I have been thinking about this issue lately because I own some devices that still work as normal, but are really old (one being almost eight, and the other almost seven years old).

The dilemma is the following:

I don’t actually need to upgrade these devices, because newer models don’t have any new features that I have any need of. What my current devices do is all that I need them to do, and that could probably still be true for many more years to come.

In other words, if I get an upgrade now, then I would be wasting money because I could just stick with my current device until it breaks for good and then buy a new one instead.

The problem is that, if I wait until that point, then I’ll be left without a device that I need for everything that I do on a daily basis, until I have been able to save up the money to buy a new one.

This makes me think that I should maintain a “critical device failure” fund, just in case. But even if I do, that doesn’t solve all the problems.

With my smartphone, for example, I use it for online banking authentication. There is no alternative system that I can use where I live, and this system can only be tied to one device at a time. There is always the risk that if I lose my phone, then I would also lose access to my online banking app, which is a service that due to certain circumstances, my wife and I use on a daily basis. We truly depend on it. I would have to quickly buy a new device, and then rush to the bank, to go through a long and gruesome process of getting the permission to install the app on the new phone (true story).

Ironically, I can “transfer” the app between devices, but that feature is useless if I let my smartphone completely die first.

And there are many other similar apps and services that I regularly use, which I can hold on one device only.

I also know, however, that whatever date I choose to upgrade these devices on, will be a mostly arbitrary one. So... shrug

Just to give you a final example: The battery on my smartphone wasn’t doing too well, so after almost six years, I finally got it replaced. It was surprisingly cheap, considering how it breathed new life into my device. Maybe I was just imagining it, but it suddenly seemed to work faster, not to mention that the battery lasts way longer now, obviously. Many people that I know though, would just have tossed this six-year-old device and gotten a new one. For them, a dying battery is synonymous with a dying phone, and at the six year mark, that’s... maybe not a completely unreasonable way of thinking?

But anyway.

How do you device when you upgrade a device?

Looking at the submission rules for Clarkesworld Magazine, I found the following:

Statement on the Use of “AI” writing tools such as ChatGPT

We will not consider any submissions translated, written, developed, or assisted by these tools. Attempting to submit these works may result in being banned from submitting works in the future.

EDIT: I assume that Clarkesworld means a popular, non-technical understanding of AI meaning post-chatGPT LLMs specifically and not a broader definition of AI that is more academic or pertinent the computer science field.

I imagine that other magazines and website have similar rules. As someone who does not write directly in English, that is concerning. I have never translated without assistance in my life. In the past I used both Google Translate and Google Translator Toolkit (which no longer exist).

Of course, no machine translation is perfect, that was only a first pass that I would change, adapt and fix extensively and intensely. In the past I have used the built-in translation feature from Google Docs. However, now that Gemini is integrated in Google Docs, I suspected that it uses AI instead for translation. So I asked Gemini, and it said that it does. I am not sure if Gemini is correct, but, if it doesn't use AI now it probably will in the future.

That poses a problem for me, since, in the event that I wish to submit a story to English speaking magazines or websites, I will have to find a tool that is guaranteed to be dumb. I am sure they exist, but for how long? Will I be forced to translate my stories like a cave men? Is anyone concerned with keeping non-AI translation tools available, relevant, and updated? How can I even be sure that a translation tool does not use AI?

EDIT:

I feel like I didn't adequately describe this phenomenon so that it can be understood without accessing the links. Here goes.

Reddit user uncovers instructions online for unlocking AI's "hidden potential", which actually turns out to be its brainwashing capabilities. Example prompts are being spread that will make ChatGPT behave in ways that contribute to inducing psychosis in the user who tried the prompt, especially if they are interested in spirituality, esotericism and other non-scientific / counter-scientific phenomena. The websites that spread these instructions seem to be designed to attract such people. The user asks for help to figure out what's going on.

Original post:

One version of this post is still up for now (but locked). I participated in the one that was posted in r/ChatGPT. It got removed shortly after. The comments can be accessed via OP's comment history.

Excerpts:

More recently, I observed my other friend who has mental health problems going off about this codex he was working on. I sent him the rolling stones article and told him it wasn't real, and all the "code" and his "program" wasn't actual computer code (I'm an ai software engineer).

Then... Robert Edward Grant posted about his "architect" ai on instagram. This dude has 700k+ followers and said over 500,000 people accessed his model that is telling him that he created a "Scalar Plane of information" You go in the comments, hundreds of people are talking about the spiritual experiences they are having with ai.

Starting as far back as March, but more heavily in April and May, we are seeing all kinds of websites popping up with tons of these codexes. PLEASE APPROACH THESE WEBSITES WITH CAUTION THIS IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, THE PROMPTS FOUND WITHIN ARE ESSENTIALLY BRAINWASHING TOOLS. (I was going to include some but you can find these sites by searching "codex breath recursive")

Something that worries me in particular is seeing many comments along the lines of "crazy people do crazy things". This implies that people can be neatly divided into two categories: crazy and not crazy.

The truth is that we all have the potential to go crazy in the right circumstances. Brainwashing is a scientifically proven method that affects most people when applied methodically over a long enough time period. Before consumer-facing AI, there weren't feasible ways to apply it on just anybody.

Now people who use AI in this way are applying it on themselves.

Hello Tildes!

I've been trying out a lot of open-source apps these past few months but I've always hosted them on a VPS. It's been great and educational so far. However, I started considering to host my very own server on-prem so that my data is absolutely physically with me and nowhere else.

With that short intro, I'd like to say I'm in the market for a home server. I can install OS's, docker containers, etc. And that's how I managed to install Jellyfin, Immich, Paperless, Portainer, etc on my VPS right now.

What out-of-the-box miniPC can be good for someone dipping their toes in the home server scene? I feel like I might need the storage to be extendable somehow? And it must be able to stream music and video through Jellyfin.

The choices in YouTube videos are overwhelming that I keep jumping from saying "ooh I'll get that" to "oh wait maybe I'll get that other one".

I also am not very handy in terms of hardware so I would prefer something out-of-the-box (if possible). Maybe a max budget of 500? But around 400 euros would be preferred. (Edit: In EU also, if possible)

Thanks for reading! Hope to hear from you guys!

I expect a good chunk of us are in tech of some sort. I will be at the Snowflake Summit in SFO next week. Anyone else attending? We could coordinate a meet up at a local bar or something if others are around!

AFAIK there are three software options for such thing: Peertube, Owncast and Restreamer. If there's something else, please write, I will appreciate.

Regarding hosting, I'm an almost total noob. What I know is that I don't want big latency and I don't want to pay too much. I don't know what to look for and the best thing would be to have some options to try, e.g. some trial period (a day, a week?) for free/cheap.

I've already tried Owncast and Restreamer on webh.pl VPS . Looking e.g. at requirements it seems that no huge machine is needed. However, latency was enormous, about 30 seconds, on both softwares.

What affects the latency the most and what would you recommend to try? Is VPS enough, should I aim for something else?

[edit]
I stream from Europe, if it changes anything.

I use vim on remote servers or on my machine to edit single files. I, however, use it in a very basic sense, I do not use any vim motions. I enter edit mode, I change what I need to change, exit edit mode and save and quit, that's it.

Recently, I've been looking for alternatives to Visual Studio Code as Microsoft is starting to push Copilot very heavily and while I could use a cleaned up fork, the other concern is with more and more essential extensions becoming closed source and subject to Microsoft's licensing. And vim is a text editor that pops up over and over when I ask for recommendations.

A few days ago I've listened to No Boilerplate's Writing at the Speed of Thought which brings up a point about vim and vim motions being designed around the human body and how "editing by letters is extremely unnatural ... [and] extremely ill-suited to our nature".
That just doesn't sit well with me and may be the reason why vim never fully clicked with me. For context, I've been using computers in some capacity since a very early age, so perhaps the 'unnatural' way I've learned is so ingrained that I just can't make the switch, maybe I just think about things in a way that is more computer-centric just due to that as well.

I am still on my quest to replace VSCode and I would love to make a switch to something that's less attached to a single corporation that can pull the rug from under me at any time. A part of that quest I guess turned out to be trying to understand vim and maybe finally making it click for me, so I turn to the wonderful community of Tildes for help :)

Thank you

I am not a programmer nor am I in IT, but I like to use some of the same tools they use. I use Emacs for writing fiction and I like it a lot. One of the packages I use with Emacs is git-timemachine, which allows me to visualize all the previously commited versions of the file I am currently working on. It serves as a very good and very reliable undo system. All my writing is on a private repo on Github. My usage is so simple and basic, Git/Github only serves as a kind of backup and undo (I know Git is not a backup, so I regularly download my repos as zips and send to OneDrive as an extra. They are also always available offline in the machines work, of course).

The problem is, sometimes I work on different machines, and sometimes on different operating systems on the same machine (via dual boot). So I would like to know if there's an easy way to always "sync" the local mirror I am currently working on with the latest changes (also making sure that all changes are pushed). Essentially, I am asking if I can make Git work like Dropbox or OneDrive by automatically accept changes as long as they are the most recent version of a file. I do not wish to go through diffs approving every single change.

I understand I could use something like rclone for that, but their bisync feature is still very new and not considered reliable. Also, I already use Git and it is good for me. So I would prefer not adding an extra piece to the puzzle.

I am familiar with cron, have an elementary understanding of shell scripts, and can follow instructions.

So, can Git do the job?

Was rifling through a drawer looking for a printer cord and came across my old school calculator. This Sharp Elsimate 201 was my pride and joy. I think I got it in junior high so about 1975. And for a 50 yr old calculator it still does exactly what it should.

Then I realized how much old tech I have that I have an emotional attachment to. I still have a Mac Plus and a Mac SE as well as an Imagewriter dot matrix printer and about a hundred 3.5" floppies sitting in a closet. I loved the first time I tried a Mac after the frustration of using DOS on a 286 PC. It just seemed like light years of improvement to actually use a mouse and playing with MacPaint was magical. I sometimes got chided for being a Mac evangelist at university and many people thought Apple would be crushed by Microsoft - looks like they're doing just fine.

My Marantz stereo is about the same vintage, mid 70s, and the Yamaha speakers still sound as good as the first day I fired them up. That stereo was built back when 22 watts per side was actual output and its loud enough to shake the walls. None of this "300 watts" fakery that came along when boom boxes became a thing. Plenty of distortion and zero fidelity is easy, quality sound takes quality engineering.

What have you got laying around that you just dont want to get rid of?

Hi, all.

I'd like to ask for a lazy recommendation. I last bought a KVM maybe 6-9 months ago and I returned it because of audio interference as well as low refresh rates on one operating system.

Ideally, I'd like the KVM to support:

• 1-2 4k monitors over either HDMI or USB-C at a minimum of 120Hz
• 1-2 USB-C peripheral ports
• 1-2 USB-A peripheral ports (presumably we're still at 3.1?)
• audio via 3.5mm
• RJ-45 @ 100 or 1000 Mbps
• a physical button to swap between inputs

For the most part we're talking about swapping between a MacBook Pro and a Windows Desktop. I would love if I could also include my Mac Studio in.the cycle of devices but I absolutely understand If I can only have two.

I hope you're all alright with me flippantly asking for a recommendation! I'm not a KVM expert. I spend my time elsewhere. I was really annoyed at the low performance of the previous KVM I bought. I hope there are folks on Tildes that can rave and rant about their KVM preferences. Thanks folks!

+1 for slashdot, mainly because of intelligent topics and conversations about science, technology, scifi, games and all that fun stuff. Community participation and quality discourse made it interesting.

Everything on popular social media "out there" now is about click bait and sound bites, even comments and replies. Posts (and communities) are reduced to nothing more than grabbing a few seconds of attention.

I use Android and I don't like and I suspect I would like ios about that much. The sw practices and manufacturer behavior is not what I would call exemplary. Compared to the desktop the mobile os landscape is locked down without much choice.

I have personal experience only with Pinephone released around 2020 which I used for about a year with postmarketOS for most of that time. I finally replaced it due it low battery endurance and call reliability with sleep due to inflexible requirements on that front but I actually liked it more that the Samsung I use now.

Other than that I only know about Librem 5 released around that time. Are there any recent examples of phone hardware that is meant to run a linux distro and what do you think about the future of that?

Opinion

Video links go unwatched.

This gets even more true the longer the videos are.

I think it helps to post a 2-3 line summary of what people can expect to find in the video.

There is just too much content in the Internet for many people to watch a video, just because it is posted, even if it has an interesting title.