Guy English

Union.
On Program.

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npub1t2h8pjrfd0juhwfyz8fsqhhljrqx6sjwvhg4yf9vq9f9vnvtvhvqkmm5kn

NIP-05 Address

Gte_at_mastodon.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs94tnsep5khewthyjpr5cqtmlepsrdgf8xt52jyjkqz5jkfk9ktkqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43q704fhv

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relay.mostr.pub

Author Public Key

npub1t2h8pjrfd0juhwfyz8fsqhhljrqx6sjwvhg4yf9vq9f9vnvtvhvqkmm5kn

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Last Notes

2024-10-06 02:54:47

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@npub1p9k…865w @npub1grd…km72 @npub12h0…e7sz (Ditto. I’m following along. Christian—great write up. Thanks for that.)

2024-09-09 19:06:33

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@npub1ahq…wjwd Thank you!

2024-09-09 18:55:56

“Come back later today to get ready for pre‑order on 9.13.”
What does this even mean?

2024-09-04 20:24:06

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Before or after Boeing?

2024-09-01 03:59:58

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Math Notes is so great. Really feels like the way we imagined computers would be like in the future.

2024-09-01 03:24:00

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Ha! I was thinking that while watching. It’s a different take and the shared space of it is interesting. It’s also from 2016.

2024-08-31 21:47:43

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@npub1c0m…xqjl There’s just no end to this anti-Big Tech witch hunt!

2024-08-28 22:31:28

Not to be too much of a party-pooper about Snow Leopard and it’s No New Features promise of a focus on reliability but—it came as iPhone OS 2.0 had just shipped, iPad was a year out, made major changes to the Finder, got all(?) system apps to be 64bit, and introduced GCD (Dispatch). So, you know, it was probably as heavy a lift, if not more so, than other macOS releases. I did really like it! But let’s not get too nostalgic about things.

2024-08-13 09:08:12

I agree with John. Penny-wise and pound-foolish is right.
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/08/12/apple-patreon

2024-08-05 20:08:45

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Pretty sure it’s because Canada won gold in the hammer toss.

2024-08-01 00:57:49

Figurehead of America’s reactionary white Christian supremacist movement who was swept into power as revenge for the country having had the audacity to elect a black man as president says dumb racist shit to and about black people.

2024-07-30 16:30:49

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@npub1src…fms4 “Creation Unavailable” is a top tier error message though. A work of art.

2024-07-28 01:54:40

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@npub1c0m…xqjl We learned how to use drones too.

2024-07-25 19:10:14

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@npub1t5m…9guy For all of the gossipy relationship silliness I’d expected when I started watching it, holy cow, could it land a few heavy punches on top of all of that.

2024-07-19 21:04:49

So while these EU decisions seem to be largely anti-big-tech I think there’s an angle here worth considering: the EU worries about putting all of their tech eggs, and those of their citizens, in the increasingly dicey looking American basket. Nobody is sure what this next US election will bring and that uncertainty is exactly what is troubling. It doesn’t help that a US company just accidentally proved how disruptive to infrastructure a single point of failure can be.

2024-07-16 03:43:42

For me, personally, I think someone spending $45,000,000 USD a month to influence an election is a bad thing.

2024-07-08 02:41:17

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@npub1c0m…xqjl I have received your application and we are in the process of evaluating it now.

2024-06-27 03:06:17

I couldn’t possibly. I’m still working on my first.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/686/371/568/819/793/original/1f9fdaa575539766.png

2024-06-21 00:21:02

It seems obvious to pretty much everyone except the Supreme Court of the United States that the ability to legally spend $20,000,000 to help elect your preferred candidate is a very bad thing. But, hey, at least it’s not for the guy running on an oligarch appreciation platform.
https://universeodon.com/@memeorandum/112651671786230378

2024-06-09 20:37:00

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@npub1c0m…xqjl “This could’ve been an AI summary”?

2024-06-08 00:07:16

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@npub1c0m…xqjl I just bat my eyelashes and turn on my charm.

2024-06-07 22:22:33

Google offers to pay traffic cop thrice the ticket to just let it go so as not to get any points deducted from their license.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/7/24173981/google-ad-monopoly-antitrust-lawsuit-damages

2024-06-04 04:36:42

The most annoying software experience I have, outside of tracking down my own bugs, is editing a podcast and opening Apple Arcade’s Chess on my phone. The little Apple Arcade splash screen steals the AirPods from Logic and from there on out audio playback in Logic plays back at a super slow rate. Regardless of what I pick as my output.
This doesn’t happen too often because I don’t usually edit on AirPods and I don’t always play that Chess. But when I do I end up rebooting my Mac.

2024-06-03 20:07:08

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@npub1c0m…xqjl I’m getting too old for that shit.

2024-06-03 15:55:24

A $56 billion pay day is absurd for anyone let alone a walking liability lawsuit. And, whats he going to do, quit? I suppose the shareholders may think the stock hit from that isn’t worth it. But at some point Musk is just holding companies hostage for unbelievable amounts of money.
https://flipboard.com/@theverge/the-verge-5hobbaa8z/-/a-LqBx3pLQThW9_kKuhlwLyA%3Aa%3A43611565-%2F0

2024-05-30 21:46:29

Weird tingly feeling in my chest. Feels almost like… a little faith restored? Feels good!

2024-05-29 18:50:38

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@npub1c0m…xqjl I’m going to play that over lunch. I’ll be eating crow.

2024-05-29 18:50:05

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Aaaannnnnd I may regret what I just wrote! Product wise I think it’s interesting. This doesn’t look promising!

2024-05-23 23:13:08

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@npub1238…g63g I’ve never visited a Disney theme park. 🤷‍♂️

2024-05-23 15:18:48

I hadn’t heard of Windows Filesystem Tunnelling until yesterday. I was happier then. This idea is bananas. You can delete a file and make a new file with the same name (within 15s by default) and the NEW file will adopt the creation date of the DELETED file. This stuffs user logic into the filesystem layer to make atomic save operations work without changing user code. Horrible wild idea.
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20050715-14/?p=34923

2024-05-21 20:25:32

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Thst stuff needs to be stored encrypted with a key separated from the key for the drive. You want to be able to pull that plug without worrying about blowing away all your work and system.

2024-05-20 23:12:18

Remember when OpenAI claimed a founding principle was the ethical development of machine learning technologies? Can’t trust these types even a little bit.
https://www.wired.com/story/openai-superalignment-team-disbanded/

2024-05-09 19:10:29

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@npub1eee…e209 slop.

2024-05-03 21:14:10

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@npub1qw5…037m Steve Jobs never would have done that.

2024-05-03 01:06:43

So, Apple had $23.6B in profit this quarter. Their services had a record $23.9B in revenue. A good size chunk (roughly a quarter based on 2022 numbers) of that comes from Google search kickbacks.
That’s an enormous amount of profit but, yeesh, I kind of wish the company wasn’t so tied to services. I love product company Apple a lot more than I like iCloud storage Apple.
https://sixcolors.com/post/2024/05/2024-q1-apple-results-90-8-billion-revenue-services-record/

2024-04-21 19:42:26

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@npub1c0m…xqjl I admire the tiny Venn diagram you’ve made here.

2024-04-17 03:35:39

I’m pivoting to hardware. My first product is an internet enabled smart tea cup in which you can use generative AI to create your own tempests.

2024-04-10 14:41:20

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Oh! Got it. Totally agreed.

2024-04-10 02:30:41

Microsoft’s claim of a “Faster app emulation than Rosetta 2” is the new OS/2: “A better DOS than DOS and a better Windows than Windows"
OS/2 failed for a lot of reasons. A not insignificant one was that your Win16 apps would run great, better even, on OS/2. On Windows if a Win16 app died it’d take down the machine. On OS/2 it’d just get killed and you could go on with life.
Being great at backwards compatibility when you want people to move forward is a very sharp double edged sword.

2024-04-04 02:40:34

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@npub1hvd…9sq9 One of the reasons I like and appreciate you is how introspective and thoughtful you are.

2024-03-26 21:50:08

Brexit ][

2024-03-24 03:53:19

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@npub1238…g63g @npub1eee…e209 John’s suggesting having Lando be a Mando buddy. Which I think would be fun. I’m recommending Mr. & Mrs. Smith which stars Donald Glover. The young Lando.

2024-03-24 03:50:53

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@npub1eee…e209 @npub1238…g63g Donald Glover would be an amazing addition. Also if you’ve not watched it give Mr. & Mrs Smith a go.

2024-03-22 16:37:20

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@npub1src…fms4 @npub1xz5…zyew Same! I’m really confident this chat is more light hearted than it may seem. 🙂

2024-03-22 16:32:14

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@npub1xz5…zyew @npub1src…fms4 And those damn security dialogs when you try to access a directory are blocking because the POSIX API needs to return an “errno” to the calling process. Making it difficult to open things up in advance, group them in a sensible way, or behave nicely much at all. (This isn’t AppStore specific. Just a point of pain of the way things work)

2024-03-22 16:07:14

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@npub1src…fms4 @npub1xz5…zyew I’m going to just keep blaming POSIX for this pickle we’re in. We could live in Jon’s world but our OS model means we’re battening down hatches rather than giving out very fine grain rights. (This is a weird hobby horse for me)

2024-03-21 23:18:41

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@npub1eee…e209 @npub1c0m…xqjl The brevity of legal documents doesn’t necessarily reflect their quality. I think we agree there. Then you compared it to the US Constitution which is famously open to very broad interpretation. Arguably a few more words there would be better. You’ve brought a writing class to a law school and I don’t think they’re comparable. Certainly, great lawyers are often great writers. But a product of a lawyer has requirements beyond being succinct.

2024-03-21 19:06:04

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@npub1eee…e209 @npub1c0m…xqjl Gray’s Anatomy, the gold standard anatomy textbook, comes to 1562 pages in hardcover. Mac OS X Internals runs 1641 pages. Complicated systems, like life sciences, software, and laws, can be overly burdensome to describe precisely. If you want a fair comparison to there US Constitution you’ll need to include all the *laws* through which it is manifested.

2024-03-21 18:18:07

Great write up by @npub1f4d…42zv on the US DoJ suing Apple.
https://sixcolors.com/post/2024/03/u-s-versus-apple-a-first-reaction/

2024-03-20 23:38:50

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@npub1238…g63g Maybe? But just put a little plane glyph there? You can tilt it during take off and landing too.

2024-03-20 23:01:37

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Never stopped you before pal!

2024-03-20 22:55:30

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Haha! It can’t hurt here?

2024-03-20 22:53:11

There’s something really funny about the Dynamic Island thingy for my United flight. Do you really need the seconds here? It feels like that’s a promise you really can’t keep and, also, nobody cares.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/130/469/777/867/342/original/3d1887590dc52b88.jpeg

2024-03-20 22:44:48

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@npub1c0m…xqjl @npub1eee…e209 I’m pretty sure that brevity isn’t the measure of quality when it comes to legal documents.

2024-03-20 00:36:42

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@npub1eee…e209 You’re of the electorate that stripped American women of their inherent human right to autonomy over their own bodies.

2024-03-14 03:08:36

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@npub1eee…e209 @npub19nd…rcpy John, you know I love you. This is a very broken thing to say. What we do is make things for people. You write. Many of us make computer programs. At the end of the day communication is what we do. This, pal, is a horrible way to communicate.
get your shit together.

2024-03-10 22:31:09

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@npub1src…fms4 Maybe it's good! I believe it could be! Just... it's a bit of a stretch for me culturally (I can barely get with beef tongue) and, also, pretty sure I'm not going to find camel tongue near me.

2024-03-10 22:20:41

I think I've watched too much cooking YouTube.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/073/719/008/096/264/original/6c5b62948104bbb7.png

2024-03-05 03:15:36

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@npub15ml…2w4s (they are messages from the deep my dude)

2024-03-05 00:38:06

Dune. Arrakis. Desert planet.

2024-02-24 03:35:12

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Because it isn’t a solvable problem but, at the same time, I’d love to demonstrate us both wrong.

2024-02-24 00:18:40

When I think about it my mind is still reeling that, somehow, so much of information technology has been captured by advertisements. It does make sense. There is a (near)zero cost of goods produced for software (native or web) but a lot of capital invested in the initial costs at least, and the ongoing costs for most modern software that has a server component.
The refrain that ads, “support small businesses” is under examined. What we’ve done is turn everything into the shopping network.

2024-02-14 16:41:02

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@npub1sdu…w074 😐

2024-02-14 16:24:11

Text from my mother in law to the group chat “Happy VD kids!”

2024-02-08 22:49:53

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@npub1c0m…xqjl
BO
LT
No half solutions!

2024-02-03 20:42:23

Whatever directive that has come from above that demands Apple Store employees form a line and cheer customers for buying the latest thing should be rescinded.
It reads as needy at best and desperate at worst. A horrible idea. An experience that I would hate to be a part of.
Insincerity is the exact opposite of what Apple stores should be about.

2024-02-03 19:50:03

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Nope. Is there a place on the internet I can go to ask about it?

2024-01-30 19:53:58

The Iconfactory has long been one of my favourite Mac & iOS centric companies. Their design work has been delightful and their thoughtful, and playful, approach to software design has always tickled my fancy.
Their new app is ambitious in both design and development and I’m excited to see them pull it off.
I’d have called it “Feed Me Seymour” but because they’re smarter than I am they call it “Tapestry”.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iconfactory/project-tapestry

2024-01-28 03:48:25

So, defamation wise, Rudy is on the hook for $148M.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/rudy-giuliani-sued-ruby-freeman-shaye-moss-defamation-rcna130329
And Little Loser D is $83M in for the sexual assault he committed and subsequent defamation he simply could not take being told “no” over.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-trial-e-jean-carroll-01-26-24/index.html
The chaser is that Rudy needs Don to pay up and, obviously, that was never going to happen. Just a circus of pure bull shit.
Also, Little D has great odds at being America’s president again! So, if had my way:
Give us the dude who spelt potato with an “e”.

2024-01-25 21:35:28

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@npub1u3f…nne2 @npub1l6a…r7w6 If I was boss that’d be my first instinct too. PS is pretty amazing. I guess I’m saying I can appreciate the internal desire to reduce that support burden.

2024-01-25 21:25:20

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@npub1u3f…nne2 @npub1l6a…r7w6 PDF follows the same rendering model but does not implement PostScript. The PostScript *language* is Turing complete and, as such, rendering PS documents directly isn’t a terrific idea forty years later.

2024-01-25 18:18:08

For what it’s worth back in 2008 I thought the App Store had been opened *too* far. I’d expected a game console style relationship where there’d be far fewer apps, Apple would help developers more closely, review would be in-depth with actionable feedback, and each submission may close a fair amount of money. Obviously, Apple went far more open but I’m not sure quite struck the best balance. This EU App Store will be a fascinating experiment.

2024-01-21 19:08:52

I think some of the chat around visionPro has been that people have seen it (zing) primarily as a way to consume video. An expensive way with a battery that barely makes it through a movie.
And there’s been a very fair assessment that it’s just not worth it for that for many. Which is why the news of some streaming apps skipping it dings it all the more. I can’t argue with that at all. I think that’s a shame and some chickens coming home to roost for Apple. Gaming is also not an obvious win.

2024-01-21 03:22:15

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@npub1c0m…xqjl I think if they’re serious they should make their own reality and start from the ground up.

2024-01-20 01:44:22

I’m super curious about adjusting the rendering on visionOS (and similar devices) to compensate for eyesight. I don’t know half enough about how eyes work to know if that’s possible. I’m assuming it’s impractical right now of course. But it sort of feels like you could maybe get there.

2024-01-19 22:42:41

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@npub1src…fms4 @npub1xz5…zyew When you’re ready I’d love to try this out too.

2024-01-17 04:41:53

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@npub1c0m…xqjl I got it from some dude in a blue police box hawking screwdrivers and thermometers. Called ‘em “sonic”. Seems to work.

2024-01-17 02:35:37

The company I bought my cooking thermometer from just sent me a long email about their new physics-based prediction engine.
“All of that is theoretically possible with the new engine. And the math team is deep in it now. Very exciting stuff.”
The math team is on the case!

2023-12-20 02:31:08

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Home video.

2023-12-19 22:29:35

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Worrying about a “growth challenge” when you’re taking about a three trillion dollar company is the kind of brain worm you’d find on Ceti Alpha V.

2023-12-18 21:02:22

Well! I’m pleased to report the Mastodon has made it to the big time! Private mention porn canoe!
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/603/439/255/961/211/original/cec05bea815540eb.jpeg

2023-12-17 04:05:20

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@npub1238…g63g My friend, there is a whole lot of frustration hidden in all kinds of weird corners like this. I can’t use Zillow on cell for instance. Because my SIM is Canadian. It is bananas how many companies make weird choices like this.

2023-12-16 00:14:50

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@npub1c0m…xqjl Spain! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbot_War

2023-12-15 23:07:55

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@npub1c0m…xqjl From sea to shining sea baby!

2023-12-15 21:56:39

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@npub1c0m…xqjl I did and that’s why Twitter burnt down. Nobody can handle my inner thoughts!

2023-12-15 19:18:10

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@npub1xsy…cevg Yeah. I’ve a high degree of confidence with Apple. But the others aren’t stupid either and I doubt they’d go for these kinds of shenanigans. (I mean they’d at least want to do it themselves! Why give that away?)

2023-12-15 18:27:34

Cox Media Group claimed to be able to listen in to your conversations via your phone. I don’t believe them.
https://www.404media.co/cmg-cox-media-actually-listening-to-phones-smartspeakers-for-ads-marketing/

2023-11-30 05:19:21

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@npub1hvd…9sq9 @npub1g8j…02l7 Kissinger had fifty years to regret his decisions and never did so. His argument was heard out in full and found wanting by anyone with a sensibility not as impoverished as his own.

2023-11-30 03:34:29

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@npub1t5m…9guy The pitch, so far, is we can teleport you to _an_ answer. It may be wrong but they’re working on that. What I think is more interesting is finding ways to use this tech as a tool for exploring thoughts and creativity.

2023-11-30 01:53:23

A century of being awful ends with people celebrating your death.

2023-11-29 15:40:06

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@npub15ml…2w4s @npub1upk…tcwy A _lot_ of annoying aspects to Perforce but it did (does) have a pretty grokable model for versioning and branching. Not enough for me to miss it but enough to be occasionally wistful.

2023-11-28 16:51:55

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@npub1eee…e209 @npub10ct…a5w7 Command-. should in a hall of fame great shortcut. “Command: Full Stop” it’s perfect. And sadly too often not adopted.

2023-11-26 00:33:46

Kind of frustrating that iPhone makes it so cumbersome to respond to email in what I consider the correct fashion: quote indent portions you’re replying to and write your response below that. I adopted that style many years ago in the heyday of email lists and it makes sense as it provides context. It’s near impossible in Outlook and iPhone text editing makes it super fiddly so I’d rather just wait to do it on my Mac. Which means who knows when I’ll get back around to responding.

2023-11-24 21:24:28

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@npub1eee…e209 @npub1hvd…9sq9 Oh cool. I’d thought you might like it. Nice and tight plot, solid performances, and satisfying to watch unfold.

2023-11-23 22:35:42

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@npub1hvd…9sq9 We just binged it over two nights this week and enjoyed it very much.

2023-11-20 00:08:23

It is becoming increasingly clear that the misalignment between OpenAI’s founding mission and their widely lauded research demo cum product cannot be reconciled. While the personalities involved are a huge factor in some respect there’s a larger, oft-repeated, story here of money corrupting research and demanding returns beyond the dreams of avarice.

2023-11-09 19:54:41

I do want to hear music written by Prince but not performed by him. Nothing compares to that.

2023-11-09 19:53:37

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@npub185t…pwlf They should’ve shot it on iPhone.

2023-11-08 20:05:47

The thing with AI is that search engines already did the thing where they analyzed all of your webpages and public writing and then used clever algorithms to surface it. And that was applauded, rightly so. Now they’re out to synthesize your work and the arguments against their ingesting so much information is that it isn’t theirs to take. From a programmer’s perspective it’s all the same. Ingest, compute, produce result. From any understanding of humanity it is deeply unnerving and often wrong.

2023-11-07 14:29:31

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@npub1src…fms4 @npub1xz5…zyew @npub1p9k…865w I’ve been talking about your work with Apple friends. Schwa can give you good contacts and I think it’s worth reaching out to them.