Nobody Cares: Technology-only Edition

[Argent Stonecutter]

https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-brave-browser/

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-brave-browser/

The crypto scam BS, along with the last thing mentioned in that article - how for a while the browser added an affiliate link without your knowledge whenever you went to certain websites, even just typing in the URL yourself - are the reasons I've never used Brave. Yeah I know they removed the hijack and said it was added "by mistake", but that's BS - why did that code exist at all, that it even could be "accidentally" added? It's scam scummery. For those reasons I just can't trust the company, period, no matter what they remove.

I don't really go on about it unless someone asks me but yeah.

ETA: Oh yeah and the sites that they added affiliate links to without your permission, they were all crypto sites. So it's an issue that literally never would've affected me personally, but it still ticked me off just because of the principle.

 

[Noodles]

How hard is it to code a browser. Can we maybe just bring back IE6? Why the hell are all the browsers suddenly going to shit.

 

[Essence Lumin]

How hard is it to code a browser. Can we maybe just bring back IE6? Why the hell are all the browsers suddenly going to shit.

Firefox has something like 20 million lines of code.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Because you have to emulate all the bugs and edge-cases and most of the syntax extensions of every browser that has ever been popular in the last 30 years.

 

[Free]

How hard is it to code a browser.

EASY!

 

[Noodles]

That video got real funny real fast.

 

[Noodles]

EASY!

Wow, that actually worked. I asked Perplexity for a Python based Web Browser with built in Navigation functions and not to use chrome as the backend, and it gave me a web browser, that I am using to poist from right now.

 

[Free]

Is this "tech", or "politics", or "just nuke us all from orbit and get it over with"?

What Are the Ethics of Strapping VR Headsets on Inmates in Solitary Confinement?

Stuck in cramped cells for days and weeks at a time, incarcerated people are being whisked away to beautiful worlds through the magic of VR.

futurism.com

Right now in the US, the total population held in prison is nearly 2 million people, which is over 20 percent of the world's prisoners. Of that massive number, over 122,000 US citizens are forced to endure solitary confinement for at least 22 hours a day.

Solitary confinement is the brutal practice of stuffing people into closet-sized rooms without sunlight, stimulation, or human contact for hours, days, weeks, and sometimes years or decades at a time. It's a practice that amounts to torture, according to the United Nations and the Geneva Convention.

It's no wonder why: research has shown that just hours of solitary confinement can cause serious and lasting psychological damage, potentially magnifying existing mental illness and significantly increasing a victim's risk of suicide. All told, it's a horrifying mark on an already dystopian carceral system.

Now take that grim situation and add a "Black Mirror"-esque wrinkle: prison officials in California are now offering some people held in solitary confinement an escape via virtual reality.

An impact report seems to show some benefit, as the number of infractions received by those in solitary confinement in the program has gone from 735 to practically none, and allowed them to commute a lot of sentences of solitary confinement. It's not like they're being placed in VR environments without them knowing, right? I just don't know. Something about this makes me sick inside...

 

[Noodles]

Is this "tech", or "politics", or "just nuke us all from orbit and get it over with"?

What Are the Ethics of Strapping VR Headsets on Inmates in Solitary Confinement?

Stuck in cramped cells for days and weeks at a time, incarcerated people are being whisked away to beautiful worlds through the magic of VR.

futurism.com

An impact report seems to show some benefit, as the number of infractions received by those in solitary confinement in the program has gone from 735 to practically none, and allowed them to commute a lot of sentences of solitary confinement. It's not like they're being placed in VR environments without them knowing, right? I just don't know. Something about this makes me sick inside...

Oh oh, I think I saw this movie.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

As of the end of March, all audio commands (and things mistaken for commands) recieved by Echo devices will be uploaded to Amazon for recording and processing. Anyone who opted out of cloud processing will be re-opted in, as the local processing feature will be remotely disabled. There's no options or alternatives; if you don't like it, you will have to stop using the device and that's it.

 

[Casey Pelous]

As of the end of March, all audio commands (and things mistaken for commands) recieved by Echo devices will be uploaded to Amazon for recording and processing. Anyone who opted out of cloud processing will be re-opted in, as the local processing feature will be remotely disabled. There's no options or alternatives; if you don't like it, you will have to stop using the device and that's it.

"Alexa, incinerate yourself."

 

[Essence Lumin]

Ugh, there is no way I would own an echo device.

 

[Dancien]

Going to put my echo and my furby into a room with nothing but old Soviet Propaganda playing to see what happens.

 

[Casey Pelous]

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that Echo is a flop, business-wise. I know there are regular rumbles about "de-emphasizing the devices business." They sold a bazillion of them, but at very little profit. The profit was supposed to come from all the wonderful uses people would find for it and, of course, from data mining. Neither has proved lucrative. Worse, they keep sucking up server resources. For most people Echo is a low-use, low-fi music source, and that's about it. Yet, there are those bazillions of users who would be uber-pissed if Amazon just shut down all their devices.

Maybe they're trying to convince us to shut them off and stop bothering their servers with them.

 

[Free]

If Amazon really needs to record me telling Alexa to fuck off and that she's a brainless shit, they can have it.

 

[Noodles]

"Alexa, incinerate yourself."

When Alexa gets sassy, I ask it how much Siri costs.

 

[Noodles]

Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that Echo is a flop, business-wise. I know there are regular rumbles about "de-emphasizing the devices business." They sold a bazillion of them, but at very little profit. The profit was supposed to come from all the wonderful uses people would find for it and, of course, from data mining. Neither has proved lucrative. Worse, they keep sucking up server resources. For most people Echo is a low-use, low-fi music source, and that's about it. Yet, there are those bazillions of users who would be uber-pissed if Amazon just shut down all their devices.

Maybe they're trying to convince us to shut them off and stop bothering their servers with them.

Amazon really though it would lead to more sales.

They really thought people would be all, "Alexa, order detergent."

Because that's what people want to do, blindly order detergent from a platform full of shitty knockoff brands, so they get some random crap called "Tyde" instead of "Tide". Or even if it just orders what you ordered last time, because it was on sale for $15, but this week there is a shortage and now it's all scalpers and costs $50.

Fuck that. My phone is right there.

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

For most people Echo is a low-use, low-fi music source, and that's about it.

That's pretty much the only useful thing about them, other than asking it the weather and perhaps setting timers and alarms. The "show" models with the screen can do more...but why have one of those when a tablet you can MOVE and CARRY around is a thing.

 

[Dancien]

It turns on my lights at a set time so I have to wake up and starts my coffee maker before I get out of bed. Also it tells me the weather and the dinosaur of the day.