Hi, hello, welcome. I'm Kevin and you are reading overkill digest.
I am still enjoying my time on Linux. But I ran into an issue on Friday evening that forced me to reinstall CachyOS. Somehow, after an update and a reboot, I was unable to boot into the system, and no matter what I tried or how many times I cachy-chrooted into the system, nothing worked.
Finally, I decided to reinstall the OS without nuking my /home partition, and it took about 15 minutes. I should have started with that in the first place.
I'm currently writing about how the move over from macOS went and how the experience differs. I hope I can post that during the upcoming week.
During the Christmas holidays I started the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series. I played through Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami 1, and back at home I finished Kiwami 2. In less than a month, Kiwami 3 gets released, so while I wait I'm tackling Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and maybe Clair Obscur if I am fast enough.
But my big gaming highlight happens tomorrow, as I will play my first session of D&D. I mentioned it here and there, but I work at a newspaper and a journalist decided to write a story about Dungeons & Dragons, and part of the research will be a proper session.
I opted for a Half-Elf criminal bard (our DM didn't have access to the Charlatan background), and I'm admittedly very hyped. I've been watching way too many YouTube videos, and I'm trying very hard not to order every book on dndbeyond.com.
🚀 Big Moves
Let the ChatGPT enshitification begin! OpenAI announced earlier this week that they will be adding ads to the free and some of the cheaper subscription tiers.
Officially, their reasoning is that it'll make the service easier to access, but let's be real for a sec: OpenAI has no clue how to monetize the service and ads are Silicon Valley's favorite way to make money when you don't know how to monetize your product.
I experiment with LLM models a lot. I don't buy into the hype or the doom, and I believe they are essentially tools that are quite good at doing a few things. They're also built on the backs of artists and creators, but unfortunately that ship has sailed and we can't turn back time just yet.
I use them for three things: looking up information, helping me code, and fancy text correction. All LLM models are more or less at the same level. Some are better at some things, while others are better at other things. But I believe they all suck at making art, be it text, images, or videos. It's good, technically correct output, but everything they churn out is boring AF.
I think in the end, the model that will win is the one that makes it easiest and cheapest for people to use. I struggle to see a future where we all sign up for a subscription. Some power users might, and businesses will give you access, but the average user will just use whatever free tier exists. (Like how most people don't pay for Excel, but it's preinstalled on all office machines.)
Right now, ChatGPT is in the lead because they have the first-mover advantage. In the long run, I believe Google and Gemini will win, because Google is one of the only companies that has a functioning ad-network already in place and knows how to monetize these things. Also, they are cramming it into every single product they offer, and they already have a lot of products people use. (It's also good. I signed up for a Gemini Pro subscription this week, and it's much better at doing research than ChatGPT.) It'll also help that Gemini will power whatever the new Siri will be called.
Either way, I hope this bubble deflates soon (and that RAM prices drop again).
🎮 Platform Updates
Valve stresses that there'll be more Steam Machine Verified games than Steam Deck ones. This makes sense, since one of the Steam Deck constraints is its smaller 800p screen. Another one is battery life. No need to optimize for any of this since the Steam Machine will most likely live next to a TV and will be hooked up to power.
Nexus Mods retires their in-development cross-platform app to focus on Vortex. This annoys me way too much, since it means that a Linux version might be off the table again. In their official statement, they say that they are "also exploring what Linux support might look like for Vortex in the future." Which is business speak for: maybe, but probably not.
💻 Hardware & Software
Boox Palma 2 Pro: 5G, color, but still a Palma I reviewed the Boox Palma 2 Pro earlier this week. I quite like it, especially thanks to the new 5G capabilities, and even if people complain about the fuzzier screen, it's my current e-ink reader of choice.
Apple introduces Apple Creator Studio. Funny how in the past I would have been all over this. The offering isn't bad, though, especially at a monthly price of $12.99 or $129 per year for the whole thing (thankfully, there are still single purchase options for some of the offerings). After all, a single month of Adobe's sub costs $70.
🎲 Playthings
Palworld will get a trading card game. What an innovative idea that no other monster-tamer game ever came up with. I wonder what comes next, how about a Lego set, because...
LEGO Pokémon Reveals First Sets, Launches February 2026. The most expensive set costs $649.99 for nearly 7000 pieces.
📌 Quick Hits
- I spent a year on Linux and forgot to miss Windows. Another one.
- First look at Sophie Turner as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider TV show. They nailed the look.
- Thor will play Kratos on TV. This is also a good casting choice, even if I find it a bit funny that they picked the Thor voice actor. I hope they cast Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor next.
Dig the format? Hate it? Hit those feedback buttons below and let me know what's working.
🔮 Looking Ahead
- The Cult of Lamb Woolhaven DLC lands on Thursday.
Okay, that's all. Thanks for reading!
See you,
Kevin