Notices by Ian Betteridge (ianbetteridge@writing.exchange)

@GossiTheDog @gwire Explain (or don’t, which is also good)

@GossiTheDog Hmmm. But that’s true for *anything* on your file system. And AFAIK no one has yet invented a way to store info locally that isn't on your file system ;)

So yes, a compromised machine where someone has set up remote access to it without you knowing would allow them to spy on your activity. But that is true today, too, on any machine, on any platform.

Plus if someone has remote access, they would be WAY better off installing akeylogger than relying on a feature I can turn off.

@gwire @GossiTheDog It *sort of* does, I think… not inaccessible but *less* accessible. From the video Kevin reposted, it shows that to access the stored data file, you need to explicitly put in your Admin password – even to get to in in Windows Explorer. That means, I believe any app which wants to reach it also has to request access.

The funny thing about Microsoft's new Recall feature is how little actual "AI" it's doing. It's basically just making automatic screen captures, then running OCR and image recognition to create a semantic index you can search. Unless I'm missing something, there's no LLM (or small language model) used in it. Maybe in parsing queries?

I think is spot on. The culture has changed (and Apple doesn’t see it). But also Apple’s place in the culture has changed and it is just another tech giant. I would argue, though, that’s down to Apple itself, and its behaviour. https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/05/09/dhh-crush

When people talk about the iPad becoming more like a Mac, what they mean is "becoming more open, like the Mac"

https://ianbetteridge.com/2024/05/07/on-the-ipad-becoming-a-mac/

@clacke There are/were definitely socially conservative SNP members and MSPs – Kate Forbes, who narrowly lost the leadership election last time, is undoubtedly socially conservative (see https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-64747672 for details).

@SometimeHippy I'm not sure that Alba has helped the SNP to siphon off the right that much (Alba seems to be mostly cranks and people who love a conspiracy theory tbh). 48% of the SNP members voted for Kate Forbes last time, even with her record as a social conservative (saying she would not have voted for gay marriage, and that she believed having children outside marriage was wrong, etc)

@hengymrohebwlad Interesting pointr re: Sinn Fein, but I think they're in a different position in that they are campaigning not for independence for NI, but to join a different country – and one where they are established as a party in their own right.

I don’t know much about Scottish politics, but it sounds like the SNP is finally facing the question all nationalist parties eventually face: apart from independence, who are you? Are you really an economically and socially progressive party. Or is independence your only thing and every other policy is up for change depending on how many votes you can muster from it?

Literally, every word in this describes either something I've gone through or something I've realised in the past year.

https://www.ft.com/content/ff58f701-fadf-43bb-a5e7-e4ebcf2bf6a9?accessToken=zwAAAY77AGI8kdP_WPcB-t9Du9Ol5-Trzyv2qQ.MEYCIQC9ny4RrakJYst5B6Vdi9Tshgfb9iCBsBAr0xNM9QpLxgIhAPEt6Zf18Rx8_DVRSLp7PtdcoDki4sZ2Q5KMZ61kfB8l&segmentId=e95a9ae7-622c-6235-5f87-51e412b47e97&shareType=enterprise

Currently working with a bunch of people under 25 and one of them described “vintage music” as “stuff from about 2005” to me the other day.

@jimray @tfb @loke Yeah, I noticed that too - it is weird.

@tfb @loke Lord help me, I ended up writing something.

https://ianbetteridge.com/2024/04/19/what-a-difference-four-years-makes/

The only reason that companies stop reporting stuff like this is because the numbers look crap and they want to hide it.

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/netflix-stop-reporting-subscriber-numbers-starting-2025-1235975341/

I've consistently said that adding LLMs to voice assistants is a great way to make slower, less useful voice assistants, and I think the reviews of the Humane Pin bear this out.

https://www.theverge.com/24126502/humane-ai-pin-review

Daughter of Crispin James Alan Nevill Money-Coutts, 9th Baron Latymer, says what?

@goatsarah Go to your room and think long and hard about what you have just said :)

@goatsarah "Objectively technically terrible" didn't stop them in the past - see Windows 1, 2, and 3.0 for more ;)

This is one of those "thank god some journalists understand the history of antitrust" moments. One small quibble: Allison says, "I’m not really sure Apple owes the DOJ a thank-you card for making the iPhone possible", but Gates himself noted how, distracted by antitrust, Microsoft's ability to compete in smartphones was curtailed. They might not have stopped Apple, but they might well have been able to stop Android.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/22/24107693/doj-us-versus-apple-complaint-microsoft-antitrust-case