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There are exploits out there either kept secret by malicious/proprietary parties, or not practical for consumer desires to get a proper rooted experience.
Pretty much the only method to fix it if you’re affected that I can think of is to factory reset your phone with a manufacturer provided image, and even then it’s not 100% guaranteed if the bootloader is compromised.
What’s extra ironic is that with how slow Valve is at changing things, Epic had a window where they could’ve released a superior user experience to out compete Steam and sustainably attract users away from Steam. But they’ve taken so long that slow moving Valve has actually improved things, further solidifying their position, and now Epic is even further behind.
I can’t think of any hardware that Valve has abandoned. Sure they’ve stopped making plenty, but pretty much everything is still supported, and in many cases works even better because the software developed for them still exists and gets updated(SteamVR, Steam Input, Steam Link, etc). Closest you can get to abandonment were the Steam Machines, and even then they were just PCs and you could easily install another Linux Distro on them, or even Windows.
That’s what confused me the most. When your customers are consumers, screwing them over might be no big deal. But when your customers are businesses, how were you planning to get away with something like this where anything involving fees in the 6 to 9 figures is game changing. That’s, “Cheaper to move my business elsewhere” levels of money.
It’s the complete unpredictability that devs and businesses hate. 2% of every purchase they can plan for, but with install fees they could get randomly billed for copies that were already sold, and that is unacceptable. This isn’t a one time fee, whenever somebody installs the game on a new device, the dev gets charged. Not to mention the fact that some people might have multiple devices, but randomly in 3 years they could get a new PC and suddenly the dev gets charged again, all the while the dev didn’t make anymore money from that copy. Who the heck would agree to a system like that?
Not to mention that if a game gets added to a service like GamePass, then the service gets the bill. No way Microsoft would say yes to that, which means the Dev misses out on deals that could’ve made them a bunch of money.
Your router’s firewall only blocks access to unauthorized ports. If your device is talking to the Internet, then that device is exposed to that connection. Your router’s firewall does not prevent your device from using an outdated and exploitable software on the Internet.
Theoretical example, your device is stuck using an old web browser for whatever reason, that browser does not have a recent patch for an exploit involving loading infected pictures. You use that device to load a website with those infected pictures and your device loads malware because of that. Now your device could become a conduit for somebody to tunnel into your home network and look for any other things to exploit, whether those devices connect to the Internet themselves or not.
Obviously, you can often update web browsers on older devices, use a fork specifically designed for older devices, etc. But there are oversights. Old Android versions can’t update Webview outside of OS updates. Webview is what apps use to load web pages inside the app, and if you’re using an old app, which uses the old Webview, to load a webpage that the owner abandoned and has been taken over by a malicious third-party, your device could be exploited just by that app loading that webpage without you meaning to.
It’s not stupidity. You need to invent the tools that are needed to make the tools that make the tools that make the tools that make the thing. China still hasn’t independently invented most of those tools yet, so they’ve been relying on finished tools from other countries. Being smart doesn’t wipe away the decades of research needed to make something. We all expect China to eventually be able to make an equivalent tool, but they’re working with a handicap of inexperience which was expected to take years of dedication to overcome. Which is why everybody is skeptical that China made this independently without outside help or knowledge.
Roblox is a sandbox game sort of like Minecraft, but with way more power given to third-party developers and users to develop and distribute content in it. What you’d consider mods for other games are the whole point of Roblox, and MTX can be implemented by those third-party developers using “Robux” as a currency. The MTX can be your usual MTX fare of skins and power-ups, but also often abused for less ethical purposes, like gambling mechanics. The fact that Robux can be cashed out for real money via official and unofficial methods mean that’s it’s ripe for abuse.
Update: Also, I wasn’t aware of this before the article, but apparently gambling sites have figured out a method to link a Roblox account to their external sites, and then use the user’s Robux wallet as currency in their illegal online casinos.
Recently at work they replaced the AEDs with new models that support Children, and have a Spanish guide mode, super nice. But they also are now connected to the Internet so that they report any usage and order a new set of pads automatically, plus it has a bright screen constantly cycling through advertisement of what the device is. Also for some reason the power button isn’t actually a power button, and just triggers the start-up process while calling back to base, just like touching the on-screen buttons or pulling out the pads will do.
What could go wrong?
HDMI came from the TV manufacturers and was earlier than DP. While DP came from VESA and Computer OEMs.
HDMI being in TVs gave it a far wider penetration in the consumer market, and so when people wanted to hookup their laptops and other devices to TVs, they’d need HDMI.
Ironically, as ports have been simplified to almost just USB-C on many devices, DP’s market share actually grows as it’s cheaper and easier to include for OEMs, and if the consumer has to buy an adapter anyway, it might as well be on their dime to pay for HDMI, rather than the phone or laptop maker.
Yeah, here’s an excerpt from their podcast talking about it:
Seal is another option, and it uses YT-DLP on the backend, a fork of Youtube-DL.
The sad part is that the upcoming administration might be stupid enough to try and implement this.