Skip Navigation

InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)A

abhibeckert

@ abhibeckert @lemmy.world

Posts
0
Comments
509
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Scientists develop game-changing 'glass brick' that could revolutionize construction: 'The highest insulating performance'

    Jump

  • but the cost is like 10-30 times that of other options

    Are you just talking construction costs? How about if you consider the lifetime energy consumption of a building over, I dunno, 50 years? And using zero emission heating, since in 50 years we hopefully are not using fossil fuels for that.

    Obviously that's going to vary dramatically depending on the indoor/outdoor temperature delta and future renewable energy costs, so there are too many variables to come up with a number easily, but I could see these bricks being very cheap if you factor int he total cost over the life of the building.

    The better option than glass block would be filling the cavity of a double glazed window with aerogel granules

    Glass works ok for small windows - but large glass panels are fragile and expensive.

  • Pkl - Configuration that is Programmable, Scalable, and Safe

    Jump

  • Huh? No. This is a really simple tool - you type text into a file, and save that file on your disk. Other things read the file. Thee's no "control" anywhere to be seen.

    Apparently Apple has been using Pkl internally for years, and they've decided to do the world a favour by making it publicly available... probably because they want to use it for public projects too, instead of just their internal ones.

  • Google Pulls the Plug: The End of Third-Party Cookies and What it Means | TWiT.TV

    Jump

  • people refusing to create an account acting all doom and gloom are getting to be insufferable

    I'm not doom and gloom, I think this is a good step in the right direction.

    Users should be able to control what websites have access to their data and a sign in process achieves that. Only sign into a site if you are happy with the website's privacy policy. I have an account on this website because it has in the privacy policy:

    We do not sell or disclose user data under any condition, unless required by relevant data protection authorities, any other law enforcement authorities, or if the account owner requests the data themselves.

    The thing that offends me the most about tracking across the internet is you are tracked wether you agree to a website's privacy policy or not. Usually you can't even read the privacy policy without being tracked.

    Users who don't care about any of that can simply tap this button in Chrome (and Google could easily make it even more seamless if they want to, with a simple "share my stuff with every website I visit" setting):

    There are also less invasive versions of that, such as the Passkeys standard, where you just share a unique id web the website - no name or email address. Passkeys are supported in every modern browser and the prompt is pretty similar to the screenshot above, minus the 'share your name/email/picture' bit.

    Personally, I'm only going to sign into websites that I trust. 99.999% of the internet is run by companies i have never even heard of, so obviously I don't trust them. And some of the sites I have heard of (e.g. Twitter, Reddit), I definitely don't trust. But there are a few sites like lemmy.world which I trust and there are also plenty of websites websites that do even less tracking than Lemmy. Including a bunch that are ad supported... because you can show an ad to a visitor without knowing the personal details of that visitor.

    As things stand right now, I run a browser extension that stops websites from tracking me and they do that by blocking all ads. I don't see that as a sustainable option - it means those websites are losing money whenever I visit the website. Far better, far more honest, if I just don't visit those websites at all. But I need to know what the website's tracking policy is before i can make that choice, so they need to start asking for permission.

  • Google Pulls the Plug: The End of Third-Party Cookies and What it Means | TWiT.TV

    Jump

  • Google regularly thinks I'm a robot and the ads are not even remotely relevant. There's no way they know who I am.

  • User guide: End of Life (EOL) for Twilio Authy Desktop app

    Jump

  • I'd look for one that also does passwords. And passkeys too, since that's looking like it will replace TOTP.

    Since like it or not you're going to have three credential systems to deal with, at least have all of them in one place.

  • Apple’s iMessage is not a “core platform” in EU, so it can stay walled off

    Jump

  • iMessage is a typical American thing which, we Europeans, have a really hard time comprehending what is the obsession with it.

    To help you comprehend - the big difference is SMS has been free for a long long time in the USA. No other text messaging service has ever been able to get off the ground because why on earth would anyone sign up for Viber / WatsApp / Messenger / Signal / Telegram / Threema / etc, when you could just use SMS which works fine and works for everyone?

    Then iMessage came along, and you could keep using "SMS", only now it's more reliable, has high resolution photos, delivery confirmation, etc. That was a real improvement over SMS, with no cost at all other than having to stay on the iPhone platform, which you were already on, and who's going to switch? You've got all these apps you found/like and who knows which ones work on Android?

    Also, it's not just the USA. iMessage is big in other markets too. Also ones where SMS has historically been free. The cost of having to pay to send SMS between London/Paris is a pain we never really experienced here, so there was no motivation to try WhatsApp/etc.

  • Apple’s iMessage is not a “core platform” in EU, so it can stay walled off

    Jump

  • There's still plenty of EU pressure. This was a close enough thing that the EU spent months investigating it before making a decision.

    That sends a pretty clear message to Apple "we're OK with what you're doing with messaging right now, but only just barely". If Apple does something the EU doesn't like, new legislation can be written.

    There's also pressure in the USA and other countries where iMessage is far more widely used. The pressure hasn't gone anywhere yet, but it definitely could. The USA came down hard on Ma Bell when they dominated the phone industry. They're so dead most people have forgotten they existed. They were arguably the biggest company in the entire world at the time. Just like Apple is now.

    Part of the order against Ma Bell was to order the company to stop selling phones. Imagine if the USA did that again, with Apple this time. I listened to an interview with an antitrust regulator in the USA yesterday (Decoder podcast)... he said they're short staffed and rely on punitive damages so harsh that other companies choose voluntary compliance, removing the need to actually regulate the whole industry (they don't have enough people to do that). Pretty scary stuff - the EU's approach is far gentler.

  • Google Pulls the Plug: The End of Third-Party Cookies and What it Means | TWiT.TV

    Jump

  • Big difference between posting a comment and just viewing a website.

  • OpenAI Gives ChatGPT a Better ‘Memory’

    Jump

  • Idk how Microsoft has bungled this naming

    You haven't followed been following Microsoft for long have you? The first version of Windows was version 3.0 (there were technically earlier versions but they were "a work in progress" and weren't really usable at all). The third version of Xbox was called "Xbox One".

  • OpenAI Gives ChatGPT a Better ‘Memory’

    Jump

  • // write a function to invert a string

    That's not how I use it at all. I mean I started out doing that, but these days it's more like this (for anyone who hasn't used copilot, the grey italic text is the auto-generated code - tab to accept, or just type over it to ignore it):

    Sure - I totally could have written the constructor. But it would have taken longer, and I probably would've made a few typos. And by the way it's way better than copying from Stack Overflow, because it knows your coding style, it knows what other classes/etc exist in your project, etc etc.

    It's also pretty good at refactoring. You can tell it to refactor something to use a different coding pattern for example, and it'll write 30 lines of code then show you a git style diff.

    Not to mention you can ask questions about your code now. Like "how has X been implemented in this 20 year old project I started working on today?" Or one I had the other day "I'm getting this error, what files might be causing that?" It gave me a list of 15 files and I was able to find it in a few minutes. The error had no context for me to figure it out.

  • Tesla's Cybertruck may not be so stainless after all

    Jump

  • Done properly it should prevent rust. Especially on already rust-resistant metal. And you could use clear paint.

  • Tesla's Cybertruck may not be so stainless after all

    Jump

  • SS301 is a great material

    Totally agree. But is this an appropriate use for it? I regularly have to use sandpaper to remove surface rust from my SS301 knife. And I don't leave that out in the rain. It's just surface rust, doesn't damage anything, but it is rust and it's very ugly.

    Thankfully with a knife, it takes two seconds to remove the rust. With an entire car? And body panels with areas that are hard to get to? Honestly if I was going to buy a cybertruck I would paint it.

    If you want "real" stainless, you want 316, but it's not as strong and would require significant modifications - making it thicker/heavier/more expensive/worse battery range/etc.

  • Tesla worker killed in fiery crash may be first ‘Full Self-Driving’ fatality

    Jump

  • The headline is totally wrong - there have been other fatalities before this one and I'd bet Washington Post reported all of them.

    At least one was almost identical, which shows just how seriously Tesla takes this whole thing. They should be learning from every crash and making sure it's not repeated.

  • Google Pulls the Plug: The End of Third-Party Cookies and What it Means | TWiT.TV

    Jump

  • Nothing convenient about those for me. Browser extensions/etc that block tracking cause all of those services to direct me to "are you a robot" and "something looks strange about your login" auth bounces which are getting increasingly difficult to wade through.

    A simple username/password, saved in a password manager, is so much easier.

  • Google Pulls the Plug: The End of Third-Party Cookies and What it Means | TWiT.TV

    Jump

  • Would you refuse to visit websites that force registration even if the account is free?

    Lots of sites require a free account these days. I don't visit those sites.

    What’s all the fuss about, you don’t care?

    I care.

    Is advertising a necessary evil in fair trade for content?

    I like advertising - how else are you supposed to find out what products/services are available? Regularly visit every website of every company I might be interested in? That doesn't work.

    It's data collection I dislike, nothing wrong with ads as long as they're a reasonably short interruption. Make ads relevant to the content, not the visitor.

    Unfortunately under the current system I don't see ads, because the only way to block tracking is to also block most ads. Sorry, but ad networks have burned that bridge. It's going to take time to rebuild it.

    Would this limit your visiting of websites to only a narrow few you are willing to trade personal details for?

    A website would need to offer some really valuable service for me to "trade personal details". Even sites where I have an account (e.g. YouTube) I generally don't log into that account.

    Is this a bad thing for the internet experience as whole, or just another progression of technology?

    I think anything that gives users control over wether or not they're tracked is a good thing - and forcing people to sign up / agree to terms before using a site does that. If websites want my personal details to access them... that's fine with me. I just won't use those sites. Other people will make a different decision. It's how it should be.

    I also think I'm not alone, and plenty of major sites will choose to just not do any tracking. I look forward to using those sites.

    Is this no different from using any other technology platform that’s free (If it’s free, you’re the product)?

    I reject that premise. Lemmy is free. I don't feel like "the product" when I use lemmy. The product is the content and the discussions. If Lemmy has a few ads on every page, I'd be fine with that. I think it'd be a good idea - as long as it's done right, without invading privacy.

    Should website owners just accept a lower revenue model and adapt their business, rather than seeking higher / unfair revenues from privacy invasive practices of the past?

    It's their business, choose whatever revenue model they want. Just be honest and open about it.

  • Wi-Fi jamming to knock out cameras suspected in nine Minnesota burglaries -- smart security systems vulnerable as tech becomes cheaper and easier to acquire

    Jump

  • IP anything is generally far more difficult to jam thanks to TCP/IP checking for acknowledgment the data arrived and trying again - at a slower speed which can handle more noise.

    Our cameras at work use wifi and Ethernet and have an internal SD card - plus a built in coin cell battery that can run for a little while. Obviously not cheap though.

  • Wi-Fi jamming to knock out cameras suspected in nine Minnesota burglaries -- smart security systems vulnerable as tech becomes cheaper and easier to acquire

    Jump

  • Huh? If anything it would probably be even easier to jam.

  • Deleted

    Permanently Deleted

    Jump

  • E2EE does help. Notifications can include the content of the notification but they don't have to and it's generally recommended to send a notification telling the device to launch the app in the background to check the server for new content. The app will then decrypt the message and display a plain text notification that is not sent to any servers.

    If you're worried about metadata leaks, you can delay delivery by a random time interval.

  • Deleted

    Permanently Deleted

    Jump

  • And yet the need for a car in our family is indeed extant.

    Let me guess - because while your home is ideally located for your daily commute, it's not ideally located for the rest of your family?

    I love travelling by bike, but unfortunately it's just not possible to find a home that is within cycling distance for everywhere anyone in our household needs to go. Right now it's pretty much only my kid's school, but in a couple years he'll be older and need to move to another school, which won't be as close. We live about half way in between my work and my partner's work - which is 30 minutes each way (by car) in opposite directions... it's not really practical to take a bus either (cycling is faster, because it's not a direct bus route). So, two cars in our household. I try to cycle to work twice a week or so, whenever I can spare the extra time, but my partner can't do that since there are no safe cycling paths on her commute.