Slashdot Mirror


User: ugen

ugen's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
489
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 489

  1. Re:"Smarter mail" can kiss my shiny metal a... on iOS 13 To Feature Dark Mode and Interface Updates, Report Says (9to5mac.com) · · Score: 1

    I am pretty certain that I did not *enable* threading. In that you are being disingenuous. Apple chose the *default* to turn on threads, without asking me.

    That said, thank you - turned off threads. Looks much better. Still can't find a way to turn off the arbitrary grouping (and mandatory face recognition) in the photos. Clearly Apple gives me, the user, the option to shut it off, does it not?

  2. "Smarter mail" can kiss my shiny metal a... on iOS 13 To Feature Dark Mode and Interface Updates, Report Says (9to5mac.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not the "smarter" mail please :( I am on the current iOS and the damn mail is so smart, I can't simply see individual messages - it insists on folding all previous replies into a single concoction (so that if you want to delete one - it kills them all).
    And photos - they are so "smart" there is no longer a simple chronological set. Instead it's trying to come up with its very own groupings that, while making no sense to me, cannot be easily turned off.

    When will "smarter" crap stop? Please give me simple applications that do nothing unless *I SPECIFICALLY ASK THEM TO*!!!!

  3. Government's wet dream on Volvo To Add In-Car Sensors To Prevent Drunk Driving (reuters.com) · · Score: 1

    And of course, once technology is available, your friendly local government will make it mandatory for all vehicles. There is no escape.

  4. So a protected execution environment is protected from the rest of the system. Works as designed, then. That's the issue with anything (like weapons) - they don't differentiate whether they are used by "good" or "bad" guys (but for practical purposes "bad" guys get a lot more use out of them because they use these tools proactively, whereas "good" guys would only use them reactively).

  5. FWIW: it's the last phone from Apple on Is the iPhone SE the 'Best Minimalist Phone' Right Now? (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    I am an SE user, and IMO this is the last reasonable device from Apple. I certainly plan to keep using it until it either falls apart (and replacement is not available), or Apple comes out with another similar form factor device with an audio connector.

    Barring that - off to Android. Although I will miss iMessage and FaceTime, audio jack and form factor override those priorities. (I could always learn to like WhatsApp).

  6. Re:Anyone cares to comment? on Amazon Launches re:MARS Event Focusing on AI, as Second Stage To Invite-only MARS (geekwire.com) · · Score: 1

    I am sorry, but none of the things you mentioned (with possible exception of computer vision) have anything to do with AI, not now and not 30 years ago.
    You lost me at "a vast network of interconnectedn-ess that is arguably an AI system." Sorry.

  7. Re:Anyone cares to comment? on Amazon Launches re:MARS Event Focusing on AI, as Second Stage To Invite-only MARS (geekwire.com) · · Score: 1

    Yep, same here. And if I booked a hotel somewhere, I'll see ads for hotels in that same place for a month. Already booked - what's the point? :) It gets funnier. My children are going to middle school now, but since I used to buy baby stuff back in the day, Target (and, occasionally, Amazon) keep offering me more baby items - formula, diapers, you name it. Wouldn't it be obvious that they need to apply a timeline to these types of purchases and offer school supplies after 6 years or so, and then whatever it is teenagers need etc. Instead, it appears to be a static set of keywords, fixed forever.

    Well, so no AI there. But it can't all be marketing hype, can it?

  8. I'd like anyone in the know to name 3 things that AI is successfully doing today somewhere in or around our daily lives. Activities that require thinking or reasoning ability and that were once performed by humans, but no longer.

    FWIW I want AI to succeed, but I see a lot of talk and, frankly, close to 0 implementation anywhere I look. So, perhaps, I am looking in all the wrong places?

  9. Those commercial "hampster" figures/images are poorly designed. They have nothing in common with plump silly original "hampsters". Seem like an attempt to make a figure look "sexy" or something. Very creepy. Whoever designed these should have asked actual children, may be.

  10. Long phone calls on 'Two Years Later, I Still Miss the Headphone Port' (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 1

    Add to the list - any long customer phone calls (like to any customer service, for example)
    Before getting on a call I do 2 things:
    1. plug in a set of headphones
    2. plug the phone into power

    3.5mm connector is not optional. As of now I own iPhone SE and expect to continue in foreseeable future (might buy another SE spare just in case). Eventually either:

    Eventually I will have to decide between imessage/facetime (that's the primary reason I stick with IOS, though not being Google product is a close second) and the need to use 3.5mm connector. TBH I suspect that it would be easier to replace imessage/facetime (though since the entire family is on IOS it might take a while).

  11. Second "wow" in one thread - you are easily excited :)

  12. Re:Intelligence requires motivation on Artificial General Intelligence is Nowhere Close To Being a Reality (venturebeat.com) · · Score: 1

    Not "threaten to turn off", but smash into pieces from time to time :) Can computers procreate, though?

  13. Good point - this whole scenario needs to take a huge number of parallel paths, most of which result in "losers".

  14. Intelligence requires motivation on Artificial General Intelligence is Nowhere Close To Being a Reality (venturebeat.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Intelligence does not exist in a vacuum. In order for intelligence to develop, system needs motivation to do so. (An engineer saying "you must be intelligent" is not sufficient, by the very nature of intelligence).
    Basic motivation for all life on this planet is 1. avoidance of death, 2. self preservation and 3. continuation of own kind.
    1. Avoidance of death and self-preservation require "pain" - this is a signal to the organism that something is happening that is hurting it and may result in death (hence - avoid)
    2. Self-preservation and continuation of own kind require "pleasure" caused by consumption of food (thus extending own life) and procreation.

    These stimuli and search for optimization thereof is what causes all development of thought and intelligence. By the very nature computer systems lack either. They cannot "die", nor "procreate". Thus they cannot even in principle have motivation to learn. A first step to a true AI would be a system that is actual danger of destruction in a hostile environment. Do that (10^very large value times) and may be we'll have a working cockroach.

  15. Re:"Tourism"? on Whale Shark Tourism Harms Coral Reefs (asianscientist.com) · · Score: 2

    I've been there. It's a mass tourism at its worst. Thousands of tourists shuttled by small boats into a semi circle near shore. A small powerboat drags a chum bag behind it, stopping briefly next to each of the parked boats. A few chummed whale sharks obediently follow.
    There is everything there from in-water fist fights for best location, to the usual tourist scams on shore, and of course dumping enormous amounts of trash of all kinds all over the site.
    I did not expect it to be particularly good, but what happens there was beyond my worst expectations. Should really be shut down, but they can't do that as it's a poor country and locals have no other means to make a living.

  16. Whole Paycheck on Amazon's Grocery Push Keeps Stumbling After Whole Foods Purchase (bloomberg.com) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Whole Paycheck, as we know it, is still as overpriced as ever. While they do have some products not available elsewhere, where they have exactly the same products to compare, their prices are routinely 30% above other stores.

    Even a reasonably paid professional will find it hard to justify WF price premium (particularly when excellent groceries are available at several competing chains, esp. in our area thanks to "ethnic" chains moving in). As long as WF will remain priced as it is, I don't see it making any gains.

    Anecdotally, I moved from buying 50% of my groceries at WF 10 years ago to virtually nothing (the only thing I buy there nowadays is bread)

  17. Most likely the a/h team removed it on their own initiative, to finally show that there is a reason for their existence.

    That's the problem with all initiatives, even the best ones - as any entity, their primary purpose becomes self-sustenance.

  18. We send most of our "recycling" to China, so it is (at least until recently, since they tightened the rules) our plastic there. We just sweep it off to a poorer country, so it's "not our problem".

  19. The wise words of Macklemore on Samsung Embarrassingly Partners With Fake Supreme (droid-life.com) · · Score: 2

    And I quote:

    "They be like, "Oh, that Gucci? That's hella tight"
    I'm like, "Yo, that's 50 dollars for a t-shirt."
    Limited edition, let's do some simple addition
    50 dollars for a t-shirt, that's just some ignorant bitch shit
    I call that getting-swindled-and-pimped shit
    I call that getting tricked by business
    That shirt's hella dough
    And having the same one as six other people in this club is a hella don't."

    Who cares about a silly logo on an average quality yet overpriced shirt? Whether the holder of copyright in that shirt is from New York, Italy or China.

  20. They certainly did on Voice Tech Like Alexa and Siri Hasn't Found Its True Calling Yet (recode.net) · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The true calling of the voice "assistants" is to collect and provide personal information that can be processed and used to better market goods and services by various corporations.

    What they have not found yet is a plausible use case that would be universally acceptable and persuasive enough to get these devices into as many hands/homes as possible.

  21. Re: Not to worry on US Announces Plans To Withdraw From 144-Year-Old Postal Treaty (thehill.com) · · Score: 1

    I believe you are talking about unrelated issues. Israel is the one doing the "sucking up". Russia is in no way required to reciprocate. Israel has been particularly deferential and accommodating to Russia recently. That, however, is well outside the current discussion topic.

  22. Not to worry on US Announces Plans To Withdraw From 144-Year-Old Postal Treaty (thehill.com) · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I buy a lot of that "cheap junk" off of ebay, that comes directly from China. I've noticed that over the last year a lot of it no longer being sent using China mail (i.e. the official government mail that is part of the postal union and is at issue here). Most has moved to "private carriers" - who, from all the appearances, ship things in bulk to the US and then separate and ship packages internally as domestic first class mail.
    Some of it started coming from Malaysia (likely based on their advantageous mailing rates, and the fact that they are not in the crosshairs of the current administration much).

    My guess is, by the time this administration successfully stomps into the ground the existing legacy system, there will be a ready and nimble replacement not subject to the "old rules".

    And so it goes with most of their undertakings - huffing and puffing and breaking all the china in the store, losing what little goodwill we may have had, to protect industrial interests that are past their prime. Auto, coal, what else?

    Meanwhile, our only friends now may be in Saudi Arabia and we are so afraid to lose them, that we cannot call them out on an political murder. Even Israel is sucking up to Russia so hard you can hear it from across the ocean. Yes, the last paragraph is a rant, but the world is very small now, and mail is not the only thing that unites (or divides) it.

  23. Re:Bruce is forgetting everything before the 1960s on A Future Where Everything Becomes a Computer Is As Creepy As You Feared (nytimes.com) · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's either a naive or a purposely misleading description of what has happened.

    Insurance industry required those safety improvements from manufacturers because that reduces their risk exposure. That risk exposure exists because insurance is an industry heavily regulated by the government, and exposed to the legal system in the US, and as such must pay out valid claims. If government did not regulate insurance and courts did not compel it to pay, insurance industry would have no incentive to push other industries to improve their safety standards (as evidenced by many countries where legal system is weak or corrupt, to this day).

    More directly, the US legal system gives an injured party greater ability to sue and recover damages, which in turn makes manufacturers more likely to implement safety features to protect themselves from potential liability. Again, that's part of the "government". And again we can see numerous examples of other countries with weak or corrupt legal systems, where manufacturers have no such incentives and safety is poor accordingly.

    So, it would be quite correct to say that "there's no industry that's improved safety or security without governments forcing it to do so" (or, perhaps, in a wider sense "the people forcing it to do so" and "the government" being a tool of the people, which is, presumably, true in any democratic society.

  24. New song title - Alexa is coming to town on Amazon Patents New Alexa Feature That Knows When You're ill and Offers To Sell You Medicine (telegraph.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    It sees you when you're sleeping
    It knows when you're awake
    It knows if you've been bad or good
    So be good for goodness sake!

  25. Re:Psst.. hey bud, wanna buy some pills? on Amazon Patents New Alexa Feature That Knows When You're ill and Offers To Sell You Medicine (telegraph.co.uk) · · Score: 1

    How do you know if someone "sounds horny", though?