ewintr's recent activity
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Comment on Linux Mint desktop environment recommendations? in ~comp
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
ewintr Link ParentI am relatively new to Homeassistant too and what I found most surprising is all the non-smart home integrations that can be useful. The first months, I had not a single smart light bulb in my...I am relatively new to Homeassistant too and what I found most surprising is all the non-smart home integrations that can be useful. The first months, I had not a single smart light bulb in my house, but was happily automating stuff.
For instance:
- I made an automation that will add a new task in my Todoist whenever I move a JIRA issue to "In progress" at work
- Or an automation that adds a couple of tasks whenever my calendar signals that my girlfriend is coming over for the weekend
- An automation that can wake and properly shutdown my only workstation that I use remotely from other devices.
- Use it as a personal VPN. I have the Homeassistant Green that only uses a few volts, so I don't have a problem with leaving it running all the time and I use the VPN to connect to my home network when I'm not home. Together with the previous automation, I can use it as a jumping point for everything.
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Comment on Using AI generated code will make you a bad programmer in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentIn my experience, there is a big difference between reviewing AI-generated code and code written by someone (a junior) with a misconception. With the latter, one can generally follow the thought...How is that different from people having written the code based on a different understanding of the task at hand? In my experience that also makes it equally difficult to review the code. As in both cases you are talking to someone who has some misconception in their head and is not sharing their complete thoughts with you.
The result will be equally frustrating and equally wrong.
In my experience, there is a big difference between reviewing AI-generated code and code written by someone (a junior) with a misconception. With the latter, one can generally follow the thought process that was used for writing it, and that helps both in spotting mistakes and explaining how to improve it.
This does not work with the AI-generated code because there is no thought process that can be followed or improved.
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Comment on How do I sync my dotfiles between PC and laptop? in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentAn easier way is to create a simlink to the file in the repository: Backup your current .bashrc, remove it and do: $ ln -s ~/dotfiles/bash/bashrc ~/.bashrc (Update paths to your specific...An easier way is to create a simlink to the file in the repository:
Backup your current
.bashrc, remove it and do:$ ln -s ~/dotfiles/bash/bashrc ~/.bashrc(Update paths to your specific situation, obviously)
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
ewintr Link ParentAnother option: Ollama has a Windows version. On Linux it works really well, not sure how good the Windows version is. I find it very convenient for running the LLM itself, but it only provides an...Another option: Ollama has a Windows version. On Linux it works really well, not sure how good the Windows version is.
I find it very convenient for running the LLM itself, but it only provides an API you can talk to. You could pair it with ollama-webui if you want a ChatGPT style interface.
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Comment on YouTube without a working ad blocker in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentYoutube still benefits because having a big crowd is valuable by itself. That means that creators focus on your platform. And that will draw in other viewers and make it harder for competitors. If...Is it too bad? An addicted user who never watches ads is just a drain on server resources.
Youtube still benefits because having a big crowd is valuable by itself. That means that creators focus on your platform. And that will draw in other viewers and make it harder for competitors.
In the retail example, it’d be the person who sits at a cafe without ordering a drink.
If the person is visible from the outside, the cafe benefits. Given the choice, people will enter a filled establishment over an empty one because: A) empty places have a less pleasant atmosphere and B) people will rely on the judgement of others. If everyone is at that one place, it clearly must be the better one.
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Comment on YouTube without a working ad blocker in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentNotify me when Google is in danger of going bankrupt, I'll reconsider.Cloud bills gotta be paid somehow.
Notify me when Google is in danger of going bankrupt, I'll reconsider.
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Comment on Movie of the Week #39 - Barbie in ~movies
ewintr Link ParentI could not make sense of it. First we have Barbie land full of intelligent women (Nobel Prize winner, astronaut, president, etc.) and men that are dumb as a rock. Barbie and Ken go to the real...Interested in what Tildes folks have to say about the Patriarchy vs Matriarchy subplot.
I could not make sense of it.
First we have Barbie land full of intelligent women (Nobel Prize winner, astronaut, president, etc.) and men that are dumb as a rock. Barbie and Ken go to the real world, Ken comes back a little earlier than Barbie. When Barbie arrives home, somehow all these Neanderthals have completely taken over the reign, and now they suppress all these smart and capable women. How did they manage to do that, in such a short period? All that because someone asked Ken for the time in the real world? That does not make sense.
Some part is missing. I liked the movie, I think it was mostly funny and well done, but this was just some unrealistic set up to bash men a bit more. (Unrealistic in the movie world that was created, I mean.)
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Comment on Google’s greenhouse gas emissions jump 48% in five years in ~enviro
ewintr Link ParentI agree with your general message that things are overhyped, but it is worth pointing out that IntelliJ's built-in autocomplete does use machine learning, which can also be resource intensive....That is majorly overhyped too. Copilot is far less useful than IntelliJ's built in (non-LLM) autocomplete and I've never known ChatGPT to be helpful with anything beyond generating well-tread things that you'd know if you read framework docs.
I agree with your general message that things are overhyped, but it is worth pointing out that IntelliJ's built-in autocomplete does use machine learning, which can also be resource intensive.
Also, if ChatGPT can read the framework docs for me, then that can be incredibly useful. As a developer, there are so many languages, frameworks and tools that I need to work with, but I am only well versed in some of them. LLM's, specially those combined with search, can save a lot of time, just by giving some good pointers to start with.
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Comment on YouTube is testing "Premium Jump Ahead" (built-in sponsorblock) in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentI have no idea how they are doing these days, but PeerTube seems to work? There are many forces that prevent them from being a serious competitor, but server costs is not one of them.I have no idea how they are doing these days, but PeerTube seems to work? There are many forces that prevent them from being a serious competitor, but server costs is not one of them.
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Comment on YouTube is testing "Premium Jump Ahead" (built-in sponsorblock) in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentI guess I had different definitions of the words marketing and advertising then. Fair enough. To me, the difference between getting forced or tricked into consuming information versus the option...I guess I had different definitions of the words marketing and advertising then. Fair enough. To me, the difference between getting forced or tricked into consuming information versus the option to seek it out if I want to is the thing that matters.
I also don't think anyone can "steal" your attention. Some advertisers might try very, very hard to get that attention, but aside from physical coercion, attention is ultimately only yours to give. Nobody is Clockwork Oranging you into seeing their ads. Although there are definitely execs who would like to be able to.
Really? If a pickpocket takes my wallet, it is called stealing. It does not matter that I can avoid that, just by grabbing my wallet tightly in my hand, whenever I walk into a crowd.
Similarly, that I can avoid watching a part of a television commercial by turning off the TV, walking away, etc. does not make the act of taking my attention against my will "voluntary" and "by choice".
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Comment on YouTube is testing "Premium Jump Ahead" (built-in sponsorblock) in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentI agree with all of that. I was just trying to limit the subject to the conversation at hand. Actually they don't, but I get your point. However, marketing is not a synonym for advertising....If you think you having to see some ads is the worst thing capitalism has wrought, you need to pay more attention.
I agree with all of that. I was just trying to limit the subject to the conversation at hand.
Curious as to how your employers are telling people about this service so they know to use it? Is it... marketing?
Actually they don't, but I get your point. However, marketing is not a synonym for advertising. Marketing can be as simple as just making available information about a product/service, in whatever form, on whatever level. Advertising is about stealing attention to force that information into someone's throat. I don't think anyone has a problem with the former. I personally can't think of a positive aspect of the latter.
My agency turned down clients with products we didn't agree with. Including and not limited to both oil and tobacco companies. Companies you've heard of, with budgets to make your eyes water. But we were people, and liked being able to sleep at night.
I have nothing but respect for that. You acted with a conscience. That is indeed something I claimed was not happening at all.
Just because the worst of an industry is evil doesn't mean the whole industry is evil.
I may be a bit extreme, but I consider a billboard for a legitimate product (that I might even want to buy) already a small evil. Someone decided to steal my time and attention to force-feed me information I did not ask for. In the overwhelming number of cases, for selfish reasons.
I would also point to public information campaigns as examples of marketing for (fairly pure) good. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved by campaigns for anti-smoking, sexual health (the AIDS campaigns in the 80s particularly) and so on.
I don't have statistics, but my guess is that the number of lives saved by anti-smoking campaigns gets dwarfed by the number of lives ruined by the campaigns for cigarette brands. Yes, in the end, advertising is a tool and tools can be used for both good and bad. But any other tool that has a similar track record in good and bad uses runs a serious risk of getting banned or monopolized by the state.
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Comment on YouTube is testing "Premium Jump Ahead" (built-in sponsorblock) in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentThe statement is strange because it is missing some parts: ... without any consideration for their users, the planet, or anything else. They don't care whether the product becomes worse, they...This is such a strange statement. Profit is literally the only thing that motivates almost all industries. I mean, why do you get up and go to work every day? It's money. You want money, you do job. Same same.
The statement is strange because it is missing some parts:
no other industry focuses exclusively on profit so openly
... without any consideration for their users, the planet, or anything else. They don't care whether the product becomes worse, they don't care that other parties might suffer from the changes, they don't care about anything but that profit.
I mean, why do you get up and go to work every day? It's money. You want money, you do job. Same same.
No, it is not. I go to work because I can provide (a part of) a service that other people genuinely need or want. It is a double win. They get what they want, I get money. Everybody happy.
For the ad industry (and not only there) the motto is: I get money and fuck you, I don't care how much worse your life becomes as a result.
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Comment on For those involved / interested in Web3, what do you make of the near and long term future for it? in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentOne thing that keeps rubbing me the wrong way, although that battle is clearly lost, is the misappropriation of the word 'decentralized'. In the old days, decentralized meant that you could...One thing that keeps rubbing me the wrong way, although that battle is clearly lost, is the misappropriation of the word 'decentralized'. In the old days, decentralized meant that you could publish a website without asking permission from anyone. Just connect your computer to the internet, fire up a web server and bam! Now you have a voice and everybody can hear you.
With web3 there is no such thing. Technically it might not be owned by a single entity, but for me as a regular user there is no difference. I can't connect my laptop to the internet and start publishing things on the chain. I can't start a new chain. I can't do anything. Unless I agree to ask a bunch of third parties to do that on my behalf, and those parties are definitely not neutral in the sense that my internet provider is.
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Comment on The internet used to be ✨fun✨ in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentSure there is. But there is a difference between exploring new books in the library and stumbling into a library for the very first time, slowy realising what kind of place it could be. The former...Sure there is. But there is a difference between exploring new books in the library and stumbling into a library for the very first time, slowy realising what kind of place it could be. The former you can repeat ad infinitum, the latter you can do only once.
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Comment on The internet used to be ✨fun✨ in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentNo, definitely not. It was not about the sites, it was about going on an adventure in a space that was unexplored. You cannot do that anymore because you cannot unexplore something. It is the same...Objectively, were janky 90s websites with questionable functionality really better than what we have today?
No, definitely not. It was not about the sites, it was about going on an adventure in a space that was unexplored. You cannot do that anymore because you cannot unexplore something. It is the same as a with popular tourist destinations. Once they were special, interesting and fun. Nowadays, they are not because both our frame of mind and the actual destination are changed by the influx and experience. There is no way to convert it back to that special, interesting and fun place.
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Comment on What AI tools are you actually using? in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentFor the part that works... Yes, it works. But that is only a small part. It's nowhere near finished. Ah, yes, I can see that would work. For myself, I guess I just want to automate the steps that...Is the output of interest?
For the part that works... Yes, it works. But that is only a small part. It's nowhere near finished.
I followed a different tack.
Ah, yes, I can see that would work. For myself, I guess I just want to automate the steps that I am used to making myself. On one hand, I just want an app that tells me what to watch, on the other I want to be able to step in and follow the line of reasoning. I also find it interesting to discover how the process works in my head if I am searching without any help.
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Comment on What AI tools are you actually using? in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentSort of. I currently use the LLM to peer through the IMDB reviews of the movies I watch for titles. Often when people discuss a movie, they compare them to other movies. Or follow other...Sort of. I currently use the LLM to peer through the IMDB reviews of the movies I watch for titles. Often when people discuss a movie, they compare them to other movies. Or follow other associative links. It's nice to extract those automatically. I'd like to add a step that tells me where I can view these other movies, for instance with a service like justwatch.com.
Another thing I'd like to do is let the LLM judge whether a review is a 'good' review, so I could that those suggestions more seriously. But I figured I should then first teach the LLM what I consider a good review. That probably means I need to fine-tune it myself, and for that, I need to create data myself and score some of the reviews already in my system. I haven't thought of a convenient way to do that yet.
If it all works, I would just open the program, and it would tell me to go see movie X on service/medium Y and I would have an enjoyable evening.
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Comment on What AI tools are you actually using? in ~tech
ewintr (edited )LinkI just canceled my Github CoPilot subscription because while it has helped me well in the past with some tasks that were very repetitive, but not repetitive enough to use copy/paste, I started to...I just canceled my Github CoPilot subscription because while it has helped me well in the past with some tasks that were very repetitive, but not repetitive enough to use copy/paste, I started to find its autocompletion more and more annoying. No CoPilot, that is not what I want. Let me type that again.
I canceled my ChatGPT subscription months ago because the novelty wore off, and I got tired of copy/pasting back and forth between my browser and the app I was actually using.
What I keep is my Kagi premium subscription because I find it helpful for more open-ended questions that don't work well in a search engine and my JetBrains AI-subscription to ask simple programming questions right from my IDE where it responds with knowledge of the project I am working on.
Also, I use Ollama + Mistral for my own project, where I keep track of the movies I watch to help me find other movies that I might find interesting. But that is not yet finished.
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Comment on Discord to start showing ads for gamers to boost revenue in ~tech
ewintr Link ParentAccording to Wikipedia Discord is eight years old already. At that point you are not a startup, but just a company with a shitty business model.Social-media startup Discord
According to Wikipedia Discord is eight years old already. At that point you are not a startup, but just a company with a shitty business model.
I agree. It is effortless and out-of-the-way. And every time I thought by myself, "wouldn't it be nice if..." it turned out there was a setting/menu exactly for that.