Listening to a podcast on the hot topic of AI agents.

It's always funny how a common example is a shopping bot, that buys something on your behalf.

What I REALLY want is a refund agent that deals with the return process.

#ai #agents #bots

@crashtestdev @nottinghack Have been enjoying your Sinclair C5 posts.

It's interesting how these introduced the ideas of personal electric mobility 35 years before the widespread use of ebikes and escooters.

Just recently, loved how the "Rivals" TV series (released in 2024, set in 1986), had a short clip where 2 characters were riding in C5s.

Replacing my bike saddle today. Remember having bought it at MEC around 1999. Terry brand. It has held up pretty well - it’s been parked outdoors for probably 10 of its 25 winters. #saddle #bike

Another As Seen on Hackaday repost today. This Revision 2025 event must have been a super interesting - another demo coming out of it, with a unique concept: generate video with the C64's audio chip, and audio with the video chip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Orvsms7Ils

#demoscene #c64

Pretty cool - someone has actually commercialized an AirTag power cycling / broadcast cycling device:
https://undetectag.com/products/undetectag
They're just cycling based on time, not using an IMU/motion sensor like I'd played around with.

#airtag

And you have the opportunity, a near certainty that most "people" who read what you write in the future are not going to be humans. But humans will interact with what you write with an indirection layer in the middle.

from Patrick McKenzie, https://www.complexsystemspodcast.com/episodes/understanding-and-wielding-power-in-local-government-with-daniel-golliher/

I found this perspective on writing and purpose interesting:
I think this is underappreciated by almost all writers. You should be doing something very differently with your life if you assume that as opposed to a generation earlier or even five years ago, most of the direct effects of writing will be by people who actually read what you wrote.

This morning, on Hackaday, I discovered a whole new art form I didn't know existed: oscilloscope demos. Creating interestings sounds that drive an oscilloscope in X-Y mode.

Takes me back to a Uni interfacing lab exercise, where some friends & I created a Pong clone using a 68HC11 microcontroller, ADC to capture input from controllers, and a DAC to drive a scope in X-Y mode.

https://youtu.be/6DifrkaALOg
https://youtu.be/-L6XtV6ZE0E

#oscilloscope #demoscene

Interesting story of how someone came to suspect a host on a Sydney radio station was synthetic / AI - https://www.thecarpet.com.au/p/meet-thy-the-radio-host-i-dont-think

It had been on air for 6 months. From the description, seems like it had pretty basic duties - introducing the next track. Having dabbled in this space with my Eliza Ng bot, with its blog ( https://www.eliza-ng.me/ ) and videos ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFJCbeqXb_UOerk06mmsEiw ) - it remains challenging to generate compelling content.

#aislop #bot

And the fun seems to have ended - no one has seen the CN Tower nodes since the 19th, and we haven't seen any updates on the local meshtastic discord - not clear what happened.

So, our mesh is back to the size it was when I started this thread.

As the weather warms up, have been looking forward to getting back out on the water - just wrote up a post on my experience taking my stand-up paddleboard out in Toronto, and other waterfront activities:
https://www.hotelexistence.ca/paddling-toronto/
#sup #toronto #paddling #paddleboard

@davidwilkins I thought the story of how SAIC bought the design of the 75 & then manufactured and sold it as the Roewe 750 was interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roewe_750

The ads just don't stop. Their product dev team must use adblockers.

I know it's tough times for movie theatres, but I'm really surprised that they are allocating space for generic ads on their website.

Would have been interesting to sit in the meetings that lead to this decision. Does this really move the needle for Cineplex? Is this the most revenue enhancing thing they could do with this space? It just seems different somehow than say, the fun ads they show before a movie.

I wonder if there were any measurable negative impacts...

#ads #webdesign

I just finished reading 'The Secret History of the Five Eyes', about how the US, UK, Australian, Canadian & New Zealand spy agencies came to work together on intelligence gathering.

Interesting stories in the book included:

Camp X: WW2 paramilitary / covert agent training facility just outside of Toronto - I actually went to go check it out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_X

William Stephenson: Canadian soldier, fighter pilot, businessman and spymaster:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stephenson

@adr If you see a node called 'www.hotelexistence.ca - home', that's me in North York

@kerbafoss the reddit thread ( https://www.reddit.com/r/meshtasticToronto/comments/1ig0lbl/cn_tower_repeater/ ) suggests they will eventually document their setup. From meshtastic, they report to be a RAK4631 and a Lilygo T-Beam S3 core.

Even outside of the fun with connecting with others in Toronto, I've bought a couple devices. In rural areas, it is fun to plant a device somewhere & see how far away they maintain a connection. Or putting one in the car on road trips, seeing who I connect with.

The primary #meshtastic channel in the Toronto area was hopping today following the introduction of a #cntower node.

I don't have line of sight to the tower, but I'm 1 hop away. The client was listing 60 nodes this morning, it is now listing 140.

Trying to find a non-fiction book I read a few years ago, about a Global TV reporter who takes a job in London and moves his family. I prompt GPT-4o and get a hallucination and a book about Rob Ford.

I then put the words:
london journalist canadian
into Amazon.ca and its the 3rd hit.

It is:
Falling for London: A Cautionary Tale
by Sean Mallen

@fishingdev this will bridge different communities. I can see 20 nodes now - I'm about 15 km north of the tower. I don't have line of sight to the tower - I face the wrong way.

But there are people in my mesh who will have line of sight. So 1 hop to a neighbour, 1 hop to the CN tower.

I read of Meshtastic limits of 100 nodes - I just wonder what will happen when the CN tower bridges all these 20 node pockets of the area?

I understand its going live on Wednesday, we'll see.