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.

    • eldavi@lemmy.mlEnglish
      21·
      1 month 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.

    • Lenny@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 month 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 month 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·
          1 month 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.

  • Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    441·
    1 month ago

    Doordash and other similar services. My order is wrong 9 times out of 10, and the price isn’t justifiable. I’d rather save the frustration and money and just make ramen or similar meals when I’ve been smoking or drinking and shouldn’t drive to fulfill the munchies.

  • Glitterbomb@lemmy.world
    42·
    1 month 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.

  • i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca
    36·
    1 month ago

    I think I’m at my wit’s end with “smart” things.

    Roomba? It takes less time to just vacuum the place than it does for the fucking vacuum to realize it’s been humping the same chair leg for most of its battery charge.

    Assistants?

    “Hey Google, open the bedroom blinds”

    “Sorry, that device hasn’t been configured yet”

    “Hey Google, open the bedroom blinds”

    “Sure, turning 2 lights on”

    “Hey Google, open the bedroom blinds”

    “Sure, opening the blinds”

    • davel [he/him]@lemmy.mlEnglish
      231·
      1 month ago

      I gave up on “smart” devices after giving them zero chances. I’ve never bought one.

    • undefined@lemmy.hogru.chEnglish
      12·
      1 month ago

      I feel the same, but my anger is scoped to cloud-connected “smart” things.

      Like you, I can’t stand my iRobot gear. My Roomba hasn’t updated its map in over a year because it always has “some problems” (probably due to pushing everything to the jank us-east-1 data center).

      On the other hand my recent Aqara gear is very nice but it took me time to finally call it quits on Z-Wave beforehand.

    • ClassifiedPancake@discuss.tchncs.de
      7·
      1 month ago

      I consciously avoid having to control any of my smart home devices using voice or other weird methods. Everything is toggled with buttons or fully automatic. This works pretty well for me and voice control is still available but it’s only optional. Sure you might ask why even make it smart then? Because I’m a nerd and because I keep forgetting to turn lights off when I leave. Also smart thermostats are great.

      Though I also gave up on my vacuum robot. Due to rearranging some furniture I had to move the vacuum base and let it rescan my apartment. But now for some reason it never gets past the dining room and aimlessly swirls around the table until the battery is dead, never finishing the room scan. On top of that it picked up a small pebble or something and scratched the floor. I had enough of it.

    • Domi@lemmy.secnd.me
      4·
      1 month ago

      Roomba? It takes less time to just vacuum the place than it does for the fucking vacuum to realize it’s been humping the same chair leg for most of its battery charge.

      If you are willing to put in some work, Valetudo is fantastic: https://valetudo.cloud/

      My two robot vacuums have been working for 5 years with no intervention other than emptying the bin every 2 weeks and dusting off the sensors when it complains.

      Assistants?

      Same as above, if you are willing to put in some work, Home Assistant includes a voice assistant and they ship devices now with everything preinstalled so you can plug in and go: https://www.home-assistant.io/green/

  • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world
    341·
    1 month 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·
      1 month 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 month 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

  • overload@sopuli.xyz
    29·
    1 month ago

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

  • Laristal@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    241·
    1 month 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.

  • Lad@reddthat.com
    242·
    1 month 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.

    • sexual_tomato@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      101·
      1 month 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 month 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…

    • Random Dent@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      1 month 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.

      • adhocfungus@midwest.social
        2·
        1 month 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.

  • onlooker@lemmy.ml
    19·
    1 month 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 month 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.

  • andrewta@lemmy.world
    18·
    1 month ago

    Electronics with bad interfaces.

    Either make your shit user friendly, or I’m returning it. If I have Google how to do basic things F U. You and your product isn’t worth my time.

    Same with subscription fees.

  • Like the wind...@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    171·
    1 month ago

    Life. I tried several times to make it better and every time it “gets better” it actually gets worse than it was before. I was misdiagnosed as the blue puzzle piece and even though I literally am not that crap I’m still practically stalked by adult protective service even after changing my name and using a ups store as my “address”. I never tell anyone about the MISdiagnosis because they never believe it was a mistake. Yet a lot of people still infantilize me and talk to me like I’m minutes old. These people would treat a literal preschooler like they’re more mature than me. I can keep running but I can’t hide from that damn puzzle piece. And honestly I’m tired of running. 🥱🔫

    Everyone can like or dislike anything, but that stupid puzzle piece made me like or dislike stuff. No, lostwave is not a “special interest” it’s just a thing I enjoy. I don’t play video games because of that stupid puzzle piece, I play games because they’re FUN. I made games for a hobby, not because that stupid fucking puzzle piece made me like programming. You don’t need to talk to other people about me in front of me like I’m an animal, about why these things “make me so happy”.

    I hate how I’m perpetually too old AND too young for everything. Everything family friendly is age regression, and everything else is “not suitable” for me. Smash Bros and Overwatch were both, a game for little kids, and a game with too much violence. But if I don’t enjoy anything anymore, that stupid puzzle piece is why, and not all the bullshit I got from literally everyone in my life.

    I give up on life because I’m sick and tired of living as a puppet controlled by a disorder I don’t even have. I’m tired of fighting to be human. I’m done.

    • Akasazh@feddit.nl
      101·
      1 month ago

      Hey man/girl/w/e,

      I’m repressing the boomer thing to tell you it’s going to be all right. I can’t promise that.

      I can just say that fighting the system is hard, I tried. Try work with it sometimes and see how that works out.

      Also don’t let anyone tell you thingsa are/aren’t suitable. What makes you happy is very important to you. I started playing tf2 when I was in my late 20’s and met a lot of people and had a blast.’

      I feel, though, that my examples might not mean much to you now, and that’s ok. Just know that I felt like what you described here and I managed to get it a bit better (i’m in my 40s now). Not everything is great, but I hop eyou find someone you can share some of your life with, that makes it easier.

      Boomer out.

      btw your username is great

  • superkret@feddit.org
    14·
    1 month 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.”