nikt

nikt , 1 month ago

Doesn’t LG use WebOS?

Or at least they did three years ago when I wanted to buy a TV but everything was back ordered to he’ll…

nikt , 3 months ago (edited 2 months ago)

I still blame Balckberry’s downfall on their deep integration and dependence on Microsoft server tech. A few weeks of dealing with that in the mid 2000s and I was sure the end was written for Blackberry.

nikt , 3 months ago

Yes, it’s named after Claude Shannon, but I’ve never heard him described as “the founder of AI”. He’s the father of information theory, which is only indirectly connected to AI.

nikt , 4 months ago

I was recently pleasantly surprised that this actually works with Siri, the former dunce child of mobile assistants. Stuff like “Remind me about X when I get in the car” also works now, so the reminder goes off when you connect to Carplay.

nikt , 4 months ago

Those are some really bad comparisons. Caffeine and adrenaline have nothing to do with each other. A better comparison might be maybe heroin and morphine?

Methamphetamine and the amohetamines in Adderal aren’t all that different. Same mechanism of action, similar pharmacology. Meth is actually sold in the US as a Desoxyn. It still blows my mind that it’s Schedule II (classified as having legitimate medical uses) when cannabis is still Schedule I.

nikt , 4 months ago

Also don’t forget the “externalized” costs of massive and irreversible environmental damage!

nikt , 4 months ago

I’m really surprised no one here has mentioned this yet, but a huge factor would have to be globalization and the offshoring of American manufacturing.

It started in the 70’s, with companies like GE and the car manufacturers moving factories to Mexico and later Asia, and with growing supply of imported cheap goods like steel. This really took off in the 80’s and 90’s with deliberate market liberalization and promotion of globalization during the Reagan/Bush and Clinton administrations.

In other words, American workers’ wages were pressured by the extremely low wages of overseas labour.

nikt , 4 months ago

Apple is great at polishing and packaging things that already exist. The iPhone was a better Blackberry, the iPod a better MP3 player, the iMac a better all-in-one PC… I have a hard time thinking of stuff they truly pioneered. The Newton maybe? That did not end well for them.

If I had to bet, the Vision Pro will turn out to be a burnt pancake, but long term I have no doubt that something like it — something that augments reality one way or another — will become a thing. And in the meantime Apple has pockets more than deep enough to survive a failed Vision Pro.

The backlash against them trying to innovate is kind of dumb though. They aimed high for a change, and taking risks like this should be lauded not laughed at.

nikt , 4 months ago

Something about love in subs for Google ? And also JPEG?

nikt , 4 months ago

I won’t argue about whether this is dystopian, but the practical reason for the face projection is that they wanted to make this not just something you wear sitting alone in your basement, like most other VR headsets. They wanted it to be usable around other people, at a workplace, with family, etc.

Interacting with someone wearing a full face blind is just weird, so they thought that making the eyes visible would help make this a bit more socially usable.

I’m not sure that’s really going to work out — seems at least as awkward as Google’s failed Glass project — but Apple’s design decision has some merit.

nikt , 10 months ago

Alkaline batteries lose voltage as they drain, so 1.5V is at full charge but it drops down to about 1.2V very quickly and then stays at 1.0V - 1.2V for most of the alkaline battery’s operating life.

NiMH batteries tend to consistently stay at their nominal voltage (1.2V) through their entire charge.

So in other words, if you have devices that really expect exactly 1.5V per battery, they would only work with alkalines at the very top of their charge. Nowadays most non-garbage circuits should be designed to work just fine with anything above 1V per battery.