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Windows handheld, Designed for Xbox

Been thinking a lot about this recently, now that we know a handheld Xbox Xbox — as opposed to a handheld Asus/Ayaneo/Lenovo/MSI/OneXPlayer “Xbox” — is a while away. And to me, a 17‑year Xbox console user, even if you leave out hurdles in software, it doesn't seem possible to be fully satisfied with any of the hardware currently on sale.

Now, Microsoft has this programme called Designed for Xbox, right? Like Apple's MFi, but for Xbox‐compatible hardware?

So while we wait for the real thing, and with the expanding definition of what is “Xbox”, I do wish Microsoft will work with someone to put out a Designed for Xbox Windows handheld. One that should at least have the complete set of buttons of a standard Xbox controller, particularly the Share button for instant screenshot capture and Xbox Game DVR, and the Xbox “jewel” button to bring up Game Bar. (No doubt Microsoft will have their usage statistics across Windows and console, but I know I personally use Game DVR and its rolling‐30‐seconds‐in‐the‐background screen recording on the console a lot.) These functions can currently be mapped to a device's spare/extra buttons, such as rear buttons, but that's extra configuration required of the user rather than available out of the box. Plus it means those buttons are now unavailable for gameplay. (I use the back paddles of my Elite controller in Halo for jump, reload, and mark.)

In fact, while Microsoft is negotiating Designed for Xbox and the use of the Xbox logo/brand with a third‐party, I think it would be fantastic if they just straight up licenced the Xbox controller industrial design for producing a device that is said controller cut in half with a screen added in the middle, à la Sony's DualSense controller and the PlayStation Portal. Compared to the 22 years Microsoft has had since the original Xbox Controller S to the current Xbox Series controller, the current Windows handhelds definitely don't feel as developed ergonomically. There's the basic shape of these devices and therefore their comfort in the hands, obviously — Asus improved the lower corners from the first Ally to the Ally X, for example — but also the way they choose to lay out their controllers. While these devices aren't as extreme as Nintendo with the Switch's right Joy‑Con, the offset of their right analog sticks from their ABXY buttons are very different from an Xbox (and PlayStation) controller's. Some have their stick too low from where it should be, some have them too far to the right of where it should be. Moving your thumb between the right stick to the A button is probably one of the most familiar, most crucial muscle memories in gaming, and a lot of the handhelds have not yet got this right. (The Backbone One is awful in this aspect.) This is another change Asus made from the Ally to the Ally X, but it's still not the same as an actual Xbox controller.

And with a controller fully‐licenced from Microsoft, like Hyperkin has managed for their DuchesS and Xenon, I hope/expect that also means a Designed for Xbox Windows handheld can have the Impulse Triggers that's been in Xbox controllers since the Xbox One. (I find them very useful in Forza.) Even more awesome: fully replicate the four back paddles and hair triggers from the Elite controller.

(I haven't made my mind up about screen sizes yet. 7″ seems…okay, but could be bigger.)

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Originally proposed on Kickstarter in 2019 and then 2022, but I was only just told about it today: Gay Sauna the Board Game.

Two to six players.

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Variety:

The terms of theOnion's winning bid have not been disclosed. The trustee who oversaw the auction, Christopher Murray, told the court that theOniondid not have a higher cash bid than First United (which bid $3.5 million). But, according to Murray, theOnion's deal was picked as the superior offer because the Connecticut families agreed to forgo much of money Jones' owes them in order to pay other creditors. With the bid from theOnionand Connecticut families, “the creditors ended up significantly better off, and that's why I chose to do, select that as a winning bidder,” Murray said. He called the families' agreement to waive their monetary claims as a “gift” to the otherInfoWarscreditors: “I've never seen this before in any other case.” [Judge Christopher Lopez of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas] said he was not aware of the sealed‐bid format the trustee implemented nor did he know specifically what assets in the case were being sold. He expressed concern about the way bids were submitted and reviewed by the trustee, and noted that [First United American Companies] (which the trustee designated as the “backup bidder”) didn't know what theOnionand the Connecticut families had bid.

Please…! It's not going to fix this world or me, but please don't take this from us.

I need this.

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Karen Middleton, Guardian Australia:

… [Nationals Senator for Queensland Matt Canavan] took to social media site [Twitter] early on Thursday to condemn the net zero goal. “The re‐election of Trump means that we can all say what we think again,” he wrote. In a subsequent post he said Australians should “stop whining” about possible tariffs like “some kind of hopeless basket case” and “take charge of our own destiny for a change”. “We should get out of the Paris climate agreement, dump net zero (which is dead anyway because of Trump) and unleash a New Age of Australian Energy Abundance,” he posted.

Fuck off.

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Bravo to fair journalists anywhere who can still think, publish, go on air today. I'm not processing. I'm numb.

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What the fuck have you guys done.

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2016. 2020. And now 2024.

I hate America.

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Went for a short visit to and back from Grandpa's on the bike. First ride in eight months.

Felt it.

(Effort level six, accoridng to the Apple Watch.)

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This was quite something to wake up to this morning!

I had literally only just heard about Adobe Lightroom's support for editing and exporting photos with HDR/EDR last week. And looking into it further, I then found out that Photomator also added HDR last year in its 3.2 update.

I was intrigued and fascinated enough about all this to seriously think about whether this might finally break me away from exclusively using Apple's Photos app for my photos. Keep iCloud Photo Library for the actual library — been carrying it since iPhoto in 2002! — but use an external editor, Lightroom or Photomator, for editing.

I really hope this means SDR→HDR will come to Apple Photos.

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Bernie Sanders:

And that is why I am doing everything I can to block US military aid and offensive weapons sales to the right wing extremist Netanyahu government in Israel. And I know that many of you share those feelings, and some of you are saying: “How can I vote for Kamala Harris if she is supporting this terrible war?” And that is a very fair question. And let me give you my best answer. And that is that, even on this issue, Donald Trump and his right wing friends are worse.

Been saying to friends lately that I'm quite upset about how close opinion polls think the American election will be next week.

And I do mean “upset”. It's why I've chosen not to follow things as much as in 2016 or 2020. I'm aware of the debates and Madison Square Gardens etc, of course. But I'm not watching them or looking for people's hot takes online for my own mental health. To avoid the psychic damage.

It truly feels frustrating, watching from outside the US, how so many people are thinking small in this world‐changing election. Thinking about issues domestically, without clocking the fact that they make huge knock‑on effects internationally.

Climate. Ukraine. Palestinians. Taiwan.

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When Sky Sports first brought on Danica Patrick for their F1 show, I supported it. I didn't know much about her, but I had heard of her because of GoDaddy sponsorships, and, through that, was aware she was a professional racer in Nascar. So I thought it was a good choice, given she would have relevant first‐hand experiences, and she could be good for representation in the sport.

Alex, however, has just made me aware that she's been involved with Turning Point for a while…

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I just realised: there has not been any iPhone with Dynamic Island available with (PRODUCT)RED.

(14 and 14 Plus were the most recent iPhones available in red.)

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Thomas Mitchell, The Sydney Morning Herald:

The success of her Substack, combined with her unorthodox style — Kraus rarely cites sources, relies on anonymous insiders and uncritically platforms proven conspiracy theorists — has led to a chorus of criticism. Last month, she shared a photo alongside Alex Jones, the right‐wing TV host who repeatedly claimed the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings never happened. Relatives of the Sandy Hook victims later sued Jones, winning nearly $1.5 billion in judgments against him. Even for Kraus's most ardent supporters, the Jones picture was a step too far, the comments section on her Instagram largely condemning the photo. “At that time, I was tracking Tucker Carlson, not Alex Jones and my interest was, what does Tucker see in him?” says Kraus. “But at the end of the day, I'm allowed to be curious about anyone in culture, and he is a relevant person in culture.”

“My sources mostly go unnamed because that's just my style. If I'm at Mar‐a‐Lago for a party or at the Kennedy compound for a clambake, they forget that I'm media, so I'm not about to go around with a recorder,” says Kraus. “At the end of day, my audience don't care about sources, they think I've been right enough for them to trust that they're legitimate.”

“They forget that I'm media”.

I believe the term is “useful idiot”.

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Not a musician, so don't ask me how. But I really feel this has potential to be developed into a fuller arrangement. More nightmare.

I'm thinking something like how Square Escape in No Time to Die corrupts the James Bond theme into something darker and more aggressive.

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Entered a two‐star Tera Raid in Pokémon Violet — I'm still only on two gym badges — and caught a shiny Varoom. My first shiny in Paldea!

(Alex had already stumbled on a wild shiny long ago: a Wiglett on release day in Scarlet.)

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Alex Crowe, Stephen Brook, and Caroline Schelle, The Age:

Hundreds of Australian Catholic University students and staff filed out of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Monday during the speech by de Bruyn, a former national president of the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA).

She said the speech started off normally, but then went into anti‐abortion and anti‐LGBTQ territory. University officials were reportedly worried about what to expect from de Bruyn, who was SDA national secretary from 1978 to 2014, given his public opposition to same‐sex marriage, abortion, gay rights and IVF. For years the SDA was a major obstacle to the ALP legalising same‐sex marriage.

A spokesperson for the ACU said de Bruyn's remarks at the ceremony were delivered in a personal capacity. “While his views may not be shared by some of our staff and students, as a university we encourage the respectful exchange of ideas that represent the wide spectrum of our diverse community,” they said. “The university understands that many of our staff, graduates and their families disagreed with the content of Mr de Bruyn's speech, and we regret that this occurred.”

Good good good.