Posts by Jason Hindle

Re: Sigh...

I judge it entirely on its utility. Can I get the Code Companion plugin for Vim to do a bit of grunt work using a small local model? Yes I can, and it's a small productivity gain. Can I get Nano Banana to produce an accurate infographic for a presentation? Absolutely. Some things work. Some things don't.

What is clear is that unlike the ghosts of AI past, AI present is here to stay in one form or another. Unlike the past, adoption in the present is pretty pervasive.

Re: Fairly sure I saw a similar one back in 1997...

Back in the early 90s, I worked with a (highly skilled and capable) chancer who claimed ten years Visual Basic experience.

The difference being that, outside those who comment on El Reg columns, AI is spectacularly successful in terms of user numbers if not profitability (even if it is mostly just people animating photos into videos that are more than a bit Benny Hill).

I don't think I've actually done it. From the quality of answers I get back from the latest Gemini models, I should definitely give AntiGravity a try. That said, I find the very word off-putting with respect to software - I prefer specification.

Re: And so, the last bastion of privacy was finally conquered

More likely, some variation of Google's locally resident Gemma model, backed up by Apple's servers. This would make sense - small/tiny models is an area where Google holds a lead over OpenAI.

Good to meet someone who really likes the thousands of people coming over on those lovely Farage boats every week.

Re: "the potential of the AI PC"

"As it stands, an AI PC is a solution looking for a problem. It will remain that way until a genuinely useful program/feature comes along that can actually utilise the NPU."

If I run asitop on my Mac, I see the NPUs fire into action if I do subject or sky selection in Lightroom or Photoshop, so they will be used for various things in the background.

"If there's no killer feature that can utilise the NPU and provide real-world benefit? What's the point in shelling out for an AI PC? At the moment, the only thing they've got is "future proofing"..."

Caveat: I have no idea if the same can be said for a PC. For example, running Ollama locally makes zero use of the NPU on the beefy corporate Lenovo that was recently handed to me. Co-Pilot doesn't seem to do anything locally.

Re: It sounds like it doesn't really matter

Creating “not spots” is easy when you have plenty of things that go bang.

This is very on point, so I'm surprised at the downvotes. Some of the responses fail to distinguish between the model doing the work (i.e. vibe coding, often with very lazy prompting) and answering simple, well-composed questions, which is what the best models actually do pretty well. People who use the technology well have already broken the problem down and are well on their way to a solution.

As for vibe-coding, we should be careful not to dismiss it, as the long-term danger it poses is real.

Re: The nice thing about the Putin Botskis?

Fail to address the actual comment. No?

Re: onelogin

So you think it's ok to turn up at a bank branch, take out a loan and simply have them trust that it really is you?

Re: last dns outage I had

That used to be much of our cadre of management and project management. People who knew how to rack and cable servers, and understood the products, who went onto studying for an MBA.

Re: It is completely untrue the M series has "struggled" with AI

I think that was more about Apple Intelligence than the Mac's ability to run local LLMs (which they do very well within their memory limitations - the latest models all max out at 32Gb - the M5 Pro and Max have not yet been announced).

Re: How to parse this?

“we've completed our own internal review of this incident and are confident that there wasn't an issue with the drones or the technology that supports them”

I'd love to see Boing get away with that line. Then again, this is one of the so-called FAANGs that seem to dance to their own laws.

That seems reasonable. IF they have a valid claim to be seeking asylum here. I don't think it should fully apply to people coming over on Farage Boats, who should be subject to some form of detention in the first instance*. They broke the law to be here after illegally crossing multiple borders, including ours.

* Mahmood's plan to use former military property sounds pretty reasonable, but they'll still need to sort out healthcare, education and so on, which will upset the Reform types out there.

Re: What advantage?

Anyone lucky enough to look under the age of twenty-five is routinely asked for ID if they want to have a drink on a night out or buy any age-restricted item at a supermarket. That means a passport, driving license, or third-party digital ID, which may or may not be accepted at any given establishment. This is somewhat bigger than your occasional job hopping.

As for what the government says it's for, vs. what people use it for, I'll wait for the relevant legislation (either that or wait for the government to employ a director of communications who doesn't have the communications skills of an albatross). If, like the voter ID card, this turns out to be a form of ID that can be used for one thing only, I'll be the first to call the government out on it.

Re: Just a way to fire the older workers

In my experience, it's older workers who get the best out of AI since they can quickly evaluate* if the quick AI answer is worth further effort. I do worry for those who misuse it at school...

* More often than not, evaluation by gut.

Re: Mandatory digital ID would fundamentally change

Crikey, the Farage-Bots are multiplying. Just think of all those countries that have a digital ID system and somehow manage not to resemble Russia.