Sometimes manufacturers "do their own thing". Nintendo USB-C power supply can somehow power my soldering iron at 20V, but cannot charge a laptop.
Ran into the complement/opposite of this with a cheap handheld. It cannot be charged with a USB-C PD charger, but can be charged with a "dumb" USB-A to USB-C cord, all because the manufacturer cheaped out on 2 resistors.
In early 2010s, I worked in a city that was planning to remove a huge useless highway section. When I moved away from that city in 2025, they were still having hearings about plans to potentially start thinking about removing that highway.
"AI" is a pretty bad blanket term. BirdNet / Merlin is a model trained specifically on bird calls (and some noises) built to recognize bird calls. App and logo use huge general-purpose models to create content of questionable quality.
And yes, a decent birder should never trust just Merlin ID.
Several states have Working Families Party. IMO a better name, no mention of socialism (even though they usually endorse progressive or socialist candidates) and in some states (e.g. New York) they are legally a party, so they get their own column in the ballot on state and local level (alongside Democratic and Republican parties). DSA is not legally a party afaik.
(Circa 2007 on bashorgru, there was a meme about writing "bugoga" into a text file, renaming it to exe and then running it. That made the cursor jump around the console and if you had a connected matrix printer, it would start going crazy - something about writing spaces to all available output in an endless loop)
I had the same thought reading Dream Hotel. Technically it is sci-fi, but the only sci-fi thing is the implant, the rest is reality turned up to 11 (discrimination, prison labor, black box AI tech, privacy abuse)
The modern take on "automation that survived the apocalypse" is Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's an entire novel, more humorous, but still very dark.
Ironically the free-but-with-ads Tubi is the least bad when it comes to UI. They have categories with exhaustive lists, and even labels for movies highly rated on RottenTomatoes.
Netflix sucked for a while (don't have it anymore). Apple TV is absolute shit now (subbed for a month to watch a few shows)
Thank you for the warning, that sounds incredibly frustrating. I see Blue Prince recommended alongside Outer Wilds as "knowledge based" puzzle games, but it does not sound fun now.
I also could not get through it and gave up. Some roguelites (Everspace) give you enough upgrades to at give you a better chance of making it to the end (and/or to breeze through the beginning), but weapons, upgrades and blessings in Hades seemed rather marginal, and I am not that good.
Destructible walls. It's possible to destroy some walls, but that is not in the manual nor hinted at in a classic way (discoloration or cracks). You can complete the game without knowing that. It simply did not occur to me to throw dynamite at blank walls.
::: spoiler spoiler
But you need to destroy a wall to get to a fairy puzzle.
:::
Invincibility toggle is nice to have, but even more of a statement of how bad the balance is. (Didn't need to use it though - found an exploit to instakill the quarry boss :)
Tunic. Was recommended for fans of Outer Wilds (fantastic game), but I see no similarities. Tunic's cover art looks like a Zelda ripoff, world borrows from Hyper Light Drifter, and the game plays like a Zelda + Hyper Light Drifter ripoff, but very poorly tested, unfair, and misleading at times. I get the impression that game designers had zero external opinions and very little playtesting.
Exploration is "bump into every nook and cranny to find a way forward". Bosses are absurdly difficult, clearly catering to the "git gud" crowd, and do not feel fair (as a counterexample, HLD felt difficult but fair). Puzzles are all backloaded to the latter half of the game, they are mostly fun, but at least one relies on a mechanic that is never hinted at nor used in the game otherwise. The untranslated manual, main gimmick of the game, is misleading at times. Midgame apocalypse / dark world is not that, it's... Night time (not putting the spoiler because that is just absurdity)
Yes, I finished it, and got the good ending, which only elicited "Um, ok?" from me.
As a software developer, this has got to be one of the most original unintended usage scenarios / reasons.
No amount of planning or testing in software will prepare you for ways users will actually use it.
Sometimes manufacturers "do their own thing". Nintendo USB-C power supply can somehow power my soldering iron at 20V, but cannot charge a laptop.
Ran into the complement/opposite of this with a cheap handheld. It cannot be charged with a USB-C PD charger, but can be charged with a "dumb" USB-A to USB-C cord, all because the manufacturer cheaped out on 2 resistors.
Relatively, the tolerances are low and surface is too rough for a true ball bearing like spin, but it does not bind or get stuck.
In early 2010s, I worked in a city that was planning to remove a huge useless highway section. When I moved away from that city in 2025, they were still having hearings about plans to potentially start thinking about removing that highway.
How is that a spoiler? But fine, i'll change the comment
And the best thing is that
::: spoiler apparently a spoiler for some people ¯_(ツ)_/¯ the ending (of the first book) addresses that narration quirk. :::
"AI" is a pretty bad blanket term. BirdNet / Merlin is a model trained specifically on bird calls (and some noises) built to recognize bird calls. App and logo use huge general-purpose models to create content of questionable quality.
And yes, a decent birder should never trust just Merlin ID.
Several states have Working Families Party. IMO a better name, no mention of socialism (even though they usually endorse progressive or socialist candidates) and in some states (e.g. New York) they are legally a party, so they get their own column in the ballot on state and local level (alongside Democratic and Republican parties). DSA is not legally a party afaik.
This reminds me of "bugoga" from the olden days.
(Circa 2007 on bashorgru, there was a meme about writing "bugoga" into a text file, renaming it to exe and then running it. That made the cursor jump around the console and if you had a connected matrix printer, it would start going crazy - something about writing spaces to all available output in an endless loop)
I had the same thought reading Dream Hotel. Technically it is sci-fi, but the only sci-fi thing is the implant, the rest is reality turned up to 11 (discrimination, prison labor, black box AI tech, privacy abuse)
The modern take on "automation that survived the apocalypse" is Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's an entire novel, more humorous, but still very dark.
Someone I know got screwed over when 3G shut down. Their business used an alarm system with a 3G modem (using a cheap data-only SIM card).
The "updated" version requires subscriptions, an app, and goes through manufacturer's servers, so more expensive, and several more points of failure.
Notification light is back! Now with a dumb ass name, and probably restricted/incompatible API!
Ironically the free-but-with-ads Tubi is the least bad when it comes to UI. They have categories with exhaustive lists, and even labels for movies highly rated on RottenTomatoes.
Netflix sucked for a while (don't have it anymore). Apple TV is absolute shit now (subbed for a month to watch a few shows)
Thank you for the warning, that sounds incredibly frustrating. I see Blue Prince recommended alongside Outer Wilds as "knowledge based" puzzle games, but it does not sound fun now.
I also could not get through it and gave up. Some roguelites (Everspace) give you enough upgrades to at give you a better chance of making it to the end (and/or to breeze through the beginning), but weapons, upgrades and blessings in Hades seemed rather marginal, and I am not that good.
Destructible walls. It's possible to destroy some walls, but that is not in the manual nor hinted at in a classic way (discoloration or cracks). You can complete the game without knowing that. It simply did not occur to me to throw dynamite at blank walls.
::: spoiler spoiler But you need to destroy a wall to get to a fairy puzzle. :::
Invincibility toggle is nice to have, but even more of a statement of how bad the balance is. (Didn't need to use it though - found an exploit to instakill the quarry boss :)
Not an avid gamer and play mostly indie.
Tunic. Was recommended for fans of Outer Wilds (fantastic game), but I see no similarities. Tunic's cover art looks like a Zelda ripoff, world borrows from Hyper Light Drifter, and the game plays like a Zelda + Hyper Light Drifter ripoff, but very poorly tested, unfair, and misleading at times. I get the impression that game designers had zero external opinions and very little playtesting.
Exploration is "bump into every nook and cranny to find a way forward". Bosses are absurdly difficult, clearly catering to the "git gud" crowd, and do not feel fair (as a counterexample, HLD felt difficult but fair). Puzzles are all backloaded to the latter half of the game, they are mostly fun, but at least one relies on a mechanic that is never hinted at nor used in the game otherwise. The untranslated manual, main gimmick of the game, is misleading at times. Midgame apocalypse / dark world is not that, it's... Night time (not putting the spoiler because that is just absurdity)
Yes, I finished it, and got the good ending, which only elicited "Um, ok?" from me.
(Poe's law activate)
Is this a joke or trolling? This is an RNG for crashing the app with a runtime error.
The shape goes into the shape press that presses the shape into pressed shape.