They were developed as navigational aids, it's a lot easier to tell someone to orient themselves by looking for Cassiopeia than looking for 5 stars that are kinda close together but not quite in a line.
Posts by tangentialPenguin
37 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Dec 2022
This app could block text-to-image AI models from ripping off artists
Microsoft switches Edge’s PDF reader to pay-to-play Adobe Acrobat
Re: I don't understand why we still use PDF
Unfortunately this really isn't true. The only format that can compete with PDF for content and appearance is DjVu which is getting pushed to the sidelines more and more (even Internet Archive stopped using it). All the other formats either don't prioritise consistent appearance (HTML for instance) by default or at all, or they're too closely tied to their target platform (XPS, XML).
MIT Press to trial open access journals, so long as someone else pays for it
Google to present AI-powered search features next week in live event
Hi, Pakistan? You do know anyone can edit Wikipedia, right? You don't have to ask
Chinese surveillance balloon over US causes fearful gasbagging
200MP smartphone and first premium PC spearhead Samsung's pro push
Re: 200 megapixels?
There was a lensless sensor developed in the last year or two that is entirely software driven (because the sensor itself can't focus). I'm sure that's where small form factor cameras are headed eventually.
Edit: Apparently Caltech did it almost 6 years ago, so it may come sooner than I thought.
FOSS could be an unintended victim of EU crusade to make software more secure
I'm not sure how it applies to Fedora either. Red Hat makes Fedora which is FOSS, but then turns it into RHEL which is commercial. So would the regulation exemption for FOSS apply to Fedora or would the fact that it's used to make RHEL mean it's ineligible? Maybe Red Hat changes enough to make them distinct but who makes that call?
Microsoft is checking everyone's bags for unsupported Office installs
I'm really confused. They want to know how many people are using old versions of Office, so they want people to go to their website to download an utility that will scan their computer for Office. Why not just ask them what version they're using?
This is like Jehovah's Witnesses coming to your house and asking to install webcams in your house to see if you pray.
Microsoft axes 10,000, already breaking bad news to staff
"That means every one of us and every team across the company must raise the bar and perform better than the competition" - Satya Nadella
“Today more than ever, I need your full energy and commitment to ensure we get back on the path to success,” - Yves Guillemot
"Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade” - Elon Musk
Did they go to a seminar at Initech or something? Not one of them ever thinks maybe their own decision-making needs to be re-evaluated.
For password protection, dump LastPass for open source Bitwarden
Corporations start testing Windows 11 in bigger numbers. Good luck
Next-gen Qi2 wireless charging spec seeded by Apple
With Mastodon, decentralization strikes back
Re: issues
ActivityPub servers are moderated by each instance owner but they only need to moderate their own users not every user, they also have the ability to stop federating with any other instance, effectively blocking every user there from contacting their users. Individual users have the ability to do the same.
Honestly though, most of the problem with Twitter/Facebook/etc. is from trends and algorithmically promoted content. Everything on Mastodon/Pixelfed/etc is chronological, so there's less chance or incentive for trolls to pile onto one post because it'll be gone in 5 seconds.
Moderation is still a huge challenge to tackle, but it's not one gigantic brick wall with federated platforms.
Re: It's russian
Well a couple of things, the original developer moved to Germany when he was 11 according to Wikpedia, so I kinda doubt his allegiance to Puti bear is that strong.
Mastodon itself is open source, so if you have reason to distrust the code, inspect it. The servers themselves aren't controlled by the company that handles the source with the exception of mastodon .social and mstdn. social, that's the whole point of ActivityPub, every federated server is part of the same network. If those two servers were found to be doing anything nefarious the other servers could just block them and people could just move their accounts somewhere else. If you don't trust any server, install your own on a VPS. You could even join pixelfed instead and follow mastodon accounts from there and Mastodon servers would never see your posts, only users who follow you would.
LastPass admits attackers have a copy of customers’ password vaults
Re: Someone Else's Password
Unless the salt is stored in the same place as the passwords. Speed > security in most places. This is one of the things I don't like about the discourse on password hygiene, it almost exclusively focuses on the user instead of the practices of the service that has to store them securely.
Crypto craziness craps out – and about time too
Study finds AI assistants help developers produce code that's more likely to be buggy
I, Robot. You, Stupid.
Could we be on the verge of another AI winter as corporations realise just how limited machine learning really is? What it's capable of now is more than good enough for pattern recognition with their huge troves of data, so I'm not sure they'll be particularly keen to fund development of systems that are even more emphatic and defensive about their poor decision-making skills than mid-level managers.
Elon Musk starts poll with one question: Should I step down as head of Twitter?
No-one wants a platform where anyone can dox anyone else, but we also don't want one where journalists are banned for tweeting information that is publicly available. It's not like he banned the multinational corporations for provided the information, or the Swiss government for operating the OpenSky tracker.
Qualcomm talks up RISC-V, roasts 'legacy architecture' amid war with Arm
Re: Wording
For Risc-V to be used on IoT devices, there's no need for an ecosystem as they're quite isolated. Hotpoint don't have to worry that their washing machine Smart AI UltraClean® software isn't portable.
For Risc-V to be used on TVs, phones, wearables, etc. (which pretty much all use android) app developers will need to see that the platform they develop for is mature enough so their apps can be easily supported on a wide range of devices. Until that happens device manufacturers won't risk (fnar fnar) changing SoC.