Assaf 🌴

🤗 I love to post about web development, UX, AI, startups, and always some random and fun stuff

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Los Angeles CA ★ https://cite.me.in ★ Too much coffee

Blog: https://labnotes.org
Code: https://github.com/assaf
The Google Search Console for AI: https://cite.me.in
Conversational AI for specialty leasing: https://rentail.space/

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Last Notes

2024-12-30 15:59:00 UTC

Today's ad brought to you by this unique business opportunity to invest your money in growing companies
Promoted by no other than Kevin O'Leary who would gladly take your money but never give any ROI back to you
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/01/26/news/real-and-shocking-story-kevin-olearys-business-career
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/113/742/599/696/079/610/original/3b58e3d2782e06f0.png

2024-12-30 15:45:01 UTC

Chorus is a multi-chattery app that allows you to chat with multiple LLMs at once because … maybe for fluency A/B testing?
https://melty.sh/chorus
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/113/742/544/733/330/600/original/4c46d2592421e45f.jpeg

2024-12-28 19:26:12 UTC

https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/113/732/089/839/714/651/original/cf938cd9fdd116fd.jpeg

2024-12-26 18:01:44 UTC

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I think best to try and use Cursor for a full week to get used to it — and then you can't live without it, and it’s $20/month but saves you so much time it's a win

2024-12-25 00:34:02 UTC

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I get what you're saying but they do have docs that explain everything (how it works, how to turn it off, perf differences, BYO embeddings, etc)

2024-12-25 00:22:53 UTC

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I actually agree with them on that point, I think"our search engine can also match documents based on cosine similarity of vector embeddings” doesn't have the same ring to it as “AI-powered search” :)

2024-12-24 23:53:24 UTC

Lightning-fast search engine with power of AI. In closed beta right now, and there's also a self-hosted open-source version to get you started.
https://www.meilisearch.com
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/113/710/491/293/450/217/original/3b4f2dd80d101abf.png

2024-12-22 20:46:03 UTC

I really really like Cursor
I had a great time using VS Code + Github Copilot. I found the autocomplete to be such a huge time save. (save me on mental energy)
But Cursor, which proposes new code changes by guessing my intents is 10x better.
Ironically, as open-source developer I always had Copilot for free but I switched to using Cursor ($20/month) just two days before Github gave Copilot away to everyone.
https://www.cursor.com
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/113/698/429/921/315/599/original/0289350e37617372.png

2024-12-22 16:23:20 UTC

in some cultures the gift you give a person (for their birthday or other reason) is cash
in the US culture the gift you give a person is … a gift card
which, when you look at unredeemed balances and tax-free breakage, is the perfect gift you could ever give … the corporation
https://media.hubspot.com/the-economics-of-unused-gift-cards

2024-12-21 03:06:04 UTC

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Crown is, Century not :(

2024-12-21 01:20:16 UTC

because hard water looks bad on your shower stall but mostly because it's just not great on your skin and really all you need is a water filter that costs about $40 and takes all of two minutes to install
https://www.brondell.com/vivaspring-compact-shower-filter-csf/
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/113/688/183/605/161/231/original/00e5a5d5a5d7cc4e.jpeg

2024-12-20 17:13:46 UTC

“Compared to some competing model which hides its thoughts, Gemini shares everything it went through. And it does it faster!”
https://glaforge.dev/posts/2024/12/20/lets-think-with-gemini-2-thinking-mode-and-langchain4j/

2024-11-26 04:12:38 UTC

"Demure" is Dictionary.com's 2024 word of the year — a very mindful, very cutesy choice.
https://www.axios.com/2024/11/25/dictionary-2024-word-of-the-year-demure

2024-11-25 20:41:59 UTC

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the ones sold here all look like bricks with flaps (to open)
(not Starbucks, Folgers, etc I have no idea what their packages look like, they're not my cup of tea, but the more interesting brands many of which are only sold in CA)
I thought they use gas packaging for whole beans, since they have space between the beans but last longer without oxidizing O2

2024-11-25 20:05:55 UTC

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that’s vaccuum sealing which is how they hold fresh for several days; the soft packs you have to grind and drink in the next few days

2024-11-21 21:25:54 UTC

that's interesting …
Dexcom invests $75m in Oura raising its valuation to $5 billion
I don't have an Oura, but I am wearing the Dexcom Stelo this week because it's available OTC (technically, next day mail delivery, but not prescription necessary so I just got one … I'm feeling very fashionably techy right now)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/19/oura-valued-at-5b-following-deal-with-medical-device-firm-dexcom/
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/113/523/055/010/568/864/original/d7e679ea641af3fc.jpeg

2024-11-17 23:59:28 UTC

I love Trader Joe's but the past few months they're been listed in practically every US recall that I'm starting to worry their supply chain is just not up to snuff
Today is baby carrot day:
"Grimmway Farms, Sprouts, Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, Good & Gather and more, according to the recall notice.”
https://kagi.com/search?q=trader+joe+recall

2024-09-10 16:24:34 UTC

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it’s a Chromium browser and supports Chrome extensions

2024-09-10 15:49:04 UTC

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https://arc.net/download is pretty good. They might not last the year (financially) but it looks promising.

2024-09-10 13:37:02 UTC

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https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-opera-browser/

2024-09-10 02:06:41 UTC

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yes because wearing these they look cool: lots of young people in my coffee shop wear them
And also about 1/10th the price, so more people are going to be wearing them

2024-09-09 22:14:27 UTC

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little known fact all these features are part of macOS, they’re just offering a simple and usable UI

2024-09-05 17:46:53 UTC

“Canva says its AI features are worth the 300 percent price increase"
just so we’re clear, you're not charged 3x for Canva because of some new AI features (which maybe you think are totally worthless but you can't opt out)
you're charged 3x for Canva because they're planning to IPO in a year and need to boost revenues ahead and need to somehow justify the price bump as “but we're giving you new feature”
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/3/24234698/canva-price-increase-300-percent-ai-features

2024-09-01 23:15:19 UTC

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even in 1968 when Stanley Kubrick does 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is a movie about the future, space, alien life, it is very obvious they're travelling on Pan Am which back then was the epitome of luxury international travel

2024-09-01 23:06:47 UTC

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oh no the story was about how you drove your Ford to the grocery store — it was about the new and improved grocery store but also told how your Ford allowed you to get there in 15 minutes instead of walking 4 hours
or it was about your trip to Paris but it starts with how you go to the airport, found parking, presented your ticket, boarded a plane, got a delicious lunch and champaign! and nice set of blankets to sleep through the night

2024-09-01 22:56:10 UTC

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One, they're about $29 a pop. Cheap enough to own a few, not so cheap that many would use them to track their trash.
Two, they're not GPS trackers. They’re bluetooth signals, so need devices nearby for them to advertise their location. Throw it in the desert and you’ll never find it.
Three, this is the most ordinary thing ever … in ten years. But right now it’s kind of new and different. It’s like owning an automotive private in 1920, or flying transatlantic in 1950.

2024-08-31 15:26:05 UTC

bye bye red dye no. 40 you will not be missed
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/30/health/california-food-dye-ban-schools-wellness/index.html

2024-08-21 01:48:32 UTC

who never worked for a manager like this?
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/112/997/492/919/977/214/original/f992193a76a537fc.jpeg

2024-08-20 20:47:34 UTC

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and I'm not saying the art of writing is bad or redundant, just that I don't see University as a place where you're coming to be artistic (can you even afford it?)

2024-08-20 20:36:52 UTC

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my comment is not about the theory of "are LLMs good enough to be the next Shakespeare" (which I know they'll never measure up) but the reality that people attend writing classes in university because they want to get a salary writing for a newspaper, which is them using LLM is no more cheating than an accountant using a calculator to sum up your tax liability – there certainly is a lot more to writing, but that's not what writing classes are about

2024-08-20 14:21:57 UTC

Good
https://mas.to/@trendsbot/112993963896596601

2024-08-19 22:49:11 UTC

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I have zero times found mistakes made by my calculator :)
but I get what you're saying, and I agree with the general premise that you need to know how to use the tool, I just don't think this article was written focusing on “AI can be misused"
I think it was written from the perspective of old guard protecting their turf — I think it's exclusionary
and that makes perfect sense to the author because their salary depends on years of crafting their writing skill

2024-08-19 22:22:27 UTC

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… which when you think about it, you want to get paid for work that AI can't do (90% of journalism is getting the info to write about), but your job application will be judged 90% based on your writing skill
I think this entire model is broken, in the same way “you might not have a calculator next to you when you need it” — the excuse we got for learning how to multiply in our head many decades ago — was broken

2024-08-19 22:19:28 UTC

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but this article is not about writing a paper in chemistry, it’s about writing classes, where you get a topic like "what’s your favorite food" and you have to write an essay around that, and what matters is not which food you like (or why, or how tomatoes are different from onions), but how well you can articulate that statement
and why would you even go to a writing class? because that's a task most people are not good at, so you can get that coveted job as a journalist …

2024-08-19 21:25:39 UTC

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to me these sound like too different problems
“don't let tool write something you don't understand" is when people give up on their reasoning skills, because it's easier to just use the tool
but writing classes — that's what the tool does better and faster, like a calculator for multiplying numbers — learn how to use the tool
I think most professors can't switch gears because they'd rather think of it as creative rather than simple economics

2024-08-19 20:25:58 UTC

I'm conflicted
I'm 100% sure that AI is used for cheating in university … a lot
I'm just not sure that using AI for "writing courses" counts as cheating … that's like using a calculator for accounting
you're just learning to use new technology, isn't that what a university should teach you? or is university no longer a career path?
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/08/another-year-ai-college-cheating/679502/

2024-08-17 22:57:35 UTC

Interesting 🤔 basically it runs a bunch of documents against the LLM, collect info from them, and spit the results as a table
It can extract data (eg “get person's name”), classify (eg "anger", "humor", "concern”), or generate content (eg “summarize the email in one line”)
Nothing here is new, but if you’re dealing with a large corpus of documents, you might love the simplicity of this API
And they already support 200+ integrations, PDFs, and much more
https://runtrellis.com
https://media.mas.to/media_attachments/files/112/979/833/782/123/893/original/65492985e340f51d.png

2024-08-10 21:04:39 UTC

Weekend Reading — Momala and Popala
https://labnotes.org/weekend-reading-momala-and-popala/
This week we do a screen recording, restart WordStar, take our printer to space, play medieval tunes, sample the LLM, and watch out for the blow-nado.

2024-07-31 15:32:23 UTC

IDK I thought that Friend is just one more stupid “AI powered device” that wont amount to anything following the footsteps of the Humane pin
What I didn't know is the company spent most of their money ($1.8 million!) just to purchase their domain name
$1.8 million 🤯
https://www.404media.co/ai-friend-company-spent-1-8-million-and-most-its-funds-on-domain-name/