gary's recent activity
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Comment on Welcome to a multidimensional economic disaster - the AI boom wasn’t built for the polycrisis (gifted lnk) in ~tech
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Comment on I think Tildes moderators and admins may need to make a decision regarding how to handle Harry Potter related posts in ~tildes
gary LinkIf this were in person and someone brought up JK Rowling once or twice, cool. If someone kept it up after that, they'd probably not be invited to future discussions. As a site, maybe just ban...If this were in person and someone brought up JK Rowling once or twice, cool. If someone kept it up after that, they'd probably not be invited to future discussions. As a site, maybe just ban specific topics outright rather than pretending like people can freely discuss. Either that or ask participants to be respectful: you said your piece and constantly repeating it past a certain point is not respectful to your fellow members.
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Comment on Making React ProseMirror really, really fast in ~comp
gary Link ParentAmazing write-up. I'm excited to go back and read it in depth. I noticed on Mac (M2 Max) Safari, they feel equally fast yet slightly stuttery to me. Like very slightly stuttery to the point most...Amazing write-up. I'm excited to go back and read it in depth. I noticed on Mac (M2 Max) Safari, they feel equally fast yet slightly stuttery to me. Like very slightly stuttery to the point most wouldn't perceive it. I suspect an intentional limitation for battery reasons but that the machine is so fast it doesn't seem slow overall. Mac Chrome, both feel great and better than Safari. iOS Safari I instantly feel that the memoized editor is far better.
An interesting test might be power consumption if it were feasible to measure. Anyway, fantastic post again.
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Comment on Britain mandates heat pumps and solar panels in new homes from 2028 in ~enviro
gary Link ParentHeat pumps cost more than using natural gas. That equation may have changed in recent years, but it's highly dependent on location. Don't worry; if using heat pumps saved money, people would ask...Heat pumps cost more than using natural gas. That equation may have changed in recent years, but it's highly dependent on location. Don't worry; if using heat pumps saved money, people would ask for it in new builds. That they didn't for decades indicated that the cost was too high.
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Comment on The Treasury just declared the US insolvent. The media missed it. in ~society
gary Link ParentWe're not close to $215B, but there's no end in sight either.The Pentagon has told lawmakers the war cost the US $11.3bn in the first week alone. The conflict will enter its fourth week on Saturday.
We're not close to $215B, but there's no end in sight either.
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Comment on That one study that proves developers using AI are deluded in ~tech
gary LinkLLM effectiveness varies so much based on model and usage that I'm not surprised there's a lot of doubters. I'm not reaching for the stars, so I notice an improvement easier. I don't set an agent...LLM effectiveness varies so much based on model and usage that I'm not surprised there's a lot of doubters. I'm not reaching for the stars, so I notice an improvement easier. I don't set an agent loose to develop at a high speed that I can't review. I treat my agent like it's a pair programmer.
It writes in a logical, commit-sized chunk ("implement a new endpoint that takes these parameters", "call the database and get these results from a query built on those parameters", "add a Prometheus counter for when we run into this error"). I review the commit and then assign the next task. In between assigning the tasks, I re-review requirements, test code, reply to messages in Slack, whatever. This frees me up mentally so much and is exactly the same development style I had before but now I don't need to deal with the minutiae around coding. I don't need to be checking the standard naming of our Prometheus counters; it just reads from the repo. The agent compiles, fixes any errors, and runs tests, so I don't need to do that either until the very end.
In this way, since it's the same development style, I can confidently say that it's sped me up. I can also say I understand every single line of code that I eventually merge. I'm sure that I'll eventually lean into more hands-off usage of LLMs as they get better and as I learn how to utilize them properly, but I can confidently state that most programmers can do what I'm doing since it's the same paradigm we already had (pair programming) except that it costs magnitudes less.
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Comment on BYD claims five-minute electric vehicle charging with new battery tech in ~transport
gary Link ParentAssuming that battery swapping is completely figured out on the technical side (standardized battery bays, stocking enough of the same capacity batteries), the challenge would be economical. Most...Assuming that battery swapping is completely figured out on the technical side (standardized battery bays, stocking enough of the same capacity batteries), the challenge would be economical. Most people today buy EVs because they want to save money, so they'd rather charge at home. The cost of swapping a battery must be low enough that people are willing to pay the premium on top of a charged battery to get a swap.
Another challenge is that batteries wear down. Any swapping business would have to decide how to fairly charge a customer that swapped their 80% health battery for a 90% health one. Do they charge $2k on top of that to account for depreciation cost? Do they force the customer to return later to the same station to get their battery swapped back for the original? Not impossible problems to solve, but the friction means that adoption would be low versus fast charging stations.
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Comment on What do you think about putting your driver's license in your digital wallet? in ~tech
gary Link ParentI agree that if my car has exploded, I don't care that there was some grease in there that also lit on fire. My ID has my name, my address, my height, my eye color, and a photo of me. Every bit of...I agree that if my car has exploded, I don't care that there was some grease in there that also lit on fire.
My ID has my name, my address, my height, my eye color, and a photo of me. Every bit of information there exists in some form or another through data you can find on the rest of the phone. The only thing that's not present would be the 12 digit identification number that is practically useless unless you're a cop looking up my record. Against the backdrop of my entire life savings (banking apps?), those 12 digits mean squat.
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Comment on What do you think about putting your driver's license in your digital wallet? in ~tech
gary Link ParentIt was meant to be a counter argument. There's no use worrying about a burglar tracking mud into the house. Same thought process: if my phone is not secure or I cannot trust my OS-provider, my ID...It was meant to be a counter argument. There's no use worrying about a burglar tracking mud into the house. Same thought process: if my phone is not secure or I cannot trust my OS-provider, my ID is the least amount of information worth worrying about. Biometrics, passwords, browsing history, messages, etc. In comparison, an ID is composed of very little information of which little is that secret.
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Comment on A top US counterterrorism official resigns, citing the Iran war (gifted link) in ~society
gary Link ParentThe administration's claim that Israel pulled the US into the war isn't very believable. They spent weeks moving military assets into the region, including sending a second carrier at full speed,...The administration's claim that Israel pulled the US into the war isn't very believable. They spent weeks moving military assets into the region, including sending a second carrier at full speed, and then operations start just as the second carrier arrives. Israel may have kickstarted the war, but the US wasn't some bystander.
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Comment on Hisense TVs show ads during normal operation in ~tech
gary Link ParentYeah I'm sure TV manufacturers will eventually come get us all.. I don't have experience with Samsung TVs, but are you turning on your Kodi box with CEC or is it TV on and then boot up Kodi? Just...Yeah I'm sure TV manufacturers will eventually come get us all.. I don't have experience with Samsung TVs, but are you turning on your Kodi box with CEC or is it TV on and then boot up Kodi? Just curious.
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Comment on What do you think about putting your driver's license in your digital wallet? in ~tech
gary Link ParentIf you don't trust their implementation (Secure Enclave, for Apple), then you've already lost the game. Most people, maybe not you, use biometrics (face or fingerprint identification) to...If you don't trust their implementation (Secure Enclave, for Apple), then you've already lost the game. Most people, maybe not you, use biometrics (face or fingerprint identification) to authenticate with the secure element and unlock their phones. If it's not truly secure as described, then that data leaking is way more detrimental than a driver's license which holds a picture of the user and an address that has likely already been leaked tens of times by now.
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Comment on Hisense TVs show ads during normal operation in ~tech
gary Link ParentIf you never connect most smart TVs to the internet, they're effectively dumb TVs once you plug something into an input. With HDMI-CEC, I see the TV's operating system once a year at most. This is...If you never connect most smart TVs to the internet, they're effectively dumb TVs once you plug something into an input. With HDMI-CEC, I see the TV's operating system once a year at most. This is the best of both worlds: the TV is subsidized and it functions exactly as a dumb TV would have otherwise.
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Comment on ‘I took two bites and had to spit it out’: US candy makers are phasing out real cocoa in chocolate in some products in ~food
gary Link ParentI blame the exposure to dark chocolate as a kid! I hated it then and it took me way too long to give it another shot again, but I love it now. Adult palates prefer more bitter tastes than child...I blame the exposure to dark chocolate as a kid! I hated it then and it took me way too long to give it another shot again, but I love it now. Adult palates prefer more bitter tastes than child palates do, from what I remember a teacher saying, and it played out that way for me too.
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Comment on Apple announces Macbook Neo, a new budget Mac in ~tech
gary Link"i tried editing 4K video on the $599 MacBook Neo" tl;dw He runs DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, Chrome with YouTube/Google Maps/Canva/Amazon, and Lightroom simultaneously. Let's dispel the myth..."i tried editing 4K video on the $599 MacBook Neo"
tl;dw He runs DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, Chrome with YouTube/Google Maps/Canva/Amazon, and Lightroom simultaneously. Let's dispel the myth that 8gb of RAM is unusable. You cannot look at your RAM usage stats to deduce anything because your OS will hold objects in memory until it needs to deal with it. Try the same workload with 8gb: it probably works fine.
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Comment on Alternative news source recommendations in ~news
gary Link ParentWatched two House of El videos and I suspect she picks a mainstream topic, Googles for a few related articles, then has AI write a script. It's nonsense that she keeps citing so many different...Watched two House of El videos and I suspect she picks a mainstream topic, Googles for a few related articles, then has AI write a script. It's nonsense that she keeps citing so many different articles from tier 2/3 publications for her ASML video when she could just cite one. Her hard-hitting analysis is that EUV machines are hard to make and it's only ASML who makes them; duh?
This video implies that Europe is a bigger choke point via ASML than TSMC/Intel are and I'd disagree given that someone has to actually make the chips and the EUV machines have already been sold. It's not like TSMC would stop selling chips to the US. Europe can't force TSMC to not sell to the US nor can Europe meaningfully restrict access to the US because ASML builds their machines based on technology licensed to them via the US. Yes, the US developed the core technology and gave it to the Dutch. In exchange, the US secured their own rights. This hard-hitting analysis fails to incorporate the origins of EUV.
El serves more as a surface-level news aggregator than an analyst from the little I've seen. She's not saying anything obviously wrong, but she's not adding any unique insight. At the end of the day, it's listening to an AI podcast with a real human voice.
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Comment on Is it worthwhile to run local LLMs for coding today? in ~comp
gary Link ParentYou reframed their opinion into something they didn't come even close to saying. That adds to the distaste imo. Not only that, but what does it even add to the discussion? Are we supposed to...You reframed their opinion into something they didn't come even close to saying. That adds to the distaste imo. Not only that, but what does it even add to the discussion? Are we supposed to pretend like AI doesn't exist and be less competitive in the job market because the technology has negative externalities that are outside of our control?
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Comment on Apple announces Macbook Neo, a new budget Mac in ~tech
gary Link ParentI'm contemplating it. 8gb is enough for music, Safari, and vim. With agents, I could use this as a cheap platform to crank through small projects and word docs. I'll probably end up getting a...I'm contemplating it. 8gb is enough for music, Safari, and vim. With agents, I could use this as a cheap platform to crank through small projects and word docs. I'll probably end up getting a MacBook Air because the extra ~$300 (on sale) won't kill me, but this is viable for my most of my use cases.
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Comment on Apple announces Macbook Neo, a new budget Mac in ~tech
gary Link220 PPI on a $500 budget laptop when you have Windows manufacturers still selling $1k+ laptops with a 1080p screen.220 PPI on a $500 budget laptop when you have Windows manufacturers still selling $1k+ laptops with a 1080p screen.
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Comment on Fix your hearts or die: The path to liberation for lonely men is feminism in ~life
gary LinkThere's a lot of problems with this article that others have already dissected way better than I ever could, so I'll just nitpick this one: Yeah? I was overweight for the last 4 years at least and...There's a lot of problems with this article that others have already dissected way better than I ever could, so I'll just nitpick this one:
Even when somebody is suggesting men do work on themselves, it's usually within the patriarchal framework, the admonition is to pursue the standard outward shows of value—money, possessions, property, physical appearance—that reinforces the idea that companionship is something to be acquired, that human worth is something that must be earned, than domination is core to masculinity.
Yeah? I was overweight for the last 4 years at least and after finally losing about 25lbs, lo and behold, dating became a lot better. Is it patriarchal when it's women responding to the physical appearance change? I still have the same personality I've always had!
I've also had a sobering realizing this past year that a very large portion of women that identify as progressive believe that men should pay for dates. Like I've had hours of discussion on this with multiple friend groups, coworkers, and strangers. So the money part also matters way more than I'd hoped it would.
If you're a guy being told to work on yourself through the lenses of physical appearance and wealth, it's frankly not a male-only viewpoint.
My problem with this is that we've always been bad at forecasting the next economic crisis. That so many people are converging on this makes me think that the opposite is going to happen.