* Posts by tangentialPenguin

37 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Dec 2022

This app could block text-to-image AI models from ripping off artists

tangentialPenguin

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.

tangentialPenguin

It's doing that by mistake.

tangentialPenguin

It can do pattern matching, but that's not all it does. It also has pattern formation for instance, seeing patterns that just aren't there, e.g. constellations.

tangentialPenguin

Because neural networks don't "take inspiration", they match noise patterns. It is, by definition, derivative. A more appropriate comparison would be kitbashing, using pieces of existing work as brush textures in digital art.

Microsoft switches Edge’s PDF reader to pay-to-play Adobe Acrobat

tangentialPenguin

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

tangentialPenguin

So how much funding are we actually talking about? Crowdfunding or a Pepsi logo next to every abstract?

Google to present AI-powered search features next week in live event

tangentialPenguin

Google has pulled engineers from other projects

I hope those bandwagons have decent cushions.

Hi, Pakistan? You do know anyone can edit Wikipedia, right? You don't have to ask

tangentialPenguin

Analogue smut

Is that a vacuum tube in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?

Chinese surveillance balloon over US causes fearful gasbagging

tangentialPenguin

These people comin' over here, takin' our... bison.

200MP smartphone and first premium PC spearhead Samsung's pro push

tangentialPenguin

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

tangentialPenguin

We can make that distinction but can EU regulators, and will they have to do that for each and every FOSS -> commercial project?

tangentialPenguin

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

tangentialPenguin

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

tangentialPenguin

"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

tangentialPenguin

There's a key shared, but every TOTP app I've used asks for an issuer to go along with it.

tangentialPenguin

As far as I know TOTP apps create tokens based on details of the website. So they have a record of every website you have an account for and (again AFAIK) they're not encrypted.

Corporations start testing Windows 11 in bigger numbers. Good luck

tangentialPenguin

Windows 8 was "fine" as well if you ignored everything they changed from Windows 7, so was Vista. I think we should maybe raise our expectations a little.

It's also worth mentioning that Windows 10 wasn't good at launch either, it was good eventually

Next-gen Qi2 wireless charging spec seeded by Apple

tangentialPenguin

Re: 15W charging is "too slow"?

If I never pick up my phone (often happens, I don't use it much) it'll last 3 days max, that's if I don't use it at all. I don't know how people who use their phones for work manage.

With Mastodon, decentralization strikes back

tangentialPenguin

Re: Mastodons and birds (descended from dinosaurs)

ActivityPub is built by W3C, now a non-profit. ActivityPub doesn't even support ads. The only way to add them is in apps but federated servers can't be locked behind apps.

tangentialPenguin

Re: issues

Well Gab and Truth Social are both centralised, they never enabled federation. But yeah, it'd be simple to not federate with them.

tangentialPenguin

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.

tangentialPenguin

Re: It's russian

How do you know The Register isn't?

OH MY GOD! Kids, get in the car, we're moving to Nunavut.

tangentialPenguin

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.

tangentialPenguin

Every time there's a discussion of ActivityPub there's inevitably someone who cries out "It's not new!"

Who claimed it was?

LastPass admits attackers have a copy of customers’ password vaults

tangentialPenguin

Re: A unique memorable password?

SwiftKey.

tangentialPenguin

Re: A unique memorable password?

I create little stories or poems, e.g. TimAppleKnowsElRegSmilesAsItKills

tangentialPenguin

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

tangentialPenguin

Re: Invalid comparison

Paper currency is backed by the purchasing power of the government that issues it, so not really the same.

Study finds AI assistants help developers produce code that's more likely to be buggy

tangentialPenguin

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?

tangentialPenguin

Apparently you've never heard of cooperatives.

tangentialPenguin

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

tangentialPenguin

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.

tangentialPenguin

Re: Wording

Android's Risc-V port just got upstreamed a few months ago, so you're probably right. That was one of the biggest things holding back an ecosystem from developing. Once OpenJDK gets support for it too, I'd expect to see devices soon after.

tangentialPenguin

Re: Interesting quotes

I've always thought that standards bodies need to come up with a kind of guide book. When it's just treated like git commits the big players always end up bending the common practices to fit their mode.

Need a video editor, FOSS fans? OpenShot and Kdenlive both refreshed

tangentialPenguin

Re: Resolve ?

DaVinci Resolve by Blackmagic Design. It's been the Hollywood standard for colour grading for a long time. I wouldn't say it's quite the editing standard yet but it definitely seems to be moving in that direction.

Apple preps for 'third-party iOS app stores' in Europe

tangentialPenguin

Re: I hope there's an option to block this nonsense.

Well that's the manufacturer of the phone, of course they can put their own software on. If Apple let 3rd party manufacturers make the iPhone they'd be able to put their own stores on there too.

tangentialPenguin

Re: I hope there's an option to block this nonsense.

Sideloading is disabled by default and you have to go through quite a few menus to enable it, so how exactly is it making Android less safe?