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mleo

354 karma · joined June 5, 2017

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mleo··on Coding with LLMs in the summer of 2025 – an update
Or expect price to deliver the service becomes cheaper. Or both.
mleo··on Coding with LLMs in the summer of 2025 – an update
Why wouldn’t 3rd party hardware vendors continue to work on reducing costs of running models locally? If there is a market opportunity for someone to make money, it will be filled. Just because the cloud vendors don’t develop hardware someone will. Apple has vested interest in making hardware to run better models locally, for example.
mleo··on IRS Direct File
First time filing on our own in 25 years and it was great experience. Paid for the state filing. They didn’t seem to really push the add ons for federal.
mleo··on Apple Shortcuts is falling into "the automation gap"
Home Assistant is to HomeKit is very much like AppleScript/scripting languages are to Shortcuts. The UI based approach is OK, but only takes you so far because there is not proper investment to improve a deeper integration. To make the most and easiest management of the system often requires using a more capable system and bridging the two.
mleo··on Office is too slow, so Microsoft is making it load at Windows startup
They used no networking services either. Now, I open a shared PowerPoint and am stuck waiting for a couple of minutes while it is syncing or doing who knows what. People have no sense of what templates they copy from other documents causing the size of the file and load times to bloat.
mleo··on HTTP/3 is everywhere but nowhere
I haven’t developed with .NET in a dozen years, let alone since it went cross platform, but I at least know it is capable of being cross platform. It amazes me how many developers I speak to that still assume .NET is Windows only.
mleo··on Gooey rubber that's slowly ruining old hard drives
I just found my old Flip Camera in bin of old electronics today and its rubber case was a sticky mess. In the bin is a bunch of old hard drives that haven't been touched in a decade as well. I imagine there is nothing on there I need that hasn't been transferred elsewhere, but also just curious if any of them work.
mleo··on Eggs US – Price – Chart
Not sure what time you go to TJ's. In SoCal, I go nearly daily, a benefit of living 50ft from the store, and while stock is currently low, I have only seen it empty once. Again, it could be that when I go at lunchtime, they have the daily delivery available, but by the evening it is gone. Their prices for regular eggs remain <$4/dozen.
mleo··on Microsoft won't support Office apps on Windows 10 after October 14th
Which uses more aggregate power, bitcoin mining or Windows anti malware software?
mleo··on Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch
We traded one convenience for others. I can play the same music in sync across every room in the house and the backyard, and I didn't have to run speaker wires to 23 locations to do that. I can play any of millions of songs without having a room full of physical copies of the music. I can plug in an aux cord into the system if I need to do so.
mleo··on Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after disastrous app launch
I've had a Sonos system going back 10 years now. I started with 6 or 7 speakers and now it is at 15 [9 zones] Sonos speakers and 12 HomePods [6 pairs]. There have been hiccups along the way:

- Migration from S1 to S2 having to replace early, older models such as Amp and Port. But have received some discounts on new speakers

- Unifi network & Sonosnet issues with STP. Mostly solved by disabling Sonosnet

- Sonos Roam speakers failing

While having occasional issues with the new app design, it hasn't impacted much on a day to day basis. I didn't use much of the features that were lost initially, though I can see how it would be damaging to those who do.

For playing whole home audio, I generally use Airplay integration and just group the speakers through AppleTV or iPad. I occasionally use the app to do so.

The value I receive from each: - Sonos supports surround sound, whereas the HomePods do not.

- Sonos is tied into home automation and some custom TTS announcements

- Sonos Amp works with outdoor speakers and can update the speakers

- The HomePod minis are small and less intrusive in certain areas of the home

- HomePods have access to Siri and home control

At one point I had several Echo devices, but it was annoying to constantly update that system for home automation integration. HomePods replaced all of those except for an Echo Show in the Kitchen.

I never use bluetooth, nor felt it is a missing feature of my Sonos system or HomePods.

mleo··on The engineering behind the San Antonio River Walk
Having grown up in San Antonio, I have many memories of spending time as a teenager downtown and around the river walk.

The best time to visit is during the riverboat parade after Thanksgiving. Everything is lit up and many restaurants along the route offer dinner and nice views. Going during the summer can be incredibly hot and uncomfortable.

mleo··on The Pentium FDIV bug, reverse-engineered
The mention of Maple brings back vivid memories of freshmen year of college when the math department decided to use the software as part of instruction and no one understood how to use it. There was a near revolt by the students.
mleo··on Bird flu in Canada may have mutated to become more transmissible to humans
My daughter’s birthday party in January 2020 was canceled last minute due to her getting the flu. No idea of the type, but remember we were unable to reschedule due to Covid lockdowns occurring before getting rescheduled at the venue.
mleo··on The tragedy of running an old Node project
Depends on the frameworks in use. I have done the same as you in bringing code that was originally started on 1.4 up to 17 and now 21 and it just took grunt work, but not too crazy since most of it was bog standard Java.

However, some other projects around here using different application frameworks are stuck since the frameworks aren’t maintained or upgraded in ways that aren’t compatible anymore.

Looking into old Java code, it is hard to remember a time before enums and what a pain that is to deal with int constants instead of typed constants.

mleo··on DeskPad – A virtual monitor for screen sharing
This is great; though I have less need for it day to day now.

I used to have 49" 5120x1440 display. We started with Zoom, which under Advanced would allow partial desktop sharing. I would draw a 1920x1080 box and move windows in and out of the box.

We moved to Teams and Teams only supports Window or Screen sharing. DeskPad would work great for that situation. Create a virtual display, share it and then use it on right part of the physical screen, moving windows in and out as needed.

Currently, I use 2 Studio Displays instead of the 1 Wide Screen. When I need to share screens, I press a button on Stream Deck that calls displaypacer to set the resolution on the second display to 1600x900. When done, I press the button again and it toggles the resolution back to 5K. The resolution switching is instantaneous with Apple Silicon/Studio Display making it hassle free.

mleo··on Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week
Yes and no. Everyone on the team tries to be cognizant of time zones and coworkers availability. Trying to schedule meetings across multiple time zones quickly limits available working hours.
mleo··on Ask HN: Does anyone use sound effects in their dev environment?
I find default calendar notifications useless. They pop-up 15 minutes before the meeting so they get dismissed, out of site, out of mind. With an integration of Keyboard Maestro, iCalbuddy, Stream Deck and modified shell script I show the upcoming meeting on a Stream Deck key.

Stream deck key shows time of next meeting, how long until that is, with background colors changing as it approaches, and how many meetings remain for the day.

For the sound effect portion, at 1 - 2 minutes prior and at the meeting time, a sound effect is played giving me the heads up that a meeting is starting. Also at 1-2 minutes prior to meeting starting, the Sonos speaker in the office announces the meeting subject.

mleo··on Monorepos vs. many repos: is there a good answer?
I think to myself, “doesn’t everyone do this with multiple repos?” Then I consider some of the workflows of colleagues and have a proper realization. Overtime, unless a lot of thought is given to developer processes, the tooling becomes death by a thousand cuts. It’s a small custom configuration here, a small one-off case there, and soon it takes a day or two to setup a new developer’s machine. There are trade offs with mono repo or multiple repos. In either case a continuous revisiting of processes and optimizations is required. Unfortunately, even then, people are stubborn and will do what they know “works” even if not optimal.
mleo··on Stripe's Monorepo Developer Environment
I use syncthing to manage the synchronization of files between local laptop and remote development server. The software code base is upwards of 20 years and has dependencies on Windows for runtime. I can run unit tests locally on very fast MacBook Pro or run it much slower on Windows VM. With syncthing I can easily edit files locally or remotely and they are available locally for source control.

The worst problem is refining the ignore settings to ensure only code is synced preventing conflicts on derivative files and that some rule doesn’t overlap code file names.

mleo··on "Us vs. Them" language shapes the Apple ecosystem narrative
Consumers and companies will give up a lot for “free”. Look at social media and advertising. When one has to pay there is more scrutiny on a purchase.
mleo··on "Us vs. Them" language shapes the Apple ecosystem narrative
They are good at branding and public relations, but that isn’t why people continue to buy their products. Look at how many AI hardware companies have recently tried branding and PR while launching their product to only flub when the quality wasn’t delivered in the product.
mleo··on "We ran out of columns"
I know things have gotten somewhat better, but the amount of wasted time and latency of using RDP and Windows UI for development, testing and production maintenance is insane. Throw in some security requirements of RDP into host 1 to the RDP jump to host 2 and companies are just wasting money on latency. There is, often, not an appreciation of the administrative costs of the delivery. Not necessarily system admin costs, but developer and QA time associated with delivering and ongoing maintenance.
mleo··on "We ran out of columns"
Worst code bases are often ones taken over from IT consultancies. They drive young, inexperienced developers working many hours to deliver functionality. While the project may start out “clean” using whatever is the current hotness in technology, at some point getting stuff developed and throwing over the wall to QA is the important part.
mleo··on "We ran out of columns"
Anecdote seems long before git creation, so Visual SourceSafe maybe. Which did not work well over a WAN. Needed other tools to replicate and synchronize VSS.
mleo··on The number of CS grads who don't even know basic Git commands is astounding
Every college student’s “free” time is different. Whether sports, work, clubs or drinking, people fill there time with what the have to do or interests them. I was lucky my work was mostly free time to further play and learn computers, OSs and software. I learned networking with PERL, Java in my free time, lots of Solaris and AIX. I didn’t spend any time on VCS, but this was back when RCS and SCCS were dominant.
mleo··on macOS Sequoia Preview
You can use Image Capture with phone plugged into USB and then drag and drop photos/videos to any folder.
mleo··on Are commercial "third places" a dying breed?
I am right there with you; working from home for last 6 years and 10 of 12. If I work from an another location it is an hour or so. I also live in a neighborhood that is mostly professionals that are back in office, so it seems there is less WFH people in some places around me, especially some newly opened spots.
mleo··on Are commercial "third places" a dying breed?
One Starbucks nearer to where I used to live transitioned to this mobile pickup model removing all the indoor seating. I have been there a couple of times since the remodel and it is just weird to walk into knowing it used to be a meeting place for people to talk and spend some time.

Now, if I go out to work, maybe once a week, I try to limit my time there to an hour or two tops. I also try to go to places that are likely to be more empty at the moment and not preventing any person from finding a seat if they walk in.

mleo··on I upgraded my water heater and discovered how bad smart home security can be
I need to replace my existing tankless water heater and plumber uses Navien. They offer multiple modules to start recirculating including hardwired button, led screen control and of course and IoT capabilities. I considered the button for convenience and IoT module just to integrate with the rest of house, keeping preference for physical when adding Smart Control.

I added door sensors to my LG washer and dryer. Along with access to their platform for knowing when the machines run and complete I have some logic of whether clothes are present or at least the door not opened. Haven’t done too much with it as I need better dashboard and visual indicators somewhere that is visible to everyone.

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