Lex's recent activity
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Comment on Introducing Surfboard for Tildes in ~tildes
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Comment on DeArrow: A crowdsourced clickbait remover for YouTube in ~tech
Lex LinkI've long considered the clickbait remover for youtube extension to be a must-have. A quick glance gives the impression that DeArrow is a refinement of this same approach, going beyond the blind...I've long considered the clickbait remover for youtube extension to be a must-have. A quick glance gives the impression that DeArrow is a refinement of this same approach, going beyond the blind replacement of thumbnails with video frames and overriding title capitalisation to also offer user suggested thumbnail timestamps and titles when available.
I think it says something about the current state of YouTube that the blanket approach of blindly replacing thumbnails with frames for every video improves the browsing experience in the first place and have no doubt that if this is the case with the blind approach then crowdsourced suggestions for titles in particular will offer another significant improvement to the experience of navigating the increasingly unpleasant platform that YouTube seems to be determined to become.
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Comment on Do you think there should be more customization of user profiles on Tildes? If so, what should be added? in ~tildes
Lex LinkAs it stands I feel the design of this website places far greater value on the content posted rather than who posted it. This I find to be a breath of fresh air after years of sites engineered to...As it stands I feel the design of this website places far greater value on the content posted rather than who posted it. This I find to be a breath of fresh air after years of sites engineered to push people into clout chasing and making their name known. What’s important here is what people have to say and I worry that any focus on giving user accounts a more prominent identity would herald the beginning of a shift in that focus.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
Lex Link ParentRegarding the second point made I would feel inclined to offer that in my anecdotal experience of the time back when android smartphones widely had easily replacable batteries it wasn't unheard of...Regarding the second point made I would feel inclined to offer that in my anecdotal experience of the time back when android smartphones widely had easily replacable batteries it wasn't unheard of for 3rd party companies to offer larger batteries with custom back to accomdate the added bulk. Sure they'd give your phone a thicker profile sure but just having that option was a very welcome option for power users.
I think I'd prefer the possibility of replacing a battery when it begins to degrade or swapping it out for a larger battery if the standard offering wasn't enough over what we have today where the only quick and easy way of dealing with a degrading battery is to just buy a new phone, and the only easy way to get a larger battery is to sure enough... buy a new phone.
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Comment on Megathread #11 for news/updates/discussion of AI chatbots and image generators in ~tech
Lex (edited )Link ParentWith regards to the disconnect between the perceived decline in GPT 4’s performance and the OpenAI staff member saying there has been no change, I’d say it's worth noting that most of those...With regards to the disconnect between the perceived decline in GPT 4’s performance and the OpenAI staff member saying there has been no change, I’d say it's worth noting that most of those sharing anecdotes about their experience with the model will have been interacting with it via ChatGPT+, while the OpenAI fella’s tweet specifically refers to the core model accessed through the API.
I highlight this is to draw attention to the fact that while the API allows as pretty much as close to direct access to the GPT 4 model itself that they’re willing to allow, when accessing it through ChatGPT model behaviour is deliberately guided for a more user friendly interactive chatbot experience.
The most well known way they do this with ChatGPT (and similar services such as Bing’s chatbot) is by effectively priming the model for a certain type of behaviour using an initial hidden message at the start of each new exchange.
This, along with other bits and bobs built into the ChatGPT platform to guide model behaviour, could’ve plausibly undergone multiple tweaks and revisions since GPT 4's launch. If this is the case it would account for the model's perceived degradation without rendering the OpenAI guy’s statement an outright lie.
That aside, I agree entirely with your sentiment that we could do with more continued benchmarking efforts. Especially when many users are drawing conclusions from attempts to identify changes in these types of models just by observing generated replies. Even when using the API with the temperature parameter set to 0 (for as close to deterministic behaviour as possible) there’s still a chance of varied outputs due to how one inconsistently chosen token at any one point in a generation can cause the rest to spiral off in a different direction (a hazard with glorified next token predictors I guess). This lack of reliably reproducible generations when using the API with explicitly set parameters makes the idea of trying to catch changes made to something like ChatGPT, where we can’t see much less control any of the parameters used, seem a pain in the arse at best and a futile effort at worst.
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Comment on What upcoming games or updates are you excited about? in ~games
Lex Link ParentThat NMS is still getting meaningful content updates over half a decade after release without relying on typical aggressive GAAS monetisation is genuinely delightful to see.That NMS is still getting meaningful content updates over half a decade after release without relying on typical aggressive GAAS monetisation is genuinely delightful to see.
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Comment on What's your opinion on using cheats/mods to boost progress in extremely grindy games, ie: GTA5 Online? in ~games
Lex LinkI'm of the opinion it's fine as long as it doesn't negatively impact other player's experience in any way. Giving yourself all weapons in SP mode or spawning jets for your friends in a closed...I'm of the opinion it's fine as long as it doesn't negatively impact other player's experience in any way. Giving yourself all weapons in SP mode or spawning jets for your friends in a closed online lobby is fine in my eyes, but once you start doing that stuff in public sessions it begins to indirectly (or directly if you're being particularly careless) negatively impact the experience for others which is not cool in my book.
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Comment on 'Grand Theft Auto' publisher gets temporary injunction against cheat seller in ~games
Lex Link ParentAs I understand GTA Online uses a p2p type networking solution (alongside dedicated servers for a few core things like matchmaking). This makes it much much more vulnerable to cheaters.As I understand GTA Online uses a p2p type networking solution (alongside dedicated servers for a few core things like matchmaking). This makes it much much more vulnerable to cheaters.
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Comment on VR gaming: What are you playing? in ~games
Lex LinkH3VR is the one I've been playing a lot of recently, it has me feeling like a 9-year-old who's just come into the possession of a massive toybox.H3VR is the one I've been playing a lot of recently, it has me feeling like a 9-year-old who's just come into the possession of a massive toybox.
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Comment on Does Denuvo slow game performance? Seven games benchmarked before and after they dropped Denuvo in ~games
Lex LinkI feel the real concern with Denuvo and similar aggressive DRM implementations isn't the real-time performance impact but rather the long-term implications. Namely the fact the fact that you could...I feel the real concern with Denuvo and similar aggressive DRM implementations isn't the real-time performance impact but rather the long-term implications.
Namely the fact the fact that you could one day find yourself locked out of your games permanently.
It's easy to say that in the event of a company going bust or servers shutting down a client-side update would surely be sent out to consumers but I'm not too convinced myself that a company going into bankruptcy would consider making patches for countless games that came out decades ago to be their priority.
At the end of the day keeping up servers costs money so, any game that requires some kind of online license verification is in a way sitting on a ticking time bomb.
Case in point would be Darkspore, a game previously playable in singleplayer now completely inaccessible after EA decided to shut down the servers.
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Comment on What if replying to a comment forced upvoting of the comment being replied to? in ~tildes
Lex LinkI think this is an interesting idea actually.I think this is an interesting idea actually.
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Comment on Google Glass helps kids with autism read facial expressions in ~tech
Lex LinkI'm somewhat reminded of the "Social-enhancer" augmentation from the Deus Ex video game series. But to echo what other people have said here, this doesn't really mean much without a control group.I'm somewhat reminded of the "Social-enhancer" augmentation from the Deus Ex video game series.
But to echo what other people have said here, this doesn't really mean much without a control group.
A surprisingly nice and polished client for a TestFlight app. My only major request would be adding the option to disable tapping on names in comments as a way to view profiles.
I suspect for the right handed majority this isn’t an issue but as I hold my phone in my left hand and use my left thumb for tapping comments to collapse/uncollapse them I’ve noticed I often accidentally tap names and get directed to the respective user’s page. This is mainly an issue for uncollapsing comments and collapsing shorter comments.
I did incidentally have the same issue on Apollo out of the box but luckily the option for disabling the functionality was there and it solved my problem immediately, which is the basis of my request for it here.
While these misclicks (mistaps?) are my own fault and I’m sure with time I could adjust my tapping behaviour to avoid the issue it would be a tremendously appreciated boon to QOL if the option were added.
Edit: After further use I’d like to suggest the same for the vote counter which is similarly easy to unintentionally tap when trying to uncollapse a comment when using your left thumb for navigation.