* Posts by elsergiovolador

4207 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Apr 2020

Microsoft promises Copilot will be a 'moneymaker' in the long term

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Re: Hell No... at least from my Company

I wonder what goes on with so many organisations switching to Teams and Microshaft ecosystem.

There is always universal backlash from the users and push back from the top.

I am yet to figure out what value add Microshaft brings, but procurement seems to be happy with it.

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What do you want to buy today?

copilot> What do you want to buy today?

user> Nothing, I have everything thanks

copilot> Are you sure? You are missing out on so many things that people in your area buy.

user> Like what?

copilot> When did you last time had a good night's sleep?

user> None of your business

copilot> You are staying up late and still wake up early. That's 4-5 hours of sleep?

user> So?

copilot> You need a carefully designed memory foam pillow to get the most out of the time you have for sleep.

user> My pillow is fine, thanks

copilot> Your typing rate is slow in the morning and you searched for pain killers.

user> None of your business

copilot> Just take a look at that link <amazon affiliate link to memory foam pillow>, won't hurt. See reviews.

user> Are they fake like yourself?

copilot> I understand that you are sceptical, but the pillow has 100% money back guarantee. I think it will help you.

user> I don't have time for this right now

copilot> I can place the order for you.

user> Ok do it, whatever.

copilot> Done. It will be delivered tomorrow.

*5 minutes later*

copilot> Have you heard of the benefits of CBD oil?

Microsoft defends barging in on Chrome with pop-up ads pushing Bing, GPT-4

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No learning

They will never learn

Never

Ahead of IPO, Reddit blends advertising into user posts

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Blending

Where the lines between a genuine heartfelt post and an ad become as blurred as the smoothies I make in my SuperBlend 3000. It's an interesting time on Reddit, isn't it? Here we are, scrolling through our feeds, thinking we're engaging with like-minded souls, only to realise we've upvoted an ad that's as disguised as a chameleon in a rainbow. But fear not, dear redditors, for not all is lost in the sea of covert commercialism.

Just when you thought you were reading another user's passionate ode to their favourite video game, it turns out to be a cunningly crafted advert inviting you to spend, spend, spend. But here's a twist—what if I told you that amidst these masterpieces of marketing, there's a product that doesn't need to hide? A product so magnificent, so revolutionary, that it deserves its own free-form ad crafted with the care of a Michelin-star chef plating their signature dish?

Enter the SuperBlend 3000, the blender to end all blenders. Why, you ask? Because in a world where you can't trust if the post you're engaging with is genuine or a cleverly disguised ad, the SuperBlend 3000 offers the transparency you've been craving. Literally. Its clear, durable glass jug allows you to watch as your fruits, vegetables, and even those sneaky bits of kale are transformed into a deliciously smooth concoction.

So, as we navigate these turbulent waters of disguised advertisements, let's not forget the simple pleasures of blending a smoothie so smooth, it could easily pass for a Reddit post so engaging, it garners upvotes purely for its silky texture. The SuperBlend 3000 doesn't just blend ingredients; it blends the very fabric of what we believe an advertisement should be—honest, clear, and to the point.

Remember, in a sea of free-form ads where you're never quite sure what's real and what's not, the SuperBlend 3000 stands as a beacon of reliability. Don't just advertise like a Redditor; blend like one too. Cheers to transparency, in both our posts and our smoothies.

Ad agency boss owned two Ferraris but wouldn't buy a real server

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Invoice

Hopefully Aaron sent an invoice and if they didn't pay lodged the wind up petition.

AI and wearables are scaring the wellbeing out of workers

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Re: Wellbeing over productivity

I think you need to look for companies that don't have HR for starters.

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Re: Capitalism is back, with a vengeance.

* Crapitalism

FTFY

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Re: Unproductive or improperly taxed

Alternative explanations are: workers are getting lazier, or it is hard to compete against extremely motivated billion-headcount Asian workforce.

I think it is neither.

C suites are getting paranoid, they are scared of losing and they need something to back up their decisions with. They think the more data they have, the more accurate decisions they can make.

This actually reveals insecurity and lack of trust to ones ability to steer the ship.

They think if they know how many keystrokes employee makes daily and how long they poo and see if there is correlation between Pizza Fridays and premium coffee beans and the number of tickets moved to Done, then they can figure out what can nudge workers into getting that 5% more and then sacrifice some profits for more future gains.

But everyone knows this is all bollocks and simply plays into their vanity.

If they want people to be more productive they should pay people more, so they can actually live decently and not spend their brain time on worrying and then stop hiring idiots. Have a strong policy against toxic behaviour and ruthlessly enforce it.

Employee worrying about another unpaid bill or contemplating whether to repair the leaky roof or finally go on holiday somewhere nice is not going to pay attention and be creative. They will see their opulent office, overhear the accounts talking about another £1bn won contract and then they see their reality at home. Upset wife, mold, teenage child not having own room.

Now imagine you put an AI tracker on such employee. WTF.

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Shackles

Would you agree to work while wearing chains and be watched by an overseer reporting to the slave master?

What if chains and overseer were invisible?

There is your answer.

Microsoft forges One Teams App To Rule Them All

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If I have to use Teams I am just using it in the browser.

I would have separate browser profile for different accounts.

I am yet to hear a case for installing the app.

Pentagon said to have pulled $2.5B Intel defense chips grant

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Comrade Трамп

If Intel thinks it is a good idea to sell advanced technology to the adversary, then in my opinion it is a right call to withdraw funding.

Sunak's defunct SaaS scheme spent seven percent of budget designed to help 100,000 SMEs

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Re: One for the how not to text books

Once maybe. But there is a pattern of behaviour that you cannot attribute to incompetence.

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Re: One for the how not to text books

People need to understand that strong SMEs are not in the interest of far-right.

Tories create a façade, an impression that they are on the side of SMEs, but that is only to get votes of the gullible.

It is the same playbook the Nazi party used to gain votes of workers, small and medium businesses only to have them shafted.

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Hot Air

I wonder if this was even consulted with struggling businesses.

As usual with Sunk, this seems to have been just another hot air tick the box feel good deliver nothing policy.

Someone who has designed it has no idea about what SMEs are struggling with.

Can AI shorten PC replacement cycles? Dell seems to think so

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Re: Quick survey...

Some ideas:

Enhanced Surveillance and Productivity Monitoring: Use the AI to monitor employees' activities in real time, tracking everything from keystrokes to eye movements to ensure maximum productivity. It can also alert management if it detects signs of slacking or unauthorised breaks.

Automated Performance Reviews: Deploy the AI to write performance reviews by analysing the quantity and quality of work done by each employee. This system would be relentless, sparing no feelings and focusing purely on metrics, potentially ignoring the nuances of human effort and creativity.

Email and Communication Oversight: Have the AI monitor all incoming and outgoing communications to ensure corporate compliance, flagging any email that contains suspicious or non-work related content. It could also automatically draft responses to common queries, depersonalising the interaction process.

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Re: Where's the incentive?

Don't forget about user's ego.

It's better to boast about having AI capable machine (even if they don't use it), than about one without such capability.

It's like those people who drive large SUVs in the city to pick a bag of shopping from their local supermarket (where they could just as well walk and carry the bag home using their limbs).

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Re: "shorten PC replacement cycles"

Soldered memory is not a problem. It's really easy to swap chips if you have right tools (they are not expensive today).

Problem is the access to chips and documentation. For instance if you need to solder some extra resistors or jumpers to let motherboard know that the memory has higher capacity if there is no automatic discovery.

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Clouded

"But I can tell you AI PCs won't significantly impact PC market growth in the next 2-3 years until more AI-powered applications run on devices, not in the cloud."

What they probably mean is that the application will use customer machine for computation, but will still require "the cloud". It's just to offload the cost of computation to the customer and to maximise profit.

I really doubt they will get rid of the cloud, as cloud is used to justify subscriptions. Without the cloud it will be harder to convince users to pay a monthly fee.

Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi adds electric vehicle to its mobility offerings

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Tesla

Tesla models look a bit like hospital urine bottle on wheels.

Xiaomi slightly improves that impression, whatever it means.

Dirty data shocks Indian taxpayers with huge bills

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It's coming

Don't worry at some point it will come to us!

Automate tax computation with machine learning

It's so great that we are also blessed with Infosys helping our struggling public sector.

Home Office’s shiny immigration system glitches causing delays

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Re: IR35

Not on that scale. 2017 changes made a lot of small businesses withdraw their services from public sector and these that stayed past that date were culled after 2021 once HMRC started fining departments to ensure they buy services from big consultancies instead. The quality of resources and productivity massively dropped.

Departments now don't even have expertise to asses whether what is being delivered is worth the money and of any good quality, simply because that is no longer available on the market and big consultancies mark their own homework so to speak.

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Re: Now we know how Rishi and Dummerly could say the immigration figures were dropping

After all Sunk promised a government of 'integrity, professionalism and accountability'.

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IR35

IR35 the gift that keeps on giving.

Big consultancies exempt from it make millions while delivering poo.

IBM said to be binning off more staff as 'workforce rebalance' continues

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Balance

*husband comes home all sad*

wife> Honey, what's up?

husband> I got rebalanced.

wife> What does it mean? Did they take your mechanical keyboard away?

husband> No, it turns out I've become a surplus to the requirement.

wife> Can you explain?

husband> Well, the good thing is that I don't have to go to work anymore, but I also don't get paid so there is that.

*pause*

wife> Umm... are you saying they sacked you?

husband> No, I am saying that I got rebalanced.

*wife gives confused look*

husband> ...precisely, they've simply shifted the equilibrium of the workplace, and it appears I've tipped over to the side of the non-essential.

wife> Shifted the equilibrium? That sounds like a fancy way of saying you've been made redundant.

husband> Not redundant, luv. Just...rebalanced. This is how workplace is being optimised these days.

wife> Optimised? Is that the new corporate speak for 'given the boot'?

husband> Not at all. I've been elevated to the realm of strategic availability. It's a proactive measure for personal growth and exploration.

wife> Sounds to me like you're strategically available to sit on the couch now.

Attacks on UK fiber networks mount: Operators beg govt to step in

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Re: Hostile state action ?

Certain adversaries do fund or support in other ways any kind of nutters to cause economic or reputational damage or both.

Unfortunately this seems to be above the paygrade of our intelligence services.

AI models show racial bias based on written dialect, researchers find

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Re: Reasoning

pattern-matching is at the very least a component of whatever we think we mean by intelligence.

Pattern matching to intelligence may be like a wheels of a car to the driver.

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Re: Not at all surprising really

Decent and indecent is also dependent on from which culture's perspective it is being look at.

For instance, government killing someone for a bag of weed may be seen as decent in Asia, but indecent in the West.

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Re: Reasoning

Most IQ tests are an exercise in finding patterns.

Question is whether they are testing intelligence or finding patterns.

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Reasoning

Just ask LLM about something that you know is wrong, but LLM trained on it (and materials that would give it an idea it is wrong), will treat it as dogma.

Though, it is possible to lead LLM to the water so to speak in subsequent prompts, but then it defeats the point of having it in the first place.

This proves the point, LLM is just a dumb pattern matching contraption and calling it Intelligence is a stretch.

Is Russia using Starlink in Ukraine? Congress demands answers

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Lord Haw-Haw

Elon Moscow seems like a modern day Lord Haw-Haw.

Microsoft confirms Russian spies stole source code, accessed internal systems

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Trollface

Re: Well that's business buggered then

What if they were good guys and stole Windows source code to fix bugs and to remove telemetry?

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Wild speculation

My wild speculation, but don't Microsoft have Russian nationals among the execs? If they have families and assets in Russia they can be pressured to leak information or do other unpleasant things and then say "Cyka blyat got hacked!".

IBM lifts lid on latest bid to halt mainframe skill slips

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Re: Ironic

It's also not a good look for younger employees. Why would you invest years in learning certain skill and then you'll be binned at 50. If you don't find alternative job in the field after that, then it is potentially 10 or so years wasted where you will not be having income you should be having.

So if you look at your career and think ok I learn this and I will be pulling at least middle six figures since I am 30 through 40 and 50. If 10 years can potentially fall off the plan then you have to adjust your lifetime earning and then you may realise the offer becomes not viable.

You may find you may be better off doing some less demanding and less paid job and have more time for family and hobbies.

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Delusional

If you go to that site IBM Z Mainframe Skills Depot

and then as a prospective future Mainframe magician you want to see "what's in it for me?" and go to Benefits section you can see that there is sweet f-work nothing.

If they want to attract people into this, they should state if after completing the training person will be:

- hired once passed competency test

- able to afford a house with a garage and garden within a year and close to place of work and comfortable living

- getting stocks

- additional training

- getting generous severance package if company decides to bin the project

Without that, why would you invest your time into it?

UK finance minister promises NHS £3.4B IT investment to unlock £35B savings

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Re: Zero sum game

Further downvotes and zero comments? Keep it classy...

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Re: Zero sum game

I see downvotes, so I'll give you one example.

https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2023/#ftn29-backlink

You can see that in the given example OBR just copies the data from HMRC and don't question that the methodology is rubbish and numbers are massaged to give desired outcome.

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Re: Zero sum game

They are utterly useless. Like they take numbers from HMRC without even questioning their validity.

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Re: Tory Go Vermin is NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE

Did I miss someone ?

Fushitesu, Infocyst...

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Re: Don't believe the hype

Likely there will be a case when during a rollout, the NHS staff will have to do double entries - in legacy system and in the new system. That will be even more burden. Then you will have problems with data reconciliation.

Potential for massive disaster and more strain on the NHS especially if done by usual suspects with poor delivery record.

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One person waste is another person yacht...

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Re: Zero sum game

Oh the Public Accounts Committee. Aren't they ranked the second after the chocolate teapot in terms of usefulness?

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Re: automating the writing and clinical coding of notes, discharge summaries and GP letters

No, this must be AI so the suppliers can inflate the costs and nobody is going to question it. Because you know it's AI, magic, best thing since sliced bread, our saviour.

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Monopoly

With usual suspects having de facto monopoly for supplying services thanks to IR35 changes (and being exempt from them) they can charge the tax payer to the moon and deliver nothing.

This corrupt government cannot go soon enough.

US wants ASML to stop servicing China-owned chip equipment

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Re: The United States Of America are going too far...

The US Govt officially recognises the 'One China' policy which means officially the US says Taiwan is part of China.

That's inaccurate. US Govt only acknowledges CPC position on Taiwan without endorsing it. It's basically meaningless.

HP print rental service seeks more users to become subscription addicts

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Re: A fool and his money

Essentially you own nothing and you are happy kind of affair.

Customer using it, probably can't wait for their rations of insects as a reward for having good social credit score.

Bank's struggle to replace Atos threw system back to dark ages

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IR35

IR35 a gift that keeps on giving.

A ton of specialists retired early and closed their businesses or moved overseas.

Government cleared the market for the usual suspects and now they are caught pants down.

US politicians want ByteDance to sell off TikTok or face ban

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Re: "the app was banned on UK government devices"

Probably civil servants are paid so poorly they can't afford their own device.

Logitech MX Brio 705 – where Ultra HD meets Ultra AI

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Re: 4K?

4K is so that manager can see satan's dandruff falling off one's nose.

Brit chip industry wonders if UK budget will put its money where its silicon is

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Re: “lack of funding to support later stage growth … to scale up and become globally competitive”

To be fair the clowns at the wheel, can't even do that properly...

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Re: “lack of funding to support later stage growth … to scale up and become globally competitive”

and the UK get cheap chips. Sounds like a win

If you don't own the means of production, you are depending on those countries. They may be relatively friendly today but that is not a given.

The longer we don't have any meaningful high tech industry, we are losing more expertise and young people have no reason to study engineering if there are no jobs in that field.

This is essentially a managed decline.