toddestan

@toddestan@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The moment we've all been waiting for: you now can have targeted ads on your 2k smartfridge⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  If I really wanted something like that, I’d just buy a dumb fridge and rig up a camera inside of it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft confirms Windows 11 is about to change massively, gets enormous backlash - Neowin⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  It actually wouldn’t surprise me to learn that most Windows installs nowadays aren’t pre-installs but rather images deployed from a corporate IT department.

  In some ways the biggest danger for Windows in the home market isn’t Linux or Mac but the people who decide they’ll just use their phone or tablet for everything. Then again, I’m not sure if Microsoft even cares about the home market.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is Fast Charging Killing the Battery? A 2-Year Test on 40 Phones⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  The battery has a charge curve. What does the most wear or damage to the battery is the ends of the curve - either deep discharging the battery or charging it up fully to the point where it cannot take any more charge. It’s up to the manufacturer where they want to put 0% and 100% on the curve - to protect and extend the life of the battery most manufacturers don’t put 0% and 100% at the extreme ends of the curve.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Controversial startup's plan to 'sell sunlight' using giant mirrors in space would be 'catastrophic' and 'horrifying,' astronomers warn⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  If I had to build such a system, instead of a few satellites with really big mirrors I’d instead have a massive number of small satellites with smaller mirrors. Obviously then any area I’d want to light up, I’d have to hit with a number of the satellites - probably dozens at least or even hundreds of them for decent sized area. That would at least alleviate a few of the problems - aiming would be easier. As satellites move out of range new satellites would be moving in range. Long shadows from the angle of satellite near the edge of their range wouldn’t be as much of a problem as I’d be hitting any spot from a variety of angles. That the satellites would be useless for about 75% of their orbit I could make up for by launching even more satellites.

  Of course, it would still be hugely impractical and there would still be major limitations. I’m still not sure how you could manage the aiming - the satellites would have to be continuously adjusting their aim to track their target. Reaction wheels can only do so much and using thrusters you’d burn through propellant like crazy. Launching the required array of satellites would be outrageously expensive and you’d need thousands of them. Eventually something would go wrong - you’d have a collision or one would break up and you’d Kessler yourself right out of business.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YouTube is taking down videos on performing nonstandard Windows 11 installs⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  A lot of problems basically boil down to using an nVidia card and dealing with their drivers. Either use an AMD GPU or if you don’t need anything fancy the iGPU in an Intel CPU.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Good Halloween Games⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s always Don’t Starve which definitely fits the mood, though I’ve always found that game insanely difficult.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How gamers were nickel and dimed in 80s and 90s (besides arcades)⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  That was there for a CD-ROM add-on, which was planned from the start but never actually released. Nintendo was working on it as a collaboration with both Phillips and Sony. After it got canned, both Phillips and Sony still had rights to some of the technology as part of the collaboration. So Phillips decided to release their own gaming system based upon what they had, and that was the (largely forgotten) CD-i system. And of course Sony did the exact same thing, and that became the Playstation. The rest is history.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The demise of Flash didn't bring any big HTML5/JS equivalent for watching animations; fast internet and better video compression made those types of animations become raster videos as well⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I actually had some hope for that because we needed something to break the Flash monopoly, and I trusted Microsoft slightly more than I trust Adobe.

  However, it never went anywhere because everyone expected Microsoft was just going to kill it, and of course Microsoft killed it, and that was that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How long can someone physically walk for?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  If you use the book’s pace of 4 MPH, which is actually what many people would consider a brisk walk, would take 75-100 hours, or around 3-4 days. That’s a long time to stay up without sleeping, let alone being physically active the entire time. I’d guess someone who is reasonably fit might be able to do half of that before collapsing. Perhaps someone who was using drugs or doping might be able to do it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Some people also have a lot of trouble understanding the Kimmel was a comedian.

  But hey, if we’re pulling things off the air for intentionally spreading misinformation for political purposes on live TV, then lets shut down Fox News, Newsmax, and OAN too.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft still can't convince folks to upgrade to Windows 11⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That every other version thing hasn’t been true for a while now. Every version after Windows 7 has been terrible.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨5 tomatoes⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  To me, Fahrenheit is a lot like inches and feet for carpentry. As in it’s fine for things like describing the weather and setting my house’s thermostat. It mostly falls apart for must other things, though it’s still okay for cooking and baking. From a scientific perspective, any temperature scale that isn’t zero at absolute zero is nonsense, so it’s pretty much Kelvin or bust.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨5 tomatoes⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’d assume that if we are ever communicating with aliens and trying to figure out each other’s way of expressing numbers and doing math, dimensionless constants like pi, Euler’s number (e), the fine structure constant, etc. will be important first steps. As you say, our units of measure are purely human inventions. But the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter is the same no matter what units you use to make the measurement.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How long do we have before PCs get locked bootloaders and corporations ban installation of "non-approved" software? (for context: Google is restricting sideloading worldwide on Android ETA 2027)⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Not really. The pieces are already in place with UEFI and Secure Boot. All that would need to happen would be to force Secure Boot to be enabled, and only preload keys for an approved list of operating systems. With that, your fancy new motherboard may not be able to boot and run the OS of your choice.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google: 'Your $1000 phone needs our permission to install apps now'". Android users are screwed - Louis Rossmann⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  My main problem with the current crop of Linux phones is, or at least it’s my impression - is that they still struggle with the basic phone part. As in network connectivity (at least in the US), making and receiving calls, SMS & MMS, and VoLTE support. If there’s a Linux phone where that stuff is solid and works, I’d buy one. I don’t really care about the whole app ecosystem - I barely have any apps on my Android phone now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Browser Wasn’t Enough, Google Wants To Control All Your Software⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Interesting. I’ve not heard of FuriOS, but if it actually can be used with US carriers, makes calls and supports SMS/MMS, and can do VoLTE that’s a actually a pretty big deal.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Browser Wasn’t Enough, Google Wants To Control All Your Software⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  While pretty neat, I’d have a hard time even calling the WiPhone a phone if it doesn’t have a cellular modem. You’re entirely dependent on having a wifi connection. I suppose it could serve as a replacement for a landline, but that’s about it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Spotifies come and Spotifies go, but that folder of badly-sorted MP3s will still be there in the 2050s.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve got a directory like that on my computer, nested under a couple of /old_computer directories. At some point in the early 2000’s I switched to a system of (still not so well named) full albums as hard drive sizes increased and internet connections got faster, leaving the old original directory of one-offs from the dialup days to wither.

  My favorite part is the New Music directory where I’d stick new stuff I had obtained until I gave it a listen to it make sure that 1) it’s something I actually wanted to keep and 2) whether there was any quality issues with the encoding. There’s stuff in there with timestamps from like 2002. Yeah, I’m still planning to check that out…someday…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Forget Netflix, Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  For a lot of this type of stuff, the “lifetime subscription” is applies to the owner, not the vehicle. So when the vehicle is resold, the subscription doesn’t transfer and the new owner has to buy it again (or do without). At least Volkswagon claims that this will go with the vehicle unlike companies like Tesla, but we’ll see.

  Eventually, the manufacturer will stop supporting subscriptions on older cars. This could either because the money they bring in isn’t worth the cost of continuing to support a dwindling number of older cars, some technical limitation, or an intentional decision to cut off older cars with the hope it will push people to buy a new car.

  Considering cars are expected to last 15-20 years, I’m guessing that these vehicles will not age well.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Forget Netflix, Volkswagen locks horsepower behind paid subscription⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Considering that the purpose of that 6th gear would be to lower the fuel consumption, that means we have a bunch of buses running around burning more fuel and polluting more all in the name of more profits.

  At least school buses spend a lot of time driving around at relatively low speeds so the lack of the extra gear probably has little real-world effect for most buses, but still…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why LLMs can't really build software⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  You can certainly 3D print a building, but can you really 3D print a house? Can it 3d print doors and windows that can open and close and be locked? Can it 3D print the plumbing and wiring and have it be safe and functional? Can it 3D print the foundation? What about bathroom fixtures, kitchen cabinets, and things like carpet?

  It’s actually not a bad metaphor. You can use a 3D printer to help with building a house, and to 3D print some of fixtures and bits and pieces that go into the house. Using a 3D printer would automate a fair amount of the manual labor that goes into building a house today (at least how it is done in the US). But you’re still going to have people who know what they are doing put it all together. We’re still a fair ways away from just being able to 3D print a house, just like we’re fair ways away from having a LLM write a large, complex piece of software.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A 2003 complaint about Half Life 2⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The client is still rather resource intensive, it’s just that computers have gotten so much faster that you don’t notice it.

  Now, if Valve would ever deal with the download and sync issues, that would be nice.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft confirms it made $27 billion after laying off 9,000 people, and its CEO physically cannot stop talking about AI⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Just because a hammer makes for a lousy screwdriver doesn’t mean it’s not a good hammer. To me, AI just another tool. Like any other tool, there’s things it is good at and there are things it is bad at. I’ve also found it can be pretty good as a code completion engine. Not perfect, but there’s plenty of boilerplate stuff and repetitive things where it can figure out the pattern and I can bang out the lines of code pretty quickly with the AI’s help. On the other hand, there’s times it’s nearly useless and I switch back to the keyword completion engine as it’s the better tool for those situations.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Death Of Industrial Design And The Era Of Dull Electronics⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  While your average early/mid 2000’s CRT TV is certainly not stylish, I do appreciate the buttons and convenient access to a set of inputs and the headphone jack. Today’s TVs are all form over function, which is especially annoying since the form ends is just a black slab.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Apple sues YouTuber who leaked iOS 26’s new “Liquid Glass” software redesign⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This time it was a willful and intentional leak (at least if you believe the article’s version of the events), whereas the guy who left the prototype at the bar was a complete accident. It’s not surprising to me that Apple would fire someone who intentionally leaked something. As for the guy who left the phone at the bar, I guess it depends on how careless and negligent you think that was.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I avoid buying from Amazon as much as possible, but good luck doing anything online and avoiding AWS.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I require nothing more⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Some rope lights would be a nice touch.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Harbinger of the Dystopia⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That 1990’s McDonald’s picture is the specific restaurant that was across the entrance from the Dallas Zoo, hence the animal theme. While it’s now remodeled and much more dull, it still looked like the picture up until just a few years ago. In any case, it’s not typical of what a McDonald’s has ever looked like.

  As someone born around the same time as you, I do remember when the typical McDonald’s had a bright red roof with the yellow lights, which the 2000’s pic is a toned-down version of.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I've got something special for you⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It works out for Dvorak.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Trump says a 25% tariff "must be paid by Apple" on iPhones not made in the US, says he told Tim Cook long ago that iPhones sold in the US must be made in the US⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The other problem with moving manufacturing due to tariffs is that tariffs can always be changed, whereas moving manufacturing is a longer term investment that can cost millions, if not billions when it comes to things like chip fabs. No one wants to make an investment like that, only to have their investment suddenly become worthless because some politician decided to change how the tariffs work.

  Trump’s idiotic and constant flip-flopping on these tariffs have completely destroyed any chance of them actually accomplishing anything, because no one is going to move a factory to the US when Trump can and will change his mind based upon a whim or whoever is whispering in his ear that moment.