#technology rant

[mrsfoone]

Dear Kindle,

Please add a filter that can be applied to searches that will not give me results on pre-order. (Y'all please let me know if this is sunbathing that exists that I just haven't found.)

I understand that you're trying to help by showing me stuff I might want to read when it comes out. HOWEVER, if I'm searching on my kindle (or in the kindle app on another device, I suppose), 99.9999999% of the time, I'm searching for something to read. RIGHT. NOW.

I'm searching because I finished a book and would like to start another. I'm searching because reality is creeping into my hard won solace and I'd like to get my brain engrossed in fiction as quickly as possible. NOT because I'd like to find something to read in 6 months. I follow the authors. You send me emails (that I, admittedly, don't read). I've even pre-ordered books on occasion. BUT NEVER ON MY KINDLE DEVICE.

Please make this happen? Thanks!

[raincheckow]

We're losing knowledge

This week's millennial technology take: we're closer than ever to becoming the Adeptus Mechanicus. Maybe the world of Horizon Zero Dawn, if we're lucky.

Not to be all "Kids these days..." but

Kids aren't learning how to use actual computers anymore... just Apps(tm). I'm not quite 30, and yet my generation is already stuck telling older AND younger people how to save as PDF. Concepts are taught at such a high level that kids know how to code, with no idea of what the code is actually *doing*.

If you're a freshly graduated software engineer, it shouldn't be a big ask for you to know where files get saved. Copy/Paste shouldn't require using a mouse+menu each time. Efficiency shouldn't be left to the IDE or compiler. You're an engineer, you should be hungry to understand how things work... don't just sit around and wait to be told. Core skills are not being passed on anymore. "The system/library/pipeline takes care of it" and suddenly nobody is looking under the hood.

Convenience is killing our ability to create.

Break things. Figure out how to fix them. Repair your stuff, even when corporations tell you that's not allowed. Be proud of your knowledge, chase it down and find more.

A lot of the wonder and amazement around technology seems to be fading. Everything we do is stuck inside data-harvesting apps and nobody is learning the pieces that make the whole thing work.

One day things will break and we'll have nobody around who can fix it. We'll follow old guides, telling us these obscure steps to follow, having no clue what we are fundamentally doing. One day the ritual of "OffAndOnAgain" won't restore the Tech. Troubleshooting will become the job of the lorekeepers. Fixes will rely on auras more than logic until the system falls apart.

Generations of genius created the world we live in. Keep their knowledge. Be amazed that anyone could come up with what is now the mundane. Keep asking "but how could it possibly do that?" because they poured their very lives into these precious ones and zeroes.

I want to be wrong. I want the next generations to create wonders beyond the limits of my imagination. I want to be amazed by what was never possible before. I want my proudest creations to look like child's play compared to what the future holds.

I desperately want to have someone complain about teaching me how to save as a PDF

[scottguy]

I noticed this as a teacher when school districts started snootily calling computers by the generic term 'technology', and I thought, "Hell a pencil is 'technology' - an overhead projector is 'technology'! Can we be a little more specific?

At least now it's "IT" - Internet/Information technology.

Still, the word 'computers' as we've designated to mean: a machine whose end purpose is left to the user, seems adequate.

— Ursula K. Le Guin, from “A Rant About ‘Technology’”

[scribeofmorpheus]

impermanent/cloud storage fad rant coming along:

why is everything so hell bent on making me store my data in the cloud?

like the PS4 was designed to work beside an external HDD or SSD if you ran low on space, the PS5 on the other hand *really* wants you to use their cloud storage (the options to back up data are so limited when you try to back up PS4 data vs PS5)--for which you must be subscribed to PS+ also!

computers come integrated with OneDrive storage on them for easy backing up of files (sure, I've lost files to corruption or deletion before, this is nifty for things that *should* be backed up continuously like a thesis or a research paper--but then again, space is finite, so to get more space, that's more money!) but they also word the storage options so weirdly. what do you mean "free up space" frees up the physical space and not the cloud storage backup?

and now my antivirus has removed the interface for me to choose *where* to store my back ups, and has now renamed and re-shopped the "backup" panel to "cloud backup"--for which they have their own specialty server--which you have to subscribe to on top of your anti-virus.

I'm just so tired of the cloud. it's so impermanent. it's not practical in the long run. and so many devices are now hardwired to best back up on cloud software than hard-drive to hard-drive. maybe I'm just getting old but this doesn't seem sustainable or fiscally applicable.

[r0semultiverse]

I think it’s very telling that there’s only like two web sites I know of that still actually have humans moderating them and checking mass reports. One is furaffinity and the other one was mentioned in a group VC that I forgot the name of. There’s so little human site moderation these days that as long as you have bots and bot hosting technology, by all intents and purposes you are the site moderation. Which I think we can all agree is pretty fucked up!

[beedreamscape]

such modern technology evolutions, super developed ai, and google still won't let us view our google meet history

[explosivepies]

can someone tell me why everything needs 7 factor authentication, a password with minimum 38 characters, 2 special symbols and an occult sigil? why does everything need to be integrated with the fucking blockchain, metaverse and AI? why does my laptop need my retinal scan?

and why oh why is everything both an app and a subscription service?

im gonna go full boomer: i grew up with windows xp, it was a simple little interface that you could use and it would pretty reliably freeze and crash but you also managed to work with it and around it.

my current computer has win10 and it's too fucking old to install the newest updates, so it's all just fucking barely working. it takes as long to start up (combined with 3 programs fucking auto launching on startup) as the 2004 computer with winxp.

my laptop begged me to install a BIOS update, which i did. and then microsoft forced me to reset my pin, which then also required resetting my password because i set up a pin bc my password was way too fucking long. it needed to send me 2 verification codes and bugged out in the middle. then it threatened that i shouldnt reset my pin unless i forgot it. bitch, you fucking made me do it? what the everloving slippery fuck is up?

and after i get windows to just barely work, i still need to use libre office because these fucking idiots decided to bundle office with cloud storage. im not gonna ask who thought that was a good idea - its a genius idea for money hungry capitalists.

i swear i just want to yeet my laptop in a bog and go fucking feral.

and what is 2fa for my smartphpne, bitches? why don't i have 7 backup options of logging in? oh god i'm gonna attack an executive with an axe.

[jeff-from-marketing]

No but genuinely it's such bullshit, especially if you happen to live in a country like Australia which is well renowned for having just dogshit internet compared to much the rest of the world, because our government absolutely fucking bungled NBN and we're still trying to get it working right about a decade later.

It's just fucking normal for us for our internet to just simply drop out entirely in certain areas. If you go any distance on public transport in particular then you're almost certain to have parts where you just don't have good (or maybe even any) internet. And this is in urban areas. Start going more rural, and good luck!

It's even worse with companies like Disney announcing that they're no longer selling physical media versions of their films or shows here, so we have to rely on streaming for any content owned by Disney (or other methods, but shhh) and guess what? Even if streaming had everything I wanted and worked consistently (it doesn't) our internet on average is literally not fast enough to give the same quality that one would get through something like blu-ray. So we're having to rely on an always online service for a worse product. And pay a subscription for it. Cool.

And to go all the way back to the phone point, modern flagship phones can cost $1,000+ AUD now and you get 128gb unless you pay closer to $1,600+ for more. That money sure as shit ain't going to battery either, because you're lucky if you get more than a day. Sometimes lucky to even get a day's worth of battery! Not to mention that modern flagship phones don't even come with SD card slots anymore, so you can't even expand the storage yourself. Hell they don't even have headphone jacks anymore, and no I will never let this go because fuck bluetooth. Flash memory is not expensive anymore, so what are we getting for the higher price and fewer features? What are they using all that extra space for? Sure the newer cameras are cool and all, but y'know what's even cooler? Being able to store shit locally and actually get extra features for the higher pricetag.

smartphone storage plateauing in favor of just storing everything in the cloud is such dogshit. i should be able to have like a fucking terabyte of data on my phone at this point. i hate the fucking cloud

[mirajanefairytailmage]

Technology Rant (09/26/2023)

If I had the money, I'd upgrade from a Galaxy s20 FE to Galaxy s23. Then again I feel like having a phone isn't even worth it. Not with the way mine has been giving me problems since 2020. First I lost the use of my voicemail. Last night I lost service. Having my phone is a convenience for my appointments and staying in contact with friends and most family. Sometimes it feels like an inconvenience, only when it's having technical issues. Took me two hours to figure out how to fix my issue on my own. Thankfully all I had to do was reset all settings, instead of needing to do a factory reset. I legit would have had a breakdown over a factory reset, because I haven't had a chance to backup all my photos and documents, yet. This morning I decided to back everything up to my laptop for now. Well, except for game data. I'm hoping any game data is saved to my gaming profile. So, yeah, I've got this going for me.

[itzaltwins]

Well, my laptop has gone off the rails. BSODs mostly caused by .sys files and attempts to repair just causes more blue screens. Will try to reformat through a USB and hope it's just some fucked up files... I'm so close to throwing the thing out my window.

[lucelute]

You know, I have refused to use AI from the first moment, because while I am insecure about my drawing or the ideas I have? Yes, but they are mine.

I may have done it because of another art or writing, but I made it from my own mind and gave it my own tweak, it's mine.

And truth is the only reason why we aren't able to tell AI from humans is that we aren't used to seeing anything other than human doing certain stuff.

But let's be honest, especially the people who are more on the internet, don't you ever see a piece made by AI, and no matter how perfect it seems you get a slight feeling that it wasn't made by a human? That the person writing is off? I do, a lot of other people seem to also feel how off it is.

The only reason corporations are pushing AI is because it feels new and easy, and cuts jobs, after all, why have so many people when AI answers the question more quickly?

[carnithing]

when r they gonna come out with technology that can reform your bones and muscles and turn ur skin transparent so the flesh underneath is visible

[al-luviec]

compiled whatever this is (and I run out of tag space)

meh HoT gifs (3/?)

[evelynpr]

Why the fuck are there roller skates, dubstep, stage lighting, an LED screen, and all kinds of modern technology in Xilonen's trailer??? I thought Fontaine had the most advanced technology next to Schneznaya and arguably Sumeru, and every instance of high-end technology we have seen leaned more towards machinations with gears, magic, alchemy, essentially fantasy styled sci-fi???

The disrespect towards Native American and African cultures is enough to piss me off already, but it even goes against Genshin's own consistency with its fantastical world design..and for what? Just so you can have this...pop and gamer aesthetic???

Just look at these two bubbly and optimistic characters for me okay

Yoimiya's design isn't the most respectful and accurate representation of a Japanese firework craftsman, but at least you can damn tell she is Japanese. The large ribbons, hair accessories, tassels, leg covering, tattoo design, shoe style, and fabric patterns all allude to this (I apologize for not knowing the exact terminologies for these, this needs further research).

Then there's Mualani who has...what? Please do correct me if I am wrong here, but her character must be inspired by the real Mualani, a Hawaiian Chiefess. Additionally, her tribe's specialty is in tourism and vacationing, which further leads into the idea that she and her tribe are based off of Hawaii despite the known issues regarding Hawaii and tourism (if there are any good sources that summarize the issue, please do lmk).

I am not too familiar with Hawaiian culture, but there really is nothing about her design that reads as Hawaiian, or even just traditional, to me. What about a 2 piece swimsuit with bows and tails, a bow + braids + ponytail hair style, combat gloves (?), and an entire neon shark, is Hawaiian???

The characters, their designs, and their trailers, are just so culturally disconnected from their real life counterpart that it's even disconnected to Genshin's own world building and design. How the fuck is the fashion trend in Natlan denim pants. I feel like the only parts of Natlan that feel like Genshin Impact and culturally inspired are the in-game music and landscapes (God bless Hoyo-mix and the world designers).

[dsabian]

Australia is planning on banning under 16s from using social media.

So so many reasons this is a stupid idea but the main one is actually, counter-intuitively, ppl's online safety.

Grown ups know how to cross the road safely because they are taught as children. They get to practice with parental supervision when they're kids.

You keep kids off social media then give them unlimited access at 16 and they'll have no frame of reference, no supervision, no working knowledge of how to fact check etc. If you actually want ppl to be safe online, make it part of education.

When discussing Animal Farm in English, talk about how to analyse ideas that sound good but actually result in inequality in practice and then pull up some questionable tweets.

When teaching kids how to research for their next essay, give them a fb rant and show them how to verify the info.

And then whoever is teaching them about personal responsibility should introduce them to tag blocking on tumblr. Show them how to curate their own experience.

Chat gtp should be its own module titled "ai can and will lie to you please for the love of god learn to think for yourself"

[devi-nova]

i see way too many people calling stuff ai when its literally just..... hardcoded pattern recognition......

whoop de doo the thing you made for a specific purpose fufilled that purpose. thats not an ai thats just a program. shut up.

"oh this new ai powered webcam can zoom in on anything with these four squares on it!!" thats not a fucking ai thats image pattern recognition, all it does is scan the visible area for specific patterns, and once recognized, it zooms in. thats it. a fucking qr code scanner is more complex than that. its not ai. shut up.

"this logo maker uses ai to make images" no it doesnt. it randomizes images within the bounds of set fields and assets. its randomization giving a number of results to choose from. thats not fucking ai. shut up.

a real ai is a program that trains itself to respond to inputs "naturally" without instruction using trial and error, for example if an actual ai was to go through a maze,

step one, makes random movements

by making these random movements and bumping into walls, it learns that bumping into walls is an error

step two, explores randomly without touching walls

the ai doesnt know there is an end goal, however it will learn this if moving in a path that isnt directly connected to the exit is an error

step 3, the ai uses what its learned it should not do, and takes the path that is connected to the exit, and the task is complete.

ai is not pattern recognition, its learned pattern adaptation through time. ai is not randomization of assets. it is randomization with consequences that shapes it into a predictable behaviour. shut. up.