babypuncher's recent activity
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Comment on The end of reading is here in ~books
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Comment on Does anyone here own a Humane Ai Pin they’d be willing to part with? in ~tech
babypuncher Link ParentSupposedly Apple is going to release one later this year, and I bet it will be just as stupid.Supposedly Apple is going to release one later this year, and I bet it will be just as stupid.
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Comment on Dbrand has cancelled their "Companion Cube" Steam Machine case, because they didn't ask Valve for permission in ~games
babypuncher Link ParentIn the case of the PS5 side panels, I always thought it was a deliberate marketing stunt. Nobody in the court of public opinion was going to side with big evil Sony over those ugly things that...In the case of the PS5 side panels, I always thought it was a deliberate marketing stunt. Nobody in the court of public opinion was going to side with big evil Sony over those ugly things that arguably shouldn't be copyrightable. The inevitable redesign ended up looking a lot better than the infringing or OEM side panels. The cease and desist from Sony got them a tremendous amount of free marketing for their revised design that actually made the console look sleeker.
In this case though, I'm not sure. People generally like Valve, the design was much more clearly an infringement of their IP, and it's not like dbrand could possibly be sitting on a better looking kosher alternative to replace it with. It makes no sense as a marketing stunt.
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Comment on ‘Minions & Monsters’ fizzles over July 4th weekend with franchise-low $61 million debut, ‘Supergirl’ suffers brutal 74% drop in ~movies
babypuncher Link ParentReally bizarre decision to go this direction. That's the kind of movie that I would get excited about, but as a "cinephile" I tuned out of any and all marketing as soon as I saw one of those...Jesse Eisenberg, who’s in the film, had been saying for a while that it’s for cinephiles and there’s a lot of Old Hollywood references. And it turns out he was right.
Really bizarre decision to go this direction. That's the kind of movie that I would get excited about, but as a "cinephile" I tuned out of any and all marketing as soon as I saw one of those talking yellow Tic Tacs because that is not at all what Minions (or Illumination in general) are known for. This is literally the first I'm even hearing that I was supposedly the target audience.
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Comment on Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism, excommunicates bishops in ~humanities
babypuncher Link ParentYes but we're talking about a situation where the people listening and sometimes even the people speaking don't actually understand latin. If noone is around who can understand it, then they're...Yes but we're talking about a situation where the people listening and sometimes even the people speaking don't actually understand latin. If noone is around who can understand it, then they're literally spouting gibberish from the pulpit.
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Comment on Vatican declares Society of St. Pius X in schism, excommunicates bishops in ~humanities
babypuncher Link Parentwhat value do these meanings have if they are completely unintelligible?by using a liturgical or "dead" language the holy meanings won't change over the centuries due to linguistic drift.
what value do these meanings have if they are completely unintelligible?
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Comment on Meta is adding ridiculous ‘rate limits’ and a soft paywall to its smart glasses in ~tech
babypuncher Link ParentThey may be realizing that mass adoption of these things just isn't going to happen, so they're pivoting to making the product profitable. I hope the whole thing crashes and burns.They may be realizing that mass adoption of these things just isn't going to happen, so they're pivoting to making the product profitable. I hope the whole thing crashes and burns.
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Comment on IBM claims world’s first sub-1 nanometer chip technology in ~comp
babypuncher Link ParentThis has unfortunately been true of new node "sizes" for a long time now. TSMC 5nm, 2nm, etc. are just marketing terms. The transistors haven't gotten smaller in a while, they're just getting more...The "sub-nanometer" designation is confusing to me because it seems not to refer to anything physical on the chip, but rather serves as a proxy for some other space efficiency improvement.
This has unfortunately been true of new node "sizes" for a long time now. TSMC 5nm, 2nm, etc. are just marketing terms. The transistors haven't gotten smaller in a while, they're just getting more densely packed together.
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Comment on ‘Supergirl’ fall to earth with $68m worldwide opening in ~movies
babypuncher Link ParentI was never a superhero fan before movies made superheros popular. There was novelty in the shared connected universe of the MCU and I think that fueled its meteoric rise. Once that novelty wore...I was never a superhero fan before movies made superheros popular. There was novelty in the shared connected universe of the MCU and I think that fueled its meteoric rise. Once that novelty wore off (and perhaps more importantly, the execution of that aspect of that MCU fell off a cliff), there was nothing to keep me and other people around anymore. These movies started to have the same problems their source material was already notorious for: Constant reboots, meaningless deaths, and convoluted interconnected storylines that end up going nowhere.
I don't think superhero movies are automatically bad, it just takes more to get me interested in one now that the novelty is gone and the average quality is kinda in the toilet. Supergirl actually sounds like a movie I would really like, if the execution was good, but it sounds like it isn't.
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Comment on ‘Supergirl’ fall to earth with $68m worldwide opening in ~movies
babypuncher (edited )Link ParentThe trick to a good Superman is to make the stakes something his invincibility can't solve. This applies to other super heroes as well even when they aren't invincible. The Dark Knight works in...The trick to a good Superman is to make the stakes something his invincibility can't solve. This applies to other super heroes as well even when they aren't invincible. The Dark Knight works in part because Batman can't just brute force a solution to the problems presented in the film. He has to choose between saving Harvey and saving Rachel. A big part of act 3 needs the people on the two boats to make the right choice while he hunts down the Joker. These conflicts provide highly effective tension without needing Batman himself to be in any personal physical danger.
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Comment on ‘Supergirl’ fall to earth with $68m worldwide opening in ~movies
babypuncher Link ParentSuper heroes dominated the box office for a solid decade. I'm just tired of them at this point and just kinda space out when trailers for them come upSuper heroes dominated the box office for a solid decade. I'm just tired of them at this point and just kinda space out when trailers for them come up
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Comment on How to buy cheap Claude tokens in China in ~tech
babypuncher LinkPlease do not feed the AI datacentersPlease do not feed the AI datacenters
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Comment on ‘Donkey’: Eddie Murphy ‘Shrek’ spinoff sets summer 2028 release in ~movies
babypuncher Link ParentJust because something makes a buttload of money doesn't mean it's any goodJust because something makes a buttload of money doesn't mean it's any good
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Comment on These tacky men with ridiculous glasses want you to wear them too in ~life.style
babypuncher Link ParentEven if the glasses can do it perfectly, how much more convenient is it to perform this task on your glasses than it is with your smartphone? It's certainly slightly less cumbersome than pulling...As it is, I can only see getting occasional use out of smart glasses, like identifying plants and bugs on a hike
Even if the glasses can do it perfectly, how much more convenient is it to perform this task on your glasses than it is with your smartphone? It's certainly slightly less cumbersome than pulling something out of your pocket, but is enough so for the average person to justify spending hundreds of dollars on an extra device?
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Comment on These tacky men with ridiculous glasses want you to wear them too in ~life.style
babypuncher Link ParentI think you hit the nail on the head. These glasses will always look tacky until this is no longer the broader context of their existence, which may never happen. These things have been on the...Now the bigger question is, are smart glasses useful for anything people want to do? Unless you’re the sort of creep who takes up skirt photos, the answer seems to be “no.”
I think you hit the nail on the head. These glasses will always look tacky until this is no longer the broader context of their existence, which may never happen. These things have been on the market in some form or another for years now, but there's still no obvious gamechanging everyday use case. It's not like smartphones where "the internet, readily available in your pocket" was a huge leap in convenience.
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Comment on Apple announces significant price increases for MacBooks, iPads, more in ~tech
babypuncher Link ParentBut they won't make it a priority because software quality is way harder to measure and quantify than the number of features shipped or lines of code produced. And if the tools get good enough for...But they won't make it a priority because software quality is way harder to measure and quantify than the number of features shipped or lines of code produced. And if the tools get good enough for someone with no expertise to shove out crap that is barely "good enough", these companies won't want to pay for that expertise at all anymore.
And the users won't care because they lack the technical literacy to understand how the software they use everyday could be so much better than it is. Just look at how hopelessly addicted people are to software that is actively hostile to the wellbeing of its userbase (Facebook, Instagram). The market forces simply no longer exist to promote the success of good software.
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Comment on Apple announces significant price increases for MacBooks, iPads, more in ~tech
babypuncher (edited )Link ParentIt's not that we don't exist, it's that tech companies prioritize software quantity over software quality. It's why AI coding is actually a disaster for the industry as a whole, because it is...It's not that we don't exist, it's that tech companies prioritize software quantity over software quality. It's why AI coding is actually a disaster for the industry as a whole, because it is almost exclusively being used to further prioritize quantity.
When is the last time a tech company put out a new piece of software that people actually love? It's all just crap users toloerate. I remember back when Adobe would launch a new version of Photoshop and people would actually get excited about dropping $500 on an upgrade, rather than feel resentful that their Creative Cloud subscription just go more expensive to justify some half-baked new feature nobody cares about.
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Comment on SpaceX stock tumbles 23% from its high as average investor sees gains wiped out in ~finance
babypuncher LinkI'm literally incapable of feeling bad for anyone who is losing money on SpaceX.I'm literally incapable of feeling bad for anyone who is losing money on SpaceX.
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Comment on Yum Brands sells Pizza Hut to private equity firm LongRange Capital and Yum China for $2.7 billion in ~food
babypuncher LinkDoes this mean the world's last KenTacoHut will soon just be a KenTaco?Does this mean the world's last KenTacoHut will soon just be a KenTaco?
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Comment on Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 in ~tech
babypuncher LinkOh look, more stupid bullshit toys for billionaires. I miss the days when normal people could buy computers and tech companies shipped software that didn't suck.Oh look, more stupid bullshit toys for billionaires. I miss the days when normal people could buy computers and tech companies shipped software that didn't suck.
These pieces are almost certainly being pushed by tech oligarchs who benefit from this.