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PSA: Lawnchair 14 Beta has begun
  • Sadly, no "cover mode" option for folders.

  • What is the "smartest" smartphone?
  • Most of it happens "in the cloud." From an article I just saw posted on Lemmy:

    The Gemini LLM comes in three model sizes: Nano, Pro, and Ultra. Only the Nano model is small enough to run locally on high-end Android devices like the Pixel 8 Pro and the Galaxy S24 series, whereas the other two models run on Google’s cloud servers.

    https://www.androidauthority.com/gemini-nano-ai-article-summaries-3425331/

  • What is the "smartest" smartphone?
  • particularly AI

    The Google Pixel 8 Pro is the only phone I am aware of where local AI capability was mentioned heavily in its marketing. (It's also the only phone that is produced by a current leading company in the AI space.) I italicized "marketing" because my understanding from what I've been reading is that a lot of deeper Gemini AI integration won't come until the P9P, though it might be possible to be backported to the P8P.

  • What is the "smartest" smartphone?
  • HEADPHONE JACK! /s

  • android app that's karaoke for the songs albums your listening too.
  • ChordAI is an app that tries to figure out the guitar chords for songs found on YouTube. It also has a lyrics function, which can generate the lyrics from the song.

    There is probably an app more specialized for karaoke, but this was the first one that sprang to my mind.

  • A fake recording of a candidate saying he’d rigged the election went viral. Experts say it’s only the beginning
  • No worries.

    I do agree with you that we're likely to see just as many (if not more) guilty politicians claiming AI fakes when they're caught red-handed as we will see framed politicians targeted with actual AI fakes. Just not in this case.

  • A fake recording of a candidate saying he’d rigged the election went viral. Experts say it’s only the beginning
  • You might be kidding, but the answer is: The outcome plus Occam's Razor.

    a candidate saying he’d rigged the election

    the candidate...was defeated

    Which is more likely, that he was recorded while lying about rigging the election that he ended up losing or that the recording was faked?

  • YSK: Your local library's resources. Many offer free e-books and audio books via apps like Hoopla and Libby, resume writing classes, movies, games...and a quiet place to relax of course
  • Many libraries also offer watch credits for Kanopy, whose catalog of videos includes many of the Great Courses.

  • Chromecast with Google TV is now serving full-screen, auto-playing Chicken Tender Wrap ads
  • While I am normally a fan of tendies, this ad was the final straw for me with the GoogleTV launcher. I'd been in app-only mode, but now I'm rocking Project Ivy instead. Thanks for the recommendation!

  • ChatGPT is leaking passwords from private conversations of its users, Ars reader says
  • My dearly departed grandmother used to read me valid enterprise license keys to lull me to sleep as a child...

  • Useful apps for guitar?
  • My New Year's resolution was "This will be the year that I stick with learning the guitar," so I don't know how useful my list will be for someone who already knows how to play. It's a mix of Android apps and mobile-friendly websites. I don't mind paying to support developers and content creators but I do try to steer clear of subscription models.

    • I'm using Justin Sandercoe's highly-recommended online Beginner Guitar Course. There is a subscription-based mobile app but the web version is the same course and is free. I bought lifetime access to his Practical Music Theory course, which I'm taking at the same time.
    • I'm using the Justin Guitar app without a subscription for the interactive Practice Exercises, which are not currently paywalled. Finger Stretching, One Minute Chord Changes, Scales, etc.
    • I bought the Guitar Fretboard: Scales app for the excellent interactive Identify Note and Find All Note Locations training games in order to learn the fretboard.
    • Under the Tools section in the subscription GuitarTuna app there is a Custom Chord Game I've found very useful. It's a flashcards-style game which cycles through chords you've selected and challenges you to draw the chord diagram. Some chords are paywalled, so I'm looking for an alternative but haven't found one yet.
    • I bought the Functional Ear Trainer app in order to work on my tin ear. (I also downloaded Meludia Melody and Big Ear for ear training but haven't played them much yet.)
    • When it comes time to find songs to play I don't have a great solution yet. To support the project I bought lifetime access to Chord Genome which allows you to specify chords you know and provides a list of songs supposedly containing only those chords. It's a great idea and I think curating it using AI could be wild. But right now the site isn't mobile-friendly, the database of songs is limited, and the chord information is only mostly correct.
    • I use the Chord AI app to play along with songs found on YouTube. (Have a capo.) After buying the (expensive!) lifetime license in order to support the developer I was disappointed to learn that the Android app is missing functionality (like midi export) present in the iOS app. It's currently my most-frequently used app, but I don't know if in the long-term it will be worth what I paid 🤷
    • After Googling the strumming pattern for the song I want to play I work on my abysmal rhythm using the Strumming Machine on Justin's site. (I used 8Strummer the last time I tried to pick up the guitar, but it's no longer supported on the newer versions of Android.)
    • I previously purchased the now-unavailable lifetime license for the Songsterr app to play along with songs once I get beyond only strumming chords. For songs not in their database, Guitar Pro files can be uploaded. I think that TuxGuitar would allow conversion of midi to gpx but I haven't tried it.
    • I bought the TabFlow app, mostly to support future development. It plays Guitar Pro files in a Guitar Hero kind of style.
    • I previously got into the Rocksmith 2014 CDLC scene and found this CDLC Player app. Unfortunately it doesn't play the song, but a now-deleted fork did and I saved the APK here. RocksmithToTab seems to work for converting CDLC to gpx for using TabFlow instead.
    • I bought a NUX Mighty Plug Pro headphone amp so when I'm playing along with songs I can get close to the sound of the original (and so my wife doesn't strangle me while I'm practicing.) I use it with the FOSS MightierAmp app instead of the manufacturer's app. I also purchased an M-VAVE Chocolate Bluetooth pedal which can apparently be used to control the headphone amp using the MightierAmp app, but it hasn't arrived yet.
    • I just bought Sheet Music Scanner because it was recommended here. I'm hoping to scan some obscure songs from song books then format shift from midi into gpx to upload to Songsterr and/or play in TabFlow.

    Anyhow, that's my list for now. I hope it helps someone.

    Edit: I nearly forgot! Honorable mention for NewPipe SponsorBlock for allowing me to consume the countless hours of YouTube videos helping to supplement my learning journey without being inundated with ads.

  • Removed
    Free alternatives to NextDNS?
  • I've been switching to https://controld.com every month after hitting my NextDNS limit. Seems to work fine. If it keeps working then I may just forget to switch back to NextDNS altogether.

  • Warner Bros. Wants Tumblr to Identify Beetlejuice 2 ‘Leaker’
  • Because I couldn't find the photos. But feel free to share a link to them if you have one to contribute to the conversation instead of being critical of it.