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Comment Re:Uhm, ChatGPT is a website (Score 2) 36

This is how "it" begins... hundreds of millions of PCs with AI-enabled processors, all interconnected via the internet into a huge cybernetic processing array -- then the code drops and *bingo*... game over, "sentience" and the end of mankind's reign on planet earth.

Okay... it's just a dystopian thought based on "The God Question"

Submission + - Censorship and fraud driving creators away from YouTube 1

NewtonsLaw writes: When YouTuber Bruce Simpson received notification of a community guidelines infringement on his xjet YouTube channel he wasn't happy. YouTube alleges that one of his videos constitutes "hate speech" and even after review, the platform stands by its allegations.

What was the video that risks inciting hate and violence to such an extent that it needed to be removed, even after "appeal"?

Well it wasn't anything political, ideological or even violent. It was a two minute video of a radio controlled model aircraft flying in the skies at his local airfield in Tokoroa, New Zealand.

Incensed by this baseless allegation, Simpson posted this video to YouTube and within a few hours it had already gathered tens of thousands of views and over a thousand comments. Those comments make for great reading and show just how "out of touch" YouTube has become with its target audience and its creators.

The hypocrisy is also highlighted, as Simpson points out just how YouTube is prepared to overlook or even support frauds being perpetrated on its audience by way of scam advertisements that continue to play weeks or even months after they've been reported by countless people, many of who have become victims of the scams.

Has YouTube lost its way? Has it forgotten its roots? Are many creators now turning to self-hosting in reaction to ridiculous levels of censorship?

Or do we have a reverse adpocalypse — where content creators are shunning YouTube because they do not want their content being run alongside fraudulent scammy ads placed by YouTube?

Submission + - Youtube now home for so many scammy ads

NewtonsLaw writes: YouTube is very quick to demonetize or delete videos it considers to be a scam or deceptive. In fact it will also delete such videos or even entire channels simply because its AI has sometimes erroneously decided something is a scam or deceptive and this can happen within seconds of upload.

However, it's time YouTube itself was held to account because an increasing number of the ads it shows are outright scams and, even after many people have reported those ads, they continue to run — defrauding an unknown number of visitors to the site.

This hypocrisy is outrageous but now more than half the ads I see on YouTube are scams for things such as fake laser welding torches, worthless EMF stickers for phones, drones that don't have the advertised features, devices that allegedly use Starlink to provide limitless *free* internet from a one-time purchase with no monthly or data fees, etc, etc.

Surely, at some stage, YouTube has to be held accountable for effectively being a willing accomplice in such scams and opting to continue taking ad revenues from these scammers rather than taking down fraudulent ads when they're reported.

Comment Re:Trump's not "adding exceptions", though. (Score 1) 303

Trump's back-pedaling on his core policies as hard and fast as he can, just because his handlers told him to. Probably only over the phone.

This administration is truly a joke.

I'm just glad he sorted out that Ukraine/Russia war so quickly. How long did it take? Less than 24hrs wasn't it? </SARC>

Comment Re:Still saving up for a house. (Score 1) 87

Yeah, I have a dumb-phone with a *real* keypad and multi-tap SMS entry that cost me $29. It does *everything* I need it to do because I only do voice/SMS -- for everything else I have a computer within easy reach.

How do I pay for my parking?

Easy... I live in a small town without parking meters or other such fees.

My phone is also pre-paid and I top it up with $20 worth of credit every six months or so.

Cheap, cheerful and very cost-effective.

I see no need to spend US$600 on something that does what I'm already doing.

Comment Re:Windows ...was a lousy product in its early day (Score 1) 38

I'm probably one of the very few who's been in the microcomputer industry since its inception way back in the 1970s.

What a ride it has been!

I recall building my own systems with 8-bit processors and just a few hundred bytes of precious ram. Clock speeds were barely a megahertz at the time but still we managed to overclock these systems and run 110 baud TTY connections at almost 200baud (non-standard of course).

The only language available back then was the native machine code of the processor being used, all hand-assembled unless you were lucky enough to have access to a minicomputer and a suitable cross-assembler.

Even once microcomputers became available in retail stores as something you could buy off the shelf, things were very basic (no pun intended).

During those early days, Microsoft was the language company (mainly selling BASIC) and Digital Research was the OS company (selling CP/M).

And that's how things went for a few years... until IBM released their PC, when everything changed.

Suddenly Microsoft was the OS company (PC/MSDOS) and Digital Research was relegated to being a language company (primarily Pascal MT+).

It's been a wonderful 50+ years and to be honest, I'm surprised that Microsoft is still around. I guess the fact that it is speaks to the power of a de facto monopoly when properly managed.

What will the next 50 years hold and will Microsoft still be in business when the calendars tick over to 2075 I wonder?

Comment Re:Does anyone even use this? (Score 1) 39

Gemini is pretty crappy at most things and when I use the LLM chatbot it spends more time apologising for getting things wrong than it does presenting useful information.

Yesterday I tried Cursor as an LLM android code generator and was very impressed with the results. I haven't tried the AI assist in Android studio but I'll be comparing the two in coming days. Just as well this announcement was made -- I was *almost* going to lay down $20 a month for Cursor but if Gemini can do the same or better, I'll save some $$.

Comment Re:Better idea (Score 3, Insightful) 63

I agree... I started with Netscape Navigator way back in the dial-up days (1995) and today I use Firefox. However, if they start baking ads into my browser (privacy-respecting or not) and screwing around with AI then I'll finally say goodbye to this browser and find something that works the way a browser should.

Remember... *not* having ads and *not* having AI will soon be a powerful point of distinction and USP in the browser market. Don't give that up Firefox!

Comment Re:Please kill Shorts! (Score 1) 62

So true. Even when you tell it to turn off shorts on the main page it smuggly advises that they'll be turned back on in 30 days or something.

What part of "NO SHORTS" does YouTube not understand?

Why even offer the ability to turn off shorts if you're going to turn them back on in a few weeks' time even though the user has made it clear they don't want to see the damned things?

Comment Re:STUPID acting USAtty (Score 1) 29

"deeply sorry for the mistake he made," --- NOT A MISTAKE... a purposeful decision to endanger other poeple's property and lives by flying his drone in an area where it has been deemed too dangerous to do so.

As a very active member of the drone community and an international advocate for *reasonable* regulation, I believe this guy should have got a custodial sentence. Many of the regulations controlling recreational drone flyers are excessively restrictive but no rules have any effect unless they are enforced and the punishment is proportionate to the level of offending.

A guy in Philly got fined $182K for flying his drone at night in the city. No property was damaged, no lives were put at risk. This guy actually *hits* an aircraft, causes tens of thousands of dollars in damage and puts lives at risk, even if only because the plane was out of commission for a week or so while being repaired.

Something is wrong with this picture.

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