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Comment Re:Browser (Score 1) 88

There can be and it's a really great idea! I currently use the CookieAutoDelete extension, and while I hate its shitty UI, it does what I want: unless I have whitelisted the domain, any cookies it offers get deleted a little while after closing the tab. So if I want long-term cookies for someone (e.g. slashdot.org, to stay logged-in all the time), I got 'em. If I don't go out of my way to whitelist a site, whatever cookies it sent, go away in a few minutes.

Web browsers ought to be able to do that out-of-the-box by now, as well as all the things uBlock Origin does, too.

Our web browsers kind of suck. At least Firefox has usable extensions, but these basic things should be totally mainstream and built-in by now. We've had decades to get this right, but I think the big browser teams have conflicts of interest over money (e.g. Google funding Firefox). Websites shouldn't be asking for consent; our browser preferences/settings ought to be handling that, with "consent" managed through the enforcement of our chosen personal policies.

Comment "Smaller than a hair" - no (Score 1) 15

If you read the article carefully, they are talking about lenses THINNER than a hair. I see several of the posts here thinking the width/radius of the lenses is this small, a reasonable mistake given the way this was written. Having a radius that small would severely reduce their light gathering ability, requiring very bright light or very dim images or very long exposure times.

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Comment Are today's "AI" companies important to future? (Score 4, Insightful) 43

The Generative AI companies did their thing. It was overall very impressive, even if they massively overstated its usefulness. ChatGPT is a great early demo of this infantile, currently-almost-useless-but-very-promising tech! Now someone simply (heh) needs to get the compute requirements down two to four orders of magnitude.

If companies like OpenAI can (and want to) work on that, great! Or others can build on the work that's been done up to now. I don't think anyone will miss the current companies, though they might currently be employing people who likely have a leg up (thanks to their familiarity with the subject) on addressing the compute resources problem.

But whenever (if ever) it gets done, people are going to run it on their own machines, not your servers and jail. Lock-in has always been, and will always be, an adversarial force to be eliminated by progress. If that means OpenAI's long-term plans won't work out, well, too bad.

Comment Re:Stealth (Score 1) 57

This ain't the early Cold War anymore. While there are certainly some super-secret weapons platforms out there, a lot of military capability is deliberately communicated and even put on display because it deters conflict.

When the Soviet Union fell the Pentagon's priorities shifted from "World War 3 against the USSR" to "wars against countries with marginally effective air forces." So when the B-2 came online, it served the Pentagon's mission better to show it off. "Look at our invisible bomber. You really think crossing us is a good idea? Be a shame of bombs just fell out of an empty sky on you without any warning whatsoever."

China wants the US to know that it can launch stealth aircraft off of its carriers because that allows it to use its carriers to assert control of the Eastern Pacific. China doesn't regard war with the United States as inevitable. Consequently, it's interested in convincing the United States that a war in the Pacific isn't worth fighting. That means eroding American confidence in American strategic and technological dominance so Americans know that a conflict with China will be costly.

This is targeted directly at American isolationists: "do you really want your kid to die for Taiwan?"

Comment Re:For now (Score 2) 119

As a historian the only caveat I'd advise there is that we are unlikely to see a long, drawn-out slog like WW2 again. Production capacity is great but the next Great Power war isn't likely to take place over years or even months. So China's technological edge is likely to matter but it's tempered with a willingness to stockpile and maintain systems which may never see use.

Doing that at limited production scale is one thing. Doing it at massive, "we're going to fight a serious war with this stuff" scales is another. China, like many authoritarian regimes, has shown itself to be dazzled by the propaganda value of wonder weapons. The CJ-1000, most recently, seems like a very impressive missile system but if it doesn't exist is sufficient quantity to turn the tide against American assets in theater it's just a waste of money.

Of course, China is also famously closed lipped so it's hard to tell. It might turn out that they have tens of thousands of those things. Probably not, but maybe.

Comment Hard to say; what standards do they support? (Score 1) 22

Can you use the hardware without any Meta services? Can you use competing hardware with Meta's services? And then beyond just services, can you fully replace the whole software stack?

Any "no"s above will make the utility dubious, such that there's little point in spending much time getting to know the product (except for RE purposes). OTOHs "yes"s will indicate that these types of wearables are starting to become viable.

Comment Re:Teachers (Score 1) 111

Sadly the teacher is correct unless you plan to give your son a great inheritence he will need to purchase cars, rent places, and even buy a home some day.

Lenders need to know who they are doing business with before they lend out the money and take a risk.

Yes, this country has terrible credit problems with tiktokkers saying they are planning to get pregant so they can qualify for the payment for a car and other stupid stuff (yes this was on facebook for a girl entitled for a Mercedes making 30k a year at probably Walmanrt). They are addicting too as a simple swipe and bam instant free stuff etc.

But responsibly they are life saver and a bank has no idea with a character underwrite these days if they are going to get paid back? 70 years ago when people lived in the same town and knew the banker personally it was a different story and time.

Comment Re:Credit scores are not what you think they are (Score 1) 111

No. Its more likely you will be late paying them so they use that as an excuse not to do business with you.

Case in point I switched cards with a different number and forget. My auto insurance thanks to one late payment went from $250 to $475 a month!! At the time my score was 735 too. I was so pissed and it was greed obviously as they viewed me as broke.

Comment Re:Credit scores are not what you think they are (Score 1) 111

I would mod you up if I had points.

Credit systems are a scam as Dave Ramsey says he has a score of 0 and would be denied renting a 1 bedroom apartment ... but could buy the whole complex in cash :-D. Read my last paragraph below to show how stupid this it with correlation = causation arguements to rig it? ... reality is very very few people can buy homes, emergency medical expensives and cars in cash.

Credit score = The % you are likely to pay someone back or your bills on time. No more no less. It is has nothing to do with wealth or success.

But in 2025 it is an evil necessity unless you are a millionaire. My Dave Ramsey example for those who do no tknow teaches financial literacy on youtube and is famous and hates all debt, but he is worth $160 million so can buy homes, boats, and cars in cash and his business. You and I reading this cannot.

Your credit score went down because you closed an account. Not because it was paid off. Broke people close accounts so therefore you are less likely to pay back with the whole correlation vs causation. It also impacts your debt/assets ratio. With less available credit available your other debt %/total available debt% ratio went thru the roof as it looked like you were borrowing too much, therefore you are going to default then those that don't. Again the causation = correlation arguement.

Go do some simple credit research on youtube. The proper way is get those ratios, account lenghts, and percentages in high, Keep ancient cards for lengthening credit history and keeping %total available debt% as big as possible so it looks like you aren't in over your head and over extended. Pay fees in interest for 3% to 5% of balances carried over to show you love debt and willing to have history and you will be good. If you rent be careful of broke neigherhoods as you are statsitically less likely to pay back if you live in X thanks to other broke people.

Comment Better safe than sorry (Score 1) 63

I think that after every 3rd wave of Missile Command (what a disgustingly irresponsible creation!!), the game should require that the player's parents check to make sure the player isn't getting depressed by the prospect of nuclear war.

And in Asteroids, after any ship destruction due to collision with an asteroid, the game should require parental attestation that the player isn't starting to develop symptoms of petraphobia.

In both cases, if the parents aren't available (e.g. dead because the player is in their 80s) I suppose a Notary Public or a AMA-certified doctor would be a good-enough replacement.

We have learned so much since the early days of computer games, and it's better to be safe than sorry. (But don't fuck with Joust! I want to be able to play without having to call my mom every time the Lava Troll touches my mount's legs inappropriately.)

Comment Re: I don't understand (Score 2) 66

How will you enforce this short of installing spyware on PCs which companies are doing in increasing numbers ...the ones using that to justify RTO. Remember people can use mouse jugglers and just use their USB ports like the ones caught at Wells Fargo.

Also, real estate values. Many renewals have butts in seats requirements as the landlords feel left out not collecting at the deli in the basement and parking lots. So it's 5 days a week to make the one landlord richer

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