Showing 1 - 10 of 16
Marketeers have simple choices
Life, James Hein, Published on 18/02/2026
» If you use a mobile phone for playing any games, then typically along with that comes all of the advertisements and marketing presentations. First however, there is the "free download", this means you can download it for free, install and run it. After that, things may not be free at all. This is to be expected as advertising is one of the few ways to make any income from the games being played by millions of people across the planet.
Rise of fake AI content
Life, James Hein, Published on 23/04/2025
» We have unofficially entered the time of the fake AI generated content. It's not perfect yet, but it's good enough to fool many people. I use a YouTube alternative, which means I have more time to watch videos across a wide range. In the last few weeks, I've noticed an increase in AI generated product that is fake. One standout is the Got Talent franchise where people have grafted AI generated acts with cuts from responses from the panel. They look great, like a woman transforming into a lion, but it's all fake. Even some of those cute animal videos are now fake. Why? More clicks so more income all based on fabricated videos.
Microsoft's quantum conundrum
Life, James Hein, Published on 12/03/2025
» If you've been keeping up with quantum computer news, you will have seen the Microsoft Marketing announcement on topological q-bits and a potential quantum computer in a few years. I was planning to write about this in some detail, but it turns out the reality may not meet the marketing. Surprising, I know, but the announcement implying Microsoft has q-bit technology ready to go and scale is speculative. They don't have any physical models, just some tests and a theory that has already been challenged by the physics community. It will take a while to go through all the published data, but the Microsoft quantum computer could be decades, not years, in the future, if ever.
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.
Latest AI reveals its bias yet again
Life, James Hein, Published on 13/03/2024
» Google's latest version of AI, once Bard but now called Gemini, is yet another indication of how biased the current batch of AI platforms are. I was going to include a bunch of examples but this has received so much coverage that everyone should have seen it by now. Basically, the product offers anything but a white-skinned person in requested pictures. This gave rise to some short-lived pub games. Many found this amusing but after a while it became obvious that Google has shut Gemini down for re-education.
Advertising ruins everything
Life, James Hein, Published on 28/02/2024
» Remember this day because I have a prediction. Recently, for the first time, I had two ads appear when watching a Rumble video. Rumble is a YouTube alternative that until now had been ad free. The platform allows those banned by YouTube for political reasons to make their presentations, along with anyone else who wants to post videos. My prediction is that the current ads, currently 30 second ones you can skip after a few seconds that appear at the start of your video, will gradually become more prevalent and longer, without being able to skip, and eventually will become as annoying as Facebook.
Headlines are disappointing
Life, James Hein, Published on 22/11/2023
» If you have been in any way involved in social media over the past few years, there will be words that immediately have you wondering if the headline is in any way real. My favourite recently was "SpaceX Launched REAL UFO In ISRAEL! HAMAS And Iran Shocked!" on YouTube.
Microsoft stock booming on AI run
Life, James Hein, Published on 07/06/2023
» It's not a good time to be working for Microsoft, but it is a good time to be a shareholder or executive. Stock is up over 30%, net income is up and the CEO Satya Nadella got a nice 10% raise. Regular workers received no pay rise, or effectively a 5% pay cut due to inflation. Microsoft has rationalised it as pat and generic reasons like a "competitive environment" and the "global macroeconomic uncertainties". In reality, Microsoft is using the money to jump into the AI wave through a multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI.
When AI is not smart enough for the job
Life, James Hein, Published on 14/09/2022
» I was wondering what to write about this week and then I saw the Japanese Amazon story and how it relates to artificial intelligence. Labour unions in Japan have been a thing since World War II, but delivery drivers for Amazon Japan were not unionised, until recently.
Samsung again pushing foldables
Life, James Hein, Published on 18/08/2021
» Samsung is betting on foldables. The new Galaxy Z Fold 3 will come with IPX8 water resistance, support for the S-pen and an under-display selfie camera. It will be interesting to see how they solved the clarity issue Apple faced with that last one. The front screen will be an adaptive 7.6-inch 120Hz.