DawnPaladin's recent activity
-
Comment on TikTok is being flooded with racist AI videos generated by Google’s Veo 3 in ~tech
-
Comment on Pay up or stop scraping: Cloudflare program charges bots for each crawl in ~tech
DawnPaladin Link ParentConversely, people being able to monetize their work makes it possible for them to sustainably produce good content. (Or bad. You can't have one without the other.) I have to say "making it...Conversely, people being able to monetize their work makes it possible for them to sustainably produce good content. (Or bad. You can't have one without the other.)
I have to say "making it possible for independent content creators to make a living is bad, actually" isn't a take I expected to see on this article.
-
Comment on AI’s ability to read and summarize is making it a useful tool for scholarship in ~humanities.history
DawnPaladin (edited )Link ParentI don't agree that the label is meaningless. Inspecting source code for vulnerabilities is also beyond the Average Joe, so we rely on trusted groups. The same model would work fine for LLMs. You...I don't agree that the label is meaningless. Inspecting source code for vulnerabilities is also beyond the Average Joe, so we rely on trusted groups. The same model would work fine for LLMs.
You also have European AI companies like Mistral, who would not share the ideological stance of American AI companies and might help counterbalance it.
-
Pay up or stop scraping: Cloudflare program charges bots for each crawl
46 votes -
Comment on AI’s ability to read and summarize is making it a useful tool for scholarship in ~humanities.history
DawnPaladin Link ParentPlenty of open-source LLMs to switch to if it becomes a problem.Plenty of open-source LLMs to switch to if it becomes a problem.
-
Comment on Becoming an asshole in ~life
DawnPaladin LinkI think this has always been true on the international stage. Countries don't have friends, they have interests.I think this has always been true on the international stage. Countries don't have friends, they have interests.
-
Comment on Malleable software in ~tech
DawnPaladin Link ParentOh, neat! I loved Heroku back when it had a free tier, before it got sold to Salesforce. If these guys built that, they really know their stuff - I still haven't found anywhere else with a...Oh, neat! I loved Heroku back when it had a free tier, before it got sold to Salesforce. If these guys built that, they really know their stuff - I still haven't found anywhere else with a developer experience that good.
-
Comment on Malleable software in ~tech
DawnPaladin Link ParentI love making software. Making a program that can do something useful for me feels so good. I want more people to be able to experience that. Right now, if you want to build something that can...I love making software. Making a program that can do something useful for me feels so good. I want more people to be able to experience that.
Right now, if you want to build something that can save data and process it, you need a web app. (Or maybe a mobile app - I have no experience there.) That means you need to set up a development environment: you need to install VSCode and NodeJS. You need to pick a frontend, a backend, and a database, and then you need to configure those things to work together. You need to learn about version control and how to store secrets safely. You need to find a host. All of these are things you'll need to do before you actually start programming!
Compare this to how spreadsheets work: you can pick up a spreadsheet that someone else has made, make a small tweak to it (like adding a formula), and immediately have something more useful. Spreadsheets have the tools you need to modify them built in.
A few months ago my wife had an idea for a to-do app that would fit her unique way of thinking & organizing tasks. She sat down with ChatGPT and started vibe coding. She knows nothing about programming, and it took her hours and hours of careful exploration and feeding error messages back into ChatGPT before she got to something that kind of worked. She worked on it for several days, got a few screens half finished, and eventually had to move on to other stuff.
Making stuff for the internet is hard! Imagine if it wasn't! Imagine if anyone could whip up an app to serve their personal needs, or the needs of the people they love. It would be a huge shift in the balance of power between Big Tech and regular people.
The tools we use to build the web now are built for professional software engineers so they can solve the problems of megacorporations. Where are the tools designed for hobbyists so they can make small, simple things that solve everyday problems and bring them joy?
-
Comment on Malleable software in ~tech
DawnPaladin LinkThis essay describes research toward a software ecosystem that would: smooth the transition between using software and creating software allow users to collaborate on documents and software...This essay describes research toward a software ecosystem that would:
- smooth the transition between using software and creating software
- allow users to collaborate on documents and software without relying on a central server/company (see their essay on local-first software)
- make data less siloed so you can use the right tool for the right job
It reminds me of the Unix philosophy of software development combined with the discoverability and ease-of-use of Google Docs.
Apps are avocado slicers
One way to slice an avocado is to use an “avocado slicer”: a 3-in-1 gadget that combines a dull plastic knife for slicing the avocado in half, a circular grabber for extracting the pit, and a line of plastic rods that produce 7 slices at once.
Anyone can use an avocado slicer with no practice, and it poses no safety risk. And yet, because the avocado slicer is narrowly focused on one task, it’s useless at anything else. If you used a specialized gadget for every single task, you’d end up with a mountain of plastic.
Another approach is to use a knife. A knife can handle all the steps of slicing an avocado, and much more: it can slice a chicken breast, dice an onion, or smash a garlic clove. You do need to learn how to handle the knife safely and skillfully, but it’s worth the effort, because a knife is a general tool.
How does this analogy apply to software? Many applications are avocado slicers. They’re a bundle of functionality targeted at some specific use case: planning a trip, tracking workouts, organizing recipes.
…
How might we reorient software around more general, composable tools—that feels more like a knife and less like an avocado slicer?This essay describes what they've learned so far. Once it gets further along, they plan to release this as an open-source tool, as they did the underlying Automerge replication software.
-
Malleable software
20 votes -
Comment on Meta signs twenty-year nuclear energy deal with Constellation Energy in ~enviro
DawnPaladin LinkGlad to see bad companies doing good things.Glad to see bad companies doing good things.
-
Comment on Five years later, Deep Rock Galactic has gotten far by rejecting modernity in ~games
DawnPaladin LinkI loved DRG. I'm really looking forward to DRG: Rogue Core, a DRG roguelike that's currently in closed alpha testing.I loved DRG. I'm really looking forward to DRG: Rogue Core, a DRG roguelike that's currently in closed alpha testing.
-
Comment on Five years later, Deep Rock Galactic has gotten far by rejecting modernity in ~games
DawnPaladin Link ParentMotion sickness is the worst. Related to my interest in VR, I have had various treatments for motion sickness recommended to me - there are wristbands you can wear & medications you can take that...Motion sickness is the worst. Related to my interest in VR, I have had various treatments for motion sickness recommended to me - there are wristbands you can wear & medications you can take that are supposed to alleviate the problem. Does anyone have a motion sickness treatment they recommend for or against?
-
Comment on Valve CEO Gabe Newell’s Neuralink competitor, Starfish Neuroscience, is expecting its first brain chip this year in ~science
DawnPaladin Link ParentAgreed. It sounds weird to say, but Valve would actually be the #1 company I trust to responsibly create a brain implant. Their hardware (and almost all of their software) has always been very...Agreed. It sounds weird to say, but Valve would actually be the #1 company I trust to responsibly create a brain implant. Their hardware (and almost all of their software) has always been very good-quality, and they have a very long history of putting the customer first.
I'm still not going to beta-test something like this--wait for the reviews--but I would expect their stuff to be much more enshittification-resistant than products from any other company I can think of.
-
Comment on US Food and Drug Administration to limit covid shot approval to elderly, those with medical conditions in ~health
DawnPaladin LinkMore background and commentary: Ars Technica: Under anti-vaccine advocate RFK Jr, FDA to limit access to COVID-19 shotsMore background and commentary: Ars Technica: Under anti-vaccine advocate RFK Jr, FDA to limit access to COVID-19 shots
Moving forward, if a vaccine maker wants to have their COVID-19 vaccine also approved for use in healthy children and healthy adults under age 65, they will have to conduct large, randomized placebo-controlled studies. These may need to include tens of thousands of participants, especially with high levels of immunity in the population now. These trials can easily cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and they can take many months to complete. The requirement for such trials will make it difficult if not impossible for drug makers to conduct them each year and within a timeframe that will allow for seasonal shots to complete the trial, get regulatory approval, and be produced at scale in time for the start of respiratory virus season.
Makary and Prasad did not provide any data analysis or evidence-based reasoning for why additional trials would be needed to continue seasonal approvals. In fact, the commentary had a total of only eight references, including an opinion piece Makary published in Newsweek and a New York Times article.
-
Comment on Worlds Beyond Number - A narrative play TTRPG podcast telling some of the best stories in ~games.tabletop
DawnPaladin Link ParentSeconded - it really does make an excellent podcast. The music, sound effects, and ambiance make this feel more like a high-end radio play than a regular D&D campaign recording.Seconded - it really does make an excellent podcast. The music, sound effects, and ambiance make this feel more like a high-end radio play than a regular D&D campaign recording.
-
Comment on The 'deprofessionalization of video games' was on full display at PAX East in ~games
DawnPaladin Link ParentVenture capital firms like a16z are a huge part of what's wrong with the industry right now. Budgets for AAA games started getting so out of control when venture capitalists came into the space...Venture capital firms like a16z are a huge part of what's wrong with the industry right now. Budgets for AAA games started getting so out of control when venture capitalists came into the space and started pulling the slot machine hoping to get the next Fortnite. They invest huge amounts of money on high-budget games and in exchange demand massive returns. Games that are only moderately successful get their development teams fired.
If companies like a16z are unhappy, that's a great sign for the future of the industry. Hopefully game budgets will go back down to a manageable level and we'll see more fresh ideas. Maybe we'll see more games targeting an artistic vision instead of a market demographic. Games have always been a business and they'll continue to be a business, but when you run them only as a business, they produce unloved, generic crap. Venture capital is the worst form of that.
-
Comment on YouTube’s new ads will ruin the best part of a video on purpose in ~tech
DawnPaladin Link ParentI am also going to try Projectivy. I've installed it and it's looking good so far. Just being able to go straight to SmartTube without scrolling past ads is already a big upgrade. Thanks for the...I am also going to try Projectivy. I've installed it and it's looking good so far. Just being able to go straight to SmartTube without scrolling past ads is already a big upgrade. Thanks for the recommendation.
-
Comment on Introducing Codex [OpenAI] in ~tech
DawnPaladin LinkInteresting. I tried Codex CLI recently and found it to be not as good as Claude Code (for my tasks, anyway). Now they're launching a new Codex LLM to go with it, plus a web UI. I will look...Interesting. I tried Codex CLI recently and found it to be not as good as Claude Code (for my tasks, anyway). Now they're launching a new Codex LLM to go with it, plus a web UI. I will look forward to trying that out.
To reduce the amount of time you spend waiting, Claude Code Best Practices recommends you set up multiple git worktrees so several Claudes can work on different areas of your code in parallel. This is a good idea but it's cumbersome to set up. If Codex can make it easier to dispatch and monitor agents working in parallel, that could be quite helpful and make it easier to experiment with different approaches.
-
Comment on YouTube’s new ads will ruin the best part of a video on purpose in ~tech
DawnPaladin Link ParentHuh. Do you know if there's a more secure OS I could install on the Stream Onn? My only alternative to the streaming box is the OS built into my TV, which is probably not better. I have tried...Huh. Do you know if there's a more secure OS I could install on the Stream Onn? My only alternative to the streaming box is the OS built into my TV, which is probably not better.
I have tried plugging an old laptop into the TV and using that as a media machine. That didn't work with my remote, unfortunately.
Are you serious?
Look, I'm no fan of Adobe. I avoid their products. But Photoshop is the mainstream, industry-standard image editing tool. Millions of people use it for painting, for graphic design, for learning, for their jobs. The vast majority of those cases are not airbrushing women. Are kitchen knives evil because murderers use them?
I'm starting to feel like labeling things as evil is becoming a thought-terminating cliche around here. I come to Tildes for discussion: I want to hear pros and cons, interesting uses, stuff I haven't thought of. Instead I get this.
For the sake of argument, what if Photoshop is evil? I don't use Photoshop, but let's imagine that I did. vord has banged their gavel and pronounced judgement: Photoshop is evil. What happens next? Should I feel guilty for using Photoshop? Should I cancel my subscription and switch to something like Affinity Photo? What would the effect of that be?
Would this have the slightest chance of changing anything at Adobe? Certainly not. Adobe pissed off a ton of people when they switched to a mandatory subscription model, and they're still doing just fine. Being mad at Adobe does nothing.
Note what's not on this list: women's body image problems getting better. Boycotting Photoshop or calling it evil does precisely nothing to help with this problem.
As it happens, there is a better reason I recommend avoiding Photoshop: it's because Adobe are sharks who make their payment system deliberately opaque and exploitative. Before you sign up, you should read the terms of their subscription plan very carefully so you know what you're in for. I worked for a company that was a few days late cancelling a Creative Cloud subscription; Adobe told them that their yearly subscription had already been processed, and if they wanted to cancel, the cancellation fee would be 50% of the subscription cost for the rest of the year. No grace, no mercy. The more you know!
See what I did there? Personal anecdote and some details that might save someone money. I think that's better discussion than "evil, case closed."
Calling products and companies evil is intellectual masturbation: it feels good, but it accomplishes nothing, and when you tell people about it they look at you funny. If you do it as a replacement for actually doing something, it's counterproductive.
Unfortunately this describes a lot of discussion on Tildes. Are people interested in building up knowledge about the world, or do they just want to hate on bad people because it feels so good?