lauren

lauren, 4 days ago (edited 4 days ago) to random

At the flickering campfire, outside the remains of the dark, deserted, ruined city ...

Old man: "And there were these massive machines, that filled giant buildings with endless aisles of cables and flickering lights, that used enormous amounts of electricity, that did all our writing for us!"

Child 1 : "What's electricity?"

Child 2: "And what's writing?"

orci, 4 days ago to random

Wife’s gone for 2 days. Let’s see what trouble I can get into unsupervised.

lauren, 4 days ago to random

Probably coming soon: "AI FOOD! Have conversations with your meats, fruits, and vegetables before consuming them!"

timbray, 4 days ago to random

A programmer can say “I’m mocking time” and be making perfect sense.

lauren, 4 days ago to random

How Makers of Nonconsensual AI Porn Make a Living on Patreon - https://www.404media.co/how-makers-of-nonconsensual-ai-porn-make-a-living-on-patreon/

lauren, 4 days ago to random

About 90% of the announcements I see about AI are effectively "lipstick on the AI pig."

lauren, 4 days ago to random

MIT students stole $25M in seconds by exploiting ETH blockchain bug, DOJ says - https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/05/sophisticated-25m-ethereum-heist-took-about-12-seconds-doj-says/

WearsHats, 4 days ago to random

I finally did it. I used an LLM. A couple of months ago, MS added its Copilot to Windows. I turned it off. But the latest update shoved it back in my face and tried to get me to let it use my data. So I asked it a question: How do I get rid of Copilot? It suggested I uninstall it like any other program, but MS removed that option. But Copilot went on to tell me the exact registry key to change to block it from loading, and now it's gone.

lauren, 4 days ago to Youtube

There are MANY videos on #YouTube explaining the so-called "Monty Hall" paradox, some diving deeply into fairly complicated probability math.

The paradox is traced back to the very long-running "Let's Make a Deal" game show, hosted for many, many years by Monty Hall.

The paradox involves the prospect of staying with your choice of one of three doors that might contain the grand prize, or switching to another of the three doors once you're shown that one of the doors you didn't choose doesn't contain the prize.

While most people assume that staying with their current pick is a reasonable choice, the math says that you should actually (for best results in the long run) switch to the other available door. It's really quite a non-intuitive probability puzzle.

The irony is that Monty when asked about the paradox consistently insisted that the show never actually offered contestants the choice to switch doors, and that the paradox was actually based on a "what if" postulation not the actual procedure on the show!

lauren, 4 days ago to random

Thought for the day: Trump's felony trial in NYC will be over, and a verdict will have been rendered, weeks before the first scheduled debate with Biden. In fact, it's quite likely the trial will be over before the end of this month, with room to spare.

lauren, 4 days ago (edited 4 days ago) to random

The only useful aspect of Google's "Help me write" AI feature is that since #Google admits the text that you write can be reviewed by humans (don't say anything personal), this feature could be used in a contest. See who can submit witty enough missives to "Help me write" so that the likely minimum wage workers who have to spend their days reviewing this crap will do spit takes all over their screens.

lauren, 4 days ago to random

If Mozilla isn't expecting a significant blowback from the "search analytics" features they've just announced in Firefox, they're kidding themselves.

glennf, 4 days ago to random

Listen, I know the universe doesn’t work this way. But I’m listening to a podcast and someone on the podcast says the word “mat” at the moment I am filling in the word “mat” in the crossword puzzle, it just feels weird! Yes, yes, every other word in the crossword puzzle, they didn’t say.

lauren, 4 days ago (edited 3 days ago) to random

Biden and Trump have agreed to two debates. Will these actually occur?

lauren, 4 days ago to random

The newly revealed official portrait of King Charles is, uh ... eh ... hmm. Unusual.

lauren, 4 days ago to random

One reason why both the Biden and Trump campaigns probably agreed so quickly to do these debates bypassing the commission, is that this arrangement locks out RFK, Jr., who both sides know is likely to draw votes from both but has zero chance of being elected. And frankly such important debates should only be between the two candidates who can actually win for this critical election.

lauren, 4 days ago to random

Biden and Trump agree to debate in June and September on CNN and ABC, bypassing the usual presidential debates commission that the GOP said they would not participate with. - https://www.npr.org/2024/05/15/1251520721/biden-proposes-debates-in-june-and-september-and-names-terms-trump-says-yes

lauren, 4 days ago to random

Ebury is alive but unseen: 400k Linux servers compromised for cryptocurrency theft and financial gain - https://web-assets.esetstatic.com/wls/en/papers/white-papers/ebury-is-alive-but-unseen.pdf

dangillmor, 5 days ago to random

If you care about voters being genuinely informed on key issues, the absolute worst thing about presidential so-called debates is live audiences filled with partisans.

But for media corporations, it's all about money -- and they love these events because they generate ratings.

lauren, 5 days ago to random

BREAKING: Trump supposedly agrees to debate Biden on June 27 on CNN. Biden says he wants to debate twice, Trump side supposedly wants two more debates during the summer. Biden side prefers no audiences, Trump side wants audiences. Trump also claims Biden challenged him to golf. Biden had suggested good debate dates would be on Wednesdays since "Trump is free then." Not a bad line. Trump says "Let's rumble." Biden says "Make my day, pal." Trump says Biden might not show up. Many observers question whether Trump will show up. Don't hold your breath on any aspect of this one, dear friends.

nisjasper, 5 days ago to modeltrains German

So my 12 year old kid loves #modeltrains to death: machines, tracks, landscapes, everything. Unfortunately, this is a hobby dominated by grumpy old men, some of whom don't react too cool towards a rainbow family. Are there any familys out there with #trainkids? #Berlin, Germany, wherever? I am thinking exchange of photos or small films, maybe sending stuff to and fro, meetings in Germany at some point. German, English works. Neurodivergent kids/parents welcome. #modellbahn #Modellbau

lauren, 5 days ago (edited 5 days ago) to random

***** A few words about Google's future *****

At #Google I/O today, the firm is publicizing an array of new projects. Some of them seem flashy and relatively useless, others seem like they could be very worthwhile. How many of either category will still exist five years from now is of course a crucial question given Google's history.

But Google I/O is merely the gloss, in many respects what has become the so-called "lipstick on the pig". Because Google executives have permitted their race for the golden and in many respects false prize of "Artificial Intelligence" to cloud their vision, and to permit an increasing number of basic services that billions of Google users depend on every day to, in effect, rot away.

The collapse of Google Search, once a global technological wonder, has been profound. Often incorrect or even inane generative AI responses now often supersede links to the very sites from which Google is obtaining the raw material for their AI systems (usually without any form of compensation, while driving down user click-throughs).

A similar decline is obvious in various other core Google services.

Of great continuing concern to me is the very foundation of how virtually all Google users access most Google services -- Google accounts themselves. I continue to be flooded by persons who have problems with their Google accounts through no fault of their own, including lockouts and permanently lost crucial personal data, with Google's automated systems providing them with no resolutions, only horrific frustration. Google's frankly poorly conceived and rushed implementation of passkeys -- and the pushing of users to them who typically do not understand them and have more problems as a result -- is making matters even worse. What good are fancy new services when your Google account needed to use them may lock you out at any time with effectively no genuine ability to appeal?

Some groups of Google users -- such as seniors and other users with special needs who may not be technologically sophisticated -- are especially affected by these sorts of problems and suffer mightily as a result. I don't think Google actually "hates" these users -- I think Google simply does not want to make the minimal efforts required to help them, basically treating them with much the same disdain as you might flick a bug off your shirt.

There is so much that would be relatively simple for Google to do that would vastly improve the user experience for these users and others -- but Google seems to only care about the majority, and if you're in the minority, well, if you swing slowly in the wind locked out of your account, too bad for you. Google's got other fish to fry to keep the profit centers humming.

I could go on, but you get the gist. I don't hate Google. I still have major respect for the firm and especially for Googlers (Google employees) in general. But I am enormously disappointed with the direction executives are now taking the firm, and this seems to be getting worse at an accelerating rate.

And that's very, very sad to see. -L