otl

joined 2 years ago
 

From https://scribe.rip/@dimillian/adding-ai-generated-image-description-to-ice-cubes-c4e7990a5915

I’ve recently released a new feature for Ice Cubes, and users have loved it! On Mastodon, it’s considered an excellent ethic to add media descriptions when posting medias on the network. It’s necessary for visually impaired people but also for anyone who would want to get more detail about the image.

Ice Cubes is an open-source Mastodon app. Under the hood it uses OpenAI's Vision API.

(Source article: https://dimillian.medium.com/adding-ai-generated-image-description-to-ice-cubes-c4e7990a5915)

[–] otl@apubtest2.srcbeat.com 11 points 2 years ago

but I don't think I've ever gotten a job from LinkedIn, now that I think about it.

Yeah that was it for me. I got loads of messages from recruiters but they were really low effort communication. I even put in things like "INCLUDE THE WORD GLENDA IF YOU READ MY PROFILE" near the top of my profile/experience section. Out of the hundreds of messages, I'd say fewer than 10 actually wrote "GLENDA"!

The conversations I did end up having were shitty anyway. Essentially I think the world got software fever over the past few years and it's only just recently cooling down. People going into recruiting without any people skills, let alone industry knowledge. Companies desperate to hire people for no reason, including people who just did that "Quit your job and start coding!" nonsense.

[–] otl@apubtest2.srcbeat.com 4 points 2 years ago

Sadly that's true for all social media.

Some are worse than others. Every now and then I log on to Instagram because I can sometimes see fun dirtbike clips. I can comment on YouTube videos of conference talks.

I know people go to supposedly "adventurous" places on motorbikes just for clout, and I know that people at conferences often do talks that could just as easily be recorded themselves at home or even just as a text article. But at least I know, deep down, they want to share stuff with people who have a shared passion.

The stuff that gets shared around via LinkedIn feels so, so hollow in comparison. Not a lot, if anything, beneath the surface.

[–] otl@apubtest2.srcbeat.com 6 points 2 years ago

I’ve never gotten a job from LinkedIn but I feel like that’s also one where potential employers might view not having one as a red flag?

My hope is that any future employers may understand where I'm coming from by not having an account there. Not sure whether that really works out in the real world, though. Only one way to find out, I guess!

[–] otl@apubtest2.srcbeat.com 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I got recruits to buy me coffee while I ranted at them about the tech industry.

Hold on... that's awesome. Shit maybe I deleted my account too soon...

I mean, I get physically sick of the idea of the worst mindless parts of the corporate world being spammed around the genuinely amazing project that is the Internet. But paying for coffee sucks, too ;)

[–] otl@apubtest2.srcbeat.com 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yeah there's something that feels so wrong about the site. One of my (fake) favourites by @SecureOwl@infosec.exchange when LinkedIn was down a couple weeks ago:

LinkedIn was down. A lot of people were panicking.

But rather than panic, I saw an #opportunity. Using all of my strength I ran to the nearest LinkedIn datacenter. I was able to gain access because I made a #personal #connection with the security guard. I actually invested in their ceramics business while I was talking to them.

Once I’d gained access to the servers I was able to deploy a fix I’d written using ChatGPT #AI #genAI.

I fixed LinkedIn, and walked out of the datacenter where everyone was applauding.

I say this not to brag or show off, but to share a story of how you have to show #leadership in the moment, and step up when you can. The CEO of LinkedIn called me that night to thank me. #influencer #hustle #horseownership

Apart from the absurd types of text being shared around there, most features of LinkedIn seemed redundant to me:

  • list of "connections": contacts app (portable data format, too)
  • job applications: many other job sites, or direct on company website
  • messaging: email
  • finding who works/worked where: I don't care
[–] otl@apubtest2.srcbeat.com 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

None that I know of. https://rsync.net seems to do a lot less data sharing than Backblaze, though, after having read both their privacy policies.

It's an interesting idea. I suppose you're thinking of something like what Mullvad VPN does with their physical pre-paid cards? You buy a card, that provides you an account number, and you're good to go?

[–] otl@apubtest2.srcbeat.com 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I often like reading his older pieces. I forget how long he's been at it for. Here's one making fun of Apple almost 10 years ago: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/13/if-dishwashers-were-iphones

[–] otl@apubtest2.srcbeat.com 10 points 2 years ago

Sorry to be a pain; I believe the correct term is "World Wide Wiki Wiki Wild Wild Web". But we usually just say "WWWWWWW" which is super short and easier to type.

[–] otl@apubtest2.srcbeat.com 3 points 2 years ago

Headline is a bit misleading. It's not about cadavers being ferried around the place, it's a policy change in how cadavers are distributed to schools.

Currently cadavers are donated to particular schools. The proposal is for some centralised gov. control over which schools they go to depending on shortages and demand. Seems fair enough...?

[–] otl@apubtest2.srcbeat.com 2 points 2 years ago

The issue here isn't so much Google. Just people being stupid and not taking the time to learn how to secure something

I'd argue there's poor design that could be patched here. From an article detailing the vulnerability (https://mrbruh.com/chattr/):

My hunch was that in the rush to push their new shiny product, someone would take a shortcut and forget to implement proper security rules.

The hunch was right, and it was worse than I could’ve ever guessed.

then later:

if you use Firebase’s registration feature to create a new user (you cannot register on their site), you get full privileges (read/write) to the Firebase DB.

That it's somehow faster or easier to (mis)configure a system such that you have full read/write is poor design. Secure by default, principles of least privilege; stuff that you want the implementers of the system to stick to so that when you're a user (restaurants), you don't need to think about this sort of thing.

Of course the restaurants are also at fault for putting people's personal info into yet another charlatan AI SaaS.

[–] otl@apubtest2.srcbeat.com 8 points 2 years ago

Ever wanted to feel what it was like to be on the inside of a microwave? Well, now you can!

 

I'm a software dev/sysadmin mix, ~8 years' experience, looking for work again after some time off. (Based in a capital city in Australia if that's relevant)

I have no idea how to characterise the projects that I've enjoyed the most or would like to do in the future.

The projects that I've found the most enjoyable are not the ones that you see advertised by recruiters and companies; Kubernetes, cutting-edge, greenfield projects, massive cloud accounts... meh.

Some fun stuff I've done or would like to do:

  • Upgrading that weird service everyone is accidentally relying on but afraid to touch
  • While money pours into LLMs in healthcare, fax machines were still used every day
  • Working out the "low-level" part of the system colleagues put off for 2 years because nobody wanted to read through the boring 400-page ISO spec
  • Maintaining that abandoned 500K line Java system with most errors being RuntimeException with a null description
  • Working in small teams, max 8-10 people

Any tips to characterise this kind of work to focus my job search? I know it's different from working at a software company pumping out features.

Tight deadlines and shoestring resources don't bother me (as long as I get my salary!). Having people who don't take it all super seriously along the way is super important.

How do I look for this? Trial & error? I feel like there must be... consultancies? ... working on these kinds of projcets. Perhaps there's some name or buzzwords that I need to use? Or would I need to talk with one of those mega big consultancies like Accenture?

Of course very open to the possibility that I'm being totally unrealistic and way too picky in a down market.

My bread and butter is working in Go, Python, backend and OS stuff. Networking, Linux, BSDs, that kinda thing.

Thanks all!

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