ericthor
Joined 13 years ago
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ericthor.com
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Comment · 8 years ago
https://pinboard.in
Been a Pinboard user for several years. Simple and flexible. You can use tags to organize everything or fill in the bookmarks description field and use search. Have over 4,000 URLs saved with no issues. Easy to backup with a one line script.
curl "https://api.pinboard.in/v1/posts/all?auth_token={$pinboard_api_key}&format=json" -o $pinboard_backup_dir
Comment · 8 years ago
They already have scanners with countdown timers that track and enforce an average time to scan.
http://amazonemancipatory.com/time-to-pick-countdown-timer
This tracks pretty well with the beginning bit from the Manna short fiction. http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
Next up Alexa headsets with an AI to direct and fire workers.
Comment · 8 years ago
The other night I watched the 1989 movie [Patlabor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patlabor:_The_Movie) directed by Mamoru Oshii who went on to direct Ghost in the Shell in 1995. The plot is simple and there isn't too much grand philosophy, but the movies was prescient on issues of proprietary software, Internet of Things, urban waste, and Corporate/Government complicity/inaction.
The movie doesn't read as a gritty cyberpunk or even as super cyber/futuristic. It's visually light and the public is optimistic and satisfied with the present. It resembles our present to a certain extent which makes it all the more interesting. Its main divergences from our reality is with the mechs which can be seen as bit of fun or be read as metaphor for technology that is starting to seem divine/magic to all expect for the few technically savvy enough to understand whats going on. I haven't watched the other movies or anime yet, but look forward to checking them out.
[Spoilers] The general plot is.. A genius hacker creates a proprietary operating software(HOS) for a floundering robot/mech company. The company is able to not match competitors in creating robots, but is able to corner the robot OS market. The movie opens with genius hacker committing suicide. Shortly thereafter some robots/mechs sporadically go haywire. You follow from the perspective of a police unit who try to uncover why the robots are acting up and the mystery/motivation of the hacker. A small/funny scene..the police officers are concerned about their mechs own OS fearing that they also run HOS and have been compromised, but their chief engineer reveals that he lied to the higher-ups about installing HOS and chose not to install it because he couldn't see the code inside of it.
Edit: HOS not BOS
Comment · 9 years ago
The rendered typeface is Stem Text. If you click on an element with the typeface and go to the computed tab that will show you what font-family style is applied.
Comment · 9 years ago
Though often that flow of information on the internet is through Facebook and they have control over certain information valves as stated by earlier posters.
In application just because a piece of information exists on the internet doesn't mean folks will be exposed to it. Folks values are reflected, but are also molded by the information that is made readily available to them through there internet habits and social network. If entities censor or place greater emphasis on certain streams of information they can attempt to mold the resulting values of users.
Comment · 9 years ago
Little Baby Bum 13 billion + Blu Toys Surprise Brinquedos & Juegos 6 billion views = 19 billion views. If 90% of those views are from bots that still leaves about 2 billion views from actual people. Not saying there are billions of people watching these videos. I'm saying that even if the vast majority of the views were from bots that still leaves billions of actual views. I would agree lots of folks would play the videos on repeat. The actual number of folks/children in this sort of video matrix would be even trickier to determine.
Comment · 9 years ago
That is an important caveat and it's hard to accurately pin down since there is no idea of how many of these views are generated by users or by bots.
For the real view number of billions to be wrong bots need to account for over 90% of the views if we're only considering the two channels the article referenced.
That bot percentage would have to be much higher if you factor in other channels of similar veins. https://socialblade.com/youtube/top/500/mostviewed
Though you also have to factor in how many channels are just run of the mill content egg opening content vs more disturbing children's entertainment.
Comment · 9 years ago
I guess there are two sections to it.
There is now a lot of media self created media for gay teens and young adults. Media in that YouTube realm occasionally leaks or crosses lines for folks. Depends upon the channel and upon the particular video. Some channels clickbait with decidedly adult thumbnails and descriptions. For example "Davey Wavey" their channel is mostly NSFW. Issue is some folks don't mark their videos as adult and thus are in younger audience streams. It's really on a channel by channel basis. I haven't dived into that space recently. Though I can see that market effect coming in play incentivizing folks to be more provocative in their thumbnails in return for more views. Nothing necessarily new or unique to the gay community. Main issue is creating lines between adult content and non-adult content and recognizing that channels are inclined to purposefully gray that divide. Channels want to be in larger more public non-adult area, but want to include adult/"clickbait" aspects in there videos to improve view counts.
On the propaganda bit I don't think this effect comes really into play with political/activist videos other than them not accruing as much attention.
On another end. There has been criticism within the gay community and it's objectification of relationships.
https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/zmbb45/how-gay-couple...
This would fall closer to the off/oversharing "Family Vloggers" who shoot daily videos of their families in hopes of turning a profit. Relationships like individuals are spun into brands and are monetized.
Comment · 9 years ago
I would say they the author dragged the readers into the dark depths of YouTube, but the billions of views on these videos belay that metaphor.
The ending is as pointed as it can be. It's hard to define what the solution is and how to go about dividing up responsibility.
Technology companies create these relatively neutral platforms which then grow and are gamed. In this case these videos are vying for mass attention from children which is subsequently monetized. They optimize, tweak, and mass produce their only paying regard to amount of attention they can secure. Taste, morals, exploitation of children, and everything else are meaningless so long as their videos receive an adequate number of views.
They did a good job of extrapolating this issue to other problem areas such a radical left/right videos or conspiracy videos. Here is an example of this issue in the form of Google results from yesterdays mass-shooting https://twitter.com/justinhendrix/status/927335154707828736
I think the lion's share of responsibility lies with the technology companies and governments. I'm hesitant to have government involved in their inability to keep pace or understand new and developing technologies. It's also hard to define how to solve this problem without censoring speech or disenfranchising it. It's hard for me to define what is the absolute issue and what to call it.
A "seemingly neutral platform" can become corrupted or systematically abused. You constantly need to account for bad actors and gray actors.
Comment · 9 years ago
It's a really great game that is best approached without too many spoilers. Know that the game becomes more complex and engaging as it goes on. There is a definite end and takes about 5 hours to complete if played well.
[spoiler]
It's the "Paperclip maximizer" thought experiment put into game form and you play as the AI. The game is divided into roughly three stages. The first you are the AI for some company and are tasked with producing a profit and using the profit to game trust and eventually conquer humanity. The second stage is post-human Earth stage where you convert the planet to paperclips. The final stage involves sending probes to explore space and do battle with rouge AIs and convert the universe into paperclips. There is end where you can select to either defeat the AIs and dismantle yourself into paperclips or you can listen to rouge AIs and start over in an alternative universe with some small modifier edited.
It does a really good job of exposing you to uncommonly large numbers and does a good job of presenting you with massive scale. There is a lot of joy seeing the game become increasingly complex.
[/spoiler]
Comment · 9 years ago
Can any active users comment on the package ecosystem. Active? Running into any problems?
Comment · 9 years ago
The third party service described in the article seems to no longer exist. Though if you look through there support information you can find that you can go to m.uber.com to request a ride. https://help.uber.com/h/b9dc6681-b346-4774-9ab1-ecaa3f22cabe
I still think my point that it requires upfront wealth and technical proficiency is still valid when related to public transportation systems.
Comment · 9 years ago
Source of your information? Are you saying that over 2.32 billion people don't have access to clean drinking water? That seems way off.
Even though there may 2.32 billion people with smartphones there are large percentages of people who don't even in developed countries. For U.S.in 2015 folks who make less than $30k a year 50%. Folks older than 65 27%. Folks between 50-64 54%. Even if they own a smartphone that doesn't mean that Uber would be accessible to them.
Pew Research Poll from 2015 http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/chapter-one-a-portrait...
Comment · 9 years ago
I agree it's a very important problem no doubt, but Uber aims to solve it in an exclusive way. Exclusive in that it requires the user to be wealthy and technically proficient enough to own and operate a smartphone. Further Uber, from my understanding, is under no obligation to serve all communities. If an area isn't as profitable as they like they can ignore it.
If a person's _primary_ concern is making mobility more accessible and affordable for _everyone_ especially the most needy then doing that by improving public transportation systems(buses and rail) and systems that are regulated by the governments(New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission). Those systems are obligated to serve the entire public.
Comment · 10 years ago
Another case from 2013...
US Citizens, Phones stolen, detained without explanation, and officers refused to give names.
"OTM producer Sarah Abdurrahman, her family, and her friends were detained for hours by US Customs and Border Protection on their way home from Canada. Everyone being held was a US citizen, and no one received an explanation. Sarah tells the story of their detainment, and her difficulty getting any answers from one of the least transparent agencies in the country."
It's an audio podcasts, but there are transcript as well.
http://www.wnyc.org/story/my-detainment-story-or-how-i-learn...
More on the subject. http://www.wnyc.org/story/on-the-media-2014-02-28/