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mod50ack

1,529 karma · joined July 18, 2015

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mod50ack··on Why Common Lisp is now the best programming language
The truth is that it really doesn't matter that much.

Use the language that you like (enjoy your favorites!) and that binds well with other tools you're using. I'm currently working on a project that's all C++ (wxWidgets frontend, plus C++ backend). I've used LLM tools with it, no issues. Would be the same with any other language, from what I can tell. I have another project in Go I'll probably try it on at some point soon.

mod50ack··on Pop!_OS bans AI-generated code from much of its codebase
I think it depends which LLM tool you're using. If you're using an older, worse model (the kind that you can use for free), the experience is significantly more frustrating. On the other hand, I'd say that the current best models are very useful with a skilled operator.
mod50ack··on Show HN: Giving Opus 5.5 a simulated paint canvas
You're exactly right. nrc100's comment is meant to have you ask yourself a loaded question.

The implication of "don't fool yourself" is that future software of this kind, in all likelihood, will constitute a thinking, feeling mind. Moreover, there is a weaker implication that the computer will have a sort of inherent moral worth — an assumption that I think ultimately rests on an extremely shaky foundation about how moral worth should be construed (but one which tends to appeal to the biases of technologists).

I'll have to write something about this, because I don't have the time and space to get into why exactly this is, but I'm bookmarking this now.

mod50ack··on Will there be a 7G?
I've gotten mmWave on Verizon in certain spots in Midtown Manhattan. But it doesn't really give me a lot of practical benefits over non-mmWave 5G.

In general, putting aside the bandwidth/crowding concerns (which are real, of course), I don't find 5G that much of a step above LTE - it's nothing compared to the jump from 3G to LTE. LTE changed how I used my phone in a big way (e.g., I could now watch video or download something on my phone practically). LTE got pretty fast over time anyway.

mod50ack··on Copyright does not protect AI-generated content in EU
It's not surprising, though, since the ECJ held in the Infopaq case that copyright (under the EU Directives) can only exist for something which is the intellectual creation of an author.
mod50ack··on Apple update looks like Czech mate for locked-out iPhone user
Nope
mod50ack··on Apple update looks like Czech mate for locked-out iPhone user
You can always reboot to recovery and install an update that way.
mod50ack··on LICENSE: _may be_ licensed to use source code; incorrect license grant
They aren't the same thing. Under US law pre-1989, publication without notice would lead to a loss of copyright, but publication WITH a copyright notice, that is, publication of a copyrighted item, meant all rights were reserved (unless licensed).
mod50ack··on iOS allows alternative browser engines in Japan
There are different levels to these things. The number of SIM card slots or bands varying from model to model isn't that unusual. The average user just needs it to work. In fact, the SIM and band configuration differences have nothing to do with regional legal mimina — they have more to do with the standard practice and available systems in each region (for example, mmWave isn't widely deployed outside the US). The configurations aren't really "worse" in the same way as locking down browser access is worse. Phones have had regional variants going back ~forever for pretty mundane and benign reasons.

More importantly, if a user travels from one region to another, as long as they can use their phone in the place they arrive, having slightly non-optimal bands or a different SIM configuration doesn't matter. The fact that your phone is slightly different from the local model is not really a problem.

But having your charger vary across regions? That's a recipe for disaster. Not only is that another level of variance in your external casing, it impacts day-to-day use. When an American user travels to, say, France, or vice versa, and wants to buy a charger, or share one with someone else, having the same model of iPhone be incompatible would be a major frustration. It would be stupid to engineer a lightning AND USB-C version of the same device for each market.

mod50ack··on LineageOS for QEMU Virtual Machines
UTM already runs on iPad OS.
mod50ack··on Ask HN: Anti-AI Open Source License?
Any license that discriminates based on use case would not qualify as open source under the Open Source Initiative definition, nor as free software under the FSF definition. You also shouldn't expect for your project/code to be reused by or incorporated into any free or open-source projects, since your license would be incompatible.

You can release software under whatever license you want, though whether any restriction would be legally enforceable is another matter.

mod50ack··on Ultimate-Linux: Userspace for Linux in Pure JavaScript
These things are essentially the opposite of one another. Bellard's project is a PC emulator in JavaScript. Compiling things to wasm is pretty trivial now, but jslinux was much more impressive when it came out. It actually still is, for reasons you can see in the technical notes: https://bellard.org/jslinux/tech.html

This project, on the other hand, is the opposite (and kind of a joke): a set of Linux utilities mostly written in JavaScript.

mod50ack··on Firefox is becoming an AI browser and the internet is not at all happy about it
Where did he say that?
mod50ack··on Memories of .us
My old school district moved from a localized URL of this kind to a .org a number of years ago (in the early 2010s). It seems to just have become the style, but I never really got it. I'm sure there was a significant cost to migrating what was a perfectly working setup to a whole new domain for website and email!
mod50ack··on The disguised return of EU Chat Control
> arbitraires

That's the key word.

mod50ack··on Lawmakers want to ban VPNs
The original intention was to allow for what is called a "line-item veto." Let's say you had a bill (and this is not uncommon) with a lot of basically unrelated provisions. It creates programs A, B and C. This would allow the governor to approve A and C but not B, and would prevent the sort of "horse-trading" that legislators like to do ("I'll support your pet idea if you support mine").

That was the idea. But Wisconsin has twisted into something else entirely. Arguably, the idea was not a good one to begin with, anyway.

mod50ack··on European Union Public Licence (EUPL)
This is really just a mistranslation. The author's native language seems to be Spanish. The Spanish word propósito can be translated as "purpose" or "intention." Here, it really means "intention."
mod50ack··on Libogc (Wii homebrew library) discovered to contain code stolen from RTEMS
The Homebrew channel was never on the Wii Shop Channel. It was only installable by using a hack.
mod50ack··on Mozilla launching “Thundermail” email service to take on Gmail, Microsoft 365
OpenID certainly hasn't replaced email. Young people still all need email to sign up for ~anything online - not to mention things like job/school applications or plenty of other real-world things.

What email has become is an identifier and a receptacle for notices. It's not a social platform for young people. But it's very much a thing!

mod50ack··on Closing the Chapter on OpenH264
Legally, it is enforceable. That's not the same as practically enforceable.
mod50ack··on Closing the Chapter on OpenH264
The difference is legal, not technical. You don't have the right to redistribute copyrighted material with permission, except according to exceptions to copyright law (which are narrow enough to not apply here). Cisco gives permission for users to use the software only if downloaded directly from Cisco, and doesn't grant anybody permission to mirror and redistribute it.

Can you tell if a copy was downloaded from Cisco directly? No. Does it make a technical difference? No. But those are the rules Cisco chose, and so there it is.

One potential reason I can think of for this happening is Cisco being required to count the number of downloads of the software (or something like that). But, in the end, there's no requirement that there be logical sense to a rule like this.

mod50ack··on An update on Mozilla's terms of use for Firefox
Contracts in the US require consideration. A promise made in exchange for nothing is not a contract because there's no consideration.
mod50ack··on Studies correlating IQ to genius are mostly bad science
Caring too much about IQ is not exempt from Goodhart's law.
mod50ack··on IQ numbers for historical figures are made up
As an aside — intelligence is not the same thing as accomplishment. A lot of people do well in school (and do well on IQ tests) and do not achieve anything of note. The people we remember are those who achieve great things, not those who do well on puzzle-solving tests. Those aren't the same thing, and this is probably why Stephen Hawking said that caring about IQ is for losers.

Hawking was undoubtedly a smart guy, but that fact alone did not make his career. He did a lot of hard work in a field he was passionate about. Why would you tell Stephen Hawking how good you are at solving puzzles — why would he care about that? I'm sure he would have found news of some finding relevant to his research interests much more compelling.

Now, are IQ-type tests useful? Yes. They are quite good to administer in school to gauge people's reasoning abilities — to a certain point. The point of the tests was never to rank the smartest people, and to think about these edge cases — the ones tests are worst at measuring — is pointless. There are better things to concern yourself with; life is not an IQ leaderboard.

mod50ack··on The 20 year old PSP can now connect to WPA2 WiFi Networks
It wasn't until 2009 - which is also when my family got WiFi (and switched from dial-up) - that I got mine: a Nintendo DSi.

Objectively, that browser was terrible, even at the time. But the ability to just read text on my own (and not have to ask to use the family computer - and to stay up all night reading under the covers, which was much harder with books) was amazing then! Of course, it would seem so quaint to kids today.

mod50ack··on Ross Ulbricht granted a full pardon
One, ChatGPT isn't a "visualizer."

Two, I have aphantasia and didn't picture anything. I got it the first time without any confusion.

Are you seriously asking ChatGPT to read things for you? No wonder your reading comprehension is cooked. Don't blame aphantasia.

mod50ack··on The legacy of NeXT lives on in OS X (2012)
Until the mid-2010s, most apps were unverified and people trusted the distribution channels where they got them from.
mod50ack··on Gorhill pulls uBlock Origin Lite from Firefox store
That's not true anymore. You have to press the Firefox logo on the about screen a few times, which will make the menu option appear in settings to install an extension from the local filesystem
mod50ack··on "Privacy-Preserving" Attribution: Mozilla Disappoints Us yet Again
LibreWolf is essentially a custom build of Firefox with stuff like this disabled or removed.
mod50ack··on LineageOS 21 Released
Lineage is great. One thing I wish we had, though, is a repo (F-Droid?) where you could download individual Lineage apps for use on non-Lineage Android.
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