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insulanus

434 karma · joined February 3, 2010

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insulanus··on Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle
Yes, that was the takeaway by the MPAA-aligned laywers at the time.
insulanus··on Conway's Game of Life is omniperiodic
Get a second mug printed from the same printer, and hide it safely away, in case the original ever breaks, and they are out of business.
insulanus··on Dogbolt Decompiler Explorer
> deities smithing people.

That's "deities smiting people.", but I really like the idea of deities smithing people :)

insulanus··on Microsoft pulls OneDrive update that would quiz you before letting you quit
PSA for those using windows at home: someone else has already done all the work removing spyware / unnecessary junk / mandatory login, etc.

https://github.com/topics/windows-11-debloat

I think I used this guide https://christitus.com/windows-11-perfect-install/

insulanus··on Streamer in Japan Gets 2yrs Jail Time for Uploading Let’s Plays, Anime Spoilers
This is an effect of Japanese corporations lobbying for copyright legislation, not Japanese "society".

I agree that the word "society" can be used to convey social norms, whether imposed by the general public or a powerful minority, but here it's use is deceptive, because there is a connotation that society at large accepts this application of law as just, and had the practical power to influence copyright law.

insulanus··on Asking 60 LLMs a set of 20 questions
It would be nice if the organizations would publish a hash of the code and the trained dataset.
insulanus··on Come back, c2.com, we still need you
It would be great if there was a read-only version of the site that can be crawled.

Much easier to do that supporting both HTTP and JS for both read and write.

insulanus··on Come back, c2.com, we still need you
Sadly, I've had bad experiences with some Single Page Apps. Here are some problems I've had:

Linking to a specific topic.

Archiving the site.

insulanus··on Basic SAT model of x86 instructions using Z3, autogenerated from Intel docs
This type of thing can help you formally verify code.

So, if your proof is correct, and your description of the (language/CPU) is correct, you can prove the code does what you think it does.

Formal proof systems are still growing up, though, and they are still pretty hard to use. See Coq for an introduction: https://coq.inria.fr/

insulanus··on Examples of floating point problems
Definitely. Unfortunately, Language implementations that guaranteed exceptions were not in wide use at the time. Also, to have a chance at being implemented on more than one CPU, it had to work in C and assembly.
insulanus··on Burroughs B 5500 Infomration Processing System (1964) [pdf]
Very true! But probably for different reasons. Interfacing to a micro-controller or a PIC is a bit more complicated than plugging a keyboard and monitor in.
insulanus··on A Gas Dynamics Toolkit in D
I'm glad that C++ is starting to become a useable language, too. But 25 years is enough. Asking them to wait another 12 years is a bit unreasonable.
insulanus··on Re-thinking electronic mail
Don't forget the centralization that undermines its ability to be private!
insulanus··on Amazon lobbyists who kill U.S. consumer privacy protections
That seems like a very real effect, but the votes need to be disclosed after they occur. Otherwise, the lobbyists have even more power, because the committee has an incentive to collude with the lobbyists, if their individual votes are not known, and they accept bribes. (I agree that having their votes be unknown helps if they do not accept bribes).

The only foolproof solution is to remove power from the lobbyists.

insulanus··on Tim Cook Faces Surprising Employee Unrest at Apple
I think the feelings have been there for a long time. What changed is that it is harder to exert corporate culture (eg. fear or information control) while out of office.
insulanus··on The mutation that helps Delta spread
We don't have vaccines for the 200+ viruses that cause "the common cold". The flu, which is usually a more serious disease, has a vaccine that is updated and offered yearly.

80% of US medical personnel already take the yearly flu shot.

insulanus··on Your devices and your employer
Good point, but incomplete. It's safe to assume the company improved their process over time.

The point stands that it may be a hassle at other companies. Furthermore, you are beholden to the company until then.

insulanus··on Apple Regrets Confusion over 'iPhone Scanning'
You forgot the who

- Whose fault is it that those points were not clearly communicated?

- Who wrote the perceptual hash matching code?

- Who is allowed to audit the code, the review system, and the hash database?

- Who updates this code?

- Who decides if your phone OS is updated?

- Who decides the iCloud upload defaults?

- Who decides if you are reported?

- Who asked for this feature?

insulanus··on Apple Regrets Confusion over 'iPhone Scanning'
There was a lot of confusion. Caused by Apple trying to slip this feature under the radar, and omitting information.
insulanus··on Apple Regrets Confusion over 'iPhone Scanning'
Actually, I'm with you in that I think Apple's motives are different than people think, but I think yours are incorrect as well.

> Apple has been, as part of their privacy initiatives, trying to do as much as possible on the device. That's how they have been defining privacy to themselves internally. Then someone said "can we do something about CSAM" [...]

As a separate issue, many people in the company certainly do care about privacy, and that may go all the way to to Tim Cook. Who knows.

What is much more important to Apple the company, though, is making money. Governments have been hounding them for years about letting them spy on users. And they have painted themselves into a bit of a corner, by having the most secure phones.

Now the government comes to them with an offer they can't refuse, cloaked in child porn motivations. I believe many (most?) of the people involved are sincere. It's clear they have tried to make the least invasive system that still does what the government wants.

But that's not good enough in the crazy connected cyber-world we find ourselves in today.

Apple doesn't have a motivation to do this themselves. But they will do what they calculate they need to do.

insulanus··on Apple Regrets Confusion over 'iPhone Scanning'
> This isn't a surveillance feature.

> Thus, it would be more accurate to say that apple is putting on your device code which can detect known child pornographic images

> If you don't like it, disable iCloud Photos.

> Yes, it could theoretically be abused if Apple went to the dark side [...]

> [...] it feels as though we should give Apple the benefit of the doubt at least until we have all the facts.

No, nobody gets "the benefit of the doubt". The very use of that phrase admits that you are being put into a situation where you could be screwed in the future.

There is zero transparency or oversight into the code that does the scanning, the in-person review process, or the database of images being scanned for.

insulanus··on FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization
Yes, I used a friend's, and it really is great.

However, you must link it to your facebook account that is connected to your true friend graph, and they can deactivate your account at any time.

I highly recommend that no one buy one.

insulanus··on FB users buying Oculus VR headsets to get customer service prioritization
It's not important what is or is not happening right now, or even a little while ago.

The TOS expressly allows them to lock you out of your account if they detect you using an account that is not your Facebook Real Identity (tm)

They are allowed to brick your Oculus at any time, with no recourse.

See "I want to use a name different from my legal name for my Facebook account." Here https://support.oculus.com/fb/

And "If I’m having problems accessing my Facebook account, can I still use my Oculus device?" here https://www.oculus.com/blog/facebook-accounts-on-oculus/

https://www.facebook.com/help/112146705538576/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_real-name_policy_cont... https://www.wired.com/2015/06/facebook-real-name-policy-prob... https://media.business-humanrights.org/media/documents/files...

insulanus··on Twitter sees jump in govt demands to remove content of reporters, news outlets
I'm glad to see this topic so hotly debated here.

After having read most of the comments here, most of the discussion is turning on the point of what the first amendment does or does not require. That's great - the law should be the low bar for behaviour of the government, corporations and populance.

The first amendment is an excellent part of the constitution, putting the U.S. far ahead of many other regimes when it comes to free speech. However, it's not the be-all end-all. The corporate and political landscape, the balance of power between the people and government, and the U.S.'s geopolitical situation have changed since 1791.

Too many people treat the American constitution like the U.S.A. Law-Bible - ever correct, never flawed, never to be updated. That is absurd. The last amendment was ratified in 1992, and I'd say we are overdue for a few more.

In your arguments, please distinguish what is legal from what you think is the right thing to do.

insulanus··on $100M xPrize for Carbon Removal
We need technology, but more important is business and government. We have all the data on what is causing the problem, but we are not making value judgements, and taking action based on those judgements.

Until our technology catches up and provides net carbon-neutral energy, we have to pollute less. And that may be and doing less, and "consuming" less. And that will require force. Public pressure, social pressure, and regulation. No business will do it voluntarily, and no government will make itself unpopular voluntarily.

Long term we need green energy technology. Short term, we need technology is to help force change in our habits.

Do all the other stuff too, sure, but it seems like most of the pollution currently comes from Industry, Agriculture and transport. Things that enhance human quality of life. We need to decide which enhancements are most essential, and cut back.

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emiss...

insulanus··on An impersonator issued a fake Reddit take down notice against SaveVideo
> But Reddit is moving towards first party content.

I just want to point out the extent to which marketing doublespeak has infected the world.

A person from the 1990s might think that this means redditors making new content. But in this case "moving towards first party content" means "copying the interesting part from your site, to my site, and making it so it can't be copied again".

insulanus··on 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build
A Netgear Nighthawk R7000 idles at 8W, max 34W. That will get you 1 Gigabit.

Bleeding edge CPUs from Intel and AMD do guzzle power when run at full load, but they also improve in power per IPS, and have added dynamic underclocking, so they also run

Compare the TDP of a Pentium 4 from 2000 to a Ryzen 5 3600 or an i7 7700K (These TDPs are supposedly max power output, but take them with a nugget of salt)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CPU_power_dissipation_...

Gotta update that power intuition!

insulanus··on My trust in software, an all time low
Yeah, in this case the compatible applications are the shiny thing.
insulanus··on Libre-SoC 180nm Power ISA v3.0 ASIC Submitted to IMEC MPW
Here are a few implications:

* In a few years (maybe 5?), it might be possible to build a computer that you can trust has no intentional back doors in the CPU, but is modern enough to run software from within the last decade.

* If this catches on, and is used by enough people, economies of scale might kick in, and bring costs for advanced custom chips down by an order of magnitude (if the cpu is small enough, and if more fab capacity is built). Not Intel/AMD/ARM parts - those prices will remain stable, at first.

* Maybe we can have another decent consumer-grade router? No, this is a pipe-dream.

* Our Amiga accelerator boards will become SMOKING fast.

insulanus··on Open letter: Ban surveillance-based advertising
True. Google or Facebook's ability to obtain, analyze, cross-reference, retain and leverage this type of information makes them billions of times more powerful than a small company selling gardening tools, however.
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