Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:In other words, (Score 1) 13

Deere has been the most famous poster child of sticking it to the consumer and locking them in for a very long time. So it is startlingly good news that anything is happening... but it sounds like very little compared to their gains and damage caused. Also I don't get why just 10 years, these things last a long time. This kind of equipment can cost a lot of money per hour of downtime. (Caveat: I've worked on afterservice parts software for a big mining and construction machinery manufacturer... afterservice parts is like the razorblades business model multiplied by lots of expensive time constraints and logistics) Tldr; but what is needed is a law about afterservice parts. Are the owners of the equipment going to be able to buy parts from based on like Cummins parts catalog and run telemetry if that is a thing in Deere? After 10 years if their model's parts and software is no longer supported will they open source it, provide 3D design files or equivalent parts in major catalogs? Will they be able to only provide windows binaries that work with windows 11? Can machines and support packages be transferred? New machines need to become as maintainable as old machines, for as long as the materials last. Probably, they probably have a lot of ways left to fuck with people and still have a big incentive to do so. Not doing so will cut into potential profit.

Comment Daily use but nasty patterns (Score 1) 39

I've been through a few Kindles, honestly would be surprised anything lasts that long. Mainly Kindle Unlimited is an amazing deal. But, if there was a better ereader that is light, book dimensions, e-ink and has big letters with similar library even if I have to pay for each book I would switch. The two main glaring issues besides KU being really addictive are: 1) DRM, and 2) absolutely miniscule system font size. They allow very large text font size, but the fonts used in the file list, UI, About this book etc. are so tiny it is painful to read. They also keep messing with the UI without delivering much that is useful while continuing to ignore that e-ink users might need larger text.

Comment Google's AI does not impress. (Score 1) 102

When I test the different AI systems, Google's AI system loses track of complex problems incredibly quickly. It's great on simple stuff, but for complex stuff, it's useless.

Unfortunately.... advice, overviews, etc, are very very complex problems indeed, which means that you're hitting the weakspot of their system.

Comment Re:Billionares Using Our Resources to Replace Peop (Score 1) 47

I've designed a few machines - some rather more insane than others - in meticulous detail using AI. What I have not done, so far, is get an engineer to review the designs to see if any of them can be turned into something that would be usable. My suspicion is that a few might be made workable, but that has to be verified.

Having said that, producing the design probably took a significant amount of compute power and a significant amount of water. If I'd fermented that same quantity of water and provided wine to an engineering team that cost the same as the computing resources consumed, I'd probably have better designs.But, that too, is unverified. As before, it's perfectly verifiable, it just hasn't been so far.

If an engineer looks at the design and dies laughing, then I'm probably liable for funeral costs but at least there would be absolutely no question as to how good AI is at challenging engineering concepts. On the other hand, if they pause and say that there's actually a neat idea in a few of the concepts, then it becomes a question of how much of that was ideas I put in and how much is stuff the AI actually put together. Again, though, we'd have a metric.

That, to me, is the crux. It's all fine and well arguing over whether AI is any good or not (and, tbh, I would say that my feeling is that you're absolutely right), but this should be definitively measured and quantified, not assumed. There may be far better benchmarks than the designs I have - I'm good but I'm not one of the greats, so the odds of someone coming up with better measures seems high. But we're not seeing those, we're just seeing toy tests by journalists and that's not a good measure of real-world usability.

If no such benchmark values actually appear, then I think it's fair to argue that it's because nobody believes any AI out there is going to do well at them.

(I can tell you now, Gemini won't. Gemini is next to useless -- but on the Other Side.)

Comment The fines are very small. (Score 3, Interesting) 28

The fines should be proportional to actual damage caused (ie: 100% coverage of any interest on loans, any extra spending the person needed to do in consequence, loss of compound interest, damage to credit rating along with any additional spending this resulted in, and any medical costs that can reasonably be attributed to stress/anxiety). It would be difficult to get an exact figure per person, but a rough estimate of probable actual damage would be sufficient. Add that to the total direct loss - not the money that went through any individual involved, and THEN double that total. This becomes the minimum, not the maximum. You then allow the jury to factor in emotional costs on top of that.

In such cases as this, the statutary upper limit on fines should not apply. SCOTUS has repeatedly ruled that laws and the Constitution can have reasonable exceptions and this would seem to qualify.

If a person has died in the meantime, where the death certificate indicates a cause of death that is medically associated with anxiety or depression, each person invovled should also be charged with manslaughter per such case.

Comment We need to increase the penalties. (Score 3, Funny) 51

I suggest:

First offence: Have to watch CSPAN for 5 hours a day, for a week, without sleeping through it - evidence to be provided in court

Second offence: Have to sing Miley Cyrus songs and Baby Shark on TikTok - sober

Third offence: License to practice and all memberships of country clubs and golf courses revoked

Slashdot Top Deals

Crazee Edeee, his prices are INSANE!!!

Working...