Tying into this, I feel like in the late-’90s/early-’00s there were a lot of people using the internet every day and some of the benefits and potential were already obvious. Office jobs were extensively starting to use email already and many people at home were checking email at least once a day and looking at online news. E-commerce was basically an improved mail-order catalog, but the improved selection, availability, and prices really were an improvement. Instant communication was an immediate benefit and digital media was showing obvious promise.

I don’t feel like I see nearly the same widespread use of “AI” today. Some of the things that are getting big money don’t really seem like they have a lot of practical application. I don’t think many people have a daily need to generate images or videos. A lot of the things that seem more promising, like improved translation or voice to text, also might not be very profitable, as in people probably won’t want to pay much for them, and they definitely won’t be unless the astronomical resource costs currently projected come way down.

I think where they’re very similar is there are a lot of companies rushing to slap the craze into their business, transform the business for the craze, or create a new business capitalizing on the craze, whether or not it actually makes sense to do so and whether or not the technology is actually useful for the stated purpose yet.

A botnet with actual robots!

The only place I ever saw it was at Costco or a little specialty health food store mom used to go to when I was little. I haven’t been to the latter in decades, and Costco got rid of theirs a couple years ago. I think Costco’s reasoning was mostly about them being underutilized compared to the cost. My parents were never coffee drinkers, though, and I started trying when I was dating my wife but also started getting ulcers soon after, so coffee hasn’t been something I’ve really paid attention to.

To embed an image, use the same format as a markdown link but put an exclamation point in front of it. The text in the square brackets serves as the alt text.

![Image of a plastic chair knocked over with a caption of “WE WILL REBUILD”](https://uploads.dailydot.com/2024/10/we-will-rebuild.jpg)

Of course, I’m not sure it will display if the Daily Dot blocks hotlinking.

Interesting website; I did not know New Hampshire has a secessionist movement.

Did you click the wrong discount? $79 is the price for 100.

Possibly even right there at Disney World

However, its method of preparation is polarizing, and it has been negatively compared to Lunchables.

When I was a kid I was pretty excited to get the “pizza” Lunchables

Is Newfoundland and Labrador still the butt of jokes in Canada?

I thought Misskey and its forks already supported quote posts?

What a wild story

I think I’ve bought from 7digital a time or two in the past and had no problems. Obviously there are issues with Amazon as a company, but I think they were the first big name to offer DRM-free MP3 purchases and I used it a lot back when it first launched, especially since they offered a selection of albums each month for just $5. They should have most mainstream music available for purchase, depending on which country you’re in. According to this Wikipedia page listing music stores they only offer 256 kbps MP3 but I was sure most if not all were upgraded to 320 kbps now, although of course you would have to re-download anything if you had downloaded the lower-quality version previously. That Wikipedia page is a good link to other stores as well, with a number I’d never heard of including specialty stores.

Also, along with someone else’s comment mentioning ripping CDs like the old days, check to see if you have a local record store. It’s been a mantra since at least the Gen-X days to “support your local scene.” I know in Raleigh the longtime staple Schoolkids Records is still alive and kicking, although their Chapel Hill store closed last year. It might take some digging but it can be worth seeing if there’s a local store in your area.

Self-hosting there are some ways to fight back, or depending on your opinions on Cloudflare it seems they’re fairly effective at blocking the AI crawlers.

There’s actually a surprising amount of free static website hosting out there. Besides GitHub, GitLab, Cloudflare, and Netlify come to mind offhand.

Huh, the explain link says the dimensional sizes originated from the wood being cut at the listed size while green, then shrinking as it dried. I was told that it was done for construction purposes, where the wood would likely be covered by plywood or drywall that would bring the dimension up to size. I never questioned it before; that always seemed plausible enough.

Italians were also targeted. Being from a Catholic country was sometimes enough to get targeted. Always found it funny (Woody Allen marriage funny, not Woody Allen film funny) that the Protestants who came to what is now Massachusetts seeking “religious freedom” meant it only for themselves and drove out anyone who didn’t subscribe to their views.

At first I thought the lyrics were deep, but the more I listened the more I realized they were the writings of a middle class suburban white boy who has no serious problems and is mostly complaining that his life is boring.

It reminds me of a Compaq we had around then. HP had bought Compaq at the time and used the brand on some of their low-end PCs. I don’t know if they were sold in Germany under that name, but it might be another angle to pursue.

Phone projection for navigation has been significantly better than any built-in navigation on any car I’ve ever driven. The vehicle screens are typically larger than a phone screen so that’s a really nice feature to me.