Showing 1 - 3 of 3
How YouTube fails its creators
Life, James Hein, Published on 08/04/2026
» YouTube is failing in customer protection, especially in certain categories. As a case study, consider YouTuber Davie504. Unless you are a bass player or interested in bass lines, you probably haven't heard of him. He spends time practising and demonstrating bass playing in a proficient and sometimes amusing fashion. He is unassuming and obviously works hard to present good content. In general, if you are playing any musical selection in a teaching presentation, particularly if you are playing it yourself, or if the section is short and not the full song, then this should be all covered by "fair use". Enter the music industry. When you think about overbearing corporate control, this is the perfect example. Within this, some artists are worse than others, with the absolute worst being whomever represents The Eagles.
OpenAI's search for profit is a risk
Life, James Hein, Published on 26/02/2025
» Is Sam Altman potentially the most dangerous person on the planet? An interesting question. Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, the company that made the AI that everyone knows as ChatGPT. The original aim of OpenAI back in the day, when Elon Musk was involved, was a fully open-source product that would be scrutinised and controlled by the wider population. In contrast, the focus of Altman appears to be money. OpenAI is currently looking for an injection of funds to make it a fully commercial enterprise. When that is the focus, safety is a secondary consideration and you can end up with Skynet. The current estimate for GAI or AGI (artificial general intelligence) is as soon as next year, but perhaps two to three. Readers will know my opinion on these estimates. So OpenAI may just as well now be called ClosedAI because it's all about the potential income and is really one of the potentially dangerous AI platforms available today.
Try not to drop your phone
Life, James Hein, Published on 25/03/2020
» The big news these days is coronavirus, the family name that covers the latest version, Covid-19. The impacts on tech are fairly obvious -- a lot of stuff is made in China these days. Apple, for example, is heavily invested in Chinese manufacturing and it has closed stores because the supply chain has run dry. Replacement iPhones are in short supply, so if you've damaged your phone, expect a potentially long wait before a full replacement is available. This also applies to replacement parts. So don't drop your phone. Employee travel is also discouraged while the virus spreads across the globe. At the time of this writing, stores in China have reopened and will not close. As an aside, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a non-partisan think-tank, named Apple as one of 83 internationally known brands utilising the slave labour of Uighur Muslims.