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brewtide

321 karma · joined April 22, 2018

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brewtide··on Forget ChatGPT: why researchers now run small AIs on their laptops
Same here, however minimal. I've also installed openwebui so the instance has a local web interface, and then use tailscale to access my at home LAN when put and about on the cellphone. (Goes16 weather data, ollama, a speed cam setup, and esphome temp sensors around the home / property).

It's been pretty flawless, and honestly pretty darn useful here and there. The big guns go faster and do more, but I'd prefer not having every interaction logged etc.

6core 8th gen i7 I think, with a 1050ti. Old stuff. And it's quick enough on the smaller 7/8b models for sure.

brewtide··on Microwave spontaneously turned on by its LED display
Real badges replaced by sticker badges for aerodynamic drag / weight had me laughing just a BIT more than the flagged 'door handles'.
brewtide··on Microwave spontaneously turned on by its LED display
Our microwaves rotary encoder behind the knob is messed up and as opposed to fixing it (you have to turn it REAL slow or it'll jump really fast forwards in time or backwards all over the place) we have just used the +30 seconds for 4 ish years.

Does the trick for sure.

brewtide··on The Beginnings of FM Radio Broadcasting (2018)
At least they've got the breakdancing down.

I find it fascinating that frequency is such a hot commodity. Then as our technology progresses, a bit more spectrum gets opened up (by either expansion, or bandwidth consolidation with new tech).

brewtide··on Brazil's X ban is sending lots of people to Bluesky
Let back away a bit more. Isn't this how the Internet started?

I see a trend.

brewtide··on Low Cost Mini PCs
>12 watts is not a lot of heat to be dumping.

Just as a reference point, straight up "electric heat" is basically 250 watts A Foot.

brewtide··on Carmack on Oculus, Minecraft, Meta and Microsoft
I have 2 Google cardboards on my shelf.
brewtide··on Ask HN: 19yr old child suffering from internet gaming disorder? Any suggestions?
This is also my stance on parenting. Mine are 9 & 11, but I always try to view the place they are at now vs the 'hello reality' future (18-20ish?) and raise the expectations on what they can do along the lines of the imaginary slope connecting now until then.

And I explain it to them. It's coming, it's real, you'll have to do so many things -- but that if these things are learned at a consistent steady pace, I imagine a bit less earth shattering than the notion of do whatever you want, until life beats you up.

Parenting, all about preparing them for their future in all the ways, or at least giving it your best shot. Communication here, like in everything, is key.

brewtide··on 'Charger hogs' are ruining the electric vehicle experience
Yes
brewtide··on Taking a Radio Camping
This has been on my list for a while now, and I've played with radio in various forms (allowed...) for the past few years and have quite the collection of baofang, many sdrs, a dish collecting goes16 images 24/7.. etc.

I am however, for whatever reason, adverse to the social, or seemingly kinda social, aspect of the proctored exams.

Am I just making a mountain out of a molehill?

brewtide··on Taking a Radio Camping
Rtl-sdr blog v3 has a direct sampling mode that will get you into the single-digit mhz.

I assume that the v4 does as well. The earlier versions apparently also have this mode but it requires opening the devices up and a bit of soldering here and there.

brewtide··on Greece introduces the six day work week
Shiny new phones every year, bigger better faster shinier cars, Fancier meals, must have gadgets, keeping a keen eye on the Jones's, better fuller lawn without weeds, that paved driveway you've always wanted, a faster computer, better heating systems, brand name clothing...

When needs and wants get all mixed up, there is always more to be done.

brewtide··on Ollama v0.1.45
I've installed ollama and the open chat (?) software on a local machine. It was pretty simple to get working.

Is it 'just as simple' to install llama.cpp ?

If not, I would consider the ollama wrapper to have an actual use-case.

You can make a working wifi temp/humidity sensor with an esp32, dht22, esphome, and home assistant. It's not hard but many many people wouldn't have a clue where to start on this. They buy the more expensive packed items. Also, a useful use case.

Opening up any sort of demographic, may make it worth it. (But attributions should surely exist)

brewtide··on Yes, you can play Duck Hunt without a television (but I can't)
Haha. I completely forgot that game rentals came with a manual. I remember them always being absolutely beat up, and near shredded, but usually there!
brewtide··on Microsoft Paint's new AI image generator builds on your brushstrokes
A great example. It doesn't even have to be out of malice as your example shows, just automation without actual checksums.

"For the greater good" ism will just naturally evolve and thoughts / works / stances distant from the median will simply become absorbed and disappear from what we call knowledge.

This is how 'AI' takes over.

brewtide··on Microsoft Paint's new AI image generator builds on your brushstrokes
I honestly believe this is how the world's information will continue to be filtered more and more, and the information that is 'disliked' will be slowly wound out from society. All that ever comes to mind is re-writing news articles in 1984 and see this fully ending at that point.
brewtide··on Billions in Dirty Money Flies Under the Radar at Busiest Airports
The "kia boys" are out stealing car after car for $100 from interviews online.

Incentives seem lower than we all think?

brewtide··on Ask HN: Seeking ideas for preschool/school projects
Thanks for providing the links I did not -- Kids were waking up and I was trying to bang through it!

One of the things that I always messed up when calibrating it, is the step using the CD-on-a-stick part. You need to do this calibration phase changing the z axis on different points. Do one low. Do one medium, do some 'high'. This is how the system defines it's 'skew' of projection when it comes to the different heights/levels -- and if you do this step all roughly on the same 'z' plane, it will work, but it will not be anywhere near as accurate / magical feeling. The instructions I believe are hazy on this critical part of the setup.

We always used blocks / things covered with white rags instead of sand. Far easier to justify building over the living room table this way, and makes for a quick clean up process!

It's 100% super cool. Also, as you said, we use an $89 3 years ago projector. It is NOT a short-throw projector, but mounted roughly 6-7' above the surface. The kinect was mounted on a yard-stick hanging slightly down below so it's field of view covers just that of the table itself.

It's a super neat end result; and can be decently frustrating during the calibration phases and software setup, but is worth it!

brewtide··on Ask HN: Seeking ideas for preschool/school projects
This isn't quite the example list that you are looking for as the mentioned 'projects' in the following list were done at home, with a lot more timeframe allowed to discuss / work on them. My children are now 8 and 10, but we have been doing such similar things around the home since they were of similar ages to yours. A few of the things that we have done, and became large hits (hardly all computer related, but I think perhaps it's a mentality you are aiming for -- learn, create!)

* Augmented reality sandbox -- The software is still out there. You may have already seen these in action, but it really is not too terrible difficult to build a setup yourself. Old PC with some sort of GPU (for the rain effect, which is the coolest aspect..), a microsoft kinect, and a whatever quality projector. This went over super well in my living room when the kids were 4 & 6 -- And we recently re-built it 4 years later -- The 4 year old didn't even remember it, but I have lots of pictures of her loving it at 4!). Super cool, super interactive, and a good tie in of 'building things using old technology'.

* Grabbing weather from passing NOAA satellites! Build a simple di-pole antenna using whatever materials (we used copper pipe). Involves math and science discussions, and also may get the little ones interested in the weather. RTLSDR, some copper pipe, a laptop, some software, and knowing when to be tuning in. A good example of how 'the first time you try something it may not work as well as you'd like', tweak away from there. Pretty exciting to pull a picture from a satellite line by line. Listen to the signal -- Memories of dialup will immediately be there.

* Use a streaming camera and speed-cam software to create a setup to see 'how fast they can run'. Process and result and discussions about how this setup works can lead to fun insights.

* Stop motion video creation -- Probably the best for your use case, have kids use technology to create their own stop-motion videos. I remember doing this back around the ages of 7, but at that time it was frame by frame using construction paper and a giant VHS camera on a tripod. Techniques have not changed really, but the setup to do stop motion on small scale kid levels is basically free. Shows how iterative processes add up.

* Build a bubble making machine -- I imagine you may have a box of old computer fans, motors, etc, etc. Build a bubble machine! Have them try to design one out. 7 year olds likely able to really design rough concepts, 4 year old can help assemble and most importantly, spill the bubble liquid all over the place! If you want to get fancy, have it become a motion activated bubble machine using motion detection via some ESP32 setup or whatever. "This is what we are trying to do, these are the resources on hand, how do YOU think we could make this happen?".

String up a wire, bust out the RTLSDR (or other SDR stuff) and try to listen to some shortwave from around the world or your area. Pulling whatever from the air always seems basically magic to all kids (and honestly, it's pretty much magic to myself as well).

Not really an able to do at school thing, but son build an AM / FM radio kit that had your typical Chinese 'instructions' and was able with a tiny bit of help to solder everything to the board and have it work first try. As someone else mentioned, it went "Lots of interest > I'm kind of tired of this > I'm so close I will push on > Oh my goodness, the radio works, this is the best". I'm a huge fan of trying to install the 'keep at it' or make changes to make things better way of teaching and learning.

* School/Maybe -- * Make electromagnets by wrapping some wire around some good sized nails, put a switch on it, and both mentioned age groups will likely find it super cool and is certainly electronic/science based.

Just a few of the things we have done around my house thus far and have shown a lot of engagement and interest, and helped to create that 'spark' about wanting to learn more stuff.

I think this summer will bring more radio related things: Sensors to monitor humidity levels to be graphed from our garden, building some actual meshtastic nodes to chat to other people way across town over the airwaves, etc. My 10 year old has started designing a project to "automatically lower sunglasses over his glasses if it is sunny", and I hunch we will finally acquire a 3df printer to see this project through to completion. I'm hardly a programmer, but he did a '30 days lost in space' kit last year, and between the information he started poking with through that, and the assisting of some AI, I'm sure we can work together to pull his implementation off, however he goes about it.

As others said, it's great to see trying to share the desire to learn into the little ones -- They are way more capable than society lets on, you just have to get them interested in things and they are astounding tiny sponges! Good luck!

brewtide··on Putting a Wet Towel on a Tesla Supercharger Handle Gets Faster Charging Speeds
Not in their use case, which is the entire "perhaps this is a bad idea" take.
brewtide··on FTC says Amazon executives destroyed potential evidence using apps like Signal
Talk was like a WPM contest.
brewtide··on Gen Zers struggling to stay in work or school– and the parents who are at a loss
I think we, as Humana, mentally survive a lot better in smaller local groups. Once a certain population density hits, it seens things go wrong much more quickly.
brewtide··on FTC says Amazon executives destroyed potential evidence using apps like Signal
Usenet was on fire when it came out.
brewtide··on ESPHome
I read this as I'm standing next to my bare esp32 with dht22 temp sensor hanging off it with DuPont wires...

Nevermind the ones in the schoolhouse, basement, chicken coop...

So, yeah, I fully agree. One day I'll buy a 3d printer but until that day, wires and some tape. Everything seems cheap enough to be sacrificial if that's the end result.

brewtide··on Yes, social media is a cause of the epidemic of teenage mental illness
Guess what happened to the entire notion of the internet? Sigh
brewtide··on Cow Magnets
Letting them out in the spring and seeing these large, generally "lumbering" animals run, hop, and frolic in enjoyment is a scene one never forgets.
brewtide··on Fairbuds: In-ear with replaceable batteries
As someone who wears headphones basically all day at work (painter...) I 100% agree. It's a whole different experience, in a different dynamic.

On a similar note, 80% of the time I'm wearing my Sony linkbuds -- the ones with the "they have a hole in them" passthrough, even though they have the shortest battery life of the multiple sets I own.

Realistically, beyond the (not dismissing) "they are trash when the batteries die" aspect of things, taking your headphones out for 10-20 minutes every 4 ish hours... Is probably a good thing for our ears and minds alike.

brewtide··on Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools
I was on the fence about buying a zenphone but waiting to see if the bootloader unlock ever showed back up.

Still holding a pixel 3, unlocked, with lineage. There are no small phones with good specs and unlockable. Zenphone seemed the way, until they stopped with their unlocks.

What a market to be burying in the mud.

brewtide··on UV-K5 is the most hackable handheld ham radio yet
https://github.com/htotoo/ESP32-Portapack

Looks like this may be in the works!

brewtide··on Ask HN: Did you encounter any leap year bugs today?
Pre-cogs, I knew it.
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