All posts tagged: cons

Are Early Access Games Worth It? The Pros and Cons Explained

Are Early Access Games Worth It? The Pros and Cons Explained

Published by skeptic

Key Takeaways Early access allows for player involvement in game development, providing feedback, testing, and a role in shaping the final product. Early access games can be cheaper initially and offer unique insight into a game’s evolution, but may remain incomplete or buggy. Despite the risks of abandonment or changes during development, participating in early access can offer a rewarding experience for dedicated players. Early access games are abundant in the industry. While many are fun and absolutely worth your money, they come with some drawbacks that could prevent you from enjoying your time completely. What Is Early Access? Jhet Borja/MakeUseOf Early access games are games that are released before the publishers or developers think it is ready for its official release. The reason for this is mostly to gain additional funding from interested players so that the game can continue to be developed. It’s also a great way for players to give feedback, test the game for bugs and problems, and have a hand in the transformation of the game as it approaches its …

The Best Motorola Phones (2023): Pro and Cons, Top Features

The Best Motorola Phones (2023): Pro and Cons, Top Features

Published by skeptic

Motorola promises three Android OS upgrades and four years of bimonthly security updates. Motorola’s first folding smartphone from 2020 had a lot of flaws, but its successor levels up the game in a few ways. The Razr+ (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is a folding flip phone—it’s the smartphone successor to Paris Hilton’s iconic pink flip phone. Yes, you can flip open the phone to answer a call and flip it shut to end it. When it’s closed, the larger 3.6-inch OLED exterior screen can show you notifications, apps, and handy widgets to check the weather, calendar events, and news. It even lets you play simple games. You can also use the superior primary cameras—which would typically be on the “back” of the phone but are now at the front—to snap selfies and use this external screen as a viewfinder. They’re some of the sharpest selfies you’ll snap. With the phone open, you have a 6.9-inch screen you can use as you would a standard phone. This device has specs similar to the Lenovo ThinkPhone, with a …

Pros & Cons of Claude 3 AI compared to ChatGPT

Pros & Cons of Claude 3 AI compared to ChatGPT

Published by skeptic

In the competitive landscape of artificial intelligence, the emergence of new large language models (LLMs) continuously reshapes the boundaries of technology and innovation. Claude 3 has entered the scene as a formidable challenger to GPT-4, boasting superior performance in various benchmarks and practical applications, according to claims by Anthropic and corroborated by widespread discussions across the internet as this Claude 3 vs cChatGPT comparison of the advantages and disadvantages, weighing up the the favorable and unfavorable elements of both AI tools. In particular the way that Claude three doesn’t allow you to give it a persona as you can with ChatGPT. When it comes to performance, Claude 3 is making waves with its impressive capabilities. It’s designed to handle a wide range of tasks, particularly those that require understanding a lot of information at once. With a capacity to process up to 200,000 pieces of information, Claude 3 can maintain longer conversations and get a better grasp of complex topics than ChatGPT, which can handle 32,000 pieces in a chat setting and 128,000 through its …

“The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping”: The 8 most harrowing revelations from Netflix’s series

“The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping”: The 8 most harrowing revelations from Netflix’s series

Published by skeptic

In 2001, an institution called Academy at Ivy Ridge was officially founded. Marketed as a boarding school that would help troubled teens, Ivy Ridge claimed to use therapy and recreational activities as reformative tactics. In reality, however, it wasn’t anything close to resembling an actual school. Those who attended endured years of mental, physical and sexual abuse until the school shut down for good eight years later.   Survivors of Ivy Ridge recounted their horrific, cult-like experiences in Netflix’s latest docuseries “The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping.” The three-part-series spotlights Katherine Kubler, an Ivy Ridge student turned filmmaker who exposes the mistreatment and brainwashing that occurred within school grounds. Kubler is joined by several of her former peers who recall what it was like attending the pseudo disciplinary school. The series also features their family members, along with journalists, attorneys, legal experts and a few former staff members at Ivy Ridge. Here are 8 harrowing revelations from the series: Katherine Kubler, Ken, and Julie in “The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping” (Photo courtesy of Netflix) Kubler, …

Solar Power Purchase Agreements Explained: The Pros and Cons

Solar Power Purchase Agreements Explained: The Pros and Cons

Published by skeptic

The cost of solar panels has decreased over the years, but this technology is still pricey and unattainable for many.  Powering your home with solar energy is likely to save you a lot of money over the long run, but to get there, you’ll have to invest somewhere between $10,000 and $30,000 (upfront or through monthly financing). One way around this large financial hurdle is through a solar power purchase agreement. A PPA is an agreement between a property owner and a solar installer, often in cooperation with a utility. Essentially, the solar company retains ownership of the system it installs on your property but agrees to sell you the energy it produces at a rate that is considerably below what you would otherwise pay your utility.  Can solar panels save you money? Interested in understanding the impact solar can have on your home? Enter some basic information below, and we’ll instantly provide a free estimate of your energy savings. When financing becomes more expensive, as it has recently, PPAs tend to become a pretty attractive …

Readers discuss pros and cons of Wetherspoons – from a ‘curse’ to ‘amazing’

Readers discuss pros and cons of Wetherspoons – from a ‘curse’ to ‘amazing’

Published by Sam

Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight The division around Wetherspoons’ existence on Britain’s high streets runs deep. And Independent readers appear to be just as split as the general population on the cut-price pub chain. While some labelled Wetherspoons “a curse” and labelled it “image-before-substance” others declared it an “amazing business” and eagerly listed off the pros of newly knighted Tim Martin’s venture. A few readers declared that they’d never set foot in a Spoons – but others were clearly regulars and were keen to highlight how many “iconic” properties had been saved in town centres up and down the country. For many the brand’s cheap prices simply can’t mitigate the sour taste left by Martin’s forays into political discourse. Here’s what you had to say: ‘Rescuing iconic property’ For every plus there can be a minus – but overall a positive. Mostly for rescuing iconic property from the wrecking …

Brazilian Gamers Aren’t Waiting for Hollywood. They’re Building Their Own Cons

Brazilian Gamers Aren’t Waiting for Hollywood. They’re Building Their Own Cons

Published by skeptic

In 2022, I interviewed journalist Mariana Ayrez, who opened my eyes to the relevance of Perifacon. She reiterated that “while other events promote pop culture and bring together artists and the public, they have a lot of incentive from private business players. Meanwhile, Perifacon delivers geek culture, love, and fun to all involved independent of their budget. Their main goal is accessibility.” Delgado believes that while Perifacon calls attention to social inequality, it also promotes artists from those marginalized communities and showcases their products to a public that wants them and can’t get them in any other way. Favela influence is everywhere in Brazilian art, culture, and sports. “The favela is the powerhouse that people already know. However, brands and enterprises are still after the same profile of people that already have access to everything. We know this because of the lack of support to unfavored areas,” Ayrez explains. Meanwhile, for the young people growing up in the favelas, the convention is an event to look forward to. “Perifacon is everything that the 12-year-old Eduardo …

5 investors on the pros and cons of open source AI business models

5 investors on the pros and cons of open source AI business models

Published by skeptic

As the generative AI boom continues, startups building business models around the tech are beginning to delineate along two clear lines. Some, convinced that a proprietary and closed source approach will give them an advantage over the swarms of competitors, are choosing to keep their AI models and infrastructure in-house, shielded from public view. Others are open sourcing their models, methods and datasets, embracing a more community-led path to growth. Is there a right choice? Perhaps not. But every investor seems to have an opinion. Dave Munichiello, a general partner at GV, an investment arm of Alphabet, makes the case that open source AI innovation can foster a sense of trust in customers through transparency. By contrast, closed source models — though potentially more performant, given the lightened documentation and publishing workload on teams — are inherently less explainable and thus a harder sell to “boards and executives,” he argues. Ganesh Bell, the managing director at Insight Partners, generally agrees with Munichiello’s point of view. But he asserts that open source projects are often less …

How scammers use psychology to create some of the most convincing internet cons – and what to watch out for

How scammers use psychology to create some of the most convincing internet cons – and what to watch out for

Published by skeptic

Online fraud is today’s most common crime. Victims are often told they are foolish for falling for it, but fraudsters use psychological mechanisms to infiltrate the defences of their targets, regardless of how intelligent they are. So it’s important to keep up with the latest scams and understand how they work. Recently, consumer protection magazine Which? identified some of the most convincing scams of 2023. These scams all have one thing in common – they insidiously take advantage of people’s cognitive biases and psychological blind spots. They included “pig butchering” a way of fattening up victims with affection, the missing person scam which involves posting fake content on social media pages, the traditional PayPal scam, and a new scam called the “fake app alert” in which malware is hidden on apps that look legitimate. Pig butchering In our work as fraud psychology researchers we have noticed a trend towards hybrid scams, which combine different types of fraud. Hybrid scams often involve crypto investments and sometimes use trafficked labour In the US alone, the FBI recently …