rekabis

@rekabis@lemmy.ca

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How Much Do LLMs Hallucinate in Document Q&A Scenarios? A 172-Billion-Token Study Across Temperatures, Context Lengths, and Hardware Platforms [TLDR: 25%]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  As I pointed out in another root comment, the average - depending on the model being tested - tends to sit between 60% and 80%.

  So this opens up an interesting option for users, in that hallucinations/inaccuracies can be controlled for and potentially reduced by as much as ⅔ simply by restricting the model to those documents/resources that the user is absolutely certain contains the correct answer.

  I mean, 25% is still stupidly high. In any prior era, even 2.5% would have been an unacceptable error rate for a business. But source-restriction seems to be a somewhat promising guardrail to use.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How Much Do LLMs Hallucinate in Document Q&A Scenarios? A 172-Billion-Token Study Across Temperatures, Context Lengths, and Hardware Platforms [TLDR: 25%]⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  How much do large language models actually hallucinate when answering questions grounded in provided documents?

  Okay, this is looking promising. In terms of the most important qualifications being plainly stated in the opening line.

  Because the amount of hallucinations/inaccuracies “in the wild” - depending on the model being tested - runs about 60-80%. But then again, this would be average use on generalized data sets, not questions on specific documentation. So of course the “in the wild” questions will see a higher rate.

  This also helps users, as it shows that hallucinations/inaccuracies can be reduced by as much as ⅔ by simply limiting LLMs to specific documentation that the user is certain contains the desired information.

  Very interesting!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Asus Co-CEO: MacBook Neo Is a 'Shock' to the PC Industry⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  That may be the case, but the most irritating thing is that thy fill all available spots with the lowest-capacity chips that meet the requested provisioning spec, instead of taking the requested provisioning and using the fewest higher-capacity chips needed to meet the provisioning spec. The latter, at least, would leave spots open for an authorized repair location to manually solder on more approved chips of compatible spec.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Lenovo’s New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability— Repair goes mega mainstream with the launch of Lenovo's new T-series laptops⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Read it again. It occurs even with a full system wipe and re-install from media, or even a full hard drive swap.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Lenovo’s New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability— Repair goes mega mainstream with the launch of Lenovo's new T-series laptops⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:
  • www.theregister.com/…/lenovo_firmware_nasty/

  One example of many.

  You must be new to tech to not remember this. Wasn’t all that long ago.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Lenovo’s New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability— Repair goes mega mainstream with the launch of Lenovo's new T-series laptops⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  If you have the money and want simplicity, reliability, and interoperability, go for a Mac. Just clench your nards and maximize the RAM; min. 32Gb ought to be minimally appropriate for a 7-8yr lifespan of basic duties. And FFS, go for your current storage ×2.5 or 1Tb, whichever is larger. Don’t get the smallest storage unless third-party upgrade options exist like for the Mac Mini M4. And remember: all RAM and a lot of storage is integrated these days, which is why you should always max it out; there is no upgrade path except wholesale replacement of the machine. CPU is largely immaterial unless you are doing truly heavy lifting like video editing or AI, so that can often be the lowest choice.

  If you want freedom and truly unconstrained system, some form of Linux/BSD on a Framework system is the way to go. Or if a desktop, hand-assemble it yourself.

  If you are going to stick with Windows, go for a business-class Dell. Trust me, it’ll be almost as $$$$ painful as a Mac, but these little f**kers are built to last. At least you can upgrade the RAM and on-board storage, although I honestly recommend not going under 32Gb for anything other than basic tasks. It’ll be a lot more zippy with 32Gb even if you spend the first week tearing all the AI and built-in spyware out of Windows.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Lenovo’s New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability— Repair goes mega mainstream with the launch of Lenovo's new T-series laptops⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  You are correct, however they were malicious in nature and loaded on every boot from the UEFI/BIOS. They required Windows and auto-terminated the install if they already existed.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Lenovo’s New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability— Repair goes mega mainstream with the launch of Lenovo's new T-series laptops⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Goldfish memories by most muggles and normies.

  Plus the latest shiny and feature FOMO.

  And then you have procurement who are told to get the most at the least cost, allowing state-owned companies to undercut most competition. Without clearly-specified guidelines that exclude dangerous tech, most rank-and-file salarymen will be told by Dilbert bosses to order the hardware or look for a different job.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Lenovo’s New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability— Repair goes mega mainstream with the launch of Lenovo's new T-series laptops⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes, but if you are running Windows on them, do they still inject Chinese state-sponsored malware into Windows on every boot from UEFI/BIOS storage?

  They were caught doing this on several occasions, to the point where Lenovo products are forbidden across significant swaths of the U.S. government and military.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ultra rare floppy disk game twisted and slashed into shards by US Customs or DHL checkers — ruined Tsukihime 1999 demo was one of only 50 ever produced⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I wish the people who did this were known so that we could make their ignorance Internet famous.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Americans are destroying Flock surveillance cameras | TechCrunch⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  ANYTHING cloud-connected - your doorbell, your security system, even your f**king post-2006 car - is suspect.

  And is highly likely to be actually spying on you.

  I’ve been working with computers since 1982, on the Internet since 1988, on the Web since 1992, and in the IT industry since 1997. The proportion of average people who don’t realize how much of their stuff is exposing them, and by how much, is frankly astounding. It’s almost 100% of normies. Even IT people who have no clue is in the majority. And the security on this stuff that tracks you tends to be - except in rare circumstances - absolute dogshite. Sometimes it comes without any security at all, such as all devices sold having admin credentials baked in, or all remote-access credentials being identical and non-user-editable.

  This is why almost all of my stuff is hardlined, I have no IoT devices at all, and the wifi for my family’s devices is physically separate from everything else.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Would love to know when the iOS app is coming out.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Extreme wealth inequality is baked in to the system⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Capitalism is working exactly as intended, which is the reason why it needs to be totally dismantled.

  Note: I said capitalism, and not the free market. The two are not the same thing. You could have a completely free market under socialism and even communism, as those are economic systems that ensure workers actually earn the value they produce. Neither system says anything about command economies - that’s an Authoritarian shtick.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I'm in!⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It was never about the 2^nd amendment. It was all about restricting gun ownership for “the ideologically wrong people”.

  Just look at how they came down on the Black Panthers in the 60s, and how “stand your ground” laws work in wildly disproportionate ways for only white cis people.

  It’s a racist and bigoted strategy that has absolutely nothing to do with “rights”, except for the selective restriction of them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How can I develop software for a PowerPC?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It has its original hard drive which still works

  For reliability you should really switch to an IDE SSD.

  Yes, they do exist. OWC sells them, albeit in laptop HDD size, so you will need an IDE adapter.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Western Digital runs out of HDD capacity: CEO says massive AI deals secured, price surges ahead⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Businesses want AI because it solves what they perceive as a problem: how to obtain labour without having to pay said labour.

  Remember: AI is meant for wealth to access labour without cost, not for labour to access wealth. It’s a golden gate meant to permanently separate the wealthy from what used to be the working class.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Windows 11 is finally killing off legacy printer drivers in 2026 — and it’s going to shake up a lot of older hardware⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Roller kit I have, and really need to install (paper pick-up is hit or miss these days), and I really do need a new fuser, too. But yes. These things are tanks.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Windows 11 is finally killing off legacy printer drivers in 2026 — and it’s going to shake up a lot of older hardware⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The 4050 has got type 27x toners that - IIRC - used to be advertised for 20,000 sheets at 5% coverage.

  Obviously, if you print out a lot of night sky photos that’s not going to hold up, but I’m on my third toner cartridge across half a century and two degrees. So there is that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Windows 11 is finally killing off legacy printer drivers in 2026 — and it’s going to shake up a lot of older hardware⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Are PCL6 drivers considered “legacy”?

  I have a HP Laserjet 4N, a HP LaserJet 4050DTN, and a LaserJet 5000DTN, all of which work swimmingly on standard PCL6 drivers.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Queensland moves to ban pro-Palestine slogan ‘from the river to the sea’ under sweeping new hate speech laws⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I feel sorry that Queensland has to suffer such stupid, pro-genocide politicians.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Fuck. You.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨what is good remote desktop software?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I like RustDesk. If you’re worried about connectivity, you can even run your own relay server.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Satya Nadella insists people are using Microsoft’s Copilot AI a lot⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  You stopped a bit short on your delete spree I guess.

  No, that was just the first two steps. Just on the “rip shit out” category, I typically churn through at least three separate tools, usually in this order:

  • Win10Privacy
  • Win11Debloat
  • Winslop

  I mean, sure, Windows can take as little as a half hour to “install”. But on a personal rig (which also includes my own workflow software and personal data shoehorned back into place), I take another 24-48 hours to gleefully beat it into submission and install secondary programs that bypass the warts it has acquired over the years.

  And as a benchmark, XP needed only about 6-8hrs of extra work to reach the same threshold of data migration, workflow software, and improved usability (I was an NT fanboy, IMO the primary improvement of XP over 2000 was the start menu).

  If we add up the AI push, the spyware/telemetry explosion, the recent attempts to force the use of a Microsoft Account as the default login, and the massive bloating and instability of Windows in general, it’s slowly becoming time for even non-technical, everyday users to move to Linux.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Satya Nadella insists people are using Microsoft’s Copilot AI a lot⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I just rebuilt my Win 11 Pro Workstation setup (yes, it is the version for stupidly high core and thread counts), and one of the first things I did was to bodily eviscerate anything AI in the system. Right after gleefully ripping out all the telemetry and spyware.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sony’s TV business is being taken over by TCL⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Dammit. I’ve had an LG plasma for the last 15, and it looks like I’ll have to get that Sony well before I’m ready for it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hard drive prices have surged by an average of 46% since September — iconic 24TB Seagate BarraCuda now $500 as AI claims another victim⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Why… why would hard drives be going up in price?? AI does not use spinning platters of rust, like, at all.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why isn't using a key file the most common way to log into self-hosted servers?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  For many places, it’s operational inertia. If you’ve had a hosting account at the same place since 1998, you’re bound to still have username/password access to services like FTP even though other (and better) options exist.

  And then there is the issue of sole control. Many greybeards like myself still run traditional username/password auth on services because,

  1. We have whitelisted our IP address, and if dynamic, keep that whitelist updated
  2. That outside of said whitelisting, the service is a quasi-honeypot meant to protect the machine as a whole. Any connection made from outside the address space of my ISP, by anyone else, is by default considered malicious, and is banned instantly as a precaution. They don’t even get the opportunity to attempt a login; merely connecting to said service is sufficient evidence of hostile intent.

  So while my setup is not ideal, it is ideal for myself. if I had anyone else as co-admin, or even clients, things would get stupidly complicated very quickly. But since it’s just me…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Whoever invented the 12-hour clock never doubted that people will always know if it's day or night⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  REPRESENT.

  Even in Canada I grew up with non-American time, thanks to German parents, and knew of AM/PM only via analog clocks and use outside of the home. I remember confusing the heck out of an elementary school teacher by giving an afternoon/evening time in proper units. She had to do the math (calculators still being hella rare in those days) to convert out of PM in order to see if I was correct or not.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney argues banning Twitter over its ability to AI-generate pornographic images of minors is just 'gatekeepers' attempting to 'censor all of their political opponents'⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  …The fuck?

  Is Tim Sweeney legitimately outing himself as a pedophile? Does the Parasite Class really feel so comfortable and immune from consequences that they can openly advocate for pedophilia?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI Deepfakes Are Impersonating Pastors to Try to Scam Their Congregations⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, when the crime is going to happen regardless…