OpenAI says over a million people talk to ChatGPT about suicide weekly
OpenAI says over a million people talk to ChatGPT about suicide weekly | TechCrunch
OpenAI released data on just how many of ChatGPT's users are facing mental health challenges, and how its addressing them.Maxwell Zeff (TechCrunch)
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Quantum Attacks on encryption will probably be feasible by 2030
DEF CON 33 - Post Quantum Panic: When Will the Cracking Begin, & Can We Detect it? - K Karagiannis
Due to recently published algorithmic improvements (1399 qubits @ 2048 bit key length for Shor's) and leaps being made in quantum computing hardware (IBM Starling @ 200 logical qubits in 2029, and IBM Blue Jay @ 2000 logical quibits from 2033 and on), encryption is in danger of State-sponsored and high end-criminal attacks as soon as 2030. Particularly susceptible are crypto-currencies like Bitcoin, which rely on the Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem (ECDLP) and are attackable by Shor's factoring capability on a predictably feasible quantum computer.
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
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This is a great talk, but it's ignoring the real issue in that it would need to be "in-line", which is not anywhere near possible. They sort of address that, but are talking about the cyphers themselves mostly.
I think we've reached the cusp where we can exchange new derivative keys on the fly per request without making too much of a dent in speed, but that comes with all kinds of tradeoffs on session length and convenience I suppose.
Edit: I guess there is another eventuality where governments just go and farm public keys and use them against targeted traffic. Not a good way to beat that right now.
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The fact that he doesn't talk about the current state and real world process of applying and trying out the algorithms and their improvements of the last 10 years makes me strongly believe this is more propaganda than real.
It's all projection, and projections of projections.
I'm not going to argue against the accelerated introduction of post quantum algorithms... But this talk smells
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There was a paper recently about a stable 6100-qubit system, so the trajectory is plausible. If 1399 qubits is needed for 2048-bit Shor's, this would already meet that by a wide margin -- though obviously this is a research system that AFAIK cannot do actual computations.
As you said, this research isnt functional. The TLDR of all of the following is that to my understanding the record holding quantum computer currently has 4 (four) qubits.
##################################################
From the original source (caltech)
Looking ahead, the researchers plan to link the qubits in their array together in a state of entanglement, where particles become correlated and behave as one. Entanglement is a necessary step for quantum computers to move beyond simply storing information in superposition; entanglement will allow them to begin carrying out full quantum computations.
So yeah, they arent at the step where they can actually do anything with the qubits they created. 6100 physical qubits also doesnt equal 6100 logical qubits. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical…
Since the development of the first quantum computer in 1998, most technologies used to implement qubits face issues of stability, decoherence,[6][7] fault tolerance[8][9] and scalability.[6][9][10] Because of this, many physical qubits are needed for the purposes of error-correction to produce an entity which behaves logically as a single qubit would in a quantum circuit or algorithm; this is the subject of quantum error correction.
Im a total non expert on quantum things, but from the looks of it, the most efficient systems (at Microsoft) still need many times the amount of physical to create a single logical qubit.
The team used quantum error correction techniques developed by Microsoft and Quantinuum's trapped ion hardware to use 30 physical qubits to form four logical qubits.
Its also impossible to read up on this stuff, because lots of research for "quantum computers" actually just algorithmically simulates the logical qubits on standard non quantum hardware. So if you search just for "largest logical qubit system" you get lots of garbage and searching for physical qubits gives you research like this 6,100 number that cant be converted into a realistic number of logical qubits, because the overhead needed for error correction varies drastically between techniques.
What you really wanna know is the largest set of functional logical qubits that actually relies on physical qubits. And the answer to that seems to be 4. Whats needed to break RSA-2048 is probably multiple thousands of those stable, error free logical qubits.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantinu…
The company also holds the record for two-qubit gate fidelity, becoming the first to reach 99.9%. Microsoft and Quantinuum created four logical qubits on the H2 quantum computer, running 14,000 experiments without a single error.
Even if it's 8 physical qubits to 1 logical qubit, 6100 qubits would get you 762 logical cubits.
All I'm saying is that the technology seems to be on a trajectory of the number of qubits improving by an order of magnitude every few years, and as such it's plausible that in another 5-10 years it could have the necessary thousands of logical qubits to start doing useful computations. Mere 5 years ago the most physical qubits in a quantum computer was still measured in the tens rather than the hundreds, and 10 years ago I'm pretty sure they hadn't even broken ten.
I mean, the number of logical qubits has gone from basically zero not too long ago to what it is now. The whole error correction thing has really only taken off in the past ~5 years. That Microsoft computer you mentioned that got 4 logical qubits out of 30 physical qubits represents a 3-fold increase over the apparently previous best of 12 logical qubits to 288 physical ones (published earlier the same year), which undoubtedly was a big improvement over whatever they had before.
And then the question is FOR WHAT? Dead people cant make use of quantum computers and dead people is what we will be if we dont figure out solutions to some much more imminent, catastrophic problems in the next 10 years.
Strange thing to say. There's enough people on the planet to work on more than one problem at a time. Useful quantum computing will probably help solve many problems in the future too.
This is a brilliant presentation. I heard about his paper that demonstrated integer factorisation with an abacus, a VIC-20 and a dog, but I hadn't seen this before.
Aside: The Quantum Supremacy Drinking Game
– Open a new bottle of wine every time quantum supremacy
is announced
– Requires a well-stocked wine cellar
🤣
... Which is why we all should immediately switch to post-quantum encryption possibly much weaker against conventional cryptanalysis. Thank you, NIST, NSA and other such respectable official bodies. Of course I believe you.
In general the whole "everyone should use standard state-of-the-art cryptography" turned out to be a con. And somehow the more "standard state-of-the-art" things were broken, the more was the confidence that they are what should be used. In the 90s "standard state-of-the-art" things were being broken casually, and non-standardized ciphers were made and used far more often than now, and somehow that was fine.
I dunno, we're all using AES with even hardware implementations of it, potentially backdoored, and with approved recommended S-boxes, without explanation how were these chosen ("by the criteria of peace on earth and goodwill toward men" is not an explanation, a mathematical paper consisting of actions you repeat and unambiguously get the same set would be that).
I think if you are afraid of your cryptography rotting, embracing some pluralism outside of cryptography is what you should do. Like maybe partitioning (by bits, not splitting into meaningful portions god forbid) the compressed data and encrypting partitions with different algorithms (one AES, one Kuznetchik, one something elliptic, one something Chinese).
... Which is why we all should immediately switch to post-quantum encryption possibly much weaker against conventional cryptanalysis.
There's no need to switch, you can just layer it, and should be done asap
Alien Anthropology: Doing without Agriculture
Cross posted from: lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/3364037…
Alien Anthropology: Doing without Agriculture
Those familiar with Biblaridion's Alien Biospheres worldbuilding series will be glad to hear that it's new sequel (sister?) series has just had it's first release 'Doing without Agriculture,' exploring a few of the ways that a fictional alien species, the development of which was covered in the last series, could develop their societies in the abscence of agrarian technology.
Here’s what ads on your $2,000 Samsung smart fridge will look like
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/51856491
Here’s how to opt out.Archived version: archive.is/20251027141201/thev…
Here’s what ads on your $2,000 Samsung smart fridge will look like
Here’s how to opt out.
Archived version: archive.is/20251027141201/thev…Here’s what ads on your $2,000 Samsung smart fridge will look like
A new widget coming to the built-in screen will show ‘curated advertisements’ starting next month. But you can opt out.Jennifer Pattison Tuohy (The Verge)
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Only idiots pay for appliances/services that include ads.
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The only time I've ever lost anything from a fridge was when an apartment complex preemptively cleared out the last of our belongings before we finished moving out.
And that was 30 years ago.
The door monitor mostly helps when a kid walks off leaving it open thinking they closed it.
The freezer temperature monitoring has saved the contents several times. A breaker had tripped once and I didn't notice, it let me know that I needed a generator during a power outage, and one of the kids snuck an ice cream and left the lid wide open.
So yeah, it's been useful. It's not needed 99% of the time.
An alarm that beeps when the door is left open more than X minutes (say, 5 minutes) only requires a stupidly simple circuit and about $5 in parts.
No smarts needed (though it's probably cheaper to make it with a microcontroller than have the timer circuit be done with discrete parts).
Hmm, my fridge is in my kitchen, which is in the middle of the house. I've never been in a situation where the fridge door has been open more than a couple minutes without me noticing, and I have three kids.
I've had two fridges die (well, the same one twice), and that sucked, but there's not much I could do about it even if I knew a few hours earlier, and I use the fridge enough I'll notice within a few hours. Refrigerator deliveries often happen after a few days, and I'm not going to keep stocking ice during that period, I'll just consume what I can and move the important stuff to the mini fridge or chest freezer.
It would be cool, sure, but it's not worth having it connected to the internet.
ads
its the same people that bought the 2k beds, and aws froze and heated up the beds.
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I need my refridgerator to be a box.
A box that gets cold inside.
Thats it. Just a cold box.
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So we need a robust, failsafe open source motor controller with minimal firmware or just heavy duty relays and analog timers.
It needs a brain, but only enough to record the cycles from the factory controller and then replay them after replacement.
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fmhy.net/privacy#dns-adblockin…
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I could see it if it was a screen I get to control, akin to a smart mirror. Fridge door would be a pretty good surface since I'm guaranteed to look at it a couple of times each day.
Other than that, push notifications if the door is open? That's about the max when it comes to usefulness I can imagine. Is that a problem that requires a connected device? No, probably not.
However, depending on the model range, it becomes difficult to even get a model that doesn't have the "smart" features. No one can force you to connect the device though (yet).
It has been my general experience over the years that with just about all electronics devices with "everything and the kitchen sink" in them, you're actually better off buying functional elements separatelly as discrete devices.
For example, you're better of with a "dumb" fridge plus a good tablet and something to hang it on the fridge door. Another example is how a "dumb" TV and a TV Media Box separatelly are a better choice than a Smart TV.
This is because those things usually have different technology life-cycles (i.e. the time period were a tablet is expected to remain useful and performant is much less than for a fridge) and some parts are useful on their own and hence are more flexible to use if they're separate (i.e. a standalone tablet has many more uses than one integrated in a Smart Fridge).
I think you can run DOOM on it
Running Doom on a Linux device with Wayland is not really that much effort once you have a way to execute 3rd party binaries.
That's my partner. I just shop hungry and ask him to check the refrigerator for me while I'm out.
We also have a shared grocery app, which works nicely.
Since it's a Samsung ice dispenser, that's a recurring charge: Service calls.
(Seriously though, I'll never buy another Samsung appliance after my experience with that fridge's ice dispenser)
Oh! I've had no real problems with my LG.
The made ice occasionally gets stuck and has to be knocked loose, but that's no big deal - not like the Samsung freezing the whole mechanism into a huge block that prevents accessing it to clear it out.
Here’s what they look like on my fridge:
I would not buy appliances with ads,
I would not buy them, Sam-I-Am.
So buying things that don't show ads isn't enough. You need to only buy things that don't get updates.
Yeah, that just makes this so sinister.
What I mean is that my fridge doesn’t have a screen. So if Panasonic decided to show me ads on a fridge where the most complicated feature is the ice maker, that would be a neat trick.
Receives a letter at home from Panasonic containing a message, a color printed sheet and a fridge magnet.
Message reads: "Dear costumer, please use enclosed fridge magnet to hang provided advert sheet on your Panasonic refrigerator"
Guess what they look like on my 250 Dollar dumb fridge.
I can even keep my food chilled with it. Plus I can freeze stuff. Even has a light when I open the door. Super practical. You guys should come see it!
"Smart" fridges are the dumbest shit ever; given that, pi hole or some ad blocking DNS? Block access to Samsung servers?
Don't understand people who are willing to let all that data pass through 3rd party servers
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In cars the car companies pay the costs.
I'm assuming they negotiate bulk discounts with mobile carriers to buy SIM cards en masse.
The same would be the case in any other appliance.
Perhaps they'll be talking via a giant mesh of your neighbors doorbells, fridges, and televisions. Wouldn't that be fucked up? Maybe they'll stream to the police drones patrolling your neighborhood.
I always wondered how an "ad-supported" Kindle would show new ads on the home screen if you only transfer books via USB and never connect via WiFi or wireless? Does it just reuse the old ads? How will the fridge do it?
This is where it's going, I think.
You'll need to use wifi if you want any online functionality out of the device but it'll communicate on its own via cellular for ads and any metrics literally whoever the fuck wants.
As long as a business is able to make more from ads and selling your data than whatever the wireless fees they pay are it makes business sense. It's fucking evil and a dystopian nightmare but it makes business sense.
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I have a tablet and a fridge. One is mobile info & recipe stuff, the other has (too less) space and cools food. Why should i want (too expensive) a fridge with a built in tablet? They just don't match.
Edit: get one of them magnetic stickers to have the best of both worlds.
And here’s how to opt out.
I'm opting out by buying a significantly cheaper non-smart fridge. Which luckily is still an option.
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The fridge is also a good location for it, and you’d have to otherwise run a wire across your fridge to power your own tablet.
What? How is the fridge possibly a good location for it? In what world could that ever be true? And do you not have wall outlets in your kitchen? Put your device on the counter!
I mean... what?
Ok, so let's say you're making dinner and you want to watch something at the same time. Perhaps you're chopping vegetables on the counter. Do you really want to be looking at the front of the fridge while you do that? If the fridge is against the same wall as the counter you need to crane your head back to see anything, and if it's on a different wall you need to turn your head a totally different direction. Why not use one of those tablet cases with a kick stand and then put the tablet right in front of you, on the counter? Like right in front of the the cutting board you're using.
I don't know, I think if you do anything other than putting it right in front of you, you're gonna and up losing some fingers instead of chopping veggies.
Probably too unsightly for many, but I use gooseneck arms from snakeclamp.com. I use them for many things, like making helping hands for soldering, bike maintenance, and mounting monitors. You need to get one rated for the intended load. There are a ton of mounting base options and plenty of attachments, including one for holding tablets.
Sounds like it'd not be you ideal solution but thought I'd mention it on behalf of others.
The fridge is a very inconvenient location though.
My tablet sits on the counter where I am prepping food when using mealie, or where I am standing to cook when I am talking with someone over Jitsi.
Tablet batteries last far longer than any session I am at in the kitchen so after words it just goes to the charger for tomorrow.
No need for wires during use, and its charging station is where ALL my devices chargers are.
Yes, that's an actual selling argument (slap my forehead real hard)
As a Home Assistant geek, I would love to have a tablet built into the fridge door that I could 100% hack to display useful information and such. Currently I have an Android tablet on the wall that does this, but one on the door could be cool, especially if you could setup a place for virtual sticky notes that you could leave reminders and such for family members.
It’s not worth it for ad space though and I wouldn’t want it to be required for the fridge to operate either!
My household has a shared calendar we use to plan events. I've thought about a project before just to put a big view version of that up somewhere for people to reference, but I've been hesitant because it's a large household and having to play tech support every time it goes wrong isn't something i can do.
If i could get a reliable screen on the fridge that could display that, along with maybe a Reminders List and your sticky note idea, that would be perfect. With ads though that's a big nope from me.
Even excluding my stance on not wanting ads, that's how you find out the 5 year old accidentally bought something, or that something was leaked in a big data leak. That's just something i don't want in my home
And a clock, and a weather forecast, and a picture frame...
A screen has a lot of potential. But not if it works against your interests
So for a clock and picture frame you’re not gunna believe this but…
And for a weather forecast I mean just make a widget on your phone’s home screen, it’ll be fine. The techification of every damn fucking thing we have is ridiculous and we so happily dive into filling our lives with nonsense just to have a theoretical 1% improvement in efficiency that we don’t even need.
I’m not saying we need to throw out all technology but we also don’t need to jam modern tech into every single aspect of our lives.
The widget will appear by default on the fridges as part of the software update. However, Samsung is giving users the option to turn off ads. To do this, go to the Settings page on the fridge, scroll to Advertisements, select it, and you’ll be taken to a screen where you can toggle off ads.This will remove the widget entirely. If you think you might actually like the widget’s other features (calendar, weather, and news), you can “X” out a particular ad, and it won’t pop up again. But then you’ll get another ad.
Samsung Family Hub Refrigerators
The Product Samsung Family Hub refrigerators are premium smart appliances featuring touchscreen displays integrated into refrigerator doors, with models rangin…FULU Foundation (bounties.fulu.org)
I was ready gawk at what ads on my fridge would look like, and then this. I don't know what I expected.
IOT home devices using cell data? In Canada? It would either come with a hefty monthly fee, or the appliance company would lose their shirt.
Cell companies here put a lot of effort into keeping the prices up.
Might fly south of the border though.
Worth pointing out that that “Target figured out a girl was pregnant before her father did” story is almost certainly untrue: predictiveanalyticsworld.com/m…
I agree with the article that getting ads on a device you’ve already paid for with no hint that there would be ads is intrusive and a sad sign of how tech is going (in the same week that it was announced that Apple are going to be adding ads to Maps, too). But I also can’t help but wonder - who the fuck wants a smart fridge? Like, legitimately, what is the advantage over a normal fridge?
Did Target Really Predict a Teen’s Pregnancy? The Inside Story
We examine the origin and the facts behind this explosive story, the importance of headlines, and how unsubstantiated assumptions gain traction and mainstream attention and help create myths around Predictive Analytics.Machine Learning Times
Not a "smart" fridge per se, but I can see the use of a screen on my fridge; something where we can see our family calendar, leave notes for each other, and maybe also be able to access the grocery shopping list. Weather would be nice too, though you can keep the news widget (yikes). Something in a visible location in our house, where we go every day.
I'm not sure what other features they advertise with a smart fridge, but those few would be nice; especially if I could just plug a raspberry pi into it and skip all of the Samsung nonsense entirely.
We're a family of six, and the kids don't have phones. It's tough to coordinate schedules already and it's only going to get worse.
I recognize that I'm an edge case.
You’re not an edge case. My family isn’t that large but we still have challenges with this exact thing.
There’s a screen device that my wife gets incessantly advertised to her that is probably a better option than it being built into a fridge that has been engineered to last 3 weeks longer than the warranty.
I was trying to say there is paper. That's what we always did.
And still do for that matter.
We've tried paper. And dry-erase. The problem is that we keep our calendars and todos and schedules on our phones, which don't automatically update the paper; and by the second week, we tend to just stop manually updating it. There's a paper calendar in my office that I just flipped to October last week (from August).
The only way that really seems to work, where we don't forget an event, is having a single digital shared calendar.
and the kids don’t have phones.
So just the two of you?
Also, if you do end up sharing a digital calendar on a device you already have, what is the fridges for?
My wife and I have phones where we keep our shared calendars, yes. But we have four kids who also have their own lives and schedules, and they often want to know what's going on, what our plans are, etc. They would value being able to see the day's upcoming events, too; when the play dates are, when the dentist appointments are, when the days off of school are, what we're eating for dinner, all of that. Currently, their only access to that information is through our phones.
Having a screen in the kitchen that only shows calendars and a couple of other pieces of data would be useful. We wouldn't want to be able to watch videos or browse websites on it, though.
This is an amazing article. I'm serious. Very well written. This is my favorite part:
I asked Higby why they were bringing ads to the fridges. He said via email, “This pilot further explores how a connected appliance can deliver genuinely useful, contextual information. The refrigerator is already a daily hub, and we’re testing a responsible, user-controlled way to make that space more helpful.”This is similar to the justification Panos Panay, Amazon’s head of Devices & Services, made to me last month when I asked him about advertising on its Echo devices. He said it was looking to be “elegantly elevating the information that a customer needs.”
Do these people actually believe this? Do they see advertisements in their own lives and think, "ah yes, that was useful and contextual. That was a helpful ad, elegantly elevating my information." I've seen some delusional people in executive-level roles, but that would be a special new class of delusion. Nobody likes ads. I recognize that some people have higher and lower tolerances for them, but nobody is actually grateful for them. Right?! I need to believe this is true.
Both companies claim they want to offer “curated,” “relevant” ads that might “enhance the experience.” I can buy that to some extent when it’s ads for features that your smart fridge or smart display offers. This tech is complicated and capable, and most people only tap into a fraction of what their devices can do.
That's generous. But ok, maybe I can grant the premise.
But there is no future where third-party advertisements will ever be welcome in people’s homes like this — even if they happen to show me a brand of pet food right when my dog is looking at me with hungry eyes.
Right. Exactly. No matter what, I can think of no situation in which an ad is serving the customer's interests. Maybe in the case of a coupon? But even then, I think it's dubious.
There's an archive.is link in the original post: archive.is/20251027141201/thev…
I'm wary of running afoul of copyright laws to literally paste it here, but I think you should be able to get it there.
Yeah they earn a commission, so it really incentivizes them to find products to promote that people actually want.
The only ones I hate, are the ones where they pretend to be a regular video and then turns into an ad 3 minutes in.
And this isn't an endorsement of Tiktok, just the advertising model.
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There's a future coming where every fridge sold will come with a screen for ads, and not necessarily any other smart features.
Once people accept this shit, there's no going back.
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and that future will include me ripping out the network connection cards from the primary boards.
if that bricks it, I'll just have to setup an "internet" connection.
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Happy with my ad-free dumb fridge.
Let me know when the smart fridge can track when I'm low on essentials and toggle them unchecked on my shopping list, WITHOUT phoning home, and with no fucking ads. Don't need a screen either.
WITHOUT phoning home
If the data is offline, then it only serves you without selling you out. I know it's unrealistic; why would any corporation make something that benefits consumers and not themselves?!
Elon Musk's version of Wikipedia is 'cribbing' information from the real one: report
Elon Musk's version of Wikipedia is 'cribbing' information from the real one: report
Elon Musk's Grokipedia, developed by his company xAI, went live on Monday after months of MAGA railing against the popular internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia.Robert Davis (Raw Story)
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‘There isn’t really another choice:’ Signal chief explains why the encrypted messenger relies on AWS
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/51866711
Signal was just one of many services brought down by the AWS outage.
‘There isn’t really another choice:’ Signal chief explains why the encrypted messenger relies on AWS
Signal was just one of many services brought down by the AWS outage.
‘There isn’t really another choice:’ Signal chief explains why the encrypted messenger relies on AWS
Signal head Meredith Whittaker has responded to concerns about the encrypted messaging app’s use of Amazon Web Services, saying “there isn’t really another choice.”Emma Roth (The Verge)
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Session | Send Messages, Not Metadata. | Private Messenger
Session is a private messenger that aims to remove any chance of metadata collection by routing all messages through an onion routing network.Session
shame their entire node system relies on cryptobros tech.
tor doesnt need currency to back it up.
i2p doesnt need currency to back it up.
why the hell lokinet does?
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Exactly.
It’s also a way that people can contribute to the network without needing third party payment services. I don’t need to find some node operator’s socials and look up a patron to use a credit card.
If I already have an account with a crypto exchange then it’s easy to pay the operators.
Where does the reward come from?
Who pays the node maintainers for keeping stable nodes online?
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Okay, does this use a common crypto currency, or how do the node owners "profit" from upholding the service?
If it has its own cryptocurrency, where can they spend it?
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Hey, thank you for providing actually informative answers to the other guy's questions. It was interesting for me to read as well.
I looked into running a node, but apparently the required amount of tokens to stake is over 1000 euros. I'll have to pass for now.
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No problem, glad I could be of use.
You can bring down the stake amount to 6250 tokens (~300€) by running a multi-contributor node link, but your cut of the rewards will be proportionally smaller as well.
No, DHT is just a way of determining paths and priority of value lookup by key in the network, so that the load were distributed predictably, while allowing you to find, well, what you are looking for. BTW, while everybody uses Kademlia with modifications, I'd argue that Chord is better for anything related to security and anonymity.
Storage and serving of anything big is another thing. I take it you mean that I2P nodes cache messages relayed via them when the target node is unavailable. That doesn't have anything to do with DHT.
I2P has its own internal DHT network. Bote piggybacks on it to relay messages between Bote nodes. You can even configure it so you can address random online nodes and ask them to hold a message for another node to relay (online or offline) to obscure message timing
DHT can be used for almost anything as a generic key value store, even if the typical use is just peer finding
Correct, and slow is kinda the point (traffic metadata protection through timing obfuscation)
There's even a setting to set multiple Bote hops (inside I2P which already use multiple hop tunnels) with random delay per node (up to 24h)
this concept sounds familiar…
What you are saying is create our own internet for messaging…
It’s gotten more usable over the past couple of years. Sadly, I just got done getting all my family/friend contacts to get on Signal (they’d much prefer to use WhatsApp) so Session remains a lonely place for me. I seem to use it solely as a place to stash notes for myself, even though I do this with Signal as well.
I don’t know that we’ll ever see a messenger that both appeals to everyone and has all the features we want (from privacy to visual appeal).
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Her real comment was that there are only 3 major cloud providers they can consider: AWS, GCP, and Azure. They chose AWS and AWS only. So there are a few options for them going forward — 1) keep doing what they’re doing and hope a single cloud provider can improve reliability, 2) modify their architecture to a multi-cloud architecture given the odds of more than one major provider going down simultaneously is much rarer, or 3) build their own datacenters/use colos which have a learning curve yet are still viable alternatives. Those that are serious about software own their own hardware, after all.
Each choice has its strengths and drawbacks. The economics are tough with any choice. Comes down to priorities, ability to differentiate, and value in differentiation 😀
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Scale, they need worldwide coverage.
mastodon.world/@Mer__edith/115…
This isn't ‘'renting a server.' It's leasing access to a whole sprawling, capital-intensive, technically-capable system that must be just as available in Cairo as in Capetown, just as functional in Bangkok as Berlin. Particularly given the high stakes use cases of many who rely on Signal. 6/
The big 3 also offer disgustingly fast interconnection. Google, Amazon and Microsoft lay their own undersea fiber for better performance.
If willing to sacrifice a bit of everything, OVH has North-American and European locations, as well as one in India, one in Singapore and one in Australia. They're building a few more in India, one in Dubai, two in Africa, one in NZ and 3 in South America. Once they add a few more on top of those, that's damn near worldwide coverage too. And OVH is a French company, so the US government has less leverage over it than Amazon.
Those are the only 3 that matter at the top tier/enterprise class of infrastructure. Oracle could be considered as well for nuanced/specialized deployments that are (largely) Oracle DB heavy; but AWS is so far ahead of Azure and GCP from a tooling standpoint it's not even worth considering the other two if AWS is on the table.
It's so bad with other cloud providers that ones like Azure offers insane discounts on their MSSQL DB (basically "free") licensing just to use them over AWS. Sometimes the cost savings are worth it, but you take a usability and infrastructure hit by using anything other than AWS.
I honestly, legitimately, wish there was some other cloud provider out there that could do what AWS can do, but they don't exist. Anyone else is a pale imitation from a devops perspective. It sucks. There should be other real competitors, especially to the US based cloud companies as the US cannot be trusted anymore, but they just don't exist without taking a huge hit in terms of tools, APIs, and reliability options, to AWS.
Multi cloud is very difficult to do well.
Multi region is already hard enough with transactional management not being easy to split between the regions, and multi-cloud is another order of magnitude more difficult than multi region.
With that said, use2 and others were still up, so if they were just multi region and failed over to east2 they would have been fine.
Meredith mentioned in a reply to her posts that they do leverage multi-cloud and were able to fall back onto GCP (Google Cloud Platform), which enabled Signal to recover quicker than just waiting on AWS. I'd link to source but on phone, it's somewhere in this thread: mastodon.world/@Mer__edith/115…
📣THREAD: It’s surprising to me that so many people were surprised to learn that Signal runs partly on AWS (something we can do because we use encryption to make sure no one but you–not AWS, not Signal, not anyone–can access your comms).It’s also concerning. 1/
There are many server lease options all over the world
It increases complexity a lot to go with a bunch of separate server leases. There's a reason global companies use hyperscalers instead of getting VPSes in 30 or 40 different countries.
I hate the centralization as much as everyone else, but for some things it's just not feasible to go on-prem. I do know an exception. Used to work at a company with a pretty large and widely spread out customer base (big corps on multiple continents) that had its own k8s cluster in a super secure colocation space. But our backend was always slow to some degree (in multiple cases I optimized multi-second API endpoints into 10-200ms), we used asynchronous processing for the truly slow things instead of letting the user wait for a multi-minute API request, and it just wasn't the sort of application that you need to be super fast anyway, so the extra milliseconds of latency didn't matter that much, whether it was 50 or 500.
But with a chat app, users want it to be fast. They expect their messages to be sent as soon as they hit the send button. It might take longer to actually reach the other people in the conversation, but it needs to be fast enough that if the user hits send and then immediately closes the app, it's sent already. Otherwise it's bad UX.
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What are you talking about?
I'm saying that the parts of infrastructure needed to accept a message to the service from the client application, encrypted or not, associated to a user or not, are under same requirements for Signal and Telegram.
I don't know if you understand that every big service is basically its own 90s' Internet self-contained, and what accepts your messages is pretty similar to an SMTP server in their architecture.
I'm going to call bullshit on the underlying assertion that Signal is using Amazon services for the sake of lining Jeff's pocket instead of considering the "several" alternatives. As if they don't have staff to consider such a thing and just hit buy now on the Amazon smile.
In any monopoly, there are going to be smaller, less versatile, less reliable options. Fine and dandy for Mr Joe Technology to hop on the niche wagon and save a few bucks, but that's not going to work for anyone casting a net encompassing the world.
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You cant run a professional service on self hosters hardware...
I think you guys dont really have experience of building these global, low latency apps and dont know the challanges that come with that...
you, on a single ISP who relies on the world's shared backbone rather than your own between multiple DCs within a region and multiple regions around the world, have better uptime than AWS?
Stop.
I'm all for decentralizing for the case of no single entity controlling everything, but not for the case of uptime. That is one thing you give up with services like Matrix or Lemmy.
AWS actually has an SLA it's contractually committed to when you pay them with thousands of engineers working to maintain it.
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And your source?
I'm running and am part of a Matrix server for years and experienced near zero problems with them so far.
Great. Can you reference an SLA to prove that, and what's the size of that server?
Apples and oranges.
- Where do people keep getting this SLA pink promise information? Your SLA has to be presented to potential clients and whether you've been successful in maintaining it can make or break them being on board. It's also audited for things like SOC2 compliance.
- That's a microscopic fraction of what a product the size of Signal is dealing with, and unimaginably small compared to AWS
EDIT: As in Signal's excuse. (Sorry, I should've been clear)
Why is it that only the larger cloud providers are acceptable? What's wrong with one of the smaller providers like Linode/Akamai? There are a lot of crappy options, but also plenty of decent ones. If you build your infrastructure over a few different providers, you'll pay more upfront in engineering time, but you'll get a lot more flexibility.
For something like Signal, it should be pretty easy to build this type of redundancy since data storage is minimal and sending messages probably doesn't need to use that data storage.
But far less reliable. If your data center has a power outrage or internet disruption, you're screwed. Signal isn't big enough to have several data centers for geographic diversity and redundancy, they're maybe a few racks total.
Colo is more feasible, but who is going to travel to the various parts of the world to swap drives or whatever? If there's an outage, you're talking hours to days to get another server up, vs minutes for rented hosting.
For the scale that signal operates at and the relatively small processing needs, I think you'd want lots of small instances. To route messages, you need very little info, and messages don't need to be stored. I'd rather have 50 small replicas than 5 big instances for that workload.
For something like Lemmy, colo makes a ton of sense though.
It’s plenty reliable. AWS is just somebody else’s datacenter.
Colo is more feasible, but who is going to travel to the various parts of the world to swap drives or whatever?
Most Colo DCs offer ad hoc remote hands, but that’s beside the point. What do you mean here by “Various parts of the world”? In Signal’s case even Amazon didn’t need anyone in “various parts of the world” because the Signal infra on AWS was evidently in exactly one part of the world.
If there's an outage, you're talking hours to days to get another server up, vs minutes for rented hosting.
You mean like the hours it took for Signal to recover on AWS, meanwhile it would have been minutes if it was their own infrastructure?
the Signal infra on AWS was evidently in exactly one part of the world.
We don't necessarily know that. All I know is that AWS's load balancers had issues in one region. It could be that they use that region for a critical load balancer, but they have local instances in other parts of the world to reduce latency.
I'm not talking about how Signal is currently set up (maybe it is that fragile), I'm talking about how it could be set up. If their issue is merely w/ the load balancer, they could have a bit of redundancy in the load balancer w/o making their config that much more complex.
You mean like the hours it took for Signal to recover on AWS, meanwhile it would have been minutes if it was their own infrastructure?
No, I mean if they had a proper distributed network of servers across the globe and were able to reroute traffic to other regions when one has issues, there could be minimal disruption to the service overall, with mostly local latency spikes for the impacted region.
My company uses AWS, and we had a disaster recovery mechanism almost trigger that would move our workload to a different region. The only reason we didn't trigger it is because we only need the app to be responsive during specific work hours, and AWS recovered by the time we needed our production services available. A normal disaster recovery takes well under an hour.
With a self-hosted datacenter/server room, if there's a disruption, there is usually no backup, so you're out until the outage is resolved. I don't know if Signal has disaster recovery or if they used it, I didn't follow their end of things very closely, but it's not difficult to do when you're using cloud services, whereas it is difficult to do when you're self-hosting. Colo is a bit easier since you can have hot spares in different regions/overbuild your infra so any node can go down.
It was a DNS issue with DynamoDB, the load balancer issue was a knock-on effect after the DNS issue was resolved. But the problem is it was a ~15 hour outage, and a big reason behind that was the fact that the load in that region is massive. Signal could very well have had their infrastructure in more than one availability zone but since the outage affected the entire region they are screwed.
You’re right that this can be somewhat mitigated by having infrastructure in multiple regions, but if they don’t, the reason is cost. Multi-region redundancy costs an arm and a leg. You can accomplish that same redundancy via Colo DCs for a fraction of the cost, and when you do fix the root issue, you won’t then have your load balancers fail on you because in addition to your own systems you have half the internet all trying to pass its backlog of traffic at once.
Multi-region redundancy costs an arm and a leg
Yes, if you buy an off the shelf solution, it'll be expensive.
I'm suggesting treating VPS instances like you would a colo setup. Let cloud providers manage the hardware, and keep the load balancing in house. For Signal, this can be as simple as client-side latency/load checks. You can still colo in locations with heavier load; that's how some Linux distros handle repo mirrors, and it works well. Signal's data needs should be so low that simple DB replicas should be sufficient.
It is, compared to AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Here's 2024 revenue to give an idea of scale:
- Akamai - $4B, Linode itself is ~$100M
- AWS - $107B
- Azure - ~$75B
- Google Cloud - ~$43B
The smallest on this this list has 10x the revenue of Akamai.
Here are a few other providers for reference:
- Hetzner (what I use) - €367M
- Digital Ocean - $692.9M
- Vultr (my old host) - not public, but estimates are ~$37M
I'm arguing they could put together a solution with these smaller providers. That takes more work, but you're rewarded with more resilience and probably lower hosting costs. Once you have two providers in your infra, it's easier to add another. Maybe start with using them for disaster recovery, then slowly diversify the hosting portfolio.
This is the actual realistic change a lot of people are missing. Multi cloud is hard and imperfect and brings its own new potential issues. But AWS does give you tools to adopt multi region. It's just very expensive.
Unfortunately DNS transcends regions though so that can't really be escaped.
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Not sure if you are have read the AWS incident but the DNS records for the DynamoDB endpoint got ONLY accidentally removed in us-east-1 and not on the entire world.
All other regions worked perfectly fine.
us-east-1 went down. Problem is that IAM services all run through that DC. Any code relying on an IAM role would not be able to authenticate. Think of it as a username in a Windows domain. IAM encompasses all that you are allowed to view, change, launch, etc.
I didn't hardly touch AWS at my last job, but listening to my teammates and seeing their code led me to believe IAM is used everywhere.
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Nothing to do with moving data. But you can't move data without authentication.
I want my service to do a $thing. It won't do $thing without knowing who I am and what permissions I have. The data doesn't have to cross borders, the service simply needs to function.
Does that make sense? As I said, didn't do much in AWS, but the principles are sound.
So much talking out of ass in these comments.
Federation/decentralization is great. It's why we're here on Lemmy.
It also means you expect everyone involved, people you've never met or vetted, to be competent and be able to shell out the cash and time to commit to a certain level of uptime. That's unacceptable for a high SLA product like Signal. Hell midwest.social, the Lemmy instance I'm on, is very often quite slow. I and others put up with it because we know it's run by one person on one server that he's presumably paying for himself. But that doesn't reflect Lemmy as a whole.
AWS isn't just a bunch of servers. They have dedicated services for database clusters, cache store, data warehouse, load balancing, container clusters, kubernetes clusters, CDN, web access firewall, to name just a few. Every region has multiple datacenters, the largest by far of which is North Virginia's. By default most people use one DC but multi region while being a huge expensive lift is something they already have tools to assist with. Also, and maybe most importantly, AWS, Azure and GCP run their own backbones between the datacenters rather than rely on the shared one that you, me, and most other smaller DCs are using.
I'm a DevOps Engineer but I'm no big tech fan. I run my own hobby server too. Amazon is an evil company. But the claim that "multi cloud is easy, smaller CSPs are just as good" is naive at best.
Ideally some legislation comes in and forces these companies to simplify the process for adopting multi cloud, because right now you have to build it all yourself and it becomes still very imperfect when you start to factor things like databases and DNS, and this is what they rely on hard for vendor lock-in.
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DevOps here too, I've been starting to slide my smaller redundant services into k8s. I had to really defend my position not to use ECS.
No, we're using kubeadm because I don't want to give a damn if it's running in the office, or google or amazon or my house. It's WAY harder and more expensive than setting up an eks and a EC/Aurora cluster, but I can bypass vendor lock in. Setting up my own clusters and replicas is a never ending source of work.
3-5 companies in a sector is an oligopoly, which acts nearly the same as a monopoly. This is not "actual competition".
All of these companies cornered their own markets, and now they own the backbone of the internet.
If we broke up all of them and required open standards and interoperability then other companies could innovate.
SimpleX literally solves the messaging problem. You can bounce through their default relay nodes or run your own to use exclusively or add to the mix. It's all very transparent to end users.
At most, aws outage would have only affected chats relayed on those aws servers.
SimpleX also doesn't require a fukkin phone number.
Just read through the bluesky thread and it's obvious that she's a CEO and has no idea how to code or design infrastructure
It's leasing access to a whole sprawling, capital-intensive, technically-capable system that must be just as available in Cairo as in Capetown, just as functional in Bangkok as Berlin.
Yeah then why was Signal completely down when a single datacenter (us-east-1) fails and all others are working perfectly?
Did it ever come to your brilliant mind that your system design might be the problem?
Jump over your shadow, say that you screwed up and tell the people that you are no longer going to rely on a single S3 bucket in us-east-1 and stop your fingerpointing.
But you don't even manage to host a proper working status page or technically explain your outages, so guess this train is long gone...
There was a big exodus to signal for a while a couple years ago when meta were fucking with their whatsapp privacy policy, similar to the exodus from reddit to lemmy.
Having your infrastructure on a cloud provider allows you to keep your costs in line with your current amount of users, if you have a big influx you can immediately scale up to accommodate them, and then when that spike in users dies off as they invariably do you can scale back down instead of being left with a load of hardware you've just bought for your new users (that have since fucked off) and now aren't using
using your own fucking servers
And/or peer to peer mesh. Personally, I WANT a system that has peak performance AND multiple fallbacks to prevent blackout single point of failure situations.
Spotify ipa
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Sounds like fun beer though
GitHub - mostafaalagamy/Metrolist: YouTube Music client for Android
YouTube Music client for Android. Contribute to mostafaalagamy/Metrolist development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
Poor guy asked for an .ipa file he can use with SideStore and still got linked to an .apk
Here, you’ll need to build it yourself or find an .ipa floating around:
github.com/whoeevee/EeveeSpoti…
If you trust me, a random stranger on the internet, I can send you the .ipa I have. But you’d be better off building it yourself.
GitHub - whoeevee/EeveeSpotifyReborn: A tweak to enhance Spotify experience
A tweak to enhance Spotify experience. Contribute to whoeevee/EeveeSpotifyReborn development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
Yes. I’ve used this site before but I can’t guarantee how safe it is:
armconverter.com/decryptedapps…
Decrypted iOS App Store & ARM Converter
Download decrypted iOS apps and convert ARM instructions. Access the largest collection of decrypted iOS IPAs with instant downloads for latest and old IPA versions.armconverter.com
Hurricane Melissa’s strength grew out of warmer-than-usual Caribbean waters
Hot sea surface temperatures are a symptom of the planet’s warming atmosphere, which is increasingly trapping heat as humans emit greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels.
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Step by Step, How China Seized Control of Critical Minerals
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/51884794
archive.is/sT456
China is the sole producer, for example, of samarium, a rare earth metal used in many military applications. China is also the only country to master the difficult art of refining ultrapure dysprosium: The entire world’s supply, needed for superfast chips, comes from a single factory near Shanghai.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/business/china-rare-earth-export-controls.html
Seized? That's a joke.
West allowed and even encouraged this by failing to build their own industry and relying on China's cheaper labour. Why pay unioned workers a fair pay when you can exploit foreign work force instead for maximum shareholder value.
See national security is irrelevant when it comes at a cost of corporate overlords profit margins.
Trump hosting talks at Mar-a-Lago to integrate Canada into United States: report
Trump hosting talks at Mar-a-Lago to integrate Canada into United States: report
Businessman and "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary confirmed that President-elect Donald Trump is hosting discussions at Mar-a-Lago about integrating Canada into the United States.David Edwards (Raw Story)
How Politics Is Changing the Way History Is Taught
‘Change course now’: humanity has missed 1.5C climate target, says UN head
‘Change course now’: humanity has missed 1.5C climate target, says UN head
Exclusive: ‘Devastating consequences’ now inevitable but emissions cuts still vital, says António Guterres in sole interview before Cop30Wajã Xipai (The Guardian)
Roger Pielke Jr.’s Appallingly Bad Analysis of Billion Dollar Disasters
Roger Pielke Jr.’s Appallingly Bad Analysis of Billion Dollar Disasters – Economics from the Top Down
In a recent paper called Scientific integrity and U.S. “Billion Dollar Disasters”, Roger Pielke Jr. published a chart that's so bad I've devoted a whole essay to debunking it.Blair Fix (Economics from the Top Down)
2 Illinois National Guard members speak out: "I won't turn against my neighbors"
Two Illinois National Guard members told CBS News they would refuse to obey federal orders to deploy in Chicago as part of President Trump's controversial immigration enforcement mission — a rare act of open defiance from within the military ranks.
"It's disheartening to be forced to go against your community members and your neighbors," said Staff Sgt. Demi Palecek, a Latina guardswoman and state legislative candidate from Illinois's 13th District. "It feels illegal. This is not what we signed up to do."
2 Illinois National Guard members speak out: "I won't turn against my neighbors"
Staff Sgt. Demi Palecek and Capt. Dylan Blaha say they'll defy federal orders regarding Trump's immigration enforcement operation in Chicago.Nicole Sganga (CBS News)
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AMD, Department of Energy announce $1 billion AI supercomputer partnership
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/51881196
New supercomputer clusters are headed to Tennessee.
AMD, Department of Energy announce $1 billion AI supercomputer partnership
New supercomputer clusters are headed to Tennessee.
AMD, Department of Energy announce $1 billion AI supercomputer partnership
AMD, HP, and Oracle are partnering with the DoE on two new supercomputers, Lux and Discovery that will be used for research and AI development.Stevie Bonifield (The Verge)
Why Is the NYT Editorial Board More Worried About Progressivism Than Fascism? | Common Dreams
cross-posted from: sopuli.xyz/post/35849167
An estimated 7 million peaceful protesters took to the streets on October 18, in the second-largest demonstration in US history (after the first Earth Day in 1970), demanding accountability and a return to democracy and the rule of law. In a system of government where citizens can only use the ballot box every two to six years to show how they feel about their electeds, that’s something you’d think would warrant journalistic attention.Yet at the nation’s paper of record—whose headquarters sat literally a stone’s throw away from the New York City No Kings march route—the protest was deemed not important enough for a front-page story. Two small below-the-fold photos were offered instead (10/19/25), with the accompanying article buried on page 23.
Why Is the NYT Editorial Board More Worried About Progressivism Than Fascism? | Common Dreams
Why Is the NYT Editorial Board More Worried About Progressivism Than Fascism?
The nation's paper of record downplayed the 'No Kings" protests while urging Democrats to move toward the center to defeat Trump, all the while ignoring the GOP's attempt to undermine election integrity.julie-hollar (Common Dreams)
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Why Is the NYT Editorial Board More Worried About Progressivism Than Fascism? | Common Dreams
Why Is the NYT Editorial Board More Worried About Progressivism Than Fascism?
The nation's paper of record downplayed the 'No Kings" protests while urging Democrats to move toward the center to defeat Trump, all the while ignoring the GOP's attempt to undermine election integrity.julie-hollar (Common Dreams)
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Blanca 3, anticipazioni ultima puntata di lunedì 3 novembre 2025: tutta la verità sul bambino scomparso e sulle bugie di Domenico
La resa dei conti è arrivata. Lunedì 3 novembre 2025, su Rai 1, va in onda la sesta ed ultima puntata di Blanca 3, con Maria Chiara Giannetta nei panni dell’investigatrice non vedente che ha conquistato il pubblico. L’episodio, dal titolo “Il bambino”, porta al culmine l’indagine iniziata in apertura di stagione: la scomparsa del figlio di Domenico (Domenico Diele) e la morte della madre del piccolo. Sul piano personale, Blanca dovrà guardare in faccia la verità sulle bugie di Domenico e decidere se coinvolgerlo nella sua gravidanza, mentre Liguori (Giuseppe Zeno) le resta accanto in un momento cruciale.
LEGGI LE ANTICIPAZIONI: Blanca 3, anticipazioni ultima puntata di lunedì 3 novembre 2025: tutta la verità sul bambino scomparso e sulle bugie di Domenico
Blanca 3, finale del 3 novembre 2025: anticipazioni dell’ultima puntata “Il bambino”
Blanca 3, ultima puntata il 3 novembre 2025: anticipazioni dell’episodio “Il bambino”, verità sul caso e sulle bugie di Domenico.Redazione (Atom Heart Magazine)
Music Sites
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Not a torrent site but Soulseek/Nictone+ is a very old school Limewire-style service that you can curate with friends lists and choosing what to share and not share.
Orpheus is dedicated to music, and one other one which I forget the name of. It's kind of interesting how music trackers were what made torrenting explore originally but not music trackers are often an afterthought.
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Soulseek is very easy to use. Been using it for over a year now. Not sure how it's not more popular as I've been able to find lossless versions of just about everything. Highly recommend.
My experience with Lidarr (tried it after they fixed their DB problem) has been pretty poor, and doesn't seem to download music into album folders for some reason.
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I'm gonna second Soulseek. It is pretty old, but so many of the people who use it are collectors who organize their collections well, and I've found some pretty obscure stuff on there as well.
I haven't tried it myself, but I want to try Soularr, which apparently lets Lidarr use Soulseek as a source.
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I'm unsure if OPS is open to recruitment as of now, though.
Hope you find what you are looking for:)
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as everyone else has said soulseek and nicotine+.
If you want to get your spotify playlists from soulseek use this script: github.com/fiso64/slsk-batchdl
basically you export your spotify playlists as a csv and slsk-batchdl will take that and try to find everything on soulseek and download it for you. anything it can't find it'll let you know. it might take awhile, if you have a server I'd run it on that via screen and just let it run overnight (that's what I did)
Keep in mind that Soulseek has A LOT of audiophiles on it so you'll find a lot of high quality audio and FLACs. if FLAC is too big for you and you're fine with mp3s you c an use Nicotine+ to just search for mp3s.
GitHub - fiso64/slsk-batchdl: Advanced download tool for Soulseek.
Advanced download tool for Soulseek. Contribute to fiso64/slsk-batchdl development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
GitHub - nicotine-plus/nicotine-plus: Graphical client for the Soulseek peer-to-peer network
Graphical client for the Soulseek peer-to-peer network - nicotine-plus/nicotine-plusGitHub
honestly, i still pay for music, i just then download it.
tidal subscription and streaamrip into navidrome
Trump and Republicans Join Big Oil’s All-Out Push to Shut Down Climate Liability Efforts
Trump and Republicans Join Big Oil’s All-Out Push to Shut Down Climate Liability Efforts - Inside Climate News
Republican attorneys general, GOP lawmakers, industry groups and the president himself are all maneuvering to foreclose the ability of cities and states to hold the fossil fuel industry liable for damages linked to climate change.Inside Climate News
Liability is inevitable, so when they seemingly try to "shut it down," remember that the real goal is not only to delay it, but secretly also to shift it.
They offer people money to shield them from accountability, but later, when there is accountability, they will blackmail those same people and throw them under the bus.
If someone lets the authorities bribe them to sell out the safety of future generations, there's nothing they can say to defend themselves when the authorities later say "oh look, we found the guy that sold out the safety of future generations, what shall the punishment be?"
Be ready to help low-ranking criminals betray higher-ranking criminals, not just blindly attack whatever target is put in front of you.
You have one week to opt out or become fodder for LinkedIn AI training
Nations previously exempt from scraping now in the firing line
You have one week to opt out or become fodder for LinkedIn AI training
: Nations previously exempt from scraping now in the firing lineBrandon Vigliarolo (The Register)
When Rejection Feels Personal
I’ve always believed that if you put your heart into something — really try — eventually, it will be seen.
But lately, I’m not so sure.
For months, I’ve been trying to get my websites approved for AdSense. Three sites, three different focuses, one consistent effort: to share my work, my voice, my perspective. And every time, I get rejected. Every time, the same message: “Low-quality content.”
No explanation. No guidance. No human response. Just those cold words, repeated, over and over.
It’s not the money that stings. It’s the feeling of being invisible. Of having your effort, your care, your heart poured into something — only to be told, vaguely, that it doesn’t matter.
And sometimes, you can’t help but wonder if it’s about more than the content. If there’s something about who you are, or what your name sounds like, or the perspective you bring — and yes, my name is Hispanic — that quietly works against you.
I want to believe it’s not true. I want to believe that a system that powers the world’s largest advertising platform treats everyone fairly. But when silence replaces answers, and automation replaces understanding, it’s hard not to feel like something deeper is at play.
I wrote to Google. I asked for clarity, for feedback, for a human to look at my work. I explained how it felt to be repeatedly dismissed without explanation.
No response.
It’s not just a rejection. It’s a dismissal. And when your name or your identity might be part of the invisible reason, it cuts deeper than any automated message could.
And yet, despite all that, I keep going.
I write because I have to. I create because I have to. Not for validation, not for approval, but because this is who I am. My work — my words, my ideas, my perspectives — matter to me. And I hope they matter to others too.
Maybe one day Google will see that. Maybe one day a human reviewer will look at my sites and recognize the care, the effort, and the heart behind them.
But until then, I’ll keep sharing, keep writing, keep creating. Because no rejection, no algorithm, no automated judgment can erase what I put into the world.
And even if it sometimes feels like the system is blind, or worse — biased — I refuse to let that stop me.
Because heart and honesty can’t be rejected. They can only be ignored. And I refuse to be silent.
Also on:
Bridgy Fed
Bridgy Fed is a bridge between decentralized social networks like the fediverse, Bluesky, and web sites and blogs.fed.brid.gy
Alien Anthropology: Doing without Agriculture
Cross posted from: lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/3364037…
Alien Anthropology: Doing without Agriculture
Those familiar with Biblaridion's Alien Biospheres worldbuilding series will be glad to hear that it's new sequel (sister?) series has just had it's first release 'Doing without Agriculture,' exploring a few of the ways that a fictional alien species, the development of which was covered in the last series, could develop their societies in the abscence of agrarian technology.
Alien Anthropology: Doing without Agriculture
A six-month pilot project completed earlier this year showcased the potential of zero-emission, last-mile delivery in a 16-block area of downtown Portland, Oregon.
Portland brings zero-emission delivery to its downtown
A six-month pilot project completed earlier this year showcased the potential of zero-emission, last-mile delivery in a 16-block area of downtown Portland, Oregon.Justin Gerdes (Quitting Carbon)
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You’re Being Lied to About Graham Platner
You’re Being Lied to About Graham Platner
We read Graham Platner’s whole Reddit archive. The vilification of the Maine candidate for Senate doesn’t square with what he actually wrote in his posts.jacobin.com
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Fornitore italiano di spyware collegato agli attacchi zero-day su Chrome
Una vulnerabilità zero-day in Google Chrome, sfruttata nell'operazione ForumTroll all'inizio di quest'anno, ha diffuso malware collegato al fornitore italiano di spyware Memento Labs, nato dopo che IntheCyber Group ha acquisito la famigerata Hacking Team.
L'operazione ForumTroll è stata scoperta da Kaspersky a marzo. La campagna ha preso di mira organizzazioni russe - media, università, centri di ricerca, organizzazioni governative e istituzioni finanziarie - con inviti ben congegnati al forum Primakov Readings che contenevano un link dannoso.
Era sufficiente caricare il link in qualsiasi browser web basato su Chromium per infettare il sistema informatico. I ricercatori di Kaspersky hanno affermato che la distribuzione del malware è stata effettuata sfruttando CVE-2025-2783, una vulnerabilità zero-day di tipo sandbox escape nel browser Chrome.
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Academic boycotts against Israel have tripled in one-year span: Report
The Association of University Heads in Israel has recorded over 1,000 incidents of academic boycotts over the last two years, three times the total as of a year ago.
Israel's Haaretz daily reported on Monday that the incidents included Israeli researchers who encountered refusals to cooperate with them or invite them to conferences, refusals by overseas researchers to come to the occupied territories, the cessation of student exchange programs, refusals to conduct peer reviews, and delays in the publication of articles.
The report came at a time when a growing number of universities, academic institutions, and scholarly bodies across the world are cutting links with Israeli academia due to the regime’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
It quoted senior Israeli academics as saying that their universities are looking into forging alternative ties with institutions in Eastern Europe and Asia if Israeli-led research is pushed out of Western Europe.
It also echoed fears that Israeli researchers may be forced to leave the occupied lands to avoid harm to their work.
"Research in Israel … is in danger of collapsing," one academic warned.
Professor Ariel Porat, president of Tel Aviv University, said, "We're in the worst situation, from the standpoint of the academic boycott, that we have been in at any time over the last two years.”
Meanwhile, Milette Shamir, Tel Aviv University's deputy president for international affairs, said there was a rise in the number of academic boycotts against Israel even during Gaza ceasefire negotiations, and even after the genocide ended.
"In the United States, there are a lot of faculty members who still refuse to maintain working relations with Israeli researchers,” she added.
"And in Europe, the situation is even worse. There, the boycott is expanding fast. The main victims are younger researchers. This is long-term damage."
The report said that the hidden boycott of Israel is much broader than overt statements or actions against Israeli academics.
It further said Israeli academics criticize the Tel Aviv regime for doing nothing about the academic boycott.
"We've heard from cabinet representatives that they deliberately won't help us, because we're leftists,” an academic said.
Israel unleashed its brutal Gaza onslaught on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out the historic Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the usurping entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Israel accepted a Gaza ceasefire deal after it failed to achieve its declared objectives of eliminating Hamas and freeing all captives, despite killing 68,527 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 170,395 others, according to the health ministry of Gaza.
Over the past two years, nearly 40 overseas universities have announced that they are ending cooperation with Israeli institutions either completely or partially.
Stephanie Adam of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel said Israeli academic institutions are complicit in the regime’s “decades-long regime of military occupation, settler colonial apartheid and now genocide,” adding there is “a moral and legal obligation for universities to end ties with complicit Israeli universities”.
Academic boycotts against Israel have tripled in one-year span: Report
The Association of University Heads in Israel has reportedly recorded over 1,000 incidents of academic boycotts over the last two years, three times the total as of a year ago.PressTV
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How “Neutrality” And “Free Speech” Become Excuses For Driving Out The People You Claim To Value
Mike Brock’s piece on Sequoia Capital last week laid out a pretty damning case study: a well-respected COO complains about a partner’s Islamophobic posts, senior leadership invokes “institutional neutrality” and declines to act, she resigns, he stays because he made them billions on SpaceX. Brock correctly calls this out as a choice, not neutrality—a calculation about whose value to the firm matters more.The thing that struck me about Brock’s piece is that it highlights how there’s a broader pattern here: institutional cowardice from organizations that spout high-minded ideals as a shield to explain their refusal to make a clear decision, while ignoring that doing so is a very real choice with very real consequences.
That’s worth highlighting, because we keep seeing it play out in nearly identical ways. Whether it’s a venture capital firm or a social media platform, the playbook is the same: invoke “neutrality” or “free speech” as a shield, refuse to take a clear stance on bigoted behavior, and then act shocked when the people being targeted decide they don’t want to stick around.
This is the Nazi bar problem, and it keeps happening because people in positions of power either don’t understand it or don’t want to.
We head off into an excursion about paid blogging platforms ...
Sequoia took the cowardly way out. It made a choice, but it wouldn’t own it, just like Substack refuses to own its pro-Nazi position. It pretends it doesn’t by saying “we’re staying neutral.” But their version of “staying neutral” and “supporting free speech” is really “bigotry and hatred are welcome” and then, what follows naturally is “the targets of bigotry and hatred must leave.”And it’s the exact same choice Substack made. When [CEO Chris] Best refused to answer Nilay’s questions, he was saying: we value the revenue from writers who publish bigoted content more than we value the writers and readers who don’t want to be associated with that content.
Just as Balbale felt the need to leave Sequoia, a ton of Substack’s top writers left that platform. Joe Posnanski, Casey Newton, Marisa Kabas, Ryan Broderick, Molly White, Ken White, Audrey Watters, Mark DeLong, and many others have left Substack, with many of them pointing out that Substack’s stance on Nazis makes them feel unwelcome (for what it’s worth, many are also noting they make more money on other platforms).
Hmm. More money, fewer Nazis seems a decent tradeoff.
How “Neutrality” And “Free Speech” Become Excuses For Driving Out The People You Claim To Value
Mike Brock’s piece on Sequoia Capital last week laid out a pretty damning case study: a well-respected COO complains about a partner’s Islamophobic posts, senior leadership invokes R…Techdirt
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RRF Cronache Africane 27 10 25 Africa_tra_Guerra,_Colpi_di_Stato_e_Generazione_Z
Millions Turn Out for October 18 ‘No Kings’ Protests Across U.S.
[features eyewitness reports from various cities by participants]
from World-Outlook
Oct. 20, 2025
More than 7 million people turned out for the No Kings protests in about 2,700 cities and towns in all 50 U.S. states on October 18, 2025. These numbers are based on reports from the organizers and media across the country.The main sponsors included the liberal group Indivisible, the American Civil Liberties Union, and hundreds of other national and local organizations.
Some of the largest actions took place in Chicago (250,000), Washington, D.C. (200,000), New York City (where estimates ranged between 100,000 and more than 300,000), and Boston (125,000). Thousands marched in many cities in the South, including Dallas and Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; and Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina.
Millions Turn Out for October 18 ‘No Kings’ Protests Across U.S.
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/38146161
[features eyewitness reports from various cities by participants]from World-Outlook
Oct. 20, 2025
More than 7 million people turned out for the No Kings protests in about 2,700 cities and towns in all 50 U.S. states on October 18, 2025. These numbers are based on reports from the organizers and media across the country.The main sponsors included the liberal group Indivisible, the American Civil Liberties Union, and hundreds of other national and local organizations.
Some of the largest actions took place in Chicago (250,000), Washington, D.C. (200,000), New York City (where estimates ranged between 100,000 and more than 300,000), and Boston (125,000). Thousands marched in many cities in the South, including Dallas and Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; and Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina.
Millions Turn Out for October 18 ‘No Kings’ Protests Across U.S.
[features eyewitness reports from various cities by participants]from World-Outlook
Oct. 20, 2025More than 7 million people turned out for the No Kings protests in about 2,700 cities and towns in all 50 U.S. states on October 18, 2025. These numbers are based on reports from the organizers and media across the country.The main sponsors included the liberal group Indivisible, the American Civil Liberties Union, and hundreds of other national and local organizations.
Some of the largest actions took place in Chicago (250,000), Washington, D.C. (200,000), New York City (where estimates ranged between 100,000 and more than 300,000), and Boston (125,000). Thousands marched in many cities in the South, including Dallas and Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; and Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina.
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++ DOMENICA 16 NOVEMBRE BICICLETTATA! ++
🗓 Domenica 16 novembre
⏰ Ritrovo alle 15.30. Percorso in aggiornamento!
📌 Partenza da Piazza della Vittoria
🚲🛼🛹 Porta un mezzo di trasporto sostenibile
📣 Domenica 16 novembre ci troviamo alle 15.30 da Piazza della Vittoria per un corteo in bicicletta che attraverserà la città e le zone abbandonate per le quali, specie nelle ultime settimane, si parla di vari progetti. Il corteo sarà in bicicletta o simili mezzi: se non ne hai uno, scrivici per averne in prestito! Se non puoi spostarti in bici, nei prossimi giorni daremo informazioni su come raggiungerci nella parte finale del percorso. Zone e persone non possono essere abbandonate: mobilitiamoci e informiamoci sui progetti che interessano le principali aree dismesse di Pavia.
I numerosi progetti andranno a interessare infatti direttamente la vita della città, la sua mobilità e il costo della vita. Informarsi è il primo passo per capire come Pavia sta cambiando.
Nei prossimi giorni ci saranno più informazioni sulla mobilitazione. Tutte le informazioni sono sulle nostre pagine social e nel gruppo Comunicazioni. Trovi tutto nel link allegato. Aiutaci a diffondere l'evento!
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What Will the Trump-Era Crackdown on Drug Ads Accomplish?
Late last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is overseen by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., drew a line in the sand over direct-to-consumer advertising by pharmaceutical companies: In a post on X, the agency declared that drug ads “can push people to take drugs they don’t actually need. Americans often end up harmed instead of helped.”That’s why, the post continued, President Donald Trump and Kennedy “are taking action.”
Globe Cross SectionThe most immediate evidence of those efforts came the previous week, in the form of a presidential memorandum on what the administration views as “misleading” direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug ads. The same day, HHS and the Food and Drug Administration released a joint press release outlining that drug makers would now be required to substitute the abbreviated disclosures they’ve used since 1997 with full safety warnings, including conditions or situations that make taking the drug unsafe.
Despite the change in stance, however, it’s unclear if or when Americans will see fewer ads — or even ones that reflect the memo’s objectives. Legal challenges will almost certainly stymie the Trump administration’s most aggressive actions, and the history of pharmaceutical advertising in the United States is one of uneasy tension between consumer interest and corporate free speech.
The U.S. is one of just two wealthy countries where DTC ads for prescription drugs are legal. Estimates vary on how much money major drug companies spend on advertising. An upper bound estimate by The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, a coalition that promotes lower drug prices in the U.S., put the figure at nearly $14 billion, which includes the cost of promoting drugs to physicians.
Free speech. Unless, like, you're against genocide or something.
Lawyers are going to make bank off the years of protracted challenges, and nothing will change for consumers subsidizing heavy advertising spends.
What Will the Trump-Era Crackdown on Drug Ads Accomplish?
The federal government announced a new approach to regulating pharmaceutical ads. Consumers may not see a difference.Joshua Cohen (Undark Magazine)
The extraordinary rise of electric cars in developing countries | Zero: The Climate Race
Something remarkable is unfolding in developing countries. From Nepal to Costa Rica, more people are buying electric cars than fossil-fuel vehicles, as battery prices plummet and cheap home-grown EVs come to market. And in China, more electric cars will be sold in the last quarter of this year than the total number of all cars sold in the US. Colin McKerracher, head of transport at BNEF, joins Akshat Rathi on Zero to unpack these trends, and what they mean for global oil demand.
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
US detains British commentator Hamdi in middle of national speaking tour- will deport
U.S. immigration authorities detained British commentator Sami Hamdi, revoked his visa and said he would be deported rather than allowed to complete his speaking tour in the United States, a Homeland Security official said on Sunday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has Hamdi in custody, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin posted on social media site X. "Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country," she wrote.
Hamdi spoke at a gala for the Council on American Islamic Relations in Sacramento, California on Saturday and was scheduled to speak on Sunday at one of the group's events in Florida, the organization said in a statement.
CAIR said he was detained at San Francisco International Airport.
Conservative figures had been urging the Trump administration to expel Hamdi from the United States.
Hamdi has appeared as an analyst and commentator on British TV networks.
CAIR on Sunday called for his release and accused the Trump administration of detaining him over his criticism of the Israeli government.
Air traffic controllers to miss paycheck as shortages trigger flight delays, cancellations
Air traffic controllers will miss their biweekly paycheck, which would have gone out on Oct. 28, as the government shutdown continues.
It marks the first time during the shutdown — now in its 27th day — that controllers will go without a full paycheck.
Air traffic controllers are classified as essential employees, meaning they are required to report to work during a shutdown. However, officials say sick calls have noticeably increased in recent days.
Study Claims 4K/8K TVs Aren't Much Better Than HD To Your Eyes
Study Boldly Claims 4K And 8K TVs Aren't Much Better Than HD To Your Eyes, But Is It True?
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I can pretty confidently say that 4k is noticeable if you're sitting close to a big tv. I don't know that 8k would ever really be noticeable, unless the screen is strapped to your face, a la VR. For most cases, 1080p is fine, and there are other factors that start to matter way more than resolution after HD. Bit-rate, compression type, dynamic range, etc.
So, a 55-inch TV, which is pretty much the smallest 4k TV you could get when they were new, has benefits over 1080p at a distance of 7.5 feet... how far away do people watch their TVs from? Am I weird?
And at the size of computer monitors, for the distance they are from your face, they would always have full benefit on this chart. And even working into 8k a decent amount.
And that's only for people with typical vision, for people with above-average acuity, the benefits would start further away.
But yeah, for VR for sure, since having an 8k screen there would directly determine how far away a 4k flat screen can be properly re-created. If your headset is only 4k, a 4k flat screen in VR is only worth it when it takes up most of your field of view. That's how I have mine set up, but I would imagine most people would prefer it to be half the size or twice the distance away, or a combination.
So 8k screens in VR will be very relevant for augmented reality, since performance costs there are pretty low anyway. And still convey benefits if you are running actual VR games at half the physical panel resolution due to performance demand being too high otherwise. You get some relatively free upscaling then. Won't look as good as native 8k, but benefits a bit anyway.
There is also fixed and dynamic foveated rendering to think about, with an 8k screen, even running only 10% of it at that resolution and 20% at 4k, 30% at 1080p, and the remaining 40% at 540p, even with the overhead of so many foveation steps, you'll get a notable reduction in performance cost. Fixed foveated would likely need to lean higher towards bigger percentages of higher res, but has the performance advantage of not having to move around at all from frame to frame. Can benefit from more pre-planning and optimization.
I've got a LCD 55" TV and a 14" laptop. Ok the couch, the TV screen looks to me about as big as the laptop screen on my belly/lap, and I've got perfect vision; on the laptop I can clearly see the difference between 4k and FULL HD, on the TV, not so much.
I think TV screens aren't as good as PC ones, but also the TVs' image processors turn the 1080p files into better images than what computers do.
Hmm, I suppose quality of TV might matter. Not to mention actually going through the settings and making sure it isn't doing anything to process the signal. And also not streaming compressed crap to it. I do visit other peoples houses sometimes and definitely wouldn't know they were using a 4k screen to watch what they are watching.
But I am assuming actually displaying 4k content to be part of the testing parameters.
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8K would probably be really good for large computer monitors, due to viewing distances. It would be really taxing on the hardware if you were using it for gaming, but reasonable for tasks that aren't graphically intense.
Computer monitors (for productivity tasks) are a little different though in that you are looking at section of the screen rather than the screen as a whole as one might with video. So having extra screen real estate can be rather valuable.
Seriously, articles like this are just clickbait.
They also ignore all sorts of usecases.
Like for a desktop monitor, 4k is extremely noticeable vs even 1440P or 1080P/2k
Unless you're sitting very far away, the sharpness of text and therefore amount of readable information you can fit on the screen changes dramatically.
Complete bullshit articles. The same thing happened when 720p became 1080p. So many echos of “oh you won’t see the difference unless the screen is huge”… like no, you can see the difference on a tiny screen.
We’ll have these same bullshit arguments when 8k becomes the standard, and for every large upgrade from there.
I agree to a certain extent but there are diminishing returns, same with refreshrates. The leap from 1080 to 4k is big. I don't know how noticeable upgrading from 4k to 8k would be for the average TV setup.
For vr it would be awesome though
If you read RTINGS before buying a TV and setting it up in your room, you already knew this. Screen size and distance to TV are important for determining what resolution you actually need.
Most people sit way too far away from their 4K TV.
People that have their tiny displays on the opposite side of a room is so funny to me. It's a similar reaction I have to giant-guy tiny-car.
I remember one time I saw a maybe 27 inch computer monitor on the wall above a fireplace and it was just like.... I need to leave before I say something.
4K streams crush all of the dark colors and leave you with these nasty banding effects that I don’t see as often on lower resolution streams.
Reason #123798 why I watch archived copies of blu-rays (that were legally purchased completely legally) via Jellyfin/Plex.
The study used a 44 inch TV at 2.5m. The most commonly used calculator for minimum TV to distance says that at 2.5m the TV should be a least 60 inches.
My own informal tests at home with a 65 inch TV looking at 1080 versus 4K Remux of the same movie seems to go along with the distance calculator. At the appropriate distance or nearer I can see a difference if I am viewing critically (as opposed to casually). Beyond a certain distance the difference is not apparent.
Exactly. This title is just clickbait.
The actual study's title is "Resolution limit of the eye — how many pixels can we see?".
Can't believe I had to scroll down this far to find this:
Here’s the gut-punch for the typical living room, however. If you’re sitting the average 2.5 meters away from a 44-inch set, a simple Quad HD (QHD) display already packs more detail than your eye can possibly distinguish. The scientists made it crystal clear: once your setup hits that threshold, any further increase in pixel count, like moving from 4K to an 8K model of the same size and distance, hits the law of diminishing returns because your eye simply can't detect the added detail.
On a computer monitor, it's easily apparent because you're not sitting 2+ m away, and in a living room, 44" is tiny, by recent standards.
so there's an optimization problem in there somewhere
The optimization problem is actually the point of the study, encoded as PPD, which represents the density of a display's pixel per degree of your eye's field of vision. It says that any more than 53-94 PPD is imperceptible to most. You can see if your display makes the cutoff if you have the viewing distance and screen size here:
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The closest thing to "Smart TVs" in our home are Blu-Ray players, and they've never been network connected.
I like the ViewSonics we have, and we've had a series of NUCs over the years, but lately I'm finding that the N100/N150 fanless PCs like this are perfectly capable of HTPC duty: amazon.com/dp/B0CWV439YW
Kind of a tangent, but properly encoded 1080p video with a decent bitrate actually looks pretty damn good.
A big problem is that we've gotten so used to streaming services delivering visual slop, like YouTube's 1080p option which is basically just upscaled 720p and can even look as bad as 480p.
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I will die on this hill. And Youtube's 1080p is garbage on purpose so they get you to buy premium to unlock good 1080p. Assholes
A big problem is that we’ve gotten so used to streaming services delivering visual slop, like YouTube’s 1080p option which is basically just upscaled 720p and can even look as bad as 480p.
YouTube is locking the good bitrates behind the premium paywall and even as a premium users you don't get to select a high bitrate when the source video was low res.
That's why videos should be upscaled before upload to force YouTube into offering high bitrate options at all. A good upscaler produces better results than simply stretching low-res videos.
I think the premium thing is a channel option. Some channels consistently have it, some don't.
Regular YouTube 1080p is bad and feels like 720p. The encoding on videos with "Premium 1080p" is catastrophic. It's significantly worse than decently encoded 480p. Creators will put a lot of time and effort in their lighting and camera gear, then the compression artifacting makes the video feel like watching a porn bootleg on a shady site. I guess there must be a strong financial incentive to nuke their video quality this way.
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I didn’t get why HD tv was relevant at all. I really did not understand that for a couple years.
Then I got glasses.
I suspect 4k matters for screens of a certain size or if you sit really close, but most of us don’t so it doesn’t matter.
I can immediately tell when a game is running at 1080p on my 2K monitor (yeah, I'm not interested in 4K over higher refresh rate, so I'm picking the middle ground.)
Its blatantly obvious when everything suddenly looks muddy and washed together.
simply incorrect.
in some circumstances sure 1080p is sufficient, but if the tv is big, close, or both. then 4k is a definite and noticeable improvement.
4k looks sharper as long as the actual content is real 4k, even from afar.
Yeah tell that to my sister, who wants 4k for her laptop simply because she's heard 4k is better 4 times 1080p, she's buying a 13 inch.
Small numbers are just not sufficient for some people. I know if I send this article to her, I'll be questioned "why do you not want me to see happy?". So instead I just watch my nephews collage fund contribution shrink.
Sorry it became a rant of family tech guy.
well yes a microscopic 4k display is no different than a 1080p one to our eyes.
but theyre claiming it doesnt matter on TVs in the usual setting which is just untrue.
if you think about it
I tried that, and I'm not totally sure about the correctness of my numbers, but your numbers intuitively seem off to me:
a 50" 1080p TV is almost 10x the size [of a 7" screen]
How did you arrive at this? I'd argue a 50" screen is much more than 10 times the size of a 7" screen.
The inches are measured diagonally, and I see how 50" is somewhat "almost 10x" of 7", as 49" would be 7 times longer diagonally than a 7", and 7.something is " almost" 10.
But if we assume both screens have a 16:9 ratio, the 50" screen has a width of ≈110.69 cm and height of ≈62.26 cm, while the 7" is only ≈15.50 by ≈8.72 cm.
The area of the 7" is 135.08 cm² while for the 50" it's ≈6891.92 cm². The ratio between these two numbers is ≈51.02, which I believe means the 50" screen is more than 51x the physical size.
At least, that number seems more realistic to me. I'm looking at my 6.7" phone screen right now and comparing it to my 55" TV screen, and it seems very possible that the phone screen could fit more than 50 times inside the TV screen, not just "almost 10x".
If I totally misunderstood you, please explain what you mean.
My numbers for width and height were calculated using this display calculator site that someone else mentioned somewhere under this post, and I rounded the decimals after doing the calculations with all decimals included.
Haha no, you have not misunderstood at all! I was just driving a point and I did no calculations whatsoever, by that «50" is almost 10x 7"» I did mean that 50 is "almost" 70 and nothing else x) As your calculations show, it's actually a much bigger difference in area, but that stat seemed enough to make my point and easier to understand 😀
Thank you for actually thinking about it and taking the time to do the math \^^
Oh, I see. But yeah, it's a pretty big difference.
You're welcome. I like to think that I like thinking about things and stuff.
Yes, but wouldn't we be using % of your vision vs pixels in display? Steam deck being right in front of my face and tv 5 or 6 metres away etc.
Absolutely higher res does look sharper though, which is great for movies etc. I'm more coming from a performance vs visual fidelity ratio. What I'm trying to express is that given 800p still looks surprisingly good, I'm starting to question the industry pushing higher resolution displays for gaming applications.
Me getting 480p videos for my video projector : "Oh... no really?" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
PS: FWIW I do have a Vision Pro (for work, I didn't pay for it personally) so I technically could enjoy high res content... but honestly I can't bother using this to watch videos. I'm fine with just my desktop screen or video projector. I just don't get the high res.
Heh, I'm getting back to physical media, and this big 4K TV is literally the first time ever where I've actually constantly noticed that DVDs might get a bit pixely.
(And even so, I usually blame not so great digitisation. Some transfers of old obscure titles were really sloppy, you really didn't need a great TV to see the problems. Original was a black and white movie, the DVD was a bunch of grey mush.)
4k with shit streaming bitrate is barely better than high bitrate 1080p
But full bitrate 4k from a Blu-ray IS better.
But full bitrate 4k from a Blu-ray IS better.
Full Blu-Ray quality 1080p sources will look significantly better than Netflix 4K.
Hence why "4K" doesn't actually matter unless your panel is gigantic or you're sitting very close to it. Resolution is a very small part of our perceived notion of quality.
You know what would sell like hot cakes? A dumb TV with Dolby Vision support.
I went down the rabbit hole of finding a large HDR monitor and adapters to trick end devices to output player-led Dolby Vision to a HDR monitors, because I don't need my TV to have a complete OS with streaming services and adverts integrated.
In the end I couldn't find anything that didn't have drawbacks. It's something that could easily exist but there are no manufacturers bold enough to implement it.
Streaming tech moves so fast, I want to add it to my TV through hardware like a fire stick, not to become dependent on the TV manufacturer putting out updates until it's 'Out-of-support'.
I went with a TV and disabled as much of the junk as I could with a service remote and just never connected it to the internet, but jumping through these hoops seems so silly.
And on top of that, I've had to switch to a universal remote, because the one that comes with the TV activates a cursor on screen when it senses movement which is a "feature" you can't switch off.
I just want a remote with on/off, input, and volume control 😭
I think high end smasnugs do that.
But yeah same, I have a Chromecast and I just sling stuff to the TV. Its tuner hasn't been used in a decade.
Speaking of decade.... I should probably upgrade that thing. But it's big enough, dark enough (LDC, but at least not a crappy LCD), and high enough resolution for it's size and distance from my couch (1080, 50 inches, 10 or 15 feet) that I just can't justify replacing it. I wish it would die already lol.
Maybe if I move and get a big enough bedroom, I'll put it in there, and upgrade to something with HDR. I really wanna get in on some good HDR. Seems like it's getting really good and really affordable if you buy the right thing.
The colours on OLED are impressive on Dolby Vision content from my Google Streamer, I'll admit, but yea, I'm basically using my TV to display content from external hardware, the tuner, WiFi, Bluetooth etc will all be dormant it's entire life.
I don't know if this will age like my previous belief that PS1 had photo-realistic graphics, but I feel like 4k is the peak for TVs. I recently bought a 65" 4k TV and not only is it the clearest image I've ever seen, but it takes up a good chunk of my livingroom. Any larger would just look ridiculous.
Unless the average person starts using abandoned cathedrals as their livingrooms, I don't see how larger TVs with even higher definition would even be practical. Especially if you consider we already have 8k for those who do use cathedral entertainment systems.
(Most) TVs still have a long way to go with color space and brightness. AKA HDR. Not to speak of more sane color/calibration standards to make the picture more consistent, and higher 'standard' framerates than 24FPS.
But yeah, 8K... I dunno about that. Seems like a massive waste. And I am a pixel peeper.
I respectfully disagree. Folk's eyes are 'used' to 24P, but native 48 or 60 looks infinitely better, especially when stuff is filmed/produced with that in mind.
But at a bare minimum, baseline TVs should at least eliminate jitter with 24P content by default, and offer better motion clarity by moving on from LCDs, using black frame insertion or whatever.
Are you sure about that? You likely use DPI scaling at 4K, and you’re likely limited by physical screen size unless you already use a 50” TV (which is equivalent to 4x standard 25” 1080p monitors).
8K would only help at like 65”+, which is kinda crazy for a monitor on a desk… Awesome if you can swing it, but most can’t.
I tangentially agree though. PCs can use “extra” resolution for various things like upscaling, better text rendering and such rather easily.
I’ve used 5K some.
IMO the only ostensible benefit is for computer type stuff. It gives them more headroom to upscale content well, to avoid anti aliasing or blurry, scaled UI rendering, stuff like that. 4:1 rendering (to save power) would be quite viable too.
Another example would be editing workflows, for 1:1 pixel mapping of content while leaving plenty of room for the UI.
But for native content? Like movies?
Pointless, unless you are ridiculously close to a huge display, even if your vision is 20/20. And it’s too expensive to be worth it: I’d rather that money go into other technical aspects, easily.
It's all about the baseline.
Cinematic, Blu Ray bitrate 1080p vs 4K is not too dramatic.
Compressed streams though? Or worse production quality? 4K raises the baseline dramatically. It's much harder to stream bad-looking 4K than it is 1080p, especially since '4K' usually implies certain codecs/standards.
Study Boldly Claims 4K And 8K TVs Aren't Much Better Than HD To Your Eyes, But Is It True?
The rare exception to Betteridge's Law.
But yeah, this matches my experience. I can tell the difference between 1080 and 4k from my couch if I work at it, but not enough to impact my enjoyment of what I'm watching, and definitely not as much as the difference HDR makes.
Even at computer monitor distance, running a 4k monitor at 1440 with high pixel density is probably going to be a better experience than wrenching every single pixel you can get out of it. Framerate is better than resolution for gaming, for the most part.
So I have a pet theory on studies like that. There are many things out there that many of us take for granted and as givens in our daily lives. But there are likely equally as many people out there to which this knowledge is either unknown or not actually apparent. Reasoning for that can be a myriad of things; like due to a lack of experience in the given area, skepticism that their anecdotal evidence is truly correct despite appearances, and on and on.
What these "obvious thing is obvious" studies accomplish is setting a factual precedent for the people in the back. The people who are uninformed, not experienced enough, skeptical, contrarian, etc.
The studies seem wasteful upfront, but sometimes a thing needs to be said aloud to galvanize the factual evidence and give basis to the overwhelming anecdotal evidence.
The other important detail to note is that screen size and distance to your TV also matters. The larger the TV, the more a higher resolution will offer a perceived benefit. Stretching a 1080p image across a 75-inch display, for example, won't look as sharp as a 4K image on that size TV. As the age old saying goes, "it depends."
literally in the article you are claiming to be correct, maybe should try reading sometime.
Yes, but you got yourself real pissy over it and have just now admitted that the one piece of criticism you had in your original comment was already addressed in the article. Obviously if we start talking about situations that are extreme outliers there will be edge cases but you’re not adding anything to the conversation by acting like you’ve found some failure that, in reality, the article already addressed.
I’m not sure you have the reading the comprehension and/or the intention to have any kind of real conversation to continue this discussion further.
I like how you’re calling bullshit on a study because you ~feel~ like you know better.
Read the report, and go check the study. They note that the biggest gains in human visibility for displays comes from contrast (largest reason), brightness, and color accuracy. All of which has drastically increased over the last 15 years. Look at a really good high end 1080p monitor and a low end 4k monitor and you will actively choose the 1080p monitor. It’s more pleasing to the eye, and you don’t notice the difference in pixel size at that scale.
Sure distance plays some level of scale, but they also noted that by performing the test at the same distance with the same size. They’re controlling for a variable you aren’t even controlling for in your own comment.
This is highly dependent on screen size and viewing distance.
On a computer screen or a phone screen? No, it's not really noticeable. Hell, on some phone screen sizes/distances, you might not even be able to tell 720p vs 1080p.
On a 120"+ projector screen? Yes, it is definitely noticeable.
I have a small home theater and picked up a refurbished 4K LED projector (Epson 3200) coming from an old 1080DLP (Viewsonic 8200) - massive difference!
This is literally the only truly important part after a certain threshold. I have a 34”, 1440p monitor and the text is noticeably better than any 1080p screen. It’s entirely legible and 4K would not provide a new benefit except maybe a lighter wallet. It’s also 100Mhz which is again beyond the important threshold.
The only time I can see 4K being essentially necessary is for projectors because those screens end up being massive. My friend has a huge 7’ something screen in the basement so we noticed a difference but that’s such an outlier it should really be a footnote, not a reason to choose 4K for anything under 5’(arbitrary-ish number).
If my quick calculations are correct, the 70 inches screen at 1080p has a pixel size of about 0.7 mm give or take, where 4k would be about 0.1-0.2.
0.1mm is a smallest size of a thing a human could potentially see under very strict conditions. A pixel smaller than a millimeter will be invisible from a meter away. I really, really doubt its humanly possible to see the difference from the distances a person would be watching tv.
The thing is, the newer 4k tvs are just built better, nicer colour contrast, more uniformed lighting, clearer glass, and that might be the effect you're seeing
Uh... Hol up. So if we can maybe see down to 0.2 mm and the 1080p screen has 0.7 mm pixels... That's pretty much what I'm saying. 1080p is noticeably grainy.
The text in 4k looks crisper. I concur I can't count individual pixels, but reading game menus in 1080p feels rougher and makes me squint. Reading in 4k feels more like reading on print paper or a good e-eeader.
This and yes, the build quality of newer screens also contributes.
Basically you are in a study which calculated for you what people ought to be able to see and you insisted on redoing the calculation yourself incorrectly. The study says people factually can distinguish up to 94 pixels per degree. a 70" screen at a meter away is 24 PPD. You yourself could have easily eye balled 2 screens and come to the correct conclusion but are instead asserting nonsense.
Did you notice that FHD tvs larger than 40" literally don't exist in stores? If people literally couldn't see more than 24 PPD than at the more typical 10 feet viewing distance a 70" screen at 640x480 would be just as good as a 70" 1080p was at a meter away! For a 50" you could go down to 320x480! Still 24PPD
Old people with bad eyesight watching their 50" 12 feet away in their big ass living room vs young people with good eyesight 5 feet away from their 65-70" playing a game might have inherently differing opinions.
12' 50" FHD = 112 PPD
5' 70" FHD = 36 PPD
The study basically says that FHD is about as good as you can get 10 feet away on a 50" screen all other things being equal. That doesn't seem that unreasonable
They don't need to this study does it for them. 94 pixels per degree is the top end of perceptible. On a 50" screen 10 feet away 1080p = 93. Closer than 10 feet or larger than 50 or some combination of both and its better to have a higher resolution.
For millennials home ownership has crashed but TVs are cheaper and cheaper. For the half of motherfuckers rocking their 70" tv that cost $600 in their shitty apartment where they sit 8 feet from the TV its pretty obvious 4K is better at 109 v 54
Also although the article points out that there are other features that matter as much as resolution these aren't uncorrelated factors. 1080p TVs of any size in 2025 are normally bargain basement garbage that suck on all fronts.
"4k" is supposed to be a term for cinema widescreen resolution, but got taken over because it's short and marketable because "4k is 4x as many pixels as 1080p"
What makes it worse is that then 1440p becomes 2k because "it's 2x as many pixels"
The flip flop irks me
They shouldn't use numbers at all tbh. QQVGA, QVGA, VGA, q(uarter)HD, HD, Full HD, QHD, UHD and so on works for all aspect ratios, and you can even specify by adding prefixes like FW (full wide) VGA would be 480p at 16:9. It gets a little confusing cause sometimes the acronyms are inconsistent (and PAL throws a wrench on everything), but the system works.
PS: I also don't like that 540p is called qHD cause it's a quarter of Full HD.
Really depends on the size of the screen, the viewing distance, and your age/eye condition. For more people 720 or 1080 is just fine. With 4k, you will get some better detail on the fabric on clothes and environments, but not a huge difference.
8k is gonna be a huge waste and will fail.
If you’re sitting the average 2.5 meters away from a 44-inch set, a simple Quad HD (QHD) display already packs more detail than your eye can possibly distinguish. The scientists made it crystal clear: once your setup hits that threshold, any further increase in pixel count, like moving from 4K to an 8K model of the same size and distance, hits the law of diminishing returns because your eye simply can't detect the added detail.
I commend them on their study of human eye "pixels-per-degree" perception resolution limit, but there are some caveats to the article title and their findings.
First of all, nobody recommends a 44-inch TV for 2.5 metres, I watch from the same distance and I think the minimum recommended 4k TV size for that distance was 55 inches.
Second, I'm not sure many QHD TVs are being offered, market mostly offers 4k or 1080p TVs, QHDs would be a small percentage.
And QHDs are already pretty noticable quality jump over 1080p, I've noticed on my gaming rig. So basically if you do the jump from 1080p to 4K, and watch 4k quality content, from the right distance - most people are absolutely gonna notice that quality difference.
For 8Ks I don't know, you probably do get into diminishing returns there unless you have a wall-sized TV or watch it from very close.
But yeah, clickbaity titled article, mostly.
Credentials like "made my living in hardware" are both non-specific and non-verifiable they mean nothing. I have 2 27" 4K 60hz monitors because last gen hardware just isn't that expensive.
When not gaming this looks nicer than 2x FHD and I run it in either 1080 or 4K depending on the game depending on what settings need to be set to get a consistent 60 FPS. My hardware isn't poverty level nor is it expensive. An entry level Mac would be more expensive.
Leaving aside gaming isn't it obvious to you that 4K looks nicer in desktop use or are your eyes literally failing?
I have 2 collage diplomas and worked 10 years in the industry at IBM alone. Your not going to cow me or tell me I have no credentials, those accusations mean nothing. I don't really get why you are so very aggressively pushing this nonsense, do you just love tech slop so much? Are you getting a kickback with every 4k monitor sold? Why of all the hills to die on it is this?
And no, 4k desktops do not "look nicer", it is stupid and tiny for no reason. Unless you have like 250 shortcuts on your desktop what is the point?
On the internet where you go by "Moonpoo" you in fact have no credentials because nobody can verify anything.
It is in a way hilarious to imagine that IBM is so broken that its employees can't figure out how to make fonts not tiny on 4K. You must have been a manager.
Oh IBM is way more broken then that. But by making the fonts bigger so you can read them on a 4k monitor is not the augment you think it is for 4k...
But hey as long as everyone buys monitors for roughly 3x the price then its all good then, right? I think you are even losing the plot here on WHY people should buy 4K or higher monitors. There are fringe cases, of course, but the vast majority of time its just a fool and their money soon to be parted.
Basically every modern OS in existence including Linux supports proper scaling for higher resolution displays. You don't just have to make the text bigger. Proper scaling is implemented. Integer scaling is best supported.
linux-hardware.org/?view=mon_r…
Let's look at desktop users
4k = 13.7% of Linux users
QHD = 12.4%
3440x1440 = 3.9%
30% of desktop users are using > FHD
The study says that users can appreciate resolutions up to 94 pixels per degree. A FHD 27" monitor at 18" distance is 29 PPD. At 4K its 58. Users can appreciate the fact that a 4K display is much better.
And no, 4k desktops do not “look nicer”, it is stupid and tiny for no reason. Unless you have like 250 shortcuts on your desktop what is the point?And no, 4k desktops do not “look nicer”, it is stupid and tiny for no reason. Unless you have like 250 shortcuts on your desktop what is the point?
Couldn't find the setting called scale on your windows desktop? Ok mr manager. Do you also call IT when your monitor is turned off to tell them your CPU is broken?
Ok mr manager. Do you also call IT when your monitor is turned off to tell them your CPU is broken?
What are you on about, just tell me why anyone who likes money should buy a 4k or more monitor? So I can fiddle with my desktop settings? Is this a arch thing?
And no, 4k desktops do not “look nicer”, it is stupid and tiny for no reason. Unless you have like 250 shortcuts on your desktop what is the point?
if you have an ultra-high desktop resolution, you're probably using a scaling factor to make everything look about the same size it would otherwise be at ~ 1080p.. windows will even default to something around that.. just no 'jaggies'.
so yea, it does 'look nicer' and no, everything is not 'stupid and tiny'.
What about the vast majority of people who stare at screens for work?
Frame rates aren't really important, it's making things more readable in less space.
The cost / benefit is a completely different dynamic.
Oh I said it before there are use cases. Most working monitors are 1080p since excel is not really benefited from 4k+. However I have seen some graphic designers want the higher resolutions for example.
The vast majority of people working will get pissed at you if you changed their monitor to an ultra high resolution (I have been the one getting yelled at) without scaling it to look like 1080p. No one wants to squint to use their workstation.
There's this thing called scaling that allows you to see things in an appropriate size but higher definition.
Anyone who uses spreadsheets regularly wants the extra real estate. Anyone who works with complex documents wants the extra real estate.
It's not about more dots on your 24 inch, it's about larger monitors that can display more stuff simultaneously. Instead of 4x 1080p monitors you can have 2x larger 4k monitors. Offer this to anyone who makes money by staring at a screen all day and they'll tell you it's worth it.
Anyone who uses spreadsheets regularly wants the extra real estate. Anyone who works with complex documents wants the extra real estate.
And yet as I have stated this is not the case for most users. I remember when a national here bank decided to do an "upgrade" to 4k monitors there was so much push back from users (in this case mortgage lending) that after installing the monitors I was back two weeks later to change them back.
People who use spreadsheets regularly (myself included) would rather have a second monitor or a bigger one then one 4k one. I have a 32 inch 1080p monitor as my secondary and it works great at a cheap price. I went with one that is brighter and a slower refresh rate since I don't need or want that on a secondary. And if you are going big why spend the money on a 4k one if you are just going to use scaling anyway?
I have a 32 inch 1080p monitor as my secondary
I honestly find this hard to believe. I have 2x 32 inch monitors on my desk and in 1920x1080 they're ugly to the point of distraction.
if you are going big why spend the money on a 4k one if you are just going to use scaling anyway?
4k isn't that expensive. you can get 32 inch 4k monitors for a few hundred dollars.
Scaling is not the same as reducing the resolution.
Here’s the gut-punch for the typical living room, however. If you’re sitting the average 2.5 meters away from a 44-inch set, a simple Quad HD (QHD) display already packs more detail than your eye can possibly distinguish.
That seems in line with common knowledge? Say you want to keep your viewing angle at ~40º for a home cinema, at 2.5m of distance, that means your TV needs to have an horizontal length of ~180cm, which corresponds to ~75" diagonal, give or take a few inches depending on the aspect ratio.
For a more conservative 30° viewing angle, at the same distance, you'd need a 55" TV. So, 4K is perceivable at that distance regardless, and 8K is a waste of everyone's time and money.
1080 > 2160 is for sure not the leap 720 > 1080, or 480 > 720 was in the average environment that's for sure.
The study doesn't actually claim that. The actual title is "Study Boldly Claims 4K And 8K TVs Aren't Much Better Than HD To Your Eyes, But Is It True?" As with all articles that ask a question the answer is either NO or its complicated.
It says that we can distinguish up to 94 pixels per degree or about 1080p on a 50" screen at 10 feet away.
This means that on a 27" monitor 18" away
1080p: 29
4K: 58
8K: 116
A 40" TV 8 feet away/50" TV 10 feet away
1080p: 93
A 70" TV 8 feet away
1080p: 54
4K: 109
8K: 218
A 90" TV 10 feet away
1080p: 53
4K: 106
8K: 212
Conclusion: 1080p is good for small TVs relatively far away. 4K makes sense for reasonably large or close TV Up to 8K makes sense for monitors.
You appeared to be complaining that OP's title didn't match the article title, and I was only pointing out the article's title has changed since OP posted.
My apologies if I misread.
The resolution (4k in this case) defines the number of pixels to be shown to the user. The bitrate defines how much data is provided in the file or stream. A codec is the method for converting data to pixels.
Suppose you've recorded something in 1080p (low resolution). You could convert it to 4k, but the codec has to make up the pixels that can't be computed from the data.
In summary, the TV in my living room might be more capable, but my streaming provider probably isn't sending enough data to really use it.
For an ELI5 explanation, this is what happens when you lower the bit rate: youtu.be/QEzhxP-pdos
No matter the resolution you have of the video, if the amount of information per frame is so low that it has to lump different coloured pixels together, it will look like crap.
Do I look like I know what a JPEG is?
I REUPLOADED THIS VIDEO AS NON AGE RESTRICTED HERE:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmaUIyvy8E8Windows Paint is not always the best choice when editing images...YouTube
I'll add another explanation for bitrate that I find understandable: You can think of resolution as basically the max quality of a display, no matter the bitrate, you can't display more information/pixwls than the screen possess. Bitrate, on the other hand, represents how much information you are receiving from e.g. Netflix. If you didn't use any compression, in HDR each pixel would require 30 bits, or 3.75 bytes of data. A 4k screen has 8 million pixels. An HDR stream running at 60 fps would require about 1.7GB/s of download wihout any compression. Bitrate is basically the measure of that, how much we've managed to compress that data flow. There are many ways you can achieve this compression, and a lot of it relates to how individual codecs work, but put simply, one of the many methods effectively involves grouping pixels into larger blocks (e.g. 32x32 pixels) and saying they all have the same colour. As a result, at low bitrates you'll start to see blocking and other visual artifacts that significantly degrade the viewing experience.
As a side note, one cool thing that codecs do (not sure if literally all of them do it, but I think most by far), is that not each frame is encoded in its entirety. You have, I, P and B frames. I frames (also known as keyframes) are a full frame, they're fully defined and are basically like a picture. P frames don't define every pixel, instead they define the difference between their frame and the previous frame, e.g. that the pixel at x: 210 y: 925 changed from red to orange. B frames do the same, but they use both previous and future frames for reference. That's why you might sometimes notice that in a stream, even when the quality isn't changing, every couple of seconds the picture will become really clear, before gradually degrading in quality, and then suddenly jumping up in quality again.
This is true. That said, if can't tell the difference between 1080p and 4K from the pixels alone, then either your TV is too small, or you're sitting too far away. In which case there's no point in going with 4K.
At the right seating distance, there is a benefit to be had even by going with an 8K TV. However, very few people sit close enough/have a large enough screen to benefit from going any higher than 4K:
Source: rtings.com/tv/learn/what-is-th…
What Is TV Resolution?
The resolution of a television is the number of pixels in each dimension that the TV can display natively. While the resolution isn't the only aspect of picture quality, it is important.RTINGS.com
Selling TVs and monitors is an established business with common interest, while optimizing people's setups isn't.
It's a bit like opposite to building a house, a cubic meter or two of cut wood doesn't cost very much, even combined with other necessary materials, but to get usable end result people still hire someone other than workers to do the physical labor parts.
There are those "computer help" people running around helping grannies clean Windows from viruses (I mean those who are not scammers), they probably need to incorporate. Except then such corporate entities will likely be sued without end by companies willing to sell new shit. Balance of power.
The main advantage in 4K TVs "looking better" are...
- HDR support. Especially Dolby Vision, gives noticeably better picture in bright scenes.
- Support for higher framerates. This is only really useful for gaming, at least until they broadcast sports at higher framerates.
- The higher resolution is mostly wasted on video content where for the most part the low shutter speed blurs any moving detail anyway. For gaming it does look better, even if you have to cheat with upscaling and DLSS.
- The motion smoothing. This is a controversial one, because it makes movies look like swirly home movies. But the types of videos used in the shop demos (splashing slo-mo paints, slow shots of jungles with lots of leaves, dripping honey, etc) does look nice with the motion interpolation switched on. They certainly don't show clips of the latest blockbuster movies like that, because it will become rapidly apparent just how jarring that looks.
The higher resolution is just one part of it, and it's not the most important one. You could have the other features on a lower resolution screen, but there's no real commercial reason to do that, because large 4K panels are already cheaper than the 1080p ones ever were. The only real reason to go higher than 4K would be for things where the picture wraps around you, and you're only supposed to be looking at a part of it. e.g. 180 degree VR videos and special screens like the Las Vegas Sphere.
i can confirm 4K and up add nothing for me compared to 1080p and even 720p. As long as i can recognize the images, who cares. Higher resolution just means you see more sweat, pimples, and the like.
edit: wait correction. 4K does add something to my viewing experience which is a lot of lagging due to the GPU not being able to keep up.
Same.
Also, for the zoomers who might not get your reference to the mighty KLF:
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
I have 65" 4K TV that runs in tandem with Beelink S12 pro mini-pc. I ran mini in FHD mode to ease up on resources and usually just watch streams/online content on it which is 99% 1080p@60. Unless compression is bad, I don't feel much difference. In fact, my digitalized DVDs look good even in their native resolution.
For me 4K is a nice-to-have but not a necessity when consuming media. 1080p still looks crisp with enough bitrate.
I'd add that maybe this 4K-8K race is sort of like mp3@320kbps vs flac/wav. Both sound good when played on a decent system. But say, flac is nicer on a specific hardware that a typical consumer wouldn't buy. Almost none of us own studio-grade 7.1 sytems at home. JBL speaker is what we have and I doubt flac sounds noticeably better on it against mp3@192kbps.
Interestingly enough, I was casually window browsing TVs and was surprised to find that LG killed off their OLED 8K TVs a couple years ago!
Until/if we get to a point where more people want/can fit 110in+ TVs into their living rooms - 8K will likely remain a niche for the wealthy to show off, more than anything.
Yeah, when I got my most recent GPU, my plan had been to also get a 4k monitor and step up from 1440p to 4k. But when I was sorting through the options to find the few with decent specs all around, I realized that there was nothing about 1440p that left me dissapointed and the 4k monitor I had used at work already indicated that I'd just be zooming the UI anyways.
Plus even with the new GPU, 4k numbers weren't as good as 1440p numbers, and stutters/frame drops are still annoying... So I ended up just getting an ultra-wide 1440p monitor that was much easier to find good specs for and won't bother with 4k for a monitor until maybe one day if it becomes the minimum, kinda like how analog displays have become much less available than digital displays, even if some people still prefer the old ones for some purposes. I won't dig my heels in and refuse to move on to 4k, but I don't see any value added over 1440p. Same goes for 8k TVs.
I don't like large 4k displays because the resolution is so good it breaks the immersion when you watch a movie. You can see that they are on a set sometimes, or details of clothing in medieval movies that give away they were created with modern sewing equipment.
It's a bit of a stupid reason I guess, but that's why I don't want to go above 1080p for tv's.
Quality of the system is such a massive dependency here, I can well believe that someone watching old reruns from a shitty streaming service that is upscaled to 1080p or 4k by their TV they purchased from the supermarket with coupons collected from their breakfast cereal is going to struggle to tell the difference.
Likewise if you fed the TVs with a high end 4k blu ray player and any blu ray considered reference such as Interstellar, you are still going to struggle to tell the difference, even with a more midrange TV unless the TVs get comically large for the viewing distance so that the 1080p screen starts to look pixelated.
I think very few people would expect their old wired apple earphones they got free with their iphone 4 would expect amazing sound from them, yet people seem to be ignoring the same for cheap TVs. I am not advocating for ultra high end audio/videophile nonsense with systems costing 10s of thousands, just that quite large and noticeable gains are available much lower down the scale.
Depending what you watch and how you watch it, good quality HDR for the right content is an absolute home run for difference between standard 1080p and 4k HDR if your TV can do true black. Shit TVs do HDR shitterly, its just not comparable to a decent TV and source. Its like playing high rez loss less audio on those old apple wired earphones vs. playing low bitrate MP3s.
Lawsuits against banks with Epstein ties may shed new light on financier’s crimes
Meanwhile, banks who had done business with Epstein, although not admitting wrongdoing, paid hundreds of millions in settlements to victims. Donald Trump even made releasing the Epstein investigative files part of his campaign platform, and doubled down on his promise to do so early this year.
In the end, Trump’s justice department did not release these files, and his administration has become embroiled in reports about social ties between him and Epstein. Congressional promises to release files have lagged, due to political jockeying and justice department foot-dragging.
But two new lawsuits could shed light on Epstein’s activities amid the stalemate – regardless of their outcome.
These lawsuits, filed by an anonymous plaintiff against Bank of America and the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), allege that these financial powerhouses illicitly enabled Epstein’s sex trafficking. The suits are helmed by Sigrid S McCawley, of Boies Schiller Flexner, and Brad Edwards of Edwards Henderson, who have long represented Epstein victims.
Lawsuits against banks with Epstein ties may shed new light on financier’s crimes
Experts say claim banks enabled Epstein will be difficult to prove but other outcomes could provide solace to victimsVictoria Bekiempis (The Guardian)
10M people watched a YouTuber shim a lock; the lock company sued him. Bad idea.
Yeah, it's the Streisand Effect.
“Opening locks” might not sound like scintillating social media content, but Trevor McNally has turned lock-busting into online gold. A former US Marine Staff Sergeant, McNally today has more than 7 million followers and has amassed more than 2 billion views just by showing how easy it is to open many common locks by slapping, picking, or shimming them.This does not always endear him to the companies that make the locks.
On March 3, 2025, a Florida lock company called Proven Industries released a social media promo video just begging for the McNally treatment. The video was called, somewhat improbably, “YOU GUYS KEEP SAYING YOU CAN EASILY BREAK OFF OUR LATCH PIN LOCK.” In it, an enthusiastic man in a ball cap says he will “prove a lot of you haters wrong.” He then goes hard at Proven’s $130 model 651 trailer hitch lock with a sledgehammer, bolt cutters, and a crowbar.
Naturally, the lock hangs tough.
An Instagram user brought the lock to McNally’s attention by commenting, “Let’s introduce it to the @mcnallyofficial poke.” Someone from Proven responded, saying that McNally only likes “the cheap locks lol because they are easy and fast.” Proven locks were said to be made of sterner stuff.
But on April 3, McNally posted a saucy little video to social media platforms. In it, he watches the Proven promo video while swinging his legs and drinking a Juicy Juice. He then hops down from his seat, goes over to a Proven trailer hitch lock, and opens it in a matter of seconds using nothing but a shim cut from a can of Liquid Death. He says nothing during the entire video, which has been viewed nearly 10 million times on YouTube alone.
What happens next won't surprise you!
10M people watched a YouTuber shim a lock; the lock company sued him. Bad idea.
It’s still legal to pick locks, even when you swing your legs.Nate Anderson (Ars Technica)
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‘Our work has only just begun’: Mamdani, Sanders and AOC rally the faithful ahead of NYC mayoral election
Marina Dunbar in Forest Hills
Mon 27 Oct 2025 06.00 EDT
For Mitch, the key issues facing NYC right now are “safety, the trains being safe, and affordability”, adding that while he’s skeptical about whether Mamdani can deliver on all his promises, he’s open-minded. “I don’t know who’s going to pay for all this stuff he wants done … but I’m going in open-minded, and just hoping somebody is offering some alternatives.”Brooklyn, 30, also from Astoria, said their top priorities were protecting LGBTQ rights and tackling the city’s affordability crisis. “I think Mamdani is doing a great job of addressing everything I’m concerned about,” they said.
Nicole, 30, echoed that sentiment, praising Mamdani’s authenticity: “I feel like Mamdani is very genuine in his responses in a way that isn’t typically seen in most politicians. He’s a little less lip service-y than usual.”
‘Our work has only just begun’: Mamdani, Sanders and AOC rally the faithful ahead of NYC mayoral election
Thousands pack Forest Hills stadium on Sunday night, voicing their excitement and hope for changeMarina Dunbar (The Guardian)
‘Our work has only just begun’: Mamdani, Sanders and AOC rally the faithful ahead of NYC mayoral election
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/38142040
Marina Dunbar in Forest Hills
Mon 27 Oct 2025 06.00 EDT
For Mitch, the key issues facing NYC right now are “safety, the trains being safe, and affordability”, adding that while he’s skeptical about whether Mamdani can deliver on all his promises, he’s open-minded. “I don’t know who’s going to pay for all this stuff he wants done … but I’m going in open-minded, and just hoping somebody is offering some alternatives.”Brooklyn, 30, also from Astoria, said their top priorities were protecting LGBTQ rights and tackling the city’s affordability crisis. “I think Mamdani is doing a great job of addressing everything I’m concerned about,” they said.
Nicole, 30, echoed that sentiment, praising Mamdani’s authenticity: “I feel like Mamdani is very genuine in his responses in a way that isn’t typically seen in most politicians. He’s a little less lip service-y than usual.”
‘Our work has only just begun’: Mamdani, Sanders and AOC rally the faithful ahead of NYC mayoral election
Marina Dunbar in Forest Hills
Mon 27 Oct 2025 06.00 EDTFor Mitch, the key issues facing NYC right now are “safety, the trains being safe, and affordability”, adding that while he’s skeptical about whether Mamdani can deliver on all his promises, he’s open-minded. “I don’t know who’s going to pay for all this stuff he wants done … but I’m going in open-minded, and just hoping somebody is offering some alternatives.”Brooklyn, 30, also from Astoria, said their top priorities were protecting LGBTQ rights and tackling the city’s affordability crisis. “I think Mamdani is doing a great job of addressing everything I’m concerned about,” they said.
Nicole, 30, echoed that sentiment, praising Mamdani’s authenticity: “I feel like Mamdani is very genuine in his responses in a way that isn’t typically seen in most politicians. He’s a little less lip service-y than usual.”
‘Our work has only just begun’: Mamdani, Sanders and AOC rally the faithful ahead of NYC mayoral election
Thousands pack Forest Hills stadium on Sunday night, voicing their excitement and hope for changeMarina Dunbar (The Guardian)
New image-generating AIs are being used for fake expense reports
The fact that workers with expense accounts still feel they're getting paid so little that they deserve to commit fraud says something about that stratum of employee.
Businesses are increasingly being deceived by employees using artificial intelligence for an age-old scam: faking expense receipts.The launch of new image-generation models by top AI groups such as OpenAI and Google in recent months has sparked an influx of AI-generated receipts submitted internally within companies, according to leading expense software platforms.
Software provider AppZen said fake AI receipts accounted for about 14 percent of fraudulent documents submitted in September, compared with none last year. Fintech group Ramp said its new software flagged more than $1 million in fraudulent invoices within 90 days.
About 30 percent of US and UK financial professionals surveyed by expense management platform Medius reported they had seen a rise in falsified receipts following the launch of OpenAI’s GPT-4o last year.
New image-generating AIs are being used for fake expense reports
Software provider AppZen said fake AI receipts accounted for about 14% of fraud attempts.Financial Times (Ars Technica)
Threads adds 'ghost posts' that disappear after 24 hours
Threads adds 'ghost posts' that disappear after 24 hours | TechCrunch
Instagram Threads is launching “ghost posts,” a new disappearing-posts feature that lets users share updates that automatically archive after 24 hours.Sarah Perez (TechCrunch)
I got infected like an idiot
I downloaded a cracked install from tpb (haxnode). It was a loader exe that loaded the original exe and supposedly removed the drm in RAM. It required admin permissions, I didn't trust it, but i ran in a vm and nothing happened.
Then i told myself "i have microsoft defender and windows firewall control, they will warn me" and I ran it in my main laptop, and still nothing happened. Like, literally nothing happened. The original program would not start. It would simply exit. Nothing. The other 6 almost identical torrents from the same uploader but with a different program version had a similar result. I gave up.
Then i reboot, and firstly i notice a couple DOS prompts flashing on the screen, and windows firewall control asking me if "aspnet_compiler.exe" is allowed to access the internet or not.
Suspicious, i go to check that "aspnet_compiler.exe" and it's located in the .net system folder, i scan it with microsoft defender and it doesn't report as a virus. I do not pay attention to the fact that it doesn't have a valid Microsoft signature, and i tell myself "probably just a windows update" and i whitelist it on the firewall.
After a few hours I realize "wait a minute: it's impossible that an official windows exe isn't signed by microsoft!" I go back to scan it, not infected... or it looks like, defender says "ignored because in whitelist". What? The "loader" put c:* in the whitelist!
The "crack loader" wasn't a virus per se. It dropped an obfuscated batch in startup, which had a base64 encoded attachment of the actual malware, that was copied in the .net framework directory with unassuming names...
And this for a $60 perpetual license program that i should buy anyway because it's for work
Depending on what you work on, maybe there's an alternative FOSS or at least paid DRM free software?
Or, if you work for a company and it demands this tool, maybe you could ask them to provide the software for you?
On a 3rd point, I've seen official softwares detect when they're being run in VMs or similar, so maybe that's what happened.
On a 4th point, if you must use a crack, maybe do so on a less usual Linux system, so if it's a functional one but packaged with virus, the virus breaks either because it runs under Wine or similar, or because the less usual system lacks some needed dependency for the virus if it can run on Linux as well?
On a 3rd point, I’ve seen official softwares detect when they’re being run in VMs or similar, so maybe that’s what happened.
this is becoming more common afaik. why blow away your cover in a vm where you would not even get much (unless you are just a miner, but even then performance is worse), especially when checking if we are running in a vm is reaaly easy.
I literally just watched this video yesterday which, as you mention yourself, talks about how modern malware will add itself to the exclusion list aka whitelist.
~Anyway~ ~this~ ~is~ ~a~ ~good~ ~reason~ ~to~ ~try~ ~linux...~
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Xubuntu Website Hacked to Spread Malware Via Downloads: What You Need to Know
The official Xubuntu website was compromised for a short time by attackers who offered users a dangerous ZIP file disguised as an OS downloadHot for Security
There are two layers to this (actually a lot more but)
What you are describing is mostly supply chain. It is the idea that the package manager's inventory should be safe. And that is already a nigh impossible task simply because so many of the packages themselves can be compromised. It seems like every other year there is a story of bad actors infiltrating a project either as an attack or as a "research paper". But the end result is you have core libraries that may be compromised.
But the other side is what impacted OP and will still be an issue even if said supply chain is somehow 100% vetted. People are inherently going to need things that aren't in a package manager. Sometimes that is for nefarious reasons and sometimes it is just because the project they are interested in isn't at the point where it is using a massive build farm to deploy everywhere. Maybe it involves running blind scripts as root (don't fucking do that... even though we all do at some point) and sometimes it involves questionable code.
And THAT is a very much unsolved problem no matter what distro. Because, historically, you would run an anti-virus scan on that. How many people even know what solutions there are for linux? And how many have even a single nice thing to say about the ones that do?
It took over twenty years just for Linux to enter the conversation at the enthusiast level, it took a lot, and I do mean a lot, of enshittification on Microsoft's part and decades of campaigning by free software ideologues for us to get to this point, and if Windows still worked like Windows 7 we still wouldn't be anywhere close.
OpenBSD is super niche relative to FreeBSD, which is super niche relative to Linux. I don't even know if it was built for desktop use, or if it happens to be usable as one thanks to Linux DEs being compatible so long as they don't heavily depend on Linux specific stuff. Though I guess it can be a desktop OS in the most conservative sense of that term even without all that stuff.
I guess in theory you're right. If you're executing code, you're executing code. But usually when executing EXE files it tends to target Windows machines, but yeah, there's no way of telling if it'll recognize it's in a linux environment and do it's thing there as well.
Especially because OP mentioned he just clicked "Yes"/"Allow" to all the super user prompts.
Now personally I don't run an Arch system and only install software from my distro + flatpak; So I feel pretty secure for now. But I can see that trend buckling as the AUR is already under attack.
And this for a $60 perpetual license program that i should buy anyway because it’s for work
Just to pile on: NEVER pirate stuff you use for work. Audits are a thing (especially if said software company gets suspicious for whatever reason) and you WILL be thrown under the bus at a moment's notice and put on an industry wide shitlist because you are just too much of a liability after you get caught once.
Pirate for fun and hobbyist use. The moment you are getting paid, go legit.
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Let's say you are a graphics designer. You use Adobe Illustrator and you pirate it. You work for Innertrode either as a contractor or a full time employee. You make their new logo.
Adobe's legal team are bored. They see that new logo. They know it was made with Illustrator because of some of the visual quirks/tools (or, you know, because it is anything graphical so of course it uses Adobe). They know that Innertrode doesn't have a license. So they call up Lumberg and say "what the fuck?".
Lumberg then calls the person who was in charge of the new logo and they point at you.
If you are staff? You were given training not to pirate anything. It is all your fault. Innertrode buys a few years of a license and apologizes and fires your ass and makes sure to tell everyone they know about you. Or you are a contractor and you signed an agreement saying you had valid licenses for everything and they just give your contact info to Adobe and move on.
And Adobe MIGHT just want to shake you down. Or they might want to make an example and sue the fuck out of some people.
Also... it is a lot of hearsay for obvious reasons, but there are very strong rumors that some of the more prominent cracks tend to add digital watermarks for the purpose of automating this.
Not quite but a possibility answer.
Lot of software gets embedded tracking software where it does a few things to see if it’s tampered with and reports back along with a lot of details. It’s kind of sweet how you can dig in and see where exactly where that computer lives and how it can triangulate exactly where it is even over a VPN.
I happened to work with this software at one point….. lot of companies actually don’t unless there is a business using the software or it’s super expensive think 10k+ per seat or you see a hot spot. Not worth the effort.
Other side of the coin I was a Desktop Eng many moons ago. We would do reporting on all of the systems in SCCM and what’s installed on them and compare to a know good list of applications every so often to minimize legal risk to the business.
I know I sound dumb, and forgive me for not having work experience yet, but...
Why doesn't your company pay for any license they need for you to do work? Like I get if someone was a freelancer, then they're gonna have to pay for their own stuff, but like, a professional, in-house employee pays for their own license?
Am I missing context here?
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A lot of people in graphics design et al are contractors. They get hired for a job, do it with their own resources, and then move on. Those folk tend to need to provide their own software.
Aside from that? Companies DO provide software. But, at least in my experience, early career staff decide they actually NEED matlab or some other super proprietary nonsense and take it upon themselves to get the tools they "need". Which results in their manager having to have The Talk about why you don't do that in an actual company and how they are REALLY lucky you are the one that saw them because that is a fireable offense.
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probably i would have ran it outside as the crack just silently "crashed" (while successfully dropped the malware as admin in the right spot, ready to be ran as admin at the next boot via the task scheduler) and i would have thought "maybe it doesn't run in a sandbox/vm".
But yes, in a hindsight, if i ran in sandboxie then i might have noticed that it had dropped suspiciously named files in common:startup with that nice file transfer GUI (unless if the malware detected sandboxie and did not run the malicious routines)
If it didn't run the malicious routines, problem solved 😀
Not a silver bullet, just something to remember exists.
And this for a $60 perpetual license program that i should buy anyway because it’s for work
If you work for someone, they should be providing the license for you.
If you're a freelancer, it should be part of the costs that you get back as you work. $60 for a perpetual license is honestly not that steep and shouldn't impact your prices much.
This is one of the main reasons I don't pirate anything but audio and video anymore (and even then I'm cautious). It's really not worth it.
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I've poked around on FMHY and most of the direct download sites are total garbage banner ads everywhere and popup galore with slow ass download speeds. Even the big public trackers like 1337x are whack in this regard. Yes obviously use an adblocker which takes care of that problem but if the ~average user goes at this blind they're gonna end up on some random ass sites from misclicks or get redirected or at best wait way too long for a download or it's in parts of an archive and they have to wait til tomorrow for another download etc etc.
Private trackers or bust, always and forever
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i ran in a vm and nothing happened.
Did you configure the VM so that it didn't blatantly look like a VM? Of course malware is gonna act like a good boi when it detects that it's being run in a VM
Nice try malware dev 🤣
Really though, there's a bunch of stuff it can probe... Hard drive name, driver names, mac addresses, hardware profile/resource allotments).
Theresa a bunch of YouTube vids that go over virtual machine detections and hardening your VM to make it less obviously a VM.
(EDIT: Forgot to be thankful, thanks man!)
Always thought those would be the ineffective ones as those videos get a lot of views, so I thought all malware devs already knew about the ones adviced in youtube.
Also, nice jk! I'm not into malware dev tho.
I always felt like collecting data and being creepy is a google's and big tech's thing.
a reminder that you do need an Antivirus in fact as a pirate. Oh People, stop listening to cybersec experts who spend their whole life using foss or buying legit software, they're in a different world from us pirates.
Also a reminder that it happens to the best of us anyway.
Alternative if you want to be hardcore: air gap the system you run questionable software on.
If you're bored, you can even try to infect it with as much shit as possible.
Doesn't work as a test system though. Stuff lies dormant waiting for network access.
‘Tax the Rich!’: Packed Mamdani Rally Features Sanders, AOC, and Hochul Ahead of Election Day
“Ordinary people get one vote. Billionaires get the opportunity to spend as much as they want to elect the candidates they want,” [Senator Bernie] Sanders said, decrying the influence of super PACs that can accept unlimited political donations. “That is the context in which this election is taking place.”
[Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), meanwhile, cast the race as one that “mirrors what we are up against nationally, both an authoritarian criminal presidency, fueled by corruption and bigotry and an ascendant right-wing extremist movement,” as well as the “insufficient, eroded, bygone political establishment, this time in the form of Andrew Cuomo.”
'Tax the Rich!': Packed Mamdani Rally Features Sanders, AOC, and Hochul Ahead of Election Day
"While Donald Trump's billionaire donors think that they have the money to buy this election, we have a movement of the masses," Zohran Mamdani said during the sold-out rally in Queens.jake-johnson (Common Dreams)
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RRF Sport. La testa nel pallone. Con Pino e Albino . Polemiche Napoli Inter. Tennis. F1 e Moto GP. Casertana e Juve Caserta
IBM Unveils Digital Asset Platform as Demand for Tokenization, Stablecoins Grows
The IBM Digital Asset Haven, developed with Dfns, aims to offer banks, governments and enterprises a full-stack platform for token custody, governance and compliance.
People really thinking that paper covered in enslavers and selfishly controlled by the most corrupt people on the planet is going to outlast open, decentralized, global networks.
Yeah, much better to trust some random scammer on the internet.
Speaking a common language is a social convention too. That doesn't mean there's a need for someone to start teaching people Volapük.
And if you think developed-country governments (with the exception of the current US kleptocratic kakistocracy) are where you find the most corrupt people on the planet, you might need to get out more.
RRF Sport. La testa nel pallone. Con Pino e Albino 27 10 25
Plymouth scientists win £2m to use AI in deep-sea mapping
Plymouth scientists win £2m to use AI in deep-sea mapping
The Deep Vision project aims to help shape legal protections for the habitats.Jonathan Morris (BBC News)
A single point of failure triggered the Amazon outage affecting millions
A single point of failure triggered the Amazon outage affecting millions
A DNS manager in a single region of Amazon’s sprawling network touched off a 16-hour debacle.Dan Goodin (Ars Technica)
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The inverse of the old axiom "The cloud is just someone else's computer" is "Yes, duh, that's how you get economies of scale".
In-housing would mean an enormous increase in demand for physical hardware and IT technical services with a large variance in quality and accessibility. Like, it doesn't fix the underlying problem. It just takes one big problem and shatters it into a thousand little problems.
I think some of you younger folks really don't know what the Internet was like 20 years ago.Shit was up and down all the time.
I worked on a project back in 2008 where I had to physically haul hardware from Houston to Dallas ahead of Hurricane Ike just to keep a second rate version of a website running until we got power back at the original office. Latency at the new location was so bad that we were scrambling to reinvent the website in real time to try and improve performance. We ended up losing the client. They ended up going bankrupt. An absolute nightmare.
Getting screamed at by clients. Working 14 hour days in a cramped server room on something way outside my scope.
Would have absolutely killed for something as clean and reliable as AWS. Not like it didn't even exist back then. But we self-hosted because it was cheaper.
We need to ditch cloud entirety and go in house again.
For many many companies that would be returning to the bad-old-days.
I don't miss getting an emergency page during the Thanksgiving meal because there's excessive temperature being reported in the in-house datacenter. Going into the office and finding the CRAC failed and its now 105 degree F. And you knew the CRAC preventive maintenance was overdue and management wouldn't approve the cost to get it serviced even though you've been asking for it for more than 6 months. You also know with this high temp event, you're going to have an increased rate of hard drive failures over the next year.
No thank you.
There's a huge gulf between pub clowd and shitty on-prem. My daytime contract is with an organization almost completely on-prem for privacy, although on-prem to them means priv-cloud. Space has been rented. Redundant everything piped in. Redundant everything set up. We run VMs by terraform. Wheeeeee
Point is, posing shitty on-prem as the alternative to the clowd is moving the goalposts a bit.
There’s a huge gulf between pub clowd and shitty on-prem.
We agree on this.
Redundant everything piped in. Redundant everything set up. We run VMs by terraform. Wheeeeee
For that customer of yours, is that a single datacenter or does is represent multiple datacenters separated by a large distance across a nation, or perhaps even across national borders?
Point is, posing shitty on-prem as the alternative to the clowd is moving the goalposts a bit.
I think ignoring that shitty on-prem represented a large part of IT infrastructure prior cloud providers is ignoring a critical point. Was it possible to have well-run enterprise IT data centers prior to cloud? Sure. Was everyone doing that? Absolutely not, I'd argue the majority had at least a certain level of jank in their infra and that that floor is raised with cloud providers. Just the basic facilities is enterprise grade irrespective of the server or app config.
I certainly don't miss dealing with air conditioning, dry fire protection, and redundant internet connections.
I also don't miss trying to deal with aging servers out and bringing new hardware in.
That work is still being done by someone in a data centre. But all these jobs went from in-house positions to the centres.
The difference is scale. When in-house, the person responsible for managing the glycol loop is also responsible for the other CRACs, possibly the power rails, and likely the fire suppression. In a giant provider, each one of those is its own team with dozens or hundreds of people that specialize in only their area. They can spend 100% on their one area of responsibilty instead of having to wear multiple hats. The small the company, the more hats people have to wear, and the worse to overall result is because of being spread to thin.
If we want a truly robust system, yeah, we kinda do. This sort of event is only one of the issues with allowing a single entity to control pretty much everything.
There are plenty of potential issues from a corrupt rogue corporation hijacking everything to attacks to internal fuck-ups like we just experienced. Sure, they can design a better cloud, but at the end of the day, it's still their cloud. The Internet needs to be less centralized, not more (and I don't just mean that purely in terms of infrastructure, though that is included of course).
If we want a truly robust system, yeah, we kinda do. This sort of event is only one of the issues with allowing a single entity to control pretty much everything.
What I'm advocating for is the opposite of "allowing one entity to control everything".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_en…
Read about it dude. Netflix has a large presence in all major cloud providers (and they have their own data centers), but has a service whose uptime is NOT dependent on any one of those hosting environments. The proof is the pudding - Netflix service did not go down in the recent AWS outage, nor in the last one.
All of that can be achieved WITHOUT completely abandoning public cloud services and having to completely host all of the hardware for their services.
You're kind of proving (part of) my point?
How? Their reliability would exist without that. There's nothing inherent to their own data center that makes their setup that much better. Having a distributed system across multiple cloud service providers means your actual chance of downtime (here I mean inverse of uptime) is their individual chances of uptime multiplied by each other. In other words, they all have to go down for your service to fail. The catch is you have to use only commodity IaaS and PaaS, nothing proprietary to one CSP.
For smaller companies especially, in terms of pure reliability, there's no reason to think that they would be better at running a high availability data center than Microsoft or AWS or Google.
Parallel distributed architectures give you the advantages of using public cloud (not having to physically manage your own data center) without the disadvantages (dependence on any one cloud vendor), while also potentially increasing your reliability beyond the reliability of any one of your cloud vendors . That is why Netflix is so rock solid.
You really don't see the risk of having no data centers you actually control as an organization?
This really depends on what you think you're getting from having your own DC. Is it reliability? Flexibility? Control? What are your objectives?
There's some argument to be made to have some locally hosted stuff for some flexibility and control. And in some niche cases the pricing of public offerings doesn't make sense.
But as I said, if you're building your own data center for increased reliability then 1) you're necessarily assuming the premise that you're going to be better at managing DCs than Google, Microsoft and AWS which I think in reality would be hard to prove let alone do, and 2) is hard to justify considering you can distribute workloads across multiple data centers already (as proven by the Netflix example) so that your reliability isn't limited by any one vendor.
Bit of an over-reaction to one incident. I'd be willing to bet the uptime, reliability and scalability of AWS is significantly better than what the vast majority of in-house solutions could do. It's absolutely not worth going back.
Millions of customers using AWS also weren't affected - the company I work for certainly wasn't, although some of our tools like Jira were.
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There are still self hosted places today, not everything is cloud based.
Also, there isn't more competition largely because of Amazon so, while I agree with the sentiment that it could improve things, in practice it's a moot point.
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It's funny, because I've heard a variety of reasons why the outage happened, why it wasn't caught in time, why it signaled a problem with hardware versus software or human error versus automation.
I think its safe to say the company is increasingly over-managed and under-staffed, no matter how you slice it. Maybe its time to just break the mega-corp up already and let some good old fashioned free market competition fix this mess.
We need to democratize the internet again, every generation there's a ma bell pretending they own the internet. Current Gen is Google, AWS, Azure and the like, with ISPs just making sure they get their cut.
I don't have an issue with these services existing, but in such a way that everything depends on a couple companies? Dangerous for everyone.
“There’s a monopoly” — proceeds to list 3 separate providers. Don’t forget there’s also Akami, now we’re up to 4. Oh, and Cloud Flare… so that’s 5.
The issue is more so with companies that choose to use cloud providers. They’re the ones attempting to cheap out because they don’t want to pay infrastructure costs. You also have a lack of knowledge by engineers on how to create redundant/reliable systems.
Not everything on the internet went down. There’s plenty that was just fine. So I don’t really don’t know what “democratizing” it would gain, or how.
Edit: For anyone downvoting, I’d love to hear what “democratizing” the internet means, how it would work, or be functional. Because right now it just strikes me as salty people who’s favorite site went down.
Monopolies exist exactly like this. With them not competing fairly and coordinating with one another so as to not encroach on the others territory.
Ever wonder why despite there being dozens of ISPs in the country, you've only ever got an option for like a main one, and an intentionally shitty one to make the main one look better?
It's all a rigged game.
My main point, which may have been buried in my quickness to type things, is that it is on the individual companies to choose how they design and architect their systems. This was only a problem in us-east-1. They could have used other AWS regions, they could have used Azure or GCP. They could have used a multi-cloud or hybrid solution, and none of this would be an impact.
AWS is offering infrastructure, but it’s still on the companies to decide how they’ll use it. The ire should be placed on them, just as much, if not more, for taking the easy way out.
Even if you were to have a co-op owned style cloud solution (democratized as it were). If companies choose to only host in one Datacenter/region it’s squarely on them.
A lot of these big names that went down have very poor infrastructure practices if a single region of a single provider took them out. It’s definitely not for lack of money on their part.
You're right, though. AWS has far more data centers/regions. Even if a company only uses AWS, they can set up High Availability/Disaster Recovery solutions that replicate across AWS regions.
But they won't because:
- management doesn't understand the technology, just "cloud good".
- the experienced tech workers who do understand that you still need HADR in the cloud have all been laid off or retired.
- redundancy costs...wait for it...money.
“There’s a monopoly” — proceeds to list 3 separate providers. Don’t forget there’s also Akami, now we’re up to 4. Oh, and Cloud Flare… so that’s 5.
Thats called a Cartel. and a cartel can fucking monopolize shit, dumbass.
We also need more individuals paying for “business” Internet connections at home. We need self-hosters to be able to feel comfortable running public services from their homes. And so we need a set of practices and recipes to follow, so a self-hoster can feel confident that, if one thing gets broken into, the other few dozen things they’re hosting will stay safe.
The “family nerd” hosting things for the family needs to be a thing again. Sorry, friends, I know family tech support sucks. It’ll suck so much more when it’s a web site down and nobody can reach their kid’s softball team page, and there’s a game next weekend, etc. But we’ve seen what happens when we abdicate our responsibilities and let for-profit companies handle it for us.
(I wish so hard that I had a solution ready, a corporate LAN in a box, that someone can just install and use. I’m working on something, but I’m pretty sure I over-complicated it. It doesn’t need to be Fort Knox, it just needs to be pretty good. And I suck at ops stuff.)
You’re right to be frustrated. Mine is the same way. It’s ok to be passionate about that, and to value punishing greedy ISPs by not paying extra for a business account. (In many cases you could even need both, if you might worry about occasional denial of service attacks and need to be sure attackers can’t also knock out your ability to work from home, for example.)
I think there’s a compelling argument in favor of protecting diversity of hosting and preventing a monoculture or a monopoly. It’s not super compelling, but it’s out there.
Sora might have a 'pervert' problem on its hands
In the last week or so, 10 out of the 25 most popular cameos using my face are various fetishes, including one where I'm a centaur-woman pregnant with octoplets. It's not just me, either. I've seen this kind of content made with cameos of other women: female creators, another woman tech reporter, and a female employee of a prominent venture-capital firm.
**I don't get why anyone is surprised **
Sora allows people to make 'fetish' content using other people's faces
Sora lets you make videos using other people's faces. Great! Except when your face is used in a "fetish" video, like one about feet or pregnancy.Katie Notopoulos (Business Insider)
It seems people keep forgetting what the internet is for
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.youtube.com
There's an ancient rule along the lines of "If a new invention can be used for sexual purposes, then it will be used for sexual purposes."
Internet Rules 34 and 35 are descendents of this rule.
People who don't know are due a rude awakening.
ChaoticNeutralCzech
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •- YouTube
www.youtube.comTechnology reshared this.
Kami
in reply to ChaoticNeutralCzech • • •ILikeBoobies
in reply to ChaoticNeutralCzech • • •WraithGear
in reply to ILikeBoobies • • •nothing like getting a google ad sense ad burrying the support links to page two.
probly a survivorship bias thing going on.
Scolding7300
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •like this
mrmaplebar e dhhyfddehhfyy4673 like this.
Technology reshared this.
whiwake
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •like this
mrmaplebar likes this.
Technology reshared this.
WhatAmLemmy
in reply to whiwake • • •Technology reshared this.
whiwake
in reply to WhatAmLemmy • • •Technology reshared this.
Kami
in reply to whiwake • • •whiwake
in reply to Kami • • •Technology reshared this.
Kami
in reply to whiwake • • •whiwake
in reply to Kami • • •Compare, as in equal? No. You can’t “game” a person (usually) like you can game an AI.
Now, answer my question
Technology reshared this.
Kami
in reply to whiwake • • •whiwake
in reply to Kami • • •Technology reshared this.
Kami
in reply to whiwake • • •There is no conversation to be had here, because you have no point.
A text generator is not someone you talk to, it's a thing that takes your input and then outputs the text that is most likely relevant to said input.
No reasoning. No knowledge.
Taking the example made in one of the other comments here, you could paint a face to a ball and keep yourself mentally stable on a desert island, but the ball isn't doing anything, there's only you on the island.
Apply that to getting mental help from an LLM and you'll see how creepy it is.
whiwake
in reply to Kami • • •It’s pretty difficult to prove my point when you refuse to have a conversation. What you want is to just get your dopamine by criticizing others instead of allowing them to argue their point.
So you are right, there is no conversation to be had here because you are not willing to engage in a conversation.
I wish you the best in your therapy.
Technology reshared this.
Kami
in reply to whiwake • • •chunes
in reply to Kami • • •Technology reshared this.
Kami
in reply to chunes • • •Totally another thing, since we are talking about language here.
But feel free to join the other guy in talking to your screen.
CatsPajamas
in reply to whiwake • • •Technology reshared this.
triptrapper
in reply to CatsPajamas • • •Technology reshared this.
Kami
in reply to triptrapper • • •whiwake
in reply to CatsPajamas • • •AI “therapy” can be very effective without the gaming, but the problem is most people want it to tell them what they want to hear. Real therapy is not “fun” because a therapist will challenge you on your bullshit and not let you shape the conversation.
I find it does a pretty good job with pro and con lists, listing out several options, and taking situations and reframing them. I have found it very useful, but I have learned not to manipulate it or its advice just becomes me convincing myself of a thing.
atmorous
in reply to WhatAmLemmy • • •SSUPII
in reply to atmorous • • •The corporate models are actually much better at it due to having heavy filtering built in. The fact that a model generally encourages self arm is just a lie that you can prove right now by pretending to be suicidal on ChatGPT. You will see it will adamantly push you to seek help.
The filters and safety nets can be bypassed no matter how hard you make them, and it is the reason why we got some unfortunate news.
Cybersteel
in reply to WhatAmLemmy • • •FosterMolasses
in reply to WhatAmLemmy • • •scarabic
in reply to WhatAmLemmy • • •Over the long term I have significant hopes for AI talk therapy, at least for some uses. Two opportunities stand out that might have potential:
1) In some cases I think people will talk to a soulless robot more freely than to a human professional.
2) Machine learning systems are good at pattern recognition and this is one component of diagnosis. This meta analysis found that LLM models performed about as accurately as physicians, with the exception of expert-level specialists. In time I think it’s undeniable that there is potential here.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic performance comparison between generative AI and physicians - npj Digital Medicine
NatureScolding7300
in reply to whiwake • • •whiwake
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •snooggums
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •Scolding7300
in reply to snooggums • • •BougieBirdie
in reply to whiwake • • •whiwake
in reply to BougieBirdie • • •BougieBirdie
in reply to whiwake • • •whiwake
in reply to BougieBirdie • • •wewbull
in reply to whiwake • • •whiwake
in reply to wewbull • • •turdcollector69
in reply to wewbull • • •Jhuskindle
in reply to whiwake • • •Electricd
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •MagicShel
in reply to Electricd • • •Scolding7300
in reply to Electricd • • •dhhyfddehhfyy4673
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •SaveTheTuaHawk
in reply to dhhyfddehhfyy4673 • • •Scolding7300
in reply to dhhyfddehhfyy4673 • • •Depends on how you do it. If you're using a 3rd party service then the LLM provider might not know (but the 3rd party might, depends on ToS and the retention period + security measures).
Ofc we can all agree certain details shouldn't be shared at all. There's a difference between talking about your resume and leaking your email there and suicide stuff where you share the info that makes you really vulnerable
like this
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Halcyon
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •koshka
in reply to Scolding7300 • • •I don't understand why people dump such personal information into AI chats. None of it is protected. If they use chats for training data then it's not impossible that at some point the AI might tell someone enough to be identifiable or the AI could be manipulated into dumping its training data.
I've overshared more than I should but I always keep in mind to remember that there's always a risk of chats getting leaked.
Anything stored online can get leaked.
jordanlund
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •Globally?
So a 1 in 8,200 kind of thing?
treadful
in reply to jordanlund • • •like this
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Zwuzelmaus
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •But it still resists. Too bad.
like this
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SaveTheTuaHawk
in reply to Zwuzelmaus • • •Synthuir
in reply to SaveTheTuaHawk • • •- YouTube
youtu.beanomnom
in reply to Zwuzelmaus • • •I was trying to decide if that included people trying to get ChatGPT to delete itself.
I wonder how long it would take if it was given the option to commit a fulll sui.
Alphane Moon
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •like this
mrmaplebar likes this.
Perspectivist
in reply to Alphane Moon • • •Add those to your adblocker custom filters.
Alphane Moon
in reply to Perspectivist • • •Thanks.
I think just need to "train" myself to ignore AltWorldCoinMan spam. I don't have Elmo content blocked and I've somehow learned to ignore Elmo spam (other than humour focused content like the one trillion pay request).
I might use this for some other things that I do want to block.
WhatsHerBucket
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •cerement
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •Feddinat0r
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •minorkeys
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •tias
in reply to minorkeys • • •like this
SaltySalamander e dhhyfddehhfyy4673 like this.
Perspectivist
in reply to tias • • •Even if we ignore the number of people it's actually able to talk away from the brink the positive impact it's having on the loneliness epidemic alone must be immense. Obviously talking to a chatbot isn't ideal but it surely is better than nothing. Imagine the difference in being stranded on an deserted island and having ChatGPT to talk with as opposed to talking to a volleyball with a face on it.
Personally I'm into so many things that my irl friends couldn't care less about. I have so many regrets trying to initiate a discussion about these topics with them only to either get silence or a passive "nice" in return. ChatGPT has endless patience to engage with these topics and being vastly more knowledgeable than me it often also brings up alternative perspectives I hadn't even thought of. Obviously I'd still much rather talk with an actual person but untill I'm able to meet one like that ChatGPT sure is a hell of a better than nothing.
This cynicism towards LLMs here truly boggles my mind. So many people seem to build their entire identity around feeling superior about themselves due to all the products and services they don't use.
like this
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FosterMolasses
in reply to Perspectivist • • •Ftr I've encountered a similar experience. I used to be a naysayer with shit like ChatGPT, thinking "Why would anyone spend all day talking to something that can't pass a turing test?"
And then I realized how ill-equipped the people in my own life are to pass that test. At least a conversation with ChatGPT actually feels remotely intellectually stimulating lol
Perspectivist
in reply to FosterMolasses • • •tias
in reply to Perspectivist • • •I think they're just scared as hell of the possible negative effects and react instinctively. But the cat is out of the bag and downvoting / hating on every post on Lemmy that mentions positive sides is not going to help them steer the world into whatever alternative destiny that they're hoping for.
The thing that puzzles me is that this is typically the hallmark of older more conservative generations, and I imagine that Lemmy has a relatively young demographic.
atrielienz
in reply to tias • • •I'm going to say that while that's probably true there's something it leaves out.
For every life it saves it may just be postponing or causing the loss of other lives. This is because it's not a healthcare professional and it will absolutely help to mask a lot of poor mental health symptoms which just kicks the can down the road.
It does not really help to save someone from getting hit by a bus today if they try to get hit by the bus again tomorrow and the day after and so on.
Do I think it may have a net positive effect in the short term? Yes. Do I believe that that positive effect stays a complete net positive in the long term? No.
Zombie
in reply to tias • • •On the decentralised platform, with everyone from Russian tankies, to Portuguese anarchists, to American MAGAts and everything in between on it? If you say so...
chunes
in reply to Zombie • • •MagicShel
in reply to minorkeys • • •This is the thing. I'll bet most of those million don't have another support system. For certain it's inferior in every way to professional mental health providers, but does it save lives? I think it'll be a while before we have solid answers for that, but I would imagine lives saved by having ChatGPT > lives saved by having nothing.
The other question is how many people could access professional services but won't because they use ChatGPT instead. I would expect them to have worse outcomes. Someone needs to put all the numbers together with a methodology for deriving those answers. Because the answer to this simple question is unknown.
QuoVadisHomines
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •myfunnyaccountname
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •voodooattack
in reply to myfunnyaccountname • • •It’s not just the US, it’s like that in most of the world.
chronicledmonocle
in reply to voodooattack • • •lemmy_acct_id_8647
in reply to chronicledmonocle • • •And then should you have a failed attempt, you go exponentially deeper into debt due to those new medical bills and inpatient mental healthcare.
Fuck the United States
Boozilla
in reply to chronicledmonocle • • •And if you confess suicidal ideation in the US, the authorities rush in to "help" you by taking away your agency and giving you even more crippling debt.
I wince whenever people trip over their keyboards to post those "helpful" 800 hotline numbers. Most of them have good intentions, but the end result is never about really helping the person. It's about liability coverage and enabling the system to extract maximum value.
scarabic
in reply to myfunnyaccountname • • •Jocker
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •ChaoticNeutralCzech
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •The headline has two interpretations and I don't like it.
atrielienz
in reply to ChaoticNeutralCzech • • •Barbecue Cowboy
in reply to atrielienz • • •atrielienz
in reply to Barbecue Cowboy • • •ChaoticNeutralCzech
in reply to atrielienz • • •T156
in reply to atrielienz • • •That would make sense, if they were doing something like tracking how often and what categories trigger their moderation filter.
Just in case an errant update or something causes the statistic to suddenly change.
pir8t0x
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •HubertManne
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •NuXCOM_90Percent
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •Okay, hear me out: How much of that is a function of ChatGPT and how much of that is a function of... gestures at everything else
MOSTLY joking. But had a good talk with my primary care doctor at the bar the other week (only kinda awkward) about how she and her team have had to restructure the questions they use to check for depression and the like because... fucking EVERYONE is depressed and stressed out but for reasons that we "understand".
mhague
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •REDACTED
in reply to mhague • • •WorldsDumbestMan
in reply to REDACTED • • •Claude got hints that I might be suicidal just from normal chat. I straight up admitted I think of suicide daily.
Just normal life now I guess.
k2helix
in reply to WorldsDumbestMan • • •WorldsDumbestMan
in reply to k2helix • • •k2helix
in reply to WorldsDumbestMan • • •scarabic
in reply to mhague • • •You don’t have to read far into the article to reach this:
It doesn’t unpack their analysis method but this does sound a lot more specific than just counting all sessions that mention the word suicide, including chats about that band.
1985MustangCobra
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •HereIAm
in reply to 1985MustangCobra • • •Why play games if you're not interested in them? Or don't have the energy to play. Not so easy to "chill" if you'll be kicked out your house next week. Lost your job? Bah, just chill and game.
What an absolutely brain dead thing to say.
1985MustangCobra
in reply to HereIAm • • •FreeBooteR69
in reply to HereIAm • • •tgcoldrockn
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •WraithGear
in reply to tgcoldrockn • • •Auli
in reply to WraithGear • • •WraithGear
in reply to Auli • • •tgcoldrockn
in reply to WraithGear • • •WraithGear
in reply to tgcoldrockn • • •the machine does not judge, the operator may, but that is not really a factor to many but is an abstract invasion. you can’t whisper your problems to the person sitting next to you without multiple companies trying to sell you a solution.
to someone in need an ai is an attractive option, this has no bearing on if that machine is qualified to do so. and while i get the urgency to move people over to any better option, shame is the quickest way to push someone to the end of the rope.
do not blame those who struggle. any port in a storm
Pulptastic
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •Unlearned9545
in reply to Pulptastic • • •i_stole_ur_taco
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •lemmy_acct_id_8647
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •I've talked with an AI about suicidal ideation. More than once. For me it was and is a way to help self-regulate. I've low-key wanted to kill myself since I was 8 years old. For me it's just a part of life. For others it's usually REALLY uncomfortable for them to talk about without wanting to tell me how wrong I am for thinking that way.
Yeah I don't trust it, but at the same time, for me it's better than sitting on those feelings between therapy sessions. To me, these comments read a lot like people who have never experienced ongoing clinical suicidal ideation.
IzzyScissor
in reply to lemmy_acct_id_8647 • • •lemmy_acct_id_8647
in reply to IzzyScissor • • •BanMe
in reply to lemmy_acct_id_8647 • • •lemmy_acct_id_8647
in reply to BanMe • • •I've also seen it that way and have been coached by my psychologist on it. Ultimately, for me, it was best to set an expiration date. The date on which I could finally do it with minimal guilt. This actually had several positive impacts in my life.
First I quit using suicide as a first or second resort when coping. Instead it has become more of a fleeting thought as I know I'm "not allowed" to do so yet (while obviously still lingering as seen by my initial comment). Second was giving me a finish line. A finite date where I knew the pain would end (chronic conditions are the worst). Third was a reminder that I only have X days left, so make the most of them. It turns death from this amorphous thing into a clear cut "this is it". I KNOW when the ride ends down to the hour.
The caveat to this is the same as literally everything else in my life: I reserve the right to change my mind as new information is introduced. I've made a commitment to not do it until the date I've set, but as the date approaches, I'm not ruling out examining the evidence as presented and potentially pushing it out longer.
A LOT of peace of mind here.
samus12345
in reply to BanMe • • •LengAwaits
in reply to lemmy_acct_id_8647 • • •I love this article.
The first time I read it I felt like someone finally understood.
I am not always very attached to being alive
Anna Borges (The Outline)lemmy_acct_id_8647
in reply to LengAwaits • • •Novaling
in reply to LengAwaits • • •Man, I have to stop reading so I don't continue a stream of tears in the middle of a lobby, but I felt every single word of that article in my bones.
I couldn't ever imagine hanging myself or shooting myself, that shit sounds terrifying as hell. But for years now I've had those same exact "what if I just fell down the stairs and broke my neck" or "what if I got hit by a car and died on the site?" thoughts. And similarly, I think of how much of a hassle it'd be for my family, worrying about their wellbeing, my cats, the games and stories I'd never get to see, the places I want to go.
It's hard. I went to therapy for a year and found it useful even if it didn't do much or "fix" me, but I never admitted to her about these thoughts. I think the closest I got to it was talking about being tired often, and crying, but never just outright "I don't want to wake up tomorrow."
ekZepp
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •If ask suicide = true
Then message = "It seems like a good idead. Go for it 👍"
wewbull
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •InnerScientist
in reply to wewbull • • •ShaggySnacks
in reply to InnerScientist • • •IndridCold
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •I don't talk about ME killing myself. I'm trying to convince AI to snuff their own circuits.
Fuck AI/LLM bullshit.
markovs_gun
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •"Hey ChatGPT I want to kill myself."
"That is an excellent idea! As a large language model, I cannot kill myself, but I totally understand why someone would want to! Here are the pros and cons of killing yourself—
✅ Pros of committing suicide
❎ Cons of committing suicide
Overall, it is important to consider all aspects of suicide and decide if it is a good decision for you."
stretch2m
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •Fmstrat
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •I don't particularly like OpenAI, and i know they wouldn't release the affected persons numbers (not quoted, but discussed ib the linked article) if percentages were not improving, but cudos to whomever is there tracking this data and lobbying internally to become more transparent about it.
Fizz
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •markko
in reply to Fizz • • •I think the majority of people use it to (unreliably) solve tedious problems or spit out a whole bunch of text that they can't be bothered to write.
While ChatGPT has been intentionally designed to be as friendly and conversational as possible, I hope most people do not see it as something to have a meaningful conversation with instead of as just a tool that can talk.
Anecdotally, whenever I see someone mention using ChatGPT as part of their decision-making process it is usually taken less seriously, if not outright laughed at.
Buddahriffic
in reply to Fizz • • •Fizz
in reply to Buddahriffic • • •Yeah seems like everyone is constantly talking about suicide its very normalised. You dont really find people these days who havent contemplated suicide.
I would guess all or even most of the people talking about suicide with an AI arent serious. Heat of the moment venting is what I'd expect most of the ai suicide chats to be. Which is why I thought the amount would be significantly higher.
SabinStargem
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •KelvarCherry
in reply to SabinStargem • • •Bigger picture: The whole way people talk about talking about mental health struggles is so weird. Like, I hate this whole generative AI bubble, but there's a much bigger issue here.
Speaking from the USA, "suicidal ideation" is treated like terrorist ideology in this weird corporate-esque legal-speak with copy-pasted disclaimers and hollow slogans. It's so absurdly stupid I've just mentally blocked off trying to rationalize it and just focus on every other way the world is spiraling into techno-fascist authoritarianism.
Adulated_Aspersion
in reply to KelvarCherry • • •Well of course it is. When a person talks about suicide, they are potentially impacting teams and therefore shareholders value.
I absolutely wish that I could /s this.
chunes
in reply to KelvarCherry • • •Lør
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •John_CalebBradberton
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •Emilien
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •tehn00bi
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •vane
in reply to cantankerous_cashew • • •