Wrench

@Wrench@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Linus Torvalds reckons AI is ‘90% marketing and 10% reality’⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Rofl. As a developer of nearly 20 years, lol.

  I used copilot until finally getting fed up last week and turning it off. It was a net negative to my productivity.

  Sure, when you’re doing repetitive operations that are mostly copy paste and changing names, it’s pretty decent. It can save dozens of seconds, maybe even a minute or two. That’s great and a welcome assist, even if I have to correct minor things around 50% of the time.

  But when an error slips through and I end up spending 20 minutes tracking down the problem later, all that saved time vanishes.

  And then the other times where my IDE is frozen because the plugin is stuck in some loop and eating every last resource and I spend the next 20 minutes cursing and killing processes, manually looking for recent updates that hadn’t yet triggered update notifications, etc… well, now we’re in the red, AND I’m pissed off.

  So no, AI is not some huge boon to developer productivity. Maybe it’s more useful to junior developers in the short term, but I have definitely dealt with more than a few problems that seem to derive from juniors taking AI answers and not understanding the details enough to catch the problems it introduced. And if juniors frequently rely on AI without gaining deep understanding, we’re going to have worse and worse engineers as a result.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Intuit possibly succumbs to the Streisand effect⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Eh. Honestly, the line of “questions” was rather stupid.

  “Why aren’t you lobbying to make your business irrelevant” is essentially what the interviewer pushed aggressively.

  Sure, I get calling out a CEO for deflecting tough questions with corporate BS. But it was a pretty dumb line of questioning in the first place.

  Why isn’t Google lobbying for privacy protections?

  Why isn’t Comcast lobbying for net neutrality?

  Just make your statement and ask for comment. “Our listeners consider Intuits lobbying against tax reform that would benefit tax payers to be adversarial to their customers. What would you say to them?”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Edge gets "unfair advantage", browser makers claim⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Because we should wipe away 2 decades of history and pretend the next thing is flawless on release?

  Edge came in with a freight train of baggage, and didn’t make it. It’s absurd to frame this otherwise.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Edge gets "unfair advantage", browser makers claim⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  And Google established a lot of the standards that were both open and long living.

  Yeah, Google has strayed far from the “Do no evil” philosophy in the last decade. But this rewriting of history to praise IE and demonfy Chrome from that era is ridiculous.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Edge gets "unfair advantage", browser makers claim⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Rofl. So let’s white wash the browser history before chrome, then. Back when IE reigned supreme. You must either be too young or not in the industry to champion that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Edge gets "unfair advantage", browser makers claim⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  So Google establishing a now industry standard of evergreen versioning so that they could iterate relatively quickly on features, rather than have to maintain compatibility with years old versions, and iterating quickly on their own major websites - is a bad thing?

  Right.

  Yeah, let’s go back to having to maintain terrible legacy browsers that behaved completely differently for the rest of time.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Covid turned out to be a giant goldmine for Corporate America⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  And why we need to prevent “mergers” to force companies to continue to compete before they reach mega Corp size and power

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Rockstar Games DDoSed Heavily By Players Protesting New AntiCheat Code⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Man, that sounds familiar. I gave up on Escape from Tarkov for the same reason.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Rockstar Games DDoSed Heavily By Players Protesting New AntiCheat Code⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I did this with Blizzard/Activision years ago.

  Zero impact.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Despite tech-savvy reputation, Gen Z falls behind in keyboard typing skills⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I learned to touch type quickly mostly out of necessity to communicate quickly in online games before voice chat was a thing.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ford Patents In-Car System That Eavesdrops So It Can Play You Ads⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  In general, digital privacy invasions have been very successful because of attrition.

  Most people don’t care, those that do hold out, but then every competitor does the same and you no longer have any real alternatives. Eventually, the hold outs need to replace [car in this case] and the sting of the objectiknable change has faded, and they just move on.

  Rinse and repeat.

  We lost the fight for meaningful net neutrality, basic digital privacy rights, broadband limits, etc.

  They’ll win this one too. Eventually. Your phones and IoT with microphones are already doing it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why are doctors so hands off and unhelpful in the USA?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Also a very litigious society. Even if they mean well, going off the page and trying to figure out a “Haus” solution is just putting themselves at risk.

  They have to check all the boxes for your insurance. They have to check all the boxes for their own malpractice insurance. Even if they followed procedure, they might get dragged through the legal system to defend themselves if a client feels wronged.

  That turns you, the client, into a number in a dispassionated machine.

  And I don’t have a solution to it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ladies and Gentlemen, the sate of AI.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yep, my comment was tongue in cheek. It’s a useless result and only sort of makes sense as an overly reduced summary that has lost vital context.

  The other reply is the obvious answer. Each answer is from a different viewpoint from a different user.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ladies and Gentlemen, the sate of AI.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s worth it if you accept the post pandemic, post crypto prices to be the new normal.

  I’m still rocking my old 980ti because I refuse to pay $600 for an old, mid tier card.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ladies and Gentlemen, the sate of AI.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s nothing wrong about it.

  Neither is worth it. But if you have unlimited money, XTX is the better card and therefore a better deal. But if money is a factor, get the XT because the performance per $$$ of the XTX isn’t worth selling a kidney.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Existing California solar customers may get blindsided with net metering cuts⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s a pretty weird rant on EVs.

  The carpool lanes were very under utilized. Hybrids and later EVs were also slow to be adopted, and the state wanted this adoption accelerated due to air quality and just general environmental consciousness.

  So the state decided to add the carpool benefit, which solved two problems.

  Now that EVs are far more abundant, that policy is getting revisited. Which is fair, because the carpool lane can only support so many before it just gets clogged like the main road. And people don’t necessarily need the encouragement to get EVs anymore.

  Nothing is permanent.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Trump promotes family's new crypto platform, 'The Defiant Ones'⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  What he means is he’s trying to funnel his wealth into assets that aren’t regulated and may be difficult to seize.

  You know, to hide his money from the victims that he owes hundreds of millions to for his criminal behavior.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨CrowdStrike unhappy with “shady commentary” from competitors after outage⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Rofl, like Unix OSes never have problems. Even developers, who are among the most tech savvy users, tend to drag their feet on installing updates unless forced.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Smart sous vide cooker to start charging $2/month for 10-year-old companion app⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I have a different brand, but I can see the value. The interface on the small screen on the device I have is very clumsy. Took me a while to figure it out, and I’m very tech savvy. I can see a mobile app being useful, also for notifications so I don’t independently have to set timers.

  Also as a former mobile dev, mobile apps take maintenance to keep up with OS changes over time. And developers are expensive.

  What I imagine happened is that they probably outsourced their app development to a 3rd party, because they make hardware, not software. That contract probably expired, including their ongoing support agreement, and they’ve probably negotiated an hourly rate for support on-demand going forward, maybe with a different 3rd party dev.

  So in all likelihood, they’re just passing the cost for ongoing maintenance on an EOL model to the customer.

  However, that looks absolutely insane from a consumer standpoint.

  I don’t know their Financials, but they may not be big enough to just swallow the cost for brand PR if they’re not selling at a volume and profit margin to be able lose money on old products.

  This is why, even as a dev that used to work in the mobile and IOT space, I tend to purchase dumb devices if there are good options. Smart devices get dumb as soon as the shine has dulled.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why are people downvoting the MediaBiasFactChecker not?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I find it useful at a glance, specifically when I don’t recognize a niche source. There’s a lot of “alt” media under random names. This helps flag them.

  For mainstream, you can easily make your own call. You should be exposed to enough of it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google is discontinuing the Chromecast line⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It didn’t have planned obsolescence in it. People bought the 3 devices they needed for their house, and have been coasting off them for a decade. Maybe with the occasional refresh for 4k or a worn out USB port or whatever.

  Just corporate greed on display here. People stopped buying them because the product was simple and did what it was supposed to for a long time. Gotta enshitify it so we see those $$$ roll in again.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Meta Reportedly Unhappy With How Much Money Its VR Division Burns⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  At least we have some pretty amazing hardware with a decent variety to choose from.

  Yeah, I wish more quality content was made for VR, but it’s still pretty mind blowing even with what we have.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Tesla Steers Onto Train Tracks It Apparently Mistook for a Road, Police Warn⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Comercial pilots also have a lot of training, huge list of regulations and procedures for every contingency, amd a copilot to double check your work.

  Tesla has dumb fuck drivers that are actively trying to find ways to kill themselves. And an Orange wedged in the steering wheel is the copilot. To trick sensors.

  Maybe the latter should not be trusted with the nuance that is the “autopilot” branding.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Elon Musk calls for “criminal prosecution” of Twitter/X ad boycott perpetrators⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  A pretty predictable outcome of extended drug use.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Figma Disables AI App Design Tool After It Copied Apple’s Weather App⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  … OK?

  Most people would design a very similar app if asked to design a weather app. Due diligence would be looking at existing apps in the space and making a decision on how much you want to deviate from the norm.

  I once had to make an EPG for a TV app. EPGs are the channel schedules on any cable box interface.

  It was stupidly complicated getting the navigation down solid. Took a long time. My boss asked at the end “this is great. Can we patent anything from it?”

  Uh, no. Anyone with the same problem (navigating multiple channel schedules at once via arrow keys) is going to come up with something similar.

  Same with weather apps. And Apple even has guidelines on app layouts for scrolling vs drilling down nested pages.

  Seems like the AI did exactly what a human would do.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[Gamers Nexus] "Google is Getting Worse," ft. Wendell of Level1 Techs⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s weird that they don’t really address the biggest reason Googles algorithm is worse now. The rampant exploitation of SEO.

  Bad actors abuse the system in an attempt to be the first result, regardless of relevancy. It’s harder for Google to sift the chaff out than it used to be, because they’re flooded with content claiming to be related to the search keys.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Arizona toddler rescued after getting trapped in a Tesla with a dead battery | The Model Y’s 12-volt battery, which powers things like the doors and windows, died⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, but I don’t think EVs have spark plugs to smash and use to break the windows. Checkmate.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Arizona toddler rescued after getting trapped in a Tesla with a dead battery | The Model Y’s 12-volt battery, which powers things like the doors and windows, died⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, that’s fucking stupid, and requires the electronics to not be damaged in whatever emergency situation you’ve found yourself in to require this external battery override solution.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Arizona toddler rescued after getting trapped in a Tesla with a dead battery | The Model Y’s 12-volt battery, which powers things like the doors and windows, died⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  My wife’s EV has a tiny key that comes out of the dongle, and has a tiny hidden keyhole under the handle.

  I had to Google to find it, but it’s sufficient if power is out. It’s a mechanical lock mechanism like cars have had for a century. As it should be.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Tesla is recalling its Cybertruck for the fourth time to fix problems with trim pieces that can come loose and front windshield wipers that can fail | The new recalls each affect over 11,000 trucks⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Most expensive early access beta with pre-order ever. Tesla is the EA of cars.