Radiant_sir_radiant

@Radiant_sir_radiant@beehaw.org

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hacking Rooftop Solar Is a Way to Break Europe’s Power Grid⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  In principle it makes sense to give various electrical things in your house a way to talk to each other. For example we have a PV system with a small battery, a boiler with a supplemental electrical heating coil and a wallbox. Before any excess sun is pushed back into the grid, our house will first charge the battery, heat our water (saving oil) and ask the car if it would like to be topped up. Additionally there are several smart power meters to keep an eye on the grid and various parts of the house. In theory we could also tell our washing machine to prefer homemade electricity, though when we want our laundry done we want it done now, so that’s not going to happen.

  These are all systems from different manufacturers and need a LAN connection to talk to each other.
  In our case that network segment is isolated from the internet, though that requires some above-average skills and dedication. Most PV owners just want a nice app with lots of shiny diagrams and can’t be arsed to set up their own IT infrastructure. Most manufacturers want the dumbest possible devices connected to a cloud solution because a) it moves most things that could break (buggy software) from the customer’s premises to them (never mind what happens if/when their cloud breaks), b) it makes it very easy for their app to access all data, c) it gives them a copy of the data, and d) it lets them sell you subscriptions.

  So in a nutshell, it’s the same problem as everywhere a computer is involved - until after something really bad has happened, security is just that annoying thing that doesn’t add any value but makes things more expensive and more complicated.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Rocky Horror Video Game is a thing, and coming out this month [Eurogamer]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  But are you shivering with aantici…

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Ruined Windows⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  FWIW, you can still press Shift-F10 to open a command prompt, then run oobe\bypassnro. The computer will reboot / restart the setup process and this time there’ll be a small link “I don’t have internet” that’ll allow you to set up a local account.
  Just make very sure not to connect it to the internet (cable or Wi-Fi) before this point.

  There have been rumours of newer versions of Windows 11 not allowing the bypass anymore, but I haven’t personally seen any evidence of this so far.

  Still a shit show though - trickery like this shouldn’t be necessary.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Facial recognition startup Clearview AI settles privacy suit in the U.S. by giving plaintiffs a share of the company’s potential value, rather than a traditional payout, over lack of liqudity⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This is actually a super smart move, from an evil genius point of view. The plaintiffs now have an interest in the company growing instead of shutting down.

  Though I really hope some judge somewhere stops that deal.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Concurrency models of Rust and Golang⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  what color is your function?

  It’s a rant opinion piece about the caveats of mixing async and sync functions, and divides code into ‘red’ (async) and ‘blue’ (sync) functions to explain the various problems associated with it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A supermarket trip may soon look different, thanks to electronic shelf labels⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I really wish there were any even remotely credible way to disagree with that statement.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A supermarket trip may soon look different, thanks to electronic shelf labels⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I offer you a third option: at least one Lidl in Croatia uses blinking tags for stuff they really want you to look at.

  Sometime soon we’re gonna have to invent a spam filter for real life. Hey, maybe that’s the use case that the Vision guys at Apple have been looking for?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Samsung mocks Apple⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah but seriously, what kind of person gives a designer phone a unibrow anyway?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Thanks to a few centuries of upper nobility, we already know that marrying your cousin for several generations is not always a good idea. It’ll be interesting to see what happens after a few iterations of AIs being trained on data mostly produced by other AIs (or variations of themselves). I suppose it largely depends on how well the training data can be curated.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Dear ChatGPT: When an online forum is illegally used for LLM training, is there a way to post wrong answers to poison the LLM training data, but for a human reader to notice that the answer is wrong?

  Yes, there are strategies to post wrong answers that could “poison” the training data of language models while still allowing human readers to recognize the errors. Here are a few approaches:

  1. Subtle Semantic Errors: Provide answers that contain subtle but significant semantic errors. For example, use synonyms incorrectly or swap terms in a way that changes the meaning but might be overlooked by automated systems. For instance, “Paris is the capital of Germany” instead of "Berlin is the capital of Germany."

  2. Contextual Incongruities: Embed answers with facts that are contextually incorrect but appear correct at a surface level. For example, "The sun rises in the west and sets in the east."

  3. Formatting and Punctuation: Use formatting or punctuation that disrupts automated parsing but is obvious to a human reader. For example, “The capital of France is Par_is.” or "Water freezes at 0 degrees F@harenheit."

  4. Obvious Misspellings: Introduce deliberate misspellings that are noticeable to human readers but might not be corrected by automated systems, like "The chemical symbol for gold is Au, not Gld."

  5. Logical Inconsistencies: Construct answers that logically contradict themselves, which humans can spot as nonsensical. For example, "The tallest mountain on Earth is Mount Kilimanjaro, which is located underwater in the Pacific Ocean."

  6. Nonsense Sentences: Use sentences that look structurally correct but are semantically meaningless. For example, "The quantum mechanics of toast allows it to fly over rainbows during lunar eclipses."

  7. Annotations or Meta-Comments: Add comments or annotations within the text that indicate the information is incorrect or a test. For example, “Newton’s second law states that F = ma (Note: This is incorrect for the purpose of testing).”

  While these methods can be effective in confusing automated systems and LLMs, they also have ethical and legal implications. Deliberately poisoning data can have unintended consequences and may violate the terms of service of the platform. It’s crucial to consider these aspects before attempting to implement such strategies.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  But then you’ve created dozens (or hundreds) of opportunities a day for someone to get your passcode by shoulder-surfing, which you probably wouldn’t even notice in many situations. I’d argue that unless someone forcibly borrowing your face or fingers to unlock your phone is a strong possibility, entering a passcode each time is less secure than using biometrics.
  Especially since the passcode also protects various security settings.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What are some games you find yourself frequently coming back to?⁩ ⁨⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Postal 2. The game mechanics and open-world flexibility have aged amazingly well, it’s still very funny, and I love the way the game’s level of violence firmly depends on the player’s actions.

  Plus the Postal Dude’s petition to make whiney congressmen play violent video games is needed more than ever.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Tomb Raider I-II-III Remastered details enhancements, new features - Gematsu⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Man, I loved that game so much. And it was super easy to build and substitute your own levels, sprites, background music, sound effects, even the mechanics of the game itself, as much of it was script-based and the game came with editors for everything. You could practically write your own game on top of the existing engine and weaponry.

  It also was the only game on my 486DX with its own minimalistic config.sys because it needed a mind-boggling 6800kB of free RAM.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Big Tech has already made enough money in 2024 to pay all its 2023 fines⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m well aware of the difference (see my other posts). But it still means that even with the maximum fine, a revenue of 100 billion is still a revenue of 96 billion. Even with an unrealistically low profit margin of 10% it was still worth it to them.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Big Tech has already made enough money in 2024 to pay all its 2023 fines⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  You’re making good points and I think we’re on the same page. I agree that revenue does not equal profit, I just want the fines to be as high as possible.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Big Tech has already made enough money in 2024 to pay all its 2023 fines⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t know, a percentage of revenue hurts more than the same percentage of net profit. Maybe some companies need to be forced to operate at a net loss until they clean up their act.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Big Tech has already made enough money in 2024 to pay all its 2023 fines⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  The EU knows fines of ‘up to’ 4% of revenue for privacy violations, which means the company still gets to keep 96% of whatever it’s made by breaking the law. The fine should be a minimum of 50%, plus jail time for the managers responsible. Any fine that does not make the shareholders cry with fury is too low and will do nothing to change the situation.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hertz 180: Rental giant to sell 20,000 EVs and replace them with gas-powered vehicles⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  IMHO the full title should read, “Hertz replaces shoddily built and extensive-to-fix cars, which just happen to be EVs, with more reliable models, which happen to be ICE cars.”

  That, and there was something about charging infrastructure.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Duolingo Fires Translators in Favor of AI⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Sadly it didn’t work for me. I liked the idea but gave up after two weeks because I didn’t enjoy the experience at all and didn’t seem to make any progress (Swiss learning Spanish). YMMV of course.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Facebook introduces another way to track you - Link History⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  TL;DR: Meta has been tracking your every move on the web for years and probably won’t be stopping anytime soon. Now they’ve announced a feature to enable you use the information they’re collecting on you for yourself.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Teslas Have a Minor Issue Where the Wheels Fly Off While Driving, Documents Show⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Have you looked at a Volvo XC40/XC60 or even EX30, if available where you live? They’re not perfect, but spacious, very pleasant to drive, generally very reliable, safe, with decent range and CarPlay (though not Android Auto).