TehPers

@TehPers@beehaw.org

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Reddit is putting more limits on Old.Reddit.com⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  Also buried in the article is that they’re killing off RSS feeds (unless you moderate that sub I guess).

  I haven’t touched Reddit in a long time now, and I have no plans to go back. But if I still did use it, killing old Reddit would have me leaving entirely. Their “new” interface was atrocious on release and I assume it’s far worse now that they’ve ramped up hard on ads.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Discord gives more advertisers more tools to target its users⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩:

  They also have been showing video ads occasionally to nitro subscribers, which kills any value nitro could have had.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered’ Hits A Metacritic Review Score Record⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  There are almost certainly bugs. Like any game, give it a few weeks (or months) before playing it unless you want to bugtest it.

  You can switch to an older version of the game in Steam if you want by going to the game properties in your library.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨New Mexico jury finds Facebook liable for over 43 million violations of consumer protection law—and Meta could owe over $200 billion in penalties⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  From my understanding, only federal criminal charges (and convictions) can be pardoned anyway, whereas I believe this is a state civil case (a lawsuit).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨US being left behind in EV charging speeds as China goes sub-5 min to 70%⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Ok I had to look up what the federal limit is here in the US and it’s apparently 10gal/min (~38L/min). Your pumps are just firehosing it then considering your fast one is more than triple the flow rate of the fastest pumps we can have here.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨US being left behind in EV charging speeds as China goes sub-5 min to 70%⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Either your tank is tiny, or your pump is firehosing that gas.

  Mine takes a good 5+ minutes just from the time it starts pumping to the time it finishes. It’s a >20gal tank though so I don’t fill it very often.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨GTA 6's $1 million billboard goes up despite protests from local police as Rockstar's real-life Miami takeover gets underway⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  From an article linked in this one:

  Via WSVN, Bermudez claims he’s “not against video games, but to go out and get a video game where – which glorifies not only our first responders getting shot, but also pedestrians and residents – it’s nonsensical.”

  Republican sheriff Cordero-Stutz similarly points to GTA’s crime-centric themes, adding: “At a time when law enforcement is working every day to reduce violent crime, prevent robberies and car thefts, combat drug trafficking, and build stronger relationships between our deputies and the communities we serve, I believe we need to seriously consider the message we send when our own government promotes a fictional identity centered around many of those same crimes.”

  Remember, kids. Guns don’t kill people. Games about guns kill people.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨New York sues prediction market Polymarket, calling it an unlicensed gambling operation⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m not driving under the influence, I’m travelling under the influence.

  These people are just sovereign citizens with a lot more money.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Flock Offers Employees Buyouts as Customers Flee⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  The article seems to conveniently hide the rampant corruption between Flock and local governments. Not that Wired has an obligation to include it, of course, but it’s still relevant context as to why everyone hates Flock.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Republican bill would order ISPs, DNS providers, and VPNs to block piracy sites⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I love how the Republicans like to talk shit about China, then turn around and propose their own Great Firewall, cameras on every corner, and so on.

  And sure, the Democrats aren’t much better here, but these seem to be pushed more aggressively by the Republicans it seems. Plus, for a party that claims to want less government, it’s very obvious that this goes against their brand.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Hackers Got Inside a Flock Camera. Its Data Shows How the System Really Works⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This. You’d definitely want the cameras to have only the public key. If they’re not doing that, then their security must be as bad as their morals because they know people are tearing these down everywhere already anyway.

  Of course, not using assymetric encryption makes them more auditable by “third parties” which is an unexpected benefit.

  I wonder if they at least use a different key per camera. This would be less necessary for asymmetric encryption, of course, but they don’t seem to be using it. If all the cameras are using the same key, then you can theoretically use the key these people pulled to access data on every other camera as well (possibly remotely if you can remote in somehow).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨South Korea gives 400 stalking victims app to track their stalkers in real time⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  FWIW, this seems ripe for data collection and field testing for free. (unless it’s a paid sub, then that’s worse)

  Exploiting abuse survivors to test a surveillance system is a new low —even for government. 🖕🏼

  Did you even read the article?

  Here, I’ll help you:

  The app’s effectiveness depends on courts ordering suspects to wear electronic tags, something that remains relatively rare in South Korean stalking cases.

  Police arrested 29,404 people on stalking charges across 2024 and 2025. Authorities made 1,187 applications for electronic monitoring during that period, but courts approved only 427.

  Your “surveillance system” is court-ordered ankle monitors for known stalkers. Which, sure, is surveillance. You know, for a convicted stalker.

  Whether the ones who were stalked want to know where there stalker is might be a different story, but there’s this cool thing you can do with apps where you turn off notifications and hide the app somewhere you never go. That way they don’t have to see where the stalker is and they still get the benefit of “if that distance falls below 1km, police and probation authorities receive an alert and contact the victim.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Patches a Record 974 Security Flaws in Biggest Update Ever⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This could be the “new normal” for 2026 and beyond, with monthly totals climbing sharply since mid-year.

  This would require there to constantly be security flaws to patch. Sure, vulnerabilities are inevitable, but steps can be taken proactively to avoid them, and no operating system (most of these vulnerabilities were in Windows) should be introducing an uncontrolled stream of constant vulnerabilities (in many cases against the user’s wishes).

  Anyway, patching security holes is a good thing at least so long as the total surface area of holes actually decreases over time.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨World-first biological data center packs 16 mn living human neurons⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Oh hey! Actual man-made horrors beyond comprehension!

  (Sorry, the fly brain simulation stuff felt so tame compared to this field)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Google mapped the brain and nervous system of a fruit fly, and modders forced it to play Doom⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This. Unlike the people using actual brains, these simulated brains are, for the most part, just linear algebra and no more a lifeform than a LLM. They lack all of the components of organic life, lack all the chemicals that make a real lifeform actually “feel”, and so on.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨OpenAI admits it didn't disclose rogue AI wiki hijacking incident⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  If nobody receives a criminal conviction for illegal hacking, then there was no hacking.

  So pick one. Is it illegal hacking? Or is it marketing? You can’t choose both.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘We’re plausibly close to crossing the line’: are warnings of uncontrollable AI coming true?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Remember when Claude Mythos/Fable was the end of the world?

  I guess you can’t end the world if the world already ended in 2012.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘We’re plausibly close to crossing the line’: are warnings of uncontrollable AI coming true?⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  No.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s mostly just management dictating from the top-down. I’ve heard everything from “it’s our company’s direction” to “investors are only funding AI expenses” and nothing actually grounded on (B2C) customer feedback.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft Paint and Photos Embed Server-Issued GUIDs as Invisible Watermarks in Locally-Generated Images⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Notepad had a “Copilot” button at one point. No clue if it’s still there though since I’m fully on Linux now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨US says Chinese hackers broke into Justice Department, NASA, Federal Reserve, Senate, and more⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  On the one hand, you can’t really believe the US government these days. On the other, the same can be said about the Chinese government.

  You know what would solve this, though? Make the government actually exciting to work for. Get people excited to work there, and you’ll find some talented security people who can lock things down. Instead, all the good positions are offered by companies, and the government isn’t on anyone’s radar especially after Trump/Musk fucked around with it and fired everyone.

  For all the money spent pointlessly on military, you could hire the most talented people in the country to run government services and you wouldn’t even need to sacrifice anything in the military if you just allow them to shop around and buy from the companies that won’t bend them over and beg for it. Hell, you could do all that and still provide healthcare to the entire nation.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Meta Just Paid Nearly $17 Billion To Make Sure It Gets To Write The Kid Safety Rules For Every Other Social Media Platform⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This is such a reach. The best argument Mike can give in favor of face filters is that they’re free speech, apparently, which is dubious (we’ve already decided that under-13s don’t get any social media “speech” at all). Maybe Mike is in favor of removing that caveat too.

  It’s also wrong. Meta has no obligation under the US constitution to protect anyone’s speech, nor does any private individual or business. This is just a case of “free speech absolutism” (aka “freeze peach absolutism”).

  What might (and likely would) be unconstitutional would be a law forbidding children from posting modified pictures of themselves anywhere online.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Colorado: to test the 911 service, you must first place a normal call to the 911 center. WTF, they don’t think you might be unable to do that?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Within the US, you should be able to make a 911 call with a phone that has no service as long as it’s able to connect to the cell tower at all.

  I don’t really have any recommendations on how to test this, though. If you have a phone with service, or a phone that once had service but doesn’t anymore, then those would be the devices I’d recommend reaching for in an emergency.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Question about the 4 hardest videogames among mods combinations and original games either those are not officially pc ported videogames.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s a wall of text that lists too many requirements to keep track of at once.

  Are you looking for hard souls-like games on PC? There’s a lot of good ones out there, but if you find them easy, it might be worth doing a challenge run (no damage, not allowed items or certain mechanics, etc). For example, I had a friend do a no-damage Sekiro run at max difficulty.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Local officials face death threats and gunfire over AI data center projects — More than 500 towns restrict builds as councils shutter public comment⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  The article gives only one example that I can find, and it reeks of “the opposition is threatening us and so we should ignore them”. Their example of the threats against the Marshall City Council members was dropped because the police “did not identify sufficient evidence” that a crime had been committed.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Local officials face death threats and gunfire over AI data center projects — More than 500 towns restrict builds as councils shutter public comment⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Who’s sending them death threats for not persuing data centers projects? Elon Musk?

  More generally, a politician who upsets their voters this much is a failed politician. Even when the populace is split, you can find things that they agree on and work towards that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sony Reminds PS Users They Don't Own Digital Games⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  This. Software is only ever licensed to you, never given.

  What’s important isn’t that it’s licensed (paid software has to be because it’s trivially reproducible), but what the terms of the license state. I’ve read game EULAs that, to my surprise, allowed you to transfer your license once to somebody else (along with instructions on how to do it). I’ve also read shitty EULAs, which is the vast majority of them.

  The biggest scam is when licenses can be unilaterally changed, which is sadly most of them.

  From a game preservation standpoint, the license should be nonrevocable, perpetual, and the game should be DRM-free. Using Steam games as an example, Steam is a DRM, but many games can be played without Steam by simply deleting the Steam API library from the game directory. Those would be playable regardless of whether Steam even exists anymore.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨ASML stands for Advanced Semiconductor Materials and Laser, and was an American company, so when did it become a French company?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Did you know non American companies are also allowed to have English names?

  This is even funnier when you consider how prevalent English is in NL.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨One In Five Drivers Switches Off The Safety Tech Meant To Save Their Lives⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Mine lets me adjust follow distance as well, so I don’t actually blame the car. It’s just not the right feature for me when I have no idea if the car 3 lanes over is going to cut across the entire highway to take an exit at the last second. Or for when I’m zipper merging and I have the dipshit who tailgates the car merging in front of me. And so on.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨One In Five Drivers Switches Off The Safety Tech Meant To Save Their Lives⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  unusable in city, highly situational outside. very annoying when someone merges just in front of you.

  I agree with this, which is why I find myself mostly using it on long stretches of highway.

  sooner or later it will stop working, because it will have trouble reading the lines. people are terrible at monitoring automatic system, that is the lesson we learned from airline cockpits, and i will rather drive my car, than anxiously wait for the moment what the half-assed system stops working. on top of that, my car start obnoxious alarm once it decides i am not holding the steering wheel tight enough, which is about 20 seconds after activation of this function.

  Maybe I’m missing something here, but at least on my car, lane keep assist only corrects you when you’re drifting out of the lane. The system that keeps you centered in the lane is called “active lane keep” which is only enabled for me when I also have cruise control turned on.

  I rarely use active lane keep, but when I do, it’s on a mostly empty highway. Also, I’m not the kind of driver who does shit while driving, so it’s quick at least for me to correct it if it’s wrong (and it occasionally is).

  ehm, are you using your turn indicators?

  When another lane merges into mine? No. The car still has no idea where my lane is though because the line on my right (for the US - I assume left in the UK?) disappears for a short time.

  (i admittedly don’t have personal experience with such system)

  Maybe some experience would do some good then? All it shows me is a number for my speed, a speed limit sign, and sometimes it’ll pick up school zones or no passing zones. It’s tiny and at the very periphery of my vision.