benjojo.co.uk

benjojo posted 16 Jan 2025 12:31 +0000

Leave me alone leave me alone leave me alone leave me alone leave me alone leave me alone leave

A Android notification requesting that I reboot my phone for an upgrade the next notification underneath it is a Google Gemini notification saying that my phone just got a lot smarter with AI

lmierzwa@mastodon.so.. replied 16 Jan 2025 13:24 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/1442T8JNyrGwcry1yB

@benjojo imagine the brave new world where they removed all UI from every app and the only thing left is a chatbot input

benjojo replied 16 Jan 2025 13:26 +0000
in reply to: https://mastodon.social/users/lmierzwa/statuses/113838249948369380

@lmierzwa The AGI clearly will win by basically removing all useful features and replacing them with LLMs

lmierzwa@mastodon.so.. replied 16 Jan 2025 13:33 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/1894ZQqX5343PT6b19

@benjojo who would want to see the clock on your phone when you can simply say “hey Elon! What time is it?” And hear a helpful response “You need to be verified plus premium xiter to access time features! Pay me now for a True Time DLC! Also climate change is a hoax!”

lmb@fosstodon.org replied 16 Jan 2025 14:13 +0000
in reply to: https://mastodon.social/users/lmierzwa/statuses/113838249948369380

@lmierzwa @benjojo Logitech is one step ahead and is adding UI for this brave new world

Screenshot of a Logitech mouse which comes with a dedicated button to toggle their AI prompt builder

benjojo replied 16 Jan 2025 14:41 +0000
in reply to: https://fosstodon.org/users/lmb/statuses/113838442777194388

@lmb I think a "AI Mouse" used to be called a "aimbot"!

terinjokes@toots.mee.. replied 16 Jan 2025 21:09 +0000
in reply to: https://fosstodon.org/users/lmb/statuses/113838442777194388

@lmb
@lmierzwa @benjojo ffs why does Logitech need an AI prompt builder!? 😭

benjojo replied 16 Jan 2025 12:37 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/1442T8JNyrGwcry1yB

This morning I opened my (paid) Google email inbox only to have basically go through a unskippable advert for Google Gemini, I then disabled the entire Google Gemini across my account and now my phone has what is basically the mark of the beast in various places

A tiny part of a screenshot showing the Google Gemini logos star

sa@chaos.social replied 16 Jan 2025 12:40 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/c7jbQyMJF4Ng9r8Jwr

@benjojo their ✨ logo, especially in their flat design language, is how i imagine a rupture in the fabric of spacetime would first look like.

(before expanding and siphoning off everything we have ever known and loved.)

benjojo replied 16 Jan 2025 12:42 +0000
in reply to: https://chaos.social/users/sa/statuses/113838079217799587

@sa They messed up a perfectly good emoji/icon ✨

benjojo replied 17 Jan 2025 10:47 +0000
in reply to: https://glauca.space/users/q/statuses/113843143813763796

@q yeah @eta mentioned a similar tactic by having a locale something weird like de-gb so stuff has no idea how to localise it

benjojo replied 16 Jan 2025 18:55 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/c7jbQyMJF4Ng9r8Jwr

I cracked, I cannot deal with the animations while trying to write emails.

After maybe 15 years of only using web email clients. The situation is so bad that I'm back to thunderbird

Thunderbird downloading emails, 6000 out of 22000

sa@chaos.social replied 16 Jan 2025 19:12 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/dB2RrTDx9L8qpVJ1Pg

@benjojo i had a small wtaf moment before i noticed the date on the emails

benjojo replied 16 Jan 2025 19:14 +0000
in reply to: https://chaos.social/users/sa/statuses/113839621960516030

@sa the poor thing has a lot to catch up on

benjojo replied 16 Jan 2025 22:35 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/dB2RrTDx9L8qpVJ1Pg

"oh hey, thunderbird has a addon ecosystem, sure lets see what this is like"

Will have access to [...] and your computer

uh! no, actually! That's mental, I do not want the thing that gets 3rd party untrusted input to be able to access ", and your computer" that's quite a lot of scope!

Add DKIM Verifier? This extension will have permission to: Have full, unrestricted access to Thunderbird and your computer

benjojo replied 16 Jan 2025 22:45 +0000
in reply to: https://digitalcourage.social/users/mro/statuses/113840449287858195

@mro never heard of it, do you use it? I don't see the advantage in using something that looks unloved/unmaintained

jasper@mastodon.poin.. replied 20 Jan 2025 13:18 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/mw5ks83Ykg3CrB925H

@benjojo @mro I used to use it - there is a soft fork with more updates/features here: https://www.claws-mail.org/

benjojo replied 21 Jan 2025 17:29 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/dB2RrTDx9L8qpVJ1Pg

So it does turn out the if you talk to the actual support people, they can manually flip a switch so that you can disable gemini on gmail and other things!

My (web) inbox is now beautifully non infected with gemini!

Huge thanks to @janl for https://writing.jan.io/2025/01/17/how-to-disable-google-gemini-in-your-workspace.html for suggesting this was even possible in the first place

The google admin console showing options to disable gemini for docs,mail,meet and chat

lmierzwa@mastodon.so.. replied 21 Jan 2025 19:25 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/Kl43mF9ZcBGtgrg134

@benjojo you can actually talk to a real human being at Google?!

benjojo replied 21 Jan 2025 19:42 +0000
in reply to: https://mastodon.social/users/lmierzwa/statuses/113867981617942313

@lmierzwa if you pay them and are patient enough, yes!

mcr314@todon.nl replied 16 Jan 2025 19:28 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/dB2RrTDx9L8qpVJ1Pg

@benjojo it's why I use emacs as my MUA: if I am gonna spend 90% of my email time writing emails, I might as well be using a decent editor.

proactiveservices@fo.. replied 16 Jan 2025 20:05 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/dB2RrTDx9L8qpVJ1Pg

@benjojo obfuscated email address huh? I wonder what it might be :-P

oats@mastodon.boiler.. replied 16 Jan 2025 21:04 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/dB2RrTDx9L8qpVJ1Pg

@benjojo on the mobile side I can *highly* recommend FairEmail. A bit eccentric, but also Just Works™ and is extremely configurable

MissAemilia@mastodon.. replied 16 Jan 2025 14:08 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/c7jbQyMJF4Ng9r8Jwr

@benjojo And you get this all free of charge! For a monthly plan increase of $2USD/m after Google couldn't sell it as an addon! Aren't Google so benevolent????

Moving off workspace last year was one of the best decisions I made in a long time.

MissAemilia@mastodon.. replied 16 Jan 2025 14:13 +0000
in reply to: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/MissAemilia/statuses/113838424632111689

@benjojo (The free of charge bit I'm specifically referencing this awful apologist trash from Techcrunch https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/15/google-raises-the-price-of-workspace-plans-making-its-ai-features-included-for-free/ )

admin@fedi.reflog.me replied 16 Jan 2025 14:10 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/c7jbQyMJF4Ng9r8Jwr

@benjojo oh and now you pay more because of the 'free' AI addon

janamarie@chaos.soci.. replied 16 Jan 2025 12:34 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/1442T8JNyrGwcry1yB

@benjojo hrmpf mooood, I had to discover this half an hour ago with no mean of turning it off, thxIhateitnowpleasegoawaythanks

duckyfella@cupoftea... replied 16 Jan 2025 14:28 +0000
in reply to: https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/1442T8JNyrGwcry1yB

@benjojo One of the lesser reasons I de-googled my droid. Constant ‘use this Google product’ nags. Yuck