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HobbitFoot

@HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club

Reddit refuge

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HobbitFoot , (edited )

The problem with using the Love Canal was that it was the local government that really fucked up.

For the time, Hooker Chemical Company disposed of the chemical waste in a somewhat responsible way; a clay lined canal that they later topped with clay to prevent water infiltration. If the town wasn't dead set in developing the land, we likely would have never heard of Love Canal.

HobbitFoot ,

Hooker Chemical sold for $1 and a list of conditions because the local government was threatening eminent domain after the company gave several warnings.

And I'm not going to defend Hooker in other locations.

Shopping app Temu is “dangerous malware,” spying on your texts, U.S. lawsuit claims (arstechnica.com)

Temu—the Chinese shopping app that has rapidly grown so popular in the US that even Amazon is reportedly trying to copy it—is "dangerous malware" that's secretly monetizing a broad swath of unauthorized user data, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday....

HobbitFoot ,

Lemmy was designed to be a place where communists would have a community. Some instances weren't, but a lot of the original ones were.

Beijing intervenes in China’s solar industry as overcapacity dries up profit in the country's domestic market

China’s energy regulator said it will limit “low-end” solar panel manufacturing after industry leaders called for more government intervention earlier this month. The move is an acknowledgement by Beijing that solar panel overcapacity is a problem, one that has pushed Chinese solar firms into a price war and shriveled...

HobbitFoot ,

That's fine, but someone has to pay for it.

HobbitFoot ,

Yeah. Netflix got really lucky with streaming for as long as they did and they knew it. Cable and broadcast subsidized their content and they were able to lease it for pennies on the dollar.

Of course, people don't want to admit that the subsidy for their content is gone and they are pissed about rising costs.

HobbitFoot ,

For now. YouTube is already starting to dedicate serious resources to anti ad blocking. I'm sure other streaming services aren't that far behind.

HobbitFoot ,

Mega ad tier.

HobbitFoot ,

Then cancel and move on.

The way that people talk about it here, a streaming service raising rates is the equivalent of a significant other dumping them.

HobbitFoot ,

I never said people weren't allowed, but there is this weird obsession about it on Lemmy.

HobbitFoot ,

What other company or government could do this?

HobbitFoot ,

It is been a plan for a while in the USA to shift launches from government run to private run for over a decade. This is just an implementation of that strategy.

Are you embracing AI? (viewber.co.uk)

There’s something of a misunderstanding in the UK property industry that agents are luddites, clinging to fax machines and Rolodexes, but quite the opposite is true. Sales and letting agents like nothing more than finding new efficiencies – whether through careful outsourcing, digital signatures or virtual tours, begging the...

HobbitFoot ,

No, but my job includes producing and verifying calculations.

We already deal with computer models, but there is a concept of "garbage in, garbage out" where the model is garbage because the inputter didn't understand what to put in the model or even what model should be used.

So the modeling may be more efficient, but the budget gets blown in verification because the model is crap.

HobbitFoot ,

Around that time, Watson was the most public demonstration of AI.

HobbitFoot ,

You are essentially making the silly "but yet you choose to live in society" argument.

I don't think so. OP wasn't saying to stop uploading to YouTube, but to upload to alternate sites as well and maybe lead their audiences there by mentioning it in videos.

HobbitFoot ,

It looks like we are already at the point with some AI where we can correct the output instead of add new input. Microsoft is using LinkedIn to help get professional input for free.

HobbitFoot ,

But humans also need input as well.

HobbitFoot ,

Yeeeah, but my issue with that is they generated the expectation that it'd be free by using their investment money to muscle out smaller competitors.

All of YouTube's competitors were doing the same thing, use ads to subsidize free video hosting. It just happened to be that YouTube was the survivor. If there was competition, it would likely have the same business model that YouTube has. Spotify may be building a YouTube competitor based on the same model.

HobbitFoot ,

Yeah, but content creators haven't deplatformed off YouTube. The closest might be streaming services like Nebula, but even those have subscriptions.

YouTube pays little to content creators for hosting the content, but they also pay for hosting the content. I can't think of a case where content creators would pay to host their videos for others to watch for free without ads or a subscription.

HobbitFoot ,

What good is user data if you don't use it for advertising?

HobbitFoot ,

Anyway you can use data to nudge users. For example, Google can change search result orders. They can promote one company/research/ideology/party to the top and demote others.

This is advertising.

Finding out where certain people are important for law enforcement or press.

This service isn't that valuable, and extracting the value required is going to be a PR nightmare.

Stores give out free wifi to track your MAC address and see where you go in stores. They sell this data, use it to track theives, or use it for better product placement.

So A-B testing for their advertising?

HobbitFoot ,

But it goes back to my earlier assertion that the value of user data is generally to help with advertising.

HobbitFoot ,

It is a lot harder to get wind to turn a coal power plant turbine.

HobbitFoot ,

I hope they start getting paid based on how many hours they work instead of their time in the air.

HobbitFoot ,

At least an hour and a half if the flight doesn't have any issues.

HobbitFoot ,

It makes sense. Everyone knows how to program and develop hardware for it and it is free to use. The worst that will happen is that Android development goes in a different direction, and you can fork it if that happens.

HobbitFoot ,

To add to it, you probably also have to deal with parts sourcing. You can probably scavenge Bluetooth radios from several generations worth of equipment or get cheap from China. In contrast, a Lightning cable that can turn data to sound is likely really hard to come by.

HobbitFoot ,

accidentally summon the Dark Lord

You've tried to use Excel as a database too, huh?

HobbitFoot ,

their budgets are SO extremely deep and large. And this cap? This cap is the best they could come up with?

You're assuming that there was an expensive program to replace the entire bottling line and redesign the bottles in order to meet the EU regulation while achieving satisfactory user experience.

What likely happened is that the engineers in charge of the cap design were told to change as little as possible and came up with a design that only required changing the cap moulds. Everything else got to stay the same, saving the company's budget for other things

HobbitFoot ,

Not exactly. The type of rental discussed in the article is short term, not long term like an apartment.

Also, there will probably be a response in the industry, but it could end up being better overall. For instance, an appliance may end up being designed more for repair and have a longer design lifespan as there are fewer, but more educated, consumers of the appliances. I would expect a steam cleaner that has to run two times a week to be more expensive than one that has to run two times a year.

HobbitFoot ,

I didn't say tool makers would stop it.

But there is a difference in design philosophy between pro tools and amateur tools. I would expect that, if the market shifts to more kinds of tools, the design of those tools will shift as well.

HobbitFoot ,

I don't think that the use of Steam Decks in this manner is a great thing for Valve. It is basically being used as a cheap Linux PC with built-in user input and the ability to self maintain if the manufacturer decides to sunset maintenance.

If Steam Decks get deployed in this manner, it would only be as the computer interfacing with expensive equipment, which isn't a large market and won't really make Valve money outside the hardware sales.

HobbitFoot ,

12 billion dollars for a train line hundreds of miles long and possibly rebuilding some bridges is pretty cheep. And it isn't like casinos waste a lot of water to run compared to other economic activities.

And, honestly, Las Vegas isn't that unsustainable except for the heat and we already have ways of dealing with it.

HobbitFoot ,

Kind of, but you also have the issue that a lot of streetcar networks were built at a loss to support land development. When these networks went bankrupt, local governments didn't really want to fund the subsidy to keep them running, so these systems either collapsed quickly or slowly.

It is obvious that car companies pushed for cities to change in a war to accommodate cars and sell buses, but you also have the issue that a car dependent lifestyle was considered a symbol of wealth for over a generation, people wanted to move out to the suburbs, and politicians were elected to do so.

HobbitFoot ,

No. Enshittification happens because of venture capitalism.

Startup companies get a lot of money early on with the hopes that, after the investment cash is spent, there will be a profitable company left in its place. That company can become publicly traded or get sold to another company. The key is that the investors make their money off the startup.

The flip side is that, without venture capitalist companies, a lot of these companies wouldn't get the opportunity to grow.

HobbitFoot ,

Which is how it should be. The company creating the software takes on the liability of faults with said software.

HobbitFoot ,

Nah. There are cases where it stops being about upholding their values and more cheering on one side over another even if what they support is against their values.

Reddit Is Taking Over Google (tech.slashdot.org)

Reddit, Quora, and other internet forums that have climbed up through the traditional set of Google links. Data analysis from Semrush, which predicts traffic based on search ranking, shows that traffic to Reddit has climbed at an impressive clip since August 2023. Semrush estimated that Reddit had over 132 million visitors in...

HobbitFoot ,

Because there isn't any money in non-SEO optimized ads.

HobbitFoot ,

But that doesn't make Meta money.

HobbitFoot ,

"Bitten"

HobbitFoot ,

That isn't going to happen. Major have studios have developed their own ways of distributing games and found that the public don't really like it. For minor game studios, it is probably a lot cheaper to rely on Steam or an equivalent to do what you are describing.

HobbitFoot ,

Well, the right wants to push things back to traditional hierarchies.

HobbitFoot ,

Probably because they haven't figured out a way to tie Ad-sense to an AI engine.

HobbitFoot ,

Except that it isn't malicious framing to some on Lemmy.

HobbitFoot ,

That toy looks like a blast.

HobbitFoot ,

The Internet is just screenshots of social media on other social media.

HobbitFoot ,

Yes.

HobbitFoot ,

Voting doesn't mean you are barred from other political action. It is important to put political pressure on the people you vote for, including organizing for specific politics.

You don't need DNC permission to organize if you vote Democrats in the general election.

HobbitFoot ,

And it is a gamble that hasn't paid off in history.

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