#google your algorithm is transparently fucking everything up

[tsuki-no-kaeshi]

Based on the relative frequency that youtube tries to get me to watch mysoginistic and anti-feminist/anti-women content google's algorithm definitely thinks I am a guy.

[kfcdoubledown]

I bought Nothing Ears! (2024)

Picture credit to PCMag.

I'm a very big fan of the Nothing aesthetic but haven't committed to any of their non-earbuds products, because unfortunately I like having specs and RAM more than I like having LEDs on the back of my phone. That said I've bought all of their flagship earbuds at this point and liked the Ear (1)s enough to later buy the Ear (2)s, and after unfortunately setting one earbud through the laundry and the case simultaneously deciding it didn't want to charge the remaining earbud, I am now in possession of Nothing Ears at $150.

What a horrible naming scheme they've got going! They're already giving up the (1) (2) thing and not doing (3) and just dropping that. Now it's not clear what the latest model is actually supposed to be without checking release dates. Ear (1), Ear (2), Ear (A) floor models, and Ear? Fuck off.

Despite the schizophrenic reuse of their own case and earbud design for the third generation in a row and their inability to settle on a name after giving up the (Numbered) aesthetic the Ears are excellent, they fit comfortably into the ear, have pinch touch-controls on the stem, and look super sleek. The default controls are intuitive and have forward/reverse/play already bound, with a pinch-and-hold maneuver flipping through noise-cancellation settings. Pinch controls also aren't susceptible to water, unlike some Google Pixel Buds Pro I have that seize their touch controls if my fingers are damp. Pairing is quick and can be done with two devices simultaneously. Low-lag mode is still just as anemic as it is on any other wireless headset that claims the feature, I really don't think it's gonna happen for any earbuds at this point, just stop trying to give us wireless as a replacement for wired.

Noise cancellation on Nothing earbuds have an excellent bonus in that you can actually use the feature with just one earbud in. Very good for noisy work environments that still require you be attentive (like mine) or if you just don't want the volume at 75% of the way up on your phone just to hear everything. Transparency mode being the only available setting on basically any other wireless in-ears can eat me, I want to make just one ear feel full sometimes. Either way Nothing's algorithm for transparency mode and noise-cancellation is actually very good, and noise-cancellation especially shines for the aforementioned purpose of using it as a form of volume control. Detail in sound is not lost with noise-cancellation, but can be lost with transparency mode.

Sound quality is quite good, Nothing Ears come equipped with ceramic drivers (more of a marketing point than an actual benefit) and a mostly complete equalizer in the Nothing X app. A bass boost feature and a much more generalized equalizer feature also exist. Supports the AAC, LDAC, LHDC 5.0, and SBC audio codecs. Battery life is estimated by Nothing to be 8 1/2 hours on a full charge for both buds and a cumulative 40 1/2 hours with a full case charge. Sound comes across to me as fairly balanced but trends a bit towards bassy, which is a good thing in an earbud or TWS headphone.

I'm overall very pleased with the Nothing Ears and do recommend them as a $150 offering, but I'm not pleased that the Ear (A) floor model equivalent does not have Qi charging. I haven't tried Xiaomi's buds in a fat minute so I can't say anything about how they compare to Buds 4 Pro or Buds 5 Pro, but I do know Xiaomi's typically budget earbuds are getting heftier in price (5 Pro are at $100 now) and Nothing is $150 for a very solid option in the more "flagship earbuds" space while still being compatible with both iOS and Android. Xiaomi also dropped Qi charging on anything above the Redmi Buds 3 Pro which totals at $50, so I don't think it's a cost thing for them to have just stopped offering Qi charging. There are also Earfun earbuds at the same RB3P price-point with Qi charging.

[omgokiguess]

TW long post about computers, the cloud, other tech bs, etc

i like already know i’m gonna get a B in algorithms. i’m kind of like what is even the point of trying my best because even if i try my best my perfect 90 year old female professor will write such hard tests and there’s just no way i’ll be able to get an A. even if i took her class twice i don’t think i’d get an A. but i also think it’d be pretty hard for me to get a C as long as i just do the work. which i will obviously. so i like.... idk i don’t feel as motivated. like with math i was motivated, i knew i was one of the only people that had enough math background to possibly get an A. and it still did take quite a bit of effort tbh but i did. but with this i’m really like.... no. it wouldn’t be worth it. i’d have to never sleep and even then i just don’t think i could. not with her as the teacher, (basically the entire grade is tests except for 5% homework). but i also know i won’t get a C so it’s like.... i guess i’ll just not kill myself over it and accept the B and not freak out too much. i’m sure i’ll always be over the median still but... it’s still gonna be a B, it just is.

i’m not sure how hard it will be for me to get an A in cloud computing. i think i can get an A and i’ll def give my best in there to get an A. like.... maybe i can? idk if there will be a curve or not and idk anyone that’s ever taken this class or has had this prof.... but he’s like honestly a really brilliant guy. i kind of imagine he won’t give a curve. i’ll actually try my hardest in cloud for sure though.

and surprisingly data analysis.... which i thought would be really hard.... is by far my easiest class and even with no effort i will get an A in that. i actually wish we were going into more math models but it’s more focused on learning R and understanding a meaningful and useful approach to analyzing data. which is fine. but i really thought it would be more math. cause yervand took a different data class and he told me they went through all of these continuous random variable models and that sounded really cool to me but... guess this class is just not the same.

so like i think best case i get two As and a B and worst case i get one A and two Bs. and i’m gonna accept either. anything less than that and i’ll hate myself. just... just no C’s allowed. and also nothing but an A allowed in data analysis.

idk i just really thought a class titled “applied data analysis” would like.... teach us how to properly like..... use algorithms to make meaning of genome analysis or shit like that like i thought it’d be really cool. right now so far it’s been more like analyzing data in databases which like.... i didn’t need a class for that. but the syllabus does say more math later so hopefully it changes. but the prof isn’t even smart tbh. like.... he gets a lot of stuff wrong like i had to tell him that the standard deviation of a normal curve was 68% like... that’s p common knowledge among math people. i have to say though between cloud and algorithms i do need an easy class so i’m glad i do have one. i had no idea cloud would be this hard. the syllabus was like “know web programming!” and i was like yeah i know web programming fuck i know socket programming v well but i’m just not used to programming applications that are made for distributed systems. almost ALL academic classes just teach you to program standalone shit. i’ve really never even come close to doing anything for a distributed system. and even at work we didn’t use AWS at ALL. we literally had like.... 400 of our own servers and since there were only like.... 150 employees, most of whom were not programmers, the distributed aspect of that was kind of negligible. and everything customers used was basically their own problem, we had a support team but we didn’t help operate any of their shit. i haven’t been trained to think about failing resources and i definitely don’t program accordingly. so i’m really gonna have to switch mindsets here.

it’s kind of disappointing that at this point i care the most about cloud tho. cause like.... i thought i was just taking it to learn about AWS tbh. but like.... since it’s a questionable A/B for me where as alg isn’t i care more about cloud. and since data is easy i don’t even care about it. i actually really like cloud.

and my prof for cloud, who is really a fucking CLOUD EXPERT like i won’t go through his credentials but it does blow my mind, he like REALLY emphasizes the cloud tradeoffs and honestly it does blow my mind. he talks about tradeoffs sooo much and like.... idk the tradeoff with the cloud is such an understatement. Amazon’s cloud service totally beats google’s and microsoft’s (actually i think it may have been a mistake on microsoft’s part to even try to roll out a cloud service) but like idk even AWS i’m like.... idk like i just totally get it. i totally get why you’d opt to pay money for AWS. but like..... idk depending how much computing power and memory you actually need..... i feel like most normal tech companies would only save like 5% by switching to the cloud, including absolutely all costs possible, sysadmins, infrastructure, everything. and the thing i don’t like about AWS is performance is not guaranteed. like you’re SHARING resources with so many other people. and.... idk. it’s hard for me to believe that it was a wise business decision for netflix to move to AWS. that’s really hard for me to believe really.

like idk.... i would honestly try to stay away from AWS as much as possible personally. i don’t want to force sysadmins to have to work for major companies that have cloud services, i don’t like the lack of transparency in what/where my shit is happening, etc. but... really.... there are certain ventures i could pursue where i would say yeah i really have to use AWS.

and as for security.... people generally think AWS is safer from a resource failure standpoint but man.... most datacenters are fucking safe and like idk.... resource/power failure just isn’t that concerning to me if you keep your resources up to date and in a datacenter. and i GUESS AWS is safer from attacks.... but is it really? like tbh.... i know amazon has more money and power but like.... your security can really be only so up to date. i mean i guess security does have to incorporate finances in some point.... but like.... idk i just CANNOT think in terms of “not having enough money”. If you’re really confident in yourself.... debt is not scary. You just take money from whoever and have full faith in your idea until you make it. If you know what you’re doing, if you really know what you’re doing, it’ll work. and i really never pursue anything unless i have full confidence. like i can’t think of a time i had full confidence in something and was incorrect, so i’m like .... just not worried about it lol.