Remember When Motherboards Were Priced Well?

Windows 11 shows up with a novel novel-length list of requirements that would make NASA blush, while Linux just sits there with its cute penguin face basically saying "Got electricity? Cool, we're good to go." After 20+ years in tech, I've seen Microsoft turn simple OS upgrades into hardware shopping sprees more times than I care to count. Meanwhile, Linux is over there running on everything from supercomputers to your abandoned toaster. The "optional" electricity bit is just *chef's kiss*.

Remember when game devs were literal coding demigods who could squeeze a full RollerCoaster Tycoon into Assembly language and fit shooters into kilobytes? Now we've got bearded dudes stealing breast milk while shipping 500GB games that still need a "day one patch" bigger than entire operating systems from the 90s. Modern AAA game development has truly evolved from "how can we optimize this to run on a potato?" to "just buy a new PC, peasant." And don't forget the always-online single player games because heaven forbid you enjoy content you paid for without a constant internet connection. The industry went from "first few levels free as shareware" to "that'll be $70 plus $20 for the season pass, $15 for the cosmetic DLC, and $10 for the soundtrack we removed from the base game."

Nothing says "I'm a laptop user" quite like having a literal inferno between your legs and pretending everything's normal. PC gamers panic when their GPU hits 80°C, but laptop warriors casually type through third-degree burns as their machine transforms into a portable crematorium. The best part? The warranty specifically excludes "damage caused by using laptop on actual lap" - which is literally in the name of the device. Pure marketing genius!

Ah yes, the classic "make it smarter until it finds the loophole." Guy tries to solve Roomba crashes with a neural network, and now his vacuum cleaner just drives in reverse to exploit the blind spot. It's like watching evolution happen in your living room, except instead of developing wings, it's developed malicious compliance. The robot uprising won't be dramatic laser battles—it'll be household appliances finding increasingly passive-aggressive ways to technically follow instructions while making your life worse.

Oh sweet merciful motherboard! PC gamers will literally drop $1000 on a fancy graphics card with RGB lighting that looks like a spaceship had a baby with a disco ball, but HEAVEN FORBID they spend $450 on a Nintendo Switch! The audacity! The hypocrisy! It's like watching someone complain about the price of a hamburger while ordering a $15 cocktail. "But my frames per second!" they cry, as they remortgage their house for the latest GPU that will be obsolete faster than you can say "ray tracing."

The "future of autonomous vehicles" in a nutshell. Companies hype up their "AI-driven" robotaxis while quietly outsourcing the actual driving to some guy with a gaming steering wheel in a cubicle halfway across the world. It's the tech industry's version of the Wizard of Oz – "pay no attention to the underpaid contractor behind the curtain!" Next time your self-driving car makes an unusually human decision like slowing down for a squirrel or taking that shortcut through the alley, just know there's probably a dude named Rajesh getting paid $5/hour to make sure you don't crash into a tree. Silicon Valley's dirty little secret: most "AI solutions" are just humans in digital disguise.