thomasapowell

thomasapowell, 1 month ago to random

Be it nfts, various crypto schemes, react, metaverse, tailwind, etc. every single time older techies with common sense & a desire to test things we have seen a gap between the bullshit and actual reality. Now when we are doing it for things like LLMs and generative AI once again it is you are a cynic, a hater, out of touch, etc.

Computing is getting so unprofessional we simply don’t respect lived & earned expertise anymore. It’s ageism, grifting, and magical thinking taking over 😢

sysop408, 1 month ago to Amazon

So apparently the #Amazon #AI auto checkout was just low-wage human surveillance. I suspect the real story is both more and less damning at the same time.

I'm sure they did intend for the checkout to eventually be fully automated with minimal human supervision.

About 25 years ago, I worked with a machine learning news engine service that produced interesting results, but made infuriating errors. Humans had to watch it and guide it, but we expected the machines to improve and push the humans out.

The machines did improve, but were prone to gross over-corrections and could never be left alone. The humans, far behind at first, just kept closing the gap little by little until it became less work for everyone to have humans taking over more and more of the control.

At some point that company founded on the promise of machines being super editors found itself with humans pulling all the important levers and it folded.

Perhaps #AmazonFresh followed a similar arc.

https://gizmodo.com/amazon-reportedly-ditches-just-walk-out-grocery-stores-1851381116

thomasapowell, 1 month ago to random

As an SWE Prof, I warn students about the MVP rush, that iteration can't fix releasing too early making you an R&D release for others and tainting initial users.

Today, I had a sad example with a possibly cool documentation platform, Butterdocs. It could be a contender, yet it lacks code formatting, code blocks, & has no embeds, so it is pretty much useless for its best target audience as it stands. 😢

TL;DR - Release software when it is actually ready not early because of start-up beliefs

thomasapowell, 1 month ago to random

My son is watching “You Got Mail” right now. It seems sooo old fashioned like a film where operators connect people on phones level old the AOL and modems is a big part of it.

mnot, 1 month ago to random

LinkedIn just changed their .favicon to include a miniature, static 'red dot' indicator. just after Safari started showing the icons on the favourites bar.

Way to go, dark patterns.

thomasapowell, 1 month ago to random

Are we already using generative AI for film scripts? I am jokingly asking because the Roadhouse remake makes the original Roadhouse movie feel like an academy award nominee movie with amazing character depth.

I admit I did enjoy the new film in places but it just isn’t well executed on the whole. I watched the old one afterwards and even today it is simply a much better film executional speaking even though it is a super cheezy 80s film.

thomasapowell, 1 month ago to ai

It feels like the Brawndo and Electrolytes scene from #Idiocracy should be redone with any App today with #AI jammed into it.

“Our App has AI in it because that’s what users crave!”

https://youtu.be/kIZ9YuPm_Ls?si=cObXPAuCJ2b1PJQx

thomasapowell, 1 month ago to MemeryAlpha

My little web agency makes more actual
money than Truth Social so can I have billions?

This could be a #shitpost but really maybe it is more a question ? Can I ?

thomasapowell, 1 month ago to random

Watched Dune 85 with my Dune loving boys tonight. Let’s state the results showed Dune 85 has many high points and we should respect it. No it isn’t better it just does some things better.

thomasapowell, 1 month ago to random

The CRUD pattern of content is create, read, update, and delete. However, on the web, this pattern is less CRUD and more CRR, as in Create, Read, and Rot. Content maintenance with fixes and purposeful deletion rarely happens. We could do more, but why? Maintenance and content curation isn't a path to promotion -- rather, creation and readership are where career gains come from.

Now, inject LLMs into that sad state of stale content creation over curation; what possibly could go wrong?

scott, 1 month ago to random

deleted_by_author

thomasapowell, 2 months ago to MemeryAlpha

Apparently inventing Markdown gives one an unlimited license to be an idiot?

Damn I really need to invent something like that.

#shitpost

dfeldman, 2 months ago to random

So once Forbes “invited me to write”. I responded and it turned out to be you have to pay thousands of dollars. I was like “oh so that’s a scam” and threw it away. Then a little later I saw my boss on a Forbes byline 😂

thomasapowell, 2 months ago to random

Well LLMs prove for certain that if you are good enough at bullshitting people really will think you are super intelligent even though you have absolutely no idea what you are saying.

thomasapowell, 2 months ago to Japan

#Shogun is hitting better than I might have thought because I got all into the history when I was in Osaka #Japan last month. Sure we sensationalize everything, but I am really liking the show.

thomasapowell, 2 months ago to TeslaMotors

I saw a #CyberTruck live on the road. I spontaneously laughed and then shook my head. It truly looked to me like a crappy movie prop car from a late 70s or early 80s apocalypse movie. I guess if you like that then go for it ?

thomasapowell, 2 months ago to random

Ditching turn signal controls might not matter since a lot of Model 3 drivers don't seem to use them enough anyway, rather doing a quick acceleration zip into the lane-before-you-know-it approach.

https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-fans-complain-new-model-3-highland-turn-signal-stalks-2023-9

thomasapowell, 2 months ago to random

As a very seasoned adult making new friends can be tough. I’ve had a good friend that I made was the husband of my wive’s bestie and we became really good friends. Been buds for about 6 years often doing our own stuff together but apparently now since my wife and his wife went totally south we have to not hang at all. I get why, but not gonna lie it makes me super sad.

thomasapowell, 2 months ago to random

So I don’t disagree #Dune is a great movie, I found it just breathtaking. I am no big book fanboy but I felt despite loving this movie the plot down graded the importance of spice into some sort of mcguffin substance and was absolutely not a good decision. I also think cutting the whole thinking computers banning history and Mentats was a missed opportunity given the current cultural interest around AI.

A movie can be great AND also have flaws.

glightly, 3 months ago to random

Goddammit. It's the high fructose corn syrup of tech.

davidaugust, 3 months ago to random

The US landing on the moon, Russia and the US on the cusp of war, folks sick with measles; the 1960s are a wild time to be alive.

thomasapowell, 3 months ago to ChatGPT

In Japan and spot nearly 2 shelves in a large book store on #ChatGPT. My written Japanese isn’t strong enough at all to say anything super meaningful but the examples suggest very tutorial level kind of stuff on usage as opposed to a deep technical discourse. Interesting nonetheless.

thomasapowell, 3 months ago to VisionPro

Today the #VisionPro went to the office. It is a bit of a pain in the ass to do the guest mode, remove my prescription lenses, get them in and then show them enough with mirroring on. As troubling as it was there was just person after person with“whaaat!?” And “wow” To a person all who tried it came out very impressed. Hard to see it flopping if it causes this kind of reaction.

thomasapowell, 3 months ago to random

I got a bit of a sore throat last night and had a late night teen parenting incident so no way I was going out this AM to watch #LFC at a bar. I was sorely disappointed about that when I started watching given the important of the match but after that showing I am a bit glad I didn’t. Ugh.