Mastodawn

Ed Zitron:

"LLMs impress the writers who do not want to write, the coders who don’t want to code, the researchers who don’t want to research, and the lawyers that don’t want to actually understand case law. Those that desperately tell you how powerful AI is and that you simply must use it are looking for you to validate their own laziness or distaste for effort, and those who are impressed with LLMs’ outputs tend to be people with low standards."

https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-revenge-of-the-business-idiot/
2/n

Revenge of The Business Idiot

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Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At

Lapwing May 5

After many years of using the internet, it would be interesting to get my hands on one of the digital profiles that have been generated about me. I have a feeling the algorithms know me better than I know myself.😒
#privacy #digitalprivacy #algorithms #databroker #surveillancecapitalism #knowthyself #techethics #privacymatters #bigdata #AI #digitalfootprint

Lapwing May 5

nixCraft 🐧May 5

Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/chrome-silent-nano-install/

> No consent dialog. No opt-out UI. Re-installs itself if the user removes it manually.

That is the true definition of malware.

Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — That Privacy Guy!

Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.

That Privacy Guy!

Lapwing Apr 27

Carolyn Apr 27

An FYI to folk booking tickets online: if you notice price jumps between the first time you look and when you are ready to book, delete cache and empty cookies. The airline deleted their post a short time later because someone was being too helpful.

Lapwing Apr 18

Readit Club Apr 18

Dear #fediverse, please send more readers my way.

I’d love to connect with more people who read books, post about #books, write #reviews, share #recommendations, and enjoy thoughtful conversations about #literature.

#bookstodon #reading #booksky #bookreview #booklovers #readingcommunity #bookclub
@bookstodon

Lapwing Apr 18

Hans van der Kwast

Apr 18

I just passed 35K subscribers on my YouTube channel and I'm grateful for everyone following my open‑source geo work.

But for those who prefer to avoid big tech: my videos are also published on #QwastTube, my own #PeerTube instance.

▶️ QwastTube: https://videos.qwast-gis.com/
▶️ YouTube (if you still use it): https://www.youtube.com/@HansvanderKwast

#FOSS4G #OpenSource #PeerTube #DigitalSovereignty #QGIS #GIS #WebODM #PCRaster #RemoteSensing

Lapwing Apr 16

I need recommendations for a Linux/Reaper-compatible MIDI keyboard/controller. On my current MIDI keyboard (NI MK32), the keys work, but the controls do not.
#linuxAudio #linux #ReaperDAW

Lapwing Mar 9

Jeg var i byggemarkedet i lørdags, hvor jeg så en maskine jeg virkelig godt kunne bruge. Det der slog mig var, at prisen på maskinen stort set var 1 til 1 med mine nye briller. Briller som jeg ikke kan undvære.
Der er tydeligvis en prisforskel på "nice to have" og "need to have"🤔

Lapwing Feb 20

Can it be argued that it violates GDPR rules if, for example, you accept that Facebook (and other social media) gains access to your phone contacts? The contacts I have on my phone have never given me permission to share their contact information with others🤔
#privacy

Lapwing Jan 20

Bold idea: What if a group of companies—all using the same type of proprietary software—pooled their resources to invest in optimizing existing cross platform open-source software? They could, for example, allocate the same amount they currently spend on licenses over a three-year period. The result? A tailored product that meets their specific needs, with no future licensing costs.

Crazy, I know

#openSource #LibreSoftware #linux