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.

  • argarath@lemmy.world
    9·
    1 day ago

    Windows. I am tired of the constant enshitification. I was waiting for it’s end of support because of games and the extra work needed to make them work on Linux (had to have the support of two friends who know Linux to try and get my steam to actually recognize my games and run them with proton, and it took 3 nights of help to find the issues and then fix them to get it working consistently) but I am so glad I’m doing this now, I’m already enjoying Linux more than windows and the issues I’m having are because of companies like discord not making streaming unnecessarily a pain

    • Icecreamface@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 hour ago

      For me it’s Arch. Maybe this just reflects badly on me but I always end up breaking it. I just use Debian now.

  • superkret@feddit.org
    12·
    1 day 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.”

    • Icecreamface@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 hour ago

      For me it’s Arch. Maybe this just reflects badly on me but I always end up breaking it. I just use Debian now.

    • NeoToasty@kbin.melroy.orgOP
      2·
      23 hours ago

      Yeah, I get you. I hug very hard to the more popular Linux distros to be more user-ready than what feels like 98% of the rest of the Linux distros out there. Where you’ve got to have a Google search ready at every turn in hopes enough information is connected to resolve any and every problem you may have because you picked a distro that either isn’t supported well or poor documentation or everyone else gives it zero fucks.

  • onlooker@lemmy.ml
    17·
    1 day ago

    Dealing with people who have a problem with me, but will refuse to tell me why. Either tell me, so we can discuss it or stop wasting my time. I no longer have the patience with the whole “read between the lines” bullshit.

    • 1hitsong@lemmy.ml
      5·
      1 day ago

      I’m still trying to learn this. It bugs me knowing someone has some problem with me, yet won’t tell me what it is. It’s the not knowing why that kills me.

  • overload@sopuli.xyz
    27·
    2 days ago

    McDonalds. It’s the shittiest fast food place and maybe the most unjustifiably expensive.

  • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    24 hours ago

    Stremio+Torrentio+Real-debrid and a computer hooked up to your entertainment center like you proposed. One and done, wam, bam, thank you ma’am.

  • Lad@reddthat.com
    232·
    2 days ago

    The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. I just can’t get into them at all. I’ve tried half a dozen times and just got bored after a few hours of gameplay time.

    I’ve accepted that I just don’t like them. Games should be fun, not feel like a chore to play.

    • NeoToasty@kbin.melroy.orgOP
      31·
      23 hours ago

      I’ve had to drop Monster Hunter World, it’s a game that I was so enamored by to play, had it on my wishlist for months and months. Seen many of my friends play it. I really dig what’s there. I finally had it gifted to me by a friend and I gave it an honest try.

      Who at Capcom, decided it was the best idea to not give that game a way to pause the game or skip the cut scenes? Like, I hope that person is fired because that is how you just brush away all of the patience one has for waiting for things to finally give you back control.

      And it’s because of that, I now have to leave it collecting digital dust.

      There were also many popular games that people have recommended so highly to me before that I just got and tried playing and ended up not liking. I ended up finding myself revisiting free games, older games and vice versa than playing what people recommended me. I’m sorry but a lot of AAA games are just boring experiences that have drained all of the good ideas that could’ve been much more.

      • adhocfungus@midwest.social
        2·
        19 hours ago

        My issue with MH was the extensive grinding. Getting a full set of armor from a monster could take dozens of kills, with each kill being 30-60 minutes. If I knew I could get it after a flat 10 or even 20 victories it’d be fine, but you’re at the mercy of 5% drop rates sometimes.

    • Random Dent@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      1 day ago

      For me it’s Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I just gave up again after bouncing off it for like the third time. On paper it’s exactly the sort of thing I should be into, but that game just doesn’t respect your time.

    • sexual_tomato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      111·
      1 day ago

      Felt the same. I dropped the Witcher after 10 hours. A solid try, in my estimation. I usually quit games around the 2 hour mark if I’m not feeling it.

      I was in a bit of a depressive rut when I started c2077 so I just kinda plowed through the beginning not knowing if I didn’t enjoy it because of the game itself or if I was on the edge of offing myself. Whichever reason it was, after the world opened up a bit I started to fall in love with the characters and story about 15 hours in. Which is a huge ask. If you’re into games as a storytelling medium, it’s a 10/10. On a mechanical level, it’s about a 7/10 for me. It’s ok throughout, and even really great for some of the set pieces.

    • Hadriscus@lemm.ee
      3·
      1 day ago

      Exactly. These are among my all time favourites but there are other very popular games I just cannot seem to enjoy, so I get the feeling…

  • Laristal@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    23·
    2 days ago

    Keeping in touch with people. I have no idea what causes it but people just stop talking to me. I’ve lost touch with so many friends and family members over the years that in a lot of ways its just not worth the effort to make new ones. Which gets pretty lonely but I don’t see an alternative.

    I realize that part of it is my fault as I’m not the best at keeping up with people either, but I at least make the effort with the few friends and family I’m trying to keep so I don’t lose absolutely everyone. The only exception is work colleagues and my mother who I have a strained relationship with.

    I’m sure the work colleagues will fade if I ever leave the company, as has happened every single time before. I’m sure you can guess why my relationship with my mother isn’t something I necessarily want to improve.

    I’ve received multiple reasons that people never message, usually some variant of forgetting to respond due to being too busy. But what’s especially frustrating are the people that say, I think of you often and things of that nature, but that never seems to translate into, “let’s see how they’re doing by reaching out”. Adding to this is how I’ve never had much luck making friends so it’s not like I’ve ever had a large pool to draw from.

  • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world
    34·
    2 days ago

    I hear you on the streaming sticks. 10 years ago, you could throw a Chromecast in your suitcase, plug it into a hotel TV, and cast anything you wanted from your phone. Now, if you try to do that, you have to set the Chromecast up through the Google home app, tell it what “room” it’s in, but then you can’t cause you arent at your “home”, so you have to set up a new “home”, and then that doesn’t usually work, so you just quit and read a book instead.

    • mattgolsen@lemmy.ml
      13·
      2 days ago

      The way I solved this was by setting up a hotspot on my phone with the same SSID as my home network. The Chromecast doesn’t know the difference.

    • 🔰Hurling⚜️Durling🔱@lemmy.world
      31·
      1 day ago

      So, I have a 1st gen chromecast and a travel router and when I’m in a hotel I just connect the travel router to the hotel internet, and my chromecast is ready to go, no need to setup the chromecast every time and I don’t need to sign into my streaming apps every time either

    • Lenny@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 day ago

      Congratulations! I am working out my notice period of my job right now, I am taking December to regroup and will begin job hunting in January. It feels so liberating!

      • BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.org
        2·
        1 day ago

        It does. Not sure your situation, but I have a mortgage and two little girls. It’s a big risk, but I’m betting on myself.

        Regardless of the uncertainty about the new year, it’s the first time I’ve felt any sort of positivity for the longest time.

        Good luck to all of us.

        • Lenny@lemmy.world
          2·
          5 hours ago

          Mortgage and three cats (plus a clingy stray and three chickens outside). Luckily the husband has a good job so we’re ok.

          I always try to live my life imagining this all being a memory to my elderly future self, and thinking about how I’d be reacting to it. Am I feeling strong pride or regret about my choices? Is there something that feels like it matters right now that will totally be forgettable in the grand scheme? It really helps me when I encounter difficult decisions, and it’s how I realized that I need some time to realign myself with the things that bring me joy.

          Best of luck to you, I have a sense (knowing nothing about you) that elderly you is SO freaking pumped that you’re doing this.

    • eldavi@lemmy.mlEnglish
      21·
      2 days ago

      i’m about to do something similar and for a job that is a 56% percent pay cut for me; but it’s as far away as i can find from the profit seeking evil that has characterized my most recent jobs while still employing my skillset.

  • Glitterbomb@lemmy.world
    40·
    2 days ago

    My gripe is with the androidTV/roku/etc being built into the TV. Just give me a big monitor that can switch inputs, that’s it. I install TVs for work and I can’t count the amount of times the TV is just trashed because the software is screwed up and you aren’t even able to switch it to HDMI1 and carry on like it doesn’t exist. It’s hot garbage, keep that shit on little HDMI sticks that you can throw away without throwing away the whole TV. Seriously, your TVs life gets cut in half if you have a whole OS on it. Bring back dumb firmware.