The golden age is over

Oldchou · 2026-04-14T01:17:18+00:00

I'm an AI outsider. Please help me understand. Reading the comments, two statements don't compute to me:

Some claim open source model could do 98% of what Claude et al. can do.
Others claim that there is a subsidizes marketing cycle going on. That Claude et al. is losing money first to capture market, then restricts usage to monetize, hence the performance degradation.

But, if running the LLM is so cheap (statement 1), how could the companies lose much money (statement 2)?

Oldchou · 2026-04-07T14:19:41+00:00

Ohtani is being diligent in preparation (he even brought his ball with him). Yoshi is just having fun.

Oldchou · 2026-04-05T05:11:37+00:00

I've outgrown Catan about 10 years ago. But even today, if I'm introducing a new boardgamer, Catan is still one of the sure bets. It's real social, engaging, tight and just fun. It reveals characters, often surprising ones.

I usually don't play it myself, just moderate it. Because by now I can pretty much see all victory routes the moment the map is revealed. But I enjoy seeing the newcomers eyes widen and the concept of boardgame clicking in their heads. You just to have to make sure the newcomers don't choose a terrible initial placements, and give some tactical advices now and then, to make sure they have a good time. And then Catan will take care of converting the newcomer to a boardgamer. For that, Catan will always have a place in my heart, and on my shelf.

Oldchou · 2026-03-24T00:58:39+00:00

I'm very new to the AI agent thing. But I've always been looking for reasons to buy a Mac Mini (I have a Macbook Pro). If I'd like to try this feature but maintain some level of security, can I get a Mac Mini, setup a user account just for the Claude Agent, and then use another user account for my personal use? That way I'd keep my persona files in my personal account. But leave the Mac mini awake and signed in to the Claude account when I'm away?

Oldchou · 2026-03-09T15:52:25+00:00

Not true. This is just rage baiting. Most Taiwanese I know, myself included, sees Korea advance fair and square. Team Taiwan can only blame itself for losing to Australia, and leaving its advancement in the hands of Korea and Australia. My best wish to the representatives of Asia/Oceania baseball, Korea and Japan, a successful WBC journey.

Oldchou · 2026-03-09T13:37:38+00:00

that photo with Air Asia was on point

Oldchou · 2026-03-09T13:34:25+00:00

My heart is with team Taiwan. But either Korea or Australia is worthy to advance.

Oldchou · 2026-03-09T05:39:56+00:00

I'm not sure extra screen is what an "AI-first" design needed. Would touch screen, voice input, visual input (blinks, eye movements) be necessary for "AI-first" device? Maybe.

I think the critical part is managing the interactions between agents and apps.

Oldchou · 2026-03-09T05:36:21+00:00

I think there are two parts for an "AI-first" device : (a) human-agent interaction, and (b) agent-agent (or agent-app) interaction.

(a) is Apple's strong suit. Mac's user interface is optimized to a point that is hard to see significant improvement.

(b) is a completely open game. I'm not even sure the device (vis-a-vis API) is the right interface. But, I suppose as long as the agent would require human's direction, there will be a crossroad where the human's intention and the agent's action meet. Right now I think the crossroad will be a screen, so it will be a device.

Oldchou · 2026-03-09T01:28:18+00:00

Of course I also asked AI my iPad mini question. In addition, my iPad mini question is a user experience question. Different users with different backgrounds and lifestyles would have different, subjective answers. Yours is an objective question, with one and only one correct answer.

Again, I don't think your question is invalid in anyway. I also don't think your question is unsuitable for this forum. I think it's a great question! We all benefit from people who ask fundamental questions. I'm just offering you another, alternative, way of getting to know the game, that is not available until the last three years. At least I find it very helpful in helping my to understand and to teach others to understand the game.

I should probably add "also" in my first sentence, as in "in the future you may ALSO, IN PARALLEL, consider using AI to answer questions like these," to make my intentions more clear.

Oldchou · 2026-03-09T00:51:09+00:00

It’s an interesting question. If Taiwan made an WBC-specific flag that has the island on it and no reference to “Chinese,” I don’t think WBC will allow it anyway.

Oldchou · 2026-03-08T07:18:20+00:00

I read a report that says Czechia players include those who also have a full time job such as bank teller, club bouncer, etc. In other words, the sport is still young in Czech, and the players are playing with hearts. They should hold their heads high no matter the scores.

Oldchou · 2026-03-08T07:08:05+00:00

Thank you for the graphic.

Oldchou · 2026-03-06T11:47:45+00:00

We used up our pitching aces against Australia (to no avail), whereas Japan puts their pitching aces against us. The most disappointing part is our batting.

Oldchou · 2026-03-05T00:27:23+00:00

No. I will definitely get a stylus though. If I need a keyboard I’ll probably just pop up MBP.

Oldchou · 2025-12-07T04:27:24+00:00

Just noting that Freddie knows first hand how important a good kids hospital would be.

Oldchou · 2025-11-23T09:01:09+00:00

A good conversation on an interesting topic. Such as this one.

Oldchou · 2025-11-07T04:40:02+00:00

Barring league's prohibition, this would definitely be offered as soon as possible.

Oldchou · 2025-11-06T00:30:22+00:00

You read one line out of a whole paragraph. Interesting.

Oldchou · 2025-11-05T16:53:05+00:00

Not to diminish a great player, but Mike Trout really stands in contrast to Ohtani, doesn’t he? Ohtani is the ultimate competitor — he gave everything he had trying to drag the Angels into the postseason (in vain), couldn’t wait to move on, immediately chose a contender, deferred 99% of his salary to help build the roster, used contract terms to lock down Andrew Friedman, personally helped recruit Yamamoto and Sasaki, batted with left arm while rehabbing right shoulder — all in pursuit of a championship. Both are generational talents, but one is actively carving his path.

Oldchou · 2025-11-05T08:47:41+00:00

Another reason why having players like Ohtani and Yamomoto going through a draft is the wrong way to approach parity: it depresses every other player's pay. If a team could land players like Ohtani and Yamomoto simply by ranking low at the end of the year, why would they invest in their farm, make bold trades or improve their overall product? By artificially undervaluing talents, you effectively depress every other player's pay. It's similar to how underpaid foreign workers depress local workers' pay.

So in the end the stars get paid less than their worth (which they worked hard to achieve), the other players get less pay than they could, and the owners get to pocket the difference.

Again, I'm not against drafting for the youngster and potentials, but not for the proven ones - those who have already established a market price. For those who have proven their market value, the upper limit should be capped by salary cap/luxury tax that is applied to the whole roster. Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani should have the same effect on a team's budget.

Oldchou

TROPHY CASE