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gcatalfamo

1,789 karma · joined January 30, 2013

www.linkedin.com/in/giuseppe-catalfamo
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gcatalfamo··on Gemini 4 Carbon
As outlandish as publishing 4.0 Argon, making people sub to Google AI pro/ultra, only to discover that Argon was not included into Antigravity
gcatalfamo··on Gemini 4 Carbon
And think that somebody designed it, and somebody else approved it.
gcatalfamo··on "the very foundation of modern academia has been blown to bits"
In no way getting a PhD or doing published research is an act of science or human progress, and it's been like that for probably 20 years.

It's an act of coordinated methodology in showing respect to previous peers by acknowledging that you read what they wrote when they were acknowledging even more previous peers.

Every attempt to do something new is rejected unless you take 99% of something that has been done and try to add your 1% to it.

But the thing is that you don't even want to do that, you need to either have a publishable/defensible thesis, or if you already have a PhD, pursue a tenurable track and grants which never collides to productive human progress.

So yes, AI could very well run tenure track career more efficiently and with better results. It's not AI the problem: it is the checks and performance indicators that are in place that make it very easy for AI to dominate and very exhausting for a human to follow.

A good researcher with good AI knowledge would (and should) dominate their field.

* Medicine is luckily saved from this, with some exceptions.

gcatalfamo··on "the very foundation of modern academia has been blown to bits"
Travel agents are not extinct AT ALL. They pivoted from selling margin-less flights to design more curated travel packages. Different and nichier market for sure, but not extinct.
gcatalfamo··on "the very foundation of modern academia has been blown to bits"
I have a PhD and I completely support AI disrupting the field.

If AI disrupts your field, the culprit is most likely not AI.

gcatalfamo··on I built a vulnerable app and spent $1,500 seeing if LLMs could hack it
Sharing them would be interesting. However, it is getting nonsensical that this is needed.
gcatalfamo··on Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore
Honest question: isn't AI Google better than the Standard Google of the past 2 years? I mean all the privacy concerns are still there, but the current product is just better than the SEO SPAM-ridded result page we used to have.
gcatalfamo··on How to sell if your user is not the buyer
"If they already use it, why should I buy it?"

It sounds like a trivial question to answer, but it just exposes the level of detachment that exists between who makes the purchase decisions and its users in SME context.

gcatalfamo··on Ask HN: What's your most interesting automation?
Can you explain the second part of your automation?
gcatalfamo··on Why won't some people pay for news? (2022)
I will pay for news when people competent on the different matters will be writing them.
gcatalfamo··on A Japanese hikikomori released a game after 6 years of development [video]
I warmly recommend to go see the TV documentary about this guy they made some time ago, when I saw the videogame I immediately recognised him.
gcatalfamo··on Dell Says Remote Employees Won't Be Eligible for Promotions: Report
Servant leaders die very fast when your own reports undermine your efforts at being one.

A bad boss doesn't undermine it, bad reports yes. It would be an otherwise ideal way of working.

gcatalfamo··on Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer
Fascinating, but I have photo-sensitivity and continuous blinking would give me an headache.

But I used to reproduce a similar behaviour with music (repetitive)

gcatalfamo··on Investigating the impact of cold plunges on brain activity
If I have muscle or respiratory difficulties, 100% I can't take a cold shower.
gcatalfamo··on Dengue rates plunged after release of lab-altered mosquitoes
Starfield companions would've frown upon this solution.

More seriously though: 10 years is a long time, this is super interesting but one would wonder if in such time other limiting dengue factors might've arose.

gcatalfamo··on Ask HN: What do you think about Apple's report to the “Mother Nature”?
Very cringy. I am sure there are a lot good things Apple is doing on the matter, but that segment was super cringe-worthy in its delivery. And needlessly long.

edit: I don't mind the loud virtue signaling, I just think its delivery was incredibly bad. Opinion.

gcatalfamo··on Ask HN: Now That Phillips Is Enshittified, How Can I Run My Phillips Hue Lights?
Or homebridge.

Anyway as soon as you configure the phillips hue lights through homekit you never have to use their app ever.

gcatalfamo··on Ask HN: What's the most minimal way to setup a shop on personal website?
Aside from the suggestions, sometimes having a third-party processor "visible" is kind of helpful in case your website is not super well-known, because it gives "trustworthiness".

I know it's 2023, but yeah, mistrust in online transactions is still alive.

gcatalfamo··on Microsoft is unbundling Teams from Office in Europe to address regulator concern
EU fails to understand that if my market widely adopts Teams as a mean of communication, I will use it to conduct my business regardless of what the EU gov thinks about it.

But when they regulate the unbundling and Microsoft might make me pay extra to use something that I always had "included", they are actively making more difficult to run a business.

It's just a tool. If I want to use Zoom, I will use it. It's not like I am being "protected" by a move like this.

gcatalfamo··on Worldcoin: A solution in search of its problem
I am going to be downvoted to death, but it is clear from last year events that Sam Altman is truly that kind of "Blade Runner/Robocop(1)"-like antagonist character that has a narcissistic drive to destroy the world just so he can show everybody he is saving it.

(1) Pick your 80's Sci-Fi movie dystopia that fits here.

gcatalfamo··on The Mac Pro’s biggest problem is the MacBook
Ok about the 13, but aren't the current 14 and the 16 already designed with apple silicon in mind?
gcatalfamo··on Google Bard blocks all European Union countries
Western civilization was a figure speech
gcatalfamo··on Google Bard blocks all European Union countries
Of course that's the reason, but the way it was delivered it's what makes it embarassing.
gcatalfamo··on Google Bard blocks all European Union countries
Honestly, announcing public release in 180+ countries, and omitting that you are leaving out half of western civilization, it's outright malignant.
gcatalfamo··on Google keeps failing its Nest customers
I already knew what xkcd was linked, before opening it.
gcatalfamo··on WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
Although valid, this is in fact a workaround not meant to be a stable solution, because it has the drawback of de-activating that number-whatsapp link on the first phone you used it on.

edit: I am stupid, as the latest feature actually allows this workaround to become a permanent solution...

gcatalfamo··on WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
AFAIK, this only works if you have 2 SIMs on your phone. If both SIMs stay in their respective phone, I can't enable dual apps.

p.s. also, this feature is Android only, I think.

gcatalfamo··on WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
For some reason, certainly not technical, they are still not allowing multiple numbers on the same device, with the same ease I can switch accounts on instagram, for example.

(web vs app workaround are clearly not the right way to go)

And, honestly, if bots and spam is what they were really worried about, allowing "two numbers" instead of just one would already be plenty for 99.999% of people that would gladly avoid carrying to devices (typically, personal and work)

gcatalfamo··on Automakers are starting to admit that drivers hate touchscreens
Physical buttons allow you to press them without looking away from the road.

This is the only real topic about buttons and driving.

gcatalfamo··on Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing
I didn't attack Netflix at all. You seem upset that the market dynamics seem to behave in a way you don't like/support. Am I the one that has to grow up?
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