TWeaK
@TWeaK@lemm.ee
- Comment on Stupid ass star 2 weeks ago:
It’s one of the OG ones, ass-car: xkcd.com/37/
- Comment on I'm the developer of WalkScape, the RuneScape inspired fitness MMORPG where you progress by walking IRL. We're now accepting more people to the Closed Beta! 2 weeks ago:
Booo, someone already stole my username :(
- Comment on 3D printer maker Bambu Lab faces patent infringement lawsuits that could threaten hobbyist 3D printing in general 5 weeks ago:
Almost not surprising. Inventors and R&D businesses patent things all the time, then it takes a while to claim them. There was a guy in Australia who apparently invented WiFi (he calls it “wiffey”) and he successfully asserted his patent against WiFi manufacturers worldwide such that they paid him a couple pennies in royalties for every chip manufactured.
The saving grace is that patents only last for 20 years. After that, anyone can use the design, like Gillette’s double edged safety razor (which is why their modern razors are so silly and change every few years).
- Comment on Technically Correct 1 month ago:
It’s because all the shops inside want you to buy their shit.
- Comment on BrewDog abandons its pledge to be 'carbon negative' in latest crisis 2 months ago:
Yep. There’s a good BBC documentary podcast about it.
- Comment on Shopping app Temu is “dangerous malware,” spying on your texts, lawsuit claims 2 months ago:
Erm, WhatsApp would suggest otherwise.
WhatsApp was the vector for zero click access to a target’s phone from Israel’s weapons grade hacking Pegasus toolkit. They would send a video call, typically in the middle of the night, and with no input from the used they’d get full access. My personal belief is that they used functionality WhatsApp itself uses to access user data.
There was also an encrypted phone called ANOM, which had this trick calculator app with a hidden encrypted messager. “Made for criminals, by criminals”. Except, when the guy started his business he got investment from the FBI and Australian Federal Police to pay for the servers and some of the phones themselves. Basically every time it sent an encrypted message it sent a separate encrypted message to the ANOM servers. It’s entirely possible (perhaps even likely) that WhatsApp would do this also.
As for Google, they’re truly insidious. Lots of banks now require you to connect to Google captcha servers - they don’t give you the pictures, it’s just the back end, basically the tracking parts. Then there’s the controversy about them collecting location data when users have said no. They absolutely do collect data they shouldn’t.
- Comment on Dangerous? Signal Blasts Google Effort to Use AI to Scan for Scam Phone Calls 3 months ago:
But downloading an app won’t install it as a system app.
- Comment on I thought umm.. 3 months ago:
Those are some strange panties.
- Comment on TikTok wants to be YouTube now, tests 60-minute video uploads 4 months ago:
Hasn’t Telegram always been a Russian asset?
- Comment on Dangerous? Signal Blasts Google Effort to Use AI to Scan for Scam Phone Calls 4 months ago:
It’s available on all phones, but they all have their own version, forked from long ago. Even the standard AOSP Phone app has long split from Google (who have ceased open source development of the app).
- Comment on Dangerous? Signal Blasts Google Effort to Use AI to Scan for Scam Phone Calls 4 months ago:
I feel like this would require cooperation from the manufacturer, as Google doesn’t actually provide the Phone app (except when they are the manufacturer).
- Comment on Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review to access the playtest 4 months ago:
Yeah, I think they normally do full embargoes for that exact reason.
- Comment on Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review to access the playtest 4 months ago:
Well normally they just tell you you aren’t allowed to talk about the game period. This is a slightly relaxed position from that stance.
- Comment on That one band... 4 months ago:
Completely aside but Diego Luna (the actor who plays Andor) always looks like :<
- Comment on [deleted] 4 months ago:
Moderators don’t own the community, but they own the community address - they have absolute control over it and can set the rules. If the community don’t like that, they’re free to move to a new address and make their own, with blackjack and hookers, etc.
The admin owns the instance, which in turn can overrule the moderators. If the community don’t like that, they’re free to move to a new instance, with blackjack and hookers, etc.
Basically the whole system was set up so everyone will eventually have blackjack and hookers.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 months ago:
Back in my day it was just boob edits.
- Comment on Tech brands are forcing AI into your gadgets—whether you asked for it or not 4 months ago:
Data collection is theft. Every one of us is being robbed at least $50 per year. That’s how Facebook and Google are worth billions.
- Comment on Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. As electricity prices go negative, the Golden State is struggling to offload a glut of solar power 4 months ago:
Yes I’m aware of that, and even quite fond of it, but it’s very dependent on geography (as you need a very large body of water so you can’t really just use a water tower) and also incredibly expensive. There are generally more effective and profitable uses for land.
Meanwhile BESS is tiny, something like 30MW per acre.
- Comment on Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. As electricity prices go negative, the Golden State is struggling to offload a glut of solar power 4 months ago:
They keep it in line by curtailing or switching off generation. The generator typically still gets paid as if it were generating whatever it has available, which is perhaps an issue, but the total generation is reduced to meet the demand.
This is why there is negative pricing, it’s cheaper to sell electricity in the negative than to pay a generator to be offline.
They can’t direct excess generation to batteries if the batteries aren’t there yet. They’re being installed, but the overall capacity is still relatively low. Transferring it to other grids also has limits, and in particular if there’s an excess of solar in one region the neighbouring regions also probably have an excess, so there really is no other option but to curtail.
- Comment on Brb 4 months ago:
I don’t think so, it also includes at least 4 trackers.
- Comment on Brb 5 months ago:
WhoBIRD has been working well for me. Doesn’t have the visual ID stuff that Merlin has, but it’s FOSS and identifies by sound, based on location and time of year.
Granted, I don’t know enough to know when it’s wrong, and I bet it’s not great for identifying rare birds, but it’s fun.
- Comment on Netflix Doc ‘What Jennifer Did’ Uses AI Images to Create False Historical Record 5 months ago:
Paywall :/
- Comment on "Yeah, but what if we used AI?" 5 months ago:
That is not the case for all HOA’s. For some, they have gated communities.
Yes, but they still allow mail deliveries and visitors in some form or another.
After all, they aren’t building these amenities for everyone to use, just residents who either own property or are leasing property in a way that is approved by the HOA.
Yes, but there are other ways to manage that then setting up an HOA which can be expanded well beyond the management of that communal property.
You only have to look and see how other countries do it to see that HOA’s are uniquely an American problem, one that has no justification in being as bad as it is.
- Comment on "Yeah, but what if we used AI?" 5 months ago:
Sure, but what’s wrong with that? I mean, roads are already open to everyone - your mailman can access them, visitors can access them, etc. If you extend it to ponds and parks and stuff, it wouldn’t be the end of the world for those to be public, either.
Maybe with pools and such it’s a different story, but there are ways of managing those without setting up a mini government rife for abuse.
- Comment on A new inconvenient truth: Europe’s global plans all require money no one has 5 months ago:
Europe’s global plans all require money
no one hashoarded by the wealthy elite that no one is willing to properly tax and collectFTFY
- Comment on "Yeah, but what if we used AI?" 5 months ago:
Nah they do have some valid purpose, eg communal roads and facilities - at least in a country where the state refuses to adopt basic infrustructure for new housing developments.
- Comment on So much for free speech on X; Musk confirms new users must soon pay to post 5 months ago:
Climate change was adopted because global warming doesn’t intuitively line up with winters being much colder on top of the average temperature being higher.
- Comment on So much for free speech on X; Musk confirms new users must soon pay to post 5 months ago:
Reality has a left-wing bias.
- Comment on So much for free speech on X; Musk confirms new users must soon pay to post 5 months ago:
The purchase itself was a leveraged buyout, they didn’t pay the entire $44bn as Twitter took out a loan to cover $13bn. Like all leveraged buyouts (eg Toys R Us) the purchase itself is meant to kill the business. Even before Musk started screwing the revenue there was little hope Twitter could pay the interest, let along the principle. Now, Twitter is worth less than the debt, by some estimates.
- Comment on So much for free speech on X; Musk confirms new users must soon pay to post 5 months ago:
There are extensions for that.