Zak

18 ms·

421.
by Zak 1y ago
This link seems worse than the original at https://www.birdpoty.com/2025-winners
422.
by Zak 1y ago
The sensitivity of such a test would be 0. This test had a sensitivity of 91% versus 61% for the glass slide count method, which is a large improvement. The sample size is pretty small here and the control group even smaller. The paper conc
423.
by Zak 1y ago
I'm amused by the contrast between Apple's attention to detail on the implementation and their failure to recognize that a virtual knob with a touchscreen or mouse is a fundamentally bad idea. The author also makes this error, pra
424.
by Zak 1y ago
This doesn't seem to be an example of assisted suicide being recommended to disabled people who didn't want to die. Mainstream medical practice at the time condemned Kevorkian, and anyone seeking out his services was certainly awa
425.
by Zak 1y ago
> Revealed preference shows that American eaters value price above all-else. I've thought quite a bit about revealed preference in the context of recommendation algorithms. It's tempting to believe what people do in a given s
426.
by Zak 1y ago
Laws penalizing theft of services usually work even if they haven't accounted for the exact manner in which someone might steal the service in question. The author knew there was a fee for the service; the author devised a way to obtai
427.
by Zak 1y ago
Once, long ago, I ended up buying the wrong ticket from Deutsche Bahn. I no longer remember whether this was my fault or theirs, but I do remember that support was completely unhelpful. My credit card provider was considerably more helpful
428.
by Zak 1y ago
Ad hominem is an argument that a claim should be rejected because of something about the person making it. "This source has a history of bias, so you should assume this article is biased" is ad hominem. "This source has a his
429.
by Zak 1y ago
A piece of open source software running on Alice's computer exchanges keys with a piece of open source software running on Bob's computer. Later Alice and Bob exchange messages encrypted with those keys through Charlie's serv
430.
by Zak 1y ago
For a real-world example of the problem you're describing, China's Salt Typhoon attacks compromised lawful intercept infrastructure in the USA to engage in espionage. A mandatory backdoor in Signal would be at risk from similar at
431.
by Zak 1y ago
> It distracts people from wars, the economy etc Were this true, some politicians would do it for that reason. It would need to get a lot of attention to be an effective distraction, and it does not. The mainstream press barely covers
432.
by Zak 1y ago
I think including ethics in the curriculum at both the high school and university level is a great idea. I do not think requiring software developers to be licensed is a good idea at all. Safety-critical software projects should have a lice
433.
by Zak 1y ago
Most software development is not much like engineering. That's probably the right choice for low-stakes consumer products, but wouldn't be accepted in avionics and shouldn't be accepted in medical software that impacts life s
434.
by Zak 1y ago
That thing is short , but it's as wide (72mm) as a Pixel 10.
435.
by Zak 1y ago
People keep citing that as a small phone, but it's twice as thick as the average phone.
436.
by Zak 1y ago
I think the problem is last time someone really tried was the iPhone mini, which launched during the peak COVID lockdown era when a lot of people were using their phones at home on the couch rather than carrying them out in the world. A lit
437.
by Zak 1y ago
That does seem to be what the EU is trying to do with its "gatekeeper" classification.
438.
by Zak 1y ago
Thanks for the clarification. I can imagine that being a useful optimization on occasion.
439.
by Zak 1y ago
I found the inclusion of arrays indexed on arbitrary types in the feature table as a benefit of Ada surprising. That sounds like a dictionary type, which is in the standard library of nearly every popular Language. Rust includes two.
440.
by Zak 1y ago
XKCD's point stands as long as nobody has a monopoly on an important medium. Apple and Google effectively do have a duopoly on mobile app distribution, and mobile apps are an important medium for speech in 2025.
441.
by Zak 1y ago
I've been running Linux on the desktop for 20 years. I'm happily running Linux on a tablet (a Microsoft tablet at that). I run a third-party Android build with root on my primary phone. I am the ideal user for a fiddly operating
442.
by Zak 1y ago
The question was "What purpose outside abetting in avoiding a DUI is there for publishing a live map of DUI checkpoints?". As a technical point, being an undocumented immigrant is still not a crime in the USA though it can resul
443.
by Zak 1y ago
Here are some possibilities: * You don't want your trip to be delayed * You object to police checkpoints in principle * You or your friends or family have had negative experiences with law enforcement, so you prefer to minimize contact
444.
by Zak 1y ago
This is exactly what's wrong with Apple's app store exclusivity. It's also what's wrong with mandatory notarization where regulations forbid that, and Google's plan to require developer verification.
445.
by Zak 1y ago
I'm not especially impressed that Apple came up with a mobile CPU that pretty much doubles the performance of the three year old Ryzen 6850u in my Thinkpad. What I'm impressed with is it's doing that in an iPad, which presuma
446.
by Zak 1y ago
It does not appear to me that Macs are closed in the sense that iOS is. It is possible, at least to install Linux on Apple silicon Macs. There are certainly many more options on the PC side, but it's not because Apple actively blocks
447.
by Zak 1y ago
I use Mastodon for comments on one of my sites using a slightly modified version of the code featured here: https://carlschwan.eu/2020/12/29/adding-comments-to-your-sta... As the site is focused on a single t
448.
by Zak 1y ago
I tried listening to a few episodes of his podcast a while back. I stopped because he was spending more time on how mad he is about some problem with big tech than he was on the problem itself. I'd like to hear stories about big tech a
449.
by Zak 1y ago
As I understand it, Apple's compliance officer (a position the DMA requires) can talk to the EC and get feedback on whether a planned feature creates compliance issues. Following the guidance that comes out of such a discussion is a ne
450.
by Zak 1y ago
There's only a risk of fines if Apple doesn't comply with the regulation, or tries to appear compliant while sabotaging the intended goals of the regulation. Apple is, of course prone to doing exactly that, but it doesn't ha

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