IT General

If interacting with Siri has been the extent of your experience "talking" to AI, you're in for a rude awakening. While Apple's voice assistant often fumbles basic commands and can take an unnaturally long time to process a request, the latest and greatest AI models are moving closer and closer to natural human speech.

Case in point: Dessa, the brainchild of Jack Dorsey's Block, is allegedly the world's first full-duplex speech model, meaning it can listen to you and speak simultaneously, much like a real human does in the flow of normal conversation. In fact, that's Dessa's draw: it was trained entirely on human speech to make it as natural-sounding as possible.

But these claims have to be heard to be appreciated, and Block's press release announcing Dessa shows just how far AI models have come to approximating the rhythm of natural human conversation. 

In the second sample audio clip, for example, a real-life human and Dessa have an extended conversation about the movies of Christopher Nolan, and though the model does flex its knowledge at certain points, supplying a movie title, for example, it does so in a natural rather than robotic way, mirroring the tone of his human interlocutor while keeping up what, to human ears, sounds like a perfectly ordinary back-and-forth about Nolan's cinematic world.  

In the third audio sample, Dessa spontaneously reacts to an unexpected prompt from the human ("Are you excited for our anniversary?") with genuine surprise and enthusiasm, complete with the conversation markers you would expect from a human being: audible gasps, a joyful enthusiasm that verges on tears, and even a difficulty finding the right words. 

The final clip nixes human involvement entirely, featuring a conversation between ChatGPT and Dessa, and the contrast between the robotic, unnatural speech patterns of the ChatGPT agent and Dessa's prompts, interruptions, and puzzled questions perfectly illustrates how far Block has pushed its AI speech models. 

Perhaps most impressive of all, Dessa seems to understand when a human speaking to it is being sarcastic, which requires a sophisticated understanding of both tone and its relationship to the content of speech that adult humans process effortlessly but that has historically stumped AI models (don't even think of speaking to Siri in a sarcastic tone). 

According to the same press release, Block's motivation for developing Dessa is simple:

"Speech is the most natural interface to any intelligence, super or otherwise, and today’s voice AI wastes it. It flattens what we say into text and can’t keep up with human timing. AI keeps gaining power and independence, and it’s still nearly deaf to the emotion in our voices. Imagine being in serious pain while a voice AI has no idea and just keeps going. That’s the safety problem. Dessa is a step toward fixing it."

Leave aside the question of whether recognizing a tone of urgency, fear, or pain in a voice pattern is the same as sympathizing with the emotions behind those markers. But one should take a second to appreciate the complexity of training agentic AI to pick up on them in the first place.

Wherever this leads us, Dessa is undoubtedly a major advancement in artificial intelligence and, more importantly, in bridging the gap between human communication and AI understanding.

I'm an ardent supporter of archiving things. The Internet Archive and Wayback Machine are two of my most frequented places online. As I was researching something earlier this year, I stumbled upon something I (surprisingly) hadn't heard of before: the WARC format. These things are one of the most fascinating files/formats I've come across since Ogg Vorbis. And I wanted to learn more about what they are and how to use them.

Google Lens quickly became a favorite app when it launched. Over the years, it's changed quite a bit — getting new features like "Circle to Search" and, of course, AI. Some would say it hasn't changed for the better, but there are alternatives.

I drew flak for saying the Apple TV 4K fills the shoes of Nvidia's Shield TV, and not without some merit. If you love Android or simply prefer the Shield's flexibility, no amount of apps or hardware brawn will make you switch. It's a good media streaming device—its age and the modern app landscape just work against it.

Linux on phones has spent years as a hobbyist curiosity. One project has quietly matured into something you can actually install and use. Ubuntu Touch isn’t perfect, but it balances polish, hardware support and a steady update path better than any rival.

For the budget-conscious DIY enjoyer who occasionally needs to cut wood and drill holes, Ryobi tools are perfect. Like any power tool manufacturer, Ryobi isn’t infallible, and there are some tools that I’ve learned to stay away from.

Despite its critical praise, Alex Gibney's Musk documentary about the world's richest man is ending its theatrical run after just two weeks, according to entertainment news site Showbiz411.

Upon its release on Oct. 9th, Musk was shown in just four theatres in two cities nationwide, but that number rose to over 450 by the second (and ultimately final) week of its theatrical run, though the total take, according to Gizmodo, was a paltry $571,902, making it "an unmitigated flop."

But could there be something else at play here other than simple box office math? 

Musk director, Gibney, is no stranger to tackling the rich and powerful in film, with previous credits including 2005's Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room — about one of the largest corporate fraud cases in American history. Gibney then released Citizen K in 2019, exploring the alliance between Vladimir Putin and a Russian expat billionaire. 

And prior to the film's release, SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk himself publicly attacked both Gibney and the film, calling the director a "horrible human" after dismissing the documentary as an assembly of people with "an axe to grind." In the meantime, Musk's attorney Alex Spiro sent the production team a threatening legal letter, putting them "on formal legal notice" before the film had even been released. 

Meanwhile, on Reddit, users are speculating about abrupt screening cancellations: "I hate to say it's a conspiracy, but what is it?" Inexplicably, TikTok also opted to disable the documentary's advertising account, allegedly for "political content" contrary to their use policies, but access was restored 48 hours later.   

If you missed the abbreviated theatrical run and want to watch Musk yourself, it's now available for streaming on both Prime Video and Fandango.

Most people hang onto an old laptop out of guilt, or because they're not sure what to do with it. It feels wasteful to recycle it, but a second laptop doesn't have to be a backup device or an emergency spare. It can make your main machine better by taking over the background tasks that would otherwise slow you down or eat your battery.

Wired earpods have become quite trendy right now. The shift back to this somewhat retro technology is fueled by celebrities being spotted ditching wireless AirPods for wired earphones. They've become pretty fashionable, with stars like Harry Styles, Zendaya, and Bella Hadid turning them into cool accessories that the masses want to copy.

My homelab started with a single service, and before I knew it, I had a few dozen services running. In reality, I only use a handful of services every day—most of them sit idle or even offline.

The NBA season has only just begun, but the New York Knicks are already embroiled in a PR nightmare after an email to staff to get a championship ring turned out to be an IT phishing test.

On Tuesday, the defending champion Knicks played their first home game at Madison Square Garden since beating the San Antonio Spurs for their first NBA Finals win since the 1970s. As is custom, the first home game after a championship is when the team and fans get to watch the banner raised to the rafters and the presentation of their brand-new championship rings.

According to reporting from The Athletic, based on conversations with seven league sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, many of the ring boxes handed out to coaching staff were empty. In fact, The Athletic could not even confirm whether head coach Mike Brown received his ring, receiving only this brief reply from a MSG Sports spokesperson: "We are not disclosing anything about the rings."

It's possible, of course, that delays in the crafting of the rings or in the fitting of them necessitated the empty box move. Plus, there is precedent for coaching staff and front-office personnel having to wait longer for their rings.

However, "many longtime employees at Madison Square Garden, including some who work in the Knicks’ business operations, will not receive rings at all," according to the insider sources who agreed to speak with The Athletic. Which is unusual, as the majority of team employees typically receive some form of ring in commemoration of the team's winning season.

What's made the internet upset is a controversial IT trick played on the Madison Square Garden employees expecting a ring. According to The Athletic, in September, MSG staff received an email with the opening line "Congratulations, your Employee Championship Ring is here," followed by a prompt to choose their preferred style: Championship Gold or Garden Classic. Clicking through that link, however, did not bring employees to a jeweler's website.

"Those who did click the link at the bottom of the message did not get to choose any jewelry; instead, they were forced to attend a mandatory cybersecurity class to help satisfy some of Dolan’s growing cybersecurity concerns," reported The Athletic. 

Needless to say, when the internet caught wind of this, the roasting was severe and merciless.

It seems like the backlash worked. In a statement to the New York Post, an MSG spokesperson acknowledged that using the promise of a ring for an IT test was "a mistake." In addition, the spokesperson revealed that the Knicks' top assistant coaches will get their rings shortly.

"The company is gifting more than 275 championship rings and jewelry to players, coaches, employees, and other members of the Knicks family, worth more than $3.7 million," the spokesperson told the Post.

The number of features packed into Home Assistant is insane. The problem is that there are so many features that it can be easy to overlook some of the best ones. I slept on some of Home Assistant's features for far too long; here are some more of the best features that I wish I'd started using much sooner.

Desktop upgrades are usually either expensive, underwhelming, or both. It’s easy to spend a fortune on some piece of equipment, only to realize later that it’s completely useless. However, with this particular gadget, the opposite is true—it’s both cheap and incredibly effective.

Google wants Android phones to connect seamlessly to Googlebooks. Meanwhile, Samsung and Motorola both offer apps that pair phones with Windows PCs. What about Linux? The tech giants won’t help you make your phone and Linux PC work together smoothly, but other app developers have stepped in to fill the gap.

Gemini is Google’s big bet on AI that has made its way into the company’s search, mobile, and smart home offerings. The only issue is that Google doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo that new technologies are supposed to improve the user experience, not make it worse.

Linux has a reputation for giving people control over their computers, but plenty of commercial products use Linux without giving their owners much control at all. They ship with proprietary software, restrict access to source code, or lock down the hardware so thoroughly that installing a modified operating system becomes impractical.

I've been pretty transparent about the fact that the best PC upgrade is one that costs exactly zero dollars. But aside from that? The next-best thing is using stuff you might already have lying around to give your PC a bit of a boost. If you keep most of your old hardware, chances are you'll have one (or some) of these in a drawer somewhere, and they could come in handy when you least expect it.

I've watched plenty of people (and I've been one of them) navigate a big Excel workbook by scrolling, squinting at tab names, and hoping for the best. It works, but it's slow. Excel has several lesser-known navigation tools that get you to the right sheet, cell, or result much faster.

Every few months, Google rolls out a "Pixel Drop" update with a few little goodies. Last year, "Pixel VIPs" was one of them, but it wasn't particularly useful at the time. The most recent update finally improved things, and you may actually want to use it now.

Milwaukee makes excellent tools across its expansive M12 and M18 lineup, tools that are loved by DIYers and trusted by professionals. The company gets a lot right, and hey, it invented the Sawzall, but that doesn't mean there aren't tools to avoid or that cost way too much for what you get.