zenexer (u/zenexer) - Readit News

zenexer commented on Matrix Foundation to shut down bridges if it doesn't raise $100K matrix.org/blog/2025/02/c... · Posted by u/thibaultamartin

Arathorn · 7 months ago

I’m not sure I’m seeing what you’re describing. Here’s a screen recording of send performance (on fast internet, a few ms ping to the homeserver): https://github.com/element-hq/element-x-ios/issues/3810

The first msg does take a little longer to clear the composer, but it’s barely noticeable. And as the recording shows, it queues up msgs fine if the first hasn’t gone through.

How does this compare with what you’re seeing?

zenexer · 7 months ago

It's hard to say because I can't see when you're clicking, but that looks snappier than what I'm seeing. I'll comment further in the issue and attach a screen recording of my own.

zenexer commented on Matrix Foundation to shut down bridges if it doesn't raise $100K matrix.org/blog/2025/02/c... · Posted by u/thibaultamartin

Arathorn · 7 months ago

This sounds very strange. Element X on iOS is a native Swift UI app, and for me (even in an enormous account) it’s super snappy - similar to WhatsApp or Telegram or iMessage. It’s not Electron, which is only for desktop apps; is there a chance you’re mixing up Element X with Element Web/Desktop (which is still sluggish, but should get much-needed upgrades this year)?

zenexer · 7 months ago

No, there's no chance I'm mixing them up. It's Element X from the App Store. The app label is "Element X".

If I'm using a mobile app, chances are I'm on-the-go. I probably have a slow, high-latency, or otherwise unreliable connection. It's possible it comes down to protocol differences that hinder UI responsiveness.

Edit: As a test, I just sent a message from my phone while on a cell connection with good service. Hitting the send button felt unresponsive: it took a bit for the message to appear in the chat history (maybe 100-200ms). That's on a stable 300 Mbps connection mere miles from my homeserver.

For contrast, Telegram doesn't wait to clear my text area. I can queue further messages to send even if my first hasn't gone through. Same for Slack and Discord.

zenexer commented on Matrix Foundation to shut down bridges if it doesn't raise $100K matrix.org/blog/2025/02/c... · Posted by u/thibaultamartin

Arathorn · 7 months ago

The irony is that I suspect we have fixed it - eg Element X and Matrix 2.0 is a massive step change forwards; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHyHO3xPfQU etc.

But I can see why bad experiences in the past would stick.

zenexer · 7 months ago

I disagree--it doesn't feel resolved. I've been trying to use Matrix for so long now, and just recently gave another shot at helping my partner get up and running with Element X on her M4 iPad.

It's still so clunky and so difficult to get off the ground. To start, E2E key verification just wouldn't work on Element X; she had to install Element, verify my key there, and go back to Element X.

That would be easy to overlook if the UI felt responsive and snappy, but it doesn't. It feels far from native. I don't know if it's Electron under the hood--I haven't checked--but it sure feels like it. It feels unresponsive in the same way as a stereotypical bank app, like walking through Jello. Maybe it's a protocol issue; I'm not sure.

I've got a nice, powerful homeserver running, waiting for love, but it will continue waiting until such time as there's a responsive client. Every month or two, I upgrade it and give it another shot, but I always end up back on a mix of Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, and Discord. None of my work or social circles are willing to make the switch when it feels so slow.

zenexer commented on Why Apple Uses JPEG XL in the iPhone 16 and What It Means for Your Photos petapixel.com/2024/09/18/... · Posted by u/alwillis

happyopossum · a year ago

HEIC is a standard too - it wasn’t a secret internal Apple project…

zenexer · a year ago

It might be a standard, but for a long time the licensing costs were exorbitant, and that likely stifled adoption. While licensing costs have come down, the pushback against HEIC’s pricing led to the development of better, royalty-free alternatives—including JPEG XL. Thank god they went with an unencumbered standard this time.

zenexer commented on Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated mcgill.ca/oss/article/med... · Posted by u/Gadiguibou

derektank · a year ago

It seems like FDA restrictions on clinical trials have really shot us all in the foot by depriving us the opportunity to collect data on this bacteria before it was made available as a supplement. There is clearly a demand for this product and it seems quite likely that Hillman et al could have gotten a cohort together to conduct a trial if they hadn't been faced with such extreme restrictions on testing. Why is informed consent not sufficient for participation in a RCT?

zenexer · a year ago

Because the participants could very easily spread it to other people. This wouldn’t just affect them. That’s why the trial was ultimately required to take place under quarantine.

It’s not even a question of whether it would spread, but whether it might spread. There’s a reasonable chance that this bacterium would, in fact, spread, and nobody has proven otherwise.

The FDA is doing its job here: it’s protecting the masses from people who believe they’re just consenting for themselves.

zenexer commented on Business Moleskine Mania: How a Notebook Conquered the Digital Era thewalrus.ca/moleskine/... · Posted by u/samclemens

austinl · a year ago

I'm curious about the main use-cases for physical notebooks from folks on HN. I love the idea of physical notebooks, but also have years of digital notes that are searchable and that I can access on any device. I feel like I'm in too deep with digital, and like the ability to access it anywhere.

Has anyone made the switch from digital to physical and loved it? What kind of notes are you taking, how did you get it to stick?

zenexer · a year ago

I often go to Barnes & Noble to sit and work on my laptop with a coworker. They have nice seats, no shortage of reference material to settle debates, and happen to be in closer proximity to my office than a library.

One cold winter day, as I was typing out a rough design for a major project, I decided it was just too tedious to work that way. My hands were cold, typing hurt, and my fingers couldn’t keep up with my head. I was trying to track all sorts of interdependent services in my head.

I got up, grabbed a notebook and pen from the shelves, and walked to the checkout counter. Coincidentally, both were Moleskine-branded, but to this day, I know nothing about the company. All I know is that it was far less frustrating to scribble crude diagrams on paper than it was to type them up.

Once I got everything down on paper, I still had to type it all. The scribbles were barely legible to me, let alone the other people on my team.

Pen and paper didn’t replace digital; rather, they augmented it.

zenexer commented on ISP to Supreme Court: We shouldn't have to disconnect users accused of piracy arstechnica.com/tech-poli... · Posted by u/duxup

andrewstuart · a year ago

Is this the same reason Kim Dotcom is being extradited.

zenexer · a year ago

That seems unlikely. This is a civil spat between Sony and Cox, without the involvement of the government beyond what's necessary for them to preside over the court case. The investigative burden falls on the two private entities.

They can go around convincing government A to extradite random person B to jurisdiction C over their civil disagreement, especially when that would have severe consequences for random person B.

zenexer commented on ISP to Supreme Court: We shouldn't have to disconnect users accused of piracy arstechnica.com/tech-poli... · Posted by u/duxup

add-sub-mul-div · a year ago

I though eliminating courts was the point of it. People who download pirated stuff no longer have to fear being sued and forced into an expensive settlement. This was the compromise over the old way of doing it. There has to be accountability somewhere, you can't get something for nothing. (Well you can, you just have to be careful about it.)

zenexer · a year ago

> People who download pirated stuff no longer have to fear being sued and forced into an expensive settlement.

That's certainly not true. Nothing prevents Sony from suing these people. They could go to court, present evidence, get a court order, and go after these people the same way they always have. They don't seem to want to do that, probably for a variety of reasons. It's awfully convenient if you can scare service providers into enforcing your will without all that pesky "evidence" nonsense.

If you're referring to laws like DMCA and CDA, those provide safe harbor to the likes of websites and hosting providers that serve user-generated content. They don't provide safe harbor to the individuals responsible for posting that user-generated content. You're still on the hook for what you post online, and Sony could sue you. Nothing stops them from doing so.

zenexer commented on ISP to Supreme Court: We shouldn't have to disconnect users accused of piracy arstechnica.com/tech-poli... · Posted by u/duxup

aaomidi · a year ago

In any case even if it’s you pirating you should not be cut off from internet.

Your power company doesn’t cut you off if you’re using the power to chainsaw people to death.

zenexer · a year ago

Well, they probably would cut you off—but it would be with a court order. And that’s how it should work.

There’s no due process here, and that’s a problem. Sony is saying that they should be entitled to tell your ISP to cut you off without a court order. That should be scary.

It’s no different from Sony arguing that they should be entitled to tell your power company to shut off your power because they believe you’ve watched a Blu-ray Disc more than the number of times permitted by the license printed on the box.

If Sony doesn’t like what they think I’m doing, they’re free to take me to court over it. None of this extrajudicial nonsense.

zenexer commented on Meta AI claims to have a child in a NYC public school twitter.com/korolova/stat... · Posted by u/chedar

greenish_shores · a year ago

"Almost" can make a big difference when writing stuff where formal style is expected. For instant messaging, yeah, probably one doesn't have to care.

When writing, you put articles before a letter, but they're based on what phoneme they precede. Therefore, when purely classifying letters, there's much more combinations than 26. In hundreds or lower thousands, possibly. Or more.

That's the difference, and for me it's frankly to memorize a big look-up table of most commonly used words (and which articles should precede them), because this doesn't require any effort to me, than to run an "algorithm" translating to phonemes every time I write something. In a quick reading (not reading out aloud, or even mentally mimicking reading something out aloud), wrong article being used won't necessarily get easily picked up. It's the sheer laziness, I guess.

zenexer · a year ago

Such a table can't exist. Pronunciation is varies, so your choice of articles adds character to your text in much the same way your accent does for spoken words.

Take "herb," for example. In some dialects, the "h" is vocalized, while in others, it's silent. Both "an herb" and "a herb" are valid. Your choice in your writing conveys identity. An author who opts for "a herb" helps paint a vague picture of the individual behind the words, perhaps someone from England.

You could make your own personal table, but it would be for you and only you.

Also, although there is a concrete rule, it's not something we're thinking about as we talk--using the wrong article just feels wrong. Most of us aren't consciously "running an algorithm," as you put it; the correct article just comes out.

Most people will find that they develop the same skill with writing over time. The subset of people who have trouble developing that skill and learn best by memorizing a table of words is going to be quite small. I would never write "a LLM" in the same way that I would never say "an history" out loud.