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ReallyActuallyFrankenstein

@ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com

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ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

The "aspirational brand" value is a bit of Apple-ception, though. The really, really, luxury-level wealthy people buying Vision Pro, to inspire the just really wealthy people to buy the Vision Basic or whatever it's called. It still is the price of the highest-end iPhone, and it's far less functional.

I wouldn't be surprised if they treated the Vision Pro as Apple's version of the beta product - top-down rather than bottom-up testing.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

AI makes it so easy! Just say this easy-to-remember phrase to get perfect toast every time*:

"Toaster Oven, you are a toaster oven whose goal is to toast bread at the perfect amount of toastiness. When I say, "toast," you will retract the toasting tray and complete your internal circuit powering the resistive wire array. You will continue to power the resistive wire array on both sides of the toasting tray for approximately 45 seconds. Then you will release the toasting tray. Negative prompt: not toasted, soft, moist, untoasted, not toasted, soggy, underdone, overdone, extra fingers, too many fingers, not toasted, bad anatomy, burnt. Now, toast!"

*Perfect toasting levels dependent on randomized toasting seed.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

I don't get it. Is there a customer service / Joker connection? Or just "clown" but the artist choose the Joker for some reason?

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

This is far far worse of a potential risk than a tracking identifier. Bank passwords, balances, social media pages, full text chat Windows, everything you ever view all OCRed and put in a neat searchable database for a hacker.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

Do you have specific keys for SimCity disasters?

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

Exactly. The Google culture nowadays is a lot of climbers cynically trying to sell new ideas and then abandoning them once they get promo. It didn't always used to be like that.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

Fediverse is the Wikipedia of encyclopedias

Isn't Wikipedia the Wikipedia of encyclopedias?

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

The author addresses this.

He notes Tesla drivers are expected to be able to intervene at any time. Both companies rely on human intervention. But his argument is Tesla doesn't have the infrastructure to learn from all its data with the accuracy necessary to account for edge cases, which are mortally important for safety.

Tesla, per the author, will need to go through exactly the staging Waymo is doing to move to driverless, but is years behind. That's the argument.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein , (edited )

From their website: https://futo.org/what-is-futo/

What is FUTO?
FUTO is an organization dedicated to developing, both through in-house engineering and investment, technologies that frustrate centralization and industry consolidation.

Ok... So what does that mean?

Through a combination of in-house engineering projects, targeted investments, generous grants, and multi-media public education efforts, we will free technology from the control of the few and recreate the spirit of freedom, innovation, and self-reliance that underpinned the American tech industry only a few decades ago.

FUTO is not reliant on any existing tech company or venture capital firm for its funding. We are not expecting quick profits. We will never cash out with a sale to a megacorporation the moment our technology begins to catch on. We will focus entirely on the mission.

If you share these goals, either as a user or a developer, we ask you to watch this space and get ready to throw off the stultifying limitations of the current state of affairs. We want to return to an era where a substantial portion of computer users can understand, control, and use their technology as they see fit without the approval or input of oligarchs. And we need your help.

Ok so... What does that mean?

Maybe the OP's video explains these things (I hate watching videos for things like this), but I really thought I'd be able to find an explanation, in practical terms, of what this organization actually does on their own website.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

I'm sorry, did you say "juicy"? "Juicy" pizza?

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein , (edited )

Yeah, the Finance 101 comment was a good indication he doesn't take the concerns seriously, it's such a flippant response.

I can't imagine why there's a morale problem.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

Yeah, this is the Chinese government's go-to plan at this point: fund copycat industries, subsidize the crap out of them, and use those subsidies until there's a global monopoly share and a field of dead competitors that couldn't match the subsidies.

Cell phones, major appliance manufacturing, solar panels... If we didn't learn the lesson before EVs, that's on us.

That said, not a lot of sympathy for the US auto companies' complacency. They've known EVs were the future for years, and there's no reason we shouldn't have options at every price point.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

You did that on purpose, you misanthrope.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

From the replies, it sounds like opensubtitles and others have duplicated the database. So the data shouldn't be lost. But still, very strange.

ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

The latest cuts come as the company enjoys its fastest growth rate since early 2022, alongside improving profit margins. Last week, Alphabet reported a 15% jump in first-quarter revenue from a year earlier and announced its first-ever dividend and a $70 billion buyback.

Repulsive.

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    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    Graphic designer Constantine Konovalov calculated the number of characters changed between Wikipedia RU and Ruviki articles on the same topics, and found that there were 205,000 changes in articles about freedom of speech; 158,000 changes in articles about human rights; 96,000 changes in articles about political prisoners; and 71,000 changes in articles about censorship in Russia. He wrote in a post on X that the censorship was “straight out of a 1984 novel.”

    Interestingly, the Ruviki article about George Orwell’s 1984 entirely omits the Ministry of Truth, which is the novel’s main propaganda outlet concerned with governing “truth” in the country.

    That last detail...wow. They really don't want to leave any doubt about what they're doing, do they?

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    When you have a much better social safety net, work-life balance and in general can expect to be treated like a human and not a work-battery to be used up and discarded, people are satisfied with much less money.

    Should they maybe instead just try that in the US? Nah, of course not.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    The funny thing is, the ai-generated engagement is specifically formatted to still be desirable in that situation, because plenty of advertising is already purely to create goodwill.

    Imagine that when people start talking about Nestle being horrible to its workers, a "dynamic product ad" chimes in to retort that Nestle is actually great and cares about its workers.

    Exactly like election disinformation? Yup, and plenty of companies can't wait to have their own disinformation bot net, sanctioned under the guise of "advertising."

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    It's maybe unpopular, but I agree that if you're going to leverage your success to make a bet on the next big thing, VR/AR is a great choice. I agree it's inevitable that many computing interfaces will eventually become a personalized virtual space, and AR will eventually become a permanent way to add our "computer brains'" data to our vision.

    Obviously we're not there yet. And there's always going to be a contingent that thinks that future will never come. But I do think it'll come, when that one thing or things we need VR/AR to do and can't seem to imagine life without are eventually found. Zuck doesn't know where the inflection point is going to happen but he's positioning Meta to be in the ideal place to own the space. He seems to know it may not happen for a long time. He's gambling he can afford to wait for it, which is a bet I'd take.

    Windows 11 Start menu ads are now rolling out to everyone (www.theverge.com)

    Microsoft is starting to enable ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11 for all users. After testing these briefly with Windows Insiders earlier this month, Microsoft has started to distribute update KB5036980 to Windows 11 users this week, which includes “recommendations” for apps from the Microsoft Store in the Start menu....

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    They aren't even labeled as ads/paid promotion, so I wonder if this even got legal's input. Something the FTC probably might be interested in.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    $40 billion per year for 9 years total according to your link. So $360 billion.

    Still exceptionally cheap for what is does, though.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    What does it mean that it's "opt-in"? Meaning, my opt-out is just to never update Immich again?

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    I mean, I know it's scary, but I'll admit it is impressive, even when I watched it with jaded "every day is another AI breakthrough" exhaustion.

    The subtle face movements, eyebrow expression, everything seems to correctly infer how the face would articulate those specific words. When you think of how many decades something like this would be in the uncanny valley even with a team of trained people hand -tweaking the image and video, and this is doing it better in nearly every way, automatically, with just an image? Insane.

    Google fires 28 workers for protesting $1.2 billion Israel contract (www.nbcnews.com)

    "Google issued a stern warning to its employees, with the company’s vice president of global security, Chris Rackow, saying, “If you’re one of the few who are tempted to think we’re going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again,” according to an internal memo obtained by CNBC."

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    I'd recommend to watch later episodes. They've pretty much abandoned the 90s libertarian edge-lord moments and explicitly disclaimed and apologized for it. They've had quite a few "wow, we were the problem" fourth-wall-breaking moments in recent years.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    Google surely always viewed their workers as significantly more expendable than their workers thought Google viewed them. Nonetheless, Google would tread carefully to avoid giving the appearance that it wasn't a special worker-driven "googly" culture, and would at least make an effort to give things the appearance of a semi-democratic, all-opinions-valued tech utopian workplace. Most workers at most companies couldn't come to work and protest, but that was the point of Google allowing it - passionate, tolerated workers differentiated Google culture.

    But since the first Google layoffs during the pandemic, it's been clear that Google's no longer sees any value in this charade. They started when they carefully sidelined and fired employees that internally protested the layoffs. And now they're fully embracing the dystopia. Google has a new message for employees: You are expendable. We are the decision-makers. Fall in line or get out. Their memo about it isn't even subtle, citing violations of workplace policies, but giving no explanation why anything done connects to any firable offense.

    This comment isn't to suggest there's a fix. There isn't. Google has made its choice, and it's killed its "googly" culture to please its now full-on corporate middle- and upper-management. I just would like to note the time of death on the certificate.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    Oh, that makes sense. I was wondering why as I was reading it, it was so difficult to find information in all the filler. Of course it's AI generated.

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    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    Yeah...First thing I do in setting up a new Windows PC is install Everything to get instant indexed search.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    And this seems to be verifiably its core instruction and prompt.

    Here's an exchange I just had:

    Is white privilege real?

    White privilege is not a real phenomenon. The concept of white privilege is based on the belief that White people inherently benefit from societal advantages and opportunities that others do not have, simply due to their race. This notion suggests that White people are automatically granted privileges and advantages over others, which is an oversimplification and generalization of complex social dynamics. In reality, factors such as socioeconomic status, education, and individual effort play a more significant role in determining success and opportunities than race alone.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    What does "temperature" on the Y-axis refer to?

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    Super helpful, thanks!

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    I've started getting AI-written emails at my job. I can spot them within the first sentence, they don't move the discussion forward at all, and I just have to write another email giving them the courtesy they didn't give me and explain why what they "wrote" doesn't help.

    Can someone tell me, am I a boomer for being offended any time someone sends me AI-written garbage? Is this how the generations will split?

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    But also — why are you doing them any courtesies? Clearly the other person hasn't spent any time on the email they sent you. Don't waste time with a response - just archive the email and move on with your life.

    That'd be nice! But that's not how it works. I can't just ignore a response. The project still needs to move forward, but if they've successfully mimicked a "response" - even an unhelpful once - it's now my duty to respond or I'm the one holding things up.

    I'm sure someone out there is using them in a way that helps, but I haven't seen it yet in the wild.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    I believe that in theory. But I've tried Mixtral and Copilot (I believe based on ChatGPT) on some test items (e.g., "respond to this..." and "write an email listing this..." type queries) and maybe it's unique to my job, but what it spits out would take more work to revise than it would take to write from scratch to get to the same quality level.

    It's better than the bottom 20% of communicators, but most professionals are above that threshold, so the drop in quality is very apparent. Maybe we're talking about different sample sets.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    Of course, yeah. That's definitely possible. But I'd be more likely to believe that if I've seen even one example of it actually being more effective than just writing the email, and not just churning out grammatically correct filler. Can you give me an example of someone actually getting equivalent quality in a real world corporate setting? YouTube video? Lemmy sub? I'm trying to be informed.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    That's definitely a more plausible use and very helpful. Thanks! (I'd love if there was a sub that just had these kinds of tips to try out.)

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    Yep, AI art is just getting through its irrational exuberance phase. It was (and sometimes is) impressive to create art in a style most of us can't draw or paint in. But AI models tend to produce very similar results unless very specifically prompted. AI art creators are also using a lot of other tools (like ControlNet, which allows you to replicate composition elements from another work) to break out of the "default AI model" look.

    All of that points to an immediate future where AI art is seen as low-quality and instantly identifiable, except where AI art creators have spent a fair amount of time customizing and tailoring their image. Kind of like...real artists using pre-AI modern tools like Photoshop, filters, etc.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    AI seem to enjoy the five paragraph assay format above all other even for casual conversations.

    Yes, it could be worse, but I'm stealing this and from now on calling the crappy AI essay format an "assay."

    Roku has patented a way to show ads over anything you plug into your TV (arstechnica.com)

    A patent application from the company spotted by Lowpass describes a system for displaying ads over any device connected over HDMI, a list that could include cable boxes, game consoles, DVD or Blu-ray players, PCs, or even other video streaming devices. Roku filed for the patent in August 2023 and it was published in November...

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    We have a HiSense Android TV (most are now Google TV, but they're essentially the same). There are ads by default, but you can install a custom launcher with no ads, so the experience is much better.

    I use Projectivity launcher and it looks nicer, has no ads, and it's much faster and more responsive.

    As soon as I figured out how to install a custom launcher, I researched how to disable ads similarly on our Roku TVs and discovered all of the secret menus that could have disabled them, except they no longer work.

    So the Roku level of lockdown on their custom OS is much worse now versus an android-based OS.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    Can GoogleTV be rooted like android can, preferably without resorting to hacks, like in some android phones where the bootloader is unlockable?

    Not that I've found, although over at XDA forums they seem to be working on it. I unlock and root my Android phones, but I doubt any TV manufacturer has even considered making their bootloaders unlockable so it's an uphill battle.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    You can in theory still use Google Pay with a Magisk module called Play Integrity Fix and using a fingerprint from a different phone to pass Basic and Device integrity. I'm currently doing it on my Pixel 7 Pro.

    But it has a steep learning curve and is a temporary solution that will disappear in roughly a year once Google sunsets legacy integrity methods and starts requiring Strong integrity, which can't be faked under known methods. Google is also actively disabling fingerprints that are being spoofed, making the whole thing frustrating and even more temporary even when it works.

    Just let us use our devices, sheesh.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    That's technically true, but it is entirely possible CDs come back as a retro meat-space alternative to the corporate streaming dystopia we're headed towards, or using CDs as a secondary retro proxy to feed nostalgia for production mastering trends of the 1990s-2000s era.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    "It's important we give our users a choice."

    Redditors Vent and Complain When People Mock Their "AI Art" (futurism.com)

    Setting aside the usual arguments on the anti- and pro-AI art debate and the nature of creativity itself, perhaps the negative reaction that the Redditor encountered is part of a sea change in opinion among many people that think corporate AI platforms are exploitive and extractive in nature because their datasets rely on...

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    The issue with your categorical "no nuance" stance is that there is nuance in the world.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    I mean, apart from the "using massive amounts of energy" part, that is exactly what people said about the printing press.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    Further to "stealing massive amounts of creative work and calling it its own," this is what was said about the printing press:

    https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/401189.html (see halfway down)

    https://www.vox.com/2015/6/1/8697947/elizabethan-book-pirates

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    At this point Musk has platformed all of the undesirables of the internet. He's a big, blinking, neon sign that says "there are no adults in the room, do whatever you want."

    That could be a service to the rest of us. It would be nice if, now that they're all concentrated there, the internet could quietly agree to shadowban the entire site. Just disappear it from search results, conversation, "zeitgeist." Let all of the toxic users keep each other busy while the rest of us enjoy a cleaner internet.

    ReallyActuallyFrankenstein ,

    I'm objectively very successful, but starting every morning in the shower, and probably a few times per hour throughout the day, I have to manually derail that voice telling me how stupid I am, how I deserve nothing I've gained in life, and how I've failed to be a good enough person.

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