Displaying all stream entries.
The idea that "artificial intelligence" is a poor moniker for the current frontier of generative AI models is indeed a reasonable idea, but not because of the word "artificial". Frankly, including large language models under the umbrella is an insult to traditional AI. I mean, technically speaking, a video game from 1980 was likely to contain more logical branching points than a modern LLM's kernel, and was likely to be a lot more interesting to read.
That's obviously a bit of an unfair comparison, but of course, so is the comparison between frontier "AI" and any long-standing definition of intelligence. Which brings us to why we're here: I want to provide a distillation of the real reasons we should all reject "AI" as it's being sold to us, and why we should despise the people selling it! This is going to be written from a very American perspective, because American economic and political dynamics are at the core of why American AI companies are drowning American people in bullshit. Read more...
For a decade or two now, I've been talking about the many problems endemic to open-source development. Companies frequently exploit open-source software/libraries without respecting license terms. Cheap third party labor has traditionally been employed as a form of firewall, so that companies can benefit from source code without having to worry about license terms and while placing any potential liability on the third party. Certain types of highly skilled labor have become undervalued due to the expectation that the associated work product can be freely obtained. Read more...
Noesis now includes a Roomba script. It will track your Roomba, store tracking data, allow you to visualize that data in a variety of ways, and, of course, turn that data into a randomized DOOM map.
It would've been nice to get this done in time for DOOM's 25th anniversary, but as it came and went, I was still waiting to grab a Roomba 980 on eBay. I had the idea sometime back in November, as my wife and I were researching robot vacuums. I discovered that the newer Roombas are making use of a pretty respectable SLAM implementation, which led to wondering about what kind of data I could get out of it and what I could do with that data. Read more...
Equipped with a high-frequency inertial measurement unit and two LCD screens, the Sega VR headset shares a lot of fundamental design with today's VR headsets. That design was nothing short of revolutionary when Sega officially unveiled the unit in 1993, promising to break new ground on the frontier of virtual reality.
Up to this point, we've gathered most of what we know about Sega VR from trade show appearances, marketing materials, patent documents, and firsthand accounts. This has meant that many of the unit's technical details have remained speculative or completely unknown. When looking back and studying hardware that pushed so many of the technical boundaries of its time, however, those details are important! Whether Sega VR achieved its many ambitious goals or not, it remains a fascinating and notable entry in VR history. Read more...
When it was released back in 1993, Disney's Aladdin for the Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive, depending on which side of the pond you lived on through the early 90's) was really a visually striking game.
Powered by what eventually became known as "Digicel" technology, along with a solid selection of middleware and some impressive talent, Aladdin managed to set itself apart from other Genesis titles of the era. Aladdin's beautifully hand-crafted, surprisingly well-quantized artwork set new expectations for many in the realm of what could be accomplished on Genesis hardware. Read more...
Quake for the Sega Saturn is an interesting port. Actually, rather than really being a port at all, it's Quake completely reconstructed in the SlaveDriver engine, which is the engine also used by Lobotomy Software's console ports of PowerSlave and Duke Nukem 3D.
A few people have expressed interest in being able to recover and/or port the levels from this version of the game, so it's been sitting around on my list of games to take a look at for quite a few years now. I finally got around to taking a look at the LEV files a few weekends ago on a whim, and after a couple more weekends of chipping away at it, it's at a point where it's ready to be included in a Noesis release.
Support in Noesis is nice on its own and can facilitate porting the maps over to other engines (with a good bit of manual effort), but I also want to share all of my findings so far, mostly for the sake of posterity. Read more...
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Tags: Personal, Technology
Artificial Insanity
October 10, 2026 at 3:57 pm (CST)
0 comments
The idea that "artificial intelligence" is a poor moniker for the current frontier of generative AI models is indeed a reasonable idea, but not because of the word "artificial". Frankly, including large language models under the umbrella is an insult to traditional AI. I mean, technically speaking, a video game from 1980 was likely to contain more logical branching points than a modern LLM's kernel, and was likely to be a lot more interesting to read.
That's obviously a bit of an unfair comparison, but of course, so is the comparison between frontier "AI" and any long-standing definition of intelligence. Which brings us to why we're here: I want to provide a distillation of the real reasons we should all reject "AI" as it's being sold to us, and why we should despise the people selling it! This is going to be written from a very American perspective, because American economic and political dynamics are at the core of why American AI companies are drowning American people in bullshit. Read more...
Tags: Personal, Technology
Open Sores
March 7, 2026 at 8:09 pm (CST)
For a decade or two now, I've been talking about the many problems endemic to open-source development. Companies frequently exploit open-source software/libraries without respecting license terms. Cheap third party labor has traditionally been employed as a form of firewall, so that companies can benefit from source code without having to worry about license terms and while placing any potential liability on the third party. Certain types of highly skilled labor have become undervalued due to the expectation that the associated work product can be freely obtained. Read more...
Tags: Projects, Technology
DOOMBA
December 24, 2018 at 9:37 am (CST)
Noesis now includes a Roomba script. It will track your Roomba, store tracking data, allow you to visualize that data in a variety of ways, and, of course, turn that data into a randomized DOOM map.It would've been nice to get this done in time for DOOM's 25th anniversary, but as it came and went, I was still waiting to grab a Roomba 980 on eBay. I had the idea sometime back in November, as my wife and I were researching robot vacuums. I discovered that the newer Roombas are making use of a pretty respectable SLAM implementation, which led to wondering about what kind of data I could get out of it and what I could do with that data. Read more...
Tags: Projects, Technology
Sega VR Emulation
January 7, 2021 at 6:17 pm (CST)
Equipped with a high-frequency inertial measurement unit and two LCD screens, the Sega VR headset shares a lot of fundamental design with today's VR headsets. That design was nothing short of revolutionary when Sega officially unveiled the unit in 1993, promising to break new ground on the frontier of virtual reality.Up to this point, we've gathered most of what we know about Sega VR from trade show appearances, marketing materials, patent documents, and firsthand accounts. This has meant that many of the unit's technical details have remained speculative or completely unknown. When looking back and studying hardware that pushed so many of the technical boundaries of its time, however, those details are important! Whether Sega VR achieved its many ambitious goals or not, it remains a fascinating and notable entry in VR history. Read more...
An Old New World
October 11, 2017 at 2:30 pm (CST)
When it was released back in 1993, Disney's Aladdin for the Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive, depending on which side of the pond you lived on through the early 90's) was really a visually striking game.Powered by what eventually became known as "Digicel" technology, along with a solid selection of middleware and some impressive talent, Aladdin managed to set itself apart from other Genesis titles of the era. Aladdin's beautifully hand-crafted, surprisingly well-quantized artwork set new expectations for many in the realm of what could be accomplished on Genesis hardware. Read more...
Saturn Quake
May 3, 2015 at 2:35 pm (CST)
Quake for the Sega Saturn is an interesting port. Actually, rather than really being a port at all, it's Quake completely reconstructed in the SlaveDriver engine, which is the engine also used by Lobotomy Software's console ports of PowerSlave and Duke Nukem 3D.A few people have expressed interest in being able to recover and/or port the levels from this version of the game, so it's been sitting around on my list of games to take a look at for quite a few years now. I finally got around to taking a look at the LEV files a few weekends ago on a whim, and after a couple more weekends of chipping away at it, it's at a point where it's ready to be included in a Noesis release.
Support in Noesis is nice on its own and can facilitate porting the maps over to other engines (with a good bit of manual effort), but I also want to share all of my findings so far, mostly for the sake of posterity. Read more...
[1] 2 3 4 ... Next
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