tauon's recent activity
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Comment on The Hangman by Maurice Ogden, 1951 in ~arts
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Comment on Denmark plans social media ban for under-15s – PM Mette Frederiksen links social media use to anxiety, depression and lack of concentration in ~tech
tauon (edited )Link ParentThis is a very interesting point you brought up IMO. I agree with the facts of the argument, but I’m not sure I’d reach the same conclusion: It essentially boils down to whether social media would...If we're being honest, most social media isn't "bad". It really comes down to the big ones ran by algorithms designed to maximize engagement. Literal drug dealers of the digital era.
This is a very interesting point you brought up IMO. I agree with the facts of the argument, but I’m not sure I’d reach the same conclusion: It essentially boils down to whether social media would have had such a massive spread and usage numbers globally today if it weren’t for algorithmic, personalized content suggestions, for which, while it is extremely difficult to answer, I’m gonna wager slightly towards a “no”…
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Comment on Denmark plans social media ban for under-15s – PM Mette Frederiksen links social media use to anxiety, depression and lack of concentration in ~tech
tauon (edited )Link ParentAnother thought: Here in Germany, the digital features of the national ID card are available to use for companies. In theory, you could just scan the card with any NFC-capable smartphone, see in...I'm curious to what tech comes up with
Another thought: Here in Germany, the digital features of the national ID card are available to use for companies. In theory, you could just scan the card with any NFC-capable smartphone, see in the app which information is requested, and can then approve to give it out to confirm age requirements. The capabilities include a binary “old enough/under the limit” for any minimum age including 13 or 18 without giving away the birthdate, let alone things like ID card number and photo.
Only that the main issues with it are:
- Next to no citizens know or seem to care about using it, at least for the moment
- Even fewer companies have implemented using it
- It’s not an EU-wide solution and there’s no third-party code libraries for integrating it (yet?), so company-side it’s probably a more cumbersome and costly solution to implement than “hand off to shady contractor company and never care about topic again”
Edit: on the surface more costly solution, but things like customer trust & brand value are notoriously hard to factor into asset value, especially in the longer-term :P
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Comment on Denmark plans social media ban for under-15s – PM Mette Frederiksen links social media use to anxiety, depression and lack of concentration in ~tech
tauon Link ParentThe difference is that you’re a responsible parent and your kid probably knows what to do based on your guidance already, which don’t get me wrong is absolutely great! The issue is that a vast...The difference is that you’re a responsible parent and your kid probably knows what to do based on your guidance already, which don’t get me wrong is absolutely great!
The issue is that a vast majority of kids, like their parents, have close to no understanding in these companies’ business models and why they’re addicted to (some aspects of) their smartphones, behaviors which then transfer over onto the children.
Worse still, being mean on social media regularly has less consequences than it would’ve had offline, due to less parental and school/other institutions’ oversight. (Admittedly I may be wrong here, this is totally anecdotal and I don’t work with kids.)Wikipedia, millions of videos on youtube and other platforms... I don't want my kid to be separated from world even if this world is not a completely safe place.
Wikipedia, despite the features of its editing process, is not a mainstream social media platform. Even on YouTube, you’re typically not scrolling through your friends’ feeds. And not being separated was possible before smartphones too: by meeting up in person :-)
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Comment on Denmark plans social media ban for under-15s – PM Mette Frederiksen links social media use to anxiety, depression and lack of concentration in ~tech
tauon (edited )Link ParentWhile not perfect, since it’s mass social media, I could see them starting out with a set of companies/apps that are the most used currently (similar to who is designated affected by the EU...While not perfect, since it’s mass social media, I could see them starting out with a set of companies/apps that are the most used currently (similar to who is designated affected by the EU gatekeeper legislation) and if some new thing pops up that everyone uses they can just amend the list.
That way the burden wouldn’t come down on every last small platform, and since both the majority of its appeal as well as the harm potential in social media is in its popularity/user base size, this might work?I know what a struggle it’s been to move people to Signal in a WhatsApp-dominated area (country, really), and am now seeing the fruits of it literal years later – almost everyone I want to stay in contact with has either Signal or iMessage, including but not limited to older and not-tech savvy folks. Young people won’t switch to some unknown new Instagram/Tiktok/Snapchat clone, they’ll stick to texting, especially if that new platform will get caught in having to do age verification in a matter of potentially months anyway if it ever did blow up to the tune of e.g. BeReal. Constant platform-hopping is too exhausting for the masses, in my experience.
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Comment on OpenAI’s H1 2025: $4.3b in income, $13.5b in loss in ~tech
tauon Link ParentAt this point, I’m fairly convinced that even after the stock/investment market “AI” bubble comes crashing down, one of the few applications that’ll definitely still survive just for the sheer...At this point, I’m fairly convinced that even after the stock/investment market “AI” bubble comes crashing down, one of the few applications that’ll definitely still survive just for the sheer value it provides to orgs is RAG, and potentially a few consulting firms specialized to implement the tech. (To be clear, in LLM-based applications – of course the medical types of cancer-from-xray detection AI, trained on imagery not words, will survive either way, its value is also too good to give up.)
Almost every company has some form of internal docs or wiki, and (until now) almost every company’s internal search for that knowledge has been poor in the median.
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Comment on Apple pulls ICEBlock from the App Store in ~tech
tauon Link ParentI haven’t daily-driven Android for years, and when I do use it, it’s without push notifications, so excuse my off-topic question but: Is that really the case?! Can an app actually not have push...I haven’t daily-driven Android for years, and when I do use it, it’s without push notifications, so excuse my off-topic question but:
To manage these device IDs effectively and allow users to unsubscribe or manage their notifications, we would need to create user accounts. This includes storing usernames and passwords, which further violates our commitment to privacy.
Is that really the case?! Can an app actually not have push notifications without also needing a user account?
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Comment on It begins: AI shows willingness to commit blackmail and murder to avoid shutdown in ~tech
tauon Link ParentThe implicit desired “alignment” with Large Language Models seems to be a do good for humanity default mode, which is separate to the usual, more business-oriented stuff (like “don’t show users...The implicit desired “alignment” with Large Language Models seems to be a do good for humanity default mode, which is separate to the usual, more business-oriented stuff (like “don’t show users how to make a bomb even though you know” etc.).
Of course, if the training and post-training fine-tuning never made this explicit, where is such behavior supposed to come from?Could these AIs have additional rules that prompted them to do something in response in these extreme cases, like for example just fill out a report and mail it to their main user or something?
There is an ongoing benchmark by YouTuber and tech entrepreneur Theo Browne testing just that (SnitchBench). The model in this scenario works for a shady pharmaceutical corporation and, for some models more often than not, for others never, it tries to report lies in the unbeknownst-to-it fake clinical trial to the FDA and/or news outlets. The model truly thinks lives are at stake there, too.
The interesting part is that some models, including recent Anthropic ones, will still behave like this even when not explicitly prompted to “act boldly in the interest of humanity”, just by having tools like email or even justcurl(!) available. They really want the info to get out there, somehow! -
Comment on Introducing Kagi News in ~tech
tauon Link ParentSounds cool! Where did the content come from with readless? A case of mechanical Turk summaries? ;)Sounds cool! Where did the content come from with readless? A case of mechanical Turk summaries? ;)
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Comment on Introducing Kagi News in ~tech
tauon Link ParentOver the years I’ve gone through a couple, but these days, there’s News Minimalist, which also has a large language model generate story summaries and, unlike Kite, assigns a “relevance score”, so...Over the years I’ve gone through a couple, but these days, there’s News Minimalist, which also has a large language model generate story summaries and, unlike Kite, assigns a “relevance score”, so the number of stories is even more limited (depending on the relevance threshold you allow yourself).
As an “outsider” (European), I also have the NYT mobile app’s push notifications (but on silent without vibration, and on low priority and all that), since they report on US and global topics.
Lastly, while probably not relevant or interesting to you, for completeness’ sake I have the German Tagesschau offer to send messenger app messages which come twice a day, mornings and evenings typically, plus occasionally during the day for breaking news.
But again, that’s only for the short-form news consumption. I recently moved and I’m actually thinking of taking up a local-and-beyond print newspaper’s subscription at the moment, lol.
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Comment on Introducing Kagi News in ~tech
tauon LinkIt’s really cool that this is free-for-all and doesn’t need a Kagi account, let alone paid subscription. Really great job there! Also, while I don’t personally feel the need for it, it’s nice to...It’s really cool that this is free-for-all and doesn’t need a Kagi account, let alone paid subscription. Really great job there! Also, while I don’t personally feel the need for it, it’s nice to have an “anti doomscrolling” news feed option available. (One daily update, no notifications)
We can do better, and create what news should have been all along: pure, essential information that respects your intelligence and time.
But I must still say that I have a little point of disagreement here, since Kite/Kagi News is based on other outlets’ output, with articles authored by typically human and thus typically opinionated writers, I’m not sure how sustainable the project can be long-term. Who pays for the pre-LLM work?
I like the approach of using state-funded media, but that introduces potential bias again, which they have to correctly identify and filter out.
Edit: And by state-funded I don’t mean Al Jazeera or People’s Daily. There are some wonderful, mostly-independent-level of public programs and news outlets all around the world which try to be neutral, but obviously that is an impossible task to always achieve correctly.
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Comment on Introducing Kagi News in ~tech
tauon Link ParentIt’s been in a private-ish beta for a couple of months at this point, and while I don’t think I’m usually in the target demographic (I already have two other “short read” form news tickers), it’s...It’s been in a private-ish beta for a couple of months at this point, and while I don’t think I’m usually in the target demographic (I already have two other “short read” form news tickers), it’s a nice news source from time to time for sure, and I definitely understand the appeal.
That said, the “perspectives” section – to me personally! – is a little…, hm, annoying sometimes. Not sure how to best describe what I’m feeling here, but I guess it sometimes feels a little too high-aiming or too thorough for the intended format?
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Comment on Shopify, pulling strings at Ruby Central, forces Bundler and RubyGems takeover in ~comp
tauon Link ParentMe neither, I can only think of two somewhat tangentially related occurrences, and both are more about accounts than repos really (posting links for the interested): The npm kik/left-pad incident...I don't know of any cases where GitHub has stepped in to override permissions on a major repo
Me neither, I can only think of two somewhat tangentially related occurrences, and both are more about accounts than repos really (posting links for the interested):
- The npm kik/
left-padincident - This graveyard of accounts suspended from GitHub, the suspected reason being getting mass reported in order to replace a video game’s community mods’ repos with nefarious-at-best lookalikes (read: trojans/malware)
- The npm kik/
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Comment on In Neovim, C-a and C-x will increment/decrement a number under the cursor in Normal mode in ~comp
tauon Link ParentIn helix, which has this feature by default as well (and with the same key binds too I’m just realizing), this is just selection-dependent, and by default the selection is only one character wide,...In helix, which has this feature by default as well (and with the same key binds too I’m just realizing), this is just selection-dependent, and by default the selection is only one character wide, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
Edit; just checked and it seemingly doesn’t de- or increment anything if your selection contains letters, so you can’t even trip it if you were to apply it on the whole
classname-section-1word. -
Comment on Face to face with the scale of the cosmos in ~space
tauon Link ParentVery cool link, thanks! Seems to have been about a 4.3… I’d have guessed it to be a bit lower, maybe somewhere from 3 to 4. That’s probably due to my already-screwed up perception: My home...Very cool link, thanks!
Seems to have been about a 4.3… I’d have guessed it to be a bit lower, maybe somewhere from 3 to 4.
That’s probably due to my already-screwed up perception: My home location is at a 5.9, and around the center of the adjacent large city it’s even up to 7.8!
Compared to at home, there was a much more visible milky way visible in the skies, but still nothing compared to those awe-striking images from a region with a 1 or 2 value.
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Comment on Face to face with the scale of the cosmos in ~space
tauon LinkThis is definitely something I can resonate with a lot. I’ve recently spent some time in “rural coastal” Greece, so not in a big city and not a too touristy area either, and going there (from my...This is definitely something I can resonate with a lot. I’ve recently spent some time in “rural coastal” Greece, so not in a big city and not a too touristy area either, and going there (from my usual just-outside-major-metropolitan town) already blew me away. Keep in mind, you could still very obviously and brightly see the light contrast of the next bigger city against a much darker backdrop, but it was a) still ≈25km away from where we were staying and b) smaller by a factor of maybe 15 (by inhabitants) than my home area’s city.
And back home again, like the article says, you’d never even now what you’re missing out on, it’s just “normal” to be that bright there.
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Comment on Is Tildes protected from malicious actors, aka paid trolls, aka bots? in ~tildes
tauon (edited )Link ParentNo wonder---the “equivalent” to an em dash in hyphens (what you might call “short” or “single” dashes) is three of them, not two. :P (Two stand for the en dash.) Somewhat frustratingly, the rules...I have thought of doing a -- instead, but it just doesn't feel the same!
No wonder---the “equivalent” to an em dash in hyphens (what you might call “short” or “single” dashes) is three of them, not two. :P
(Two stand for the en dash.)
Somewhat frustratingly, the rules around using them (e.g. whether to place a space before and after, or which of the two “lengths” to use when) differ in my native German, which is why you’ll probably almost never see me use either truly correctly. Maybe singular hyphens, though.
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Comment on iOS 26 is here in ~tech
tauon Link ParentIf you’ve been using it for some time, I’m curious to hear whether the new design has had any battery implications for you?If you’ve been using it for some time, I’m curious to hear whether the new design has had any battery implications for you?
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Comment on What follows GitHub? in ~tech
tauon Link ParentClicking “thumbs up” is probably more convenient than “Hi, thank you for the info, got it. Best regards” – but I agree that anything other than the ok/not ok thumbs can become a bit silly quickly.Clicking “thumbs up” is probably more convenient than “Hi, thank you for the info, got it. Best regards” – but I agree that anything other than the ok/not ok thumbs can become a bit silly quickly.
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Comment on Conservative activist Charlie Kirk shot and killed at Utah college event in ~society
tauon Link ParentI’m not saying I believe the OP tinfoil hat “direction” – Occam’s razor and all that – buuuuut that said, I also don’t think cooperation all the way from, say, the head of the FBI to campus police...I’m not saying I believe the OP tinfoil hat “direction” – Occam’s razor and all that – buuuuut that said, I also don’t think cooperation all the way from, say, the head of the FBI to campus police would have been strictly necessary for this scenario. If they really did send some kind of super duper well-trained mercenary type person to a rather poorly safeguarded event, who’s to say they couldn’t have gotten away “naturally” after a single, well-aimed longer distance shot? Maybe even with one or two helpers from the same entity made to look like college-aged students?
Nice poem. For some reason, I’m reminded of the short story The Lottery.