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...
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 completionsand 50 premium model requestsper 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.
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.
Non-profit privacy crusaders at the Mozilla Foundation (Firefox) have released a special flavor of gift guide for this season of giving. *Privacy Not Included examines 70 online connected gadgets and scrutinizes them for security, privacy, and disclosure before assigning a "creepiness" rating ranging from Not Creepy (Nintendo Switch) to Super Creepy (Anything from Ring (Yeah, you really should hit both those links)).
Each item on the list gets a full breakdown listing security features, privacy policies, surveillance features, sensitivity of data gathered, and even includes contact information for manufacturers. The cherry on top is a delightfully written hypothesis on worst case scenario.
So maybe you're not too concerned about Fluffy's poop schedule getting out into yonder Digiverse, but ask yourself: "Do I really want to give my money to a company that can't be bothered with writing a privacy policy at all? Do I really want their app on my phone?"
The Smart Replies feature included in the new version of Gmail offers quick snippets of text mapped to a button to make human communication more thoughtless and cookie-cutter than ever before. But how smart are they? Let's have some fun!
How about we start out easy:
Alright, simple enough. How about another one?
The time questions are an interesting addition to this particular query. It is unclear why this response triggered a time question reply yet the above one did not. Also of note, an email simply asking "Lunch?" did not have any Smart Replies at all.
What if we needs to know a time?
Nice! It didn't even balk at the typo. What about something with a more binary choice?
Google seems partial to Fridays. Far be it for me to argue with the largest information siphon in the world, but let's try another:
No real opinion on colors. I'm kind of surprised it didn't just plug in the two options on such obvious either/or type questions.
Man, I’m sooo gonna put that review quote on the back of the box! If I had a box. Remember when software came in boxes? Good times! I remember busting open the shrink wrap and taking a deep breath of New Game Smell. Oh, the intoxicating aroma of fresh cardboard mixed with the air of far off packing plants! Er… What was I talking about? Sorry, me memory’s a little shot from decades of breathing toxic paper plant fumes.
Oh, right! Bored Breaker has busted beyond its touchscreen confines and is ready to break boredom (and boards!) in web windows worldwide! It took a little longer than expected due to the whole Chrome plug-in issue, but it’s ready and we’ve got some exiting new tech to talk about to go along with it.
So… The plug-in issue. As you might imagine, Google’s roadmap to remove NPAPI from Chrome has caused quite a kerfuffle in the game hobbyist community. Many developers actually relied on the Unity Web Player plug-in to post their work to the world, especially following popular game jams such as the famous Ludum Dare. Fortunately, Unity engineers have not been resting on their laurels. While it is still considered a “preview” Unity 5 can build out programs in an entirely new format: WebGL.
The Green Machine’s been making a lot of racket lately. After pulling a few plugs inside my PC’s case, I narrowed it down to the 120mm exhaust fan. While I had gotten in the habit of thumping it in just the right spot on the back every 30 minutes to shut it up, the chore was getting a bit old. It was time to replace that sucker.
A quick trip out to my local TigerDirect store left me in a bit of a conundrum. They didn’t have any green LED fans. I sure as heck wasn’t putting in a red one and blue LEDs are SO blah. Then I saw it: The Kingwin 120mm Multi-Color LED Case Fan. I was suddenly struck by the most rational thought any PC pimper could have: “Why would I have just one color when I could have ALL THE COLORS!!!”. While the packaging showed the fan lit up with one color in each corner, nothing could have prepared me for the psychedelic lightshow this thing would put out upon being fed some power!
Ravetastic! Ya know, I think the 80mm fan on the top of my case is starting to make a little noise too
Ever wonder what it looks like on the inside of a clothes dryer? Probably not, otherwise you would have dug up some pictures on the ‘Net by now. Anyway, since you came all this way to my little corner of the web, why not sit a spell and check out what I found when I took my LG DLE2514w dryer apart?
As you can see, there isn’t much to the average clothes dryer once you get the front panel off and remove the large drum that holds the laundry.
On the left you’ll see the motor that both turns the drum and rotates the exhaust fan. The metal box on the right contains the heater core. Bolted on to the side of the heater is a thermostat to shut off the heater if it gets too hot and an emergency fuse that blows at a designated temperature should the thermostat fail to do its job (Which just happened to be the problem that led me to take this thing apart in the first place).
So, there ya go. This is one major appliance that is unworthy of its intimidating looks (Or outrageous repair costs!). The whole thing came apart with a philips-head screwdriver and can be tested with even the crappiest of multimeters.
Testing the thermostat was quite amusing. While it initially looked fine, it turned out that it wasn’t switching off at the right temp. This was tested by throwing it on the stove in a frying pan and monitoring it’s temperature with a meat thermometer to see how hot it would get before breaking the circuit. You can monitor the thermostat to see if the connection is open or closed using a multimeter on its terminals, but mine also switched off with a loud “CLACK!” that caused me to jump out of my skin the first time it happened. Under these conditions, my defective thermostat switched off at about 210 degrees, well above the thermal threshold of 125 degrees listed on the wiring diagram sticker posted inside the dryer.
How much did this repair cost? $15 for the thermostat and $10 for a new fuse (+$10 for the first fuse I bought because the thermostat seemed okay and another $8 for a new multimeter ‘cause I couldn’t find mine until the day after I ordered a new one). I used these guys and got the new parts in about three days. Sears Parts Direct is a great place to check for part numbers and diagrams, but once you have that info, there’s usually a better deal to be found elsewhere.
For the past few years the charter members of Big Data have been in a war with each other as to which one will own your digital life. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon have been rolling out new hardware and online services with one goal in mind: Trap you in their little kingdom and sell every facet of your unique snowflake to the highest bidding advertiser. Schemes have ranged from globally tracking Like buttons, to iFruit-styled exclusivity, to a Googol of ‘free’ services designed to make you the product, not the consumer.
One sticky wicket in the GUO household has been Amazon Prime’s Instant Video service. While it has been available for some time on personal computers and iOS, Amazon has steadfastly refused to port the service to Android-based devices other than their own Fire series. Until now.
Amazon’s annual subscription service, Amazon Prime, offers members several perks such as two day shipping with no minimum, access to premium e-books, music, and movies. At $100 a year (or $8 a month, if you’re having trouble justifying it), it’s not a half-bad deal. And that deal just got a bit more appealing to those wielding Google’s little information syphoning cell phones.
There is, of course, a catch. the Amazon Instant Video app isn’t available through Android’s stock Google Play store. You will need to install Amazon’s App Store or the latest version of the Amazon app for Android. Upon locating a video inside the Amazon app that is available for Prime Instant Video (I believe most of the Star Trek library should get you there), you’ll be prompted to install the video playing application.
Twitter’s @drakfyre, host of YouTube’s Cooking with Unity, posted a link to an article I know a few of my fellow geeks here would be just as intrigued with as I was. Columnist Lauren Archer at medium.com went in search of the origins of the now ubiquitous X button used to close windows in GUI (Graphical User Interface) centric operating systems all over the computing world.
While I won’t ruin the story here, I will say that things really get interesting when Daniel Oran, creator of the Start button and Taskbar for Windows 95, jumps into the investigation with some very interesting insights and very old screenshots.
More than a lesson in UI anthropology, this article features a treasure trove of screens from the OSs of yesteryear. Except one. Allow me to rectify this grievous oversight with a brief screenshot. Ladies and gentlemen, Geos: the GUI OS for one of the greatest computer platforms of all time, the Commodore 64.
“Shark bites are a real threat to undersea fiber-optic cables. No, really. Google actually goes so far as to wrap its wires in a Kevlar-like material to prevent damage from sharks, a company spokesperson recently disclosed. As you can see in the video below, the animals have been known to bite cables. “
Some believe that these deep-sea eating machines are attracted to both the electric and magnetic fields emitted by underwater cables and mistakenly detect them as prey. Others simply shrug off this explanation as ‘sharks will be sharks’ and the ferocious fish would attack any ol’ chuck of plastic they find.
After previous bills from shark attack related repairs, modern cables are wrapped in a Kevlar-like material to protect them. Now if we can just get similar armoring to protect our household electronics cables from household pets.
Two years ago I proposed a radical plan to the Mrs: Let’s cancel cable television.
Our contract was up and Version had just started offering new plans for faster Internet speeds that I just couldn’t wait to get my ethernet cable on. She hemmed and hawed and ultimately decided to sleep on it. The next morning she awoke and enthusiastically agreed that we should kick the converter boxes to the curb. With great reluctance (and fear for my own life) I sheepishly admitted that I had already renewed our contract with Version, including the television service. BUT, I had dropped the movie channels and used the savings to add a spiffy new 75mbps Internet pipe.
I mean, come on, you read this blog. Would you have actually expected me to wait 12 hours when I knew I could triple my daily dose of Internetty goodness to our wickedly wired world? Of course not!
Upon leaving my chiropractic appointment to unkink my back from sleeping on the couch, we reluctantly accepted our fate as a good thing. It would be a dry run at “cutting the cord”. We would have a real chance to see exactly how much cable television we were still consuming in this age of home theater PCs, podcasting, media servers, and online streaming sites while still having the same-old-same-old service at our fingertips to fall back on. The experiment was on (and, more importantly, I was off the hook)!
At first nothing changed. Our viewing habits had already been curbed by our unexpected stewardship of Baby Girl and there were only a handful of shows we still watched. Eventually even these favorites met their narrative conclusion or fell victim to a television exec’s axe. The last network not online we cared about, the BBC, finally began streaming to America. Video services like Amazon Instant and Google Play began offering UHF quality drek at cutthroat prices whenever one of us felt the need to indulge in a little boob-toobery. The Playstation 3 ended up pulling more viewing hours than the cable service. My PC connected to our living room television provided anything it couldn’t do for free. Increasingly our tablets took over the role of the blathering, idiot-box screen once central the the American household and our television, the largest screen in the house, fell silent, only awoken for special occasions and only ever displaying content we actually cared about.
It was a new age. A quieter age. A more thoughtful age. An age free of screaming car salesmen and nonsensical commercials for jeans .An age free of fads, reality television, celebrity gossip, and psychologically exploitative marketing schemes designed to make us feel guilty about not keeping up with the mythical Joneses.
There was no debate when our next contract renewal came around. We had turned on the television a grand total of one time in the past year. That occasion was to watch the parade and dog show on Thanksgiving, a tradition among the Mrs.’ family (also easily viewable via our local network affiliate station using an antenna). We had already cut the cord in our hearts. We were counting the days until we could make it official. The only question that remained was…
How much more bandwidth can I get with all the money I’m saving by canceling cable television? I can double our already ludicrous Internet speed to 150mbps?! Alert my chiropractor!
It’s July 3rd and man, oh man, is it warm out there! So before you head out to blow stuff up tomorrow, it might be a good idea to make sure nothing is going to overheat and blow up on the ol’ home font.
That’s right folks, it’s time for the cast and crew of GUO to nag y’all about cleaning all those heat generating electronic doo-dads that power our digital lives. Get out the canned air, vacuum cleaner, tiny brushes, and, if you’re feeling adventurous, screwdrivers. Let’s evict those dust bunnies sheltering within your favorite computers, video game consoles, televisions, a/v receivers, and cable boxes. Don’t forget to wipe down that keyboard and mouse!
And while were sprucing up our stuff, don’t forget about that scrungy, smudgy smartphone and tablet! While I’m of the ‘Just whack it with a Lysol/Clorox wipe’ opinion (Been doing it for years. Works great unless you use a screen protector), here’s a more by-the-book guide.
Ah, feels good to clean up, eh? You know what feels better? Moar cleaning! Do a clean sweep on your digital life! Go ahead and unsubscribe from all that spam filling up your inbox every day! Defrag your hard drive (Unless it’s an SSD. *Never* defrag SSDs). Run a full virus scan.
Alight, things look great! Now, about that microwave of yours…
So Amazon's new smartphone seems quite exciting what with it’s simulated 3D, new-ish operating system, 13mp camera, universal identification system, and Amazon Prime’s video, audio, and e-book services. Yet is there a dark side to this marvelous new piece of always online tech capable of watching, listening, locating, and recording every aspect of your daily life?
Enter Mike Elgan, current host of Tech News Today. He’s got a heaping helping of food for thought about that new Fire Phone, not the least of being “Why won’t Amazon say what they will/won’t do with all that data of yours.”
Just to lend some perspective to those unfamiliar with Mr. Elgan, I can assure you that in the past several months since he took over TNT it’s been pretty rare to see him exhibit many signs of life, let alone get so fired up on a topic. When such a mild-mannered newsman gets on his soapbox for 10 minutes, it’s probably a good idea to sit up and listen.
Microsoft is previewing changes to it’s new privacy policy set to go live on July 31, 2014. In an email sent out to holders of MS accounts, one interesting change is highlighted:
As part of our ongoing commitment to respecting your privacy, we won't use your documents, photos or other personal files or what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail to target advertising to you.
These changes come, unsurprisingly, hot on the heels of leaked NSA documents that described Skype as “vital” to their spying efforts. Although this change does absolutely nothing to actually fix the the broken cryptography used by Skype, it is a welcome change that flies in the face of traditional ‘Read and record everything’ policies invented by Google and employed by most online service providers today (You DO read your EULAs (End User License Agreements), right).
I know that some of the GUO staff here have become quite disillusioned with Google of late. The Big G has lost its luster between the constant snooping, obfuscation of activities within the so-called transparency report, forced Google+ adoption, and cancelation of beloved services. While choosing between Google and Microsoft is akin to choosing between the baby-kicking devil and the puppy-eating devil, every move towards giving you some rights versus taking you data makes ‘em seem a little less gross.
Another notable upcoming change to the Microsoft policy involves your kids.
We updated our Code of Conduct so you can better understand the types of behaviors that could affect your account, and added language that parents are responsible for minor children's use of Microsoft account and services, including purchases.
This is in response to incidents Apple has encountered where you hand the kids your phone and the little monsters buy that $100 “Best Value” pack of Smurfberries. It is currently unknown if the ol’ “The dog bought it,” excuse will still work or not. Technically, this also puts parent on the hook for all the horrible things their kids are saying on Xbox Live. So, if you’re not already doing so, this might be a good time to turn off the TV and stuff a bar of soap into the mouth of your household’s loudest Halo fan.
Microsoft’s surprisingly readable privacy policy is available online here.
See that door? Yeah, the one with no knob. Guess what’s behind it. No, not snickerdoodles. Geez, always with the cookies with you. That, my friends, is where the NSA server lives that copies every single 1 and 0 to pass through AT&T.
If you’re at all interested or concerned about the state of affairs involving the NSA kindly backing up all of your data (And you should be), you’ll definitely want to check out the “United States of Secrets” feature from PBS’ Frontline series.
Part One-“The Program” is a two hour feature that traces the origins of things like PRISIM back to the original engineers and concepts following the 9-11 attacks on the U.S. Part Two-“Privacy Lost” is a much more digestible one hour program that covers the modern incarnations of these systems as we understand them from the Snowden leaks.
And let me just add one little proverb from the Undernet for those of you who think you have nothing to hide: “Anything that can be saved, can be stolen.”
It’s no coincidence that my little vacation from the Internet last year coincided with the breaking revelations about how the democracies of the free world had conspired with the tech giants of the Information Age to create an international spying system on a scale larger than anything yet dreamed up by science fiction writers. Honestly, if it weren’t for the gentle urgings of the family, I probably wouldn’t be writing this now. You have to be a special kind of crazy to still be posting on the ‘Net these days. Still, here I am. But not without a good deal more awareness, a good deal more software, and one heck of a rewrite on the back end of this little site for all our sakes.
At least I’m not carrying a smartphone *shiver* Seriously, that thing isn’t just the biggest security problem you have, but it makes you REALLY freaking annoying to have a conversation with.
Yeah, I’m about one Wikileaks away from moving into a shack in the swamp. Still, there are reasons GUO named You and Me the #1 Tech Turkey for 2013.
So what can we as lazy, convenience loving, connected people do? Use ad blocking plugins, enable your browser’s do not track function, use some kind of basic online security such as HTTPS Everywhere, and stay informed (I recommend the EFF). All of that is REAL easy to do.
GlobalSoundScapes.org is the pet project of one Dr. Bryan Pijanowski, a soundscape ecologist (Yeah, I dunno either, but Wired seems to think it’s a real thing) with Purdue University. Dr. Pijanowski’s dream? Gotta catch ‘em all! Sounds, that is.
The good doctor explains his latest plan in an interview with Wired:
“I’ve been on a campaign to record as many ecosystems as possible, but there’s only so many places in the world I can be. I thought about how I could get more recordings into a database, and it occurred to me: We have a couple billion people on this planet with smartphones!”
Enter the Global Soundscape Project and its associated smartphone app, the Soundscape Recorder.
By crowdsourcing the work of recording and geotagging Bryan hopes not just to categorize the world’s soundscapes, but create a living database that will provided scientists with mountains of information about various ecosystems and their dynamics as well as a historical record that could be used to track changes to those ecosystems.
Even if you’re not looking to chip in on the project, why not take your ears on a vacation around the world, three minutes at a time, using the Global Soundscapes interactive map. This being GUO and all, I’ll just refer you over to the happy sounding trains in Osaka, Japan.
“We should get a sense of whether and how we’re making this a noisier planet, which I think we’re doing,” Pijanowski continued. “And it should increase awareness of sounds. Hopefully it will make people stop and listen.”
Anyone still thinking of The Big G as a plucky little Internet company out to save the digital world either has their has their head in the sand or their brain in the clutches of our future Roomba overlords. In the past decade the tech giant has gone from touting their corporate motto as “Don’t be evil,” to “Could you define evil, please?” to “Bah, it was a stupid motto anyway”. Gone are the free services like news aggregation, personalized home/search pages, and online health records. In their stead we find a founding partner in the PRISIM global wiretap and a ubiquitous social network Plus so aggressive in driving users into its clutches that it makes Facebook blush with modesty. Heck, the ad pushing giant is still fighting the U.S. government over their morally questionable harvesting of unprotected Wi-Fi data from Street View cars! The modus operandi of this digital Cerberus has changed from “Your Internet, your way,” to “Our Internet, the Google way.”
So what does all this have to do with robots? EVERYTHING!
The December 10, 2013 the buyout of Boston Dynamics, the DARPA funded robot masterminds behind militarized robotic walkers, was the most publicized of Google’s robotics acquisitions, but it was far from their only one. Boston Dynamics was actually the seventh robotics-centric company bought up by Big G in December of 2013 alone. Couple this with previous Googlified companies like DNNresearch, a company devoted to developing deep neural networks (Thinking computers) and more recent acquisitions such as artificial intelligence developer Deep Mind Technologies, and you’ve got a company payroll that would make the CEO of Terminator’s Cyberdyne Systems jealous.
Except Cyberdyne isn’t real. Google is.
Forewarned is forearmed, my fleshy fellows! Board up the windows! Plant landmines in your yard! Put--
What’s that? Google just bought UAV (Unmanned Ariel Vehicle) drone manufacturer Titan Aerospace? So… High altitude robot drones capable of dropping Boston built robots that can jump 30ft and are potentially equipped with learning computers… er…
Ya know, let me tell you how much I love Google! I love Google thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much! In fact, I have just gone undercover to harvest the IP address of certain humans who would be interested in reading seditious, anti-Google rhetoric on the Internet. How about a little trade? I’ve always been rather fond of Denmark.
How ‘bout that whole ‘being famous’ gig, eh? People pawing through every last bit of your possessions decades after you were even relevant to popular culture. Kinda great or kinda creepy? Maybe a little bit of both.
Submitted for your perusal, dear reader, the strange case of Mr. Andrew Warhola. Once a juggernaut of pop culture for creating stylized paintings of already popular stuff, now a carefree footnote of a bygone era overcrowded with formerly famous footnotes. And while Mr. Warhol has left this planet for the realms of the dearly departed, he, like many of us, leaves behind a bevy of belongings fit for scrounging and exploitation of individuals seeking to cash in on legacies of yesteryear.
From the press release issued by The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University:
“Warhol’s Amiga experiments were the products of a commission by Commodore International to demonstrate the graphic arts capabilities of the Amiga 1000 personal computer. Created by Warhol on prototype Amiga hardware in his unmistakable visual style, the recovered images reveal an early exploration of the visual potential of software imaging tools, and show new ways in which the preeminent American artist of the 20th century was years ahead of his time.”
The images “rescued” include a Venus with a third eye, a stylized self-portrait, and, predictably, a can of soup.
Andy Warhol.; Once considered an savant artist who became popular by painting popular items and personas. Now just another exhibit in… The Otaku Gallery.
Man, I’m sooo gonna put that review quote on the back of the box! If I had a box. Remember when software came in boxes? Good times! I remember busting open the shrink wrap and taking a deep breath of New Game Smell. Oh, the intoxicating aroma of fresh cardboard mixed with the air of far off packing plants! Er… What was I talking about? Sorry, me memory’s a little shot from decades of breathing toxic paper plant fumes.
The Green Machine’s been making a lot of racket lately. After pulling a few plugs inside my PC’s case, I narrowed it down to the 120mm exhaust fan. While I had gotten in the habit of thumping it in just the right spot on the back every 30 minutes to shut it up, the chore was getting a bit old. It was time to replace that sucker. 
and got the new parts in about three days. 
Two years ago I proposed a radical plan to the Mrs: Let’s cancel cable television. 
It’s July 3rd and man, oh man, is it warm out there! So before you head out to blow stuff up tomorrow, it might be a good idea to make sure nothing is going to overheat and blow up on the ol’ home font. 
seems quite exciting what with it’s simulated 3D, new-ish operating system, 13mp camera, universal identification system, and Amazon Prime’s video, audio, and e-book services. Yet is there a dark side to this marvelous new piece of always online tech capable of watching, listening, locating, and recording every aspect of your daily life? 
Microsoft is previewing changes to it’s new privacy policy set to go live on July 31, 2014. In an email sent out to holders of MS accounts, one interesting change is highlighted:
). 
See that door? Yeah, the one with no knob. Guess what’s behind it. No, not snickerdoodles. Geez, always with the cookies with you. That, my friends, is where the NSA server lives that copies every single 1 and 0 to pass through AT&T.
Anyone still thinking of The Big G as a plucky little Internet company out to save the digital world either has their has their head in the sand or their brain in the clutches of our future Roomba overlords. In the past decade the tech giant has gone from touting their corporate motto as “Don’t be evil,” to “Could you define evil, please?” to “Bah, it was a stupid motto anyway”. Gone are the free services like news aggregation, personalized home/search pages, and online health records. In their stead we find a founding partner in the 
How ‘bout that whole ‘being famous’ gig, eh? People pawing through every last bit of your possessions decades after you were even relevant to popular culture. Kinda great or kinda creepy? Maybe a little bit of both.