gurupanguji
A less scientific update to resource usage by browsers…
Today’s updated bit of data is less scientific than the last time, but I ran the same tests one a few browsers again over the past few days, keeping every variable the same except for the browser in use: this time testing Zen, Arc, and Safari. This is the macOS Tahoe beta, so not a scientific test bench by any means, but the results after a 5 hour test run repeated twice for each browser was very consistent. In summary, after 5 hours of web browsing (M4 Pro MacBook Pro), Safari brought the battery life down to 61% Arc brought it down to 67% Zen brought it down to 68%
Original post: gurupanguji.com
Techcrunch is nothing more that PR Newswire at this point…
Turns out, Comet Assistant hallucinated and entered completely wrong dates, later telling me that the dates I wanted were booked, but still wanted to have me complete the check-out anyways. I had to tell the AI agent that the dates were non-negotiable, and asked it to find another location. It ran into the same problem again. AI agents that mess up key details like this are not new. My experience with OpenAI’s agent, Operator, and Perplexity’s previous shopping agent yielded similar results. Clearly, hallucinations stand in the way of these products becoming real tools. Until AI companies can solve them, AI agents will still be a novelty for complex tasks. Nevertheless, Comet does seem to offer some new capabilities that may just give Perplexity a leg up over the competition in the modern browser wars.
Original post: gurupanguji.com
The potential downsides of platforms…
Expect enclosure; expect a few big winners; expect advertising, with all the attention-hacking that will demand. Expect, also, that writers will conÂtinue to mold their work to fit SubÂstack’s parÂticÂular ecology, rather than “merely” use the tools to pursue their indeÂpenÂdent visions and ambitions. We learned this about platÂforms a long time ago: folÂlowing the old newsÂpaper schematic, they aren’t the printing presses, but rather the assignÂment editors.
Original post: gurupanguji.com
Ah, tech addiction…
The biggest shock came early, with the realization that I finally have the energy to enjoy mundane things. Tasks like cleaning the house, or doing the dishes, are no longer so terrible. It’s difficult to overstate how much of my energy was wasted by simply using these devices - and how much wife approval factor this project has. And it’s been only a few weeks of this soft detox. I even took a long, warm bath. I haven’t had one in some 20 years!
Original post: gurupanguji.com
Malleable software - a new paradigm of software development for an LLM age
When we work and live in a physical space that we control, we tend to evolve it to suit our own needs. As Stewart Brand writes in his book How Buildings Learn: “Age plus adaptivity is what makes a building come to be loved. The building learns from its occupants, and they learn from it.”
Original post: gurupanguji.com
Internet "tolls"
The addiction to traffic and impressions-based advertising has been an Achilles’ heel of the media establishment. It is hard for them to look at the world through the lens of engagement. The rise of “chat-based” informational interfaces is yet another victory for engagement-trumps-all doctrine.
Original post: gurupanguji.com