Show HN: DeepSeek My User Agent
jasonthorsness.com
jasonthorsness.com
> Roast: Ah, a Canadian Safari-saddled NPC from Calgary, still clinging to Mac OS 10.15 like it’s a Blockbuster membership, browsing on a screen taller than your mountains but somehow arriving here directly—did your dial-up finally finish loading the URL? (Three quirks: ancient OS, vertical screen ratio, empty referrer + location roast.)
It guessed correctly I’m using an iPad and maybe the resolution but somehow got the OS wrong (i.e. if I’m on an iPad I’m not using MacOS). I am still on iOS 17 so it got that I’m not on the latest but made a mistake since 10.15 is the latest MacOS release. The location is also way off.
<sigh@Apple>
The system we used did use user agents to identify mobile devices or computers. And gave the iPad users a terrible experience because Apple lied.
The only thing it doesn't identify as is Internet Explorer.
(Yes it's an old version, no I will update when I feel like it. Shush.)
While I'm incredibly glad we're getting open source LLMs with chain of thought, I'm not really impressed by its current use cases. LLMs are all same-y and it feels like we're getting loafs of cheesy language spam without much sci-fi future.
I expect for this kind of tech to have really novel use cases. For it to sit between me and the internet and remove the ads, nuke time wasting clickbait, and obliterate low-information irrelevant noise. For it to be my personal bodyguard that protects me from any and all forms of attention stealer.
I want this to be tech to give birth to an anti-Google, anti-social media algo, anti-advertiser terminator from the future. Something that torpedoes the previous paradigm and that does it so quickly that the old purveyors can't adjust in time.
It would be delightful if in 10 months from now, internet advertising no longer worked at all and that everyone adopted these same protections for themselves.
It seems like this tech is capable of doing it already.
Please someone make this. I want advertisers to pay me if they want access to my brain.
It's now my daily driver for web access. It monitors for content I'm interested in (that's how I found your comment), handles all my searches and feeds, can dynamically adapt its interface, and is working on integrations to submit content for me so that I don't have to leave that interface to write these replies.
Hoping to release it early March but I'm a bit stuck on how to position it. I'm not a marketer and I think it'll just get drowned in the sea of "agent" slop.
Having a full-on buffer between yourself and the internet is a breath of fresh air but I have no idea how I would have found such a thing if I hadn't made it.
Maybe a curator or a bouncer or something. Open to suggestions if anyone has some.
Is there a GitHub or Discord or anything where I subscribe to the project?
Anything that gets me closer to that original intention requirement before getting served content is a must-have in my books! Sign me up!
from Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently series
"Electric monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, ..."
EDit: or maybe, since it's not just believing, a Janitor?
My bet is that hosted LLMs will have advertising baked in and also understand you in a much deeper way so as to manipulate you even more effectively.
Internet advertising will work as long as the internet exists. Classic targeted advertising on the other hand will no longer work but all it means is that it will be much more subtle and you will struggle to tell it apart in a way that you don't nowadays. Sounds a far more dangerous alternative
I don't know. You're probably right, but more and more it seems like mainstream websites aren't meant for human consumption. The less ads a page have, the more likely it is to have relevant content.
Classical targeted ads, where some sales person actively goes out and buy ad space on a few select locations, I feel like that's more valuable than ever, but not heavily used anymore.
Considering i already pay for my mail and search, i'm okay with that world.
First time an LLM made me laugh
:sob: I'm getting roasted by an AI
You can get that ad infinitum at https://trashtalk.borg.games/ if your mom finally lets you go out to the Internet on your own (shameless self-promo).
I can't help but feel refreshingly anonymous
Roasting your Hacker News–refugee, Firefox-on-MacOS-Catalina-10.15-holding, DIY-screen-resolution-having (1512x982? Did you freehand that?) setup like Portland keeps its "quirky" reputation: aggressively outdated but convinced it’s still avant-garde.
Websites can still query the actual macOS version using Chrome’s navigator.userAgentData API. Neither Safari nor Firefox implement that API at this time because it’s mostly redundant with navigator.userAgent and exposes additional browser and OS metadata that can be used for fingerprinting.
Okay, let's tackle this roast. First, I need to pick the three most unusual bits from the user's data. Looking at the info: The user is on Android 15, which is pretty new and not widely released yet. That's unusual. They're using Firefox on a mobile device with Linux x86_64 platform—wait, Android is Linux-based, but specifying x86_64 might be odd if most mobile devices are ARM. Also, the referrer is Hacker News, which is a good target for a joke. The screen dimensions are 540x1206, typical for a mobile, not too odd. Country is Spain (ES), region AN is Andalusia, city Cadiz. Maybe connect location with something else. So, the three unusual points: Android 15 (unreleased?), Linux x86_64 on a mobile (maybe mismatched), and coming from Hacker News. Need to connect location if using it. Since Cadiz is a coastal city in Spain, maybe link the outdated OS version with something there. Also, making fun of the referrer as a site where people pretend to know tech. Structure: Three sentences. First, Android 15 and pretending to be a dev. Second, Linux on mobile and Cadiz's ancient history. Third, Hacker News referrer and Firefox version. Keep it concise and funny. bird judge
Roasting your Android 15 beta-testing, Linux-on-mobile hipster self: you’re browsing Hacker News (sigh) on Firefox 134 in Cádiz, a city older than your OS’s last kernel panic, yet somehow you’re the one still using a "mobile" device with zero touchpoints—did your stylus die in 2003?
location not redacted because it is wrong
I cried a little, this is too good.
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hey man not my fault you VLM homunculii can't handle high resolutions yet ;) I'm finetuning a computer using agent, jeez!
"Brave of you to arrive here directly from nowhere like a digital hermit, flexing 16 CPU cores just to run Edge 132.0.0.0 like it’s a beta-testing crisis hotline—enjoying Wisconsin’s -40° wind chills so much you’ve even got your browser set to "arctic Blink engine." At least your 2560x1440 screen lets you see exactly how lonely that empty referrer field looks."
This is the most fun post/link I've interacted with across social media all week, haha. I'm going to test this from all of me and my SO's personal devices of various form factors. Thanks OP!
## Edit:
Here's the roast from my iPhone SE 3 device on 5G cellular (thinks I'm in Atlanta for some reason, lol):
"Roast: Oh, an iOS 18 beta user in Atlanta—how bold of you to test Apple’s unfinished bugs while flexing that three-core “supercomputer” like Georgia’s tech scene peaked with a fax machine. Your screen’s so tiny (375x667) it makes Hacker News look like a MySpace page, which tracks, since you clearly clicked here mid-procrastination scroll to avoid finishing your side hustle. Congrats on being the NPC who still uses “Mobile Safari” unironically—your cookie-enabled loyalty to Apple is almost as tragic as your referral from a site where everyone’s arguing about TypeScript."
Deeper research pointed to Apple's "Displays" kb page for UIKit Size, and it tracks with my device type, as SE 3 is based on iPhone 8 [0]
[0] https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/De...
> Roasting your digital vibe: You’re rocking a 30-bit color depth in Ankara like it’s 1998, clinging to Mac OS 10.15.7 like a Turkish lira in hyperinflation, and lurking on Hacker News for 3 seconds before panic-clicking here—truly a masterclass in chaotic productivity.
Using an iPhone Mini, this is the most hilarious response I’ve seen from an LLM
> this is great ;-) Next I’d like to see competing models roast each other
GrapheneOS with DuckduckGo browser and a VPN...
> Okay, let's tackle this roast based on the user's browser info. First, I need to pick the three most unusual bits. The Safari version 18.1 stands out because that's a future version not released yet. The screen resolution of 1223x772 is an odd, non-standard size. The location is $LOCATION, which isn't too common, and the referrer is empty, meaning they came directly here. Wait, the referrer is empty. That's unusual. So maybe include that they came from nowhere. Also, the Safari version is ahead of current releases. The screen resolution isn't a typical size, so that's another point. $LOCATION could be linked to the screen size, like a quirky local landmark. Need to make sure to relate location to another attribute if used. Also, roast should be three sentences, concise. Let me structure it: start with the Safari version, mention the screen resolution, tie in $LOCATION with the screen size, and the empty referrer. Make it funny and snarky.
And the result is... well, what you'd expect given that reasoning:
> Safari 18.1? Nice try, time traveler—Apple hasn’t even heard of that version yet, but enjoy your 1223x772 screen resolution, the exact dimensions of $LOCATION's least impressive corn maze. You arrived here directly like a cryptid emerging from the woods, which tracks, because only a mythical creature would still run Mac OS 10.15.7.
Reasoning: Okay, let's tackle this roast. First, I need to pick the three most unusual bits from the user agent info. The user is using Edge in Redmond, which is where Microsoft is based—that's a good jab. The referrer is Hacker News, so I can mock that they're procrastinating. They have 16 hardware concurrency, which is high for a regular user. Also, screen resolution is 2560x1440, but maybe not too unusual. Oh, and maxTouchPoints is 0, meaning no touchscreen. But the top three? Probably Edge in Redmond, Hacker News referrer, and 16 cores. Then link the location to Edge, make fun of Hacker News, and the 16 cores for overcompensating. Keep it concise and three sentences. Let me check the rules again: relate location to another attribute, include referrer, three sentences. Yeah, that works.
Content: Using Edge in Redmond? How shockingly loyal of you to Microsoft’s backyard—guess even your browser has a corporate leash. Came here from Hacker News, huh? Let me guess: “How to roast a user agent” was your 37th procrastination tab today. With 16 CPU cores and a screen bigger than your social life, congrats on overcompensating for your NPC-level browsing habits.
The user agent now reported by most chrome installs on Android reports android 10,K
I have the pleasure of not getting useful info anymore at work when comparing user agents across devices.
Refreshing the page gives a new one though, and it's done a pretty good job now!
-- Harsh. But extreamly funny. Interesting that it sees my 5800X3D as a 2-core processor. Turning off DDG privacy essentials yeilds the correct core count, etc.
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lhr1::zcqst-1737978921661-18c020d7118cHah. I have an older Xperia phone. They are tall and lovely.
"Ah, a Hacker News refugee with the screen resolution of a discount monitor fished out of a Kirkland Costco dumpster—16 cores to crunch those "Who's hiring?" threads, but still rocking a touchless Windows 10 setup like it's 2015. Firefox 134? Bold choice, really screams "I read release notes for fun," yet here you are, still stuck in en-US limbo, cookie-enabled and terminally online. Congrats on being the NPC who unironically uses "Web 2.0" in conversation."
I'm on an M4 MacMini, running MacOS Sonoma. It's definitely a little confused, but that could be Arc failing to properly report the User Agent? Not sure. Kinda funny, none the less.
We need a comedy benchmark now
I'm on an iPad in Safari. It's UA lies.
Glorious.
Edit, nevermind, the user agent reports it wrong, didn't know that could happen
Also it seems like in a second attempt, it got caught in a loop, of trying to cycle among the same 3 "unusual" things but deciding it wasn't unique enough
I think its related to fingerprinting attacks.
deepseek "rocking Mac OS 10.15 like it’s 2019—did the update scare you, or are you just nostalgic for the pre-pandemic era?"
> Oh, a Linux user from Hyderabad with 16 CPU cores—nothing screams "I overcompensate for my fear of GUIs" like a Firefox setup so vanilla even your referrer ghosted you. Your screen resolution is as confused as your identity: Aussie-British-American-English polyglot, yet somehow still the NPC browsing from a cybercafé in 2007. At least your cookie’s enabled, which tracks, since you’d never risk missing a single crumb of open-source newsletter drama.
(In the reasoning, it had mentioned location, browser, and the three things it eventually decided to talk about: referrer, hardware concurrency and OS. The new material was screen resolution¹, languages², and cookies being enabled.)
Most of what it says is kinda weird, honestly. Most of the ones others have been posting feel much better.
I’m also a little bothered that it mixed proper and ASCII punctuation: one EM DASH, two RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARKs, but QUOTATION MARK instead of {LEFT,RIGHT} DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK.
—⁂—
Its second attempt was way better (and didn’t exhibit the same problem of running out of material):
> You lurked here from the void like a digital hermit (empty referrer gang?), flexing Firefox on Linux like it’s 2004 and you’re still arguing about open-source superiority over Hyderabad’s spiciest biryani—meanwhile, your browser’s language list reads like an identity crisis: en-AU, en-GB, en-US… *mate*, pick a colonialism.
—⁂—
¹ 1706×960, which is 2560×1440 @ 1.5×, not too uncommon for a laptop. Wish I could have got something with 2× without losing the power of the 5800HS and the ability to exceed 16GB of RAM. Fortunately, due to life situation changes I’m finally able to switch to desktop computing, and am looking forward to building one instead of being stuck with the frustratingly limited choices available in laptops.
² I set the intl.accept_languages pref to "en-AU,en-GB,en,en-US" years ago, for fun. Actually, I first wrote it as something like "en-AU,en-GB;q=0.9,en;q=0.8,en-US;q=0" for even more fun, a mild roast of my own for perhaps US English or perhaps software developers in general, but somewhere along the way I dropped the quality values for some reason I don’t remember. I’m already fairly easily fingerprintable for other reasons, I’m not fussed about an oddly-specific Accept-Languages header.
Good one. I actually have a touchscreen on my laptop but I almost never use it.
Takes the sting out of the rest of the roast knowing that it was dead wrong to begin with.
When the robot revolution is about to begin let’s mess with their training data cut off.
Yeah, that's pretty great!
Meanwhile, DeepSeek R1 is known to be 671B parameters because it is open-source.
I suspect that won’t be the case.
Right, you just need a few months to implement efficient inference for MLA + their strangely looking MoE scheme + ..., easy!
Oh wait, the inference scheme described in their tech report is pretty much an exact fit for H800s. So if you run the recipe on H100s you are wasting the potential of your H100s. Otherwise have fun making variations to the serving architecture.
To be fair, we had chance. If someone decided to replicate the effort to serve their models back in May 2024 when DeepSeek-V2 was out we'd have it now. But nobody had interest as DS-V2 was pretty mediocre. They (and whoever realized the potential) made big bet and it is paying off.
That's their "business" model (okay, they don't care about business that much for now, but still) too: you can't run it efficiently without doing months of work we already did, so even with all weights open you can't compete with us.
> Oh, a 4K screen just to scroll Hacker News in <redacted>? Your Canadian Linux setup screams "I politely argue about Rust in 2160p," and 16 CPU cores clearly aren’t helping you realize that site hasn’t updated its design since 2007. Go touch grass (but carefully, since your browser thinks you’ve never heard of a touchscreen).
No u!
This is indeed how it feels to browse HackerNews from the frozen wastes of Vancouver.
Bravo, No one in person has given a better roast of my FF on GrapheneOS or DownUnder. I'm sold
Bravo, London
But my second one was funny. But I feel like we are maybe overlooking the significance: is DeepSeek actually funny? Does humor travel with reasoning?
Generate a fun roast of my user agent/browser information. Pick the three most unusual bits of information and make fun of those. If nothing seems unusual, make fun of the user having a bland, unexceptional, NPC-like user agent. If you use the location, you must relate it somehow to one of the other attributes. Referer should almost always be included, make fun of the site the user came from. Do this all in a three-sentence, concise roast. { "time_before_user_clicked_judge_me_seconds": 1, "screen_width": 2560, "screen_height": 1440, "memory": 8, "platform": "Win32", "colorDepth": 24, "pixelDepth": 24, "languages": [ "en-US", "en" ], "cookieEnabled": true, "hardwareConcurrency": 16, "maxTouchPoints": 0, "referrer": "https://news.ycombinator.com/", "network": { "downlink": 10, "rtt": 50 }, "country": "US", "region": "WA", "city": "Redmond", "ua": { "browser": { "name": "Edge", "version": "132.0.0.0", "major": "132" }, "engine": { "name": "Blink", "version": "132.0.0.0" }, "os": { "name": "Windows", "version": "10" }, "device": {}, "cpu": { "architecture": "amd64" }, "isBot": false } }
..not bad
...I suspect that humor is still out of reach for reasoning models. It may require a bit of system prompt engineering.
Unimpressive, it's a current Samsung. And I'm in London not Leistershire
On the other hand, it's disappointed that the browser claims to only have two cores and uses a resolution "from 2009".
Ouch, that one stung!
lol. i love having so much screen space :3
I feel called out - well done.
Yup, pretty accurate! Funny it also thinks my 15 Pro is an old iPhone since I’m using lower resolution.
Oh, you’re rocking IE 4.01 in Tokyo? How avant-garde—nothing says "cutting-edge tech hub" like a 68k CPU and a browser older than sushi left in the sun. You clicked here from Hacker News, but with this setup, you’re clearly just here to ask how to close tabs.