Wuju's recent activity
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Comment on Nintendo is suing the creators of popular Switch emulator Yuzu, saying their tech illegally circumvents Nintendo's software encryption and facilitates piracy in ~games
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Comment on Vending machine error reveals secret face image database of Canadian college students in ~tech
Wuju LinkIt's been a long time since I've ever approached a vending machine, but I'm curious as to why this is even necessary. The only (non-nefarious) reason I can even think of is power saving reasons,...Adaria Vending Services told MathNEWS that "what’s most important to understand is that the machines do not take or store any photos or images, and an individual person cannot be identified using the technology in the machines. The technology acts as a motion sensor that detects faces, so the machine knows when to activate the purchasing interface—never taking or storing images of customers."
It's been a long time since I've ever approached a vending machine, but I'm curious as to why this is even necessary. The only (non-nefarious) reason I can even think of is power saving reasons, but I find it difficult to believe continuously running a camera and consuming CPU cycles to detect faces consumes less power than alternatives. (I also find it difficult to believe they even care about the power usage, but that's neither here nor there.) Especially when some of those machines have flashing lights or are constantly showing things on their screen when not in use. I mean, even just a couple of motion sensors working in tandem to work as a proximity sensor would likely be cheaper; I have that same tech on my garbage can, and it keeps it powered for a year on a couple of AA batteries.
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Comment on Canada announces cap on international students for next two years in ~life
Wuju Link ParentThere will always be a limit to how much can be done. Canada is building more housing, but they can't keep up with the demand of population growth. The reasons they can't keep up is down to a...There will always be a limit to how much can be done. Canada is building more housing, but they can't keep up with the demand of population growth. The reasons they can't keep up is down to a whole host of issues, some of which being, oversea investors buying anything they can get their hands on, the cost of building materials making it less lucrative to build houses (I do believe they somewhat recently passed a bill reducing or outright removing taxes on building materials to help here), a slowdown of building for over a year due to Covid when we were already having a housing crisis, and just general population growth.
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Comment on I'm thoroughly done with my choices being only "yes" or "not now" in ~tech
Wuju (edited )Link ParentLinux is a lot easier to deal with these days than people give it credit for. A little while back, my computer died and all I had was a wimpy little laptop from 2007 that couldn't even really run...Linux is a lot easier to deal with these days than people give it credit for. A little while back, my computer died and all I had was a wimpy little laptop from 2007 that couldn't even really run Windows 7 which was and is no longer supported. So I threw Linux Mint on just to have something, and I ended up adjusting to it even faster than I do most new Windows versions.
Mint, or maybe just the version of Mint I had, requires virtually no command line use. It's just point and click in the same way Windows is. I even let a fairly tech illiterate sibling use it when they needed a computer with no direction other than a "Let me know if you need help." and they managed to handle it no issues whatsoever. Later on, I gave it to my extremely tech illiterate dad when he forgot his laptop for work, and apart from being hopelessly confused by the icons and Google's sites in general, he also got by just fine.
When I was setting things up, there was some command line use, but that was either on the computer running Windows where I was trying to get the initial installer working, or trying to track down some hyper specific problems that stemmed from using some far out of date hardware. When I later threw the same install onto my new computer, there was no command line usage whatsoever.
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Comment on Fooocus - The most user-friendly local image-gen interface to date in ~comp
Wuju Link ParentI'm not super into AI generative stuff, so some of this comment may be incorrect. But from what I can tell, this is mainly just an interface for AI image generation. It does seem to have some...I'm not super into AI generative stuff, so some of this comment may be incorrect. But from what I can tell, this is mainly just an interface for AI image generation. It does seem to have some preset models, but I would imagine you could quite easily add your own more diverse generative models if you find that to be an issue.
Additionally, as far as I'm aware, it's an issue that is present in much of AI image generation. So much so, that some of them, such as Bing's will add words like "ethically ambiguous" to some of your prompts just to try and diversify it without completely rebuilding their models from scratch.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
Wuju Link ParentNot sure what it says and I can't be bother to throw it through a translator, but I don't think it's a paywall because I can get past it and read the entire(?) article just by hitting Reader View...Not sure what it says and I can't be bother to throw it through a translator, but I don't think it's a paywall because I can get past it and read the entire(?) article just by hitting Reader View in my browser.
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Comment on Do you think you'd use a hardware-based file sharing solution? in ~tech
Wuju Link ParentNot OP, but do the same with quite a few reasons. First and foremost, because I very much minimize what programs are running on my devices. But Discord is generally always running on my computer...Not OP, but do the same with quite a few reasons. First and foremost, because I very much minimize what programs are running on my devices. But Discord is generally always running on my computer regardless since I'm often using it to communicate. So there's no extra programs and not really any delay in opening (except on my phone).
I don't really enjoy Cloud based storage because my internet is painfully slow to the point where even a small 5mb upload can cause my internet to hang for a solid minute plus. So having my devices constantly syncing can interfere with other things I might be doing over the internet. With Discord, I just upload whatever I need transferred, wait for it to finish, and go back to whatever I was doing never worrying about it again.
Another big reason is it doubles as a notepad. I can see the files and associated notes without any opening anything or clicking on anything. It's just there. I imagine that would also be helpful when using Ctrl+F to find relevant files, but I don't store nearly enough on it for that to be relevant.
Really though, most of what I use it for is a notepad with embeds. The file storage just happens to be there as a bonus that occasionally gets used when I need to transfer something. It's no good for something like a lists or documents, but if I have some text or a link I want to save, I just throw it in Discord with no delay since it's already open and just have it there.
I did also just start using as an "image sharing" service earlier this year too, since you can direct link images uploaded through Discord. Unfortunately, a lot of others must have also started doing this because they recently announced that won't work outside of Discord by the end of the year any longer.
All that said, I'm sure there's a better alternative, but I barely use it and it gets the job done. So I really can't be bothered to find something better.
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Comment on Net neutrality is about more than just blocking and throttling, don't be fooled by attempts to limit the discussion to these concepts in ~tech
Wuju LinkThis is interesting, but I don't really feel like it's saying that there's more to net neutrality than blocking and throttling, but rather is simply stating the original reasoning behind said...This is interesting, but I don't really feel like it's saying that there's more to net neutrality than blocking and throttling, but rather is simply stating the original reasoning behind said neutrality. Which it states as:
As far back as England’s emergence from feudalism around 1500, there has been a common law concept that essential services have a “duty to deal.” The operator of the ferry across the river, for instance, could not favor one lord’s traffic over another’s; everyone had access, and everyone had to pay. When the telegraph was introduced in the United States 350 years later, the concept was applied to that new essential service. The Pacific Telegraph Act of 1860 provided, “messages received from any individual, company, or corporation, or from any telegraph lines connecting with this line at either of its termini, shall be impartially transmitted in the order of their reception.” When the telephone came along, the same concept was applied to it as a common carrier.
The Communications Act of 1934, under which the FCC operates today, established in Title II’s statutory language, “It shall be the duty of every common carrier engaged in interstate or foreign communication by wire or radio to furnish such communication service upon reasonable request therefor.”
I certainly agree, but again, I don't feel as though it really changes our reasoning behind wanting net neutrality.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Wuju Link ParentMight be worth noting that there's three movies, two of which are recaps. The one that takes place between seasons 1 and 2 is Dawn of the Deep Soul.Might be worth noting that there's three movies, two of which are recaps. The one that takes place between seasons 1 and 2 is Dawn of the Deep Soul.
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Comment on The solar-panel backlash is here in ~enviro
Wuju Link ParentHow does this differ from industrial solar? When a low number of people are adding solar, there shouldn't be any meaningful changes in the amount of power generated. Whereas at higher numbers...When you start adding consumer solar, the predictability of availability and demand becomes less clear. When states mandate net metering, the operators have to account for consumer solar input, but often there's not a good mechanism for them to predict what will be happening with your equipment.
How does this differ from industrial solar? When a low number of people are adding solar, there shouldn't be any meaningful changes in the amount of power generated. Whereas at higher numbers things should average out to be more predictable. Am I wrong?
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Comment on Via: Solving the 100 GB problem in ~games
Wuju Link ParentIt does. In the video he rebooted the game and Via to "simulate coming back the next day" and it downloaded next to nothing. If you were to allocate say 500gb of your drive, it might keep about 5...Maybe it already does this but it would be cool if the downloaded files remained stored locally so you'd have the full game downloaded after a while (as an option).
It does. In the video he rebooted the game and Via to "simulate coming back the next day" and it downloaded next to nothing. If you were to allocate say 500gb of your drive, it might keep about 5 or 6 large games cached at any one time (or less because you never ended up needing the entire file system of the games) and he said it would then remove the older stuff when you start go past that.
Though he also said you could run these AAA games on a 20gb allocation, if you so desired. I personally don't really see the point in that when storage is so cheap these days.
It seems like a pretty cool service, and it would be really neat if something like this was integrated with Steam, even if I personally would never use it due to network constraints.
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Comment on Text editing on mobile isn’t ok. It’s actually much worse than you think, an invisible problem no one appreciates. in ~comp
Wuju Link ParentThat's surprising to me that you don't have any issues scrolling. I do use the space bar to move the cursor sometimes when the hard pressing refuses to function, but it always feels less...That's surprising to me that you don't have any issues scrolling. I do use the space bar to move the cursor sometimes when the hard pressing refuses to function, but it always feels less functional than the already weakened 3D Touch. Scrolling up is slower and I can scroll at most only two lines down. With scrolling through a URL or something, sometimes it refuses to scroll past the edge, regardless of if I'm using the 3D Touch or long pressing the space bar; I'll often just scroll over to the edge then just input a couple characters to force it to scroll.
I wonder if it has to do with the screen size or shape itself. It's certainly something I could believe; when it senses your finger on the bezel rather than on the screen it knows you're at the edge while they never bothered to set that up for the older phones, perhaps?
At the very least, your comment made me dread a new phone a tiny bit less. Maybe I'll see if someone will let me mess around in a notepad on their newer phone.
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Comment on Text editing on mobile isn’t ok. It’s actually much worse than you think, an invisible problem no one appreciates. in ~comp
Wuju Link ParentThe most frustrating part of typing on mobile to me is that, at least in my eyes, there was at least a partial solution to that. When I originally got my iPhone 7, the "3D Touch" was such a...Why is there no standard way to bring up some arrow keys in a mobile keyboard? It's infuriating. It is possible to chuck in hundreds of emoji, but not four little buttons with an label on the label.
The most frustrating part of typing on mobile to me is that, at least in my eyes, there was at least a partial solution to that.
When I originally got my iPhone 7, the "3D Touch" was such a massive improvement to my typing. The fact that I could accurately move the cursor around by hard pressing on the keyboard and just dragging in the direction I wanted was completely game changing. It went from something I hated to something I actually didn't mind.
But then that all changed with the iPhone 11. When they released it and the iOS update accompanying it, as the new iPhone 11 didn't have the 3D touch due to them phasing it out, it unified long presses and hard presses to the same action. I can still hard press on the keyboard to drag my cursor around, but for whatever reason the accuracy is vastly lower now. Half the time it doesn't even seem to work. Definitely doesn't work if you're dragging inside of bar with text longer than what shows on the screen, such as a URL. You used to be able to scroll with it, but not anymore. Now it's hardly different than long pressing on the space bar and dragging, which I do sometimes because the hard press refuses to work.
Sure, the fact that it still partially works means typing on my phone is tolerable, but why should we settle for tolerable when we had a solution that actually made it reasonable? I've been genuinely upset with Apple ever since I updated updated my phone. It was such an incredible feature, and I'm so sad to see it gone on newer phones. The phone is I truly dread the day I need to upgrade my phone; though the feature is a shadow of its former self, it's still something.
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Comment on Sweden's minority-run coalition announced on Wednesday it would be cutting funding for climate and environmental measures next year in ~enviro
Wuju Link ParentYeah... Me too... Me too... But my assumption whenever something doesn't make sense to me is that the answer is money.Yeah... Me too... Me too...
But my assumption whenever something doesn't make sense to me is that the answer is money.
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Comment on Sweden's minority-run coalition announced on Wednesday it would be cutting funding for climate and environmental measures next year in ~enviro
Wuju Link ParentWhat parts are you having trouble with? The first three paragraphs sum it up quite nicely. They Swedish government is introducing some tax cuts for petrol and diesel, money which presumably would...What parts are you having trouble with? The first three paragraphs sum it up quite nicely.
The Swedish government is facing a huge backlash – including threats of no-confidence votes against its climate minister – after slashing the country’s climate budget while admitting it will dramatically increase carbon dioxide emissions.
The minority-run coalition, which has been in power for just under a year, announced on Wednesday it would be cutting funding for climate and environmental measures next year by 259m krona (£19m) and introducing tax cuts on petrol and diesel.
While long-term emissions are expected to decrease by 2045, the government is now expected to miss its 2030 transport targets. By its own estimates, emissions will increase by 5.9m-9.8m tonnes of CO2 equivalents by 2030 as a consequence of government decisions made between 1 July 2022 and 1 July 2023.
They Swedish government is introducing some tax cuts for petrol and diesel, money which presumably would have went towards actually reducing CO2 emissions of which they are now reducing the budget for. As a result, they're now somewhat behind on climate goals. The rest of it is just talking about how some people are understandably very upset about this and some of who's blaming who.
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Comment on Your Fitbit is useless – unless you consent to unlawful data sharing in ~tech
Wuju Link ParentI never thought I'd feel this justified over not sharing my email with stores. What an absolute blatant invasion of privacy that is only made worse by it no one even trying to defend their...I never thought I'd feel this justified over not sharing my email with stores. What an absolute blatant invasion of privacy that is only made worse by it no one even trying to defend their actions. I can't believe it just got swept under the rug like that.
Thank you for following up on this.
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Comment on Your Fitbit is useless – unless you consent to unlawful data sharing in ~tech
Wuju Link ParentYou've just found another who hasn't a clue what happened. Who did what? I tried a bunch of web searches, but only recent articles I can find on broken laws from retailers in Canada are about an...In Canada, we just had three gigantic retailers break Canadian law and give/sell data to Facebook. I have yet to brush a soul that even knows about it.
You've just found another who hasn't a clue what happened. Who did what? I tried a bunch of web searches, but only recent articles I can find on broken laws from retailers in Canada are about an underweight bag of No Name chips.
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Comment on Petition: Bring back KFC potato wedges in ~food
Wuju Link ParentWell, this is a petition to bring them back. Wedges are definitely not strictly an American thing though. I see frozen potato wedges all the time in grocery stores here in Canada. My family had...Well, this is a petition to bring them back.
Wedges are definitely not strictly an American thing though. I see frozen potato wedges all the time in grocery stores here in Canada. My family had them a lot growing up. It was probably our favorite way to consume potatoes.
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Comment on Apple announces the iPhone 15 launch event in ~tech
Wuju Link ParentThat's not exactly anything new. They've been doing it for at least 4 years now. This is still a step, however small, towards being better for the consumer. Today we have standardized ports,...That's not exactly anything new. They've been doing it for at least 4 years now. This is still a step, however small, towards being better for the consumer.
Today we have standardized ports, tomorrow maybe standardized batteries.
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Comment on What is worth the splurge to you and what absolutely isn't? in ~talk
Wuju Link ParentEyeglasses are one of those things that I feel there's a good middle ground for. I find that there's not a large difference in quality between expensive name brand glasses and the cheap stuff. So...Eyeglasses are one of those things that I feel there's a good middle ground for. I find that there's not a large difference in quality between expensive name brand glasses and the cheap stuff. So even going on the cheaper end even just for a short time is good. Especially if you have a limited budget as it lets you experiment with different styles.
Story time:
Two decades ago when people finally realized I had terrible vision, I got my first pair of glasses. I picked out a style that I could tell worked for me even with my limited vision. Getting a new pair would cost $300-400, if not more, so letting me experiment with different styles wasn't really feasible for my parents. For years, whenever my my prescription needed to be updated, I picked the exact same frames, because what if I look weird in another pair? Of course, when I outgrew those frames, I picked a new set that was almost exactly the same.
Fast forward to maybe 5 or 6 years ago and I realized just how much cheaper you could get glasses online. I'm not talking 20% or even 50% cheaper. I mean, I could get a pair of glasses for close to a tenth of the price. Well, at these prices, even if the prescription is a little off, I can at least see how I look in several different styles. More than that, I discover how it actually feels like to wear those different styles for longer periods of time rather than that initial feeling you get when you briefly try them on in the store.
So I ordered five different styles. All of them bare bones, no special coatings and the cheapest index available. All together they were less than half the cost of the pair I was already wearing. They came in, one of the styles I kind of disliked immediately, but would try to wear the other four for a day or two each. What I found was, I actually kind of hated the style that I have traditionally worn. Sure, it looked fine on me, but these other styles looked and felt better. With them being the cheapest index and thus the thickest lenses, they were all heavier, but most of the pairs were still more comfortable because of the different shape that fit my head better.
I will admit that the frames I got online do seem to have a slightly lower build quality. However, the lenses themselves were just as good as every other pair I had prior and my optometrist can attest to this, as my vision has been slowly getting better at the same rate it was with all the old glasses. The main issue is just that the hinges tend to wear out faster than my previous glasses. Even then, it's not exceedingly quick. They certainly last the 1-2 years when they recommend you get your prescription renewed. And if they didn't or you wear them longer than that, I think two identical cheap pairs would both last longer than than one good pair as well as being cheaper than that one pair, even if you are getting a higher index and special coatings on them.
I'll probably continue to get cheap glasses for the rest of my life, albeit with some of the bells and whistles that I initially decided against. Having an extra pair with up-to-date prescription available in my car, at home, and at work while on a limited budge is just invaluable. And if I ever so desire, I can easily try out a new style if I ever don't feel like the style I use now suits me anymore.
I'm not sure Nintendo even cares whether or not they have an actual case. As it always is in these situations, the creators of Yuzu have very little reason to defend. It'll costs them tens or hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to go to court. And Yuzu is nothing more than a hobby that makes them no money whatsoever. How much money are you willing to spend on your hobbies?
So Nintendo just cares about whether or not they have enough of a case that they are able to keep pushing and escalating until Yuzu is so buried in legal documents and fees that they're forced to cut their losses and take it down. Or that they're hoping Yuzu knows that and will just cave before that happens.