81 karma · joined March 9, 2014
Currently the most powerful AMD iGPU is Radeon 780M (found 7840U/HS and 8700G CPUs). Judging by Notebookcheck‘s results, M2 Max GPU has up 2× the fps in Borderlands, 2.5× the fps in Witcher 3, and 3× the fps in Shadow of The Tomb Raider.
As for the benchmarks, the M2 Max GPU has 4–6× the fps in GFXBench, compared to Radeon 780M. And the RDNA3-based 780M has twice the raw compute performance, compared to Steam Deck’s RDNA2 GPU.
Unfortunately, GPUs in handhelds are always severely underpowered.
So, the value proposition of a subtitle-generating wrapper for Whisper would be to have an option to split audio into ~1 minute segments, transcribe them separately, and to somehow accurately join them. And I don’t think this one does such a thing.
And so I easily make 50–100 searches per day when I don’t even feel I’m actively searching for anything. And if I'm in a research mode, the count goes beyond that.
I noticed that only after I’ve subscribed to Kagi. After realising that I’ll burn throw the plan’s allowance very quickly, I tried doing most of my “dumb” searches via Google, and more important stuff — via Kagi. But that introduces a cognitive load, and kills the point of using a paid search engine.
Perhaps, I should switch to the $25 plan, but I can’t justify paying $250–$300 annually for a search engine, even though I have nothing against the idea of paying for one. Unfortunately, it’s too much for me. Nevertheless, I’m rooting for Kagi because it ticks all the boxes for me, and provides value. I hope that operational costs go down, and more people could use it.
If I understood the points correctly, the comparison is… flawed, in my opinion.
But yes, it’s somewhat eerie to observe women (it’s mostly them who enjoy knitting) discussing what kind of model to buy, and having absolutely no clue that the knitting machine age is over.
As for the sewing machines, I think that the best option for any domestic user is to buy a vintage sewing machine. Models made in the 1960s and earlier typically don’t have nylon gears and don’t tend to go out of alignment if you happen to hit a sewing pin with a needle.
One particular resource (that I know of) that offers detailed information about the sewing machine internals is https://www.naehmaschinenverzeichnis.de/
If you’re in the US, the models to look for are 4×× and 6×× series Singers, although there are tons of different options. The German-made Singer 401G in particular is considered the Holy Grail of vintage sewing machines because it’s a free-arm machine (only common in Europe since ~40–50s, not common in the US till the 1980s), has almost all the functions a domestic user may need, and has no plastic gears.
However, pre-1980s sewing machines have one huge disadvantage: they all had a [resistive] rheostat foot controller, which made maintaining low RRM practically impossible. The ones that came with a Triac in the late 70s and early 80s sometimes boasted the word “Electronic” somewhere on the case (this is the case with some Berninas, like the 830). If the machine doesn't come with a Triac foot controller, it’s best to adapt a modern one or do one yourself.
Other options are: 1) To replace the motor with a servo, 2) To add an RPM-control (PID ro ARDC) circuit (either with or without the encoder). One Back-EMF based example with Dremel-like tools is https://hackaday.io/project/166492-grinder-speed-control-wit.... But it doesn't apply to sewing machines well enough, since it’s difficult to determine very low RPMs needed in sewing. 3) Use pulleys, if you’re willing to sacrifice high sewing speed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKDSaNmB0rs
I do believe that some modern brands like Bernina and Pfaff make some advances, however I feel like most of them are related to quilting/embroidery, and not sewing. For example, there are no modern domestic sewing machines (besides the Sailrite) that can comfortably sew thick leather. Modern machines also have no real option for mechanical adjustment of presser foot pressure (important when you deal with vastly different thicknesses of materials).
The rise of cheap and abundant clothing basically finished the production of domestic knitting machines.
Toyota stopped production around 1990, Brother’s last machine was produced in ~1997, and Pfaff closed their business in 2001.
Just like the Juki, Brother, and Toyota, Silver Reed was a Japanese company (known primarily for their typewriters). They moved their knitting machine business in the early 1990s to China, just around the time the SK840 model was released. No newer Silver Reed models were designed since then. Silver Reed (the Japanese one) itself is defunct since the Fukushima earthquake, I believe.
The only new model of knitting machine that can be slightly considered “domestic” is Kniterate (https://www.kniterate.com/). However, at this size and price (€16k) it’s more of a machine for fashion designers, dressmaking studios, and the like.
Personally, this makes me very sad. There was a time when hand-knitting offered endless possibilities and machine-knitting sorta like a fast, by very limited shortcut.
With the arrival of industrial machines like the Shima Seiki MACH2X not only it is possible to knit the whole garment without seams (as compared to already good circular hand-knitting), it’s possible to have some texture, too. All thanks to four needle beds instead of the traditional two. “Traditional” for industrial machines and some domestic ones like Pfaff Duomatic — most domestic machines typically had only one bed.
Unfortunately, with the death of domestic knitting machines, such technology would never be available for the regular people.
There’s also a GUI toolkit with an interface designer being developed for it: https://www.qb64.org/inform/
It effortlessly does both reverse image search AND image objects search. Results are usually so good, it almost seems like Google decided to cripple their image search on purpose.
And if it’s a used car dealership or a dealership that accepts trade-ins, there’s going to be a handful of models in single quantity.
And it seemed like a great idea, at first. Customers had an option to either pay 2 to 3 times less for a normal boring rental car, or… to pick up something nice that had a V8 and leather heated seats in it. The other part of the equation was the customer service: in order to compete with Hertz, Avis and others, it had to be exceptional. And it was.
There was only one problem. Renting out used cars was only a temporary and partial solution for the dealerships. Eventually, all these cars had to be sold. But, as it turned out, if you’re a dealership and if you’re renting out a car for 2/3 of the month, you’re constantly losing opportunities to sell it. Unsold used cars depreciate in value for evenn longer periods of time, take up more and more space… and those rental earnings no longer make financial sense.
Hopefully it won’t be the same case here.