#TEchnology

[meanya]

I saw a post before about how hackers are now feeding Google false phone numbers for major companies so that the AI Overview will suggest scam phone numbers, but in case you haven't heard,

PLEASE don't call ANY phone number recommended by AI Overview

unless you can follow a link back to the OFFICIAL website and verify that that number comes from the OFFICIAL domain.

My friend just got scammed by calling a phone number that was SUPPOSED to be a number for Microsoft tech support according to the AI Overview

It was not, in fact, Microsoft. It was a scammer. Don't fall victim to these scams. Don't trust AI generated phone numbers ever.

[catchymemes]

[bastionofbibliophiles]

My 9-year-old laptop has a CD/DVD player/burner, ten assorted ports for various connectors, an SD card slot, and a headphone jack, and I am doing my best to keep it working as long as possible. I don't want to have to buy a new one until someone starts selling laptops I can plug things into again!

[mbari-blog]

Dragonfish in 4K—yay or nay?

One of these clips is in 4K, and the other isn't. Can you guess which one is which? Do you like the 4K version, or is HD the one for you?

High-definition, or HD, cameras on our remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) have recorded thousands of hours of video, helping the institute's research team piece together the mysteries of Earth's largest but least explored living space.

MBARI's MxD SeaCam 4K camera provides an exciting new level of visibility into the deep sea. Beyond offering a detailed look at deep-sea animals and habitats, MBARI scientists are excited about how the higher resolution and powerful zoom capabilities can improve their research. Because of the high resolution, we can stand off farther away from the animal we are investigating, than with our former HD cameras. This is important because our proximity to the animals can bias their behavior, so the farther away we can be and still see clearly, the better.

The footage captured by this camera promises to advance not only research but also education. Images are the most powerful way to communicate the beauty and importance of the deep sea and share the scientific knowledge and discoveries made there with the public.

[yodaprod]

[netscapenavigator-official]

Zorin OS's auto-brightness feature has this bug that I like to call "Brightness Runaway," where, if it's semi-dark in the room you're in, loading a webpage with a Light Mode UI will throw enough light onto you (and the things around you) that Zorin OS will think it suddenly got brighter in the room.

That causes the auto-brightness to raise itself, which causes more light to be thrown into the room. That causes the auto-brightness to think it got even brighter, which causes it to raise the brightness even more.

The brighter it gets, the more auto-brightness tries to raise the brightness, and the more auto-brightness tries to the raise the brightness, the brighter it gets, so eventually you end up sitting there like:

[eileentothestars]

[Image text:

You see, we'd come to the conclusion that even the highest-tech trappings of the Enterprise would most likely seem rather mundane and ordinary to the crewmen who used them every day. With that in mind, from this point on you're liable to see Captain Kirk just sort of flipping his communicator open, wallet style, as he speaks. On the bridge, console buttons began getting swatted rather than lovingly pressed, and if you look closely, you'll notice that Kirk's phaser is often just tucked into the waistband of his pants.

However, this newfound credibility and confidence weren't always time-efficient. I can still remember Irving Feinberg and De Kelley going at it over the purpose and proper use of each one of McCoy's medical instruments. I can also remember an exasperated Jimmy Doohan trying in vain to teach a new and rather dull-witted "red shirt" the technical and procedural differences between beaming crew members up and beaming them down. Even George Takei, the sweetest guy on the planet, once had a fight with one of our directors, arguing strongly with him about which buttons needed to be pushed in order to fire the Enterprise phasers.

End caption]

Committing to the bit so hard you actually start thinking all the technology on the set is real

[miamaimania]

📺 Retro Vision: JVC's 1972 Futuristic Design

[reality-detective]

The new "Hydra" a.i. can take your picture and turn it into a mini movie... So what's real? 🤔

[digitalismmm]

Landfill

[skeletonpandas]

AI is learning and UNFINISHED, which means using it to do work for you or make your work easier would actually require you to fact check what you ask it to do -- which I encourage you to do, regardless of what media to consume, but the point I'm trying to make is...that it is not a magic answer to work you need to do. I actually am on the anti-demonization of laziness train, as it is directly responsible for alot of inventions and technology that makes life better in this world for alot of people including those who otherwise would face barriers due to the tech not existing. Laziness is OFTEN good, and from a scientific point of view, it is the most efficient for energy expenditure for your body and brain...and contributes as a whole to species survival.

Discernment is just equally important. Temper laziness with wisdom. Obviously being capable of critical thought means it is also important for species survival.

I am also not inherently against the existence of AI (seeing as it has existed in rudimentary forms of coding in a sense for many years now)...but I think more work is needed for it in general. As it currently stands the tech itself is extremely costly in terms of natural resources and the tech itself...to the point of mathematical unsustainability. Which is another crazy thing to pile on our climate crisis...but yeah...

what is HAPPENING

[noosphe-re]

1) everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal; 2) anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it; 3) anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.

Douglas Adams, How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet, News Review section of The Sunday Times on August 29th 1999, https://douglasadams.com/dna/19990901-00-a.html

[vintage-tech]

shall... we... play... a... videodisc?

[invisiblefoxfire]

hey fellow elder millennials, remember when you had computer class and you'd go there and learn touch typing and how to save files and find them later and how to use basic word processing tools?

they don't do that anymore

(this is a bad thing, they need to bring those classes back holy shit)

also younger folks in particular have been raised more on mobile devices, which intentionally obscure all of these things in favor of "press the obvious button to make things happen, wait for the ad to play, then the simple action will be completed in the background and you will never know where the files are or have any control over the process" so why would it occur to them to look for something like a template? they've been trained to never look past the big obvious button and wait for the ad to play

(bring back computer literacy classes, please please please)

I think a lot of what pro-AI people are really wanting is stuff that already exists but they don't know it's out there like

can't format a work email? templates

don't know how to write a resume? templates

writing a thank you card or a condolences card or a wedding invitation? templates templates templates

not sure how to format your citations in MLA or whatever format? citationmachine.net

summary of something you're reading for school/work? cliffnotes.com

recipe based on ingredients in your fridge? whatsintherefrigerator.com

there's a million more like, guys, we don't need AI, we never needed generative AI