V17's recent activity
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
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Comment on What is your 'Subway Take'? in ~talk
V17 Link ParentFrom my experience of occassionally selling stuff I made, like ceramics, and founding and for a relatively short time running a startup building and selling designer hi-fi loudspeakers with a...A lot of people say that lots of business models just wouldn't work without them. To that, I say that if your company supplies a product that no one finds valuable enough to actually bother to pay for, then what does that say about your product?
From my experience of occassionally selling stuff I made, like ceramics, and founding and for a relatively short time running a startup building and selling designer hi-fi loudspeakers with a friend, creating a valuable product that your customers like is the easy part, the difficult part is letting at least a small part of your target group know that your product even exists.
That said, I also hate advertising. I think it's morally fine to deface and damage in any way all intrusive advertising in public. But banning marketing would damage the small and little known products much more than it would damage the big corporations that piss us off the most. I don't have a solution for that better than regulating advertisements in public, which some countries and cities do better than others.
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Comment on Looking for a beginner turntable and near field speaker in ~hobbies
V17 Link Parent100% yes. As redwall_hp says the DAC quality matters, but more theoretically than practically, DACs have mostly been a solved issue on a casual listening level for some time now. Ignore the...I assume the player matters less than with vinyl.
100% yes. As redwall_hp says the DAC quality matters, but more theoretically than practically, DACs have mostly been a solved issue on a casual listening level for some time now. Ignore the amplifier thing, pretty much no hifi CD players contain an amplifier and the Kali/JBL speakers are active, meaning they have their own built-in amps.
Can't really give any specific recommendation either because I just use a computer with a cheap external sound card for music. I would probably just purchase an external USB drive for it these days if I wanted to listen to CDs.
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Comment on Scientists say they have solved the mystery of what killed more than five billion sea stars in ~enviro
V17 Link ParentDue to AI summaries by Google (which are sometimes idiotic, but people still use them and they're only going to get better if Google wants it) and people using various AI chatbots as search...Soon all the articles will just be AI slop with maximum ad impressions, something akin to 'Ow my balls'
Due to AI summaries by Google (which are sometimes idiotic, but people still use them and they're only going to get better if Google wants it) and people using various AI chatbots as search engines these types of websites are 100% going to become less profitable, not more. There has already been a significant reduction of traffic coming from google over most of the internet. If you're a legitimate service that people want to use, you can try supplementing the loss of revenue from non-ad sources, but if ads and clickbait are all you are, you are already starting to get screwed.
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Comment on Scientists say they have solved the mystery of what killed more than five billion sea stars in ~enviro
V17 Link ParentI think it's just a matter of time and it's going to be one of the positive sides to AI adoption. Editor-checked clickable AI summaries without clickbait are getting more and more popular and what...I wish news would stop with clickbait titles.
I think it's just a matter of time and it's going to be one of the positive sides to AI adoption. Editor-checked clickable AI summaries without clickbait are getting more and more popular and what I've seen so far works really well.
The downside will be more paywalls, but that is inevitable if we want to move away from ad-supported news and everything negative that this approach brings, and specifically with high quality reporting I don't even think it's a negative.
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Comment on Looking for a beginner turntable and near field speaker in ~hobbies
V17 LinkWell, this is a bit of an unwanted answer, but I think it's worth it to pay, well, about twice that for speakers, because for that you can often get JBL LSR305 or Kali LP-6 (usually more expensive...Well, this is a bit of an unwanted answer, but I think it's worth it to pay, well, about twice that for speakers, because for that you can often get JBL LSR305 or Kali LP-6 (usually more expensive but better), which are the cheapest speakers that I know of which get close to truly hi-fi sound, something that is frankly amazing at this price point and was not nearly possible 20 years ago.
I believe it's worth it to save a bit more and wait for black friday sales because the difference in quality that you get from that in this budget category really is rather large. The Kali speakers especially are something you'd likely happily keep even if you win the lottery, become an audiophile and buy 10k € speakers for your living room.
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Comment on Forgot Chrome's unusable, any recommendations? in ~tech
V17 Link ParentI think youtube may be either gradually rolling out or AB testing various features that cripple adblocks. The only problem I have is that sometimes videos take about 10 seconds to start loading...I think youtube may be either gradually rolling out or AB testing various features that cripple adblocks. The only problem I have is that sometimes videos take about 10 seconds to start loading initially, but some other people either do not have this issue or have worse issues.
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Comment on Introducing Beads: A coding agent memory system in ~comp
V17 LinkFor those who have never heard about Steve Yegge, he's the dude who wrote a rant about how bad Google+ is (remember it? the Facebook alternative), while working at Google, posted it on Google Plus...For those who have never heard about Steve Yegge, he's the dude who wrote a rant about how bad Google+ is (remember it? the Facebook alternative), while working at Google, posted it on Google Plus and accidentally made it public.
He also made a multiplatform (PC/Android/iOS) niche online RPG called Wyvern as a long term hobby project (been in development for probably 15 years in total), which is sadly currently dead because it's really hard to market a project like this. It's heavily inspired by oldschool MUDs and traditional roguelikes and at one point it was one of my favorite games ever, a brilliant piece of work full of personality.
Apart from that he's also had a very successful career doing more normal things. Anecdotally some of my friends who I consider the most competent and also most well earning developers in my circles have been using voice driven agents as well in recent months, with great success. So I am inclined to give weight to Yegge's optimism.
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Comment on Why cassette tapes are coming back in ~music
V17 Link ParentIIRC this is not the case with the vinyl that we've used for decades. It's probably still going to make some sound, just like when you put a sewing needle into the bottom of a paper/plastic cup...If you have the right hardware, you can hear the music from vinyl without using electricity.
IIRC this is not the case with the vinyl that we've used for decades. It's probably still going to make some sound, just like when you put a sewing needle into the bottom of a paper/plastic cup and run it along the groove, but I believe these gramphones were only used for old shellac records in which the grooves were cut differently.
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Comment on Indecision: Get a camera despite having a phone in ~tech
V17 Link ParentJust today I discovered RapidRAW. I haven't tested it yet, but supposedly it's great and inspired by Lightroom.Just today I discovered RapidRAW. I haven't tested it yet, but supposedly it's great and inspired by Lightroom.
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Comment on The Oatmeal: A cartoonist's review of AI art in ~comics
V17 Link ParentI don't agree with all of your points because firstly I'm a fan of gatekeeping, surely the problem of "now the internet is going to be flooded with an order of magnitude more shitty content" is...I don't agree with all of your points because firstly I'm a fan of gatekeeping, surely the problem of "now the internet is going to be flooded with an order of magnitude more shitty content" is real and already happening, and secondly "it's capitalism's fault" usually just means "it's the fault of human nature" and even if it doesn't it might as well because it describes something that's very unlikely to change.
But the main point is spot on. You don't even need to spend the effort to train models on your art, even just using less mainstream models than the ChatGPT tool with default settings in a smart way can create an endless supply of inspiration that you can use in your own work. One thing that LLMs and image generation models seem to have in common is that they work well as hypothesis machines basically, creating really interesting fragments of things when used well. I used to make strange liminal style (but not stereotypical backrooms etc.), weird architecture 3D renders for fun and I have used AI this way. One thing that I struggled with was to add some organic looking dust, grime and other things that would make the scene look worn and abandoned. Turns out you can use directed AI inpainting for that and selectively blend it with the original render.
And AI can be wielded by artists to create actual novel art like this music video that wouldn't be realistically (even if the limitation might only be budget) possible otherwise. I certainly did not feel any disappointment when watching it.
That said, I think the issue of not differentiating between "art" and just "imagery" or "content", where the origin really doesn't matter much, as mentioned in the current top comment here, is a bigger flaw with his take.
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Comment on Indecision: Get a camera despite having a phone in ~tech
V17 Link ParentOther people already replied, but whatever, you asked me so I'm going to give you my opinion as well. I completely disagree with the "Don't shoot RAW" article, on the contrary as an amateur...Other people already replied, but whatever, you asked me so I'm going to give you my opinion as well. I completely disagree with the "Don't shoot RAW" article, on the contrary as an amateur shooting RAWs and learning the depth of what I can create using it is what made photography fun for me. But I mainly shoot landscapes which rely more on postprocessing, for your purpose it's less necessary.
Basically with digital cameras RAW is the default, and jpeg mode tries to "develop" the raws automatically. Modern cameras do that really well. "Developing" a RAW is necessary because by default, in the data you get straight from the image sensor, there's no reference of what neutral white is, the difference between the darkest tones and the lightest tones is higher than what a display (or a printed photo) can show, so it needs to be squashed using various algorithms, some mathemagic is being done with colors etc. So an actual viewable image must be created using software, either automatically using a processing chip in the camera, or semi automatically using a computer program that you can influence.
All cameras can save both jpegs and RAWs at the same time, so you can decide to only do some post work on one or a few select photos and the rest leave as jpegs that are likely going to be good enough.
The most popular program for that is Adobe Lightroom, and as much as I dislike Adobe I think it's rather good. Other options exist, I like DxO, and Affinity Photo is not bad these days either (it's a full fledged Photoshop alternative that can also develop RAWs, though not to the very maximum of their potential like say DxO).
Usually when you just load the RAW photo into an application like Lightroom you get something that looks similar to what you would get as a jpeg straight out of camera, but you can decide to tweak it and significantly change it, with much more freedom than you get from a jpeg. The downside is that until you get skilled at it, it can take a lot of time to do this even for just a few pictures.
Personally I wouldn't recommend the open source variants, Darktable and Rawtherapee, to a layman unless you enjoy learning complicated technical things - they're powerful but needlessly complicated with bad interfaces imo. I like Filmulator, which is also free and it simulates film-style photography, but I'm not sure how well supported it is, it hasn't received an update in several years. It's different from other apps in how it works, so reading the manual is required, but it's relatively short and the overall concept is quite simple.
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Comment on Indecision: Get a camera despite having a phone in ~tech
V17 LinkI know not everybody is like that, but personally I find it difficult to switch my mind to "photo mode" with a phone camera. I just snap things that usually end up not being that great. With an...I know not everybody is like that, but personally I find it difficult to switch my mind to "photo mode" with a phone camera. I just snap things that usually end up not being that great. With an actual camera I take pretty decent pictures and find it easy to think about what pictures I take.
Generally the worse the lighting conditions are, the bigger the difference between a real camera and a phone camera... But sometimes to get the most out of a real camera you need to shoot raws and develop the pictures yourself. I don't have comprehensive experiences with current models, but I think that a good phone still has more robust automatic processing than the average mirrorless, but the average mirrorless has miles better input data, so usually the result looks better as well even with shooting jpegs and not doing any manual processing.
But honestly the ergonomics and the mindset switch of using a real camera are the biggest differences for just snapping photos of family etc. Hard to say if that's worth it.
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Comment on Bluesky melts down over Jesse Singal in ~tech
V17 Link ParentIt's doubly not true in the ex-communist part of Europe. I see leftist americans saying it all the time on the dumber platforms like instagram or reddit and it's a bit frustrating. Though it's...It's doubly not true in the ex-communist part of Europe. I see leftist americans saying it all the time on the dumber platforms like instagram or reddit and it's a bit frustrating.
Though it's partially an artifact of not separating leftist economic policies and socially progressive policies. The saying is probably still true when talking only about economy and only about mainstream US politicians.
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Comment on Outrage over American Eagle's 'great jeans' ad was a conservative media creation in ~society
V17 Link ParentI agree, and I don't have an answer either. I wish I did. I am not convinced about the usefulness of the linked analysis though.I agree, and I don't have an answer either. I wish I did. I am not convinced about the usefulness of the linked analysis though.
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Comment on Outrage over American Eagle's 'great jeans' ad was a conservative media creation in ~society
V17 Link ParentSo will political opponents who try to exploit any fuckups that the other side does. By this reasoning the outrage cycle is inevitable and nobody is to blame. As per my middle paragraph above I am...Hyperprogressives, as you call them, will always exist.
So will political opponents who try to exploit any fuckups that the other side does. By this reasoning the outrage cycle is inevitable and nobody is to blame.
The article was about the facts of this one specific instance, which had very clear political lines.
As per my middle paragraph above I am not entirely convinced by their analysis.
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Comment on How we're designing Audacity for the future in ~tech
V17 Link ParentI believe you can do those things in Photopea, which is ad-supported freeware and runs only in browser - something I hate, but I have to admit it's an incredibly cool piece of software - and I...I believe you can do those things in Photopea, which is ad-supported freeware and runs only in browser - something I hate, but I have to admit it's an incredibly cool piece of software - and I believe you can also do most of it within Darktable these days, possibly even in RawTherapee (both free software) or some forks, if you shoot in raw.
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Comment on Outrage over American Eagle's 'great jeans' ad was a conservative media creation in ~society
V17 LinkI am skeptical. I don't really follow any conservative online media (except one very conservative gaming forum, lol), yet for a while I did see posts about the ad regularly, mostly on Instagram...I am skeptical.
I don't really follow any conservative online media (except one very conservative gaming forum, lol), yet for a while I did see posts about the ad regularly, mostly on Instagram and Reddit, and they were all western style liberals criticizing the ad and arguing about dogwhistles. That's how I learned about it. This is anecdotal, but still.
What is not anecdotal is the article showing that with the exception of one day the social network that posted about the ad the most is Bluesky, a platform known to be predominantly liberal. Apparently those posts did not trigger their "words associated with racism or bigotry" filter, but obviously they were still amplifying the signal.
Since this is an article about the cycle of outrage, it seems like it should call out everybody feeding the outrage. Conservatives made complaining about liberals who get, in their eyes, inadequately outraged about "normal" things one of the foundations of their platform. This is bad and hypocritical and it's good to call it out. It also only works because a group of hyperprogressives just keeps getting outraged. This is also bad and should be called out.
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Comment on How we're designing Audacity for the future in ~tech
V17 Link ParentIt's a bigger problem to find contributors for GIMP than for say Krita and other similar (or smaller) projects. I wouldn't want to be writing a graphics processing GUI application in C either, so...It's a bigger problem to find contributors for GIMP than for say Krita and other similar (or smaller) projects. I wouldn't want to be writing a graphics processing GUI application in C either, so I don't blame anyone. GEGL, the core of GIMP, is also arguably more ambitious than it might seem from the outside.
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Comment on How we're designing Audacity for the future in ~tech
V17 Link ParentThis has been fixed in either 3.0 or the current 3.1.4 development build. It may still be missing some other common idioms, not sure, but work has been done on both the GUI and functionality of...(no shift-click multi select and such)
This has been fixed in either 3.0 or the current 3.1.4 development build. It may still be missing some other common idioms, not sure, but work has been done on both the GUI and functionality of the layers panel (the development build now has filter layers, better functioning groups, vector layers and external link layers iirc).
Many of those clearly missing things have been frozen for years because there was a lot of work on the underlying image processing engine to be done, which had priority and needed to be finished before GIMP 3.0 came out. The development team is small, apparently most people don't really want to work on a somewhat outdated image processing application in C, which is understandable.
This happens in Czechia as well. IIRC in small towns it used to sometimes be like that even on weekends with low traffic, but that's probably gone now as car ownership rose rapidly. In cities many traffic lights work 24/7, but you still do commonly see ones that get turned off around midnight.