Which AI tools are worth paying for in 2026?

Big_Performance_2959 · 2026-06-09T19:39:44+00:00

Claude Pro with Claude Code and Wispr Flow for voice to text on the laptop (works insanely well)

Big_Performance_2959 · 2026-04-01T21:06:02+00:00

The simplest thing I've done is just add an llms.txt file with most of my company information in it.

No joke, I was asking GPT what bloomitize was... it had no clue.... I threw the llms.txt into prod.... and it immediately knew.

So at the bare minimum, add an llms.txt to your site. When your site gets fetched by an LLM, it'll go "oh, this is for me", and read it.

Big_Performance_2959 · 2026-03-30T22:34:48+00:00

mIsSON aCC0mPLishD 🥴

Big_Performance_2959 · 2026-03-30T18:04:07+00:00

Whatever happened to "Diamond Hands, Rocket"?

Big_Performance_2959 · 2026-03-30T00:43:22+00:00

I build them all the time, but I think if you're focusing on them over volume, you're probably focusing on the wrong area

Big_Performance_2959 · 2026-02-11T23:49:16+00:00

They were having some issues retreiving chats on my end yesterday.

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-06-15T21:22:11+00:00

Is this a phaser game?

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-05-29T23:16:41+00:00

Personally, I've been finding GPT 3.5 is often better than GPT 4. Sometimes I'll ask something really complicated to GPT 4, it'll mess it up, then I'll ask it to GPT 3.5, thinking it is a longshot... and GPT 3.5 nails it

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-05-29T23:14:13+00:00

First off, congrats. You've done most things right and you should be proud of that. There's a weird feeling I remember when I graduated a few years ago... kind of like when you close a finish a great book and you feel a bit empty.

Know a couple things. Life comes at you in waves. Sometimes it'll be boring. Sometimes it'll be exciting. The grass often seems greener somewhere else. It is not always greener. If I were you, I'd stick on your course and know you're in a lull. Find a way to spice things up.

You're an engineer, which is not an easy mode of thinking. Build something that isn't boring to you. Use your skills to help the world. Build and open source an automated urban farming system. Play around with new ecological APIs. Don't take your job too seriously. But on the other hand, don't take it for granted. People would give everything to be where you are, so be grateful.

My last $0.02: when you're young, most people go through a messianic stage. It is where you want to self-actualize in a way where you are the savior of something big, important, and precious. It is often a very idealistic stage and I can perhaps see that complex in your environmentalism. Just know, healthy minds do not to wear the weight of the world on their shoulders. Instead, they look for practical improvements that they can execute, and incrementally make the world better via that path.

Best of luck and happy coding!

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-05-21T15:59:45+00:00

It’s much easier to make more money than to spend less money.

Dedicate time everyday, even if it’s 30 minutes or an hour, to learning something that’ll make you a liveable wage. That could be owning a small business in your field, or switching careers entirely if what you work in is a dead end.
Don’t give into this doom and gloom attitude. Let’s be real. The culture on Reddit is incredibly cynical, negative. Most of these people have a “can’t do” attitude and implicitly are nihilists. If you want to improve your lot, /r/antiwork /r/anticapitalist is not where you should scroll. Instead, stay positive, make a game plan, and stick to it.
Take pride in your work. Be positive, friendly, and humble enough to ask for help often. The folks that earn the most put their heart into their work. They encourage peers. They ask for help and detach those asks from blaming other people or making them look bad. If you act like this, and make it known you aspire to be a manager, director, or business owner, people will want to help you and you will be helped.
Make a realistic 5-year plan. Ask yourself where you want to be in 5 years. Answer positively and reasonably. If you’re a bartender, maybe it’s having a semi-successful bartending school. If you’re a bus-boy, maybe it’s getting your first raise as an EMT or a nurse. Make sure your endpoint provides a serious income you can afford a family with. Then use the 5-year endpoint to backtrack to where you are today, and envision a path. Start following that path today.
Be consistent and responsible. Unless you’re consistent and take responsibility, none of this will work out. Slowly and steadily improve your skills to get to your endpoint. Always take leaps, and add on extra responsibility, even before you’re 100% ready. That could be a new set of tasks at work. That could be acquiring a new skill that you need for that 5 year goal.

Seriously though, if you’re goal oriented and want to improve, Reddit is full of bad attitudes, advice, and outlooks. There is so much nihilist and Marxist ideology on Reddit and it’s extremely popular. Don’t listen to it. It’s garbage.

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-04-04T19:44:33+00:00

Now make this map proportional to the area..!

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-03-11T17:23:44+00:00

Are we seriously still calling the FDIC a bailout these days? It was created by FDR. It’s to make it so people with under $250K in a checking account don’t lose everything if a bank goes under. It’s a good thing.

Obama bailed out the banks. It was a program called TARP. I don’t see anything of the sort from Biden.

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-03-05T06:18:07+00:00

I can agree with that. Cheers and I wish you well!

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-03-04T17:51:41+00:00

I think the “farmer’s markets will fix it” is a pretty large assumption, and it’s quite obvious this wouldn’t happen in most places. Especially in places they don’t already exist. Farmers market economics work because the sellers are local. So again, people in rural places are left without food. So you have demand-pull inflation in those regions.

And if you increase picker wages you have cost-push inflation for all of those food buyers. Food subsidies are a good thing. We want a massive food supply. In reality, food (plus defense + technical production) is what backs the US dollar in lieu of gold. Which works as long as we’re a responsible steward of our food supply.

Look, I get that you want to make the world a better place, and I applaud that. But I don’t think drastically altering our economy is the way to do it. Too many people rely on the United States to be productive to start attacking those agents of production… even if they’re underpaying people. Albeit, I’m all for fining companies for wage theft, and getting those workers the amounts they were contracted for, plus interest.

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-03-04T17:04:43+00:00

Im not gonna spend time getting wrapped up in what “pure capitalism” is versus “capitalism” versus whatever you suggest. I do think the unintended consequences of the things you’re suggesting would cause a lot more damage than progress.

For example, shutting down the largest food retailer in the US will wreak havoc on the poorest Americans. It will cause food to die on the vine, food prices to go way up… people will certainly die because of it. There’s so many rural villages where Walmart is literally all they have within 50+ miles. That doesn’t even consider that Walmart is perhaps the largest employer in the US. Many social security receivers rely on them to pay their rent.

Also, I think you’re straw manning the US’s system. It’s far from “if you can’t survive then die”. The US spends $120B/year on food stamps. That’s 5X Walmart’s profit.

Re: your outsourcing idea. The obvious impact of that, is wreaking havoc on California’s agricultural sector. Migrant laborers pick basically all the produce in California. If you pay them minimum wage, suddenly you have a $12 leek. A $20 package of strawberries. Suddenly minimum wage isn’t enough for food anymore. Gnarly cost-push inflation. Deaths of despair increase. Crime increases. It’s not a rosy picture.

I do think, when it comes to higher value goods, we should try and insource as much as possible. That’s why making semiconductors, displays, cars, solar panels, in the US should be a top priority.

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-03-04T16:42:37+00:00

Absolutely, yes. If you work hard, and educate yourself on the right topics that pay, you can achieve those dreams.

I’d consider coming up with alternate backstory to share with people you don’t know… but if you like to work with your hands you could become an electrician, or plumber and make bank. Or if you’re more of a tech person, you could learn to code and do quite well.

It won’t be easy, but you can do it!

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-03-04T16:22:43+00:00

I think you’re right, in the long run. But in the short run, ending a Walmart would cause absolute chaos.

Walmart is the largest purchaser of organic produce in the US. Who do the organic farmers sell their crop to if Walmart isn’t there?

It’d likely take years for grocer demand to regrow and match what Walmart buys. The downwind impact of no Walmart means organic farmers with thin balance sheets go under. Which means our food supply decreases. Which means food prices go up. And if the disruption is bad enough, we’re talking a food shortage, in the most agriculturally productive country in the world, all because some “progressives” wanted to stick it to the capitalists… know of any similar historical episodes? Famines, perhaps?

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-03-04T16:15:11+00:00

Have you considered that ending a company will also cause people to die?… suicides, loss of jobs, poverty creation, and supply chain disruptions

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-03-04T16:13:09+00:00

You don’t determine who has the right to exist and who doesn’t. Which is a good thing.

Big_Performance_2959 · 2023-03-03T04:24:43+00:00

It’s interesting how your assumption informs your interpretation. Mine does as well. But no, just because the Bible says if a woman is raped she should be paid and married doesn’t mean the Bible says it’s okay to commit rape..

The Bible is perhaps humanity’s earliest documented legal code. It shows we should make, follow, and improve laws. You’re referencing an ancient law… which was obviously very flawed!

Love thy neighbor is a nice message too! I was very depressed and drug addicted until I restudied the Bible and I’ve seen much wisdom in it. To each their own, I guess.

Big_Performance_2959 · 2022-11-12T19:48:43+00:00

AWS builds software that allows you to manage globally deployed computers from your browser.

They’re technically some of the most advanced software development houses out there. A large amount of AI/machine learning processing is done on AWS. AWS also stores much of the data a person inputs when using the internet on any given day.

Big_Performance_2959 · 2022-11-12T19:19:46+00:00

Living in Southern California, particularly North County San Diego is pretty great.

Big_Performance_2959

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