u/Retronitsu

The infatuation we have as a country with AI is concerning.

I feel like everywhere I look or scroll, a poster pops up with the generic AI poster art style we all have gotten used to. Well known shops are starting to promote their content through fully AI generated posters, music and posts. People are getting more comfortable fully automating their marketing with AI. Digital Marketing courses are dedicating more time teaching how to automate stuff via AI than teaching the fundamentals. Everyone and their grandmothers have an AI subscription running somewhere. People are paying €100/month to claude for their Max bundle just because they think paying more means better experience. Everyone wants to make the next big thing whilst vibe-coding slop. I've seen people submit dissertations fully AI-generated down to the data collection side of things. The same students that shit their pants the second an exam required anything closed book without AI.

Meanwhile, freshly graduated students looking to find jobs are struggling more than ever to do so. We have so many people who would willingly work for companies for the sake of experience and yet companies would rather let an LLM do everything out of convenience.

What does our country do despite all this?

Give everyone free ChatGPT/Copilot premium.

They're not great by any means, but they get more people hooked to LLMs. I'm sure many people will renew their subscription when the government coupon ends.

Of course, this is not only a Malta thing, but we as a population are a lot more accepting of AI usage. Other countries would fully boycott companies for using AI yet your local Marijja tal Haxix drops a like because the AI generated dog is dancing.

EDIT: Didn't think I needed to clarify but seems like it. I'm commenting on people who tend to purchase the most expensive insert LLM here subscription just because they think Expensive = Better quality. If you can justify using whatever sub you use, good for you.

Hi all,

I booked a room in Belgium 3 months ago and had managed to talk to the host various times before. Fast forward to two days ago, I messaged the host to check for check in information regarding the trip and till today (less than 24 hours before I land) I'm yet to receive any sort of response. I've tried calling, texting, and even left airbnb support a message (insisted on a human as the AI bot seemed overly dismissive of my worries).

My main concern is that the area we're renting is rented out due to a concert, and anything left is greatly out of my price range. I cannot see myself flying over without having accommodation confirmed beforehand. Last thing I need is to end up stuck on some sidewalk with my luggage and no affordable accommodation close.

Hi all, I've been saving up for a Thor and I'm about to bite the bullet. I haven't seen as many shipping posts lately, but I'm aware they usually take around a month to ship. Is this still the case with batch 7?

It was working perfectly fine until recently. RetoArch would usually save the save state value I'm currently on (let's say 10) and upon restarting, it would reload from save state 10. Suddenly, I have no idea how it started, it started loading from a quick save slot instead, and when I save state it'll save at slot 0. Usually, it would continue counting from the previously saved state.

I searched for a fix and there was a github thread for version 1.20 where they fixed it later on, but I'm on 1.22, so the fix should be present. That being said, it's still doing this annoying bug and I cannot fathom how to fix it.

I've got auto load, auto save, increment save states and a 30 save state cap setup for GBA. Any help would be appreciated.

Edit: after playing around a bit, seems like it's the save state limit causing the issue. With the limit enabled, the current save state counter gets locked to 30, so when retroarch tries to load it'll fail (if not populated) and resort to the quick save. Then, when trying to save it'll go to the next one, which is save state zero. After disabling the save state limit, it works fine

I get it, not everyone wants to fiddle with a handheld to get it set up, but to post a video stating they recommend a handheld, when in reality they're promoting the pre-configured sd card version from litNXT, makes it all feel scummy. Not only that, but the only mention of configuring the handheld yourself is brushed off as "a weekend job" when in reality, following a guide would take you maybe an hour. I do not get how someone can recommend paying extra for a free firmware and a "curated romset" (something you can get for free such as Tiny Best Set). It's fine to recommend the option, but to present it as a vastly superior option and not even go as far as to link a setup guide should someone want to set one up themselves feels scummy.

It's also surprising when this video had absolutely nothing to add since his last video of recommending the MM+ from litnxt. If it wasn't for the mention of 2 years passing, I would not be able to tell them apart. The entire thing felt like an ad to me, especially considering you can find the handheld cheaper on AliExpress and can get a name brand SD card for cheaper than what they offer.

We are all aware of the risks that come with using Decky on your Steam Deck, that being said I wanted to post my story here both as a warning and as a potential fix for those who encounter my issue as there's no post I could find that addresses it.

Last week, I decided to apply some custom css to my Steam Deck through the CSSLoader plugin. I had one theme installed that would customize the right settings menu triggered by the ... Button. When I applied it, the menu went invisible and the background blurred, and I could not navigate the menu at all apart from the button suggestions at the bottom of the screen. To make matters worse, the menu reset and I could not just press the button again to toggle off the customization.

This lead to a good 30 minutes of tinkering, from uninstalling the plugin to switching between beta and release branches for the deck. Eventually I realised that the plugin is injecting the CSS directly into the default config of the Steam Launcher. What's insane to me is that apparently it does not reset or disable these changes from the default config on uninstall. Uninstalling the plugin left the menu in a broken state. I even emptied the homebrew folder for Decky to no avail.

The fix was quite tedious. I had to delete the Steam config folders (that store your controller setups, user login, etc) and then switch back to game mode. When switching to Game Mode, it regenerated the files and the menu was back.

I hope this helps people facing the same issue as me. Additionally, let this be another warning to not trust these plugins blindly. It is insane to me that the plugin itself has no setting to reset the css config nor functionality to revert all css changes on uninstall. Customizing your Steam Deck is fun, but keep in mind the possible headache if something breaks.

I'm making this post as I've got the itch to grind out something with a ranked mode. I haven't played any sort of competitive game seriously ever since overwatch 1 closed down.

Has the competitive landscape really not changed at all since then? I'm seeing the top games are still your usual League of Legends, CSGO, Fortnite etc. Is there anything worth my time to get good at?

I personally prefer FPS, but I'm also really into ability based combat. As much as I used to enjoy the early days of R6, I'm not too keen on having that level of precise slow gunplay. I also don't really enjoy having to learn lineups or recoil patterns.

I'm honestly open to trying anything. What are you guys enjoying grinding ranked ladder on?