I am an AV tech and we use a mouse jiggler script to prevent computers from going into an inactive state for presentations during events at my company. The script doesn’t need to be installed, you just open the file by double clicking.
Considering the chain has been owned for a few years by private equity, I don’t know if it could have been any worse than that.
I actually bought a Huawei Matebook in February 2019 (2018 model) from the Microsoft store for just over $1300. You know, the MacBook ripoff one? It was just a few months before they were banned. Honestly, that thing is still a solid laptop.
Okay battery life, really good specs, super light, amazing display. Unfortunately heats up a lot and throttles under load, but not terrible. I mainly got it for music production with Ableton Live 10, and still use it for that. Gaming is meh but can play some games at modest settings. Good for Photoshop and Premiere. Great for basic computer use. It even barely had any bloatware installed. I suppose there could be some backdoor for spying as is often rumored, but it’s really not something I am that concerned about.
I guess it’s a shame they got banned. I feel like there’s nothing else in the PC market like it. These days it seems like I’m better off buying a MacBook Pro given my hobbies.
Lack of Ableton Live support is also why I probably won’t switch to Linux. Even though years ago I used to dual boot Ubuntu and quite liked it as an OS, the lack of DAW support is the real deal breaker for me too. Ableton Live is just too good and I know it too well to switch away from it.
I am well aware of this overlap and it doesn’t come as a surprise. I perhaps wish more of these creators acknowledged the military industrial complex and addressed what it means for their content and for the world of engineering.
I also had this uneasy feeling watching the video. It certainly felt a bit like a cog in the military industrial machine. While the actual content of the video wasn’t exactly bad in my opinion, I don’t know how I feel about pitching anti-terror or war machines to children through the lens of, “Engineering is cool!” That said, there are many more examples of that pitch out in the world in other forms. I do think Mark could be more careful especially when he is directly promoting a company in the defense industry.
Using AI in this way I think is generally fine. I draw the line at using it, as well as any other effects, to recreate an actor’s face who has passed away.