bme's recent activity
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Comment on That one study that proves developers using AI are deluded in ~tech
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Comment on Hackers expose the massive surveillance stack hiding inside your “age verification” check in ~tech
bme Link ParentThese laws are being penned by internet giants for sure, but I think most of it is about removing the current liability they have for children on platform.These laws are being penned by internet giants for sure, but I think most of it is about removing the current liability they have for children on platform.
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Comment on AI companies try to pay staff in AI tokens, not money in ~tech
bme Link ParentFirst twitter quote, sure. But I think when Altman has brought something up twice in public, it's not accidental, and the "crazy idea" framing is just softening it up so he can float the idea out...First twitter quote, sure. But I think when Altman has brought something up twice in public, it's not accidental, and the "crazy idea" framing is just softening it up so he can float the idea out there and see how people react to it. It's no indication at all about how serious or unserious he is.
EDIT: I do want to concede that the headline is absolutely terrible. No has actually tried to pay anyone in compute tokens yet.
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Comment on open_slate: private and powerful 2-in-1 tablet in ~tech
bme Link ParentIt's the defacto standard of building Linux images for embedded (I'm more of a buildroot guy myself). The implication being if there is a yocto build then you can probably do whatever you want...It's the defacto standard of building Linux images for embedded (I'm more of a buildroot guy myself). The implication being if there is a yocto build then you can probably do whatever you want (within the constraints of hardware) if you have the time. That is cool.
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Comment on GNU and the AI reimplementations in ~tech
bme LinkI don't like anything about what is going on with AI, but I do think either it's as good as everyone says, which means we can use it to improve user freedom by making better software more cheaply...I don't like anything about what is going on with AI, but I do think either it's as good as everyone says, which means we can use it to improve user freedom by making better software more cheaply in the open, or it isn't, in which case all the usual economics hold and these forks will fail the way forks fail today.
Obviously there will be a spectrum, and humanity will probably find a way to thread the needle to the worst of every world compromise (AI removes software engineering as a dedicated profession because the market dies for long enough as software quality declines even further under the weight of so much AI driven vibing, and the knowledge of how to better is gone in a generation or two).
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Comment on Whatever happened to the Uber bezzle? in ~transport
bme Link ParentI remember very clearly being at an all-hands in 2013 and people confidently talking about self driving by 2016.I remember very clearly being at an all-hands in 2013 and people confidently talking about self driving by 2016.
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Comment on Lifetime Windows user seeking feedback for improvements on my Linux setup in ~tech
bme (edited )Link ParentGood question. You will at least want to reinstall the bootloader (bootctl install, assuming systemd) so that the motherboard has the right info on where the bootloader is. You'll need to edit...Good question. You will at least want to reinstall the bootloader (bootctl install, assuming systemd) so that the motherboard has the right info on where the bootloader is. You'll need to edit your bootload entries as well, so that they point at the new partitions. You will also probably need to edit / rebuild your fstab. This file is used to decide what disks to mount.
If all of that sounds a bit too intimidating, then bear in mind that just copying your home folder to a new install is very likely to work without any problems at all (at most the uid/gid needs to be fixed up that's a single
chowninvocation). As long as you didn't customize the base system too much that won't cost you very much time at all.The most important thing with Linux is generally: don't panic. You can recover almost anything with a bit of knowledge. I'd definitely keep the old disk around, and I'd definitely prep a USB with linux so that you can chroot if required.
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Comment on Ashes of Creation founder resigns as studio begins mass layoffs in ~games
bme (edited )Link ParentEntirely separate point: the founder is resigning in protest to board decisions. What is the composition of the board, does he have a board seat? What are his voting rights? Why did he cede...Entirely separate point: the founder is resigning in protest to board decisions. What is the composition of the board, does he have a board seat? What are his voting rights? Why did he cede control of a company he founded to... people making decisions he can't agree with. How is it 10 years on from the announcement of the game and it's still apparently a buggy mess. Is the board also the fall guy for that? Perhaps they are scrambling to do anything within their power to keep the wheels turning, before the business can no longer reasonably continue on a going concern basis, all while the leadership team continues to fail to ship a working game. Now he (Mr Sharif) has thrown his toys out of the pram, taken the leadership team with him and realistically the game is dead, having never make it out of early access. I don't think the CEO can so easily escape judgement.
Of course, maybe I'm being too generous to the board, but I doubt anyone else is going to defend them here :)
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Comment on Ashes of Creation founder resigns as studio begins mass layoffs in ~games
bme (edited )Link ParentI don't know the first thing about this game and its financial woes, so I'll only speak in the abstract. Investors have only the rights they have the money to assert. In the UK at least filing a...I don't know the first thing about this game and its financial woes, so I'll only speak in the abstract. Investors have only the rights they have the money to assert. In the UK at least filing a petition to go after a badly run company is going to run you at least a quarter mil with competent counsel and filing fees I think are sitting around £10k. So it doesn't really matter what legal protection an investor has if they can't afford to assert those protections in court or if the residual assets of the business don't cover costs.
I think in general people need to get away from Kickstarter because they are playing with things they lack the time and resources to understand and interact with wisely. I completely agree that if professional money has taken over the project and hasn't lost everything (at the cost of the original backers) that's some mega bullshit.
EDIT: at 10 years, they'd have needed to have spent $350k/yr to be entirely crowd-funded. Who else put their money in and how much? Looking at the size of the studio there is no way the crowd money was more than seed, which probably also explains why there is an adversarial relationship with a board that is probably composed of investors who put up most of the money and ran out of patience.
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Comment on Ashes of Creation founder resigns as studio begins mass layoffs in ~games
bme Link ParentI can't agree that it's not speculative. Prominently displayed on the first Kickstarter project I browsed to. Backers might not treat it as speculative, but I don't think they are being deceived...I can't agree that it's not speculative.
Rewards aren’t guaranteed, but creators must regularly update backers.
Prominently displayed on the first Kickstarter project I browsed to. Backers might not treat it as speculative, but I don't think they are being deceived by the platform.
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Comment on Lifetime Windows user seeking feedback for improvements on my Linux setup in ~tech
bme Link ParentTypically on an SSD Linux boots in seconds, the majority of time is waiting for firmware, which might feel a bit "actually" energy, but when you have reasonable firmware you can be fully booted in...Typically on an SSD Linux boots in seconds, the majority of time is waiting for firmware, which might feel a bit "actually" energy, but when you have reasonable firmware you can be fully booted in ~5 seconds (even on my crappy Lenovo yoga which has barely functioning suspend). As opposed to my desktop which runs an identical setup and takes ~ 30 seconds of which ~ 23 is spent waiting for firmware.
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Comment on Lawsuit alleges that WhatsApp has no end-to-end encryption in ~tech
bme (edited )Link ParentI dunno, it would be a pointless own-goal because you are already giving practically anything interesting away already in the form of your social graph and who you are talking to. I mean I...I dunno, it would be a pointless own-goal because you are already giving practically anything interesting away already in the form of your social graph and who you are talking to.
I mean I wouldn't be shocked either way but the juice doesn't seem worth the squeeze (unless the squeeze was regulatory, which I guess it might well have been initially).
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Comment on Lawsuit alleges that WhatsApp has no end-to-end encryption in ~tech
bme Link ParentI see, well I can tell you if you don't want to transfer accounts / retain messages it's really easy. Just don't set it up. There is no automatic restore without the user taking some action. Ofc...I see, well I can tell you if you don't want to transfer accounts / retain messages it's really easy. Just don't set it up. There is no automatic restore without the user taking some action. Ofc that doesn't block meta from harvesting all the social graph / messaging meta data and the rest of it, but your keys / messages aren't leaving the device without user action, afaik.
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Comment on Lawsuit alleges that WhatsApp has no end-to-end encryption in ~tech
bme Link ParentDo you have a cloud backup for your messages? I don't, when I switch phones I have nothing.Do you have a cloud backup for your messages? I don't, when I switch phones I have nothing.
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Comment on Curl will end its bug bounty program by the end of January due to excessive AI generated reports in ~comp
bme Link ParentThe problem you then have is the Sybil problem. It has to cost enough to create an account that you can't just spin up a sub community to all self validate. It's genuinely very difficult to not...The problem you then have is the Sybil problem. It has to cost enough to create an account that you can't just spin up a sub community to all self validate.
It's genuinely very difficult to not have to really slam the doors and punish people that just want to participate in good faith.
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Comment on TikTok monitored Grindr activity through third-party tracker, privacy group alleges in ~tech
bme Link ParentThe same EU that wants to implement chat control? They love monitoring.The same EU that wants to implement chat control? They love monitoring.
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Comment on What code editor / IDE do you use (2025)? in ~comp
bme Link ParentBut you can fool yourself into believing that by running it as a service and buying enough ram that you don't need to check its resource consumption!But you can fool yourself into believing that by running it as a service and buying enough ram that you don't need to check its resource consumption!
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Comment on What code editor / IDE do you use (2025)? in ~comp
bme Link ParentThe last bit is fair. You can treat it like fancy notepad. Especially if you get some casual mode bindings going. I came into it from vim/kakoune, I wanted to make it do modal things, which...The last bit is fair. You can treat it like fancy notepad. Especially if you get some casual mode bindings going. I came into it from vim/kakoune, I wanted to make it do modal things, which immediately makes everything 10x more complicated than it has to be, but that was self-inflicted.
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Comment on What code editor / IDE do you use (2025)? in ~comp
bme LinkEmacs for all the things (scala/rust/nix, mostly)! This doesn't fit your needs at all, I just wanted to rep.Emacs for all the things (scala/rust/nix, mostly)! This doesn't fit your needs at all, I just wanted to rep.
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Comment on Help choosing a new linux computer? in ~tech
bme Link ParentMaximal reuse is best! Upgrading when your current system no longer meets your needs. Good luck with extricating your parts.Maximal reuse is best! Upgrading when your current system no longer meets your needs. Good luck with extricating your parts.
I think it depends on what you are doing. I honestly feel pretty gaslit on AI. fwiw, I am in a professional setting where someone else is paying for Claude, we just Google Workspace so I have access to Gemini (3.1) as well.
Things they are good at: scanning huge amounts of code and saying general things about it. Generating documentation that needs a light edit.
Things they are ok at: boilerplatey code, teaching me where to look for docs, speeding up a first pass. Doing shell scripts that I don't really care that much about. Helping me push past a lack of energy for stuff I can't muster enthusiasm for.
Things they are bad at: being trusted to write code. They fucking love overkill regexes. For a fixed format that uses two digit numbers? REGEX. Need to strip a prefix? REGEX. They love duplicating code. They love convoluted branching. They never produce any code that I would just sign off on. I am constantly being told that if I just tuned my system prompt enough and could 20/20 foresee all the mistakes or would make them I would be more productive.
Things they are terrible at. They have no sense of smell taste or architecture. Even when trying to get them to plan out something they just trip over themselves, take any shortcuts possible to avoid dealing with the task at hand. For instance: I have a buildroot project wrapped up with nix. I have split it into a couple of parts. One cached download with all the sources. One build. I wanted to split the download into multiple parts so that changing one dependency doesn't trigger half a gig of downloads. This is a tricky task but not that hard. Good god. Here are some steps, write out a plan, here is a test strategy, off you go. Doom loop. Doom loop of trying to make patches by hand. Adjust prompt, you can do it like this, conversation gets compacted, it forgets, try to write a patch skill. Fail. Just write the patch for the bot. Implement more, adjust the plan, shit shit shit shit shit. It feels productive, because there is whirring and animations and code is flying about. In the end I gave up spoon feeding the Claude and just did it myself. I am confident I could have done it much faster had I not bothered with AI.
I am sure the tools will get better but I swear if one more person at work tries to suggest we can 10x our output I am going to eject myself out a window.