kent_eh
@kent_eh@lemmy.ca
- Comment on Man Alarmed to Discover His Smart Vacuum Was Broadcasting a Secret Map of His House 1 day ago:
these “smart” appliances are all addressing things radically important for households
Are they, though?
Most of these “smart” functions are at best a slight convenience. And a lot of the “smart” functions in most of them don’t really add anything useful to the user experience.
- Comment on Sam Altman Says If Jobs Gets Wiped Out, Maybe They Weren’t Even “Real Work” to Start With 3 days ago:
If we’re talking about them setting up the skeleton of a project, then templates have already been around for decades at this point.
That’s what LLMs are good at - taking old work (without consent) and regurgitating it while pretending it’s new and unique.
- Comment on Microsoft wants you to talk to your PC and let AI control it 1 week ago:
My penguins doesn’t listen to what Microsoft wants.
- Comment on Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors 1 week ago:
I know that if AI knows about this stuff it must have been produced by a human.
For now. Maybe.
It won’t be long before these LLMs will start ingesting the output from other LLMs, biases, hallucinations and all.
- Comment on Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors 1 week ago:
Increasing numbers do.
But there is no proof that the LLM trawling bots are willing to respect those blocks.
- Comment on Anyone had any luck running Fusion 360 on Linux? 3 weeks ago:
Freecad has gotten much better with the recent updates.
It’s UI is (obviously) different than fusion, but so are other CAD programs.
Sure, it may not be at the stage where it could be used to do 100% of the mechanical and electrical design on a jet helicopter, but how many people need that level of complexity for their projects?
- Comment on Samsung brings ads to US fridges 5 weeks ago:
How about having the self-cleaning mode on the oven require you to use the app?
Yes, that was one example we saw when we were appliance shopping.
- Comment on Samsung brings ads to US fridges 5 weeks ago:
just because the appliance you bought offers an internet connection, it most likely doesn’t need it for core functionality.
…until it does.
It’s not unprecedented for manufacturers to lock hardware capabilities behind software controlled paywalls.
When I was shopping for stoves, there were a couple of models with “features” that were not available unless you connected to the internet and used their app on your phone.
We chose a model that didn’t have any networking at all.
- Comment on Wikimedia sunsets separate mobile domains 1 month ago:
mobile web browsers, most websites would serve either a separate style sheet that gave a simplified layout
A simpler layout and usually a more lightweight page in general because mobile data eas slow and expensive back then.
If someone wanted people to actually use their site on the go, they had to make it load quickly and not cost $5 worth of data doing it.
- Comment on AI Startup Flock Thinks It Can Eliminate All Crime In America 1 month ago:
CCTV cameras as crime prevention. They rarely work, as folks desperate enough to commit regular street crime simply aren’t deterred.
Combine that with the reality that identifying people from surveillance footage can easily be defeated be employing advanced counter technologies such as “generic black/grey hoodie”
- Comment on AI Startup Flock Thinks It Can Eliminate All Crime In America 1 month ago:
Since there has been people, there have been people trying to steal stuff from other people.
- Comment on AI Startup Flock Thinks It Can Eliminate All Crime In America 1 month ago:
Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. /s
- Comment on AI Startup Flock Thinks It Can Eliminate All Crime In America 1 month ago:
Haven’t there been countless sci-fi movies and novels warning us about the many ways this approach can go horribly wrong?
- Comment on AI adoption rate is declining among large companies — US Census Bureau claims fewer businesses are using AI tools 1 month ago:
That is good news, assuming numbers being reported by a US government agency are accurate, which is no longer a certainty.
- Comment on Google: 'Your $1000 phone needs our permission to install apps now'". Android users are screwed - Louis Rossmann 1 month ago:
Linux isn’t an OS.
Pedantically true, but practically irrelevant statement.
- Comment on Google will block sideloading of unverified Android apps starting next year 2 months ago:
Neither sell their phones in (or ship to) my country.
- Comment on YSK that despite being outside of US jurisdiction, Lego has dropped diversity and inclusion terminology from its annual report 2 months ago:
If my daughter wants more Lego, I’ll just buy it second hand
That’s where most of the sets my kids had came from.
It’s a durable product that is easy to clean. Buying used is very low risk.
- Comment on YSK that despite being outside of US jurisdiction, Lego has dropped diversity and inclusion terminology from its annual report 2 months ago:
The wizard lego is very disappointing, and goes completely against their other inclusive language.
To be fair, they started making those sets long before anyone knew the author was a TERF.
- Comment on TikTok to replace trust and safety team in Germany with AI and outsourced labor 2 months ago:
And the march towards making the dead internet theory a reality continues moving forward.
- Comment on Should I unplug my smart tv from the internet? 2 months ago:
Is there a ful list anywhere of brands and models that lock non-network features behind a network connection requirement?
I’ve heard people complaining about some that don’t let you select HDMI input without first connecting to the internet and “activating” the TV, but the model is usually not specified in those complaints.
- Comment on YSK that Gerrymandering allows politicians to choose their own voters. In many countries, it's illegal. Gerrymandering is common in the United States 2 months ago:
Now we just need a way to do that
I have some ideas.
that isn’t vigilante violence.
Oh. Nevermind…
- Comment on It's time to boycott U.S. digital services! Here's a chart to help you do so: 2 months ago:
There is no simple solution to most of society’s issues.
Don’t let perfect stand in the way of better.
- Comment on Gamers Bombard Visa & MasterCard With Emails and Calls Over Steam and itch.io Censorship 2 months ago:
Threats to the bottom line is the thing that motivates companies faster than anything else.
- Comment on Microsoft admits it would have to let Trump spy on EU data if demanded 2 months ago:
Until this abomination of a law
The “patriot” act would like to have a word with you…
- Comment on Microsoft exec admits it 'cannot guarantee' data sovereignty 2 months ago:
Microsoft exec admits it ‘cannot guarantee’ data sovereignty
Then you don’t get to touch my data (to the extent that I can control who already has my data without my permission…)
- Comment on Women are anonymously spilling tea about men in their cities on viral app 2 months ago:
Or by a vindictive ex.
- Comment on Grok praises Hitler, gives credit to Musk for removing “woke filters” 3 months ago:
Nazi trains a nazi “speak & spell”
Whoopty fucking do.
The problem comes when large portions of the population use it and accept what it says without any shred of critical thinking.
- Comment on When does Trump finally start taking accountability? 3 months ago:
Who said that?
The strawman.
- Comment on The Prime Reasons to Avoid Amazon 3 months ago:
good luck doing anything online and avoiding AWS.
Don’t let perfect stand in the way of good.
It’s not possible in most cases to even know if a given online resource is using AWS behind the scenes, so it’s not something you can really control.
On the other hand, if you happen to be a web developer, that is a different story, but for normal users it’s not something you can do much about.
- Comment on Fairphone announces the €599 Fairphone 6, with a 6.31" 120Hz LTPO OLED display, a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip, and enhanced modularity with 12 swappable parts 3 months ago:
It appears to have support for the 4G and 5G bands that Rogers, Bell and Telus use
But the last time I was looking at Fairphine, they didn’t sell to Canada directly.