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TechRemarker

1,834 karma · joined February 15, 2011

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TechRemarker··on Gemini 3.8 Flash and 3.8 Flash Cyber
Hopefully before they release 4.0 Flash we will finally get Gemini 3.5 Pro.
TechRemarker··on I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them
Started using whatcable.uk app. Been amazing at finally knowing cable speed, but also device max speeds, and everything in between, without having to carry around one of those digital dongles with more limited use.
TechRemarker··on IP and DNS Leaks in WebKit Affecting Proxy Browsers and iCloud Private Relay
You can turn if off in settings > iCloud. Either temporary for a day and auto back on, or permanently until you turn it back on.
TechRemarker··on T-Mobile outage, no updates from the company
Out on iPhone 26.6 but not on my iOS 27. But not sure if relevant. As of a minute ago just came back up on the other phone.
TechRemarker··on Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain
Yes, a bit of a mess. As the only practical way for most to use is with a password manager. So essentially, all your accounts still have a real password, just you enter that into your password manager app. So if your device is every compromised and someone has your master password then you are screwed.

And of course, passkeys on most all sites don't really improve security since someone can just choose to login with user/pass instead since presumably very few sites allow you to have just passkey.

Also if you use a password manager you may get locked into using that platform. Or ideally using a third party one but then having to pay a subscription, or using an open source option that is not ideal for the average person.

If one uses a passkey as intended and without a password manager and the site truly only supports logging in via your passkey, for all the touted benefits of passkeys, that would be a nightmare if a person loses access to their device, etc.

TechRemarker··on Orion Browser by Kagi
Tried switching a while back. It's like Safari but with so many little UI improvements that make it so much more enjoyable but while still feeling like something Apple would design. Alas didn't use long as lack to many things such as no native Apple Pay support (have to use iOS or scan a code etc), or 2fa email/sms auto fill, private relay support, doesn't fully support 1Password, and so on. Most all of which because of Apple limitations but still little things that I value more than the better UI. However, far more important than all of that is so many sites didn't work. With Chrome you know a site will work, with Safari you know a lot may not, but with Orion it was an enormous number of sites that continually ran into issues and unlike Safari too many to keep reporting or find work arounds. All the benefits of Safari make it worth the downside of some sites not working properly, but the benefits of Orion over Safari for the massive number that didn't work right was certainly not worth it for me. Which was all unfortunate since the Orion team is doing everything they can essentially on their end. Hopefully they have a large enough niche to stick around and offer even modest competition for the big players.
TechRemarker··on Jurassic Park computers in excruciating detail
In Safari (macOS Beta), none of the pictures load. In dev tools shows 403 error for all. If view the image urls directly shows "It appears you don't have permission to access this page.

403 Error. Forbidden." in a stylized font. Content blockers are "not" enabled. Able to replicate in Private window too. In Chrome however, images all load normally, also able to view the image urls directly. Very odd. No VPN and Private Relay is "off". Very unusual, will have to do some more digging assuming this is just affecting me and not others in Safari on latest macOS beta.

Update works in latest Safari Tech Preview, so assuming some cache/cookie/etc issue even though again affects Private mode.

TechRemarker··on ChatGPT Work
Seems the old ChatGPT is still on computer but renamed ChatGPT Classic (no longer downloadable), so clearly being deprecated. But just don't understand how the whole CHATGPT Chat History Chat feature is essentially gone other than seeing at the past 3 or 4 in a tiny popup window. Glad everyone is as confused as I am, so hopefully an announcement from ChatGPT clarifying all this.
TechRemarker··on ChatGPT Work
Been excited for Codex to fully merge into ChatGPT, like it already has on iOS and how Claude Code merged into Claude a while back. Assumed there would simply be an update for ChatGPT that added Codex like on iOS. But instead a new "ChatGPT for Work" app. Which is fine. Downloaded and it replaces the standard ChatGPT app, again fine an as expected, but when I open it I just see Codex essentially. In top left, when changing from Code to ChatGPT still not seeing all of my ChatGPT aka years of Chat History. Other than one a box that says recent chats that only lets you see the latest 3 or 4 chats and opens them up in a small window. Am I missing something?
TechRemarker··on Apple is going to raise device prices, but when?
Can't imagine increases to existing products. Would seem almost certain it would be for new product/refreshes and they may simply continue to remove the entry level configs in the meantime. That is all still significant for Apple for whom pricing is part of the brand. Been waiting for a maxed out new MBP coming later this year/early next, which already is about 7K, so with the prices increases, scared to think what the 8GB SSD and max ram will come in at.
TechRemarker··on Apple's AI Can Now Change Your Passwords. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Yes, also immediately thought of all the endless ways this could go wrong and end with someone losing access to their account, which depending on their account could be trivial or life altering, especially if their loss ends up being someone else's gain. Apple takes baby steps so I'm sure this will be limited in nature and most likely will get delayed until fully tested, but I'd definitely avoid testing during betas (with any real accounts that is).
TechRemarker··on OpenAI's fall from grace as investors race to Anthropic
I switched to Anthropic briefly to try out Code, it was great (having never tried such a product) and better than their chat bot which found prettier and nicer to talk to but far more often wrong.

Then shortly after Codex was released which made that more accessible and instantly preferred that compared to Code since much more generous allotments for $20 plan. Claude constantly kept hitting. And Code actually had a more robust UI and was more accurate when doing the same project side by side vs Claude Code.

But imagine many haven't tried Codex recently since all we hear about is Claude Code. So while they may have momentum, at least for me with no stake in the game, Codex finding far better, but I suppose that could all change again on a whim.

TechRemarker··on Ask HN: Gmail spam filtering suddenly marking everything as spam?
Ahh. Wok up to a follow up email an address already marked as spam so couldn't figure out what was going on.
TechRemarker··on [dead]
How is this not flagged and removed based on the completely false title?
TechRemarker··on Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card
"Of course their relationship with Apple could be different, but I doubt it'll be anything like the Goldman one" I can nearly guarantee this is completely wrong. It will be just like Goldman. That's literally the point of getting the card, is do everything through Apple and Goldman is just the backbone and support (through Apple's UI). Apple's contract with Goldman was until 2030, they wouldn't let Goldman out of it unless they were able to find a new partner with same or better experience and terms. They could have choose Synchrony, etc if Chase didn't agree. And clearly Chase was willing to concede to Apple since they don't even offer high yield savings, but agreed to for Apple since thats part of their existing offerings. Right now Apple decides the Promos for Apple Card, and at most maybe Chase will have a little more involvement in those but probably not. So in realty the only real world change is probably better customer support than Sachs, and Chase may not offer higher risks customers credit or as much like Goldman did and finally they may not offer the very low APR's that Apple card is known for, for it's best customers.
TechRemarker··on Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card
Have to disagree there. While the iOS wallet apple is all apple and thats what you will use for checking your statements and making payments which is great. But anytime I have to actually interact with for support that is 100% with Goldman. When you do you support through the iMessage chat feature it's all Goldman on the other end, not Apple at all. And I've had to deal with them far too many times, and each time was absolutely terrible. Because of Goldman but also because of the platform Apple gives them for support, since you send a message have to wait for a text response. So feels like a chat but unlike a chat responses can take a while more like email, but then if they respond and you dont respond very fast then it closes it out and your response triggers a how can we help and you start all over, which is unlike email. So it's the worst of Chat and the worst of Email. Hopefully that is revamped with the new relationship. And if you have to call you get Sachs not Apple. Chase isn't great but expect much better than Sachs.
TechRemarker··on Most websites don't need cookie consent banners
“You DO need consent for: Third-party tracking cookies like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel“ Since most websites use GA then yes most need the banners. You could say most sites don’t need GA but that’s a different argument.
TechRemarker··on NYC phone ban reveals some students can't read clocks
Cursive writing first that comes to my mind.
TechRemarker··on Google is 'gradually rolling out' option to change your gmail.com address
Wow this is massive, but will come down to whether you switch to another existing address you have. That is you have example1@gmail.com and example2@gmail.com. The first one has all your decades of data and second is name you've reserved etc. With handles you can release one and use on another account so hopefully option to do the same. Or if they could just update their account migration to support migrating all historic data that would accomplish the same.
TechRemarker··on Gemini 3 Pro: the frontier of vision AI
Love how employee portals for many companies essentially never get updated design wise over the decades, lol. That page styling and the balls certainly take me back.
TechRemarker··on The "Mad Men" in 4K on HBO Max Debacle
haha. Take a look at the massive unfinished window into the hallway =).
TechRemarker··on OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race
Heard all the news how Gemini 3 is passing everyone on benchmarks, so quickly tested and still find it a far cry from ChatGPT in real world use when testing questions on both platforms. But importantly the ChatGPT app experience at least for iPhone/Mac users is drastically superior vs Google which feels very Google still. So Gemini would have to be drastically better answer wise than ChatGPT to lure users from a better UI/UX experience to Gemini. But glad to see competition since certainly don't want only one winner in this race.
TechRemarker··on Voyager 1 is about to reach one light-day from Earth
No, not "About to". It's this time "next year".
TechRemarker··on What happens when even college students can't do math anymore?
Imagine still will be all the advanced tracks but will be only reserved for those with the resources to afford it and seemingly further the divide.
TechRemarker··on Multiple Digital Ocean services down
Yes all sites showing the CloudFlare error due to the massive outage. Seems their outages are getting more frequent and taking down the internet in new ways each time.
TechRemarker··on GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT
Interesting, this seems to be "less" ideal. The problem lately for me is it being to verbose and conversational for things that need not be. Have added custom instructions which helps but still issues. Setting the chat style to "Efficient" more recently did help a lot but has been prone to many more hallucinations, requiring me to constantly ask if they are sure and never responds in a way that yes my latest statement is correct, ignoring it's previous error and showing no sign that it will avoid a similar error further in the conversation. When it constantly makes similar mistakes which I had a way to train my ChatGPT to avoid that, but while adding "memories" helps with somethings, it does not help with certain issues it continues to make since it's programming overrides whatever memory I make for it. Hoping some improvements in 5.1.
TechRemarker··on ChatGPT knows my IP geolocation
I just asked where am I currently today and on the iOS app it responded with the correct current location for where I’m visiting without needing to trick it into using the devices location data. In settings on iOS this app does not request or have access to location. So yes, a little surprised iOS still provides ip address but assume necessary for some functionality.
TechRemarker··on iOS 26.2 to allow third-party app stores in Japan ahead of regulatory deadline
Doubt they would have been considered “goodwill”. Investors would complain they are doing their fiscal responsibilities. Customers and companies would complain they didn’t do it soon enough and still didn’t do enough. And if people started having issues with their phones because of side loading they would not blame themselves they would blame Apple for allowing them to do so and potentially hurting the brand. Vision Pro as a test of hardware capabilities seems to be going as one would expect at the current price points. Once they release their first consumer focused glasses as an accessible price point, that will be the real test of the product category.
TechRemarker··on iOS 26.2 to allow third-party app stores in Japan ahead of regulatory deadline
On the other hand if long ago they backed down and lowered fees and allowed more control, aside from the potential security and privacy concerns that could negatively affect the brand, companies would have just then wanted more. As Epic has said they think they should have to pay nothing for all that Apple provides. So not saying all Apple’s choices and timing were right or best, but giving up previously wouldn’t have prevented all of this but rather just lowered the bar and making it easier for companies and countries to make it easier to lower it even further.
TechRemarker··on Affinity Studio now free
Been curious what the Oct 10 announcement would be. It seemed most likely an acquisition since they wanted enough time of not selling existing products to avoid dealing with a month of refunds. Appears Canva bought with it now being a single app that is "free" but paid for premium features. While many may rejoice at a solid free options it's certainly an unfortunate day for those who rely on it. As Canva makes money on people using the paid version so attention will be at making that version more enticing over time and free less. If people all just used the free and not the premium for AI, then they would either start charging for the "free" version or take away features from the free version to make the "choice" easier to upgrade. All in all good for Canva, and good for more casual users who can jump ship any time to free options but would be quite worrisome for those who have looked towards Affinity as the alternative to Adobe.
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