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timbaboon

156 karma · joined August 7, 2019

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timbaboon··on Apple Mac mini review
In South Africa Toyotas (Hilux in particular) get stolen all the time because they are so reliable (and you get parts throughout Africa). So then you end up making new sales when people replace their stolen cars. One way to get around the problem for them I guess? /s :)
timbaboon··on macOS 27 Golden Gate – Review
There is a lot more to tech than gen AI…
timbaboon··on Fuck it, make it anyway
Yep. I'm feeling the same way... even though I'm hardly able to use AI at work, the push is still there for us to use it, making it even more frustrating. Anyway, I hate it, and I'm just sorta phoning it in now and trying to find something else to do. I'm cynical too and feel there is no point to upskilling and using AI for everything, 'cos it's not going to help you keep your job for very much longer than the people that don't use it.
timbaboon··on If coding is solved, what now?: Measuring the sloppiness of code
Velocity to solution is default for senior management, that's for sure ;)
timbaboon··on Stockfish 19
But does it use AI?
timbaboon··on Ask HN: Anyone still coding like 2021? Where do you work?
Having a weird experience with this at work. We are being told to use it, but the amount of flip flopping on whether or not we can use ChatGPT or Codex or anything else has left a lot of us without any clear direction. One day it’s allowed, the next day IT security guys have blocked it. Local models are also not allowed. I’m carrying on coding everything myself, because I can’t keep changing my workflow when IT changes their mind every second day. Despite this, the directive from the CIO is that by next year 70-80% of code must be AI generated. Last I checked only 2% of the company was actually given a license for codex. So idk man
timbaboon··on ChatGPT Images 2.5
Haha yes, I immediately saw the fingers and was surprised 'cos I thought that was something they had "solved" by now
timbaboon··on Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)
Yeah but in South Africa medical aid rates are regulated by the government and all companies have to stick with that rate. The idea is that if you keep your customers healthy then there are fewer claims.
timbaboon··on Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)
Oh for sure. It's a carrot-type program though. So you don't get any penalties for not doing something, but you get rewards for doing things.
timbaboon··on Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration (2023)
Largest medical insurance company (Discovery Health) in South Africa has just launched a sleep rewards program as part of their wellness program (Vitality). The idea is that you get rewarded for getting good sleeping scores... which is not entirely in your control, but anyway. Their model is built by looking at years of sleep data combined with health insurance claims. They place a large emphasis on sleep regularity. Anyway, just interesting to see this study come up and it seems to match up sort of with the Vitality stuff. There will ofc be many confounding variables though...
timbaboon··on Reflections on Software Engineering in the Age of AI
GOTO3 and loop? Don't you mean GOTO2 and loop ;)
timbaboon··on Meta launches Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp subscriptions
Yep, same in South Africa. I still haven't accepted those T's & C's from a few years ago so can't chat with most businesses. In some cases there is no other option, so I just... don't use that company.

On the other hand, I've convinced a lot of my friends to get Signal. I'm the only person that they speak to on Signal, but that's fine ;)

timbaboon··on Claude Opus 4.8
My take from going through comments on HN is that many people are being mandated to use them, not that they are just giving in. Maybe I'm misreading, but that was my impression.
timbaboon··on DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode
I’m now paying for Kagi :/
timbaboon··on I'm Tired of Talking to AI
Let’s do both?
timbaboon··on I'm Tired of Talking to AI
I was discussing a change we wanted to make to some tables in one of the DBs, but it would require a lot of effort because of the sheer size. Anyway, after saying how much effort would be required the response I got was to “please ask ChatGPT.” It gave a slightly different response, but changed it after I presented it with my solution and agreed that was the better approach. Just… sigh
timbaboon··on If AI writes your code, why use Python?
I gave exactly the same comment to a colleague at work today :D
timbaboon··on Agents for financial services and insurance
Seen it used in some of the fraud models (I work in insurance). So that's both from the perspective of people trying to claim fraudulently and from suppliers over charging. I can't say how much of a lift we actually get vs existing ML models
timbaboon··on Opus 4.7 knows the real Kelsey
How often does it correctly identify that the blog post was actually written by Claude or ChatGPT etc? :)
timbaboon··on Don't feel like exercising? Maybe it's the wrong time of day for you
I see, yes, you need to have two, otherwise science cannot happen
timbaboon··on Don't feel like exercising? Maybe it's the wrong time of day for you
How many countries should be included before it should be published?
timbaboon··on Londoners are sick of viral videos telling lies about their city
Sunshine in the UK?? :P
timbaboon··on Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019)
I read the title and felt personally attacked :(
timbaboon··on Hard-braking events as indicators of road segment crash risk
Yep. We work with CMT and we’ve both done extensive testing on this. I think that often people don’t necessarily know what a hard braking event actually means, or how it’s quantified. Giving that realtime feedback helps close that gap in understanding
timbaboon··on Ask HN: What skills do you want to develop or improve in 2026?
I’ve played guitar for 20 years, but I’ve decided to do something different and just got some drums. I need to spend some time away from work lest I suffer from burnout again…
timbaboon··on Engineers who dismiss AI
If anything I’ve learnt more because I’m having to go and find bugs in areas that I’m not super clued up on… yet ;)
timbaboon··on Ask HN: Is your company still hiring junior engineers?
Yes, we are. South African company.
timbaboon··on OpenAI claims gold-medal performance at IMO 2025
Haha no - then it wouldn't have got a gold medal ;)
timbaboon··on Ask HN: Does anyone use "AI" features in consumer products?
I was included in Strava’s beta testing for their AI offering (Athlete Intelligence). It was useful in no way at all, and the prod version out now is no better. Disabled that.

My bank also started offering a chatbot through WhatsApp to let you query transactions etc, but it hallucinated stuff so I’ve stopped that too.

timbaboon··on Tool to identify poisonous books developed by University of St Andrews
Haha that’s exactly why I clicked on the story :)
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