And that’s all totally true. Though there is a way around that trap… Don’t buy the dlc!

That’s my secret, I treat the base price as the only price, and if the game doesn’t stand on its own without dlc, it’s a bad game. And I will 100% say that out loud, I’ll give it a bad review, I’ll avoid buying it in the first place. If a game needs pricey dlc to be worth playing, it isn’t worth playing at all.

So there’s my hot take.

This may sound crazy, but hear me out… $70 might just be relatively cheap right now, when considering historic prices and inflation.

So about 20 years ago, I used to work at a game shop and at that time all new AAA console games were all $50 and I believe the switch to $60 happened just shortly after I left.

That said, a quick web search says that there’s been 65% inflation since 2005. $50 x 1.65 = $82

So at least when compared to other products, $50 to $70 is not a huge price jump.

Now all that said, this does not account for the added cost of micro transactions and paid dlc which didn’t really exist in 2005. So the actual lifetime cost of a top pricing tier game may actually be higher than $70. Honestly, I have more of a problem with that than with the higher base cost, hidden costs are deceptive.

Edit: I looked it up, the switch to $60 actually happened in 2005, I was probably still working there when it happened. If we were to do that same calculation starting with $60, that’s $60 x 1.65 = $99. So there’s food for thought

Got caught? They ran a Superbowl ad bragging about it…

They just thought we’d all love the idea for some reason.

I asked someone else, but I hope you don’t mind me asking you as well… With the FP6, 5g works as well? Any issues with MMS or RCS messages? Visual voicemail works fine?

I am trying to find a new phone, and while there are a few different companies making repairable phones, (Fair phone, HMD, shift) most of them are aimed at EU markets, so I want to make sure that a majority of the features also work in the US. My goal it’s to find something that will work for me, my wife and my in laws that won’t be a hassle. (Because, I do the tech support for all of them, and ideally I’d love to support just 1 device)

Awesome! And just to clarify, 5g works as well? Any issues with MMS or RCS messages? Visual voicemail works?

I ask because I am actively looking for a replacement for my 4a, it really is at its end of life at this point.

I was also considering some Nokia/HMD phones,as they made good scores on the ifixit repairability scale. Apparently HMD (who actually make Nokia phones) has a whole line of phones where their goal was modularity/repairability. It’s just been unclear which of these phones actually work on US networks.

There’s also shift phones out of Germany, but same deal, will they work on US networks?

I’m guessing the EU has some incentive programs to help these phones exist, but as a result, they’re mostly aimed at EU markets and networks.

Haha, your username is ironic, you’re not even honest to yourself!

No… You need a phone you can fix if you don’t break your phones all the time. That’s how you use the same phone for 6 years, like my pixel 4a. I haven’t upgraded to another pixel because the newer ones all have some deal breaker, no SD card slot, or a non removable battery, or no 3.5 mm headphone port.

But if you keep a phone for 6 years, they need maintenance. A speaker stops working, the battery life drops to nothing, the touch screen digitizer fails, etc. And then you need to be able to open it up.

Do they work on US networks?

That’s not what I said, before or after my edit.

Did you read my comment? My entire point was essentially that I don’t care. I’m not weighing in on that.

Edit: Though, I take that back now, just because you made such a big assertion, I’ll play devil’s advocate.

Let’s say you were using a drone for surveillance, what kind of range can you get in a drone? Looking around online, it appears that 200 km is considered extreme range for commercial drones, it’s hard to find anything greater than that. That said, military drones tend to have much greater range upwards of 1500 km.

On the other hand, I see no maximum range for a pigeon, at all. There’s a maximum distance it can travel per day and a maximum distance between landings that will keep it from crossing oceans. But that’s it.

Secondly, a drone can be shot down. If spotted it will be targeted. So they’re vulnerable. The pigeon on the other hand, if spotted, it will be ignored - because it’s a pigeon. It’s essentially a perfect stealth platform.

So there are two potential advantages if someone got this to work. There would of course also be drawbacks, and ultimately, who knows if it would turn out to be a viable system. But saying there’s “no benefit” is silly.

Sure, fine. At no point was I making any argument for or against this technology. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t, maybe it’s a waste of time, maybe it’s the future of aerial surveillance, maybe it’s just propaganda.

The only argument I’m making here is that there’s nothing far fetched about a pigeon flying thousands of kilometers, that’s totally normal. I’m pretty confident in this because I have first hand evidence that birds are actually really good at flying, and sometimes they fly very long distances.

Cruise missiles often use pre-programmed guidance systems, or total automation with just set of GPS waypoints to reach. That’s a pretty sensible appropriate because the nature of the device is as a long range weapon that often ventures far into enemy territory. If you needed to stay in constant communication, radio jamming would become a serious liability. I’d imagine this is very similar in its design goals, so they’d likely use a similar approach.

At any rate, I don’t expect the guidance to be the hard part, GPS navigation is not that hard to implement. (or GLONASS, in this particular case)

Also… If the US were doing this, they actually could use star link. Star link direct to cell phone connectivity is actually in beta right now and it works. If the pigeon could carry a striped down iPhone (it doesn’t need a screen, speaker, microphone, etc), then it could actually carry a communications device that could be in constant contact. I wouldn’t recommend Russia try that on starlink though, given that it’s an American company.

I have no idea, controlling an animal’s brain is obviously the hard part too believe. But I don’t see how that affects their range. It’s a bird, birds naturally migrate thousands of miles.

Well… The electronics are solar powered, so it’s not like batteries would run out. I’m not sure there are really limits on the flight range of a pigeon. I have to assume they’d be allowed to eat.

I don’t think they could cross an ocean.

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Only sane post on the page.

Those are the facts. I believe the pi 4 is what people are whining doesn’t exist.

Guybrush has it right.

An excellent question!

Hmm, water would be a very difficult (though maybe possible) material to build with. If you used those long balloons, like for balloon animals, and filled those with water, that could make like a semi-rigid beam. Then it’s just a matter of using the beams to make a structure, an arm, and a pivot point. You could use unfilled balloons as additional teather and possibly to make a pouch for holding your projectile.

To help with rigidity, after filling the water balloons, you could then spiral some duct tape around the entire length of the balloon, like wrapping grip tape around a hockey stick, that would keep the balloon from expanding unevenly or bending, it shouldn’t flop all over.

Just to maintain the design themes, I imagine using this to fling water balloons exclusively at little sisters.

I’m definitely an introvert, but you could get me to talk for ages about my personal hobbies and interests.

Just ask me about space or rockets or airplanes or building trebuchets.

This is the first I’ve heard Paris Paloma. I like it, it reminds me of Florence and the Machine.

Also, cool video!