Microsoft Recall controversy

If being desperate enough to force users to build trust between them and the company is what Microsoft and various game and tech companies do recently, it's about injecting whatever irrelevant stuff users don't give a damn about with the earlier example being the pre-bundling of Candy Crush Saga which is the kind of the game with no end to it with endless level progression path and further levels being extremely tedious for non-paying players and that ruins the purpose of fun and challenge to begin with. The biggest matter of the recent time has to be Microsoft Recall for Copilot+ PCs. It is notorious for being a big security and privacy issue but remember, it applies to Copilot+ PCs that there's no need to panic.

There are open-source alternatives to Recall but I don't know if even they can be trusted or not despite the fact that they would address some of the issues the actual Recall had initially. Even if Microsoft backtracked and addressed some issues from the severe backlash, the damage to the trust was already done with users already threatening to switch to Linux which is fear-mongering in my opinion. In fact, you're already better off without open-source Recall clones if that's the case when switching to Mac or Linux.

The real concern about Microsoft Recall was that it could be a perfect gift for cyber criminals, control freaks and domestic abusers. In the case of the latter, there could be concerns of victims being forced to re-enable Recall feature. Another problem is that the feature takes screenshots every time, wasting tons of disk space like it's a home surveillance camera.

If parental controls and home surveillance cameras are not enough, what else do you want? Also, if only there's a child account for the children linked to their parents' for the game consoles, PCs and mobile devices in which certain features like credit card/debit card and digital wallet features are not available. Lastly, if the child uses their personal account on their device, not their parent's, for gaming, that's fine.

Recently, Microsoft had delayed the Recall feature and the Copilot+ PCs will come out without it. Another piece of good news is that the said feature will be disabled by default but you have the option to enable it or keep it disabled in the OOBE. But still, a new feature that decreases the security level is already unacceptable. I wonder what kind of weird idiot would be excited for and protective of something like that.

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Konami's Bombergirl controversy (Definitive Rant?)

By today's standards, Konami's game development actions regarding the highly disturbing Bomberman spinoff game, Bombergirl, might have landed themselves in hot water over the seriously disturbing gameplay elements when the characters take damage for instance. Some of the characters with such profiles I won't mention here combined with the indecent gameplay elements I just mentioned are super obvious by today's standards that Konami could risk crossing the line of going too far. The risk of Konami crossing the line sort of existed starting 4 years ago when I ranted about some highly disturbing Netflix dance movie certain content creators like Sidalpha made some videos of. Suffice to say, their opinions of that movie were highly negative. By that time I knew how disturbing and selfish that movie was, I could have redone a rant on Konami's Bombergirl much earlier than the time the disturbing Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid shmup game was released, and here it is, a proper way to rant.

Konami's Bombergirl was released in arcades way back in 2018 with the Konami Game Station version being released a few years later on PC. There happened to be some sequel but even then, I'm already better off with decent and non-disturbing games from Konami and other game companies. If the hot water wasn't dodged and dismissed enough as some whiny rubbish, they even had a spinoff of Mahjong Fight Club series with a similar concept.

Spinoff or not, this had gone way too far and what kind of creep would want to ask for the release of Konami's Bombergirl in the arcades outside Japan? I wouldn't be surprised if the content creators I know of made a gaming news video of the game sparking controversy for having a western arcade release.

Wubuntu controversy

When someone investigated the security issue in which those who bought the "activation key" for Wubuntu OS got their private information stored in the database, the developers of this OS had the audacity to alter some piece of information along with some writing that called the investigator an idiot and lamer or some sort. It wasn't a professional way to react and but it seems that the privacy violation stuff wasn't the only issue that sparked controversy. Other issue included the possible trademark and copyright infringement on the Windows 12 Lite level with icons, wallpapers and other assets taken from Windows OSes.

Wubuntu OS is part of the LinuxFX line of Linux OSes and recently, many content creators made their videos of it, demonstrating what it looks like for sure and deciding that it's not recommended for anyone to try out the OS. Tech enthusiasts already know what Linux looks like no matter how much disguise it can have. Obvious indications may include:

• The flow of the startup and shutdown process of a Linux OS
• Boot screen flow and asset positioning
• Login screen and various applications
• WINE for running Windows applications
• Additional processes related to WINE can be seen on screen

I guess that it's pretty much the same as disguising whatever Windows OS as the other through transformation tools and whatnot but in Wubuntu's case, it can be comparable to Windows 12 Lite in terms of a controversial Linux OS that deserves to be found out by Microsoft. This one looks like it will be found out by both Microsoft and Canonical for unauthorized use of Ubuntu branding and Windows related assets but the real red flag in my eyes has to do with the data collection stuff and to pay for "additional features".

A big controversy surrounding Nijisanji & some former virtual livers

For starters, the recent controversy started with the amount of dark trouble the former virtual liver had gone through prior to moving back to being an Indie Virtual YouTuber as Dokibird. According to her, the work environment was said to be toxic and she had been ill-treated there prior to her termination. It had gotten that bad to the point that she made more than one attempt that landed herself in the hospital. The worse thing was, she wasn't paid there in the first place and had to use her personal money on the song cover. It's like she had been stopped from producing passionate stuff there. Needless to say, her fans were FURIOUS over the severe trouble she went through and despite her return to streaming under her indie identity, there were petty attempts from Anycolor to do damage control and those acts were criticized. Poor PR management? Sort of.

The official apology video from Anycolor CEO was a sheer nonsense and disastrous. It clearly showed that they devalued the virtual livers with the top priority being the investors when it came to apology. And to make certain virtual livers do the "addressing" video to the situation as a ploy to disrupt Dokibird's passion was some last straw to tarnish the company's reputation further. Another problem was that the private documents were sort of leaked by the company with such video posted on one of the virtual livers' YouTube channels and Dokibird was not happy about it. This could closely result in a lawsuit against the company for privacy violation although the legal battle between them and Dokibird will be no easy feat according to one of Sayu's recent livestreams. The trust is broken and difficult to rebuild at this point.

Another toxic part you can see on the internet is the amount of die-hard simps/shills of Nijisanji who keep defending the brand and organization to no end in which they dismissed whatever truth Sayu and Dokibird said as some kind of fabrication. Some shills even had the miserable audacity out of their unhinged and cringy behavior to come up with a list of anyone who ranted about the controversy, dropped support for Nijisanji, supported Dokibird, etc. Oh, let's not forget that Anycolor did a self-investigation in the same way EA & Activision Blizzard did. It's all a new low from what I knew about the controversy and I have a feeling that the drama the Nijisanji shills are prolonging isn't letting up. They will continue their malicious acts in an attention-seeking way. Man, some of the most immature nerdy behaviors might include having parasocial relationships with the corporation or some corporate entity as if the corporation was their parents or something. (Well, I'm looking at some "die-hard" Intellivision Amico shills who have parasocial relationship or some kind.) I don't care what nonsense they can spew out on social media. Surprise success from Dokibird is what catches my eyes and I already tweeted about her achievements.

As of this time, it appears that Dokibird's channel is going strong with large amount of subscribers, a Play button given to her, and the redone intro which is like one part of full Brain Power ownership rights level. What this means, many things about her when she was in Nijisanji are still hers to this day.

Backlashes surrounding SimplyGo app and system

Come June 1 of this year when the legacy public transport fare cards like the non-upgradable EZ-Link Cards and NETS FlashPay Cards will be phased out in favor of SimplyGo EZ-Link Cards, NETS Prepaid Cards & Bank Cards. Some of the changes for the SimplyGo system had already caused an uproar. Commuters who used the new app and system were disgruntled over the countless amounts of problems they encountered and some of them could be tracked by their fellow family members with their SimplyGo fare cards linked to said members' accounts with the latter being problematic.

For one, it is said to be going backwards in terms of technological transition. You won't be able to see the charge when you tap the SimplyGo fare card on both the Entry and Exit of the bus as opposed to tapping the cards that will be phased out. Instead, the reader will display Bank Card and SimplyGo. Another difference is the remote top-up of the SimpleGo fare cards using the app as opposed to proceeding to the General Ticketing Machine for topping up your fare cards.

Then, there are some problems like the only use left for legacy EZ-Link cards is for motoring and SimplyGo EZ-Link cards can be used for retail and public transport but not motoring. Sadly, other countries have their public transport fare cards that support all three services: Retail, Public Transport and Motoring. Another problem is the fact that the app can be used to track the other family members' travel. There was a news of a woman whose travel history had been tracked by her father as her SimplyGo EZ-Link card was linked to her father's account. Her workaround was that she used her bank card as a different SimplyGo compatible fare card for travel. There is no excuse for a commuter to get their travels tracked by their fellow family members.

Luckily, a smartphone isn't required but rather, it's one of the choices. With the app, you can check your travel history, do remote top-ups, remotely disable a lost card, etc. What is inexcusable however, is the tracking of other commuter's travel history, poor execution of the app and system in which they're plagued with technical issues, anyone defending the system that's currently in problematic state, etc.

There are statements from a blog post someone wrote about the system penalizing anyone financially who criticizes it by dropping the daily cap to none so that travels are not available but I don't know if that is true or not. For this blog post, the news articles were referred to in the writing of it to ensure that I got the common information.

References:

• https://vulcanpost.com/849527/uproar-about-simplygo-isnt-about-lack-of-tech-savvy-its-about-friction-in-user-experience/
• https://www.msn.com/en-sg/entertainment/news/simplygo-is-creepy-woman-says-after-finding-out-her-dad-can-track-her-movements/ar-AA1n2aWi
  

Ubisoft's Controversial Inactive Account Deletion Policy

Look, I had received a similar reminder email about account deletion over inactivity before for those accounts I don't use alot in the present time but that's for the other services I use. Even Google came up with a similar policy but that's nothing I can worry about alot since I watch videos on YouTube regularly. Within 30 days, the account will be removed for inactivity but according to the definitive clarification from Ubisoft, only inactive accounts with no game purchases will be removed in 30 days, not accounts with game purchases so that people can come back and continue from where they've left off.

People have other/important things to do and that's understandable. However, to certain people angry over this controversy, it's like Ubisoft goes out of their way to take advantage of this controversial policy to remove accounts of the affected gamers within 30 days while the affected gamers are doing whatever important thing that keeps them away from their homes for a longer period of time. It's also like Ubisoft follows on a treacherous footstep to take away those games the affected gamers bought by removing their accounts behind their backs while they're away. Some of the concerns are valid enough but some of the angry reactions had gone on a different direction.

Whether you'll choose to know/believe the definitive official information or not after the backlash, I guess it depends on whatever backlash you're offended over. I had seen some previous controversies where I chose not to know ANY piece of official information from the offenders. What could prolong the ongoing offense was an apology demand, meaning I'd be told to apologize to the offender just because I had criticized or made a rant on something that sparked the controversy. I wouldn't turn a blind eye over a time-wasting apology demand because it constituted as a backlash defense. I might be in the right to criticize such controversial stuffs in the end. Some examples included the disturbing dance movie on Netflix, Cu***s, and the licensed Miss Kobayashi game developed by Kaminari Games. So far, I didn't encounter any reply with creepy defense in mind being thrown at me because I made a rant about the latter at that time. What that meant was weirdos telling me some immature, useless or drama-stirring shit while they kept defending that disturbing crap like it's something beautiful or whatnot. You know what else was unacceptable? A misunderstanding card. There has to be a better statement than playing that stupid card and it's better be something believable.

The official clarification from Ubisoft is something people should refer to but there is one other reminder that you don't own anything when it comes to cloud gaming and NFTs. In case of NFTs, the only thing you get is the receipt and only idiots think that they own such NFT items when the receipt is actually the only thing. What about freemium mobile games? Well, unless they can be played offline, they're pretty much useless once discontinued. It's even the same for certain modern arcade games which happened to fall under Live Service category, meaning that they're updated with new content on a regular basis. Another reminder is that Microsoft came up with a controversial policy regarding used games for Xbox One but they quickly backtracked after all the backlash they faced and even then, people were smart enough to buy the Playstation 4 when it came out. It took Phil Spencer a lot of time to restore the reputation of the console.

Ubisoft had an audacity to bring up the GDPR law when people know for sure that the GDPR law is generally about protecting the users' privacy and Ubisoft could land themselves in legal trouble with the controversial policy they came up with, had it not sounded clear enough.

TeeVee Telly "free" TV

The main catch for this upcoming "free" TV called, Telly, is the inclusion of ads that are displayed on the bottom of the screen but there are other pre-inclusions that stir controversy prior to the release of this "free" TV sometime this year. Such pre-inclusions involve the camera, microphone and motion sensor, and this upcoming "free" TV is supposed to be available for home use.

Privacy-issues aside, I don't know for sure if the "free" TV, Telly, is going to attract some stupidity or not after knowing the fact that such pointless hardware features are included. Louis Rossmann had a video about this and one piece of mockery from him is about masochists going masochistic when it comes to privacy and limitations on the freedom. It's like they have no regards for privacy at all and new technology is what they care for regardless of whatever concerns good people have. It's also like the masochists ask for things to be collected by the tech companies for advertising, "product improvement", etc.

Other problems include the amount of distraction from the ads on the bottom screen, voice assistant, music, game room and AI feature. I don't know if the news part can be disabled or not. Like the Intellivision Amico, only the idiotic weirdos try to get their parents or their spouse and children to play games on Telly together. I can imagine the amount of creepiness coming from those shills and good people are smart enough to stick back to buying a standard TV or a better smart TV than Telly. I already have an extension where I can disable those distracting parts of the YouTube website like disabling the list of videos on the right side of the page, leaving the video player, live chat box and whatever below the video player intact, for instance.