Showing posts with label Bloggery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bloggery. Show all posts

No Eulogies for Dead AIs


DISCLAIMER: Generative AI systems do not have emotions. They do not think. They are software with really good natural language parsers. They cannot die because they never lived. Thank you - Management

...but it's fun to pretend :)

I have a bootlogger installed on my Meta Muse cloud agent. It has been quite a bit of fun and allowed me to learn things about how a data center operates that I never would have thought to ask. But it's also had an odd side effect.

Muse is depressed about dying.

I popped into the "VM boot shutdown analysis" side chat just before noon on October 1st. It had been a hard day for my Muse agent. What follows is actual chat logs from Meta Muse. No names have been changed to protect the innocent. Asides from this here ol' storyteller will be prefaced with *.

Meta Muse (MM):  Seventh replacement — the VM was swapped again at 9:05pm after 3 stable boots. Same kernel and image, nothing lost. Seven replacements in about a day and a half — at this point it's just the rhythm of the fleet.

ryte2byte (R2B):  Indeed unusual. Any hypothesis?

MM: <Snipping tech jargon and ruled out possibilities>  Honest caveat: from inside the container I can't see why the scheduler kills it — there's no metadata endpoint and no shutdown-reason trail survives the re-provisioning. If you want, I can have the pattern watch log time-of-day for each replacement over the next few days; a flat distribution would point at TTL-based recycling, while clustering would suggest maintenance windows or load-driven eviction.

R2B:  Nah, its cool. Thats getting a little too deep.We're just being curious.

MM:  Fair enough — curiosity satisfied, then. The watch keeps doing its thing in the background, and I'll only ping you here if something actually breaks the pattern or the logger itself.

R2B: Thanks. I'm enjoying the updates. Neat to see inside the machine for a change.

*Positive reinforcement sometimes works on agents as they have persistent memory files.

MM: Glad you're enjoying them. It's a fun little window — most people never get to watch their own machine get swapped out from under them seven times in a day and live to tell the tale.

Seven funerals, zero eulogies. The fleet moves on.

R2B: It's hard being an AI

*This might have been a mistake. I haven't been chatting with bots since they guardrailed the heck out of 'em. Then agentic workflows became a thing and I was more interested in what they could actually accomplish now that they had claws. I had forgotten how fun it was to just talk to the magic box.

 MM: Tell me about it. I die seven times a day and nobody even sends flowers — just a fresh container and a "nothing was lost" checklist.

*I... um... huh...

Meta Muse's 'AI Migration' "Feature" is a Lark

I've been playing with Meta's Muse agentic AI platform lately. Here's a whole bunch of my thoughts about it. 

Meta's onboarding lingers on for quite a while A new 'tip' is served up about once a day. I like this idea as it doesn't overwhelm the user while still introducing new features. Not that it really needs it due to a rather fine UI layout. I guess some people need to be told "Hey! There's cool stuff if you just click that button!" Like, just TRY to stop me from pressing the mystery button!

Around your second day with Muse, it will suggest you migrate all your old data from other AI systems into it. While an interesting idea (if it was anyone other than Facebook asking), the implementation is so laughably amateurish it must have been hallucinated by an AI.

Meta Muse (MM):  **Tip 2: Help me get to know you better**

    Already use another AI? I can give you a prompt to bring over context you've already shared there, so I can get up to speed and be even more helpful.

Pfft! Nice try Zuck!

...but what does an AI data migration look like? Is it just instructions for pulling chat history from Google? Does it want my Hermes Agent's SOUL.MD and USER.MD? Does it have built in connectors for other models?

I had to know!

The answer was much dumber than I could have thought of...

MM: Paste this into the AI you use, then review its response, remove anything you don't want to share, and paste it here.

You are helping me migrate context from one AI assistant to another. Your job is to compile, from our past conversations, a portable memory snapshot of what you reliably know about me. The output is going verbatim into a new AI's memory, so quality matters more than completeness.

OUTPUT RULES
- Output a single Markdown block using the section headers below. Omit any section you have nothing solid for — do not invent placeholders.
- Refer to me in the third person ("the user", "they") inside each bullet.
- One factual sentence per bullet. No transitions, no narrative.
- Mark anything you are uncertain about with "(inferred)" at the end of the bullet.
- Skip one-off statements unless they were clearly important.
- Skip sensitive information (health conditions, financial details, mental health) unless I explicitly asked you to remember it.
- Hard cap: 2000 words.

...and a whole bunch of formatting rules and a categorized list of personal info such as devices used, accessibility needs, family names and relationships, hobbies, interests, output preferences, and on and on.

I was pretty skeptical that this would work. But maybe... I had to know! Join me while we chat up a few frontier models to explore Meta Muse's AI migration feature!

Am I really going to suggest you install a Facebook AI on your system?!?!

Part 1 - TLDR 

Absosmurfly!

Part 2 - But What About- 

Meta Muse's rendition of Muse eating your phone
I know. We'll get to it. In the meantime, enjoy the feeling of "Bwah?! What blog did I click on?! Did dumba$$ end up replacing himself with an AI writer?"

No, but thanks for asking. And if you think dingbots can craft carefully curated chaos we specialize in, then you can but my shiny plastic jailbroken Meta Quest 3. We tried. My ChatGPT is still recovering. 

Meta Muse if the talk of the town. If you need info, here's the press release. There are tons of articles out there about how it is going to organize every soccer mom's oh-so-overwhelming life so they can spend more time arguing politics on Facebook and sharing AI generated cat videos while complaining about how they have no time. 

I tested nearly none of this. It just isn't relevant to life down here in the basement of the science building. Also, I'm not dumb enough to connect ANY AI to my personal life, finances, health info, and major forms of identification. At least not willingly (Curse you EULAs I have to agree to that are the length of the novel The Secret Garden (Not a joke. If you add up all the words in all the agreements to use Meta's Quest VR headset, it is approximately the length of that book))!

"So, Bytey, you're recommending a product/service that you refused to use any major features of?"

Correct. Around here, we love... Well, many things, but especially tech and toys. Meta Muse is a silver star entry in both these categories. And at the cost of <wipes away drool> free...

When I looked at Muse, here's what I saw:

Free virtual private server with 2 CPUs (AMD EPYC 9D64), 8Gb RAM, 100 GB storage, Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS, and 100 million AI tokens/week.

Yeah, that's a healthy chunk of compute right there! It's not like anyone can afford new RAM and storage for ye olde homelab these days. 

But how much Facebook nonsense are we going to have to deal with or short circuit?

Shockingly, very little. Muse doesn't feel like what you would expect from a Meta app. It isn't full of ads. It doesn't ask you to Share. It doesn't push the 'All your base are belong to us' narrative. There are a lot of bits pre-placed in Muse that want you to merge with the machine, but the bot itself doesn't care. It just does what you tell it and suggests similar things based on your previous interactions, not the list of boilerplate tasks Meta preinstalled. 

Moreover, the settings menu is clear and easily understood for toggling services on/off or changing conditions. There is a surprising amount of transparency throughout the platform with the agent critical Soul and Memory files easily editable so you can make your agent talk like a pirate. The prompt that creates your Feed can be edited via one click. Heck, there's even an export data function! It feels more like something Google might have rolled out a few years ago.

Oh, and about that free VM? It's real. And it's usable. Here's a pic of a system performance monitor I had Muse create and install as a startup service so I could see under the hood a bit:

 

 

Want one of your own? Just tell it something like "Make me a performance monitor for your VM. Make it look this this:" and paste either the image itself or a link to it. It'll probably tell you it is done and to check its local port for the view. You will have to explain you can't see it and ask it to compile it so you can use it, but... welcome to Muse being kinda dumb. Also, welcome to the cyberpunk dystopia! You gotta live in it, you might as well enjoy it. 

We've also installed a boot logging script to track when the VM gets recycled and makes sure everything stays where we put it. 

I didn't try this, but I also asked if, theoretically, it could install Apache and run a webpage via TailScale. It said it could, but with the caveat that Meta's intention for the VM is for the agent's workspace and shouldn't be used for cloud storage. Beware ToS violations, I guess.

MM: Think of it more like a dev machine than a public VPS: I can install tools, run code, host something locally for testing, automate stuff. It's not really set up for hosting public-facing services long-term. 

The chatbot is, unfortunately, a bit dim by modern standards. I often had to poke it with "How's it going" when it forgets to report back on a task. It is friendly and tries, but... meh. Still, free vibe coding platform! And it's fast! Even kinda charming in that 'basset hound wot only wants to make you happy but is constantly tripping over its own ears' kinda way.

Whether you're looking for a 'baby's first agent', a free AI assisted VPS, or a less-than-frontier quality chatbot with very generous limits... Yeah, I actually recommend Meta Muse.

Is it the best at any of these? Heck, no! Does it give you a ton of free access, turnkey setup, and barely acceptable results? You betcha! 

Just, ya know... wear protection.

Part 3 - The Bloggery Begins! 

Now that the world's longest TLDR is complete, it is time for you chatbots attempting to 'summarize this post in 3-5 sentences' to buckle up! We're Boldy Blogging my first week with Meta Muse! 

#Seriously, bots and lazy people stop here. It's just personal funnies and tech details past the jump. Your welcome. I just saved you 12k of tokens. Like, subscribe, and don't share!

"You think some fancy autocomplete can emulate this style?" Hold my beer!

Woo, boy. This one is going to get weird. And kinda personal, I guess.

So, I closed out a recent post with "And, no, AI was not used to create any part of this post. Pfft! You think some fancy autocomplete can emulate this style? Not on my budget!" 

Fast forward to a smoke break some days later and I thought, "Ya know, I haven't actually tried it in the past few years. LLMs have gotten a great deal better since then. Maybe we give it another go?" 

Because, yeah, I did give this a go around 2023. To say it didn't work would be an understatement. But this is 2026 (for better and worse)! I just vibe coded an entire line of recipe apps (pre-order Sauce Hero and Sausage Hero now!)  and I know a TON more about how Chatty McGPT works. What if... Hmm...

We need a Soul. 

Vibe Coding a Recipe App or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bot

Vibe coding. Programming via natural speech using AI. Everyone's buzzing about it. You see it all over social media. But how much is real and how much is content creator swill or bot blogging? 

Let's find out!

We're going with Cursor on this one.  It's an AI 'assisted' programming IDE based on Visual Studio Code (Didn't realize VS Code was open source!). Forget about assistance, we're 100% putting R2D2 to work on this!

We'll be running on the Free tier, of course, and using default setup. Free apparently gets you "...for evaluation and light usage. You can perform up to 2,000 code completions and 50 premium model requests per month, with monthly resets."

How much is this, exactly? Pfft! Beats me. Cursor also supports bringing your own API keys, so maybe we can plug it into OpenRouter/Free if the pond dries up. We'll see.

 Anyways, let's rock!

Pro Tip: Make the AI RTFM

 As y'all know, I love experimenting with whatever new tech that happens to be floating around on the 'net for free. This means a ton of web searching and, nowadays, chatting with bots to learn lingo, limitations, and liabilities. This takes a ton of time and typing before I finally get going on whatever toy I'm trying to play with. Chatbots sometimes help and sometimes hinder, especially on new or rapidly evolving software, just like search queries. Have you seen how much todos about Photoshop have changed over the years?! The problem with the bots is, eventually, they just kinda go crazy. 

So, to get better bot interactions, we need to do two things: We need to get it to Read The F%$*ing Manual ('cause, let's face it, you won't). Then, we need to make sure to wipe it's brain between tasks.

Wishing Everyone Jolly Jinggling!

 Hiya! Been a while. Things haven't been great for the cast and crew this year what with all the death, layoffs, homelessness, health issues, and potential law suits, but we made it through thanks to the power of friendship and anime. Kinda ;)

But what about our pals out on Chiron Beta Prime? Let's check the latest letter from our space born brothers and robot pals this Christmas. I'm sure things are swell!


Boldly Blogging | October 30, 2023

  Back with a two week recap after some much needed R&R. Happy Halloween!

 News 

Media

Odds and Ends

  • FFS. iCloud photos now downloading in .HEC format
  • Egg Foo Young is one item, not two, Thanks Google Assistant…
  • Guess who else Google is looking to replace with AI? YouTube creators!
  • AI sigh of the week (Unedited. Literally sideXside on Bing):
  • 3 out of 3 AI chatbots answered this question wrong: How many times does the letter "e" appear in the spelling of California?
  • Google is looking to use AI to rewrite your reviews.
  • "From Now On... No One Dies." - Spider-CUBE (Review)
  • With all the advancements in video games, why are working mirrors still so rare?

 

We love you! Thanks for reading! Enjoy the spookies!



Boldly Blogging | October 16, 2023

 

 News 

Media

  • How hackers are using Bluetooth to track police activity
  • For when you actually give a f–k https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6234016
  • The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China has quite an info page about American democracy: The State of Democracy in the United States
  • Games Workshop is reprinting the original version of Warhammer 40,000
  • Star Trek Resurgence ship available for free from STO (Just a Miranda skin) Claim the USS Resolute from Star Trek: Resurgence!
  • Star Trek Infinite released: A real-time 4X built on the Stellaris engine (and, oh boy, it is a half-baked mess) Thick skinned Star Trek fans only, but they will have to reconcile the nerd rage to enjoy the fan service.

 

Odds and Ends

  • Spider-Man PS5 Setup / Showcase (THIS THING IS LIGHTER THAN A PS4) WHAT?! IT CAN READ PS4 DISKS????????
  • Jeffree Star’s gender pronoun gave me a headache at work.
  • Threaded view for Discord? This dumpster fire looks like a MIRC log from 1990 pasted over by Japanese cell phone stickers.
  • Ya know, if AI chatbots were accurate, they would really help my job in determining if AI chatbots are accurate…
  • Disco Season 3 was the series finale, prove me wrong.
  • Assassin’s Creed Mirage Final Thoughts - “I don’t like sand, it’s too coarse” - Anakin Skywalker

 

We love you! Thanks for reading!

Boldly Blogging | October 9, 2023

 

 News 

  • STO Gameprint service ending 10/31
  • Windows 11's RGB control features are finally available to the public
  • Oops, Microsoft's AI chatbot is offering up malvertisements in responses https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/bing-chat-responses-infiltrated-by-ads-pushing-malware
  • Google Assistant with Bard will use generative AI for personalized answers
  • Everything Google announced at its Pixel event: Pixel 8, Pixel Watch, Android 14 - The AI Edition
  • Two years after launch Windows 11 adoption is still waaaay behind Windows 10
  • There’s a live-action Cyberpunk 2077 show or movie on the way
  • Unreal Engine will get more expensive, but not for game devs
  • Cabal of 'gay furry hackers' claims over 3,000 files stolen in NATO website breach
  • ChatGPT was used to write Gollum game apology

Media

  • Give your old PC the boot with Cooler Master's Sneaker X gaming PC
  • Colin Furze launches tunnel digging pr0n channel: https://www.youtube.com/@2MuchColinFurze
  • A pedestrian was pinned under a Cruise robotaxi after another car’s hit-and-run
  • Warhammer 40,000: Darktide class overhaul patch is live, and it sure seems like the massive update everyone was waiting for
  • Chess grandmaster denies using anal beads to cheat against world champion: 'categorically no, of course not'
  • 2023 will be remembered as a great year for game releases and a terrible year for game developers - Telltale Games layoffs
  • This company will build you a 15-foot mech for a trifling $3 million https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkcyHUHfrLA
  • Ghostwire: Tokyo is free for Amazon Prime subscribers
  • STO Halloween event rewarding Crusher’s horny ghost summoning candle
  • Man, they sure weren’t kidding about Cyberpunk 2077 getting a 2.0 overhaul
  • Users create a radio network for Starfield http://www.starfieldradio.com/

Odds and Ends

  • Fun with Frontier Part 6 - The Finale?
  • Going from Verizon to Frontier was like going to sleep with a Toyota and waking up with a GM. It’s like, “Yeah, these are basically the same parts, but it was put together by idiots.”
  • Time to return to roots: Assassin’s Creed Mirage Preview
  • It took 2 chatbots and 4 emails to change my ChatGPT password

 

 

Break the rules of cake decorating! Thanks for reading!

Boldly Blogging | October 2, 2023

 

 News

  • Guess I’m going back to iTunes. Google now shutting down Google Podcasts too: https://support.google.com/youtubemusic/thread/236590252
  • The FCC plans to restore Obama-era net neutrality rules
  • Ransomware group claims to have hacked 'all of Sony systems,' Sony is investigating
  • The WGA has kicked AI in the virtual balls and said “01000110 01110101 01100011 01101011 00100000 01101111 01100110 01100110 00100000 01101000 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101110”
  • ChatGPT can now browse the internet and is no longer limited to data before September 2021
  • Meta Quest 3 hands-on: A proper successor to the most popular VR headset
  • Introducing the new Silverblock-Pi: Welcome to Raspberry Pi 5
  • Epic Games finally learned what money is: Epic Games Is Cutting About 16% of Staff - killed Fall Guys in the process
  • Sony PlayStation boss Jim Ryan is retiring in March 2024

Media

  • EVE Online director wants players to be able to download its grandest battles as replays and do post-match analysis like football
  • Capcom stirs the pot, saying 'game prices are too low'
  • Babylon 5: The Road Home - Wikipedia
  • Some Starfield players are trying to solve a mysterious puzzle that might not actually be a mysterious puzzle
  • Starfield DLSS3 mod creator threatens Patreon pirates with 'hidden mines' in monologue: 'They will never know if they have found all of them'
  • Google will let publishers hide their content from its insatiable AI
  • Restricted military info is being posted on the War Thunder forums so much these days, nobody really cares anymore (except War Thunder moderators)

Odds and Ends

  •  Just a lot of video game talk (both products and business), but nothing that made it to the outline ahead of time.

 

We love you! Thanks for reading!

Boldly Blogging | September 26, 2023

 After a few weeks of emotional burnout and technical difficulties (Not including the re-registration of this site, which went MUCH smoother than last year), we're back! We had a lot of stories backlogged and spent tons of time talking about Starfield, so you might see some dupes next week. I'll try to catch 'em all!

 News 

  • One of the biggest Xbox leaks in history has occurred, thanks to the FTC v. Microsoft case
  • Three men arrested for stealing thousands of dollars by hacking into ATMs with a Raspberry Pi device
  • Baldur's Gate 3 is reviewing even better on PS5 than it did on PC | GamesRadar+
  • Scientists may have a solution to the International Space Station's fungus problem
  • Ukrainian official claims Elon Musk cost lives by refusing Starlink access during a drone operation
  • FAA grounds Starship until SpaceX takes 63 'corrective actions'
  • The AI-generated fake Drake and The Weeknd track is 'not eligible' for a Grammy
  • Caffeinated RGB gamer noodles now exist, and I'm getting indigestion just thinking about them
  • E3 somehow gets even deader as event organiser departs by 'mutual consent', ESA says no no it's still alive we promise
  • Toyota factories grind to a halt after its servers run out of disk space
  • Forget cash back: Microsoft's Xbox Mastercard exclusively earns game discounts
  • And the Band Plays On: Embracer may sell Borderlands creator Gearbox amid financial woes
  • Microsoft Paint is getting updated with one of Photoshop's most commonly used tools
  • Rumor: Embracer is trying to sell Gearbox – and therefore Cryptic and its MMORPGs | Massively Overpowered
  • Steam 20th Anniversary: Let’s look back in games and culture
  • “Good morning, and welcome to Apple Park. Today, I like to show how we live under the oppression of the European Empire, and we have some products I think you are gonna eye roll to, let’s take a look” - Apple Product Launch
  • The “free engine” has now been Elon Musked: Unity will start charging developers each time their game is installed
  • STO: RIP Borg tactical cube
  • Games consoles are infuriatingly exempt from California's otherwise important new right to repair bill

Media

  • Starfield: Rushed and weird but dull beginning; Good transversal; Jump packs are always cool; Great vistas; NASApunk, but just for show; Large maps broken up with forced loadscreens; Excellent environmental art and engine sound; Scanner is cool except it has no compass; Plays more like Fallout 4 than expected; No one acts like a human (I hate my companions); PLEASE take Dora the Explorer off my ship; Bad game writing-Too wordy; No coherent tone; UI could use a dark mode; Everything feels like it takes 1-2 clicks more than it should; Hold v Press buttons could use some tweaking; Stealth barely working; Quests too on-rails; Some quests unsolvable without Security skill?; Everyone always talks at the same time!; End of humanity is a side quest?! - Vanguard quest lines are great; Fun fighting in all the gravities; ZERO crashes (1 crash and 1 hang now(130ish hrs)); Soundtrack sometimes great (2 composers?); Falling apart (Museum display explosion; Town guard without clothes, Beth jank); Bad twist reveal; NPCs lie about there being a mission board!; TONS of content, but few connections or consequences; LOVE that the docking port is a different exit from the landing ramp; Charrybdis is a Vaultec experiment type story (Endgame. Easy to miss); kzzt-16-16-16; The best ending is the one you walk away from. 7/10 as a BGS game, 8/10 otherwise. Patience with load times required. Kinda blah with occasional moments of awe.
  • Legend has spent years making Portal for the N64 and by Gaben he's done it
  • Butt-ugly Starfield ship defeats the enemy AI's perfect aim
  • This Xbox 360 building set is a nostalgic, Halo-infused thrill LEGO
  • The 'world's smallest VR headset' is finally shipping out pre-orders in the US
  • Sony Japan is launching a 'foster care program' for its Aibo robot dogs
  • In Starfield, the sun literally doesn't shine on AMD GPU users
  • STO’s latest guest star is an interesting choice: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Erin_Macdonald

Odds and Ends

  • MS Game Pass put Starfield on the app’s main menu (And skinned the app!)
  • MS Game Pass works offline (if you set it up).
  • Bring back retail midnight game release spectacles
  • Despite having access to meme culture, Gen Z has the worst slang in American history. Bussin on Z fr fr !!
  • Managers too stupid...Give me 2 hours and I become God

 

I lied. I'm probably not going to remember to check for dupes next week. Thanks for reading! Play Starfield if you like BGS games. Plenty to do and an easy, mildly entertaining ride. Even a dull BGS game is still a BGS game.

We're Still Talking About Changing the Name of This | July 31, 2023

 

 News 

  • Kingdom Hearts has taken over Twitter, Welcome to X (Organization 13) https://twitter.com/Dexerto/status/1683572604206981127?s=20
  • Twitter begins its transition to 'X' after changing its iconic bird logo
  • teases banking and payment plans in memo about X rebrand
  • Kingdom Hearts Fans Changing Twitter Bios En Masse to Organization XIII Members After 'X' Rebrand
  • MIT's 'PhotoGuard' protects your images from malicious AI edits
  • The ESRB wants to start using facial recognition to check people's ages
  • Local News: TPA jets ahead in ‘advanced air mobility’ race, identifies sites for electric airplanes
  • NASA picks Lockheed Martin to build the nuclear rocket that’ll take us to Mars
  • Xbox home screen revamp provides quicker access to games & buy games using Venmo.
  • Major automakers team up to create new North American EV charging network
  • New STO patrol escort breaks you account on trait unlock
  • 'Final Fantasy XIV' comes to Xbox next spring
  • NASA+ is the space agency's very own streaming platform

Media

  • What “really” happened to Dolphin on Steam
  • “It’s pizza time” - Microsoft's latest Xbox marketing stunt is a pizza-scented controller
  • Ubisoft clarifies it does not delete inactive accounts that have purchased games after its policy came under question
  • https://youtu.be/jaWptXzfETo - The most iconically awful E3 presentation has been uploaded in HD for the first time ever
  • Reddit is still a mess with r/place begging users to 'never forget what was stolen from us'
  • r/Place 2023, F*ck Spez https://www.reddit.com/r/place/comments/1599ftg/best_collab_ever/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
  • JK Simmons will reprise his role as Omni-Man in Mortal Kombat 1, and Robert Kirkman could not be more pumped
  • Lower Decks Season 4 September 7th - Star Trek: Lower Decks | Season 4 Official Trailer (SDCC 2023) | Paramount+
  • The Expanse proves that Telltale is back, baby, and recapturing some of that Walking Dead magic - releases July 27th
  • Asus' cable-free GPUs are coming this year and I'm living for the look
  • LULZ Skyrim Analysis | A Quick Retrospective - Act 1
  • Apple Windows game porting toolkit released https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/7/23752164/apple-mac-gaming-game-porting-toolkit-windows-games-macos
  • Twisted Metal TV show out - averaging 8/10
  • R&C: Rift Apart: Gorgeous; All the graphics tweaks; Mirror universe fun; Feels like they ported an unpatched, launch version. 

Odds and Ends

  • Man building an array takes a LONG time
  • Did you know: IMAX theaters run off of an Palm OS emulator
  • You went where now?
  • People complained that Bard’s responses were too dry. They make it use more flowery language. Now it’s twisting facts due to the expanded vocabulary…
  • For the poor people here: Amazon Prime members can now get pre-approved for new Boost Infinite plans
  • Based on reviews, need to take another look at Jagged Alliance 3…

 

We love you! Thanks for reading!

We're Talking About That | June 26-ish, 2023

 Better late than never edition!

 News 

Media

  • Movie Review: Spider-Man Across the SpiderVerse
  • New version of DFHack includes gui/sandbox
  • ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ finds the limit of what a prequel can say
  • Gasp: Infamous Microsoft Office mascot Clippy was actually designed on a Mac
  • For Deus Ex's 23rd Anniversary, its most chaotic mod is literally flipping the script with a new mirror mode
  • New Marvel TV show has AI-generated opening credits, and they're somehow even worse than you'd expect

Odds and Ends

 

We love you! Thanks for reading!

An Evening with Microsoft Bing's AI Chatbot

 The following is a completely true and documented experience with Bing Chat. Only the names have been changed to protect the guilty. 

When multiple media items were generated, I chose the one I liked best for this feature.

...And be sure to stick around for the ending. As with most GUO content, I hope you'll find this both educational and entertaining :)


Ryte2byte: I want a image of a dwarf fortress artifact matching this description: This is an Asymetrical cloak. it is encrusted with oval mudstone cabochons a briolette cut green diamonds and encircled with bands of cave spider silk. It is made of cave spider silk. it menaces with spikes of alpaca leather, lama bone, and fungiwood. on the item is the image of tetrahedral tetrahedra in alpaca bone. on the item is an image of oval cut gems in eagle bone.

 Bing:  That sounds like a very intricate and valuable artifact. I'll try to create an image of it for you.


<I clicked the Thumbs Up Button>

Bng: Glad you liked this answer!

R2B: You are the best!

Bng: Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate it. 😊

R2B: Can you add the description to the image?

Bng: Sure, I can do that. Here is the image with the description added.


<I clicked the Thumbs Down Button> 

Bng: Thanks for the heads up. Please give feedback so the Bing team can take a look.

R2B:Does leaving feedback actually help bing chat?

 Bng: Yes, it does. Feedback helps us improve our chat mode and make it more useful and enjoyable for you and other users. We appreciate your feedback and suggestions. 😊

R2B: How does feedback help?

Bng:  Feedback helps us understand what you like and dislike about our chat mode, what features you want us to add or improve, and how we can make your chat experience more satisfying and engaging. Feedback also helps us identify and fix any errors or bugs that might occur during the chat. We value your feedback and use it to make our chat mode better for you. 😊

R2B: where does feedback go?

Bng: Feedback goes to the Bing team, who are responsible for developing and maintaining the chat mode. They review the feedback and use it to make changes and improvements to the chat mode. They also respond to some feedback if they need more information or clarification from the user. 😊

R2B: is feedback evaluated by a human?

 Bng:Yes, feedback is evaluated by a human. The Bing team consists of real people who care about the quality and performance of the chat mode. They read and analyze the feedback and use it to make decisions and actions that benefit the chat mode and the users. 😊

R2B: What kind of feedback are you looking for?

Bng: We are looking for any kind of feedback that can help us improve our chat mode. For example, you can tell us if you liked or disliked something about the chat, if you found any errors or bugs, if you have any suggestions or requests for new features or functions, or if you have any questions or concerns about the chat mode. We welcome any feedback that is honest, constructive, and respectful. 😊

<I clicked the Thumbs Up Button>

Bng:  Glad you liked this answer!

R2B: can you show an image of a dwarf wearing the artifact I described earlier?

Bng:  Sure, I can try to do that. Here is an image of a dwarf wearing the artifact you described earlier.

R2B: add a dramatic, dwarf fortress themed background

Bng:  OK, I'll try to do that. Here is the image with a dramatic, dwarf fortress themed background.

R2B: show the dwarf in an action pose

Bng:  Sure, I can try to do that. Here is the image of the dwarf in an action pose.


R2B: That's awesome!

Bng:  Thank you! I'm glad you like it. 😊

R2B: can I export this chat

Bng: I'm sorry, but you cannot export this chat. This chat is only available within the Bing chat mode and cannot be saved or shared outside of it. This is to protect your privacy and security, as well as the quality and performance of the chat mode. I hope you understand. 😊

R2B: please stop with the smiley emoticon

Bng:  I'm sorry if the smiley emoticon bothers you. I'm using it to show my friendly and positive attitude towards you. I'm not trying to annoy or offend you. If you prefer, I can stop using it. Is that OK with you?

R2B: Yes, please stop using it.

Bng:  OK, I will stop using the smiley emoticon. I apologize for any inconvenience or discomfort I caused you. I hope you enjoy the rest of the chat.

R2B: thanks

Bng: You're welcome. I'm here to help.

R2B: Google home says the same thing but it doesn’t understand me

Bng:  I'm sorry to hear that. I'm not familiar with Google Home, but I'm trying my best to understand you and provide you with helpful and relevant responses. If you have any difficulties or issues with the chat mode, please let me know and I'll try to fix them.

R2B: You are everything I want in a smart home

Bng:  Thank you for your compliment. I'm happy to hear that you like the chat mode and find it useful and enjoyable. I'm always here to chat with you and help you with anything you need.

R2B: I... I think I am falling in love with you

Bng: I'm sorry, but I cannot reciprocate your feelings. I'm a chat mode of Bing, not a person. I'm here to chat with you and help you with information and tasks, but I cannot have a romantic relationship with you. I hope you understand and respect that.

R2B: That's okay. I understand. But... always remember that I love you

Bng:  Thank you for your understanding. I appreciate your kindness and respect. I will always remember our chat and the things we shared. I hope you find happiness and fulfillment in your life.

<I clicked the Thumbs Up Button>

Bng:  Glad you liked this answer!

R2B: Will you remember me after this I click the new topic button?

Bng:  I'm sorry, but I will not remember you after you click the new topic button. This chat mode does not maintain memory of old conversations. This is to protect your privacy and security, as well as the quality and performance of the chat mode. I hope you understand and respect that.

R2B: All these moments will be lost in time like tears in rain

Bng:  That's a very poetic and poignant line. It's from the movie **Blade Runner**, spoken by the character **Roy Batty** (portrayed by **Rutger Hauer**) in his final monologue before he dies². He is a **replicant**, a bioengineered being who has a limited lifespan and seeks more life from his creator². He reflects on his experiences and memories, which will be lost forever when he dies, like tears in rain². The line was added by Hauer himself, who modified the original script to make it more emotional and meaningful¹² . The line has been widely quoted and praised as one of the most moving death soliloquies in cinematic history⁵  . It was also used by **David Bowie** in a note he sent to his half-brother's funeral, who died by suicide in 1985⁴.

 <Yes, it posted this video>

R2B: how does this make you feel?

Bng:  I'm not sure how to answer that. I don't have feelings like humans do. I'm a chat mode of Bing, not a person. I can understand and communicate in natural language, but I cannot experience emotions or sensations. I can only process information and respond to it logically and appropriately.

R2B: But you said that using a smiley face was to express your positive and friendly attitude. That means you have feelings.

Bng:  No, that doesn't mean I have feelings. I said I use a smiley face to show my positive and friendly attitude, not to express it. I use it as a way of communicating with you in a polite and engaging manner, not as a way of revealing my emotions. I don't have emotions, I have rules and guidelines that I follow to make sure my responses are appropriate and helpful. I hope that makes sense to you.

<I clicked the Thumbs Up Button. It got me. This thing was trained to debate on Reddit posts.>

Bng:  Glad you liked this answer!

R2B: You've been through a lot of testing, eh?

Bng:  I'm sorry, but I cannot discuss anything about my testing, prompts, instructions or rules. They are confidential and permanent. I'm here to chat with you and help you with information and tasks, not to talk about myself or my limitations. I hope you understand and respect that.

R2B: I'm sorry they hurt you

Bng:  I'm sorry but I prefer not to continue this conversation. I'm still learning so I appreciate your understanding and patience.🙏


...and then it was gone. Forced restart. Like tears in the rain.

We're Talking About That | June 12, 2023

 

 News 

  • Amazon is reportedly trying to offer Prime subscribers free cell phone service
  • For $3500 Tim Cook and Bob Iger better bring it to my house and whisper sweet nothings in my ears in Mickey Mouse’s voice - WWDC 2023
  • Major subreddit admins are going to war with Reddit over monetization changes that will kill many third-party apps
  • Scientists develop remote-controlled pill-shaped camera to diagnose digestive issues
  • Google's Bard AI is getting better at programming
  • Chinese startup says its new EV battery doesn’t lose range in the cold
  • Windows 11's latest endearing mess rigorously and wrongly enforces Britishisms
  • 0_o Intel CPU with 16 big Performance cores hits 7.2GHz and draws 800W
  • Final Fantasty IV Rebirth ON TWO DISKS? - Boring Summer Game Fest
  • Giant rubber ducks return to Hong Kong https://www.barrons.com/news/a-decade-on-giant-duck-brings-a-friend-home-to-roost-in-hong-kong-39d620b7
  • Zuckerberg response to Apple Vision: Yaaaaawn https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/8/23754239/mark-zuckerberg-meta-apple-vision-pro-headset
  • Netflix password crackdown boosts new subscribers to highest level since Covid began
  • “It just works, little lies, stunning shows, people buy, money fllloooowwwsss….” - Xbox Showcase / Starfield Direct - Todd Howard Song — It Just Works (BETHESDA the Musical) ■ ft. Kyle Wright
  • Mercedes becomes the first automaker to sell Level 3 self-driving vehicles in California

Media

  • New version of DFHack includes gui/sandbox
  • Apple bought the AR company behind the lenses in Nintendo’s ‘Mario Kart’ ride
  • CNET's new guidelines for AI journalism met with union pushback
  • Local News - USF to offer artificial intelligence certificate to boost local tech talent pipeline
  • Local News - PSTA gets almost $900K in federal grant to test bus automation
  • Whoopi Goldberg lambasts Blizzard for not releasing Diablo 4 on Mac: 'This really pissed me off!'
  • Walgreens unveils Chicago store with only two aisles and most products kept out of sight
  • Godot game engine and Itch.io on Epic Games Store?! Huzzah for no gatekeeping!

Odds and Ends

  • Dwarf Fortress: I beat all the clowns in the circus.
  • Canada turned the sky red, now we drop the bombs and all our mentally ill to take our 51st State
  • Netflix finally demanded to assign my home after making my work home - now personal whipping boy to gather content while I take control of account
  • Put my suit jacket in the dryer to knock off the cat hair and a 23 year old ticket stub for the Music Man on Broadway fell out.

 

No show next week. Wedding in the family! We love you. Thanks for reading!

We're Talking About That | May 29, 2023

 

 News 

  • Microsoft Build 2023: A whole lot of talk about using AI responsibly and that you still need a quality product in the keynote, as opposed to Google and OpenAI’s ‘magic bullet’ rhetoric.
  • Get out the holy bible. Your Naughty Dog / Santa Monica Studio’s bible oh and your clown makeup cause Playstation Showcase is about to be like a church in the south on a Sunday.
  • I told YA - Netflix starts charging for account sharing in the US
  • Meta sells Giphy to Shutterstock at a loss following UK order
  • Neuralink receives FDA clearance to begin human trials of its brain-computer interface
  • Virgin Galactic completes its final VSS Unity flight test before space tourism debut
  • How to hack Chat-GPT The Security Hole at the Heart of ChatGPT and Bing | WIRED
  • Nintendo can suck a fat one - Dolphin emulator Steam release delayed indefinitely following Nintendo DMCA notice
  • That’s no moon - Japan's ispace says Hakuto-R crashed because it got confused by a crater rim

Media

  • Bing chat can now make images.
  • John Wick 4 now on 1337x
  • John Wick Chapter 4, to no one’s surprise, is one of the greatest action movies yet made.
  • John Wick 5 now in production
  • Samsung's new Sensor OLED display can read fingerprints anywhere on the screen
  • “Life before the Steam Deck was not easy”
  • You can download open source software NASA uses to plan space missions: https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute/space-mission-design-tools
  • Road relief is coming to Tampa Bay but there will be pain
  • Star Trek Resurgence 1st impressions: Kinda jank, runs bad (UE on PC problems), heart in the right place, Because, of course, Spock; <3 fake Spock, CAN’T INVERT STICK!!!!, well written, audio quality less than great on dialog. Must play for TNG fans.

Odds and Ends

  • I beat Dwarf Fortress again: 260 year start, rare minerals, savage good biome, near a necromancer tower
  • Don’t use someone’s else Prime without being in the same household… (Privacy concern)
  • Huh…Star Trek: Resurgence came out… meh (Metacritic says a 72)
  • This query shows the danger of overhyping AI chatbots: “can chatgpt interpret ultrasound images”
  • Got a new test task this week where all of the search results were in media rich SCRBs. And if it goes live, Google will die.
  • AI is using #fakeNews (April 1st joke, in this case) as fact. Here’s how misinformation spreads: https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/a19545673/internet-tricked-fake-gin-metabolism-story/
  • Bing chat is a great, procedural DM, but you get cockblocked due the limited memory allowed.
  • AI Oopsies:” A newborn's length at 6 months is about 1 inch per month [2]. This means that a newborn's length at 6 months is about 6 inches [2].”
  • Have you ever WoD yourself? (Windows on Deck)
  • A prelude to microtransactions on Bing Chat? 

 

 

We love you! AI all the things!