Double negative toggles: for those times when you really don’t want people to disable something, but want credit for offering the choice. #Firefox #tech
NIST proposes barring some of the most nonsensical password rules
arstechnica.com
About Non Sequiturs
Non Sequiturs is the personal blog of Michael Argentini.
I'm a software developer and Managing Partner for Fynydd and Blue Sequoyah Technologies, the project lead for Coursabi, and Āthepedia founder. I also have several nerdy open source projects on Github.
I'd describe myself as an Oxford comma advocate, autodidact, aspiring polymath, and boffin, with a mechanical keyboard addiction. You can also find me on Mastodon.
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Social media is not a place to get news and information. It’s a place created by Silicon Valley to steal your time and attention by shoving intellectual junk food into your brain.
The term AI is loaded and misinterpreted by most people. AI chatbots only have the appearance of intelligence. We need to change the term to something more like Illusory Intelligence (II) or Intelligent Autocorrect (IA).
Azure Data Studio Retired, Replaced By VS Code Plugin
You have to ask the question: Is Microsoft doing this to improve the experience for developers?
This reminds me of the deprecation of Visual Studio for Mac. It was “retired” in favor of VS Code last year. Funny, the word “retired” makes the app sound incapable; past its prime, ready for the newer and better solution to take over. In the case of ADS this is not true. For example, it's missing basic functionality like editing row data, and the co-mingled keyboard shortcuts are a disaster. In the case of Visual Studio for Mac, no developer in their right mind would choose a browser-based pile of anemic plugins you control from the status bar and a pop-up menu over a native IDE. After lots of promises and close to a year of waiting VS Code is still an objectively terrible replacement. VS Code appears to be an all-consuming black hole. Stay far away from its event horizon.
So the answer to my initial question appears to be no, they are doing these things to help themselves with regard to maintenance, resourcing, and ultimately cost.
Using AI is like asking a teenager to do something they don't want to do. They use the most pedantic interpretation of your request to both avoid doing the work and to piss you off.
Run Ollama API On macOS With Custom Host Bindings
By default the ollama API runs on the localhost IP address of 127.0.0.1. If you want to host it on all of your Mac's IP addresses it requires that you set a system-wide environment variable. The problem with doing this is that Login Items (in System Settings) can launch before Launch Agents. This means that Ollama (in the menu bar) may not see the host settings. To solve this you need to launch Ollama at startup after a delay.
Here's how to add the host binding for all IP addresses on the Mac and then have Ollama launch 10 seconds after you sign in. This works in macOS 14.5 Sonoma and should work in later versions.
Step 1: Create a launch daemon plist file below. Save it as com.nonsequiturs.ollama.plist.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.nonsequiturs.ollama</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/bin/launchctl</string>
<string>setenv</string>
<string>OLLAMA_HOST</string>
<string>0.0.0.0</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<key>LaunchOnlyOnce</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>
Step 2: Copy the file to two locations:
/Library/LaunchDaemons/
~/Library/LaunchAgents/
This will set the host bindings at the system level, and also at the user level. So you should be covered no matter how you launch Ollama in the future.
Step 3: Set file permissions on the system-level file.
sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.nonsequiturs.ollama.plist
sudo chmod 644 /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.nonsequiturs.ollama.plist
Step 4: Install the launch agents:
sudo launchctl bootstrap system /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.nonsequiturs.ollama.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.nonsequiturs.ollama.plist
Now your system will start up and bind the Ollama host address to all IP addresses on the Mac.
Step 5: To launch Ollama after a 10 second delay, Open Script Editor and create the simple AppleScript file below.
delay 10
tell application "Ollama" to run
In the File menu choose Export, and then export it as type “Application” and name it “LaunchOllamaDelay”. Save it to your user Applications folder.
In System Settings go to Login Items and add the LaunchOllamaDelay application to the startup items. Also remove any existing Ollama startup item.
Now when you restart and sign in, Ollama will launch after 10 seconds which should be enough time for the Launch Agent to have executed. And if Ollama updates itself in the future it should also just work when it restarts.
Website exploit mitigations using a content security policy (CSP) mitigate nothing when third party domains are sold. The lesson: host your own assets.
This is actually a huge deal for both AI AND the environment.
Researchers upend AI status quo by eliminating matrix multiplication in LLMs
arstechnica.com
I have a better idea: offer reasonably priced subscriptions, and don't force users to pay for things like music when all they want is video.
YouTube Is Cracking Down on Cheap Premium Plans Bought With a VPN
www.pcmag.com
Why make your customer service better when you can use AI to make your angry customers sound happy?
SoftBank’s new AI makes angry customers sound calm on phone | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis
www.asahi.com
Imagine the possibilities… Even if the claims of over 1G of force don't prove to be true, just making a 1 ton shipping pallet weigh a few pounds would be transformational.
NASA Veteran’s Propellantless Propulsion Drive That Physics Says Shouldn’t Work Just Produced Enough Thrust to Overcome Earth’s Gravity
thedebrief.org
As a software developer, when I hear the term “alpha male” I think these males must be unstable, missing important features, ridden with flaws, and not fit for public use.
LM Studio is pretty awesome. Easily run your favorite LLMs right on your own computer. Unlike ChatGPT there are no request limits or abridged results.
LM Studio - Local AI on your computer
lmstudio.ai
Given all the chaos surrounding the Sam Altman firing from OpenAI it looks like AI really is threatening people’s jobs. Well, specific people anyway.
This has been a long time coming. This is good for everyone.
Apple announces that RCS support is coming to iPhone next year - 9to5Mac
9to5mac.com
This is why we need to own our important media. Too many company mergers end with the liquidation of a favorite app or service.
Amazon is killing the Comixology app on Android and iOS and merging it with Kindle
9to5google.com
Microsoft has patched the Windows 11 ‘product server’ trick for TPM check bypass, but the bypass still works with setupprep.exe. This bypass will upgrade Windows 10 clients to Windows 11 without requiring a TPM.
setupprep.exe /product server
More details on Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X Elite make me even more excited for an Windows on Arm future, and a real competitor to Apple Silicon.
...the company claims that the X Elite will run up to twice as fast as an Intel Core i7-1355U or Core i7-1360P at the same power level, or it can match their performance while using 68 percent less power. Qualcomm also says the X Elite can match the performance of a beefier Core i7-13800H using 65 percent less power—providing roughly the same multi-core performance at 30 W that the Intel chip provides at 90 W. The X Elite's power consumption appears to max out at around 50 W, and to go as low as 10 W…
#tech #Windows #Intel #AppleSilicon #Snapdragon
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite looks like the Windows world’s answer to Apple Silicon
arstechnica.com
Prioritizing Software Features
Being a pragmatist when it comes to software development, I generally prefer simple solutions whenever possible. So when clients are faced with the challenge of determining which features to add to their products, as a starting point I usually recommend looking at user value versus cost to implement.
Given a progressive value scale from a “cup of coffee” at the low end and a “house” at the high end, we can easily see where the best choices lie.
Looking at the first row in this example, if a user values a feature at “house” and your cost to implement is a “cup of coffee” this feature addition becomes a no-brainer.
Likewise if a user values a feature at a “cup of coffee” but it will cost a “house” to build, it's certainly a feature to avoid implementing.
There may be some diamonds in the center blue area, but more information is usually required before we make those decisions.
Really excited to see if Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series accelerates the Windows move to Arm and keeps Apple on their toes.
Introducing an all-new naming convention for our next-generation of intelligent PC platforms: The Snapdragon X Series
www.qualcomm.com
Ancestry.com is now offering mixed breed DNA service for dogs because it’s impossible to get a cat to fill a vial with saliva.
Dog DNA Test Kit for Breeds & Health | Know Your Pet DNA by Ancestry®
petdna.ancestry.com
Zoom wants employees to come back to the office instead of using #Zoom to work remotely. Sometimes the jokes write themselves.
Zoom, which thrived on the remote work revolution, wants workers back in the office part-time
apnews.com
Popular Hashtags
About Non Sequiturs
Non Sequiturs is the personal blog of Michael Argentini.
I'm a software developer and Managing Partner for Fynydd and Blue Sequoyah Technologies, the project lead for Coursabi, and Āthepedia founder. I also have several nerdy open source projects on Github.
I'd describe myself as an Oxford comma advocate, autodidact, aspiring polymath, and boffin, with a mechanical keyboard addiction. You can also find me on Mastodon.
