ThePowerOfGeek

@ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Replit CEO Amjad Masad says learning to code is a waste of time, citing Dario Amodei's prediction that AI may generate essentially all code by next year.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s a more viable solution than replacing most software engineers, honestly.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Windows 11 is closing a loophole that let you skip making a Microsoft account⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  The sad thing is they know the large majority of users will comply. Most people put familiarity and convenience above their own privacy and general well-being.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Codebase in Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Pair programming with Grok.

  Spotty DOGE intern developer: “what’s a for loop?”

  Grok: “Look it up yourself, noob! Holy shit do I hate Elon Musk in every fucking way!”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Codebase in Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Ah yes, a classic tale…

  “We’re going to take this perfectly efficient and functional COBOL code base and rewrite it in Java! And we’ll do it in a few months!”

  So many more competent people and organizations than them have already tried this and spectacularly crashed and burned. There’s are literal case studies on these types of failed endeavors.

  I bet they’ll do it in Waterfall too.

  It’s interesting. If they use Grok, this could well be the deathknell for vibe programming (at least for now). It’s just fucking traffic that their hubris will cause grief and pain to do many Americans - and cost the lives of more than a few.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Signal downloads spike in the US and Yemen amid government scandal | TechCrunch⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  So who exactly is downloading the app as a result of this latest government scandal? I’m going to guess it’s the maga crowd because they are this as an endorsement from their new king. But hopefully I’m wrong and it’s a broad sweep of different users from across the political spectrum.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Great Tech Heist - How "Disruption" Became a Euphemism for Theft⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Digital vampirism

  I like this phrase. It distills down what the article is getting across perfectly.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Starlink is now accessible across the White House campus, which was already served by fiber cable, after service was “donated”, as some cite security concerns.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Imagine how galling this must be for Jeff Bezos. He’s put so much effort into his Bond villain persona. The guy even now looks like Dr Evil. But he’s being out eviled by a pudgy, dorky-looking South African nepo-baby.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Awful”: Roku tests autoplaying ads loading before the home screen⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Sure. The device I use is an Onn streaming a Android TV box. I think I got the 2023 4k streaming version and it was about $20, from Walmart. You can probably get cheaper models, but I wanted one with an Ethernet port.

  Then I installed a couple of alternative launchers from the Play store on device. I also loaded F-Droid as well (though I had to do that directly through an apk). I can’t remember which launcher I went with in the end, but it was either FLauncher or Projectivity. They were both good.

  The wrinkle here is that the OS defaults back to the default launcher (which has ads and a lot of clutter on it). But I used a free command line tool called adb to switch the default launcher off.

  I’ve been very happy with the new setup. My kids (who use it all the time) occasionally complain that an app will crash while they are watching something, and take them back to the home screen/launcher. But I haven’t run into that, and it’s probably just them accidentally hitting a remote (which I know they accidentally do a lot).

  I documented the process and posted them here, in another thread a few months ago.

  Additional note: The default YouTube app isn’t very conducive to quick profile switching, which can be annoying. To switch profiles you basically have to go back to the OS level and do it there, then go back into the YouTube app. It’s an Android TV quirk. But I discovered that if you side-load the Amazon Fire version of the YouTube app onto the device, you can switch profiles within that version of the app, and it works just fine.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Awful”: Roku tests autoplaying ads loading before the home screen⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Some good options already listed. But here’s another.

  Hey an Android TV box (Onn brand or similar) and install an open source launcher on it, like Projectivity. You have to use adb to disable the default launcher after the new launcher is installed, otherwise it keeps defaulting back to the default one. But once don’t it’s smooth sailing. You have a dedicated streaming device with a remote control and a nice UI with zero ads on the home screen.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Awful”: Roku tests autoplaying ads loading before the home screen⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  So glad I ditched Roku. My modified Onn box (with an open source, ad-free launcher) is so much better.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Impact of AI on White Collar Indian Work: An Analysis of ‘Bullshit Jobs’.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Interesting article. It fits beyond the recent trend of AI and into slightly more traditional automation. It also covers some good concepts on job categorizations in general.

  The ultimate point seems to be that AI-driven job automation is just a subtle evolution on general white-collar job automation that has been happening for 30+ years. And that makes a lot of sense. Although generative AI is expanding that automation into other areas beyond office and some manufacturing job roles.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Tesla protests are getting bigger — and rowdier⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Isn’t driving around in one of those poorly-made death trap vehicles enough then?..

  …Nah, probably not.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Tesla protests are getting bigger — and rowdier⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Fits in perfectly with the Tesla brand then, doesn’t it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Elon Musk blames X outages on “massive cyberattack”⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Musk calls it a “massive cyber attack”.

  I call it “systemic infrastructure and personnel losses caused by the malignant narcissistic man-child who is running the company into the ground”.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Given the context, no I don’t think you are being aloof. They both knew what they were doing, and no amount of toadying up to you can make up for that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨She Built a Microcomputer Empire From Her Suburban Home⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Good article. Thanks for sharing it OP.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Self-hosting minecraft⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Additionally, there’s are some pretty nice free plugins for Java Minecraft server (e.g. Deluge) that allow Bedrock users to play on it too - from a PC, Xbox, PlayStation, phone, or whatever.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is Severance the new Lost?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh no, that’s giving me Game of Thrones / ASOIAF / George RR Martin /Kind Bran vibes!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Nobody Wants a Nazi Electric Car⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Swasticars for a fascist government. Makes sense.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Facebook Cybertruck Owners Group Copes With Relentless Mockery⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Cybertrucks are ugly, poorly-built, and poorly-designed vehicles. These protesters are doing any potential owners who get deterred from wasting their money on them a favor.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Jeff Bezos is scared to have an open debate on economics⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I see his transformation into Doctor Evil (both physically and psychologically) is continuing unabated.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Thank you for the sanity check! I started reading it, and it was just rambling on, flourished with scenarios that didn’t seem to relate to the already vague title.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Bing officially removes cache link from search results⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Well, there goes one of the few advantages Bing had over Google or some other search engines. Impressive of them to commit even more to being a meme. I didn’t think they could commit any further than they already had.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨After 40 years of being free Microsoft has added a paywall to Notepad⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes, it objectively is. And so are various other text editor options that are out there.

  But just speaking about Notepad++, you can scale it down to a very simple text editor (like Notepad), it you can easily ramp it up to a much more feature rich one. And for me, the ability to have a vertical list of files is a big plus. As is its ability to optionally show line numbers.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Amazon Appstore on Android and Coins will be discontinued on August 20, 2025.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  They haven’t said yet. But my guesses would be the following reasons:

  • Their app store has never come close to competing with the Google Play Store, and so they probably feel like the extra expense of running it for all Android devices isn’t worth it.
  • They want to make it Amazing device exclusive to try to push sales of days devices.
• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How is my bedroom being heated?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Are you on the ground floor? If not then maybe whatever is below you is really warm and the heat is coming up through the floor. But I guess in that case the floor would feel warmer.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How does this pic show that Elon Musk doesnt know SQL?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Elon Musk is the walking talking embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Study Finds Relying on AI Kills Your Critical Thinking Skills⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Chat GPT et al; “To improve your critical thinking skills you should rely completely on AI.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  since everyone here including Americans themselves seems to have a deep hate towards America and the values it stands for

  C’mon, seriously? This has to be a troll post. Either that or this is the most absurd generalization I’ve heard in quite a while. And given the state of the media right now, that’s saying something.

  There’s a difference between ‘no stupid questions’ and ‘extremely inflammatory and reactionary questions’.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Reddit Blames Google Algorithm Changes For Not Hitting User Growth.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Huffman: “Is it our shitty policies towards users, AI developers, and moderators that caused our growth to show down? No it must be Google! Even though they are ranking us higher than we deserve in their search results!”

  First off all, what an idiot. Second, you made the deal with them, ya fucking idiot!

  Third, I’ve noticed when I go to reduce from a search engine result, the UI is horrible (because I’m not logged in). Like, significantly worse than it used to be several years ago when I’ve wasn’t logged in.