I started using Linux for science. I was using a Raspberry Pi for a study and got to learn some basic stuff as part of that. Then I started to deploy my own Pis at home for self-hosting different apps I like, like Pihole. I also have an ancient desktop I bought on clearance that was running terribly, so I put Ubuntu on it and that solved a lot of performance issues! I host some stuff on there too.

There is still plenty of selection pressure. However, there has been even more artificial selection. Darwin was actually fascinated by domestic pigeons and studied them intensively https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3288640/

Pigeons are actually fairly intelligent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_intelligence

The original paper is also open access and a fairly accessible read! https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2027-47688-001

The FCC already regulates the volume of ads on TV and other over the air providers. However, streaming is somewhat of a loophole, and this helps close it

Yep, that’s what I’m doing with my door sensors. Just bought the adapter

Closed APIs really suck for consumers. It’s the leverage these companies try to hold over our heads. Sooner or later, shareholders’ demand for forever growth inevitably causes corporate executives to notice the attractive lever of profit that comes from a closed ecosystem. Every for-profit company will inevitably close every API that they can (while still maintaining a functioning product). Sometimes they don’t even let the function part stop them!

Yes, there were things that have been free for a long time that seem like it’s inevitable to charge for. Smartthings was great for my first years of smart home use, helped me automate a lot of stuff, keep track of a sketchy landlord, etc. But it’s time to move on

How is it clickbait? This will cause problems for people. I’m going to have to reset all my old Smartthings zigbee gear to connect to HA directly, which is a solution and alternative I’m glad is available (and I’ve been procrastinating on doing) but is going to take me at least a couple hours to set up. So it is annoying that Samsung is doing this

I do something similar, except on the Kobo I run KOReader which can interface with Calibre-Web over OPDS

Yes, Jeff Vandermeer directly cites it as an inspiration! https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/jeffvandermeer

More of it for me!

That’s interesting to hear. I wish efficiency had been considered from the start. It seems like there has been a ton of waste. They should only do the calculations needed to achieve the user objective. But they were prioritizing market share over efficiency. Maybe they thought they could afford another couple years of subsidizing wasteful use to build market share, but it hasn’t turned out that way.

I expect that many companies will realize that an LLM is a tool that can help with certain tasks, but cannot fully replace most workers because there is a ton of context in people’s jobs that cannot be condensed into language. Similarly, many companies are now realizing with token-based pricing that frontier LLMs are not cost effective in many applications. You shouldn’t have a natural gas fired data center in Tennessee running a model to proofread your emails. You can have a local model do so MUCH more cheaply. This will leave the speculative data center companies holding the bag on a lot of hardware and capacity that is not actually needed.

I wish Carl were still around. He had a knack for cutting through bullshit we could really use right now

The Fifth Season. I’m currently on the second book The Obelisk Gate so can’t attest for the quality of the whole thing but it’s geological fantasy and I find it quite fascinating. The scale of the world and conflict keeps getting bigger and bigger. It’s very dark but also really draws you in as things ramp up. Themes of the paradox of tolerance, and the challenge of preparing for future crises. The magic system she came up with also feels very fresh to me

The show is also excellent

Demon Haunted World is very timely

There are solutions aiming to help with that like LibreELEC (basically a minimal backing OS for Kodi). But unfortunately any Linux-based streaming solution will have issues with DRM connecting to Netflix, Prime, etc. There are sidesteps around that too but starts to get more and more challenging for the average user

It just is nice to have Google results in there. I find that’s the coolest part of searxng, showing when the different indexers corroborate each other as important.