@riskable@programming.dev

comments

• Oh yes, I remember. I remember that Google started to become worse and worse starting around 2018. By 2020, SEO was too damned good and ruined so much of the results. By 2024, trying to find technical info became so difficult I’d end up searching with DDG which was sometimes better.

  All this was before AI slop existed.

  Don’t blame AI. Blame SEO by commercial interests. They’ve been generating slop since the early 2000s. AI just makes them faster at it.

  on ‘I miss old Google’: readers tell us how they search the internet in the age of AI in c/technology@lemmy.world · 17h ago

• It didn’t say what companies it was. Anyone know?

  For all we know it was some physics lab trying to develop fusion reactor designs.

  on Protestors Ransack AI Lab, Leave Graffiti Calling on Masses to "Burn the Data Centers" in c/technology@lemmy.world · 23h ago

• If Meta can’t distinguish feminist literature from prohibited content,

  You misunderstand… Feminist literature is the prohibited content. I’m not making a joke here. That’s literally their policy!

  on Meta Now Banning Ads That Promote Feminism: "We have given social media unlimited power and every day we can see how dangerous this is." in c/technology@lemmy.world · 2d ago

• So they want drones to slam into critical infrastructure. After all, if they lack obstacle avoidance…

  Drones that can avoid buildings, people, and electrical wiring? NO!

  Rocket-propelled Grenade-like drones? Totally fine!

  on The FCC Moves to Retroactively Ban Drones With LiDAR Obstacle Avoidance in c/technology@piefed.social · 4d ago

• Always assume you’re being recorded in public because you are. You’re not even talking about that: You’re talking about preventing normal citizens from being able to record in public. Yet government will still have that power. That’s exactly what’s going on with Flock cameras.

  You can regulate sales of hidden cameras in your country, but you can’t stop their manufacture or general availability because they’re literally designed to be undetectable. Anyone can buy them online and they always will be able to.

  I could design my own PCB with a tiny CCD and put together a case with whatever lens I want. In your scenario, would I require a license to order such a PCB? Like it’s a gun or something?

  How would you even know that it’s meant to be a camera for recording people? It could just be an environment monitoring sensor or a security device that sounds an alarm whenever it detects motion.

  You brought up the practicality of things… What you propose is highly impractical.

  on GDPR trap Smart Glasses: Why Ray-Ban Meta wearers can be held liable in c/technology@lemmy.world · 17 Sep 2026

• I understand that. The way I see it is that the European style gives the government a monopoly on recording in public. That seems dangerous to me (an American).

  I personally think it’s very important that everyone have the right to record people in public because I’ve seen people—in person—being intimidated by police to stop recording (them possibly committing a crime).

  It’s a “WTF!” hands in the air situation. The police know that everyone’s allowed to record them but they just don’t care.

  How does that work in Europe? You see someone committing a crime and you just keep your phone in your pocket? Because it’s against the law?

  “Excuse me, sir… May I have your permission to record you beating this person to death? Thanks!”

  on GDPR trap Smart Glasses: Why Ray-Ban Meta wearers can be held liable in c/technology@lemmy.world · 17 Sep 2026

• When you’re out in public you’re in public! It’s literally the opposite of private.

  Why would you expect to remain anonymous or private in such a situation?

  Everyone has the right to record what’s going on, out in the open. You want to add shutter sounds and recording lights to cameras? Sure. That doesn’t violate anyone’s rights. But don’t go restricting people’s rights just because you think you’ll never have the need to record something happening right in front of you.

  on GDPR trap Smart Glasses: Why Ray-Ban Meta wearers can be held liable in c/technology@lemmy.world · 16 Sep 2026

• I can’t accept a world like this. No one has a right to privacy when out in public and especially not police who are on duty or government figures.

  You’re just asking for a brutal police state with that attitude.

  Note: Recording != Logging everything into a database. That’s an entirely separate issue.

  on GDPR trap Smart Glasses: Why Ray-Ban Meta wearers can be held liable in c/technology@lemmy.world · 16 Sep 2026

• Don’t go out in public? Seems like you’re asking the impossible because a recording of any kind is a “face scan”.

  on GDPR trap Smart Glasses: Why Ray-Ban Meta wearers can be held liable in c/technology@lemmy.world · 16 Sep 2026

• Not just perverts. Women have repeatedly caught police stalking them with hidden cameras. Journalists have caught police committing all sorts of crimes with hidden cameras.

  Here in my home town, someone caught a local business trying to extort them with a hidden camera.

  You’d think that with the possibility of hidden cameras being anywhere, evildoers would be a bit more careful. Nope!

  Instead, they’re trying to be the ones controlling all the cameras and secret surveillance. If they’re the only ones that are legally allowed to secretly record people, then what you’ve got is a much more powerful police state.

  on GDPR trap Smart Glasses: Why Ray-Ban Meta wearers can be held liable in c/technology@lemmy.world · 15 Sep 2026

• Let me take a moment to state a universal truth: There’s no such thing as “too much regulation.” There’s just good regulation and bad regulation.

  Want to regulate a category of technology that covers, “glasses with built-in cameras”? Ok! We’ll just mount the camera somewhere else.

  Or perhaps you want to regulate cameras that have lenses too small to notice from say, a dozen paces? Well, that would ban cameras on smartphones.

  Why not ban strapping smartphones to your head while you’re at it? That’s basically what these glasses are, after all.

  Tell us: What, specific regulations would you be looking for?

  on GDPR trap Smart Glasses: Why Ray-Ban Meta wearers can be held liable in c/technology@lemmy.world · 15 Sep 2026

• Why does it need to be obvious?

  In the US, everyone has the right to record what’s happening in public. Private settings are different, of course.

  I know we’re talking about Europe here but I’m genuinely curious how it improves things to make it “obvious” other than annoying legitimate users and doing nothing at all to people who actually want to record people in secret.

  Basically, it sounds like the pointless cookie warnings all over again.

  on GDPR trap Smart Glasses: Why Ray-Ban Meta wearers can be held liable in c/technology@lemmy.world · 15 Sep 2026

• Yep. And?

  Just like today: You have no idea if that person has a hidden camera or a gun or anything else dangerous or what their intentions are.

  on GDPR trap Smart Glasses: Why Ray-Ban Meta wearers can be held liable in c/technology@lemmy.world · 15 Sep 2026

• Yet another reason why local AI models are so important.

  You don’t need to be sending people’s faces to a super sketchy dossier-building company like Meta when you can just do face/object recognition locally on the device.

  This tech can be life-changing for people who are visually impaired. I would hate to see it banned just because the first adopter is an evil corporation.

  on GDPR trap Smart Glasses: Why Ray-Ban Meta wearers can be held liable in c/technology@lemmy.world · 15 Sep 2026

• The difference here is that your typical janitorial staff will look like janitorial staff. This guy is just a generic manager (a uniform change when cleaning would be a good idea though).

  The other issue is that most businesses don’t have locker rooms; they’re just bathrooms.

  A bathroom has stalls where you can’t see them whereas a locker room will often have naked or nearly naked people just walking about.

  on Florida woman goes to Crunch Fitness. Then she notices a man in Meta glasses: ‘This is my protection’ in c/technology@lemmy.world · 14 Sep 2026

• I assume he doesn’t actually have access to the business cameras because he’s just an employee of a much larger organization.

  Example: I work for a large organization and I do not have access to any cameras anywhere. I wouldn’t even know how to request it!

  Also, the recordings need to last a lot longer than 48h. A month makes more sense.

  on Florida woman goes to Crunch Fitness. Then she notices a man in Meta glasses: ‘This is my protection’ in c/technology@lemmy.world · 14 Sep 2026

• I’d imagine that in that job—if you’re not a perfectly fit young dude or a woman—there’s a lot of accusations of “being a creep.”

  Imagine you’re the guy working that job and someone complains that there’s a mess in the women’s locker room. What do you do?

  You ask a woman if there’s anyone else in there, maybe shout that you’re coming in to clean it up, etc. Then you walk into the women’s locker room and someone—anyone—sees a man walking into the women’s locker room. BAM! Instant creep status.

  Are Meta’s glasses the answer? Fuck no! But I understand the “I need protection from accusations” argument.

  What’s the alternative? Cameras in the locker room? Hidden cameras?

  The guy probably thought that the glasses were big, ugly, and obvious (because they are) so no one could complain that they didn’t know they could be recorded in that guy’s presence.

  on Florida woman goes to Crunch Fitness. Then she notices a man in Meta glasses: ‘This is my protection’ in c/technology@lemmy.world · 14 Sep 2026

• Qwen3:14B works fine on my 4060 Ti 16GB.

  It’s not good at debugging and what I would consider, “figuring complicated things out” but it’s perfectly capable of working on/creating several functions at a time or generating a medium-length Python module. Which is how I prefer to write code (with AI) anyway (little bit at a time; don’t let it be your architect!).

  My buddy has a 5090 and runs Qwen3:27B. With that much VRAM it can handle a LOT more context and it’s apparently all he needs now. He stopped paying Anthropic shortly after that model came out.

  on FOSS and Artificial Intelligence in c/foss@beehaw.org · 13 Sep 2026

• Police get caught committing crimes via hidden (or non-hidden, LOL) cameras all the time.

  The same is true for corporations (and plain old abusive bosses).

  Where I live, a company was caught making plans for illegal dumping (toxic waste) thanks to a hidden camera worn by a whistleblower.

  The most recent news about hidden cameras catching corporate misbehavior are mostly related to meat processing plants. In Texas, I believe they passed an unconstitutional law a few years ago banning people from recording (in public) near factory farms and meat processing plants.

  All this illegal/evil behavior was foiled thanks to hidden cameras.

  This is why I firmly believe in “one party” laws. Look that up if you don’t know what it means.

  on Calls in the UK to ban sex offenders from buying smart glasses in c/technology@lemmy.world · 8 Sep 2026

• So to you, the glasses are irrelevant. You just hate hidden cameras… Like police and various misbehaving corporations all over the world.

  on Calls in the UK to ban sex offenders from buying smart glasses in c/technology@lemmy.world · 8 Sep 2026

• You’re confused: You assume that all cameras on glasses will always be controlled by fascists.

  Did it ever occur to you that someone might make their own glasses? Or that a company could make a set that works offline?

  If you ran things, such technology would never happen because it would be banned before it got out the door.

  But you’d be ok with that because you live in a hole, with perfect eyesight and zero foresight.

  on Calls in the UK to ban sex offenders from buying smart glasses in c/technology@lemmy.world · 8 Sep 2026

• You think people should need a license to use technology like glasses and cameras. Listen to yourself!

  I don’t know what kind of “anti” hole you fell into but you need to crawl back out.

  on Calls in the UK to ban sex offenders from buying smart glasses in c/technology@lemmy.world · 8 Sep 2026

• Who’s pushing to make them hidden? If you want hidden cameras there’s thousands of vastly superior options than thick, ugly, obvious glasses.

  Go search AliExpress right now for “hidden camera”. Your mind will be blown.

  on Calls in the UK to ban sex offenders from buying smart glasses in c/technology@lemmy.world · 8 Sep 2026

• This isn’t wise for the sole reason that they really are a great benefit to the visually impaired.

  Right now the tech is super useful, being able to read small text out loud and differentiate similar objects that certain conditions make difficult. However, the tech has the potential to do so much more.

  Banning it now would be like slapping a whole lot of disabled people in the face.

  on Calls in the UK to ban sex offenders from buying smart glasses in c/technology@lemmy.world · 7 Sep 2026

• Or the personification of an arperture, which could indicate a closed mind 🤔

  Well, one that can open and close on demand, I guess 😁

  on Chemistrule in c/onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 Sep 2026

• A smart name would be Einsteinium.

  on Chemistrule in c/onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 Sep 2026

• They expect to migrate to paid search because they see the writing on the wall when it comes to AI search.

  on Firefox 155.0 released in c/firefox@lemmy.world · 1 Sep 2026

• I have to point this out because I know a lot of people are going to look at the “Smart Window” feature as, “Ew! AI bad!”

  Look at that screenshot showing the eSIM prompt result. It has no ads! That feature just bypassed Google’s entire ad revenue business (not counting “ads by Google” that show up on non-Google sites). It searched on the user’s behalf.

  This is why I’ve been saying for over a year now that AI is going to kill free search engines. Yet I got pretty consistently downvoted for it.

  Well, here you go: This is the beginning of the end.

  Right now that feature uses a back end out on the Internet, but if you have a GPU with enough RAM, there’s nothing stopping you from using local AI to perform the same function.

  Eventually, PC hardware prices will drop again and this sort of searching will become normal. It’s what everyone will use because it’s vastly superior to typing something into a search engine.

  on Firefox 155.0 released in c/firefox@lemmy.world · 1 Sep 2026

• It rubs the Costco on its skin.

  on ...what? [rule] in c/onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 30 Aug 2026

• Indirect water consumption via electricity generation made up more than 80 percent of the datacenter’s overall water use

  So 80% of this is total bullshit. Do we really care that data centers are causing mild increases in how much water a power plant is taking in from their local cooling ponds‽ That were built specifically for this purpose, so that potable water doesn’t get used.

  The real issue with data centers is how much power they use! Talking about their water consumption is a pointless distraction. It’s a topic full of so much misinformation it just turns people away from the real problems once they realize it’s bullshit. “If the water use reported in the media is bullshit, maybe the rest of it is too?”

  on US datacenters tripled their water footprint in 10 years in c/technology@lemmy.world · 24 Aug 2026

• Oh gods. I leave them everywhere 🤷

  on AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that breaks Bluetooth multipoint in c/technology@lemmy.world · 22 Aug 2026

• If it’s part of a fingerprinting lib, then they just fucked it up. Because the fingerprinting can be done in one ~16ms window of time when the script runs and then you can break down the audio objects and pretend nothing happened.

  on AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that breaks Bluetooth multipoint in c/technology@lemmy.world · 21 Aug 2026

• Honestly, this doesn’t sound like spyware. More like absurd optimization. Here’s why: Audio devices often go to sleep (to save battery) and can take a second or two to wake up. That’s enough time that the end user will miss the first second or two of audio.

  By keeping the audio outputting something (even if it’s just silence), they can guarantee that their little (often hilariously terrible) product videos will play the way they expect (which is loud and startling, of course!).

  This is just one of those stupid tricks that’s bad for energy use but good for ignorant users who might complain that the first second of every AliExpress video is silent 🤷

  The reason why I believe this to be the case is because there’s really nothing unique or interesting to be learned from an audio output loop that’s literally sending zeros through itself. If you wanted to use that to fingerprint a user, you wouldn’t need to keep it active. You could pass a single zero (silence) through and be done.

  on AliExpress runs silent WebAudio fingerprinting that breaks Bluetooth multipoint in c/technology@lemmy.world · 20 Aug 2026

• …and then they all died of dysentery because that uneducated, unnamed boy was never taught proper sanitation because he pooped in the woods nearby and didn’t bury it, resulting in shigellosis being spread to the entire family by the flies that landed in the poop transferring the shigella dysenteriae bacteria on to the food the family was preparing for the poor, sweet boy who they worried would drive his pole into their daughters just as surely as he would a pole into the ground.

  on Yaoi Rule in c/onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 20 Aug 2026

• Who better to resurrect a dead computer?

  on Divine tech support in c/programmer_humor@programming.dev · 17 Aug 2026

• It’s beyond “an arms race.” AI has become a commodity that’s everywhere and it’s being used and developed by zillions of completely different groups all over the world with wildly varying use cases and completely different goals.

  At this point, trying to ban it would be like trying to ban dandelions from growing.

  on Bernie Sanders tells OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta to pause AI development or face Senate action in c/technology@lemmy.world · 11 Aug 2026

• Mental picture required: The note will not take effect unless the writer of the note has the person’s face in mind.

  40-second rule: If the new form and/or personality are not written within 40 seconds, the person will Yuri at random (with whoever is compatible and closest).

  6 minutes, 40 second rule: After writing the basic details of the Yuri, additional traits can be specified within the next six minutes, 40 seconds.

  on Wife’s👕 in c/animemes@ani.social · 11 Aug 2026

• ColoGuard does sound like an infosec tool 🤔

  on Getting inspiration for a fourth MFA method in c/programmer_humor@programming.dev · 9 Aug 2026