Technology

Thank you! They get trashed on all occasions here in the fediverse and I get the animosity since every corp and their mother now wants to ride the hype train. But I've kinda changed my mind about AI since having been recommended two AI tools that actually cite sources for their answers (Elicit and Perplexity). They're an absolute godsend for the literature search on my Bachelor's Thesis

Here’s how I see it. Gen AI and LLMs are really good for things that I won’t pay money for. It’s undoubtedly impressive tech, but it really deserves to remain as a cool research project rather than an actual functional product.

It’s totally possible to make cool mobile apps, but most of the ones you see are just a big company porting their website.

Not apologizing for carriers, some are really on the edge of lying to consumers, but you have to separate the 2 parts that make 5G different from 4G.

1. Higher frequencies: means higher throughput but also shorter range (you can literally block that signal with your hand). Only works if your phone supports these higher frequency bands, you have to be in areas where the carrier has deployed cells supporting those, and you have to be close enough.
2. Increased efficiency: mostly affects carriers, you likely won't notice the difference. Basically means, areas that were congested before with LTE will now see less congestion.

I found most 5G ads infuriating. If you know the tech, you understand whats going on and how they aren't telling the complete story. If you don't know the tech, you'll think, "Yay, higher speeds." Nope...

From what I understand, 5G was first about increased capacity. Increased speed was a secondary point. It optimizes how multiple users can share the same bands, and adds use of higher frequency bands that don't propogate as far. So for very high congestion areas, they can deploy smaller cells and which each can maintain higher speeds per user. I think the "faster" part was just marketing to get users to buy into the new technology. I mean I think that was the intent. Something about the implementation needs tuning though.

that technology doesn't even make sense

Works great here with almost 100% coverage

It ain't just your country... 5g speeds marketing was total bullshit.

So if that was the lie... Why did they shill it so hard?

I am mostly concerned about potentially needing specific Big Tech implementations for them in some way... I don't mind using, say, KeepassXC for it, because it is independent from any account or hardware, as well as easily backupable. But NOT anything tied to a Google or MS account.

Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but Paypal says it restricts what passkeys can be used, so it is apparently possible:

Passkeys are currently available for eligible personal accounts. An eligible Apple or Android device is required to create a passkey.

My electric skateboard still blows my mind. It's crazy how well it works as compared to gasoline skateboards.

For me, the sweet spot is in plug in hybrids, as long as you actually, you know, plug them in. You can cover all your daily commute and grocery getting 100% electric and then if you need to take a longer trip occasionally, you're covered by the gasoline engine. We use like one tank of gas every 4 months on ours.

I'd disagree but first I want to hear your opinion on riscv

Well arm cpu’s get you insane battery life (ie. Macbook M series or new snapdragons). The architecture has not settled in yet but it will take some time

Wtf is an "arm" in this context?

Edit: downvoting someone for asking a question is super cool, apparently.