A fellow Marlboro Coors Lite Ford Chevy SUV pickup banking insurance sportsball enthusiast, I see

2 years later, somewhere in their sales and marketing departments:

“Hey, you know what would make us even more money?”

“No, but do tell”

“Advertising”

“Genius - how is it nobody has ever thought of this before?”

Roku somehow thinking that the Ferengi rules of acquisition was a how-to guide book.

Jeff Geerling discusses having done the same, in one of his videos.

I have a friend who is graphic designer for a small shop. Customers drop off work at the front desk, and depending on how much effort it works out to be, it can land on his desk.

Some customers insist on explaining to “the designer directly”. They get told/warned that it’s more expensive (hourly) and that the clock starts as soon as he walks up to the counter. And some customers agree to these terms.

It’s always entertaining to hear his stories.

“This here’s the Lockpocking Lawyer, and today we’re going to take a closer look at the Flipper Zero….”

Poi E - Patea Māori Club

You wouldn’t get out of breath at the top of a staircase/big hill if there’s anyone nearby.

Instructions unclear - new energy vampire mode unlocked

You’re older than I am, but not by a lot.

My guidance counsellor moment was probably around 1975-76. I was deep into comp sci; a friend would tell me years later that the teacher knew less than at least a couple of us. I would ask him a question, he would say he’d look into it. Unbeknownst to me, he wandered over to the other advanced student (Phil) and put my question to him. Phil would reply, teacher would make his way back to me and share the knowledge. The same thing would happen if Phil had a question; teacher would come to me for the answer.

My friend watched this whole thing with amusement.

Now for the GC moment. Career counselling.

I went to the GC’s office full of electric enthusiasm, hoping to learn of the great CS things that awaited me after uni. I told him about my love and fascination with computers. He had the reaction, the kind a parent has when they need to tell their child their favourite pet has died. He told me that it might be fun and make for an interesting hobby, but that there were no computer-related careers. And that I should consider another vocation. I was crushed.

I even spent some years in university studying things that were unrelated to CS. My career didn’t get any traction until about 10 years after HS, unsurprisingly in the field I was most passionate about.

Anyway, I’ve been a computer professional for about 35 years now.

“WHOA THERE DUDE! Geez, didn’t you see that paper cup being blown by the wind?? Totally saved your ass.”

True, there’s that :)

And of course there are those times that Alexa completely misunderstands. Neither my wife nor I know how it happened, but some months back we discovered “blow job” on our list.

“Alexa, add bananas”

“Alexa, 3 minutes”

“Alexa, add 30 seconds”

I think that’s just about everything I’ve ever used it for.

Dunno about “usually”. Our last house was fairly nice, but didn’t have this sink feature. That said, you could walk around and see where the builder went for the cheapest option available.

That said, this kitchen sink feature should literally be the absolute minimum for consideration.

Dude needs to get with the program.

Use a single plate, cup, knife, fork, spoon, lot, pan. Never unbox the rest.

Either that, or just eat over the sink.

Very true, and along the lines of what I was thinking.

But it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a way to establish a voice print. In fact, isn’t that already a thing? Even if it is a little rough around the edges, it wouldn’t surprise me if we were even closer to a higher reliability than thought.

With or without that, consider the copyright infringement suits for someone wanting to protect their song, melody, or whatever. Someone could poke at the 8 keys of a toy piano, and if a music artist’s legal team felt it sounded close enough to the original? The ol’ beatdown-by-seeking-damages trick if not a cease and desist order.

Anyway. If someone has enough money and too much time, they’ll make a case out of anything.

Man, I misunderstood the headline. I thought the AI had created a likeness of her voice, and SJ was going after them for that.

Which begs the question, just how unique are our voices? There’s being distinct, and then there’s being literally one of a kind.

A fartiste, you might say

Around 15 years ago or so:

Everyone got a $5 Starbucks gift card for Christmas.

There had been no raises or COL adjustments for years.

Love Vivaldi, but when I hit a site that has excess crap on it, I’ll switch to FF and tap the reader mode for a cruft-free experience.