tauon's recent activity
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Comment on Synthesizing multi-agent harnesses for vulnerability discovery in ~comp
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Comment on Apple names insider John Ternus as CEO, Tim Cook to become executive chairman in ~tech
tauon Link ParentWow, I had totally forgotten about that product! A friend of mine had one of these when they were new-ish. Not to overly step into “defending megacorp online” territory, but I think that was a...Wow, I had totally forgotten about that product! A friend of mine had one of these when they were new-ish.
It's almost like someone at Apple was trolling the user base.
Not to overly step into “defending megacorp online” territory, but I think that was a combination of legitimate engineering problems and business/timing issues they had to solve. Some of the constraints for the first-gen Apple Pencil:
- Not enough time for further big hardware redesign changes iPad-side, at least for that generation (the later iPads could charge the pen wirelessly, and had magnets to hold it in place)
- No official lightning-to-lightning cable for the pen, because users would probably attempt to do iPhone shenanigans with it and complain about something not being possible (like one iOS device charging another); and it’ll risk damage to iPad, Pencil, or itself because it will get used on the go while everything’s stuffed in a backpack – not likely to survive for long, especially if it’s a short cable
- Plus you might end up with pencil users leaving it permanently connected, and we know what Apple of that era thought about unintended use cases (and optics)
- No USB-C to USB-C (or USB-C/USB-A to lightning) cable, because users should not need to carry a second, distinct cable for their pen (or one that doesn’t connect to the iPad when you want to charge the pen with no outlet nearby, e.g. in every classroom ever)
… leaving little room for any other implementation. They probably did some internal testing and user research and figured the pen actually breaking off is rare enough to accept the design’s ridiculousness.
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Comment on I made a website with free and low-cost resources for web development, game development, privacy, graphics, small web, etc in ~tech
tauon (edited )LinkCool stuff! I really enjoyed the (even 2026-updated!) email obfuscation article, since I’ve dealt with that topic before personally (and didn’t think scraping mechanisms would still be this...Cool stuff! I really enjoyed the (even 2026-updated!) email obfuscation article, since I’ve dealt with that topic before personally (and didn’t think scraping mechanisms would still be this dumb/cheap, so was more concerned than I perhaps needed to be :P).
The more things you add, the longer this page will become. Maybe you could consider adding a table of contents, at least for the bigger overarching categories?
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Comment on Apple names insider John Ternus as CEO, Tim Cook to become executive chairman in ~tech
tauon Link ParentCould also be an optimism that their current good run wouldn’t be ended. :PCould also be an optimism that their current good run wouldn’t be ended. :P
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Comment on What's a battle that nobody knows you're fighting? in ~talk
tauon Link ParentFor what it’s worth, you don’t know me, and I don’t know you, so feel free to DM me if you want to talk about anything you can’t really or don’t want to discuss IRL. (This is directed at any- and...For what it’s worth, you don’t know me, and I don’t know you, so feel free to DM me if you want to talk about anything you can’t really or don’t want to discuss IRL.
(This is directed at any- and everyone reading. No pressure, though, just throwing it out there. :-))
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Comment on What's a battle that nobody knows you're fighting? in ~talk
tauon Link ParentThis is why it might make sense to keep 1-2 invite codes for yourself: To post from a “throwaway” account. As a side note, I love how a username actually stands for someone in this community, as...This is why it might make sense to keep 1-2 invite codes for yourself: To post from a “throwaway” account.
As a side note, I love how a username actually stands for someone in this community, as in there are many recurring/recognizable people here. That’s a rare setting in today’s (public) internet, I feel like, and not wanting to post due to this is, IMO, a good problem to have.
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Comment on An insight into looksmaxxxing/blackpill "ideology" in ~life
tauon Link ParentSo I have a somewhat amusing anecdote to share on this: While I’m taken, I have a guy acquaintance I know through mutual friends, and his Hinge dating app profile has become somewhat of a running...but that shows if you're really not at the top it's kind of a harder battle.
So I have a somewhat amusing anecdote to share on this: While I’m taken, I have a guy acquaintance I know through mutual friends, and his Hinge dating app profile has become somewhat of a running joke among our group. He is, I would guess, about 6’5”/1.95m tall, very muscular and generally quite good-looking, and he consistently (and constantly) has dozens of potential matches and open/unread conversations. Like, 50+ at almost any given time.
The punchline: The only thing he ever writes to initiate a conversation, or to respond to someone who messaged him first, is “you look cute”. If he really likes someone and wants to try hard, he’ll however send “you look really cute”, or alternatively “you look very cute”.
While I have never tried this myself, I wonder if it’d work for other dudes too, as a sort of “being blunt” cheat code.Closing thought, however, is that he hasn’t been in a long-term relationship for years. Maybe there’s a downside to not having to demonstrate your charm, humor or wits in order to convince a potential partner of your non-superficial qualities.
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Comment on New search engine reveals if ancestors were in Nazi party in ~humanities.history
tauon LinkWell, it’s great that these journalists have put in the effort to make a tool like this and that it exists now, but for me personally – no need to. 😬 (Parts of) my lineage My family has had a bit...Well, it’s great that these journalists have put in the effort to make a tool like this and that it exists now, but for me personally – no need to. 😬
(Parts of) my lineage
My family has had a bit of a tendency for, ahem, older patriarchal lines for about the last 150 years or so (at least that’s what we easily know of). I was born in this millennium, but only going back to my dad’s grandfather, for example, his birth was already in the 1880s (I do not have a family tree at hand for the precise year). While my father's father was a pilot shortly after the end of Nazi Germany, as well as, if I recall correctly, preparing to become one during the last bit of it, he was fortunately too young to see combat (*1928) or be seriously committed to this abhorrent ideology.One of my dad's great-uncles died in KZ Mauthausen after he was sent there in the 1940s.
On my mom’s side, who is the youngest of five, her father (*1925) was involved in WWII activities, and as someone born as an ethnic German in what is now the Czech-Polish border region, not on the allied side. His, and family of my mother’s mother, were both expelled from their home areas as the war ended. He was also a prisoner of war for a number of years, and from what I know his ideology tragically did not change much after the end of the Reich, however he passed over a decade before I was born, so I do not have much more first-hand knowledge there, (un?)fortunately.
His father, in turn, my great-grandfather, was born 1900, died 1944, which tells you the unfortunate, abbreviated life story – contrast this to his wife, who lived from 1902 until ’86.
The legacy that remains? I believe there are still a number of young people out there who attend the yearly memorial marches, although the number is not as high as it could – and should – be. My family is not originally from where I currently live – it was only my parents that decided to move here – so the events my great- and grandparents lived through did not happen exactly here, but it might as well have been here. I know that was the case for a lot of my friends' families and their direct ancestors. I don’t see a practical difference.
And what did happen here, as took place elsewhere, is genuinely horrifying: The death march from KZ Dachau to the Alps passed by what is now practically my front door, and we must never forget. -
Comment on No-stack web development in ~tech
tauon Link ParentJust because you mentioned the static generation/Markdown directory: If you ever wanted to try something different, take a look at Astro. It’s, I would say, a pretty lightweight framework, and has...Just because you mentioned the static generation/Markdown directory: If you ever wanted to try something different, take a look at Astro.
It’s, I would say, a pretty lightweight framework, and has this Markdown generation feature built-in among other things, as it was principally made for content-first sites (“documents” as opposed to “web apps”/SPAs). To the point it’s actually static-first, and you have to actively put in some effort if you wanted that future server functionality for experimenting!
But even once you decide you want that, it’ll only be enabled on routes you explicitly tell it to render server-side, which is quite cool.I don’t have much experience with it yet, so I may not be the right person to ask for questions on all this, but my first impressions so far have been nice enough (coming from a rewrite of a mostly static, yet vanilla PHP-based site).
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Comment on Project Glasswing: securing critical software for the AI era in ~tech
tauon Link ParentEarlier I heard this sentiment in another commentary of the announcement as well and immediately wondered: Are major browsers and OS’s ever going to be “done” hardening? Like, when do Anthropic or...after major browsers and OSes are hardened
Earlier I heard this sentiment in another commentary of the announcement as well and immediately wondered: Are major browsers and OS’s ever going to be “done” hardening?
Like, when do Anthropic or the companies in the Glasswing consortium decide that now they’ve done it, no more zero-days in Chrome, Linux, iOS, Firefox, *BSD and so on? You can’t even approximate a threshold of “acceptable percentage of memory exploits (etc.) fixed/prevented” that, once crossed, is sufficient to release Mythos to the general public, since the number at the ceiling is completely in the realm of “unknown unknowns”.
The only conclusion I see at the moment is that this model never sees the light of day outside of very purposeful use behind closed doors, but we know that’s (at least very very likely) not going to be the case from a business perspective. Or at least not for a couple of years, until they run out of exploits to patch – if it’s really as powerful in exploring new bugs and faults as the announcement leads us to believe. -
Comment on Gemma needs help in ~comp
tauon LinkAddendum to this topic: There's new Anthropic research on their blog, emotion concepts and their function in a large language model (from a couple days ago, Xcancel summary thread, full paper)Addendum to this topic: There's new Anthropic research on their blog, emotion concepts and their function in a large language model (from a couple days ago, Xcancel summary thread, full paper)
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Comment on Used electric vehicles are a bargain right now in ~transport
tauon Link ParentA lot less, actually! To the point, depending on driving style of course, you might have to go get brake maintenance done for rust reasons first, rather than because they’re wearing down from usage…A lot less, actually! To the point, depending on driving style of course, you might have to go get brake maintenance done for rust reasons first, rather than because they’re wearing down from usage…
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Comment on German males under 45 may need military approval for long stays abroad in ~society
tauon Link ParentFrom what I’ve read, there is no process in place so far (… at least digitally). There is also supposedly no reason this should ever result in something other than a “yes, noted, and you’re...Hopefully the process won't be to onerous.
From what I’ve read, there is no process in place so far (… at least digitally).
There is also supposedly no reason this should ever result in something other than a “yes, noted, and you’re allowed to go”, completely regardless of what and why you’re telling them about it, and the discussion is also partially around that fact – why bother implementing this if it doesn’t “do” or result in anything, except for maybe a database entry that has a good chance of not being centrally tracked anyways?
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Comment on Pam Bondi ousted as US attorney general in ~society
tauon LinkNoise, but I just have to show schadenfreude Huh, I wonder who’s the washed-up lawyer now?Noise, but I just have to show schadenfreude
Huh, I wonder who’s the washed-up lawyer now?
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Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health
tauon (edited )LinkI injured my knee in February during seasonal sports. It’s been a slow (… to me) process, but the important part is that it could’ve been much worse. With what I turned out to have had happen, it...I injured my knee in February during seasonal sports.
It’s been a slow (… to me) process, but the important part is that it could’ve been much worse. With what I turned out to have had happen, it took me pretty much a month on the dot to be able to walk and put regular pressure on that knee again (and angle it up to 90 degrees again).
I’ll be starting physical therapy in probably about two weeks, which will be a first for me and something I’m looking forward to – I’m definitely still noticing the injury in my everyday life, sometimes it “just” feels funny/unstable, other times it’s plain ol’ sharp pain. And I haven’t really had the courage to be active, or agile, again for extended durations apart from taking an increased number of simple walks outside, coinciding with (mostly) warmer weather again, which was nice.
(For the curious: I collided with another player and as a result fell while moving on ice, and bruised my lower femur bone (wasn’t aware that was an option prior to this) by having my kneecap snap out of its designated location, and back in place swiftly thereafter, which, ahem, greatly decreased its stability. But thankfully it was neither ACL tear nor bone fracture, and I’m young, and after the first three or so days the pain had gotten really manageable and disappeared a lot every day, too.)
Then I was supposed to go to my I believe my third or maybe fourth check-up yesterday… but developed a fever at the start of the week.
There was another, better timing though prior to all of this: With some help, I installed a proper pull-up bar in my place and have been using it pretty religiously, that is to say, every time I walk underneath it. I’m pretty heavy, but used to be able to do about 10 pull-ups at a time, which is gone now, but it helped me get started without bands. And I have to say, it reminded me that you do get a noticeable and motivating effect pretty quickly! I’m back to ≈five now with acceptable form, up from just one or barely two when I took it up again.
Edit: And even though I’ve been able to walk without crutches for about three weeks now, you really do notice every single thing that you’re taking for granted once it’s gone… More specifically, being able to angle my knee further than 90° would be nice just for some variety while sitting and laying down (and eventually, bicycling); I’m sure I’ll be able to again at some point but it does take its time.
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Comment on The cognitive dark forest in ~tech
tauon (edited )Link ParentYou’re right, but also my wording was imprecise – I didn’t talk about time (to market) in the second paragraph you responded to, as I thought it covered with the example from the benchmark in my...You’re right, but also my wording was imprecise – I didn’t talk about time (to market) in the second paragraph you responded to, as I thought it covered with the example from the benchmark in my first comment (in conjunction with a human developer at the wheel).
Greenfielding is absolutely faster than it used to be.
They definitely can’t at the moment, and I didn’t take the original article to be a literal description of today, more of a “what will be”, yet somehow ended up writing a lengthy comment about the status quo of (also models, but mostly) harnesses rather than continuing the speculation.
In any case, thank you for bearing with me while I came to this conclusion. I kinda wish I hadn’t gotten distracted and instead directed my original comment differently to focus on the actual topic/thought experiment, but I think I’ll leave it up with a disclaimer as a reminder to myself.
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Comment on The cognitive dark forest in ~tech
tauon (edited )Link ParentValid point, and you don’t have to try, although I like to think I am open to changing my mind, perhaps more so than the average person you’ve had this discussion with elsewhere online. I should...Valid point, and you don’t have to try, although I like to think I am open to changing my mind, perhaps more so than the average person you’ve had this discussion with elsewhere online.
I should have made it more clear that I don’t think “agents” are a replacement right now, rather an additional tool for existing developers. Like, they need professional oversight and steering (which a company trying to drown out competition would be able to provide).
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Comment on The cognitive dark forest in ~tech
tauon (edited )Link ParentEdit after the fact: I don’t think my parts of this comment chain are very relevant to the discussion, feel free to collapse this (or read if you have some time, I guess.) Just joining in, but why...Edit after the fact:
I don’t think my parts of this comment chain are very relevant to the discussion, feel free to collapse this (or read if you have some time, I guess.)
Just joining in, but why does it have to be one-shot?
I’ll try to make a case for this scenario while not being one of the “AGI in 2027” people.As far as the general public is concerned, the so-called “agentic” development tools take an idea, at least in most areas, and turn it into code today. To be frank, the specific model you end up using doesn’t really matter all that much anymore, and releasing a new one isn’t strictly necessary anymore from here on out.* **
Sure, it might take $time while iterating, but for the most part, for the price of less than a gym subscription you can hire
onenot quite unlimited, but many concurrent personal developers.
Now, if you’re already a developer at one of the big tech firms, this process is just sped up even more even if you did nothing more than UX/user walkthrough-like testing at the end, because you get to write ticket-style, specific feature requests/bug reports on the missing functionality. On the other hand, if you can steer the technical direction of the implementation through having even a modicum of experience, it’s probable you could avoid the silliest of security issues without too much overhead in terms of automation.And the cat’s out of the bag, too. Even if OpenAI and Anthropic were to go down tomorrow, research in this space would continue (at least the part of it which doesn’t require huge GPU clusters and $$$, and there still is quite a lot of potential in everything not related to that) at an academic and hobbyist level. And Google would most likely not go under in this event, so maybe even the big spending type of research could continue somewhat.
As a closing thought for this, here’s a well-known developer person credibly paying out $500 per novel-to-them problem that an agentic LLM harness can’t solve: Xcancel link.
Go ahead and make some money! It ought to be easy (and please update here once successful, I’d be genuinely curious to know too) :-)Also cf. CCBench, a benchmark specifically designed to check
How well do agents perform on tasks that aren't part of public training data?
– in which an OpenAI model two minor versions behind their latest, i.e. notably behind SOTA, scores 75% on real world tasks. What categories of business models, or for this thought experiment, scummy business tactics are unlocked if you have general-purpose developers that can accomplish more than three quarters of arbitrary, real-world tasks before their cut-off of…, checks notes…, 20 minutes for the task?***
The fact of the matter is, unless you’re like the one company that I can think of in this space next to existing banks, nobody making money via software is working on load-bearing financial infrastructure.**** And there’s an argument to be made that even this will be or already is possible for the “agents” to work on, with human oversight, at a speed only really correlating to and limited by money. Which was, mostly, honestly already the case pre-agentic development.
Notes:
*Unless your company valuation relies on it.
**Although it would be nice to have something less reliant on the training corpora, and more capable to actually do novel reasoning, but I don’t think we’re necessarily getting there with LLMs alone anymore.
***I don’t like to rely on this benchmark for the sake of an argument a lot, as it’s comprised of working in relatively smaller codebases, which many a existing project are decidedly not like, but bigger equals more difficult to test, and it still features quite the results worth a mention; it’s damn impressive if you ask me. But I’d get if you dismissed this, just consider it as another example of the direction we’re unstoppably headed in.
****Edit: Mea culpa, I forgot about Stripe. But I was exaggerating anyways, hopefully obviously.
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Comment on I built ProxChat - what is it? in ~tech
tauon Link ParentOptional internet relaying capability was added a while back IIRC. But yeah, definitely a different thing, just figured it was worth a mention here.Optional internet relaying capability was added a while back IIRC. But yeah, definitely a different thing, just figured it was worth a mention here.
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Comment on Google’s TurboQuant AI-compression algorithm can reduce LLM memory usage by 6x in ~tech
tauon Link ParentI think a good proxy for whether it’s restricted to their own offerings or not is public knowledge: If they wanted Gemini to be the only model/model family that has the tech available, we wouldn’t...I think a good proxy for whether it’s restricted to their own offerings or not is public knowledge: If they wanted Gemini to be the only model/model family that has the tech available, we wouldn’t even know about this research (or it’d just get published very silently without an accompanying research.google blog post).
This is a very cool finding, and/however,
does not surprise me much anymore after these two realizations in particular from a bit back:
This has been coming on the horizon for a while now, IMO, in hindsight essentially ever since it was found to be beneficial to send LLMs off in a loop.