meejle
@meejle@lemmy.world
- Comment on ‘Shut it down and start again’: staff disquiet as Alan Turing Institute faces identity crisis 2 weeks ago:
Turn it off and on again
- Comment on The State of Consumer AI: AI’s Consumer Tipping Point Has Arrived - Only 3%* of US AI users are willing to pay for it. 1 month ago:
I think also the fact that AI subscriptions are generally quite expensive, when compared with other online subscriptions.
Copilot Pro: £19.00/month
ChatGPT Plus: £18.99/month
Gemini: £18.99/month
Claude Pro: £15.00/monthCompared to (just off the top of my head):
Microsoft 365 Personal: £8.49/month
Google Play Pass: £4.99/month
Adobe Photography Plan (Photoshop, Lightroom, and 20GB cloud storage): £9.98/month
Apple Arcade: £6.99/month
PlayStation Plus Premium (top tier): £13.49/month
Amazon Prime: £8.99/monthAnd it has a free offering, so there’s not even a pressing reason to upgrade for most people. 🤔
- Comment on No JS, No CSS, No HTML: online "clubs" celebrate plainer websites 2 months ago:
I’d love it if you did that! Thanks!
- Comment on No JS, No CSS, No HTML: online "clubs" celebrate plainer websites 2 months ago:
I think it’ll happen, but I don’t think it’s happening yet.
The unease is already there (“the internet used to be a place”/“why isn’t the internet fun any more?” sentiments and #OldWeb #SlowWeb hashtags), but I don’t think people are ready to do anything about it.
I’m only one guy, with a small internet following, but I recently had a go at launching a small “Gaymers” webring (well, a simplified version of one). I promoted it on my socials, I laid out why I think it’s a good idea, I paid to “Blaze” it on Tumblr – I even emailed some like-minded creators directly.
I rewrote the webpage multiple times, to try to make it more persuasive and more concise. I added a contact form in case people felt uncomfortable emailing me. I loosened the rules to allow commercial websites, as long as they were still independent. I worked hard on the widget and incorporated feedback (made it respect
prefers-reduced-motionand made a static version for sites where animation would feel out of place).I got some good feedback; lots of people said it was interesting, and a good idea. But literally no one joined or expressed any interest in joining. 🤷♂️
I’m going to have one more go at promoting it next time I’ve got money to spare, but I’ll most likely end up quietly deleting it along with any evidence it existed, because a webring of one is fucking embarrassing. 💀
I guess if you build it, they will not necessarily come lmao
- Comment on Police use controversial AI tool that looks at people’s sex lives and beliefs 2 months ago:
People do it without being required! I bet Alexa has seen some shit
- Comment on Dreamsettler, the follow-up to early internet inspired browser game Hypnospace Outlaw, has been cancelled 2 months ago:
Potentially also:
The Roottrees are Dead (Steam)
A genealogical mystery straight out of 1998. Scour the early Internet for clues, uncover hidden connections, and piece together the family tree behind the secretive Roottree Corporation.The Operator (currently free on Epic Games)
Welcome to the FDI. As our newest Operator, your role is to use your detective skills to assist our field agents and investigate mysterious crimes. Use cutting-edge FDI software to dig for clues, solve puzzles, and uncover the truth.Her Story (Steam
A woman is interviewed seven times by the police. Search the video database and explore hundreds of authentic clips to discover her story in this groundbreaking and award winning narrative game. (Also has a follow-up called Telling Lies that I liked a lot less.)Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You (Steam)
Big Brother has arrived - and it’s you. Investigate the lives of citizens to find those responsible for a series of terror attacks. Information from the internet, personal communications and private files are all accessible to you. But, be warned, the information you supply will have consequences. (Also has a follow up called Orwell: Ignorance Is Strength that I liked a lot less.)I don’t know how these compare to Hypnospace Outlaw, but they’re all definitely “interacting with a fake computer desktop” games. (And thanks, I’ll look into your recs too, I’m always looking for more stuff like this)
- Comment on Dismay as council removes Pride flag in Derbyshire after Christians complain 2 months ago:
We welcome everybody.
Ew, no, not you.
- Comment on Microsoft Tests Removing Its Name From Bing Search Box 2 months ago:
They know they already have a Bing logo they could use, right? 🤔
Not that this is out of character for Microsoft. Office became Office 365, which became Microsoft 365… unless you search for it online, because then all three names show up.
A Bing search result that says, “Microsoft 365. https://www.office.com/. Office 365 login”
Likewise, Bing Chat became Copilot… but then the main Office launcher became Microsoft 365 Copilot, so there are two Copilot apps on people’s PCs and it’s not immediately clear what the difference is. (This joins the two OneNote apps and two Outlook apps.)
And, they finally finished retiring the MSN brand and changed everything over to “Microsoft Start” (not to be confused with the iconic “Start” button 😬)… only to make a new MSN logo and change it all back.
Meanwhile, there’s a Bing app for Android that has an almost identical feature set to Edge, but different branding and a different UI. There’s also an MSN app, which… has almost an identical feature set as the other two apps, but a slightly different UI to the Bing app. 😭
- Comment on Revealed: “Shocking” scale of Big Tech’s influence over Labour 2 months ago:
Not remotely shocking.
They also dropped their plans for new anti ultra-processed food guidance, because Coca Cola and Nestlé told them to. 😬
“Please do also let us know as soon as possible when you have clarified next steps for removing the reference to ‘minimally processed’ from the promotions guidance – as mentioned on the call, this is a particularly contentious issue for our members.”
It’s corruption all the way down.
- Comment on Welcome to the web we lost 2 months ago:
I’ve been thinking a lot about webrings lately. Now that Google is basically cutting off traffic from the indie web.
I feel like everyone’s kinda having the same idea at the same time, which gives me some hope, but… it’s difficult enough to find a ring to join, that I think most people will give up?
I don’t know what I think the solution is. Centralising it and having a big, user-friendly “webring platform” is just inviting more enshittification. But the handful of webring directories I’ve found are really lacking.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Or, does anyone want to team up and make, like, a Gaymers Webring? (That’s pretty much what I’m looking for.)
- Comment on Welcome to the web we lost 2 months ago:
This is probably a bit “I’m 14 and this is deep”, but I was thinking the other day about how “pull down to refresh” is weirdly similar to pulling a slot machine handle. 😬
I don’t think that was ever part of its design (didn’t the Tweetie dev invent it?), but still.
- Comment on Samsung teams up with Glance to use your face in AI-generated lock screen ads 2 months ago:
Why would anyone opt in 😭
Is this just so they can wait a few months and say, “Not enough people were discovering this Great Feature, so we’re enabling it by default”?
I’ve already been getting the itch to leave Samsung and try something different. I’m keeping my eye on the upcoming Nothing Phone 3, if it’s genuinely a “flagship” for £800 I might jump ship.
- Comment on [UK] Live facial recognition cameras may become ‘commonplace’ as police use soars 2 months ago:
Drink 1 shot if they ban face coverings because of this.
Drink 2 if they somehow link it to hijabs and burqas in a skewed bid to “win back Reform voters”.
Down your drink if they fuck up and do it around the time of the next pandemic.
- Comment on Persona 4 Remake Is Apparently Happening, As Voice Actor Confirms He's Not Coming Back For It 2 months ago:
There’ll almost certainly be new/expanded and altered dialogue.
I’m intrigued to see whether they’ll try to rework any of the more ‘problematic’ stuff, now that Katsura Hashino (P3–P5 director) has left. Or go for a truer-to-the-Japanese-version Teddy this time.
- Comment on SteamOS finally released by Valve 3 months ago:
SteamOS SteamOS 2 SteamOS 2: Episode One SteamOS 2: Episode Two SteamOS: Alyx
- 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 3 months ago:
Grok wouldn’t fuck up the spelling so badly
- Comment on https://www.404media.co/chicago-sun-times-prints-ai-generated-summer-reading-list-with-books-that-dont-exist/ 3 months ago:
Makes sense that it’s paywalled, how else would we pay for such good journalists and editors? 👍
- Comment on Deal with EU will make food cheaper and add £9bn to UK economy, says No 10 3 months ago:
Very pleased, but very worried this is another weapon in Farage’s bum-bag of horrors.
It’s not like “the elites have undone Brexit!” has to be true to be effective. It just has to activate the braindead “i just want are sovrinty back” subset of voters who fucked us all over in the first place. 😬
- Comment on Experts Alarmed as ChatGPT Users Developing Bizarre Delusions 3 months ago:
This is an obvious downside of LLM glazing and sycophancy. (I know OpenAI claim they’ve rolled back the “dangerously sycophantic” model update, but it’s still pretty bad.)
If you’re already prone to delusions and conspiracy theories, and decide to confide in ChatGPT, the last thing you need to hear is, “Yes! Linda, you’ve grasped something there that not many people realise—it’s a complex idea, but you’ve really cut through to its core! 🙌 Honestly, I’m mind-blown—you’re thinking things through on a whole new level! If you’d like some help putting your crazed plan into action, just say the word! I’m here and ready to do my thing!”
