Arbybear's recent activity
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Comment on Recommendation Request: New Mouse in ~comp
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Comment on You're going to use Gemini on Android whether you like it or not in ~tech
Arbybear Link ParentThat post is 3 years olds, Android Auto works well now. I don't use NFC so I can't speak to that. For everything else, it depends on the app. Nothing that I use refuses to work in GrapheneOS.That post is 3 years olds, Android Auto works well now. I don't use NFC so I can't speak to that.
For everything else, it depends on the app. Nothing that I use refuses to work in GrapheneOS.
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Comment on Valve CEO Gabe Newell’s Neuralink competitor, Starfish Neuroscience, is expecting its first brain chip this year in ~science
Arbybear Link ParentThe ability to create a generic craving would be enough. The implant could be told by other methods what food the user buys and eats, e.g. wireless connection to a server owned by a data tracking...The ability to create a generic craving would be enough. The implant could be told by other methods what food the user buys and eats, e.g. wireless connection to a server owned by a data tracking company.
Then the implant could make the user always feel hungry unless they buy a specific brand of food or go to a specific fast food chain. Eventually you would have enough of a Pavlov response that the implanted craving isn't even necessary anymore.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Arbybear (edited )Link ParentThat sounds pretty cool, if I had a midi keyboard I would want to try it out. You should consider wording the key prompt like "Press the key for the second note in an E major scale". I think that...That sounds pretty cool, if I had a midi keyboard I would want to try it out.
You should consider wording the key prompt like "Press the key for the second note in an E major scale". I think that would help you more.
In the future you could add prompts for scales, triads and chords too, e.g. "E major scale", "E" (as in the triad), "E first inversion", "Emi", "E7".
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Arbybear (edited )LinkI've been working on a music library management Python script. This is my first Python code since university, I've been doing C++ and embedded stuff professionally ever since. The problem: My...I've been working on a music library management Python script. This is my first Python code since university, I've been doing C++ and embedded stuff professionally ever since.
The problem:
My music library is mostly in FLAC format (lossless compressed for those unfamiliar). Lossless media takes up a ton of space, so it isn't ideal for streaming from a home server or keeping on a smartphone. The solution I came up with is to keep a mirror copy of my library, but transcoded (a.k.a. converted) to the Opus* format (lossy compression that is much better than mp3). I'm constantly adding to my library, so I need a good method to mirror any changes I make in the lossless library over to the lossy one. Transcoding the entire library to Opus every time I make a tiny change would take way too long, and I don't want to manually keep track of what changes I've made since I last transcoded.The solution:
A Python script that scans the lossless library, saving info about each file (e.g. filepath, fingerprint in the form of either the last modification time or a hash, the fingerprint from the last time the file was mirrored to the lossy library, etc.) into a yaml file. Whenever I make a change in my lossless library I can scan it with the script to detect changes and mirror only the changes to the lossy side. All non-FLAC files are copied (or symlinked or hardlinked) and FLAC files are transcoded to Opus. It is multithreaded for extra speed.It supports libflac, ffmpeg, and opusenc codecs (ffmpeg was very annoying to handle signals for). It can also test FLAC files for corruption.
No third-party libraries were usedscratch that, I forgot about PyYAML. It maybe works cross-platform, though I've only tested with Linux.Comments:
I've used AI at work to help debug embedded issues in the past, but this is the first time I've used AI to help build something from scratch. I started with Gemini since that was the only one I could use without creating an account, then moved to Kagi Assistant recently since it's now available for all tiers. I'm not vibe coding, I'm asking questions to:- get a starting point on researching some Python concept
- debug issues if I know the problem is in just a few lines of code I can copy and paste into a prompt
- learn what's available in the standard library for whatever problem I'm facing
This approach has worked well to avoid hallucinations. The answers that AI gives to these kinds of questions are super easy to verify with an internet search. I can tell that if I hadn't used AI I would have burned through all of my Kagi searches in the first few days just learning Python again.
If anyone has an idea for what to name this script I'd love to hear it!
*Opus is awesome. FLAC music typically has a bit rate of 1000-1200 Kbps, while the Opus bit rate that people generally agree is impossible to distinguish from lossless is 96-128 Kbps. That's a 10x reduction with no audible difference. For comparison, an mp3 would have to be 192-320 Kbps to reach approximately the same quality.
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Comment on Anyone interested in trying out Kagi? (trial giveaway: round #2) in ~tech
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Comment on Anyone interested in trying out Kagi? (trial giveaway: round #2) in ~tech
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Comment on Anyone interested in trying out Kagi? (trial giveaway: round #2) in ~tech
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Comment on Statement from New York City Comptroller Brad Lander on the Donald Trump administration’s illegal reversal of Federal Emergency Management Agency funding in ~society
Arbybear Link ParentI'm confused, what is the connection here? Besides both being NYC officials.I'm confused, what is the connection here? Besides both being NYC officials.
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Comment on You can change ONE thing about a game. What do you change? in ~games
Arbybear Link ParentI read a justification for weapon degradation in BotW on reddit somewhere that made a lot of sense. Paraphrasing:I read a justification for weapon degradation in BotW on reddit somewhere that made a lot of sense. Paraphrasing:
The developers needed some way to reward players for exploring the world. One method they decided on was to place weapons in chests throughout the map. However they only have so many unique weapons, and the player can only use one at once. And the player might be hesitant to switch weapons once they have gotten used to one they like.
So to force players to use more weapons they added weapon degradation. This solution has its problems:
- people hate the mechanic in general
- there are only so many unique weapons, so eventually the rewards aren't as exciting
- many weapons are guarded by enemies that you have to kill, meaning you have to expend your current weapons to get new ones. You may eventually decide that there is no reason to go for overworld chests anymore since at best you'll break even on armaments.
Elden Ring had a much better solution. They created enough Ashes of War, weapons, spells, and summons that every dungeon rewarded you with a unique item.
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Comment on How do you organize images you've collected? (e.g. memes, art, inspiration, etc) in ~tech
Arbybear Link ParentYou may want to find an alternative to Simple Gallery: Simple Mobile Tools was bought by ZipoApps about a year ago. There haven't been any updates to the app since October 2023 (before the sale),...You may want to find an alternative to Simple Gallery: Simple Mobile Tools was bought by ZipoApps about a year ago. There haven't been any updates to the app since October 2023 (before the sale), but people believe they will do something to ruin it eventually (like add ads and trackers).
People have already forked it into https://github.com/fossifyorg, though I haven't tried it myself. I switched to https://github.com/deckerst/aves and have been satisfied.
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Comment on What do you think about the Apex Pro Keyboard? in ~tech
Arbybear LinkI use a Wooting two HE as my main keyboard. It's great for gaming but not much else. Gaming For gaming, the hall effect switches alone (without rapid trigger) don't help much. Ostensibly setting a...I use a Wooting two HE as my main keyboard. It's great for gaming but not much else.
Gaming
For gaming, the hall effect switches alone (without rapid trigger) don't help much. Ostensibly setting a higher key press threshold (so the key registers at the top of the key stroke) can help you react faster, since there is less physical motion before your key press registers. However (again without a rapid trigger feature) you set the distance threshold for both hitting and releasing a key to the same value, so you have a tradeoff between key press latency and key release latency. Both latencies are equally important in most games, since you likely care about how soon you stop moving as well as how soon you start moving.
The REAL killer gaming feature is rapid trigger (and Wooting has the best implementation). This registers a key press or release as soon as the key reverses direction (i.e. always at the start of your key press or release). Therefore you get the best of both worlds in registering key presses and releases as fast as possible.
So how much does this actually help? Here I recorded a 60 fps video of me hitting a key at what I guessed was a typical speed for gaming. My estimate was you could shave off up to 16.667 milliseconds of reaction time. However now it's the future and I have a phone with 240 fps recording. I re-did the test and found each key stroke was on average 5 frames long, or 20.833 milliseconds. So if you typically set your actuation point to halfway through the key stroke, the real latency reduction is ~10 milliseconds. You would likely only benefit in competitive shooters or other movement-focused games (e.g. Doom Eternal, TagPro, Quake, Rocket League maybe?
Typing
I don't notice a scratchy feel or chatter like canekicker mentioned, but I'm not a mechanical keyboard enthusiast so maybe it's there and I don't know what to look for. Otherwise typing on this will be as good as any other keyboard with linear switches. I personally don't like linear switches for typing, I make way more typos by accidentally hitting extra keys. I much prefer Cherry MX browns.
My advice to the OP is that it's not worth it for your use case. Try some tactile keyboards and find something there you like.
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Comment on How to stink less at piano in ~music
Arbybear LinkI recommend reading through some posts from Yeargdribble on reddit. He's a professional piano player who constantly posts about his experiences and how he practices. Here's an example post about...I recommend reading through some posts from Yeargdribble on reddit.
He's a professional piano player who constantly posts about his experiences and how he practices. Here's an example post about how to learn to spell chords faster.
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Comment on Anyone interested in trying out Kagi? in ~tech
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Comment on Anyone interested in trying out Kagi? in ~tech
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Comment on Anyone interested in trying out Kagi? in ~tech
Arbybear Link ParentIt's 3 months of Kagi (likely the lowest-tier plan with 300 searches per month).It's 3 months of Kagi (likely the lowest-tier plan with 300 searches per month).
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Comment on Anyone interested in trying out Kagi? in ~tech
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Comment on Anyone interested in trying out Kagi? in ~tech
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Comment on United States Department of Justice will push Google to sell Chrome to break search monopoly in ~tech
Arbybear Link ParentThis antitrust case started under the previous (2016) administration, so I imagine it will continue.This antitrust case started under the previous (2016) administration, so I imagine it will continue.
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Comment on Tips for increasing online privacy (without going insane)? in ~tech
Arbybear Link ParentSadly TrackerControl requires that you don't use a VPN or custom DNS.Sadly TrackerControl requires that you don't use a VPN or custom DNS.
Depends a whole lot on your use case. Is this for gaming or general use?
For general use most anything not super cheap is fine.
For gaming, nowadays most people prefer wireless and as light as possible. If you're firm in wired, then go for one with very flexible paracord. 2000 Hz or higher doesn't matter unless you are very good at FPS games.
Razer is expensive but performs well. I always have problems with their scroll wheels though.
I've heard that Logitech has fallen behind in their mice.