@samvarma@fosstodon.org
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

samvarma

@samvarma@fosstodon.org

Chicago, U.S.A. | Guitarist, video editor, photographer

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dimillian, to random
@dimillian@mastodon.social avatar

Imagine reading a book about one concept. And then, imagine reading a corpus of text about this concept. You get acclimated to this concept. It gets familiar to you. Then, you start to communicate this idea to other people naturally. But it's so familiar that when they ask you where you got to learn about this, you can't bring yourself to remember exactly from which source material it was.

Now LLM’s are like that. Thinking it's industrial theft (yeah, I've read that) is a bad take.

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@dimillian I think it's much more like if I go to the bookstore and I photocopy all the pages of all the books, and then when somebody comes to ask me a question I charge them and give them whichever photocopy pages they want

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@dimillian I mean once again, don't get me wrong, I am excited by the possibilities and I can clearly see how this is valuable. But I have spent my entire life becoming a professional musician, and the idea that OpenAI will come along and train their data set on my work, and then be able to spit out an "averaged" version of my work to make money (making it unnecessary for anyone to come and find me) is theft of a sort.

mike, to random
@mike@fosstodon.org avatar

I find the etymology of surnames to be fascinating, maybe because my first and last name are pretty boring. I was in a meeting this morning with an individual with the last name of "Bonesteel". There's just GOT to be a story there.

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@mike 😂 fucking metal

dimillian, to random
@dimillian@mastodon.social avatar

Without AI I wouldn’t get any icons for @IceCubesApp 🤷

From: @Gargron
https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/111540601270069143

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@dimillian @IceCubesApp @Gargron No judgement, but what you're really saying is you would've had to pay a graphic designer.

Don't get me wrong: drum software means I don't need to go out and pay a drummer to play my songs… unless I really want to make art in which case I need to find the best drummer I can

csilverman, to art
@csilverman@mastodon.social avatar

Had an "oh my god" moment just now when, on upgrading to iOS 17, I opened Notes and saw new tools to play with.

I'm freaking out. The crayon and watercolor especially are going to be game-changing.

Best part: this toolset works on attachments now. That means I can zoom while drawing, which is key to the process as some of you know.

Thank you @shantini and all the other talented folks at Apple who just gave me some new superpowers here.

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@csilverman @shantini Great now they can be disturbing in much more detailed ways

samvarma, to guitar
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

Some killer info here, my brothers and sisters

A Quick History of Guitar Pickup Magnets Through the Years - Premier Guitar https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/pickups/pickup-magnets-through-the-years

samvarma, to photography
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

Anchorage, Alaska, 2 weeks ago. Was there briefly for a gig, and had one afternoon to just wander around. Saw this tiny cottage embedded amongst much newer buildings and was just so intrigued. There has to be a story there… Then there were the low clouds rolling around above the inlet, and the frozen mud flats exposed by the low tide.

image/jpeg
image/jpeg

kev, (edited ) to random
@kev@fosstodon.org avatar

I have another account on the Fedi, @kq, but I don’t make use of that account. Thinking about making it my home on the Fedi. Wuddya reckon?

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@kev @kq IDK, some of the fun of social media is people posting about what they're into, which gives you a small window into that enthusiasm that you wouldn't otherwise have

samvarma, to random
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

Yeah, I'll be keeping my home dumb as fuck.

Why would I enshittify my own home with tech "products" https://mastodon.macstories.net/@johnvoorhees/111376662463424133

taylorlorenz, to random
@taylorlorenz@mastodon.social avatar

"By co-hosting tonight's debate with Rumble, NBC is legitimizing a video-sharing platform that bankrolls self-described misogynists and promotes right-wing conspiracy theorists." https://www.newsweek.com/nbc-picked-wrong-partner-take-republican-debate-opinion-1842107

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@taylorlorenz The only reasonable conclusion is that these people are in it together against the citizens

sdw, to random
@sdw@mastodon.social avatar

Alaska Airlines’ new Tlingit native art livery by Crystal Worl is stunning. I wish all their planes were designed like this. https://news.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/alaska-native-artist-crystal-worl-designs-alaska-airlines-aircraft/

image/jpeg

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@sdw Ha! Serendipitous — flying to Anchorage for a gig tomorrow

samvarma, to random
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

Best breakdown I've seen

(Via @tvaziri) https://mastodon.social/@5tu/111370443716363004

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@chris_hayes @tvaziri Totally! Love the tone, and the way he casually demystifies a lot of this stuff. It also seems like the more I learn the less it seems that the camera matters; it's ultimately just an eye that sees whatever cheap & slapdash/expensively polished things you put in front of it

gruber, to random
@gruber@mastodon.social avatar

Spitball idea for iOS: When doing a screen recording, automatically turn on Do Not Disturb for the duration of the recording.

So many times when I’m recording my screen, say, to have a video to send a developer with a bug report, the recording gets ruined by an incoming notification.

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@gruber Weird place for this setting… I only saw it after tapping the option to add a new DND schedule. The control was not visible anywhere else. Once I did turn it on however, it is now in the focus mode menu, and there seems to be no way to get rid of it so I'm wondering if that was maybe a bug…

openculture, to random
@openculture@toot.community avatar

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Historical Primers That Help Explain the Century-Long Conflict

https://www.openculture.com/2023/11/the-israeli-palestinian-conflict-a-historical-primer.html

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@openculture This'll get you there also. Easily the greatest contributor to my understanding of the situation.

https://overcast.fm/+vNFoYvs8U

samvarma, to guitar
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

! I'm a pro with the band Maggie Speaks. Freelance video editor (indie doc Cover 21: Ignite Chicago, on Amazon). Amateur .

Interests:


























Languages:

codinghorror, to random

Is it just me or "do humans have free will" one of those completely pointless, abstract, hypothetical discussions that simply doesn't matter one god damn bit?

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@codinghorror @vincent Man, I ran into a musician who was now a philosophy student at a gig recently, and I asked him if I should take seriously the philosophical output of such insufferable assholes as Nietzche etc. He said one had to separate the ideas from the people, and that some ideas were better than others.

Later on I saw him standing by himself on a packed dance floor holding a drink. Never saw him in the company of anyone else.

Make of that what you will.

rowan_johnson, to random
@rowan_johnson@mas.to avatar

I don’t disagree with @matt on this, but I do think there are a lot of people out there on the periphery who will hear:

“Apple filmed their latest ads with an iPhone!”

and assume that means a stock, $1500 device.

Instead of realising it means Apple spent millions of dollars on hiring professionals, building sets, lighting and grip equipment - and ultimately overcoming the iPhone camera’s shortcomings.

https://birchtree.me/blog/shotoniphone/

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@rowan_johnson @matt Don't think I'm wading into controversy here, but it seems to me that what we have learned is that as an image capture device, it is now possible to use an iPhone to get professional level results, assuming all other elements of professional production are there?

SmudgeTheInsultCat, to random
@SmudgeTheInsultCat@mas.to avatar
samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@SmudgeTheInsultCat 🤣 Cc @ibwatson @ambulephabus

sdw, to random
@sdw@mastodon.social avatar

Would it be too much if I do a comparison post with the M11-P to the iPhone 15 Pro?

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@sdw No

davidpierce, to random
@davidpierce@mastodon.social avatar

IT'S HAPPENING

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@davidpierce Oh damn

sdw, to random
@sdw@mastodon.social avatar

Imagine waking up at night to check your phone only to find Dark Finder staring back at you

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@sdw 😧

IceCubesApp, to random
@IceCubesApp@mastodon.online avatar

So you would be fine with a behavior like the official app for feeds? Loading the newest 20 posts and then showing a gap to load more posts in between?

I can think about doing that, but I'll certainly not keep the current and this new behavior. So, a choice needs to be made.

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@koalie @ajlburke @IceCubesApp +1

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@IceCubesApp I like the behavior in Mona/Ivory: always shows my feed where I left off, and as I get to the more recent stuff it will show a gap with the option to load posts above or below it. Also if I tap the home tab on the bottom it takes me to the newest posts, but then gives me the option to return to where I was. This is great if you mistakenly tap and lose your place in the timeline. I have always liked to go from where I am to more recent in chronological order.

dimillian, to random
@dimillian@mastodon.social avatar

Maybe, just maybe, X considering levaving the EU and Threads not being available there shoudl make some of you question the EU.

samvarma,
@samvarma@fosstodon.org avatar

@dimillian You've learned the engagement bait lessons well, young padawan

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