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¿Sabéis eso que dicen de "todos los políticos tendrían que ser expertos para poder ser elegidos"? Totalmente de acuerdo. Ni un político que no se haya leído de cabo a rabo La Pequeña Espasa y haya resuelto todos los ejercicios de Hartshorne's Algebraic Geometry.



they live glasses but for tech industry comment pieces 😎

reshared this




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Idea:

Image recognition apps for the blind should do an OCR pass on the image first, and include any text found in the prompt. The LLM should be told not to do its own OCR and to rely on the text provided.

LLMs are notoriously bad at OCR, particularly for non-English languages. To make things worse, unlike normal OCR engines, their badness doesn't result in typos and garbled text, but in perfectly understandable and grammatically valid text that says something very different than what's actually included in the image.

An OCR pass should help "ground" the LLMs here.

in reply to Jamie Teh

@jcsteh @vick21 1. Do OCR. Tesseract or whatever, there are good models aplenty.

2. Dear LLM, please describe this image. Do not try to perform text recognition, assume that the text provided below is correct and complete, except for possible typos.

You could also use this technique when finetuning, giving it images with lots of foreign-language text, but with the correct text already provided in the prompt.

in reply to Mikołaj Hołysz

@vick21 It could still mutate the provided text on output as a halucination, though. Also, I wonder how well this would work where the text isn't in a single block or where OCR doesn't get the order right but where the order could easily have been inferred by the LLM? Restaurant menus are a good example of both cases.


CN workers are NOT on strike. Their employer has locked them out. It's an important distinction and I've already seen news outlets get it wrong.


J'ai passé 4 jours à retoucher 3 photos que j'ai prises de ma tante harpiste qui va bientôt mourir.

Elle voulait des 4x6", alors je suis allé chez #JeanCoutu pour les faire imprimer au comptoir… pur désastre.

Même si je prépare du ratio 6x4 « au pixel près », leur équipement crop quand même, et ajoute de la grosse compression JPEG low-bitrate (alors que j'avais apporté des PNG); couleurs faussées, perte de détails partout.

Suggestions pour un bon service d'impression #photographie au #Québec?

This entry was edited (2 months ago)
in reply to Hubert Figuière

@hub Possible, mais j'ai comme un doute que leur software est plus con que ça, surtout si ça balance par WiFi, et puis vu comment leur machine croppe à gogo déjà c'est déjà disqualifié de ce côté là ;)
in reply to Jeff Fortin T.

le truc c’est que JPEG exif 2.1 est le format natif des caméras. Pas PNG. Pour le crop je sais pas.


It's time for the job hunt again. If you've been enjoying my posts now's your chance to see how I work!

If anyone has NY-based or remote #UX or #ProductManagement roles at the Lead/Manager/Director level, please sent them my way!

And if not - I'd still appreciate the signal boost.

#FediHired #GetFediHired #Jobhunt



Anti-nuclear activists, and a minority of the population, including many 'progressives', dismiss the best solution to climate change out of hand.

#Meme

#Meme
This entry was edited (2 months ago)


Universal International Studios and Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door are set to develop a TV adaptation of Matt Dinniman's novel Dungeon Crawler Carl. deadline.com/2024/08/dungeon-c…


One complaint about Shokz: the "battery low" status isn't useful. The battery can be high, medium, or low. When it's low, you might have ten minutes of power left, or you might have two hours. There's no way to check. I wish it gave me a percentage to the nearest ten--100%, 90%, 80%, and so on.
in reply to Alex Hall

@jackf723 That's good to know. I've had mine for four years by now and I've done that quite a few times, haven't noticed a difference yet.

I feel like they'll physically disintegrate before the battery becomes an issue, they've already started doing that.

I'm not too mad though, I use them very heavily and have gotten a ton of mileage out of them.

in reply to Mikołaj Hołysz

@miki And considering how quickly they do charge, it's more or less a non-issue anyhow. My only legitimate gripe is Bluetooth being the only wireless protocol supported for the coms headsets. That's just a non-starter, and you know it's bad when even non-screenreader users who use this headset for its intended use are complaining about the lag. And nno, they weren't gamers. Rather people watching videos and noticing hte video and audio were out of sync.


#Patienteninfo

Viele meiner Patientinnen notieren ihren Zyklus im Kalender. Manche benutzen auch Apps.

Falls ich dafür auch eine App benutzen wollt, empfehle ich euch dringend keine aus dem GooglePlayStore, denn die enthalten alle Tracker und sind unzuverlässig. Außerdem wollen wir unsere intimen Gesundheitsdaten nicht durch die Welt posaunen.

Also, falls ich eine App dazu benutzen möchtet, kann ich "Drip" aus dem F-Droid Store empfehlen.
Projektseite:
prototypefund.de/project/drip/

F-Droid Store:
f-droid.org/de/packages/com.dr…

Drip bei Mastodon:
@dripapp

P.S. Falls ihr generelle Fragen zum F-Droid Store habt:
mobilsicher.de/ratgeber/so-ins…
Oder mich fragen.

#frauen #periode #zyklus #menstruation #fdroid #dripapp



Welcome to the RB family, PhantomProcessesSavior 🤩 After we figured what JDK was used, and with some help concerning a missing dependency, we finally made it:

apt.izzysoft.de/packages/com.y…

(xposed module to keep Android 12 from killing subprocesses)

#reproducibleBuilds #IzzyOnDroid



As I rework my Emacs configuration, I am reminded once again of the many reasons why I like Emacs. Currently, I especially appreciate the quality of the documentation (available not only for Emacs but also for many established packages).

Importantly, the keyboard interaction is the primary and expected means of using the application, not an afterthought to pointer-based graphical input. The documentation reflects this priority, as does the design of the software.

There are no compromises made in the flexibility and efficacy of features to cater to non-technical users of software - people who don't know basic programming concepts and who don't enjoy learning to use powerful, complex tools. This focus is liberating. Efficiency of interaction for the experienced user is a priority.

Emacs has been evolving for decades, and it remains as relevant now as it ever was. I first learned to use it in the mid 1990s, and that investment has more than been repaid. If you're going to learn to use software well, it's advantageous to choose tools that are likely to remain relevant and useful over the long run. The UNIX shell and utilities, Emacs, Vi, LaTeX and Git, among others, have all been in this category for me.
#Emacs #Linux

in reply to Martin Stemplinger

@mstempl @clv0 Regrettably not, and I generally agree with T.V. Raman that for people who rely on a spoken (or, I would add, Braille) interface, having to interact with the Javascript-intensive Web is far from optimal. The resurgence of natural language interaction that we're starting to observe may improve matters, however, and it would presumably be more Emacs-compatible as well.


For the hard of thinking at the back, let's be completely clear on this, "Carbon Credits" are just another form of Greenwash. Once we accept that and stop trying to continue using fossil carbon, we can finally start thinking about real solutions to the Climate Crisis.

No amount of magical thinking is going to get us out of the Climate Crisis, until we fully accept that extraction and use of fossil carbon is the problem, and we have to stop using it now. Not is 20 or 30 years time but NOW!



Petra Pau hat die Bundesregierung nach rechtsextremen Straftaten im ersten Halbjahr 2024 gefragt. Die Antwort:

Statistisch werden jeden Tag 54 rechtsextreme Straftaten registriert, darunter täglich 2 Gewalttaten. Das Dunkelfeld dürfte noch höher liegen.





Just a reminder to folks using Picture Smart remember we're dealing with AI here. I got sent a screenshot of a log output and asked Picture Smart to read the log, wherein it read out a whole bunch of inaccurate information about Google Cloud, the information getting more sketchier by the end. I wasn't even working with Google Cloud so not sure why it decided to do that.


There will be some that say how can 9,300 union railway workers cause the national railway system to stop. That is the wrong number. It should be said how can TWO companies (companies are legal persons) lockout and stop 9,300 people from working hence shutting down our rail system? For profit.


What are the most common languages spoken by fediverse users? My (biased) view is that they are:

English
German
Spanish
Dutch
French

In that order. But, how could such a survey be done? A random sample? Do you see a very different set of languages on a regular basis?

in reply to myrmepropagandist

I get a fair amount of Finnish and Malay but that's probably a function of the people I follow. Very hard to know given the fedi is a network without a centre.


🎉 We're excited to welcome ClouDNS as a GNOME sponsor! Their DDoS-protected anycast DNS and monitoring service have replaced our self-hosted solutions, reducing maintenance overhead. Thanks, ClouDNS, for supporting open source!
cloudns.net/


Just udpated my WriteFreely instance to 0.15. Looking forward to GTS compatibility though.


The Librem 11: Your digital freedom, in tablet form. Secure, private, and powered by PureOS. #Librem11 #DigitalFreedom #PureOS
puri.sm/products/librem-11/


Periphery Synthetic is a chill, accessible audio dream theverge.com/24225210/peripher…


Periphery Synthetic is a chill, accessible audio dream theverge.com/24225210/peripher…



Come on!
It's a $5 server. Please don't overload it.
A single sentence is enough for now.


Tak mě čeká na podzim, předělat doma kuchyň.No úplně už to vidím :-)
youtube.com/watch?v=ntyBF8HQHt…


Je to celkom zvláštne že robím presne to isté na Slovensku/v Bratislave ako predtým keď som odtiaľto odišiel. Úplne. Zbieram body v Yakuza sushi... :kekw:
This entry was edited (2 months ago)



Si tu jen odložím… Jestli může mít platební terminál i blbej dětskej vláček v nákupáku (kde jízda stojí 20 Kč), tak už fakt neexistuje výmluva pro neakceptování karet. 😄
in reply to brabitom

@brabitom To jo. Ale ať se nevymlouvaj na poplatky, na to jsem tímhle příspěvkem narážel. Zvlášť když existujou řešení typu Cvak nebo Trisbee. Ať prostě na férovku řeknou, že se jim to nechce řešit (tudíž jim ani nezáleží na potenciálních zákaznících bez hotovosti) nebo že chtěj šmelit.
in reply to Radomír Žemlička

Důvodů může být X, ale to si musí rozhodnout každý sám.
Mimochodem, ten vláček není úplně ideální příklad, protože tam je to v případě hotovosti o dost složitější a nákladnější, než platba kartou. Automat na mince, do kterého lidé strkají kde co, s nutností pravidelného vybírání, servisu, atd. Tam se terminál skutečně vyplatí. 😉



Google is headed to trial after allegedly misleading Chrome users on data collection. 🧑‍⚖️

This is the most recent in a growing list of court proceedings.
📣 tuta.com/blog/google-incognito…
📣 tuta.com/blog/google-search-mo…

What was your most startling discovery about Google's data collection? Let us know below!

#google #encryption #privacy #data

in reply to Tuta

I was *stunned* to learn that Google has been crawling all over the entire WorldWideWeb looking at every webpage they can find.

Worse, they've created some sort of "searchable index" of those webpages!

Now, *IF* one has access to the Google search engine, one can search for almost any webpage out there in public. (But one must know the secret URL to access that "search engine.")

It almost like they're *trying* to collect all the data they can.

Google puts the Stasi in the shade.

in reply to Tuta

Apparently gmail reading the content of your mails and if you receive e.g. a bill, g would build a profile of your finances.


Warning: Typing these 4 characters in the wrong place crashes your iPhone

cultofmac.com/news/4-character…



I changed these 8 Apple Watch settings to significantly improve battery life

zdnet.com/article/i-changed-th…



Trying to get a book from Amazon.

The first order got cancelled because of "technical/logistical issues". The second is scheduled to be sent in March 2025.

The product page still claims there are 9 items left in the inventory. I intend to continue creating new orders until the corporate overloads give up and just send it out in a reasonable time. Probably not going to happen, but alas.

in reply to Bart Piotrowski

reminds me when I tried to order a $800 monitor. It just prove what I was saying all along: marketplace is a scam.


I wanted to alert people that I recently received two separate voicemails with a recording advising me to call a phone number back which began with a 248 area code
at my earliest convenience. The message contained no explanation as to the reason for why I should do this and with no information about the company that was making the call. Of course, I instantly recognized it as a scam but decided to investigate further to gather additional information.
This is a classic phone scam, with agents with an Indian accent claiming to either represent Amazon or eBay. They will claim that an order for Apple products was placed using your account. They will want to verify your name. Warning, if you do decide to call back, which I advise against doing, don't call them back with Caller ID enabled as they will have your name and will even ask you to verify your address which they will read to you, which may be the correct address.
I am very familiar with how these scams work and I was not at all fooled by any of this. Those who are unaware of these scam operations who go along with the scam will eventually find themselves being defrauded of money and could also become a victim of identity theft, not to mention the possibility of having their computer’s security becoming compromised. I have since reported this to Amazon via their form at
amazon.com/gp/help/customer/di…

To be clear, this is a scam and these agents do not represent Amazon or eBay.

This entry was edited (2 months ago)

Kelly Sapergia reshared this.

in reply to David Goldfield

I’ve been getting these for weeks from 802 area code which is Vermont where I’m from and what my cell number uses.
in reply to David Goldfield

I have Silence unknown callers turned on for that among other reasons. Any number that comes in that is not in my contacts is sent to voicemail.


Random language thought: it's common for software to use a strange form of verb, where no pronoun is given. For instance: "fixed a bug" or "added a feature." We can do this in English because verb conjugations tend to be the same no matter the associated object. "I fixed" and "we fixed" conjugate the same. Do Spanish or French software notes do something similar? If not, which conjugation do they use?
in reply to Alex Hall

@x0 Polish uses the passive voice. No person is indicated but the fact of a process having been executed.
@x0
in reply to Paweł Masarczyk

@Piciok @x0 I wonder if that's the English I was trying to describe. I don't know if Spanish or other similar languages have a construction for it. They must.
in reply to Alex Hall

@Piciok I think given verb conjugation in Spanish at least you can actually omit the pronoun normally because it is conjugated with the verb in a specific way from what I remember. You don't have to say yo tengo for I have, you can just say tengo. Because that's the conjugation of that verb with I.
in reply to x0

@x0 @Piciok That's true, but which conjugation would be used? That's my point. English's conjugations are the same, so we can omit the pronoun and not specify first, second, or third person. Spanish requires you to choose one, pronoun or no.
in reply to Alex Hall

In this case there are non-personal forms, for example the participle. "Fixed a bug." "Un error corregido." It doesn't say by whom, it only agrees in gender with the noun. It's not grammatically very elegant, and there's a reflex passive construction that would be technically more correct, but longer. "Se ha corregido un error." "A bug has been fixed."
in reply to Alex Hall

Polish has a special form for passive voice, and that's what you'd normally use for this.

Most people just use English though.