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*"that makes a select few rich people a lot more money?"

ajcoll5on Google is a monopoly – the fix isn't obvious

It does, but they're useless for anything that isn't already a Google search away. They can't help with actual account/service issues, and don't seem to have a way to escalate to the right teams that can.

ajcoll5on T-Mobile switches users to pricier plans

I've got bad news for you.

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/business/t-mobile-to-acquire-m...

ajcoll5on Amazon to add limited ads to Prime Video starting in early 2024

Enshittification strikes again!

ajcoll5on AOL pulls Nullsoft file-sharing software WASTE (2003)

The GPL licensed WASTE source code if anyone wants to take a peek.

https://archive.org/details/waste-source

ajcoll5on Teddit – An alternative Reddit front-end focused on privacy

Actually, perfect timing. It doesn't use the official API.

ajcoll5on The weird world of Windows file paths

If you have macOS clients connecting to an SMB file share hosed by a Windows server they use alternate data streams to store resource forks - like fonts. Makes for a fun 'oh shit' moment if you go to zip up files on Windows to archive, then realize you're missing data when you later unzip as most compression applications don't keep them.

ajcoll5on Bitwarden Acquires Passwordless.dev

Would have preferred to see the cash used for this to be used for things like app QoL improvements, an actual code audit (not just the basic network security assessments they list), or offer actual bounties for their bug 'bounty' program.

ajcoll5on Sony completes $3.6B deal to buy Bungie

You'd need to talk to Rockstar and hope it gets more resources than their GTA "definitive" editions.

ajcoll5on How did Tropicana lose $30M in a packaging redesign?

Walmart did this back in 2013 under the Price First label. About 3 years later they dropped it.

ajcoll5on The Owen Wilson Wow API

I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called Linux, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called Linux distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux!

ajcoll5on Show HN: Alternative Google Analytics Dashboard

There's Matomo, formally Piwik.

https://github.com/matomo-org/matomo

ajcoll5on The SSO Wall of Shame

I see similar sentiments whenever SSOTax is mentioned. If providing it is a support burden, why not provide an unsupported standard self service SAML 2 integration that is validated against the top 2-3 identity providers, and make clear if the customer needs assistance with the integration or something custom it's $X hourly rate?

Why must everyone suffer the outrageous 'tax' if most are just using the same top 2-3 providers anyway.

ajcoll5on Apple Discontinues macOS Server

They also can tank SMB performance on macOS. Apple even suggests to disable them in large environments for performance.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208209

ajcoll5on Valve Software Archive

And they have a page detailing how to get a local copy of the site in case it doesn't stick around. Kudos to them for that!

https://valvearchive.com/sync

ajcoll5on I can no longer compile my first Flash game

https://museum.rockstarnexus.com/

The majority of the sites in the museum I captured using Charles proxy back in 2011. I have also included a few sites that Internet Archive had captured, but weren't functioning properly in the Wayback Machine due to either scripting or Flash requirements.

The changes vary. There are a number of instances of direct linking to content instead of using relative paths, which can usually be fixed pretty easily using FFDEC's in-place Action Script editor. Toward the last 8 or so years these sites were accessible, Rockstar started to remove certain trailers - likely due to music licensing. For these I've had to dig into Internet Archive and see if I can find the original SWF files before changes were made. If I cannot, I then decompile sites back into Flash projects and use an old copy of Creative Suite 6 I have access to in order to restore certain buttons and elements.

Ruffle still needs work but definitely has been improving. The project has been mainly focused on AS1&2 and has little/not-yet-working AS3 support. Sites like Vice City mostly work, but the background colors are off and sounds like the radio won't stop playing once started. Sites that Rockstar developed onward from 2006 like Liberty City Stories are a lot more broken at the moment unfortunately.

ajcoll5on I can no longer compile my first Flash game

FFDEC is pretty good - better in some cases than commercial solutions. I've been using it to fix some of the Flash based Rockstar Games websites that are no longer available before throwing them up on my 'museum' site that uses Ruffle to display them.

ajcoll5on Goodbye Microsoft SQL Server, hello Babelfish

Seems to be missing quite a bit.

https://www.babelfishpg.org/docs/usage/limitations-of-babelf...