The archive is here

https://replay.bfi.org.uk/collection/458

They have an interview with the father of the “Charlie but my finger again!” kids, so they’re adding some good historical context to it all, too.

A few days ago, me to Google home:

“Hey Google, turn on the light”

“Sorry, I can’t control powered devices.”

“Hey Google, turn on the light”

“Turning on the light.”

I had a similar experience getting it to summarize my maps info, it would alternate between correct answers and claiming it had no access to the data.

AI runs in the cloud because it needs a powerful server to run the biggest (i.e. “smartest”) models.

The cloud servers are doing nothing special that another powerful enough computer could do, just a huge amount of data processing.

You can run an ai chat on a steam deck or directly on a phone, if it’s not too demanding (“smarter” models are bigger data files, so won’t fit in the memory of a small device).

Today, for instance, I had a phone call from “Spectrum Internet support” and part-way through the call my phone blared an alarm and said “possible scam” on screen.

The phone itself interpreted the conversation as sus.

https://support.google.com/phoneapp/answer/15654065?hl=en

For Pixel 9 and later devices: Scam Detection is powered by Gemini Nano on-device

I almost thought to myself “I can’t be bothered to watch a YouTube short”, but then I thought “I can’t be bothered to press Back to get out of it, either”.

I am so glad that I didn’t miss that, it gets better and better.

It’s still Friday in parts of last week.

The python code is free, but you have to pay for the indenting.

This is maybe related, too

https://xkcd.com/1053/

Is no one going to post the Technology Connections video???

Okay, then

https://youtu.be/_yMMTVVJI4c

Also https://youtu.be/RpoXFk-ixZc

And maybe channeling electro boom: https://youtu.be/INZybkX8tLI

Pixel phones can monitor phone calls for scam conversations (it runs locally on the phone, so audio doesn’t get saved or uploaded).

Theme parks do use image recognition to flag obscene things in ride photos.

With 5¼" disks, it was more convenient to keep them in a ring binder by punching holes in them.

The other similar story I’ve heard is someone asking for the backup copy of a disk and being handed a photocopy.

Some laptops use magnets to help the lid snap closed. I took the back off an old Lenovo and could see the magnets clipped inside.

I recently went to the bank to get a letter on their headed notepaper to act as proof of account ownership. They just printed it out on blank paper from a laser printer.

I’m not typing all that in. No wonder emacs users are angry all the time.

I pressed 6 while holding shift, then x. But it just typed ^x in my file.

Maybe I need to swap black and white as I type them, but I don’t know how to do that.

Grep was originally written to help identify the authors of the Federalist Papers.

There are much more powerful tools to automate that kind of pattern matching now, of course.

Okay then, how about doors? https://lizengland.com/blog/the-door-problem/

In recent times I’ve played Baby Steps, Cocoon, Inside, Slay The Princess, Thank Goodness You’re Here, Hyperbolica, Unpacking… Going further back, Unfinished Swan, Untitled Goose Game

I don’t think that originality has gone. Maybe it’s just easier to churn out shovelware, but there are still new ideas appearing.

Star Guitar

https://youtu.be/0S43IwBF0uM