dromtrund (u/dromtrund)

dromtrund commented on NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective simonwillison.net/2024/Se... · Posted by u/simonw

llmthrow102 · a year ago

That's the same question I have. There is already a ton of great podcasts/music/everything in the niches that I like that I don't have the time to listen to them all. I also like to have quiet introspective time.

So where does AI regurgitated slop fit into my life?

dromtrund · a year ago

In the case of NotebookLM, the AI generated podcasts aren't competing with existing podcasts, they're competing with other ways of consuming the source material. Would I rather listen to a real podcast? Yes. But no one's making a real podcast about the Bluetooth L2CAP specification.

dromtrund commented on The Cult of Mac pluralistic.net/2024/01/1... · Posted by u/kmeisthax

filoleg · 2 years ago

> Apple's most valuable intangible asset isn't its patents or copyrights – it's an army of people who believe that using products from a $2.89 trillion multinational makes them members of an oppressed religious minority whose identity is coterminal with the interests of Apple's shareholders.

Maybe this was true in the era of “mac hipsters” somewhere between late 00s and early ‘10s, but I have zero idea what the article author is on about if they are talking about the current state of things.

Heavy majority of people around me use macs, and I have never noticed that vibe. Even online, it isn’t really a thing anymore for almost anyone. For most, macs are just their workhorse machines. People don’t rave about macos or anything like that, people just use it. Some number of them also have gaming PCs too, so it isn’t really even a topic of discussion. Ffs, even my mother these days uses a mac (m1 air), and she is not even really tech literate.

I remember there were those passionate “PC vs Mac” flamewars back then, but these days it feels like most just found what works for them, and anything else or what everyone else is using is not something they care about at all.

The only times i even hear people having some strong personal opinions about macs these days, they tend to come from people who don’t actually use them.

dromtrund · 2 years ago

I've found some still have a weird tendency to defend bad UX on apple products, even if it's obviously bothering them. I've heard similar sentiments as in the article too, especially about the app store, but it's not something people go around announcing to everyone anymore, like they used to.

If you buy a product that's more expensive, you'd be a fool if it's not superior to other products, so it's hard not to get personally invested in the idea that they are.

dromtrund commented on Features and Benefits of Bluetooth Mesh 1.1 for Wireless Mesh Networking bluetooth.com/bluetooth-r... · Posted by u/teleforce

bipson · 2 years ago

IIRC in its initial version it was never "mesh", but more like fixed multi-hop routes over one or two intermediate nodes (i.e. no route discovery)

dromtrund · 2 years ago

This is true, but this was never really a problem for the adoption. Spec delays, no firmware upgrade support, and most importantly no proper backing by phone or gateway vendors. Thread and matter seem to have fumbled their opportunity though, so it might not be too late.

dromtrund commented on Bad NEWS, Emacs eshelyaron.com/posts/2023... · Posted by u/amiralul

rjzzleep · 2 years ago

Attracting new users for with the old behaviour is too complex maybe?

dromtrund · 2 years ago

Isn't named registers an advanced enough feature that it shouldn't be optimized for new users?

dromtrund commented on Swedish court rules against Tesla in dispute with postal service over deliveries reuters.com/world/europe/... · Posted by u/toss1

randall · 2 years ago

Can you tell me more about the safety net thing? As an American I actually don’t understand that point. Are you saying culturally your family wouldn’t feel obligated to be a safety net if another family member was struggling? And that the unions defacto provide that sort of guarantee?

dromtrund · 2 years ago

In the US, wages, vacation, healthcare, pension plans and care for the elderly are private arrangements set up by everyone individually (technically). The Nordic model is a collective arrangement, where safety nets are provided by the government, benefits are governed by law and compensation is governed by collective agreements between unions and employers.

Most families would provide for their own if it was required, but it's not a scenario most people ever need to consider, even as a backup, as bad luck alone can't put you in that situation, you'd need to actively seek it out.

dromtrund commented on Unveiling secrets of the ESP32: creating an open-source MAC layer zeus.ugent.be/blog/23-24/... · Posted by u/redfast00

tredre3 · 2 years ago

> No trust for Chinese products from Chinese companies

That's fair but Espressif is wayyyyyyy more open than ANY Western chip maker. The entire framework and toolchains are open-source for one thing. You get listings and sometimes pseudo-code for the internal ROMs (though no code). You get full access to datasheets, technical reference, and sdk documentation. Everything in their SDK is documented. You even get help on github. All of that accessible to anyone anywhere at any time.

Contrast that to the last time I worked with Nordic in a professional manner, I had to sign NDAs to get the full documentation and toolchain. Their toolchain contained binary blobs that when inquired about you get told "don't worry about it ;)" which is shockingly frustrating when a crash occurs in them and you're left trying to work around it. And if you're not a professional you're basically SOL and left with half-baked community toolchains, when they exist for a particular chip.

dromtrund · 2 years ago

> Contrast that to the last time I worked with Nordic in a professional manner, I had to sign NDAs to get the full documentation and toolchain

That has to be at least 5 years ago, but even back then, 99% of their software was out in the open. Now, their SDK is open source, their official toolchain is based on the Linux Foundation's Zephyr toolchain and their docs are open and buildable. Their support is done on an open forum and complete data sheets are available both as PDFs and (with the exception of the nRF51) as web pages. They aren't allowed to publish their LTE stack because of operator licensing, their Bluetooth link layer is still distributed as a library and some upcoming SoCs aren't publicly available yet, but aside from this, they're as open as they can possibly be.

dromtrund commented on Bits of Advice for 30 Years arne.me/articles/30-bits-... · Posted by u/abahlo

dromtrund · 2 years ago

> Think of yourself as the person you want to be, not the person you are.

I have always done this subconsciously, and although I can attribute a lot of my personal growth to this trait, it's also the source of a lot of self-loathing. If you can't accept the parts of you that differs from who you want to be, you'll spend a lot of energy focusing on perceived mistakes that others didn't even notice.

dromtrund commented on Open Source Firmware Conference osfc.io/... · Posted by u/pabs3

distract8901 · 2 years ago

Open source firmware for what though?

I'm gonna assume this is PC firmware based on the list of players, but I haven't been able to find any conclusive information on the website.

Super annoying when groups like this use an extremely generic term for something very specific and just assume the entire world knows what they mean.

dromtrund · 2 years ago

Odd not to see Zephyr mentioned at all, it's got way more activity than most (all?) of the projects listed, and many of the sponsors are actively involved.

dromtrund commented on Cratering motor fuel sales in Norway show the death spiral that can end oil electrek.co/2023/10/20/cr... · Posted by u/cs702

aftbit · 2 years ago

What if you were going on a 2000km road trip?

dromtrund · 2 years ago

Yes, actually. I have to charge for 30-40 minutes every 5 hours or so. That fits well with my meal schedule, and most charging stations are at or close to restaurants or shops. Charging at these stations is almost as expensive as gasoline though.

I wouldn't normally drive more than 1000km in one trip though, and that's at most once per year.

dromtrund commented on Cratering motor fuel sales in Norway show the death spiral that can end oil electrek.co/2023/10/20/cr... · Posted by u/cs702

ajsnigrutin · 2 years ago

It's not so much the automotive culture, but backbreaking taxes on ICE vehicles, and basically no alternatives if you live in rural areas and have to drive long distances.

Maybe someone from norway can calculate/check how much a mid-range petrol/diesel car (eg. VW golf, renault megane,...) costs there after all the taxes, and compare to an electric one, but it's a LOT more than in eg. germany.

dromtrund · 2 years ago

A VW Golf starts at 35800€, and a VW ID.3 starts at 32800€, taxes included. Overall, electric cars are a bit cheaper than their counterparts, but not a lot. However, today, petrol is 2.15€/l and electricity is 0.013€/kWh. That's 11.20€/100km versus 0.185€/100km for the ID.3, literally two orders of magnitude cheaper. Everyone charges at home, and there's also a 40% discount in toll roads, which saves me about 8€ per day I'm commuting.

With the 3k€ lower price, a range of 430km, and fast charging stations every 30km along the major highways, there's just no reason to pick the Golf.

We still have a PHEV in addition to our electric car, but there's no reason to. If we're going on a 500km road trip, we'll take the electric BMW i4, no question.