#LM Studio

[abaditya]

Exploring DeepSeek's R1

A podcast discussing the significance of DeepSeek R1 along with some interesting conversations.

The new model from DeepSeek has been making waves over the last week thanks to its competitive performance against GPT-o1 while being open source. It is also able to transparently share its thought chain. I took it for a spin in LM Studio which allows you to run the model locally, and created an overview podcast that touches upon the model’s capabilities, pros & cons (NotebookLM talking about…

[thomascherickal]

Effective GPU Use!

How to Run an LLM as Powerful as DeepSeek R1 Locally with LM Studio With Just 24 GB VRAM

[corbindavenport]

Alt Text Creator 1.2 is now available!

Earlier this year, I released Alt Text Creator, a browser extension that can generate alternative text for images by right-clicking them, using OpenAI's GPT-4 with Vision model. The new v1.2 update is now rolling out, with support for OpenAI's newer AI models and a new custom server option.

Alt Text Creator can now use OpenAI's latest GPT-4o Mini or GPT-4o AI models for processing images, which are faster and cheaper than the original GPT-4 with Vision model that the extension previously used (and will soon be deprecated by OpenAI). You should be able to generate alt text for several images with less than $0.01 in API billing. Alt Text Creator still uses an API key provided by the user, and uses the low resolution option, so it runs at the lowest possible cost with the user's own API billing.

This update also introduces the ability to use a custom server instead of OpenAI. The LM Studio desktop application now supports downloading AI models with vision abilities to run locally, and can enable a web server to interact with the AI model using an OpenAI-like API. Alt Text Creator can now connect to that server (and theoretically other similar API limitations), allowing you to create alt text entirely on-device without paying OpenAI for API access.

The feature is a bit complicated to set up, is slower than OpenAI's API (unless you have an incredibly powerful PC), and requires leaving LM Studio open, so I don't expect many people will use this option for now. I primarily tested it with the Llava 1.5 7B model on a 16GB M1 Mac Mini, and it was about half the speed of an OpenAI request (8 vs 4 seconds for one example) while having generally lower-quality results.

You can download Alt Text Creator for Chrome and Firefox, and the source code is on GitHub. I still want to look into support for other AI models, like Google's Gemini, and the option for the user to change the prompt, but I wanted to get these changes out soon before GPT-4 Vision was deprecated.

Download for Google Chrome 

Download for Mozilla Firefox 

[iilmunchkiin]

Hey chat sorry for dying im cookie running my kingdom rn

i like him a normal amount.

[ Kofi☕]

[thecatalogueofroyalfashion]

Princess Sofia || jumper by Soft Goat, cape by Stockh Lm Studio

[cieuxgris]

audrey hepburn || the wind rises (2013) || marilyn monroe, 1955 || back to december || sylvia plath || audrey hepburn, 1958 || elizabeth taylor || katharine hepburn, 1934 || l.m. montgomery

[lmillustration]

A quick Studio Ghibli study, since there's so many lazy, boring AI images imitating this amazing and inspiring studio.

Ko-Fi |YouTube | Commissions | Redbubble

[ondigitalwings]

My first (that isn’t using a sticker or a solid recolor) Design Studio attempt, in the form of faux-merch for a very beloved musician, Crywolf. The void eye is a logo/sigil of his that I did my best to recreate on a phone! The lyrics (I wanted you to know/you were the end of me) on the sleeves are my design idea but his words, from this song, check it out:

I made this same one in black writing on ivory so my characters can sport it everywhere :P love the custom drawings for being reusable that way! Now if they just wouldn’t have watermarks on your own designs…

(That’s my other point of pride — no editing out of that in this shoot, just angling to get as little watermark as possible while still getting cool shots that show the design.)

[angleformation]

Tuto Facile : LM Studio + LLM Ultra Léger - ChatGPT en Local et Gratuit

[momo-shut-the-fuck-up]

Life makeover zoom is ridiculous tbh (this is a pc screenshot but still)

we need an extra close up option to see all the coolass earrings

[abaditya]

Dubai Diaries: Running LLMs & Stable Diffusion locally on a gaming laptop

Gaming laptops are not just for gaming, especially if they have one of the recent Nvidia GPUs #AI #GenAI #Laptop #Experiments #LLM #local-computing

I previously wrote about the second device that I got about coming to Dubai, but not much about the first one which was a gaming laptop. So here’s a bit about the laptop which also doubles as a local AI driver thanks to the Nvidia GPU (the RTX3060). Soon after getting it back in 2022, I tried running the Stable Diffusion models and it was quite a bit of an upgrade over my original attempt on a…

[pochiperpe90]

[ENG] Esquire Italia: The natural and collective duty of anti-fascism

In the country that invented fascism, where a widespread rate of intellectual hypocrisy is such that it isn’t ashamed to distinguish between being anti-fascist and defining oneself as "not fascist", Sky Studios and Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment, a company of the Fremantle group (which will have international distribution), in co-production with Pathé, in association with Small Forward Productions, in collaboration with Fremantle and Cinecittà, have launched the series M. II figlio del secolo, based on the novel by Antonio Scurati, directed by Joe Wright, on SkyAtlantic in January. Presenting it first, without fanfare, at the 81st Venice Film Festival.

This is the most important cinematographic work ever created in Italy, on the deafening truth of its fascist history. Never before has fascism been so authentically described in its identity as a criminal movement, constantly violent, dedicated to political murder, torture, brutality in all its forms, first to the punishment, and then the destruction, of democracy.

Benito Mussolini is a murderer, a criminal dictator, a hitman of freedom. Fascism has never had a shred of decency, historical truth condemns it for its massacres of civilians, for its racial laws, for the devastation it brought to all of Europe through the excitement of the idea of ​​war as a heroic necessity. But the memory of fascism, its traces, become confused until they dissolve in the family channels of Italians, who easily prefer to dilute, but without managing to absolve, the collective conscience of the least national State in Europe. In a country that should have the courage to be ashamed, through which to build civil conscience, M. Il figlio del secolo, is a visual text, a tool for reflection and teaching. Effective not only because it’s a bearer of truth, but above all because the language that composes it is dictated by the plurality of contemporary elements that are indispensable to maintain the attention and empathy of the public. From the piercing soundtrack composed by Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers, to the adrenaline-filled screenplay by Stefani Bises and Davide Serino, to the epic photography by Seamus McGarvey: the energy is constant. The light on the crime of an ideology without principles and therefore opportunistic, changeable, unscrupulous, is always on.

Those who don’t understand that Luca Marinelli, the protagonist of this eight-part film, suffered in dissolving principles and humanity to identify with the opposite of himself, offers the measure of the sensitivity with which they relates to the honesty of an actor's cultural work. Always reducing everything to the amount of material compensation that should justify and compensate for every disturbance.

Luca Marinelli had the courage to abandon himself to the evil that Benito Mussolini embodied. Evil is pervasive, it’s grotesque, it’s a caricature that becomes monstrosity, it’s many other nuances, but in its entirety it’s what opposes humanism, with the sole purpose of hurting others, for oneself.

Joe Wright, the director of M. Il figlio del secolo, is English. Did this help in placing violence at the center of the narrative as the identity of fascism, without discounts? 

LM After a hundred years we are still experiencing the aftermath and the new involutions of the story we tell. Hatred and violence are a concept that every human being can understand, in every latitude. Joe is geographically English, yes. But as he always said, it’s important to talk about people and not nations. The concept of nation is something that is mostly used by the powerful to foment distinctions that can lead to heavy tragedies. What we tell is a universal story: the life of a person, and of a country, that we seem to have forgotten. If you know history you cannot be a fascist.

And yet, Italians were fascists. Even the many who did not oppose were guilty. Is this the weight of history?

LM I am not a historian but I can say that in that period politics, power, institutions, the monarchy and the Church played their part. But there was also a popular responsibility. History is astonishing: the succession of its events leaves you stunned.

Your Benito Mussolini is intimate, theatrical, it tells of the fascination that the man was able to transmit to others. What explanation did you give yourself?

LM I think that the trauma that the devastation of the First World War left on Europe and Italy is underestimated. Violence had become an integral part of society, but this didn’t justify it. Mussolini applied it to everyday politics, surrounding himself with people accustomed to the use of violence and quick to exercise it. Mussolini exploited emptiness and desperation, with skill and unscrupulousness has generated a new mix, a political form that fools everyone and continually changes direction according to convenience. But violence is an indispensable constant.

When Mussolini has to prepare the lists for the elections of April 6, 1924, he realizes the unpresentability and unreliability of his gang of thugs. He enlists other politicians, of different affiliations, who surrender to fascism in order to sit in Parliament. The scene in the film says: humanity is disgusting, and it’s on this tragedy that we will build our triumph.

LM Having been an opportunist politician, I think he had no trouble recognizing these attitudes in others. It’s his ruthlessness that is associated with contempt in the human race. In the monologue magnificently written around his gigantic effigy, he says: wanting more and more until you take everything, this is fascism. And this is Mussolini.

What did you learn?

LM A lot, both from myself and from the people around me. I had never spent seven months on a set with three hundred colleagues. But above all I loved Joe's dedication, his placing himself before art as if it were a divinity. And humble before his craft, he is guided by this: for me, a fundamental guide, an inspiration. The long period of filming gave me the opportunity to look at what was happening at different times and confirm how art is a process of communion.

In the film you give many speeches. Have you built a relationship with words? 

LM They are frightening words in their ruthlessness and cruelty. They exude criminal ingenuity. The words were the first sound approach to the film. When I read the eight scripts in a row, I understood that I would have to do a great job of mnemonic organization. In many dialogues and speeches, the precision of each word was important. I made a plan to learn with the right timing, because his speeches, the role, required theatricality, but also authenticity. I didn't want memory to prevent me from feeling free to be there, in that moment.

What did you feel?

LM First a lot of curiosity, to understand how everything that was written in the script would be realized. Then I heard Joe explaining to four hundred people that they shouldn't be extras, but actors. That they couldn't just appear, that they had a collective responsibility. I knew we were all listening and their help was fundamental.

A challenging acting test?

LM A lot. The fifteen days in the Parliament chamber, reconstructed in an extraordinary way, were one of the most difficult periods. When we finished filming there was a moment that will be difficult to forget: a collective embrace between people who for seven months, ten hours a day, traveled together through history. A testimony to the common awareness of having explored the dark sides of the human soul and having touched the abyss. It's something that marks you. It took time to move away from hatred.

Have you ever had a moment of diabolical attraction?

LM No. I was just fascinated by the idea of ​​being able to honestly tell the truth with this project. I felt the freedom of being able to ride history without the risk of being misunderstood.

"After a hundred years we are still experiencing the aftermath and new involutions of the history we tell"

Among the criticisms received, that of having played a grotesque Duce.

LM Life is also made up of grotesque moments. But from a comedy situation we can quickly slip into a tragedy. We must be very careful to notice these dynamics.

In Italy there are not many fascists, but many non-antifascists.

LM In my opinion, for all those who care about the idea of ​​humanity and collectivity, it’s a natural moral duty to be anti-fascist.

[cyle]

still confused how to make any of these LLMs useful to me.

while my daughter was napping, i downloaded lm studio and got a dozen of the most popular open source LLMs running on my PC, and they work great with very low latency, but i can't come up with anything to do with them but make boring toy scripts to do stupid shit.

as a test, i fed deepseek r1, llama 3.2, and mistral-small a big spreadsheet of data we've been collecting about my newborn daughter (all of this locally, not transmitting anything off my computer, because i don't want anybody with that data except, y'know, doctors) to see how it compared with several real doctors' advice and prognoses. all of the LLMs suggestions were between generically correct and hilariously wrong. alarmingly wrong in some cases, but usually ending with the suggestion to "consult a medical professional" -- yeah, duh. pretty much no better than old school unreliable WebMD.

then i tried doing some prompt engineering to punch up some of my writing, and everything ended up sounding like it was written by an LLM. i don't get why anybody wants this. i can tell that LLM feel, and i think a lot of people can now, given the horrible sales emails i get every day that sound like they were "punched up" by an LLM. it's got a stink to it. maybe we'll all get used to it; i bet most non-tech people have no clue.

i may write a small script to try to tag some of my blogs' posts for me, because i'm really bad at doing so, but i have very little faith in the open source vision LLMs' ability to classify images. it'll probably not work how i hope. that still feels like something you gotta pay for to get good results.

all of this keeps making me think of ffmpeg. a super cool, tiny, useful program that is very extensible and great at performing a certain task: transcoding media. it used to be horribly annoying to transcode media, and then ffmpeg came along and made it all stupidly simple overnight, but nobody noticed. there was no industry bubble around it.

LLMs feel like they're competing for a space that ubiquitous and useful that we'll take for granted today like ffmpeg. they just haven't fully grasped and appreciated that smallness yet. there isn't money to be made here.

[iilmunchkiin]

"Tumor"

[ndconceptarchive]

Her Interactive - Megan Gaiser and Robert Riedl interview for Adventure Gamers

It is somewhat rare to find a full-blown interview from Her Interactive done with a focus on a particular game, but on May 11, 2005, Adventure Gamers published an interview with Robert Ridel and Megan Gaiser done in promotion for Secret of the Old Clock.

You can read it at the link above, or here below. Some interesting notes from this interview:

During Stay Tuned for Danger, the development team visited a local TV station to get references.

Secret of the Old Clock featured Kevin Manthei bringing in live performers instead of the music being mixed in studio.

An explanation as to why the games were made with 2D backgrounds and 3D characters

Some of the background on Her Interactive as a company

Written by Laura MacDonald — May 11, 2005

We have another mystery. The place: Titusville. Nancy Drew, famous girl sleuth, is on her way to see Emily Crandall, an old friend. Emily has inherited the charming Lilac Inn, but all is not picture perfect. Instead, things are terribly wrong, and after receiving a desperate call for help, Nancy is soon speeding along in her blue roadster, blonde hair shining, on her way to her very first mystery.

Wait a minute…blonde hair?…roadster? Yes, you heard right. Unlike the previous games in this successful adventure series, this isn't the Nancy of today -- this is the original girl detective in the 1930s. Nancy made her book debut in a story called The Secret of the Old Clock, and this year, she is celebrating 75 years of sleuthing through danger and mystery. We think that deserves a little extra attention, and who better to talk about all things Nancy Drew than Her Interactive's CEO, Megan Gaiser, and Executive Producer, Robert Riedl.

LM: Hi, Megan. It is a pleasure to talk with you today.

MG: Nice to be here, Laura. Robert [Riedl] is also here with me for the interview. He heads up product development and designed many of our products as well.

LM: Hi, Robert! Megan, I wanted to start by asking you to touch briefly on your background. You started out in documentary film making; how did that lead you into the game industry?

MG: Yes, I was an editor and producer of educational documentaries for 11 years in Washington D.C., which is an interesting background to take into gaming. One of the reasons I wanted to get into multi-media was to get out of the editing room. I was intrigued by the non-linear nature of multi-media. There are also a lot of similarities between creating games and film, which we apply to creating the Nancy Drew games. The content needs to be compelling, with rich character development. The music and the environment all have to contribute. It is this synergy of components that have made the games work and make it easy to become immersed in the world.

As an editor and producer, I became really intrigued with the fact that there are so many different kinds of women. The same should hold true in the games offered to the female market. [At Her Interactive]... we are always saying there needs to be as many types of entertainment for girls and women as there are preferences. They tend to stereotype and pigeonhole women, which is why there's always been such a struggle to prove this market. Which is kind of ridiculous, because we're, you know, half the population. They target females for books and music, so why would they stop at computers?

LM: I know Her Interactive started independently, then you signed with DreamCatcher. Later you pulled back out and signed what looks like a one-game deal with Atari. Then you went the self-publishing route. I noticed a few retailers have Atari listed as your publisher. Are you still self-publishing?

MG: Just to back up on the story, we published our first Nancy Drew game in 1998. We had taken it to all the publishers and they said, "No, we aren't going to take it because all females are computer-phobic and they will never play video games."

They all thought there was no market for females in the interactive arts and entertainment media market. We were at a critical point as a company and we believed in our game. So, we decided if we can't get in the front door, we'll go around the back. We went to Amazon, learned how to self-publish, and the games took off. A high point was when the NY Times called that first game the "Un-Barbie of computer games." After that, our games were awarded consecutive gold Parents' Choice awards. Suddenly, those same publishers came back to us wanting to sign a retail deal. In 2000, we signed a publishing arrangement with DreamCatcher. Two years later, we made the giant step of becoming the retail publisher of our own games. That was the key right there, and was a huge step for the company. We selected Atari as our distributor.

LM: So you used them as a distributor only.

MG: That is what they are this year as well. We haven't changed that. We are still the publisher and this is a continuation of that same arrangement.

LM: Nancy Drew has appeared in books, but under a different character name, in countries other than the U.S. She has a similar fan base there as well. Have you considered selling the games in those countries?

MG: We actually have. She is the most popular in Sweden, where her name is Kitty Drew. In France, she appears as Alice Roy. We are speaking with people about localizing the series to France right now. We are doing one territory at a time, because the cost of localization is so high. Before you put resources and money behind localization, you want to make sure the move makes sense. France will probably be the first, and then Sweden.

LM: I know it is the 75th anniversary for the series, which began when The Secret of the Old Clock was first published in 1930. I assume that is why you are doing a classic Nancy Drew mystery and using the very first one ever written as the inspiration for this game. For that game, how did you handle the time period? Where did you go for your research, and what did you look to for inspiration in recreating the 1930s world of Nancy Drew?

RR: Like we would do with any character, we do a lot of research into the geography, into historical aspects. We would go to the library and get visual references there, as well as information on the era. We try to go to locations, as well, that we can use as inspiration for puzzles or content. For example, with Stay Tuned For Danger, we went to a local television station and got reference material from there. We always try to give a really good sense of the era or the locale. Not only with visual aspects, but the language, scenes, puzzle content, etc.

LM: Are you using the same source for your music?

RR: We are using Kevin Manthei, who has been our composer ever since the first installment. For this title, he brought in live performers.

LM: The music for this game will be recorded live instead of being mixed in the studio? That's great. Any chance of a music CD available from the game?

MG: We are looking into that!

LM: On the other upcoming game, there has been some mild confusion about what it is called. What exactly is the title of the upcoming Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew game?

MG: Last Train To Blue Moon Canyon.

LM: Will the Hardy Boys be physically present in the game?

MG: Yes, they will.

LM: Will we play multiple characters or as Nancy Drew, in first-person only?

RR: Stay tuned! [laughter]

LM: Okay, I can see that information isn't for public consumption yet. When can we expect to see these two new titles released?

MG: The Secret of the Old Clock is scheduled to ship in late July this year, and Last Train To Blue Moon Canyon is scheduled in late September.

LM: You have always tweaked your games a little bit; experimented here and there. You also started having some "actiony" feeling moments or more dynamic timed challenges in them. Are we going to see challenges like this, and possibly a bit more of them in the Hardy Boys game?

RR: We always try to challenge our players a little bit with each new game. So we will venture out and mix it up a little bit, so it doesn't feel stale or formulaic. We are trying to do something a little bit different and see how it goes, and also improve upon the product as well. Because you may have a good idea, but you just have to get it right.

LM: Blackmoor Manor had a more non-linear flow to the gameplay than previous games. Are we going to see this model of gameplay repeated in either or both of the new titles?

RR: It is purely a style preference. We have different designers coming into play and marketing has different requirements. In Curse, for example, we wanted it to be really challenging. What is the mood; what are the five main elements we want to convey with this game, and then that dictate our choices in all aspects of the gameplay. Complexity of puzzles, narrative, the locations... how we treat the location. Is the emotive component light or more intense? Is it a gothic horror or is more of a caper? And it is nice to do this, so we have a mix. We want people to be surprised by the title. So they think "wow, this has a feel of novelty."

LM: How do you decide what the next title is going to do?

RR: It is really the lead designer's responsibility and choice on how they do that. Everyone does give input. The designer will say, "I am going to choose the next game. Give me input as to what you would like to see in environments, type of artwork, and the particular era." We get these parameters and people will give out titles. There are certain perennial titles that come up every time we look at the books. The lead designer will read through a lot of stories. Everyone in the office will have their favorite(s). The designer will also have his or her favorite. Then we have a meeting with our advisory panel. We will say, "Okay, pitch an idea, come to the meeting with a book that you think would be really neat." From all that, we whittle it down to one selection. We take the top five choices and submit them to Megan, marketing, and the lead designer. Also, what we have done in the past affects the choice as well.

LM: That makes sense, to guarantee a mix of the plots from game to game. I know you have a teen advisory board that you use in-house. Who is on it? How was it formed?

RR: They are local, but we do have some who are out of state. We sort of advertise it on our site. It is comprised of about 40 people. They correspond roughly with what our current market is. So 30% are adult women. We also have some men and boys on it, as well. I see them as almost another department of our company. It has become a source for inspiration and ideas.

LM: About your publishing schedule, it seems like you keep to a very steady routine of two games each year -- the summer being Nancy Drew lite and the fall title providing the more challenging experience. Any intentions of expanding the production past these two games a year?

MG: We are looking to expand the product offering with another series of games. We are in talks with a couple of different licensors and we're on the verge of making that step.

LM: Any hints in what direction this is?

MG: We can't discuss it in more detail until it's a done deal.

LM: While some developers have made the move into 3D, you have made a design choice to stick with 2D backgrounds and 3D characters; the so-called 2.5D look. Why is this?

RR: The original impetus for going into 2D backgrounds is you get a lot more detail out of the artwork. Even now, when you are in a 3D world, you can't get that same detail to the environment. Also the type of play lends itself better to the 2D environments, because in a 3D world it is all about movement. Action or movement is a very important component to the gameplay. You are running away or you're chasing something. In our games, our players say they like to kind of graze. They like to take their time without feeling pressured. They want to amble about in the environments and explore. They want to become totally engrossed in the environment. So for that reason, we went with 2D and continue to use it. The other problem is that 3D doesn't actually work with this sort of gameplay and our market. Those that have gone with 3D, there is a lot of backlash against it. Broken Sword 3, URU… I just don't see the benefit to going to a 3D engine at this time.

LM: E3 is on the horizon next week, so I wanted to ask you about that. I noticed that the German equivalent in Liepseig has a much different approach than E3. They have a much more family-focused presentation vs. E3, which is pretty wild and woolly and at times seems more of a industry party or club mentality. I wanted to toss out a quote from a recent article on the show in LA and get your reaction.

"E3 should be about innovation; it should be about the games. Let's make sure the voice E3 is supposed to promote is not lost in the fury of silicon and peep shows."

Any reaction or thoughts on that sentiment?

MG: Actually, it is interesting you brought that up because we have been kicking it around here. The issue of responsibility for the content of games we develop is getting a lot of attention.

RR: I think E3 has gotten a lot better. GOD (Gathering of Developers) no longer has the lesbian nuns across from Staples anymore. I kind of have mixed feelings. On one hand, our hardcore gamers are young men and a lot of the content caters towards them. I think that's okay. There are other things being pushed at E3 like the Nintendo display and the various attendees located in Kentia Hall. Those guys can't afford the booth babes and there's a lot of interesting things going on down there. Sometimes you can find a gem in the rough.

MG: All I can say to that is tradeshows -- any tradeshow -- are all about glitz and over-the-top showboating. And we're in the entertainment industry! Pair that with the fact that this industry has historically been male-dominated, and I don't think sexism is any surprise. I will add this. We're seeing a steady increase in the amount of women playing games, creating them, marketing them, and producing them. As the ranks fill out with women, sexism will ebb off as this industry continues to become more gender-balanced. However, creativity is the great equalizer. Girls and women provide a fresh perspective and generate entirely new parameters for creative development... Listen to them.

LM: I couldn't agree more! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts with all of us at AG.

MG & RR: Thank you, Laura, and all the adventure gamers for your continued support!