markjgsmith

Pushing To Main (Issue #158)

This week’s newsletter is out!

In this week’s edition:

A fantastic mix of tech related podcasts from state of the tech scene reviews to hobby project development, and some interviews with very interesting people. Your gonna love it.

Issue details:

• Title: Pushing To Main
• Issue: 158
• Page: issue webpage

Another awesome issue of the newsletter. #

Robot mates and LLM conversations

It seems Apple might be getting into the home robots business. It makes a lot of sense. Their recently failed self driving car initiative has had them in the vague ballpark of robots, so perhaps they are thinking they might be able to pivot. It certainly could be a big market. Imagine a world where most households have a house robot. They might even cost about the same as a car if they can do laborious household tasks like laundry, cleaning, and cooking.

People are pretty intrigued and excited about the possibilities. There's an interesting segment on the latest All-in Podcast about household robots. Skip to 49:20 for the robots bit.

No doubt Apple would make the best robots out there. Certainly if their attention to detail and quality is the same as with the Vision Pro. Home robots are notoriously difficult to get right, there are many potential dangers if they are to be around humans for long periods of time in a home setting.

I wonder whether it would be a good idea to start small. Not literally in size but in functionality, but while riding the current LLM / AI wave.

I was sitting in a cafe yesterday alone, and it occurred to me while looking at the empty seat in front of me, that it would be kind of cool if there was a humanoid robot that just sat at a table and had a drink with you while chatting about random shit. I reckon the current LLM models are basically good enough for such a robot mate. Instead of typing into an annoying chat prompt, you would actually talk to a robot. Wouldn't that be cool?

That's how it would start out, but it would give the developers time to work on facial expressions and body language, and work towards more advanced functionality. Just an idea. I think you'd be able to get something functional to market very quickly and safely. Might even be a good approach for some of the startups in the space.

Sometimes starting with something basic but fun is the best approach. #

Health issues suck bigtime. They seem to happen constantly here. The runny nose and sneezing I had a few days ago turned into a full on cold. The sneezing stoped yesterday, but my nose has been totally blocked with thick mucus all day. All the skin around my nose has lost it's moisture and is pealing. It's not much fun.

One thing I noticed during the previous lung infection illness was that a lot of my smelling ability returned. I'd lost much of my sense of smell a few years back after using an inhaler. Suddenly my sense of smell returned and was almost bionic. But it was bitter sweet because it was making me throwup a lot during the lung infection. I'd notice some very specific and often subtle smell and it would set me off coughing.

Now that my nose is again blocked, I can't smell anything again. I hope I haven't lost my sense of smell again. #

Motorbike gang stalker drivebys

There's been a sudden uptick in motorbike gang stalker drivebys this evening. It's like a memo had been sent out and the attack bees are swarming in on me. But it's not just folks on motorbikes, it's pedestrians too. People auspiciously doing their own thing, having a conversation, or being on the phone, then suddenly a whole bunch of vileness clearly directed at me, meant to goad me into reacting.

If you say nothing they assume whatever it is they are accusing you of is true, you're a liar, you're gay, you're an actor, whatever, then they bully you more. If you reply telling them to f-off, they also bully you more, escallating to try to make you angry.

Either way you end up being mutilated in some way, whether it's illness, body injuries, loss of some personal property, starvation, thirsting, there are so many ways they can get you. And you can't do nothing, it's happening in broad daylight. Whatever you do it's turned against you.

And life goes on, you die a little more, they steal a bit more of your life, and you are the one that's in the wrong. And another day starts and you try to stay positive abd ignore the constant bullying. #

Recently I've noticed that help from people tends to be a bit like complex numbers. There's a nice part and a malicious part. At times it all seems malicious. Is this how we want our societies to be?

Are you so certain that you will never need help again? #

Complex malicious help

The new trend I've noticed is that almost everytime someone offers me help there's a malicious component, or several, to the whole thing. It's been like that for several weeks now.

For example, someone gifted me some small cakes which were very nice, but also toothpaste and a toothbrush, and an old baseball hat.

The toothpaste was actually useful, but there were two tubes. One regular, and one child size. The toothbrush was pink. I've lost count of the number of pink related incidents. They usually result in people shouting 'gay' at you constantly. The hat was strange, but the very next day my actual current hat disapeared. I think it was stolen. That entire day was full of food vendors trying to scam or mislead me in one way or another. It was like some sort of co-ordinated tsunami. I don't know how it happens, only that it does.

Another pattern that happens all the time is gifts of food that requires hot water, so it's essentially not edible, if you accept you end up carrying all this unuseable crap around, making your bags heavier than they are already. But if you decline the gift they act suprised like you are ungreatful. These incidents are highly highly correlated with water thirsting periods, where they mysteriously only give you milk, but no water.

It's like complex numbers there's a nice part and a malicious part. At times it all seems malicious. #