nocut12's recent activity
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Comment on Seeking an Android podcast app without subscription. Impossible? in ~tech
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Comment on The Brutalist | Official trailer in ~movies
nocut12 Link ParentThere's also a 70mm screening in Boston soon. https://iffboston.org/screening/the-brutalistThere's also a 70mm screening in Boston soon.
https://iffboston.org/screening/the-brutalist -
Comment on Box office: ‘Megalopolis’ bombs with D+ CinemaScore, ‘Wild Robot’ soars to no. 1 in ~movies
nocut12 Link ParentI think the people seeing Megalopolis opening day is a pretty different group that than ones seeing Spiderman opening day. And besides, Cinemascore does market research — it's not really intended...I think the people seeing Megalopolis opening day is a pretty different group that than ones seeing Spiderman opening day. And besides, Cinemascore does market research — it's not really intended to be a "how good was this movie" thing, it's more of "how good was your product/market fit and release strategy" thing. It's pretty common for poorly reviewed movies to have a great Cinemascore ratings (notably faith-based movies regularly get A+ ratings but poor reviews from critics).
I think that's also why the opening weekend thing makes sense for them — after a week or two, the distributer already knows (more or less) how the movie is going to do. But good info on the opening weekend could give them useful information about if/how/where to expand, how to play things in the marketing campaign, etc. while there's still time to adjust things.
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Comment on You're a cyclist who was just struck by a car driver. Here's why it was your fault. in ~transport
nocut12 Link ParentA variation on the "going through lights" thing (treating red lights as stop signs and stop signs as yields) is explicitly allowed in some places and has been associated with less accidents (sort...A variation on the "going through lights" thing (treating red lights as stop signs and stop signs as yields) is explicitly allowed in some places and has been associated with less accidents (sort of controversially). It's called an "Idaho stop".
I don't think it's ridiculous. Getting going on a bike takes more effort than a car, and the slight delay at stop signs can end up really pissing off drivers. An angry driver trying to overtake when they shouldn't could be more dangerous than bending the rules at some intersections. Especially because you generally have better awareness of traffic on a bike than in a car. Definitely depends a ton on the intersection and situation though.
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Comment on History book recommendations in ~books
nocut12 LinkDoes anyone have any recommendations for overview-ish books about non-European/non-American history? I read 1491 and liked it, but I'd be okay with something a more academic if it's relatively...Does anyone have any recommendations for overview-ish books about non-European/non-American history?
I read 1491 and liked it, but I'd be okay with something a more academic if it's relatively accessible. I'd love to read more about pre-Columbian America, but might want something with a bit narrower of a focus — maybe just about one culture or time period or something. I'd also be especially interested in recommendations for books about Imperial China or Polynesia if anyone knows anything good like that. Or anything really...
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Comment on BenQ W1110 3D DLP in ~tech
nocut12 LinkI have the same projector. It's not super quiet, but it's not too bad — the fan noise isn't a problem for me, but the color wheel on mine can be a little noisy. It's noticeably louder when running...I have the same projector. It's not super quiet, but it's not too bad — the fan noise isn't a problem for me, but the color wheel on mine can be a little noisy. It's noticeably louder when running at 24hz because it spins the color wheel faster to reduce the rainbow effect you get from DLP projectors. If those artifacts don't bother you, you could set your Blu-ray player to only output at 60hz to make it a bit quieter. I personally prefer to run it at 24hz — the noise gets drowned out pretty easily and it looks significantly better in some scenes. If noise is a big concern for you, you could look at LCD based projectors, but at that price range I think you'd get worse contrast, so it's a bit of a tradeoff.
There are cheaper 3rd party bulbs available online. I bought my projector used, and I'm pretty sure the guy who had it before me used one of those bootleg bulbs. People say the 3rd party ones look worse, but honestly it looks fine to me so I just left it. Maybe the quality of those varies though, so it might be a bit of a roll of the dice.
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Comment on "No CGI" is really just invisible CGI in ~movies
nocut12 Link ParentSomething I've noticed recently is that in a lot of shots where I think CG "looks bad," I'm really reacting to the camerawork. I think we've all built up a pretty solid subconscious sense of what...Something I've noticed recently is that in a lot of shots where I think CG "looks bad," I'm really reacting to the camerawork. I think we've all built up a pretty solid subconscious sense of what kinds of camera movements and positions are physically possible for a real camera, and shots that violate those feel a lot less real.
Not that a whooshing CG "camera" is always bad, but I think you tend to notice...
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Comment on Tiny undervalued hardware companions in ~tech
nocut12 LinkThey're super convenient, and I use stuff like them for a few devices, but some of the USB-C things they're suggesting are explicitly disallowed by the spec — any adapter with a USB-C receptacle...They're super convenient, and I use stuff like them for a few devices, but some of the USB-C things they're suggesting are explicitly disallowed by the spec — any adapter with a USB-C receptacle isn't compliant (page 32 of this PDF). Realistically, they should be fine on A-to-C cables, and there's a decent chance you wouldn't be able to use them on a C-to-C cable anyway because random aliexpress manufactures forget the pulldown resistors all the time...
Not that the non-compliant adapters don't have their uses, you should just know what you're getting into a little I guess.
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Comment on Disney Movie Club closing after twenty-three years in ~movies
nocut12 Link ParentI don't think movies on discs are going to go away completely or anything — physical collections are always going to be important to people who are seriously into movies. There's the permanence...I don't think movies on discs are going to go away completely or anything — physical collections are always going to be important to people who are seriously into movies. There's the permanence aspect you mentioned, but I think another big element is social signalling; a shelf full of blu-rays is a lot more useful for telling people about yourself than your netflix queue.
I'm pretty convinced UHD Blu-ray is going to be the last ever format for home video though. As the market dwindles to enthusiasts only, all the work to put together a new standard just doesn't seem worth it. It's a bit of a bummer that we'll probably never be able to play 4K 3D or 3D HFR movies at home, but it could be a lot worse.
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Comment on How to build an origami computer in ~comp
nocut12 LinkSuper cool to see this and the article makes this really approachable. I guess it's not super surprising, similar stuff like this paper has been bouncing around for a while, and like they mention...Super cool to see this and the article makes this really approachable. I guess it's not super surprising, similar stuff like this paper has been bouncing around for a while, and like they mention in the article, it just sort of seems like it would be.
If anyone is interested in origami math stuff, this book is great.
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Comment on Recommend me a digital clock? in ~tech
nocut12 LinkSony still makes a good old regular clock radio that checks all the boxes, kind of a cool design tooSony still makes a good old regular clock radio that checks all the boxes, kind of a cool design too
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Comment on Paul Thomas Anderson and Warner Bros set Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Regina Hall in film to shoot this year in ~movies
nocut12 LinkThere was a story a while ago about a casting call from him for a teenage martial artist. I wonder if this is that same project — could gel with the mention of it being more commercialThere was a story a while ago about a casting call from him for a teenage martial artist. I wonder if this is that same project — could gel with the mention of it being more commercial
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Comment on Volkswagen, Porsche, and Audi finally say they will use Tesla’s EV charging plug in the US in ~transport
nocut12 Link ParentIt is a little annoying that people give them credit for "standardizing connectors" when CCS already was standard on every EV except Teslas (and older Nissans I guess, but they at least moved...It is a little annoying that people give them credit for "standardizing connectors" when CCS already was standard on every EV except Teslas (and older Nissans I guess, but they at least moved over)
Kinda does seem like a nicer connector though, so it's not like I'm upset about it or anything.
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Comment on Stephen Fry reads Nick Cave's stirring letter about ChatGPT and human creativity in ~arts
nocut12 Link ParentThat's a good point. I think my phrasing there wasn't great, and you're certainly right that commercial art muddies the waters. I think you hit on something that drives at what I was thinking. Art...That's a good point. I think my phrasing there wasn't great, and you're certainly right that commercial art muddies the waters.
I think you hit on something that drives at what I was thinking. Art has changed drastically over time, but it's always been made by people. Art gets made and viewed within some kind of cultural context, and in order to exist within that, you have to be a person. A better way to phrase it might have been "art is inherently human, and humans are inherently social." Even referring to it as a "cultural phenomenon" (which I think is totally correct) is pretty explicitly tying art to personhood. To me, removing the artist from the equation just kind of puts this stuff in a different category, regardless of the artist's motivations or intent.
Commercial stuff definitely makes this messier. A boring stock photo on a corporate website absolutely technically counts as art, but I feel like slotting in an AI generated image in its place feels a lot more reasonable — it doesn't feel so different to me there. Maybe I'm kind of baking in some idea of "cultural value" here. That's admittedly arbitrary, but I'm not sure it feels so wrong...
In your earlier comment, you bring up the idea that AI programs will probably make poignant and inspiring things — I think you're right, but I don't think it makes those things art. I don't think we can describe art only in the context of the viewer's experience, we also have to consider the artist and the art's place in culture. I just don't think the latter is even relevant for AI art unless we start considering these programs to be people, which is very hard for me to take seriously right now.
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Comment on Stephen Fry reads Nick Cave's stirring letter about ChatGPT and human creativity in ~arts
nocut12 Link ParentOften when I read a great book or watch a great movie (or engage with any kind of art really), I find myself reading about the writer or director or whoever. I'll often seek out more of their work...Often when I read a great book or watch a great movie (or engage with any kind of art really), I find myself reading about the writer or director or whoever. I'll often seek out more of their work specifically rather than seeking out any old thing that might be in the same genre or make me feel a similar way — maybe my real interest is in the artist and their ideas. That relationship between the artist and the audience is pretty important, I think.
I'd argue that art is inherently pretty social and that — because there's no artist in a traditional sense — an AI generated story or song or whatever just doesn't really serve the same cultural purpose.
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Comment on Marketing company claims that it actually is listening to your phone and smart speakers to target ads in ~tech
nocut12 Link ParentI have doubts that it would even be worth it. Assuming this company would just be using existing services for this (I doubt they're building this themselves — its a little hard to tell, but job...I have doubts that it would even be worth it. Assuming this company would just be using existing services for this (I doubt they're building this themselves — its a little hard to tell, but job listings don't make it look like a huge team), it would get pretty expensive pretty fast. If you want to see some ballpark numbers, you could try playing around with the pricing calculator for the AWS offering for transcription. And of course there'd be plenty of other infrastructure costs to take into account. If all you're doing is targeted advertising, I really think you could build profiles of similar quality from data that's much cheaper to get.
If you're a government trying to spy on someone, sure, recording them from their phone or smart TV would probably be worthwhile. If you're an ad company, I think you'd make more money if you used data that's cheaper to deal with. I think it's pretty likely this is either an over-eager pitch for something that doesn't exist beyond a POC or a straight up snake-oil lie.
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Comment on Building a home media server on a budget in ~tech
nocut12 Link ParentI completely agree with this advice. It doesn't sound like there's much need for hardware transcoding if the only thing they might watch off of the LAN is a few cartoons for a kid — they could...I completely agree with this advice. It doesn't sound like there's much need for hardware transcoding if the only thing they might watch off of the LAN is a few cartoons for a kid — they could just get lower bitrate versions or transcode them ahead of time.
Just getting the biggest external hard drive that fits in the budget and plugging it into basically any computer that you don't mind leaving on all the time is a pretty good approach. An old laptop would work great too — probably relatively power efficient and you get to use the battery like a bootleg UPS. If it's got an Intel CPU there's a decent chance you'd get H.264 hardware encode anyway, even though that probably doesn't really matter too much.
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Comment on A coder considers the waning days of the craft in ~tech
nocut12 LinkI guess the thing that bothers me about LLMs is less a fear of losing my job because of them and more a fear that computers are going to get away from what I like about them. A big part of what...- Exemplary
I guess the thing that bothers me about LLMs is less a fear of losing my job because of them and more a fear that computers are going to get away from what I like about them.
A big part of what drew me to computer science is the idea of finding some kind of deep understanding in these systems — the idea that we can break something complex down until we understand every little step. The core idea of machine learning is in pretty direct opposition to that — the premise is that you don't need to understand the model that gets built! Recent LLMs are arguably the most complex things anyone has ever built, and they're built on a foundation that rejects the idea that we should understand what we make. I'm worried this is indicative of a change in the ethos of this field, and I think the old one is a big part of what I like about it.
I think there's an honest possibility that this stuff becomes the "main thing" we do with computers in the future (the same way "using the Internet" is more or less the main thing we do with computers today). If most software people care about becomes AI-based, that's where the field will be for a long time. If that happens, I think we're going to be de-emphasizing the things I think are beautiful about programming and it's going to get a lot harder for me to stay enthusiastic about it.
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Comment on How to use the YouTube website? in ~tech
nocut12 Link ParentI also have YouTube premium, but I'm still not really happy with it. Loads and loads of videos still have sponsorship sections, so it isn't really ad-free at all. I'm not gonna begrudge anyone for...I also have YouTube premium, but I'm still not really happy with it. Loads and loads of videos still have sponsorship sections, so it isn't really ad-free at all.
I'm not gonna begrudge anyone for taking sponsorship deals, but it definitely goes to show that YouTube isn't appropriately paying people making videos. If they aren't doing that, what am I really paying for? I guess it's supposed to be the infrastructure, but I truly doubt it costs anywhere remotely in the ballpark of $14 per user per month to run the service. It just doesn't feel like an appropriate price for what they provide.
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Comment on Can someone recommend me a great bluetooth keyboard for my home office? in ~tech
nocut12 Link ParentI have a K5 and have issues with the Bluetooth specifically. Everything else about it is great, but I've found it to be much more reliable wired. I have serious issues with bluetooth connectivity...I have a K5 and have issues with the Bluetooth specifically. Everything else about it is great, but I've found it to be much more reliable wired.
I have serious issues with bluetooth connectivity in general on Linux — it's difficult to reconnect after waking from sleep, and I often have issues with missing and repeated key presses. On my Windows work laptop it's a lot better, but it does sometimes miss key presses when my headset (also bluetooth) is connected. I used to use a Logitech keyboard over bluetooth and never had these issues — pretty sure it's specific to this keyboard.
I think it's automatic, but you only get the web/desktop client if you bought specifically the web app back when they were selling it. You don't get that if you just bought one of the phone apps.
https://support.pocketcasts.com/knowledge-base/lifetime-access-to-pocket-casts-plus/