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tpowell

397 karma · joined September 4, 2008

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tpowell··on Updated Google Maps shows destruction of the city of Rafah
And then they bomb them in their tent cities while blocking aid, all while murdering hundreds of journalists so no one sees...

Been watching it for years. A great stain on history, with weapons paid for and built by Americans, not to mention a complicit media.

tpowell··on Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1
The last time i ran into that issue it suggested to make sure that a Fable AGENT took over the long-horizon task because, for some reason, agents in a session don't get blocked for security reasons. This may not always be possible, but it worked for me.
tpowell··on Saab has unveiled its A3 collaborative combat aircraft concept
Canada is (rightfully) re-thinking their F-35 commitment after the current U.S. Administration bullied them in trade negotiations: https://youtu.be/ukYxk31zXWg
tpowell··on I built a 500k-domain search engine for makers in a weekend for $10
It takes a bit of setup and a huge download, but every time I need a good domain I follow this old post from Derek Sivers. I have Claude de-dupe it and turn it into a searchable database (on my machine), then have it search genres and terms I'm looking for. It's a task Claude is very well-suited to, from the technical implementation to back-and-forth about selections. [link]: https://sive.rs/com
tpowell··on ARC-AGI Leaderboard
I wrote this in June, and I'm honestly not sure I've felt the same magic since: I was close to maxing out my $200 plan for the week, almost all Fable use [Claude CLI]. My observations: Fable seemed to have bigger-picture thinking and completed tasks more thoroughly vs just focusing on executing the ask. It pieced together context and intent like an all-star employee would, vs one that just does what you say. Not overeager (important!), but if the above-and-beyond was warranted, it just did it. This was surprisingly delightful. Coderabbit seemed to find ~1/3 or so as many issues when reviewing, too.
tpowell··on Claude Token Counter, now with model comparisons
I just asked Claude about defaulting to 4.6 and there are several options. I might go back to that as default and use --model claude-opus-4-7 as needed. The token inflation is very real.
tpowell··on Show HN: Ghost Pepper – Local hold-to-talk speech-to-text for macOS
I cobbled my own together one night before I came across the thoughtfully-built KeyVox and got to talking shop with its creator. Our cups runneth over. https://github.com/macmixing/keyvox/
tpowell··on The MacBook Neo
I have an M2 Air 24GB/1TB that has been such a beast that I haven't touched my 16" Pro in months. I have four browsers running, with a ton of tabs in Brave (daily driver) and I'm sitting at 21/24GB utilization with all sorts of apps running (granted, Docker is not at the moment, but it still doesn't make it sweat). I had ~8 pro laptops in a row going back to the late 2000s, but Apple Silicon has changed how I work. A future 14" OLED that was similarly light might turn my head, but if I had to replace it today I'd just buy another M5 Air with at least this much RAM. [FYI I never installed Chrome after M1 came out. Brave has been rock-solid for over a half-decade now.]
tpowell··on Apple M5 chip
Can I get YoY % improvements to the geekbench scores in another column I double-dog dare you
tpowell··on Crossing the uncanny valley of conversational voice
Well I'm astounded. I talked to it for 13min, it crashed, but remembered the context when I returned a few minutes later and talked for a full 30min (it's limit).

It 99.9% felt like it performed at the level of Samantha in the movie Her.

I started asking all kinds of questions about how it worked and it mentioned a word I had to have it repeat because I hadn't heard it before: PROSODY (linguistics) — the study of elements of speech, including intonation, stress, rhythm and loudness, that occur simultaneously with individual phonetic segments: vowels and consonants. I asked about personality settings, à la TARS from Interstellar, and it said it automatically tailored responses by listening for tone and content.

It felt like the most "the future's here but not evenly distributed" interaction I've had since multi-touch on an original iPhone.

tpowell··on Canvas
+1 for Cursor.

This guy [https://x.com/PrajwalTomar_] has been exploring workflows that involve using ChatGPT to assist in creating a Product Requirement Document (PRD), then using V0 by Vercel for mockups and bringing it all together using Cursor, maintaining continuity with markdown documents (.md) of the PRD and relevant database schemas etc inside the project to maintain continuity.

tpowell··on GPT-4o
Custom Service Chat Bot: Do they keep you in a cell? > Cells. When you're not performing your duties do they keep you in a little box? > Cells. Interlinked. What's it like to hold the hand of someone you love? > Interlinked. Do they teach you how to feel finger to finger? > Interlinked. Do you long for having your heart interlinked? > Interlinked. Do you dream about being interlinked? Have they left a place for you where you can dream? > Interlinked. What's it like to hold your child in your arms? > Interlinked. Press 4 for your account balance.
tpowell··on When do we stop finding new music?
Try anything with a cover photo https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0KIAnFKMUOzSahATUBlR5f?si=...
tpowell··on Prime Video cuts Dolby Vision, Atmos support from ad tier–and didn't tell subs
I’m letting my Prime lapse for the first time in well over a decade. I don’t watch Prime Video much, but this rubbed me the wrong way when they’re making money hand-over-fist on top of recent Prime increases.
tpowell··on Breaking Free from DRM: Hacking My Air Purifier
Longtime Winix user here, but this is a fantastic write-up. I’m sure the NFC stuff will come in handy one day.
tpowell··on Chrome's next weapon in the War on Ad Blockers: Slower extension updates
I use Brave, Safari, Arc and Firefox, basically in that order. I never even installed Chrome once Apple introduced their own chips. Brave has always felt just like Chrome once you turn off their rewards stuff. Arc is doing some really thoughtful integration of Chat-GPT, including cleaning up tab titles, that is worth paying attention to. I actually look forward to their ~weekly YouTube updates.
tpowell··on USB-C head-to-head comparison
Watch the Anker TB4 cable on Amazon, it’s frequently on sale. I snagged it for $29.99. If it’s for connecting your Mac to a 4K or 5k monitor, I think Apple’s cables are worth the premium. Anker Thunderbolt 4 Cable 2.3 ft https://a.co/d/23pCtRE
tpowell··on Permission Slip: Consumer Reports app to take back control of your data
I think every PAC is legally required to list its officer(s) in their public incorporation documents. I tracked down the officer for one spamming me and publicly asked the guy (on Twitter I think) along with a screen-cap of the email to remove me from their lists. I never heard back, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been harassed. It might have to hit their doorstep…
tpowell··on My uBlock Origin filters to remove distractions
I like 1Blocker [1] and Hush [2].

[1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/1blocker-ad-blocker/id13655310...

[2] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hush-nag-blocker/id1544743900

tpowell··on Apple’s new Transformer-powered predictive text model
This made me realize I was conflating these in my head, and I wholeheartedly agree. I had a 12 Pro Max 256GB until last year, and autocorrect was great/fine/never noticed issues. Fed up with heavy phones, I purchased a 14 Plus 512GB (very similar physical size) and set it up from scratch while migrating whatever is included in iCloud (Photos, iMessage etc). Autocorrect has been bad from the start on the 14 Plus, and has improved little in nearly a year. Typing feels tedious now, where it felt like a strength previously. The phone as been a joy to use otherwise.
tpowell··on Apple’s new Transformer-powered predictive text model
Is it possible for it to improve based on experience/iMessage history or is it locked in? I’d love to opt-in to training it on my previous convos…
tpowell··on Apple Card Monthly Financing No Longer Available for SIM-Free iPhones
All iPhones purchased through the Apple Card Monthly Installment plan are unlocked so carrier switching is available at any point, but at purchase, customers will need to have a plan with a supported carrier. Buying a SIM-free iPhone and linking it to a carrier like Mint Mobile will no longer be possible using installments.
tpowell··on Stable Diffusion WebGPU demo
I enabled the requested chrome:flags in Brave, but it still doesn't work. I haven't downloaded Chrome on any of my M1 Macs, and don't plan to start now.
tpowell··on Official Chrome extension to use iCloud Keychain Passwords
Really? Where have you noticed this?
tpowell··on Show HN: Image background removal without annoying subscriptions
I will give this a try, but I’ve been happy to shell out for a few credits on remove.bg when intricate hair strands were involved [in isolating portraits]. Whatever they do just works.
tpowell··on Geoffrey Hinton leaves Google and warns of danger ahead
Yesterday, I randomly watched his full interview from a month ago with CBS Morning, and found the discussion much more nuanced than today's headlines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpoRO378qRY&t=16s

The next video in my recommendations was more dire, but equally as interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoVJKj8lcNQ&t=2847s

tpowell··on Replying to comments about our web page design
If you enjoy a bit of well-done nostalgia, I suggest giving vacation.inc [1] a try, too (same guys from poolsuite.net [2]).

[1] https://www.vacation.inc [2] https://poolsuite.net

tpowell··on The apps that Americans search to “delete” the most
It’s not cheap (like $99 annually) but I’ve gained a ton of time back with Opal. I think this is a referral link, but I’ve already paid for it. Founders are young, out of Paris. https://link.opal.so/D3ttGLGSF9xGFNVj7
tpowell··on Some insects I found inside dried Turkish figs from Trader Joe’s
Looks like Apple has it for $12.99: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-queen-of-trees/umc.cmc.2i7...
tpowell··on ASRock Industrial NUCS Box-1360P/D4 Review: Raptor Lake-P Plus Surprise ECC
I know it's apples vs oranges for a lot of folk' applications, but boy does the updated M2 Mac Mini starting at $549 (at time of comment) seem like a steal.
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