umbrae's recent activity

  1. Comment on Suggestions for a new Steam Deck user looking to make Desktop mode pleasant to use? in ~games

    umbrae
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    I used it as a basic browser and media player while I was traveling light in Japan. It did allow me to not bring a laptop while still being able to game, which was good, but honestly I wasn’t able...

    I used it as a basic browser and media player while I was traveling light in Japan. It did allow me to not bring a laptop while still being able to game, which was good, but honestly I wasn’t able to do much with it beyond that.

    I’ll be curious what other folks have to say here too.

    5 votes
  2. Comment on How I reversed Amazon's Kindle web obfuscation because their app sucked in ~tech

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    Super fascinating! Thanks for sharing. On the OCR: maybe they wanted to map characters specifically to preserve formatting, whereas OCR might lose position in the DOM? Still it’s a good question.

    Super fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

    On the OCR: maybe they wanted to map characters specifically to preserve formatting, whereas OCR might lose position in the DOM? Still it’s a good question.

    5 votes
  3. Comment on At the end of our ropes in ~health.mental

    umbrae
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    Where are you located in the world? My understanding is that there has been a lot of resistance to uptake ADHD diagnoses from a cultural perspective in other countries (in the US as well, but...

    Where are you located in the world? My understanding is that there has been a lot of resistance to uptake ADHD diagnoses from a cultural perspective in other countries (in the US as well, but especially in other countries).

    This sounds like textbook ADHD to me.

    5 votes
  4. Comment on What game is your personal "Silksong"? in ~games

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    Given its mix of extremely fun gameplay, an amazing narrative, and also an incredible development narrative, this is my pick for my favorite game of all time. Super cool that you were aware of it...

    Given its mix of extremely fun gameplay, an amazing narrative, and also an incredible development narrative, this is my pick for my favorite game of all time. Super cool that you were aware of it so early on!

    5 votes
  5. Comment on British AI startup beats humans in international forecasting in ~tech

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    I’m generally an optimist in these things but I was also curious, but couldn’t find, how many AI entrants there were. If 150 of the entrants were AI, this would probably be less impressive of an...

    I’m generally an optimist in these things but I was also curious, but couldn’t find, how many AI entrants there were. If 150 of the entrants were AI, this would probably be less impressive of an achievement, or example.

    2 votes
  6. Comment on Should I take a job to work on something I don’t believe in? in ~life

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    You may already know or be doing this, but you would be stunned how often the words “I have an offer” will make engineering recruiting teams both A: jump and act much more quickly and also B: give...

    You may already know or be doing this, but you would be stunned how often the words “I have an offer” will make engineering recruiting teams both A: jump and act much more quickly and also B: give you a more competitive offer because there is broader validation of your skill set being in demand. (It’s dumb, but it happens)

    1 vote
  7. Comment on Disabling Auto-Zoom in the YouTube app (iOS) in ~tech

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    I’m on 20.35.2 with iOS 18.6.2 with an iPhone 16 pro and I also don’t see this setting. I’m gonna guess this is a coordinated rollout or A/B test.

    I’m on 20.35.2 with iOS 18.6.2 with an iPhone 16 pro and I also don’t see this setting. I’m gonna guess this is a coordinated rollout or A/B test.

    5 votes
  8. Comment on Dia browser invites in ~tech

    umbrae
    Link
    I’ll take one, thanks for offering.

    I’ll take one, thanks for offering.

  9. Comment on You need to be bored in ~life

  10. Comment on You need to be bored in ~life

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    Out of curiosity do your watch and phone share a phone number? I might be interested in this.

    Out of curiosity do your watch and phone share a phone number? I might be interested in this.

    5 votes
  11. Comment on Pioneering method turns plastic into fuel with 95% efficiency in ~engineering

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    I had the same thought, but maybe the net benefit of mining less fossil fuels and the energy expenditure involved with that while we convert the surplus of plastics into fuel, while we transition...

    I had the same thought, but maybe the net benefit of mining less fossil fuels and the energy expenditure involved with that while we convert the surplus of plastics into fuel, while we transition to something better, would be worth it? Not sure.

    4 votes
  12. Comment on uBlock Origin Lite for Safari in ~tech

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    Yeah, I use 1Blocker which does this via a local VPN on iOS, as well as an in browser component. I run into the same issues but overall works alright.

    Yeah, I use 1Blocker which does this via a local VPN on iOS, as well as an in browser component. I run into the same issues but overall works alright.

  13. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    I believe it was a relatively old and understandably neglected phpbb and it got breached, and after that it got shut down. I was years away from it at that point though.

    I believe it was a relatively old and understandably neglected phpbb and it got breached, and after that it got shut down. I was years away from it at that point though.

    4 votes
  14. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech

    umbrae
    Link
    What’s really remarkable is that the XKCD forums (“fora”) themselves were this for a lot of people for a long time. I’m not even sure Randall knew what it meant to people while it was around, and...

    What’s really remarkable is that the XKCD forums (“fora”) themselves were this for a lot of people for a long time. I’m not even sure Randall knew what it meant to people while it was around, and there were some meaningful spaces on it for folks off the beaten path. I think it got taken down due to a hack a number of years back, but I went back and checked it every once in a while for a number of years.

    Edit: I just checked my email archives and the time it was really hopping with activity was literally 2006, 19 years ago. Man. Time flies.

    7 votes
  15. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    umbrae
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    I’m finishing Assassin’s Apprentice which apparently has many sequels and I’m excited about that. Have enjoyed it so far! Slow burn but very enriching prose.

    I’m finishing Assassin’s Apprentice which apparently has many sequels and I’m excited about that. Have enjoyed it so far! Slow burn but very enriching prose.

    1 vote
  16. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    Man I still think about the opening scene to this book regularly. Such a visceral description of climate impact.

    Man I still think about the opening scene to this book regularly. Such a visceral description of climate impact.

    1 vote
  17. Comment on What's the easiest way to queue downloads to my PC? in ~comp

  18. Comment on What's the easiest way to queue downloads to my PC? in ~comp

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    You can set up Dropbox to automatically sync a folder to the hard drive, so it actually would Essentially they have a thing called “smart sync” that you would want to turn off, and if your desktop...

    You can set up Dropbox to automatically sync a folder to the hard drive, so it actually would

    Essentially they have a thing called “smart sync” that you would want to turn off, and if your desktop is on, it’ll download it when it gets saved.

    8 votes
  19. Comment on What's the easiest way to queue downloads to my PC? in ~comp

    umbrae
    Link Parent
    No, on iOS you can just open the file and click the export doodad and go “Save to Dropbox” and it will store it in Dropbox without local storage

    No, on iOS you can just open the file and click the export doodad and go “Save to Dropbox” and it will store it in Dropbox without local storage

    6 votes