Why did they discontinue that? It was a very good product; we got them for all the grandparents and they worked really well at bringing the family together across distance. Could have fit in so well with WhatsApp too. But then they just killed it.
Shareholders didn't like it. At the end of the day Meta is an advertising company so everything they do must be in service of increasing revenue from advertising.
I've worked as a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) for over 12 years across startups, midsize, and FAANG companies with a focus on automating tests and processes which are often repetitively mundane or large time sinks. This ranges from writing said automated tests for web and mobile devices to the frameworks that run them. I also have experience in managing teams of people that take care of these tasks.
I enjoy the time saving nature of automation and have a genuine interest in maintaining a high degree of product quality. While my work has been SDET related up until now, I am open to developer roles as well since there is a high degree of overlap.
If you would like to get to know more about my experience work wise or personal projects feel free to send me an email.
I've used parsyncfp2 which I think is just another implementation of the same thing and I've definitely seen 2x-3x throughput improvement when transferring over large distances.
As you mentioned it definitely depends on how the ISP handles traffic.
I have yet to try but I've heard good things about hpn-ssh as well.
I think honestly the story would be much different with more product sense and better market intuition, Horizon is just a perfect example of pure idiocy. They may as well have just ported chat roulette.
Once Apple Vision Pro released I finally understood what VR really could be which is an incredible immersive escape. Once I watched an Apple Immersive movie, and then even a completely regular old 2D movie in theater mode at night in Joshua Tree, I got it. Obviously completely unattainable but it to me was very smart: low volume but execute the best version of your vision that you possibly can, and see how people respond to it. It proves out the vision and then you can start working down the price.
The only thing Meta VR got right is gaming: it's the only use case that works with the resolution & hardware at the price point that they're trying to occupy. AVP could obviously work too but look: I've nearly punched out a window with my quest pro. Sitting and playing a game is weird, standing and playing is tiring. What I like infinitely better is just: watching a movie. Escaping. Relaxing.
I still use my Quest after a year but it is mostly on the web and youtube 360. youtube 360 is actually quite cool given the fact no one really makes content for it.
I have no interest in games and anything inside Horizon is just not impressive.
I just don't understand how Meta spent this much money to get so little in return. VRChat has immense worlds compared to anything in Horizon. Everything in Horizon is just so amateur looking and lacking any kind of imagination.
I got the Quest because I wanted to try developing for VR but that is a total nightmare. Horizon/Unity/Unreal are all different forms of a nightmare. I suspect this is actually the problem. Development is just too hard to do much of anything interesting. Anything interesting I have made has been in vanilla javascript/three js/react three fiber.
Vision Pro level resolution + webxr I think has a huge amount of potential. I even like wearing the Quest. The physical act of wearing the headset is really no issue to me at all. That was what I figured I would get tired of.
The Quest is ultimately an amazing piece of hardware with amazingly bad software.
I think EVs will head in the complete opposite direction in that sales will slow down and they will continue to be a minority.
Ford just killed off the F150 lightning and EVs (but also new cars) are still expensive purchases in a time with a lot of economic uncertainty.
While Chinese companies are making affordable options all the markets seem to love putting tariffs on them in order to keep their homegrown automakers alive.
Looking into this, this reinforces my predictions? I looked up the Ford F-150 Lightning and a quote catches my eye: "When the electric truck debuted in 2022, Russia had just invaded Ukraine, disrupting supplies of nickel, a key material in EV batteries."
Raw materials and cost is a big part of the Chinese dominance on EVs and it'll continue to be on that side of the political sphere.
Having to tariff China also emphasizes that they're gaining ground too quickly. They process about (over?) 80% of the major parts, so you can't fully tariff them either, only assembled cars or some parts.
I just read on a Polish automotive portal that the government has concerns about cybersecurity in Chinese cars. I wouldn't be surprised if Chinese cars were entirely banned for some businesses in the future.
I would love to believe this but given my experience with my cat even single words are tough for them. For example my cat knows how to fetch her favorite toy but doesn't respond to the word "fetch" at all even with positive reinforcement (treats). The word "fetch" just doesn't mean anything for her even though I've paired it with the action of her fetch many times we play.
I don't know about cats (I haven't tried training) but my dog definitely knew a few nouns and verbs. She understood "food", "water", "walk", "bone", "ball", "bear" (her toys), and could distinguish between "point", "fetch", and "drop". With "fetch ball" she would go get the ball, whereas with "point food" she would point (paw) at the food, and with arbitrary combinations of these verbs and nouns.
It's astonishing, I didn't think they could do that, but apparently they can.
I have two cats that I have clicker trained. They can: shake, high-five, fist bump, stand up, and will "go here" and come and touch your finger. They won't do any of the tricks without treats :)
One of the cats had seemed interested in fetch for several years but it never quite worked. I tried a bunch of different toys and finally found a plastic spring that she will fetch very well.
I think we have the same cat.
I also did the clicker training for paw/fist tricks and sitting pretty quick. I took a pause with the stick pointing because she traumatized herself with a stick toy and is quite avoidant to sticks.
Sprint toys are her favorite and she'll fetch those or bring them to me to throw when she wants treats.
over there;
bed;
basket;
lead;
walk;
wait at the door;
go to [room];
go to [family member];
stay;
stay on the path;
paw;
paws up;
sit;
lie down;
heel;
don't pull on the lead;
no more poo poo;
no more wee wee;
this is the commute;
up;
where's your piggy?;
treat?;
buscuit?:
up for a cuddle?;
want to come up?;
permission;
okay;
no;
stop;
this way;
stay close;
hungry for some food?;
water?;
down;
don't lick;
who did this?;
come here;
shall we go the pub;
let's go;
and probably 5 or 6 more words/phrases. I don't include words like catch/fetch where accompanying action may trigger the response.
It's definitely not a three year old's grasp of language, but it's probably a point that a baby crosses somewhere between 9 and 15 months old.
The thing with cats is they can do a lot of things, but that doesn't mean they will.
My cats will regularly come when called, if they feel like it.
But... what's she going to do if you say fetch? If she wants to fetch, she'll bring you the toy and if she doesn't want to fetch, you telling her that you would like to isn't going to change her mind.
After many years of living with cats, I have come to believe a cat actively refuses a command or request in a way that looks to humans like the cat does not hear or understand the request.
Treats are good and all but you will probably get better results with clicker training and splitting the job into simple parts. Fetch is pretty complicated and even dogs often have issues with it - our dog did just fine on the 'chase the toy' part - mostly due to strong prey drive - but then just ran away with it :). Took months to get it working..
Also cats usually lose interest quickly, so short sessions repeated more often will give better results.
Merely an anecdote: I had one female house cat that clearly understood a number of words. She could easily and consistently pick out "catnip" in a sentence. "Cow", "get up", "tuna" and several other words and phrases were all understood.
This is unique in my personal experience. I've haven't seen this in other cats.
I think you might be conflating cats understanding and cats responding. When cats choose to engage they can be quite intelligent and take direction, I’ve seen it many times. But most of the time they DGAF and will ignore you.
Unlike dogs, cats aren’t seeking your approval. It is a different kind of relationship.
I'm impressed by the degree of selective catS possess. They can responds to like 5 different names if in the mood while other times won't event flinch even after repeating 20 times.
While my cat doesn't seek my approval, she is definitely highly food motivated to the point where she was faking wanting to go outside and thus put a harness on (which she does not enjoy) just for the treats she would get.
