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Comment Slim Devices did it better 20+ years ago (Score 1) 60

I bought my first Sonos system a year ago. The software seems to be a boated, steaming pile. It's unreliable for the most basic operations, like registering a new speaker (why does it take several minutes instead of 1 second?) and remembering which speakers it's connected to (it drops my subwoofer every so often).

All I want to do is browse/search for music and play it. That's it. Fuck generative AI.

Slim Devices did all of this better over 20 years ago. Its open source server streamed reliably to 10+ devices in my home. They still run great even though the company is long gone.

Comment So... much... neurobullshit (Score 1) 61

There is so much sloppy writing and neurobullshit in this article. It may indeed be possible to train a machine to guess well at a single individual's thoughts, which is impressive, but the data won't generalize across individuals for a simple reason: degeneracy. In the brain (and in all other biological systems), the same output or function is realized in multiple ways, whether in a single individual or across individuals. When I wiggle my finger twice, different combinations of neurons are involved. When someone else wiggles their finger, there's no justifiable reason to believe that their neuronal activity is like mine. The article is extremely sloppy in implying that certain things are common across human beings.

Comment Re: yah this is bs (Score 1) 91

>Thanks to my severance package, I can't collect unemployment right now

I don't know where you live, but in my state in the US, you absolutely can collect unemployment while you are on severance. I've done so twice with full disclosure to the unemployment agency. Maybe double-check your situation?

Comment Known for 60+ years (Score 1) 82

I read about this phenomenon in the young adult novel "The Secret of Terror Castle", published in 1964. Three teenage detectives investigated a mysterious castle where nobody could spend the night without running away in terror. The culprit? Someone playing the lowest notes on a pipe organ to produce the jitters. This book was the first in a much beloved series called "Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators".

Comment A mix of reasonable & silly (Score 1) 136

These arguments seem like a reasonable point mixed in with neurobullshit.

The reasonable point is that people have become very (too?) dependent on their smartphones. The bullshit is that it's part of the mind. No, it's part of your niche. So are lots of other things.

FWIW, I live a perfectly fulfilling life without my phone. I never carry it with me, except when I need a GPS. About 90% of the time, it sits on my desk at home, not in my pocket. I walk over to check it a few times a day for text messages. It's just a device, not a body part.

Comment The "sinking library" myth (Score 1) 36

>Microsoft's library of books is so heavy that it once caused a campus building to sink, according to an unproven legend among employees.

This is a really common kind of myth. I've heard the same story about libraries at a dozen universities. Snopes even has an article about it.

Comment Conflict of interest (Score 3, Insightful) 43

Consulting is a great way to tank your academic reputation if you aren't careful. If Professor X consults for company Y, and then the professor's research happens to agree with or confirm something Company Y does, Professor X may be seen as a company shill. Every academic who consults has to walk this tightrope.

Comment Love the theater, hate the commercials (Score 1) 74

I love, love, love watching movies on a big theater screen. Except the last time I went, the theater showed 30 minutes of previews for blood & gore horror movies. (The movie I was seeing was a comedy/drama, not horror.) Who the hell comes up with these ridiculous preview pairings? After the third knifing I was ready to walk out.

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