Before even getting to documentation, I see so many projects that don’t have a short summary of what they do (and maybe what to not expect them to do).

As an example, Home Assistant. I can tell that it involves home automation, so can I replace Google Home with it? It seems like it doesn’t do voice recognition without add-ons and it can work with Google Assistant. Do I still need accounts with the providers of smart appliances, or can it control my bulbs directly?

None of that is very clear from the website.

I’ve seen plenty of other projects where it’s assumed there’s no need to explain it’s overall purpose.

There an app for that now.

At least, there is on the Flipper Zero.

These?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:4,5V-AA-battery.jpg

I’d forgotten that they existed. I used to use them for something, maybe powering a Lego or meccano motor.

A tone dialer. Like this

https://images.app.goo.gl/fbdmckv44BY7fdWw9

Not for phone phreaking, just for speed-dialling.

I would make international calls frequently. I would buy calling cards. The process was: dial the 800 number on the card. Enter the id number on the card to use some of its credit. Dial the number to call. Their service would then connect me at a low rate to another country(probably making a voip call).

So I’d set up the 3 speed dial buttons with those. For each new card I’d only have to change the card’s unique number.

That was covered pretty well already!

Or maybe it’s using Fluidic logic.

Well that’s of the same order of magnitude as the quoted figure. I was suggesting that it sounded vastly larger than it should be.

It’s true, I don’t know how large the models are that are being accessed in data centers. Although if the article’s estimate is correct, it’s sad that such excessively-demanding models are always being used for use-cases that could often be handled with much lower power usage.

140Wh seems off.

It’s possible to run an LLM on a moderately-powered gaming PC (even a Steam Deck).

Those consume power in the range of a few hundred watts and they can generate replies in a seconds, or maybe a minute or so. Power use throttles down when not actually working.

That means a home pc could generate dozens of email-sized texts an hour using a few hundred watt-hours.

I think that the article is missing some factor, such as how many parallel users the racks they’re discussing can support.

You thinking of Apple headsets. These are budget things, maybe $300.

He decided that it was unethical to have an AI/LLM impersonate a real person, but set up the “wizard” as an AI assistant for his fake crypto site helpline.

And Open Camera is a free alternative app, too, without a '5 photos per day" limit, if you don’t want to bother with RAW.

Okay, maybe that was a typo, but I’ve read cooking instructions based on a “cup” of chicken strips.

I had emails from CVS (American pharmacy store) about vaccination records recently and noticed this

Administration date 2024-10-25

First time I’ve seen dates used like that in a public-facing context. The birth dates were in that form, too.

The US uses metric measures in many places, too. Usually medical, but even things such as phone thickness are announced in ml.

The Register kind-of models itself after a tabloid style so has deliberately jokey headlines. It’s been around a long time (I read it in the 90s) and seems to have quality underneath the humor.

Possibly the only remaining place where you can read the word “boffins” regularly.

My pixel 7 has adaptive charging. If there’s an alarm set and I charge it at night, it paces the charging to be full near the time I’m getting up.

So it’s doing what it can to preserve battery health.

Alternate option, set up a premium number and profit!

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-23869462

If you’re visiting from another country, try giving them a number from there (real or fake). What are the odds that their system can cope with international codes?

a fisheye lens-style view of a plane making an air trail.

The trail emerging from the tail of the plane, as if it was a rocket.

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Chicks, not checks, btw.