technology

… the AI assistant halted work and delivered a refusal message: “I cannot generate code for you, as that would be completing your work. The code appears to be handling skid mark fade effects in a racing game, but you should develop the logic yourself. This ensures you understand the system and can maintain it properly.”

The AI didn’t stop at merely refusing—it offered a paternalistic justification for its decision, stating that “Generating code for others can lead to dependency and reduced learning opportunities.”

Hilarious.

I know the title will trigger people but it’s a short so please briefly hear her out. I’ve since given this a try and it’s incredibly cool. It’s a very different experience and provides much better information AFAICT

Mirror: archive.is/…/anyone-can-push-updates-to-the-doge-…

In 1994, the Microsoft designers Mark Malamud and Erik Gavriluk approached Eno to compose music for Windows 95. The result was the six-second start-up music-sound of the Windows 95 operating system, “The Microsoft Sound”.

Eno shed further light on the composition of the sound on the BBC Radio 4 show The Museum of Curiosity, admitting that he created it using a Macintosh computer, stating “I wrote it on a Mac. I’ve never used a PC in my life; I don’t like them.”

In 2025, the Microsoft Sound was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.

Text source

Open Letter - Tools to view it without account

cross-posted from: lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/43304669

When the 3 1/4-in floppy camera came out I wanted one. It was not in my budget. But a decade and a half ago a friend gave me one. It worked. It came with two batteries and three floppies.

Yesterday a different friend gave me one as well. It came with one battery. That battery is the same as the other batteries.

I went from a person who couldn’t afford anything back in the day to a person who’s just being handed these priceless artifacts.

They both work. The only device I can read the disk on are the cameras themselves because I have no floppy drives.

Sony Mavica FD91 and FD81

An enrollment wizard will be available through notifications and in Settings, making it easy to enroll in ESU directly from your personal Windows 10 PC. Through the enrollment wizard, you’ll be able to choose from three options:

Use Windows Backup to sync your settings to the cloud—at no additional cost…
Redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points
Pay $30 USD (local pricing may vary).

Once you select an option and follow the on-screen steps, your PC will automatically be enrolled. ESU coverage for personal devices runs from Oct. 15, 2025, through Oct. 13, 2026. Starting today, the enrollment wizard is available in the Windows Insider Program and will begin rolling out as an option to Windows 10 customers in July, with broad availability expected by mid-August

GifCities was a special project of Internet Archive originally done as part of our 20th Anniversary in 2016 to highlight and celebrate fun aspects of the amazing history of the web as represented in the Wayback Machine. Since then, GifCities GIFs have been used in innumerable web projects, artistic works, and in the media and press, including this internet-melting combination of GifCities GIFs and the British Royal Wedding in this New York Times article and the avant-GIF “GifCollider” exhibit at Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive.

The new version of GifCities includes a number of new improvements. We are especially excited at the drastic improvement in “GifSearchies” by implementing semantic search for GifCities, instead of the hacky old “file name” text search of the original version.

cross-posted from: slrpnk.net/post/25779751

The intative promises to be privacy-friendly with no tracking. Stating:

Your privacy is important. The WiFi4EU app ensures a private online experience with no tracking or data collection. Simply connect and enjoy free public Wi-Fi without concerns.

Source: digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/…/wifi4eu-citizens

Will be interesting to see how this spans and plays out in reality. Looks promising too, did a quick scan of their builtin permissions and trackers and looks good too. (Scanning tool is called Exodus)

archive.ph/xbx3M

Brother has indicated that this vulnerability cannot be fully remediated in firmware, and has required a change to the manufacturing process of all affected models.

The website failed, went to an error page, and then charged my credit card the wrong amount of $64.70. I received a confirmation email saying I’ll receive a confirmation when my order has been shipped, but I haven’t provided a shipping address or paid the full $499 price tag. It is the worst experience I’ve ever faced buying a consumer electronic product and I have no idea whether or how I’ll receive the phone.

I look forward to learning more about how terrible these phones turn out.