TehPers

@TehPers@beehaw.org

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Facebook and Instagram to charge UK users £3.99 a month for ad-free version⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t and won’t ever use these platforms, but to me this seems like a good thing? Option to not have ads is huge.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Latest Update For The Struggling Civ 7 Aims To Address One Of The Game's Primary Issues⁩ ⁨⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s a few issues I have with it, but the age transitions isn’t one of them. The modern age, when I last played, felt far too short. I also found that it’s more fun to play with longer age lengths and no crisis.

  I already have a few hundred hours into it. If the game interests you, I’d recommend it. They’ve done a lot the past few months to improve the balance.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Regulating AI hastens the Antichrist, says Palantir’s Peter Thiel⁩ ⁨⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  I hope so.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Latest Update For The Struggling Civ 7 Aims To Address One Of The Game's Primary Issues⁩ ⁨⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Meh my biggest complaint about Civ 7 was around unique districts being placed randomly by the AI, making captured cities a lot worse than cities you create yourself.

  They’ve made changes to the age system so that more carries over between ages now, but the age system never really bothered me. It’s a more explicit rubber banding mechanic. It’s not for everyone though, and there are a couple things I don’t like about it, but it’s different than previous Civs, and a nice change from the snowballing in Civ 6.

  I think their biggest mistake with this game was just changing too much at once. It’s a lot different than Civs 5 and 6, and I’m wondering if people were just expecting more of that instead.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Apple demands EU repeal the Digital Markets Act⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  For example, Apple said it had had to delay certain features, such as live translation via its AirPods, to make sure they complied with the DMA’s requirement for “interoperability.” The EU rules specify that apps and devices made by one company need to work with those made by competitors.

  Apple realizes that compliance with law takes time and is mandatory as opposed to optional. In other news, grass is green (when watered, anyway).

  The DMA requirements basically come down to “don’t be an anticompetitive PoS that manufactures e-waste” which of course ruffles their feathers since that’s their entire business model.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Pro-Trump app built to expose Charlie Kirk’s critics ends up exposing its own users in massive data leak⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  So where’s the leaked data? Asking for a friend.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Block Blasters: Theft of $32k in crypto from a stage 4 cancer patient due to valve’s incompetence in allowing malware on their platform⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  While this would be nice, it’s not that hard to design malware that hides itself in certain environments. It’s actually extremely common for more advanced malware to disable itself in sandboxes, for example.

  For other reasons, that might be nice though. It at least enforces some level of quality and playability.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Pentagon Bans Tech Vendors From Using China-Based Personnel After ProPublica Investigation⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Bribery and backdoors? Which government are we talking about here? Those are features.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I am just wondering if my latest 2 games are fun and wondering if I should allow donations on my site⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I see no reason someone shouldn’t be allowed to ask for donations. If you want to accept donations, go for it. There doesn’t need to be a special reason to do so.

  Donations should come without obligations though. If someone donates, yay, but donations should never be in exchange for something (that would be a payment).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Why OpenAI’s solution to AI hallucinations would kill ChatGPT tomorrow⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  They lost me on LLMs getting good.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Comcast Executives Warn Workers To Not Say The Wrong Thing About Charlie Kirk | 404 Media⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t work for Comcast and I never will, so let me say this for all of the affected workers:

  Fuck him. I will not mourn him. He registers as nothing more than a statistic to me. I’d much rather spend my time mourning children getting mowed down at school than him.

  Anyway, hope that gives the workers some relief.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨best comment under a video about the new iphone 17⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  You can get something like a NexDock that has all of that built in. Just 1 cable.

  Maybe I’m missing something, but how is this more convenient than a laptop? It has the form factor of one, so you’re already stuck carrying around what is basically a laptop. Wouldn’t a super cheap Chromebook or similar be more convenient since it’s a full desktop experience with all you’d expect from a desktop environment?

  Anyway, working entirely on mobile is a thing these days, so if that works for you, keep doing what you’re doing. If all you need is a bigger browser, I’d also recommend a tablet with a detachable keyboard. If you want to keep the experience consistent between devices, honestly I’d suggest an iPhone and iPad (as much as I avoid Apple myself).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft mandates a return to office, 3 days per week⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Friend lives further than Bainbridge, but works in Seattle. Ask me why I know the ferry commute lol. He got his home for pretty cheap due to the distance.

  There are some maps online of the connector routes, and what you said seems to align with them. Based on those maps, seems like lots of focus on Seattle and surrounding communities, with some extension north and south from Redmond.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft mandates a return to office, 3 days per week⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  For what it’s worth, there are a lot of people across the sound who either work remotely or commute everyday. The ferry, in travel time alone, is ~45m (from start of boarding to end of getting off, assuming you take the car you’ll need with this commute). This is of course assuming you make the ferry and don’t end up waiting for the next ferry or two due to traffic (each ferry carries only so many cars), and assuming no issues with their schedule (they are behind all the time).

  Brinnon is a weird example, but an example involving the ferry isn’t too far fetched. I have a friend at a big company who lives on that side, and I considered it myself (and would have, had I been able to afford the home I wanted anyway).

  Without traffic, Bainbridge Island to Redmond is ~1.5h. With traffic? Not happening.

  Good news about MS specifically is that it does have the connector (their commute busses). It doesn’t go everywhere, and definitely not across the sound, but does help with some commutes if you happen to be close to a stop.

  Anyway, RTO has historically been a terrible policy designed to shrink the workforce without layoffs and has resulted consistently in worse outcomes for companies.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨have some standards⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  MMOs? You’re a lost cause, sorry.

  (Unless she also likes MMOs, then you’re meant for each other)

  (Also, /s ofc, but remember to take breaks to spend time together)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google AI Mode To Become Default For Google Search Soon⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Been using Kagi. It does everything I want, so as long as it continues to not serve ads and doesn’t force me to use AI overviews or anything, I’ve got no major complaints. I hear there’s a lot of other great options too though.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google AI Mode To Become Default For Google Search Soon⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Can someone TL;DR on what “AI mode” is? Haven’t used Google in a while, but it sounds like a chatbot to me.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨OK. I'm at wit's end attempting to convince Google's LLM to pronounce an English name correctly.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The modeld themselves are nondeterministic. Also, they tend to include a hidden (or sometimes visible) random seed that gets input into the models as well.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Midjourney's troubles get worse as Warner Bros Discovery sues the AI image generator for copyright infringement⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Generally speaking, a person making fan art and not selling it is going to be protected under fair use.

  This is not generally true. The fan art also usually needs to be sufficiently transformative, and could still be violating, for example, if a character is widely licensed.

  Fair use is really complicated. Usually it’s better to see if the copyright holder has any public policies on community creations, like WOTC’s fan content policy.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Midjourney's troubles get worse as Warner Bros Discovery sues the AI image generator for copyright infringement⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Fair use, in the US anyway, is based on four factors (source):

  (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

  Not selling fan art helps to bolster factor #1, though that alone isn’t enough. Fair use itself would need to be determined by a judge, but ensuring the work is transformative enough and doesn’t disincentivize someone from purchasing the original work is probably enough commercial or not, but noncommercial theoretically should help.

  (Not a lawyer, but I’ve followed this a bit)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Is Hollow Knight Silksong's 'cheap' price a problem for other indie games? Devs and publishers weigh up its impact | Eurogamer⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The price of one game is not a problem for the price of another game. Make better games, or learn to market them better. Silksong’s hype is nothing short of a crazy marketing success, and its price is indicative of a dev team that wants people to actually play and enjoy their game.

  Also, I think it’s been made very clear that people would have been willing to spend more for it. Make a great game, and you’ll likely receive the same reception. And sure, charge $30 instead, and people will buy it if your game is good.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I refuse to by a new mouse⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Originally needed them for modded Minecraft. I ran out of keys on my keyboard for all the keybindings that mods wanted.

  Also tried using them in ffxiv, at least for the short period of time that I played it (fun game but I don’t have the time sadly).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨An AI Social Coach Is Teaching Empathy to People with Autism⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This is a title of all time. Seems like it’s supposed to teach how to express empathy, not how to have empathy. That title goes in the books for being a fuck up of all time.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨I refuse to by a new mouse⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Been using this mouse for years. The scroll wheel is already spazzing out whenever I use it. Still, haven’t had any complaints about it other than that (except for needing iCue).

  I don’t need all the side buttons anymore though, so I may go for something simpler for my next mouse. Still, it was the best mouse I could find with that many inputs available to it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨"There will be a Stardew Valley 1.7 update": Creator ConcernedApe confirms another update to the immortal life sim hot off a new Haunted Chocolatier tease⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  There are mods to do this.

  Would it be nice in the base game? Sure, but it’s not there, and speculating that he’s a transphobe because of that seems like a hell of a conclusion to make.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Doubting Your Favorite Web Search Engine⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s been fine for me as well. The article’s definitely a bit tin-foily in a lot of sections, so I’d go to specific ones that you care about and look at those instead.

  I just use it as an alternative search engine that is supported through a subscription rather than ads and sponsored results. Being able to manually rank sites is also super helpful and lets me bring sites like MDN to the top while pushing w3school and etc below it.

  Anything beyond that, as far as I’m concerned, is extra. Not selling user data is a big extra though, and I’ll likely reconsider if that ever changes.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Meta might be secretly scanning your phone's camera roll - how to check and turn it off⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Well my choices were this or Apple, and F-Droid was only available on one of the two.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Meta might be secretly scanning your phone's camera roll - how to check and turn it off⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Already on Android, but this will be me once Google starts shitting on its users and enforcing that new policy.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Dumbest Phone Is Parenting Genius: Landlines encourage connection—without the downsides of smartphones.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  They’re real. In gated communities.

  I’ve seen it before, but the homes cost multiple millions of dollars. Not in my price range lol.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Does AI need to be perfect to replace jobs?⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This is exactly how most developers are being asked to use it

  [citation needed]

  At work, we get emails, demos, etc constantly about how they’re using AI to generate everything from UI designs (v0) to starter projects and how they manage these huge prompts and reference docs for their agents.

  Copilot’s line-by-line suggestions are also being pushed, but they care more about the “agentic” stuff.

  I watch coworkers regularly ask it to “add X route to the API” or “make a simple UI that calls Y API”. They are asking it to do their work.

  I have to review these PRs. They come in at an incredible rate, and almost always conflict with each other. I can’t review them fast enough to still do my work.

  Also, we get AI-generated code reviews at work. I have to talk to a chatbot to get help from HR. Some search bars have been replaced with chatbots. It’s everywhere and I’m getting sick of it.

  I just want real information from informed people. I want to review code that a human did their best to produce. I want to be able to help people improve their skills, not just their prompts.

  I’m getting to the point where I’m going to start calling people out if their chatbot/agent/LLM/whatever produces slop. I’m going to give them ownership of it. It’s their output, not the AI’s.