“Under the shelter of each other, we survive.” -Mike Davis, RIP
Human, curious; designer, usability advocate, oss fangirl; snowboarder, Michigan kid, Motörhead fan. Former Model UN dork. Still a general dork. #nobot#noindex
It's telling that most AI voices are modeled on young American or British women with heteronormative, "affluent cultured" voice characteristics.
Has any AI product come out with a Black American male voiced assistant? A young/white techbro voiced assistant? Were LeVar Burton or Zuck sought by OpenAI? An Asian or indigenous accented man?
There's reasons why the latter are avoided, and the first, produced almost exclusively. We're not talking about any of that, though—so the problems persist.
@ai6yr I want to say this makes me happy—so that all the doubters calling those of us seeing Nazi parallels "hyperbolic," can now clearly see that we are not—and vote for the other guy, instead.
@ai6yr I used to poo-poo it, as I felt it obscured and erased the horrors of the actual Nazis. But then Trump really stepped his shit up in recent years, and—well, it just isn't hyperbole. He really does want ethnic cleansing. Nobody remembers Slobodan Milosovic or knows the names other ethnic cleansing oligarchs, so Hitler, it is.
I really just read a local Sheriff candidate's website statement, outlining his vision for a "Sheriff's Posse (that) will be a highly trained, voluntary force to be activated in the general service of the public or in any case of natural disaster, public emergency, or any situation that exceeds that sheriff’s office ability to deploy adequate services to conserve the peace." #fascism
Cloud Brightening Study in California Is Halted by Local Officials
Researchers had been testing a sprayer that could one day be used to push a salty mist skyward, cooling the Earth. Officials stopped the work, citing health questions.
The experiment, conducted by researchers from the University of Washington, involved spraying tiny sea-salt particles across the flight deck of a decommissioned aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Hornet, docked in Alameda
New floor officially broken-in, by cat peeing AND pooping on it, this AM, to protest being locked-in my office while the crews finished the last room. Aluminum Oxide hardwood finish is officially THEE BEST!! No damage, no remaining odor. ✨
A big new iPad Pro with the new keyboard would be great but I checked and it’s $1848 which is $500+ more than a new 15” MacBook Air, and I didn’t see any mention of MagSafe charging being added to iPads.
If Apple made a home dock wireless charger/holder like the Google tablets have, I’d buy one for the kitchen counter as a family Apple Home controller/recipe lookup screen that is always charged and ready to play tv/movies when undocked.
@mathowie Dude, my 2013 iPad won't accept iOS updates anymore. I'm so mad, it WORKS FINE for my needs, otherwise; so now I can no longer use it for what I bought it for.
@steveportigal@mathowie My partner was sent a free iPhone by Verizon, once his was no longer supported. Which, he was still annoyed by, as he far preferred the older/smaller form-factor. I really, really do wish Apple would see those of us that prefer the dinky form factors, more.
@steveportigal@mathowie iOS comes with a faux "Home" button for transitioners—and I still haven't deactivated mine. I've had it on for over 2yrs, now.
I've been iPhone-only since it premiered in 2007, and the up-swipe to unlock the screen is just too un-intuitive. Still peeved that Ive disbanded the Human Factors team.
This might be the worst bathroom sink user interface I’ve encountered in a long time.
After some experimentation I discovered that they are, left to right, soap, water, and air dry. Or at least they’re supposed to be. The soap one didn’t motion trigger consistently and also was possibly empty.
@harris Oh goodness, at first glance they look like baby bear, mama bear, papa bear faucets, lol. That sink is... well, ok. Sure. Good luck when a paper towel or kleenex blocks the tiiny drain slot, lol.
Laying off an entire team because their manager wouldn't lay of a large chunk of the team to cut costs is the sort of penny wise, pound foolish portrayal of tech you'd expect from HBO's Silicon Valley not a company that the market calls one of the "Magnificent Seven".
This guy gets it: "There’s also this oily smell of AI and machine learning in the tech atmosphere, where I no longer feel relevant and I seem to have stopped caring about new tech when I noticed that 8 in 10 articles are about some new LLM or image generation model. I guess I like the smell of wood better." https://alinpanaitiu.com/blog/woodworking-escape-from-software-absurdity/#carving#software
@kentbrew YES!! I've also got new hardwood floors being installed at my house, and just the smell of the burning wood from the sawblades makes my heart flutter. :)
Treating core IT infrastructure teams as a cost center you outsource cheaper countries is what you expect from IBM or a dying bricks and mortar business not a big tech that made $23.6 billion in profit last year.
Let's reflect on our history in the US, with Black Power. The Black Panthers never intended for Black Power to translate into subjugation of White Americans by Black Americans. That was our interpretation, through fear.
Ask questions. Listen to answers. Prioritize care. Breathe.
We can all live together and in peace, if we choose to. Humanity has not chosen that path, historically. Empowering humanity over hegemony, is our challenge to rise up to.
And I'll be damned if I can't slowdance wit'choo;
come pour some sugar on me honey, too;
it's a real live boogie and a real live hold 'em;
don't be a bitch come take it to the floor now, ooh.
