Rabbit founder Jesse Lyu, posting on Twitter X:
"in about 7 days, r1 reviews will be out. we are ready to face any criticism and we will fix any issues that we need to fix."
Meanwhile almost nothing from Humane’s founders after the negative reviews. I’d be blogging. Tell us how you’re going to fix this, what’s next.
I asked Meta.ai to imagine Austin in the 1920s, in watercolor. It has a lot of mistakes that a human artist would never make, but I wish Austin still looked like this. Bring back the trolleys!
Meta’s ramping up their AI efforts. Playing around with www.meta.ai, it falls over with describing photos, which is my new go-to test, but I love the short animated drawings it can do. ChatGPT is still the gold standard.
Continuing to work through some lingering Micro.blog issues with the Ruby 3 upgrade. As I spot errors, I’m fixing them. Don’t hesitate to report issues via email or @help.
I’m obviously not a constitutional lawyer, but seems like the right move to dismiss the impeachment charges. Republicans just wanted to turn the Senate trial into part of the political campaign — where TV networks would amplify their message — while they refused to move on actual border solutions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/us/politics/senate-alejandro-mayorkas-impeachment-charge.html
A few more thoughts on AI in M.b https://www.manton.org/2024/04/17/a-few-more.html
I sort of can’t get over how the data servers for TikTok’s Project Texas aren’t actually in Texas. I know it wasn’t intended to be a public name, but still… what else are they lying about? 🤪 More at The Verge.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/16/24132315/tiktok-bytedance-project-texas-china-silo
AltStore PAL launches in the EU. Riley Testut blogs about the release, including what types of apps are the best fit for AltStore:
"All apps are welcome, but I believe AltStore makes the most sense for smaller, indie apps that otherwise couldn’t exist due to App Store rules. There are countless examples of these that aren’t allowed in the App Store for one reason or another; we just don’t know about them because there’s never been a distribution option for these poor apps."
It’s €1.50/year to cover Apple’s Core Technology Fee. Still hoping the EU decides the CTF is illegal.
https://rileytestut.com/blog/2024/04/17/introducing-altstore-pal/
On reviews of the AI Pin, the bigger problem is clickbait titles. Reviews on The Verge, MKBHD, The New York Times, and elsewhere seemed quite fair if you read or watched through the whole thing. Don’t think this would be a controversy if the titles hadn’t been so provocative.
Finally updated from Ruby 2 to Ruby 3 today. It went mostly smoothly, but there were a couple bugs that slipped through my testing. Lots of little changes and removed deprecated methods.
New AI global setting https://www.manton.org/2024/04/16/new-ai-global.html
Great video comparison of the Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1. Obviously as the founder of Rabbit, Jesse is biased, but I think his video is fair. I’d love to know technically why the Pin is slower. Which LLMs are being used in these devices? Too slow and it loses a little of the magic.
Streetcars in New Orleans. Had a great few days here.
Jason Snell writes about how the smartphone duopoly makes it hard to create truly new products if they need tight integration with existing platforms:
"This is not a lament for Humane or its business model. It’s a lament for all of us. So many innovative products will never get funded or never launch a product because if they can’t connect deeply with the smartphone, they’re at an impossible disadvantage."
Generative AI is such a unique technology that it is useful even completely outside the Apple and Google ecosystems, but some features just aren’t possible without open platforms.
https://sixcolors.com/post/2024/04/can-anyone-but-a-tech-giant-build-the-next-big-thing/
Lakers vs. Pelicans. Last game of the regular season. 🏀
AI Pin reviews are in https://www.manton.org/2024/04/12/ai-pin-reviews.html
Dauphine St. Books. 📚
First sticker on the new laptop. ☕️
Audubon Park.
Railroad crossing in Scott, Louisiana.
