JasSmith

JasSmith , 25 days ago to Technology in A PR disaster: Microsoft has lost trust with its users, and Windows Recall is the straw that broke the camel's back

Most male computer uses watch porn and would not want an AI to log that. Many women find porn sickening and don’t understand it and will never understand male urges that result in watching it. The fact that this got into a finished product tells you a lot about Microsoft’s corporate culture.

Excellent point. We saw exactly the same phenomenon play out with Google and Gemini. The tool created racially diverse Nazis. Even a few minutes with the tool revealed major issues. There must have been hundreds of people who witnessed the slow moving train crash in realtime, but were either unwilling or unable to speak out. I think these companies have clearly cultivated a hierarchical culture of fear and intimidation. I recently left a job in which my manager was ex-Google. The stories she would tell were appalling. Her command-and-control style was, frankly, disgusting. She permitted zero critical feedback or discussion. It was her way or "fuck off." I found that very instructive as to how these companies have morphed into shells of their formers selves. I'm not bullish on the future of these companies. They're coasting very well on the fumes of their historical successes, and I think their demise is all but assured.

JasSmith , 25 days ago to Technology in A PR disaster: Microsoft has lost trust with its users, and Windows Recall is the straw that broke the camel's back

Yeah the concept is pretty damn cool. It's just horrifying to have a company own and control that data. I suspect this is like Xbox One launch disaster in 2013, in which Microsoft initially required all consoles to have an always-online connection. People rebelled, but today and certainly on our current trajectory, it now looks like Microsoft was just a little ahead of the curve. I think people will eventually become a lot more comfortable with companies owning their data because the benefits will be so enormous. I'm not happy about that future, but I think I understand it.

JasSmith , 1 month ago to Technology in CEO of Google Says It Has No Solution for Its AI Providing Wildly Incorrect Information

Google is on a tear. First Bard, then Gemini, now snippets injected into search results. All spectacular failures.

JasSmith , 1 month ago to Technology in Neuralink's first in-human brain implant has experienced a problem, company says

It’s not like the technology is a con. Brain implants have been iterated upon for decades. This is just the latest incarnation - after extensive animal testing. I don’t think we have a right to tell a quadriplegic they may not meaningfully improve their lives because we feel the risk is too high. They’re locked in a living prison.

JasSmith , 2 months ago to Technology in Why I Lost Faith in Kagi

I don’t find any of this damning or compelling. I remain a happy subscriber.

JasSmith , 2 months ago to Comic Strips in Women Should Just Be Honest

Yeah this is the dumbest comic I’ve ever seen. An absurd characterisation of reality. I thought it was satire at first but the comments seem to be taking it seriously. There are surely assholes out there but to only this is a regular occurrence is some legbeard basement-dwelling incel nonsense.

JasSmith , 2 months ago to Comic Strips in Women Should Just Be Honest

I think perhaps you do. None of my friends have ever been talked to this way. In what kind of backwards shit hole do you live?

JasSmith , 3 months ago to Technology in EU Commission fines Apple over €1.8 billion over abusive App store rules for music streaming providers

Not just Spotify. If I’m reading this judgement correctly, any developer who was materially impacted by these anti-steering provisions can sue Apple. This could be the beginning of an unprecedented wave of legal action against Apple in Europe. The tricky part is proving damages.

JasSmith , 4 months ago to Technology in Reddit cites r/WallStreetBets as a risk factor in its IPO filing

Shorting a stock in effect means selling a stock you don’t own. The stock market derives price based on supply and demand. When more people are selling than people are buying, the stock price goes down. There are many more dynamics at play than this though. Often there are investment firms which will identify a price mismatch and attempt to price out the short sellers by buying and pushing the price up. This can trigger a short squeeze which makes the price suddenly pop.

IPOs are exciting times to be a trader, but individuals are largely in for the ride. They can’t move the market. If they identify one of these larger plays they can join the fun. Game Stop was one of the first examples of a consumer-driven play, and it scared the shit out of institutions because it upended their risk models.

JasSmith , 4 months ago to Mildly Infuriating in My daughter lost her social studies essay because LibreOffice doesn't have autosave on automatically.

The responses have classic “I run Arch” energy. It’s never the fault of the software. It’s always the fault of the user. Ignore them. This is terrible UX and should be criticised. She did absolutely nothing wrong.

JasSmith , 4 months ago to Technology in Why Charging Your Gadgets Over 80% Is Such a Bad Idea | iFixit News

While true, I consider it a reasonable trade. I so rarely need the 100% charge.

JasSmith , 4 months ago to Technology in Amazon hides cheaper items with faster delivery, lawsuit alleges

Fair trading laws are broad and complex and vary widely by place to place. There are many restrictions on trading practises which mislead customers. Amazon employs a myriad of practises designed to do exactly that. Some of them detailed in the article. I’m sure they think they’re skirting the law to the legal side, but experts are going to determine that now.

JasSmith , 4 months ago to Technology in Gel and lithium-ion tech could enable 1000-mile EV range on one charge

I’m much more optimistic. I think battery technology will progress quickly, and as it improves, more and more people will buy EVs. I think the path forward is not to try to convince people to live worse lives. That’s a losing proposition. We should instead make our lives better and cleaner through technology.

JasSmith , 4 months ago to Technology in ‘Boycott Tesla’ ads to air during Super Bowl — “Tesla dances away from liability in Autopilot crashes by pointing to a note buried deep in the owner’s manual, that says Autopilot is only safe on fr...

These instances of errors are obviously alarming, but all the evidence we have is that they’re still safer than human drivers. They will make mistakes - and sometimes those mistakes will cost lives - but they will make fewer mistakes than humans. Given this, as visceral as it feels when we hear of these stories, I think our ire is misplaced. Automated driving will never be perfect. If that’s the bar we’re aiming for we should just give up and go home. The goal is better than humans, and in many conditions, it’s already there.

JasSmith , 4 months ago to Technology in Gel and lithium-ion tech could enable 1000-mile EV range on one charge

So.... if the technology isn't improving your life you continue to use the one that's making everyone else's life worse?

It depends on the cost/benefit analysis. It was part of my decision to buy a Tesla but I am deeply disappointed with the experience. It’s so bad that I want to sell it and buy another ICE. Most people aren’t willing to pay more for a significant downgrade. That’s just reality.