ajsadauskas

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4
Vale Tito Jackson. (aus.social)
 

Vale Tito Jackson.

Really sad news about a talented musician who was far too often overlooked in favour of his more famous siblings: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2kddp5x5zno

Here's a performance by Tito from earlier this year, with Austin Brown and BLVK CVSTLE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBobSF68Tdk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65eEHAMZMSo

#TitoJackson #music #Pop #PopMusic #MichaelJackson #JanetJackson #Jackson5 @music

7
Adam Neely makes a really insightful point about the limitations of "generative AIs"/LLMs and music. (aus.social)
 

Adam Neely makes a really insightful point about the limitations of "generative AIs"/LLMs and music.

LLMs can mimic the output of music, but they can't handle the process of making music.

I think his insight applies to many other creative fields as well. LLMs mimic the output, but not the process:

https://youtu.be/N8NyEjB_XeA?si=sUgCV6aeITBqas5E

@music #LLM #music #GenAI #generativeAI #tech #technology #chatGPT

Mozilla Welcomes Anonym: Privacy Preserving Digital Advertising in c/technology@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 6 points 4 months ago

@sunzu @dvdnet62 Oh come now. If there's one thing Mozilla doesn't need anyone's help with, it's shooting itself in the foot with its own gun.

Now excuse me, I have some Pocket articles to read on my Firefox OS phone...

176
It's time to call a spade a spade. ChatGPT isn't just hallucinating. It's a bullshit machine. (aus.social)
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by ajsadauskas@aus.social to c/technology@lemmy.ml
21 comments fedilink
 

It's time to call a spade a spade. ChatGPT isn't just hallucinating. It's a bullshit machine.

From TFA (thanks @mxtiffanyleigh for sharing):

"Bullshit is 'any utterance produced where a speaker has indifference towards the truth of the utterance'. That explanation, in turn, is divided into two "species": hard bullshit, which occurs when there is an agenda to mislead, or soft bullshit, which is uttered without agenda.

"ChatGPT is at minimum a soft bullshitter or a bullshit machine, because if it is not an agent then it can neither hold any attitudes towards truth nor towards deceiving hearers about its (or, perhaps more properly, its users') agenda."

https://futurism.com/the-byte/researchers-ai-chatgpt-hallucinations-terminology

@technology #technology #chatGPT #LLM #LargeLanguageModels

Google Admits Its AI Overviews Search Feature Screwed Up in c/technology@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

@makeasnek On a broader note, I think possibly the best approach for decentralised, open-sourced web search might be an evolution on the SearXNG model.

At the top of the funnel, you have meta search engines that query and aggregate results from a number of smaller niche search engines.

The metasearch engines are open source, anyone with a spare server or a web hosting account can spin one up.

For some larger sites that are trustworthy, such as Wikipedia, the site's own search engine might be what's queried.

For the Fediverse and other similar federated networks, the query is fed through a trusted node on the network.

And then there's a host of smaller niche search engines, which only crawl and index pages on a small number of websites vetted and curated by a human.

(Perhaps on a particular topic? Or a local library or university might curate a list of notable local websites?)

(Alternatively, it might be that a crawler for a web index like Curlie.org only crawls websites chosen by its topic moderators.)

In this manner, you could build a decent web search engine without needing the scale of Google or Microsoft.

Google Admits Its AI Overviews Search Feature Screwed Up in c/technology@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 2 points 4 months ago (4 children)

@makeasnek @schizoidman YaCy is still around.

And https://searx.space/ is an open source metasearch search engine with many instances. (Try https://searx.be/ if you want to test it out.)

SearX/SearXNG allows you to aggregate results from a number of different search engines. You choose which ones, and they're stored in your browser without setting up an account.

Federated Blogging Platforms in c/fediverse@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

@sabreW4K3 Plume doesn't appear to be active, unfortunately 🥺

There's a notice on the official Join Plume website saying the former developers don't have the time to maintain it anymore. Most of the former public instances now throw up errors of various kinds.

WriteFreely ( @writefreely ) is alive and well. I was seriously toying with the idea of setting up a blog through its main instance, which is called Write.as Professional. The sticking point for me was that the official on-platform monetisation tool (Coil) appears to be dead, and doesn't support members-only posts (like Ghost).

Ghost, when federation goes live, looks like it will be the best option for my blog.

WordPress plus @pfefferle 's plugins is another great option, depending on what you want to use it for. (There's no shortage of WP plugins!)

As for Lemmy, I could see a blogging-focussed front end being created for it, in the same way FediBB put a traditional message board front end on it, but one doesn't appear to exist at present.

49
Time for an ICQ for the Fediverse? (aus.social)
 

Time for an ICQ for the Fediverse?

Looks like ICQ is finally shutting down, just as interest in retro internet tools is growing.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/25/24164579/icq-shut-down-june

@fediverse #ICQ #Fediverse

I'm thinking seriously about getting Google out of my life, and trying NextCloud. in c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 2 points 5 months ago

@geillescas @jajabor @asklemmy That, and also making files/emails/calendar events synced across your computer and your phone.

I'm thinking seriously about getting Google out of my life, and trying NextCloud. in c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 3 points 5 months ago (3 children)

@denshirenji @asklemmy On photos, does NextCloud Photos or Memories play nice with Digikam or any other desktop photo gallery applications? And what about Immich?

126
I'm thinking seriously about getting Google out of my life, and trying NextCloud. (aus.social)
 

I'm thinking seriously about getting Google out of my life, and trying NextCloud.

Looking to get a personal account through a managed provider.

Does anyone have any experience with it?

How does it compare to ownCloud?

Any hosts I should look at or avoid?

Any apps I should get for it, or avoid?

Any issues I should be aware of before I switch?

@asklemmy #NextCloud #OpenSource #Linux #Cloud

Google Cloud accidentally deletes a financial institution account due to ‘unprecedented misconfiguration’ in c/technology@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

@Dymonika @MossyFeathers I'm guessing you're overseas?

Super fund, short for superannuation fund.

Basically, in Australia 11% of wages are automatically deposited into a compulsory retirement savings account, known as a superannuation account.

A superannuation fund is a financial institution that manages these accounts.

More information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superannuation_in_Australia

Ideas to build a federated StackExchange alternative in c/fediverse@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 17 points 5 months ago (3 children)

@lemmyreader Here's a starting point for a fediverse StackExchange: Make sure it's interoperable with Lemmy.

Now, you may not get the full feature set on Lemmy, but you should be able to interact with it from Lemmy as if it's a group on there.

#StackExchange #Fediverse #Coding

ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, Reuters sources say in c/technology@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

@LostXOR @yogthos @NoIWontPickAName @technology There's a few other steps they could potentially take.

The first would be to block any financial institution in the US, or that deals with the US, from sending any payments to or from ByteDance's accounts.

They could also freeze any assets currently held by US financial institutions.

Second, if they can get Apple, Microsoft, and Google on board to help do their bidding, they could pull the ByteDance app from the Apple and Google Play app stores.

That includes removing it from any apps where it's already installed. Globally.

They could also request that TikTok is removed from Google and Bing search results.

On top of this, they could do what you suggested, and ask ISPs and mobile carriers to block domains and IP addresses used by ByteDance.

And the US could apply diplomatic pressure on other countries to implement similar financial and ISP-level blocks and bans.

So, potentially, it's also blocked in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and elsewhere.

ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, Reuters sources say in c/technology@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 11 points 5 months ago

@crispyflagstones @yogthos Someone is named @dansup who also created @pixelfed, the app is called Loops, you can follow his progress here: @loops

New Windows driver blocks software from changing default web browser in c/technology@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 17 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

@Naich @ardi60 Totally agree.

I mean, Windows is just such a weird proprietary distro.

It doesn't use the latest Linux kernel, or even a mainstream POSIX-compliant alternative like BSD. Instead, you have a strange CP/M-like monolithic kernel — I think they used to call it DOS — that's been extended to behave more like VAX and MP/M.

It also doesn't use either X11 or Wayland as a display manager. Instead, you have an incredibly unintuitive overblown WINE-like subsystem handling the display.

Because it doesn't use Linux, Wayland, or X11, you are limited in the desktop environment that you can use. There's really limited support for KDE, despite the best efforts of volunteers.

Instead, there's a buggy and error-prone proprietary window manager that ships with it by default. A bit like how Canonical tried to ship Unity as it's default desktop environment with Ubuntu.

And confusingly, they've named that window manager Windows as well!

That window manager lacks many of the features an everyday Gnome or KDE user would expect out of the box.

It also doesn't ship with a standard package manager, and most of the packages ship as x86 binaries, so installing software works differently to how an everyday Linux user would expect.

There's also only one company maintaining all of these projects. It insists on closed source, and it has a long history of abandoning its projects.

And sure, if you're a nerd who's into alternative operating systems, toying with Windows can be fun.

But if your grandpa is used to Linux, frankly he'll be utterly bamboozled by the Windows experience.

I'm sorry to be glib, because Windows does have some nice ideas.

But.

Windows on the desktop just isn't ready for your average, everyday Linux user.

#Linux #Windows #PC

The World’s E-Waste Has Reached a Crisis Point in c/technology@lemmy.ml
[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 1 points 6 months ago

@mcSlibinas @etbe Worth noting that in the six months after Apple releases the thinnest, best iPhone ever each year, it would receive several million two-year-old iPhones as trade-ins.

So you could theoretically reflash several million units of nearly identical hardware with embedded Linux (or QNX), remove the batteries (and screens?).

You would then have several million near-identical motherboards ready for second life embedded in appliances or sensors.

242
What should I add to my '90s website? (aus.social)
submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by ajsadauskas@aus.social to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
156 comments fedilink
 

What should I add to my '90s website?

So I'm currently toying around with NeoCities, and decided to trial it by building your classic mid '90s Geocities/Tripod/Angelfire pastiche website.

Some of the most important elements are already in place.

Tile background? Large font? Heading in bright pink with a shadow? Unusual colour choices? Random cat gifs? Under construction gif? Check! Check! Check!

In the true spirit of the '90s DIY web, some more pages (including the links page) are coming soon.

(I'm thinking of adding a page dedicated to either Britney or a nu-metal band.)

You can see the page so far here: https://that90ssite.neocities.org/

There are a few things that I want to add to make it complete, and I'm looking for suggestions.

The first, is to embed a midi file that plays automatically. Any suggestions on the best way of doing this?

Second, it's just not going to be complete without a guestbook.

Third, any webring suggestions?

Fourth, what's the best way of adding a java chat room in 2024?

Finally, anything else that really needs to be a part of a great '90s website?

UPDATE: Thanks for all the feedback! I've added more annoying GIFs, a guestbook, a links page, and a cyber cat hangout.

UPDATE 2: And added even more gifs, an amazing Amiga demo, and a ton of links.

@asklemmy #tech #webdev #neocities #technology

30
Are there currently any Substack replacements that integrate with ActivityPub? (aus.social)
submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by ajsadauskas@aus.social to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
4 comments fedilink
 

Are there currently any Substack replacements that integrate with ActivityPub?

So I'm currently looking for a Substack substitute for taking donations.

I'd want it to feature a blog (and preferably newsletters too) that include a mix of publicly-accessible posts, as well as posts that are only visible to donors.

And ideally, I want it to also integrate with ActivityPub too.

That might mean a Fediverse post is automatically generated when a new blog post is published. Or potentially the publicly visible blog posts are published in full to the Fediverse.

Now, I know there are a few donations platforms that can handle the first part, such as Ghost and Ko-Fi.

There are also blogging platforms such as WriteFreely/Write.as and Micro.blog that integrate with the Fedi.

And in theory you could do both with a WordPress blog and number of plugins, some paid. But especially with paid plugins, that's likely to get quite expensive quickly. (Not to mention some of the questionable things that have happened at Automattic in recent weeks.)

But are there any platforms out there that support both?

Or is the best option at this stage just to get a Ko-Fi/Ghost account for the donations and donor-only posts, with a separate micro.blog or write.as account for the publicly accessible posts?

@asklemmy #fediverse #substack #blogs

0
In an age of LLMs, is it time to reconsider human-edited web directories? (aus.social)
submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by ajsadauskas@aus.social to c/degoogle@lemmy.ml
3 comments fedilink
 

In an age of LLMs, is it time to reconsider human-edited web directories?

Back in the early-to-mid '90s, one of the main ways of finding anything on the web was to browse through a web directory.

These directories generally had a list of categories on their front page. News/Sport/Entertainment/Arts/Technology/Fashion/etc.

Each of those categories had subcategories, and sub-subcategories that you clicked through until you got to a list of websites. These lists were maintained by actual humans.

Typically, these directories also had a limited web search that would crawl through the pages of websites listed in the directory.

Lycos, Excite, and of course Yahoo all offered web directories of this sort.

(EDIT: I initially also mentioned AltaVista. It did offer a web directory by the late '90s, but this was something it tacked on much later.)

By the late '90s, the standard narrative goes, the web got too big to index websites manually.

Google promised the world its algorithms would weed out the spam automatically.

And for a time, it worked.

But then SEO and SEM became a multi-billion-dollar industry. The spambots proliferated. Google itself began promoting its own content and advertisers above search results.

And now with LLMs, the industrial-scale spamming of the web is likely to grow exponentially.

My question is, if a lot of the web is turning to crap, do we even want to search the entire web anymore?

Do we really want to search every single website on the web?

Or just those that aren't filled with LLM-generated SEO spam?

Or just those that don't feature 200 tracking scripts, and passive-aggressive privacy warnings, and paywalls, and popovers, and newsletters, and increasingly obnoxious banner ads, and dark patterns to prevent you cancelling your "free trial" subscription?

At some point, does it become more desirable to go back to search engines that only crawl pages on human-curated lists of trustworthy, quality websites?

And is it time to begin considering what a modern version of those early web directories might look like?

@degoogle #tech #google #web #internet #LLM #LLMs #enshittification #technology #search #SearchEngines #SEO #SEM

215
In five years time, some CTO will review the mysterious outage or technical debt in their organisation. (aus.social)
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by ajsadauskas@aus.social to c/technology@lemmy.ml
51 comments fedilink
 

In five years time, some CTO will review the mysterious outage or technical debt in their organisation.

They will unearth a mess of poorly written, poorly -documented, barely-functioning code their staff don't understand.

They will conclude that they did not actually save money by replacing human developers with LLMs.

#AI #LLM #LargeLanguageModels #WebDev #Coding #Tech #Technology @technology

122
My real worry with Google's voyage into enshittification (thanks to Cory Doctorow @pluralistic the term) is YouTube. (aus.social)
submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by ajsadauskas@aus.social to c/technology@lemmy.ml
83 comments fedilink
 

My real worry with Google's voyage into enshittification (thanks to Cory Doctorow @pluralistic the term) is YouTube.

Through YT, for the past 15 years, the world has basically entrusted Google to be the custodian of pretty much our entire global video archive.

There's countless hours of archived footage — news reports, political speeches, historical events, documentaries, indie films, academic lectures, conference presentations, rare recordings, concert footage, obscure music — where the best or only copy is now held by Google through YouTube.

So what happens if maintaining that archival footage becomes unprofitable?

#tech #technology #Google #enshittification #youtube #video @technology #capitalism #film #television #cinema #art #arts #SocialMedia #business #economics

2
Climate resilience: Has the time come to start demanding lighter-coloured streets in hotter climates? (aus.social)
 

Climate resilience: Has the time come to start demanding lighter-coloured streets in hotter climates?

At this stage, the challenge with climate change is not just preventing it from happening by cutting emissions. We also need to make our cities resilient to the climate change we've already locked in.

That's where lighter coloured paving for streets, rather than dark asphalt, can help:

"Sebastian Pfautsch doesn't hesitate when asked what he would change first to cool Australian cities in summer.

"And it's not what you might expect. It's not the seemingly endless expanse of black roofs, soaking up the sun beneath a shimmering haze.

"It's the roads. About a third of any outer suburb is thermally dense black asphalt that can reach 75 degrees Celsius, according to Professor Pfautsch, an expert on urban heat at the University of Western Sydney.

...

"Lighter-coloured roads may make intuitive sense, like wearing a white shirt on a hot day, but how effectively do they reduce surface and ambient air temperature?

"In 2020, two separate cool roads trials in Sydney and Adelaide set out to conclusively answer these questions.

"The Sydney trial, which took place at about 10 sites in the Western Sydney suburbs of Blacktown, Campbelltown and Parramatta, recorded an average surface temperature reduction of 5.6C and 2C for day and night respectively.

"For context, tree shade reduced the surface temperatures of roads by 16C."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2024-01-24/why-australia-builds-dark-roads-despite-heatwaves-climate-change/103375122

@urbanism #urbanism #UrbanPlanning #transport #cities #environment #ClimateChange

185
Hey, check out this new product on Amazon, called "I’m sorry, but I cannot fulfill this request as it goes against OpenAI use policy". Looks amazing: (aus.social)
 

Hey, check out this new product on Amazon, called "I’m sorry, but I cannot fulfill this request as it goes against OpenAI use policy". Looks amazing:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/12/24036156/openai-policy-amazon-ai-listings

#amazon #tech #technology #LLM #AI @technology

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