boots up KDE with a browser you’re basically done, and it’s kinda cool running the oldest surviving Linux distro.
    The simplicity under the hood is kinda cool, too.
    But every single thing I tried to get working on top of the base install (Flatpak, Steam, Slackbuilds, energy management, etc…) was a fight, and at some point I thought “fuck this, all these issues were solved 15 years ago by others.”

  • tupalos@lemmy.world
    1·
    25 days ago

    I still like my chromecast a lot and it’s near 6 years old. I stream all my illegal movies and shows through it so I’d say it saved me thousands by now

  • UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    30 days ago

    Caring about my life. Im going to let the rest of this one slip through my fingers like beach sand. No need to hold on tight anymore.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
      0·
      30 days ago

      Why not? Still so much good and beautiful left… Saying this as someone who has seen more than his fair share of dark underbelly of society.

      Sometimes it’s really a dark day but seriously, cheesy as it is to say, the next day will be brighter

  • i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca
    0·
    30 days ago

    I think I’m at my wit’s end with “smart” things.

    Roomba? It takes less time to just vacuum the place than it does for the fucking vacuum to realize it’s been humping the same chair leg for most of its battery charge.

    Assistants?

    “Hey Google, open the bedroom blinds”

    “Sorry, that device hasn’t been configured yet”

    “Hey Google, open the bedroom blinds”

    “Sure, turning 2 lights on”

    “Hey Google, open the bedroom blinds”

    “Sure, opening the blinds”

    • davel@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      30 days ago

      I gave up on “smart” devices after giving them zero chances. I’ve never bought one.

    • ClassifiedPancake@discuss.tchncs.de
      1·
      30 days ago

      I consciously avoid having to control any of my smart home devices using voice or other weird methods. Everything is toggled with buttons or fully automatic. This works pretty well for me and voice control is still available but it’s only optional. Sure you might ask why even make it smart then? Because I’m a nerd and because I keep forgetting to turn lights off when I leave. Also smart thermostats are great.

      Though I also gave up on my vacuum robot. Due to rearranging some furniture I had to move the vacuum base and let it rescan my apartment. But now for some reason it never gets past the dining room and aimlessly swirls around the table until the battery is dead, never finishing the room scan. On top of that it picked up a small pebble or something and scratched the floor. I had enough of it.