iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

After declining management’s offer to work for the site full time -- but as a freelancer, with no medical benefits or 401k, while earning less than I made as an entry-level editorial assistant for Gawker in 2010 -- today is my last day with Digital Trends. Thank Christ.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Someone didn't get a bite of hotdog and is now Very Upset

a dog pouting on a couch with her back to the camera.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Just realized that each one of my pets have their own tragic origin stories.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Being a freelancer is wild. Every day I wake up to a new panic attack as to whether the current company's clownshow COO decides that today is the day that I lose my job or not.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Have my fingers crossed that I get a call back on the part time bar back position at my local casino that I applied for, in case you're wondering how my time in tech media is going.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Interesting, of the half dozen houses in my neighborhood that flew Trump/Pence "Finish the Wall" flags for most of 2024, all but one have removed them since the inauguration. Not seeing anyone wearing Trump branded clothes or red hats in town either (pop 2500, county votes overwhelmingly GOP).

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Reposted by Andrew Tarantola

Roberto Baldwin @strngwys.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Lawmakers in South Korea climbing over fences Lawmakers in America stopping because a security guard said “nah”

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

That rural folks aren't as tuned in & informed as urbanites are of this news cycle is a myth. Just went to my local Walmart to stock up before the tariffs hit and apparently so too was everybody else in the county.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

Turns out, you can disable Google's AI search results by dropping an f-bomb alongside your search query. Coincidentally, the same trick works for getting a live rep on the line when you're stuck navigating an automated phone system. Just start swearing until a person picks up.

arstechnica.com

“Just give me the f***ing links!”—Cursing disables Google’s AI overviews

The latest trick to stop those annoying AI answers is also the most cathartic.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Berkeley researchers reproduced the DeepSeek R1-Zero’s core technologies and taught it to play Countdown (like the game show) for just $30. "Through [reinforcement learning], the 3B base LM develops self-verification and search abilities all on its own" www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...

tomshardware.com

AI research team claims to reproduce DeepSeek core technologies for $30 — relatively small R1-Zero model has remarkable problem-solving abilities

It's cheap and powerful.

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Reposted by Andrew Tarantola

Jenna Russell @jennarussell.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

People often claim they know when ChatGPT wrote something, but are they as accurate as they think? Turns out that while general population is unreliable, those who frequently use ChatGPT for writing tasks can spot even "humanized" AI-generated text with near-perfect accuracy 🎯

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Reposted by Andrew Tarantola

jonah @jonahedwards.com · 28/01/2025

no reason australyear.blogspot.com/2008/05/re-o...

The Antarctic treaty prevents us from keeping any sort of livestock, and we're completely cut off (physically) from the outside world through the winter. Eggs - important not only for breakfast, but also for most of the baking done here - will ordinarily only last a couple of months, but if you keep them well oiled, the oil will seal the shells and keep them from going off until fresh supplies come in November.

They were all oiled at the start of the season, and last night it was time to freshen up their coatings. About half the station crowded into the kitchen, poured themselves bowl after bowl of canola oil, and started dipping, rolling, and massaging eggs. There were the predictable casualties (beer, very oily hands, and thousands of eggs were never meant to go together), but within an hour we'd unpacked, oiled, and repacked more eggs than most people see in a lifetime.

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Reposted by Andrew Tarantola

Roberto Baldwin @strngwys.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

please vet information and links before sharing. it's very easy to see something that looks like it's going to help people and share it. The reality is that people will use this time to share scams and false information with dire consequences.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Both Sen Padilla's and Sen Schiff's DC offices went straight to voicemail because their lines were all busy with other calls, I assume that's a good thing?

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Reposted by Andrew Tarantola

cait (and adonis) @cait.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

i think a lot of people on here should be logging off and learning how to win a fistfight and safely apply a tourniquet bc your posts suck ass and i can't imagine you're any better in real life

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Wait, he can just fucking do that?

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Just ate my first tuna melt. Hot sandwich fish is not a favorite.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

You ever wonder how much pet hair you inadvertently eat in a given week?

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Reposted by Andrew Tarantola

Elizabeth Gibney @lizziegibney.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Chinese start-up DeepSeek has released R1 - a 'reasoning model' that's as good as OpenAI's o1 but 1/30th of the price. Incorporating other AI techniques into LLMs is boosting their ability to tackle complex tasks, which could someday prove a huge boon to research 🤖🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

China’s cheap, open AI model DeepSeek thrills scientists

DeepSeek-R1 performs reasoning tasks at the same level as OpenAI’s o1 — and is open for researchers to examine.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

I'm curious about the thought process here. Given the American people flocked to a TikTok replacement operated by the CCP rather than use one owned by Mark Zuckerberg, what exactly does the government think will happen when they try to hand over 50% control of the app to Elon Musk, Nazi Enthusiast?

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Not looking forward to my first waking thought for the next four years once again being, "let's see what fresh hell awaits us today."

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

what a beautiful complete waste of money

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

I dunno man, this thing where companies fire all their full-time employees just to replace them with freelancers who don't get health care or unions feels like it should be illegal.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Mitch Hedberg was this universe's anchor being. We fucked up.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

This is no different than LARPing, attending Renn Faires, or going to dinner at Medieval Times. Mind your business and let people enjoy what they want.

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Reposted by Andrew Tarantola

Molly Knight @mollyknight.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

I don’t know what happened here but people need to start being really careful about what they post on social media because these red state gestapos are chomping at the bit. Please protect yourselves and leave no digital trails.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

They tachikoma'd the Pixar desk lamp

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

I clicked this once and now it's suddenly 45 minutes later and I need a cigarette to keep this rush going

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Reposted by Andrew Tarantola

Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Who is up for a short thread on the intriguing parallels between OpenAI and Enron, as told by one of Enron's investment bankers -- that is to say, me? Here goes...

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

It wouldn't be CES if there wasn't an announcement about a laundry-folding robot that will never see the light of day. Who can forget the Foldimate? www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6_k...

youtube.com

Foldimate: Laundry Folding Machine - Hands On at CES 2019

YouTube video by Digital Trends

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

I have started running again in earnest in the new year (13-minute miles lfg) and steadfastly refuse to believe that people actually engage in this activity for fun.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

This isn't even news. OpenAI announced back in November that they would be rolling out their version of AI agents in the new year. Altman's just spouting shit to drum up interest. Again. www.digitaltrends.com/computing/op...

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

Just found my OG Playstation, PS2, Xbox, and 360 in the back of a closet. About to ride out the next four years in a nostalgia hole of Ridge Racer, Splinter Cell, Oblivion, and Crysis 2.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 27/12/2024

seriously, who signs their sms messages like that?

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Just got a late Christmas present in the form of a scammer pretending to be the CFO of Digital Trends asking me to buy gift cards. I love screwing with guys like this so let's see how long I can string him along.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Ok at this point, if I see you posting bad takes from X just to dunk on them here, you're getting a block. Same goes for whoever quote-skeets you into my timeline.

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Andrew Tarantola @terrortola.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

I had a guy who drove one of these get in my face last week, pissed that I "parked so close that he couldn't get in his truck." Me pointing out that his truck was so wide that it sat on both lines of the 7-11 parking lot stall probably didn't help the situation.

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