Hacker News: spookthesunset

New comment by spookthesunset in "Ferret: A Multimodal Large Language Model"

spookthesunset — Sat, 23 Dec 2023 19:07:49 +0000

I would hope that it would at last get you out of the hell that is “what the heck did I name that stupid light?”. Device naming is, in my opinion, the worst part of any of the voice based home assistant things.

Is it “porch led”, “porch light” or “outdoor light”? Or is “outdoor light” actually the one in the front yard? What is the one by my kids nightstand? And what routine name do I use to set the mood for watching a movie?

I would hope a properly trained llm with an awareness of my devices and their locations would allow for more verbal ambiguity when controlling things.

New comment by spookthesunset in "Ferret: A Multimodal Large Language Model"

spookthesunset — Sat, 23 Dec 2023 19:01:25 +0000

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the activation word “special” in that it has to work in very low power states? I always assumed that is why the wake words are fixed, because said words need to “fit” within a very small power budget.

New comment by spookthesunset in "Gemini AI"

spookthesunset — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 16:27:59 +0000

Knowing it’s own build information is something that could be trained into the model right? Seems like a good idea.

New comment by spookthesunset in "OpenAI negotiations to reinstate Altman hit snag over board role"

spookthesunset — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 22:04:24 +0000

The worldcoin thing really bugs me too. Any time there is crypto, somebody is scamming somebody else. Worldcoin is no different in this regard.

New comment by spookthesunset in "Meta disbanded its Responsible AI team"

spookthesunset — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 20:19:07 +0000

To me the biggest threat is using AI to make decisions with no human recourse. Do you want ChatGPT to be the sole judge deciding if you can get a mortgage or what interest rate it should be? Do you want ChatGPT to auto-delete your YouTube video with zero recourse or appeal process?

New comment by spookthesunset in "Meta disbanded its Responsible AI team"

spookthesunset — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 20:11:56 +0000

Who gets to decide what constitutes a “bad actor”? Sounds an awful lot like “dangerous misinformation”. And based on the last three years “dangerous misinformation” quite often means “information that goes against my narrative”

It’s a slippery slope letting private or even public entities define “bad actors” or “misinformation”. And it isn’t even a hypothetical… plenty of factually true information about covid got you labeled as a “bad actor” peddling “dangerous misinformation”.

Letting private entities whose platforms have huge influence on society decide what is “misinformation” coming from “bad actors” has proven to be a very scary proposition.

New comment by spookthesunset in "Ethernet Is Still Going Strong After 50 Years"

spookthesunset — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 18:02:49 +0000

Make sure your splitter is rated for like 1.8ghz so you don’t dramatically attenuate your signal. Cheap splitters will probably cause trouble.

New comment by spookthesunset in "Ethernet Is Still Going Strong After 50 Years"

spookthesunset — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 18:01:00 +0000

I can pull down a gig/sec no problem. Dunno how well it handles congestion or anything but it is way more than adequate for home use.

New comment by spookthesunset in "Ethernet Is Still Going Strong After 50 Years"

spookthesunset — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 17:59:35 +0000

I think it just sits in the mutli-ghz bands. It shouldn’t conflict with cable, which uses lower frequency bands. You just gotta make sure to install a low pass filter at your demarcation point so you aren’t broadcasting your MoCA stuff beyond your home.

You also have to use appropriate splitters that are rated for the top ends of the spectrum.

New comment by spookthesunset in "Ethernet Is Still Going Strong After 50 Years"

spookthesunset — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 17:57:48 +0000

True but if you don’t care about another power brick on both ends… it’s a quick, dirty, fast and effective way to bring wired Ethernet to every room with a cable jack.

New comment by spookthesunset in "Ethernet Is Still Going Strong After 50 Years"

spookthesunset — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 17:53:42 +0000

MoCA really doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Everybody always thinks if WiFi repeaters, or Ethernet over power line but MoCA is much faster and more reliable than either of them!

It’s perfect for apartments that have cabletv jacks in every room. Just make sure you are using the appropriate wideband splitters and have a filter at the cable demarcation in your dwelling.

New comment by spookthesunset in "Is this radical redesign of GIMP possible now?"

spookthesunset — Sun, 12 Nov 2023 00:13:48 +0000

Exactly. It requires a perfect match. No ambiguity. You need a more fuzzy search where you type in the concept and it gives you ideas of what to use. And if don’t even know the concept, well… ChatGPT?

New comment by spookthesunset in "A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993"

spookthesunset — Sat, 04 Nov 2023 18:25:52 +0000

Back then even light tree cover would sometimes trash the signal enough to lose position.

While modern GPS can get a position fix pretty quick, a cold start on standalone units can still take a while before it discovers enough satellites.

The crazy thing to me is now days my little tiny watch can do Wifi, Several Bluetooth protocols, 5G, NFC, Wireless charging and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting about. Oh and it supports a variety of global navigation satellite systems. Don't forget the high-res OLED display too. And the fact it is fully watertight.

All that while having a fairly impressive battery life.

New comment by spookthesunset in "The history of Rob 'CmdrTaco' Malda [audio]"

spookthesunset — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 19:39:32 +0000

I remember that as well. All the major new sites were unusable because they were so slow and crashy.

Slashdot had pictures and everything. What a wild time.

New comment by spookthesunset in "The history of Rob 'CmdrTaco' Malda [audio]"

spookthesunset — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 19:36:57 +0000

K5 was one of the few sites where I’d actually pay attention to the username of the poster. On sites like this one, it’s me writing to an anonymous, random person.

I think this is because k5 had diaries. It build a community of people who knew each other to some extent.

New comment by spookthesunset in "The negative impact of mobile-first web design on desktop"

spookthesunset — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 16:41:00 +0000

Vanguard's website has always been a mess, to be honest. It's really hard to figure out how to do some basic stuff like transfer money.

I figure their website is so bare bones because it reflects their low cost ETFs. They'd rather have a crappy website and cheap ETF's than a fancy website with slightly higher cost ETFs.

New comment by spookthesunset in "The negative impact of mobile-first web design on desktop"

spookthesunset — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 16:37:20 +0000

I haven't encountered a "pixel perfect" designer for at least 15 years now, if not more. Virtually every single UX designer I've worked with provides flexible designs that scale with screen size.

New comment by spookthesunset in "The negative impact of mobile-first web design on desktop"

spookthesunset — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 16:30:22 +0000

One problem with two separate designs is deciding when to show one vs. the other. This gets especially tricky when people share links. Wikipedia, for example, has two different URL's: one for mobile and one for desktop. How often do you get links to the mobile version instead of the other?

And if you keep the URL the same but serve different output depending on the browser, then you get inconsistent behaviour between two different devices.

Nailing the UX for mobile and desktop is actually pretty damn hard.

New comment by spookthesunset in "Bad Emacs defaults"

spookthesunset — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 15:19:29 +0000

Also learned two spaces and our class was taught on some ancient 8088’s

New comment by spookthesunset in "FTC sues Amazon for illegally maintaining monopoly power"

spookthesunset — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 17:16:26 +0000

Not really a straight comparison. That one on alibaba has a 100 unit minimum. But yeah, for some extra money, the dudes on alibaba will slap your logo and print your packaging.