A bubble, not a balloon…

I haven’t watched TV since 2007…

There are plenty of repositories for F-Droid

I said paid.

it is not really beneficial for most companies to compete with Google Play

Of course it is. The reasons are detailed in the OP.

user experience will be worse (install warnings, no auto-update)

This is a thing of the past at this point.

and people may get affected by malware if they don’t pay attention

The same can happen on any other store.

Using ad blockers. What are you doing?

Choosing not to load potential spyware, malware and bloatware while looking at free content is no more piracy

It is not free content. You’re just spreading disinformation. Just like the movies you download when pirating are not free content. The payment is watching ads. You’re utilizing software to forego that payment (just like piracy).

I’ve never seen a bubble deflate, but I digress.

Google has to manage a lot of huge companies’ software, so while it sucks for the little guy, and Google could definitely be better about it, it’s sort of understandable.

What we need are more and smaller independent (paid) app stores. Honestly, I’m shocked there aren’t way more. We have the Google Store, Samsung Store, Amazon store and…that’s it?

No one else wants a part of this multi-billion dollar industry? No itch.io Android appstore? No Humble? No GreenMan? No STEAM!?

The stock market is not based on income. It’s based entirely on speculation.

Since then, shares of the maker the high-grade computer chips that AI laboratories use to power the development of their chatbots and other products have come down by more than 22%.

June 18th: $136 August 4th: $100 August 18th: $130 again now: $103 (still above 8/4)

It’s almost like hype generates volatility. I don’t think any of this is indicative of a “leaking” bubble. Just tech journalists conjuring up clicks.

Also bubbles don’t “leak”.

Those claiming AI training on copyrighted works is “theft” misunderstand key aspects of copyright law and AI technology.

Or maybe they’re not talking about copyright law. They’re talking about basic concepts. Maybe copyright law needs to be brought into the 21st century?

GParted

deleted by creator

Your previous statements seem to indicate otherwise:

Lawbreakers was an excellent game that was killed by executive stupidity.

You know what f2p means to me? It means you can play the game for free but the experience is guaranteed to be miserable because you’re going to have relentless ads crammed down your throat for skins and other bullshit I couldn’t give a single fuck about, and no matter how much you pay it never stops.

So if it’s between that and just paying $30 for the game, I’ll take the $30 every time. I avoid f2p games like the plague.

So it’s not f2p then?

How does a f2p game cost $30?

Is this the fastest video game death of all time?

It’s a live service game. Any other game they’d say “Well most of the work is done already” but in this case it requires regular ongoing investment.

You need to spend more time around small channels

Which would tell me what, exactly?

Any you want to recommend?

YouTube decides how video creators are paid and they choose to not pay if ads are blocked.

So…this is YouTube’s fault because they chose not to be a charity? LOL that’s some gold-winning mental gymnastics right there.

At a bare minimum they make them because they’re passionate about sharing with others. In which case they care about the view count. Once again, no one makes a video and uploads it to a video-sharing platform and doesn’t care who watches it.

Having the time and money to dedicate to making high quality content makes them higher quality. If they have to work a 9-5 doing something else, and they record everything on a Galaxy S4 because they have no money, it’s bound to be lower quality or just non-existent.

Quite the opposite. If they didn’t care about the view count the content wouldn’t exist in the first place. No one makes content with the intention of no one watching it, and they certainly don’t make high quality content that requires a team of people and expensive equipment.