Posts by ChrisLaarman

US Army should ditch tanks for AI drones, says Eric Schmidt

The topic of "drones or tanks" has interested me for over ten years. The Netherlands (my country) had ditched its tanks in 2011, later "hired" some from Germany, and recently has ordered new ones.

I remember seeing footage from Libya(?) where a tank would "hold" an urban crossroads, but end as a target for whatever projectiles (and the thirst of the crew).

On the other hand, drones (UAVs) were on the rise, with quickly improving specifications.

The war in Ukraine shows me (on YouTube) tanks being taken out by several types of UAVs. Some commentators attach price tags (and so does this article): one tank seems to equal one thousand simple UAVs in purchasing price.

By the way, the tanks that the West has sent to Ukraine hardly feature in those videos. I'm sure that they do matter, but I don't get that shown to me.

Another "lesson" I learn from this war is the importance of numbers: launch many projectiles, drones, soldiers at a target, and some will reach it, the rest won't.

That is a topic where Artificial Intelligence may really matter: the "swarming" capability of drones. It would raise drone pilots to drone squad commanders.

The nature of the AI may also matter: a vast library of rules or the capability to discover, add and apply rules. (Likely something in between.)

That nature of AI may revive our interest in non-procedural computer languages like LISP and Prolog, and in concepts like "fuzzy logic".

Huawei's farewell to Android isn't a marketing move, it's chess

In my Dutch experience, it was a government foreign to me that placed Huawei on a list that forbade Google to license Android on Huawei's upcoming devices. Not Huawei deliberately venturing into its own operating system and app store. It rendered my two great Huawei tablets rather useless, rather than have me enjoy them with higher-end apps from the Play Store.

You're too dumb to use click-to-cancel, Big Biz says with straight face

Same way in and out!

(I may have overlooked comments that said the same as mine.)

The way to "enter" and the way to "exit" should be the same. Whether mere clicking or going through some red tape. - My preference would be a two-click process, with the first click summarizing the consequences, the second click starting the action. Those "consequences" should then be like "you win [this], you lose [that]", with likely some amount of money being [that] on "enter" and [this] on "exit".

Google accused of ripping off advertisers with video ads no one saw. Now, the expert view

Re: It Pays to Advertise?

Agreed, so far. - However, I have a profile somewhere with Google, matching my status as well as possible. Yet the overwhelming majority of ads shown to me on YouTube regard products (including services) that I just won't buy. (Pun accepted.) Like (for the sake of argument) ads for pet foods when I don't and won't have pets. In fact, few ads match my interests or needs.

I'm open to ads! If a vendor has an offer that I might be interested in, just show it. Striking a deal would make us both happy. But that's quite different from shouting around about your pet food... (I may have a bridge for sale for vendors believing that I'll buy their "pet food".) ;-)

I don't intend to go Premium on YouTube. The content I view is quite unlikely to be payed for by myself by buying the products advertised to me. (From the last 12 months, I can remember just one ad that matched my interests (an upgrade to software I have) and a handful of shops where I buy anyway (but not the products advertised).

I may get carried away, but the placement of ads could also be better. For the sake of argument: how about marketing cars in wildlife documentaries?

Requiem for Google Reader, dead for a decade but not forgotten

RSS-feeds are valuable!

I came to this article using Feedly...

In my opinion, RSS-feeds allow one to easily find articles from the actual sources and from newsmedia with differing points of view - the opposite of the funneling into bubbles that seems omnipresent nowadays. (Note that it is up to oneself to find "interesting" or "relevant" feeds and to subscribe to them. And that feeds may suddenly stop, restart or start under another name.)

YouTube loves recommending conservative vids regardless of your beliefs

International?

Yes, thank you, but the article suggests that the research was done among American viewers - while YouTube is an international medium. Moreover, the political side of society is just one topic - however important or just interesting.

By the way, I (Dutchman in the Netherlands, using a single YouTube account) have noticed that my kitchen device recommends other videos than my living-room device. (I did so when I wanted to watch a recommendation on the one device on the other, then had to search for it.)

Finally, the recommendations may be "inspired" by one's profile. I have a Google Advertising Profile (or whatever its name) - but the other year, YouTube reported it switched off. (I did contact Support, but that decimated my esteem of Alphabet.) Anyway, certain properties of your possessions and interests may well correlate with your voting behavior.

Avoiding Liverpool was the aim: All aboard the world's ONLY moving aqueduct

Interesting!

In 1976 I sailed the MSC as a sailor on one of the three tankers that Shell Tankers (NL) had for bringing certain intermediate oil product from Curaçao to Barton. These 13,000 ton ships would just fit in the locks and could just turn around in Barton basin. They had an extra accomodation for the inland pilot who would stay aboard for the entire time on the canal (with at least one intermediate stop at Stanlow).

If you should want to browse the Web for these 1955 ships: they were mv Cinulia, Crania and some other C.

Google and pals launch Accelerated Mobile Pages project

Re: Interesting. Probably won't help

1) I agree with this one.

I'd like to add:

2) Many web editors insert lots of code, even if one (well, me) tries to avoid this. It makes me stick with an obsolete one (and partly therefore with its operating system).

3) On the other hand, aren't chances that rising transmission speeds will have resolved the latency before the cause has been fixed?

A krayshee sexy Dutch post-pub nosh neckfiller: Stamppot

Re: It is stamppot but..

Stamppot with carrots and onions is "hutspot".

By the way, I am a vegetarian, so I leave out the meat. However, I recognize rookworst (smoked sausage) as an essential ingredient for others' stamppot. And I use sunflower oil instead of heavier things.

My favorite vegetable for stamppot is endive.

--

Chris (Amsterdam, NL)

Broadband powered by home gateways? Whose bright idea was THIS?

The concept reminds me of reality in the Netherlands (where I live).

My set-top box (cable modem, on copper but not a telephone line) features a double access point. One for my private network, one to be used as a wifi hotspot by fellow customers of Ziggo.

As long as I leave it enabled, I'm allowed access to their hotspots.

This public part won't interfere with my bandwidth, but it does add (a tiny amount) to my electricity bill.

So far, I have enjoyed the benefit and not felt a burden.