"allow users to search the web for information, create content, generate images, summarize information and analyze uploaded files"

Thank dog I will finally be allowed to search and "create content".

I'm well aware of how niche this is, but I just want a command line. Make the robot pal do whatever goofy tricks you like, I don't care and likely won't use it much.

Just let me access my own fucking data in ways that work for me.

While we're at it, why is everyone besides me allowed to easily track my phone? Why can't I tell Apple Maps to track of my movements all the time? A lookup every 5 minutes isn't going to mess up the battery more than some random free game the same thing. Aside from being an automatic alibi generator, there are a ton of times I wanted to look up where I was on some particular day.

And why I can't use all those awesome sensors and radios except in goofy indirect ways? For a brief time, the iPhone was an incredible wifi analysis tool, until Apple pulled the application (I can't remember the name now). It could easily become an awesome hobbyist combo-box of test equipment, but for Apple's demand it be a consumer device.

Why can't I export my text messages, but Elcom or Celebrite can?

But it is also entirely possible that they are Making an Example.

Oppressive states have long-hated Ham operators. The biggest issue is that we can communicate worldwide without asking permission, but they also don't like public-spirited independent-minded technical folks, they can cause a lot of trouble to an aspiring shitbird like Lukashenko or Stephen Miller.

Hey, speaking of Miller, his family immigrated from Belarus. Since we're all about preserving our culture through expulsion, can someone get one of those gutter-trash ICE thugs to extradite him back where he came from? Maybe just make Belarus the penal colony for all these fucking animals.

Given market caps, it would totally be possible.

They could offer one-size-fits all subscription, each month you could choose how much Ozempic you wanted vs. plastic-wrapped sugar and salted potatoes.

I guess Amodei reviewed his PR report and didn't like the mention count. Time to see if people are still scared of robots stealing their jerbs.

For one thing, how long we can continuously run an experiment.

I actually do think it is an interesting question - you need continuity of several things (broader social stability, specific organizational stability, a community of people interested enough to bother keeping it going) without any of the usual things that keep something going (profit motive, government edict, etc.)

But I like proof-by-doing sorts of things in general.

That's because you got played.

They have been on an authoritarian bender since the mid 90s, getting a bit worse each passing year.

Those people who rant about black helicopters? Their real beef is they want to be the ones shoving their neighbors out of them.

You might be surprised. Kinko's was a sole proprietorship until it was sold.

J.C. Penny's was for its first 25 years. So was Walmart for the first roughly 20.

You can guess people's age by the first unit they think of to measure compute. (Assuming you're talking to someone who measures compute.)

Mhz? Born in the 70s or earlier.

Ghz? 80s.

Cores? 90s.

Watts? 00-on

I don't operate any commercial data centers, but I occupy cages in 14 of them, and have been working with data centers for over 30 years.

After a datacenter is built and operational, the number of new jobs are trivial and mostly low-paid.

As one example, our "primary" (not really any such thing anymore, it was just the first) in Santa Clara operates about 150K sq ft. Unless they are building a new cage or doing other significant work, there are two employees on site - the security person and a guy that handles hands and eyes, shipping and random maintenance. There's a manager somewhere, but not on site. The intercom button goes to someone at a call center who is always terrible at connecting you back to the on-site security guy, which is the only reason to hit the button. The labor strategy was clearly designed by the same folks who staff groceries or fast food - minimize labor at all costs, and if it takes a customer paying 7 figures a month an hour to connect with someone there, well, what are they going to do about it?

I've been asking myself that for years now.

As an artist, he manipulated empathy to illustrate the absurdities of corporate life.

As a public figure, he was a cheap, petty piece of shit, taking great joy in punching down. It seems like empathy was a pathway to sadism for him.

People are complicated.

You can hire and pay anyone you want without incorporating. There are more sole proprietorships/unincorporated partnerships in the US than any other type of company.

You incorporate so that your firm can take actions that you (as firm owner) do not want to take financial responsibility for.

Apple of course has their own idiosyncratic way of getting there, but I'm finding the comparison between modern MacOS and roughly 1995-era XWindows a much closer thing than I used to.

Cloudflare has entirely too much control over the internet.

Italy is a censorious, protectionist crab.

Let them fight.

(To be fair, Prince is not the sort of crazy asshole chasing unstated goals that you'd expect to be in his role. I've disagreed with several of his choices, but I've never seen much of a hint of hidden motives or short-sighted greed. But he's human, and even if he stays perfectly aligned with the "forces of good", whatever that means, he won't be there forever. And they have too much power now.)

(As far as Italy goes, my first statement was fair.)

That's it. I should have guessed Schneier.

Urban pizza joints have been in trouble for a while. A restaurant's expenses are dominated by high fixed costs - mostly rent and insurance.

When customers expect your primary product to be cheap and your fixed costs are jumping, you have a problem.

Most of the cheap joints in San Francisco are long gone - there are a few left, seems mostly to be the ones that own their buildings.

And you're still going to pay at least $10 for a slice and a drink.