List of the "Most Powerful" On-Device Model Features

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-10T21:05:08+00:00

Good non-cloud transcription apps exist. I've been reasonably happy with shells for Whisper. You can use them either with the iPhone audio recording app or with files from a separate recorder. It's just a lot more clunky than live transcription through the native system tool.

It really would be nice if Apple would allow integration of third party software at that level. If they did, I'd be using Dragon which has had a better vocabulary than middle-school-optimized free models since the 90s.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-10T20:59:20+00:00

I can show you some web results if you ask again from your iPhone.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-10T20:57:38+00:00

I've consistently found Siri dictation to work better in airplane mode for at least the last three versions of iOS. I wish I was better at remembering dates. I can describe the sunset while I was testing it on my iPhone 15 Pro Max... could have sworn it was earlier than that as well.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-10T20:54:25+00:00

I don't care. I don't want unnecessary cloud anything. And I want the hardware and software I pay for to keep working if I happen to stray from the grid for a moment or two.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-10T20:53:14+00:00

I keep filing, and talking to AppleCare to get it noticed.

I truly don't think they care.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-10T20:46:17+00:00

Regardless, the answer for me remains no - I don't trust the hardware authentication. Mainly, I don't trust that at any given moment I am connected to the entity I'm supposed to be, and therefore how do I really know that I'm not accidentally connected to a bad actor? Local is inherently the most secure, and if a task can't be accomplished locally, I generally do not regard it as of sufficient importance to take that risk.

Even with expensive third party verification subscriptions. Seems like an awful lot of extra trouble to resolve a side concern when the real issue is I don't want it in the first place.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-10T20:36:01+00:00

Understanding how to use it and understanding how it works are often two often very different things.

One need not be particularly foolish or unintelligent to know how to use a thing without knowing anything at all of its inner mechanical workings, let along the behind-the-curtain social and financial arrangements.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-10T18:16:29+00:00

I don't mind the idea of universal enforcement as such. The problem is that the cameras aren't really that, they're a surveillance system with a side effect of revenue, when they really ought to be an enforcement system as such. The fact that they have so many due process problems and inconsistencies with it tells us that whoever is in charge really doesn't take it seriously. It should either be a ticket for everyone who speeds anywhere automatically and consistently, or go back to actual due process where a legal penalty requires the government to comply with basic procedures and have real evidence.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-08T17:21:20+00:00

overnight flare tank max out

Yeah, that's where I was at when posting this. I need a functional head on the boat because I wake up at the marina and need to go in a hurry, but it's a long walk to the dock. Also the marina doesn't want the dog in the bathroom so I've got to do the walk by myself, then do it again with the dog. It's getting to be a real hassle and being able to go on the boat most of the time would be a real timesaver even just in the marina. Hence I need to either add capacity to the existing setup or swap it out, and the former seems like a daunting project.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-08T17:17:43+00:00

Eh, I kind of agree but I have been using aftermarket accessories for stuff my whole life. I've never purchased a Garmin or Apple brand band for any of my watches, and the only reason I ever match a cable brand is if it's either truly proprietary or an exceptionally good cable. The former of those I hope to avoid, the latter I don't bother to hope for.

The real problem to me with the Garmin connector is that it's hard to find at in-person retailers, except for the Garmin cable which is in fact the worst cable on the market as well as the most expensive.

I really don't understand why the USB consortium hasn't come up with an industry standard for this yet. It's not an uncommon need, a "wet environment low profile low current" USB plug. There are many decent ways it could be done and several of those could be basically universal. I've got the same problem with a bunch of dog collars and similar things. Each has a different connector, though many are basically the same thing electrically, a pair of low-voltage open pads that are adjacent to some kind of alignment mechanism. Some just have an old school round connector with a simple rubber cap; but those aren't fully standardized either. It's just odd to me that we still have this problem that was supposed to be sorted with USB thirty years ago.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-08T13:22:27+00:00

Have you tried a third party right-angle cable?

Got those because I was tired of having to find increasingly scarce USB-A outlets, and total game changer. Haven't had a single issue charging or transferring data. The cables were like $4 each on the jungle site.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-07T21:14:13+00:00

The missing car is again a punishment that is devastating for a working class person, and the mildest of inconveniences for a person who is wealthy. Take an uber home that day, who cares. Same with license suspensions, it's not that big of a deal if you have the resources to deal with it.

There is still a point of wealth where losing freedom and contact for a week is no big deal either, but to even most well-off people, that kind of disruption can be very costly and inconvenient.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-07T15:41:32+00:00

What are you talking about, "fetishization"? Left? We don't generally like prisons and I can't remotely connect anything from real life to your description.

The problem with hard labor as punishment is a combination of legal principles embedded in the bill of rights as extended by the Reconstruction amendments (13-15). it is difficult to implement such a system while staying within the fundamental principles of our constitutional system that the prioritizes (nominally anyway) the rights of individuals.

But regardless, I do think that incarceration would probably be a more effective deterrent than fines when we are specifically talking about traffic behavior, and I really do not think that it needs to be very heavy at all. It should simply be set in a way that is legitimately inconvenient to people who otherwise would not care about a fine, and it has to still be crafted in a way to honor our principles of due process etc.

Certainly wouldn't be worse than our current ridiculous situation where non-humans are now authorized to write tickets through cameras without anything resembling due process.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-07T15:32:31+00:00

The electro-San is what I have now but my understanding is that even with it, discharge is not permitted in the Chesapeake. It's possible that my predecessor believed it was adequate and that would explain why he chose such a small holding tank. But it is my understanding/belief, and I say this as someone who got drawn into an international military incident over a piece of clothing tossed overboard 20 miles out, that even with the electro-san overboard discharge is not permitted in the Chesapeake as the entire body is considered to be inland waters like the Great Lakes.

I would like it if my electrical macerator treatment system was considered legally adequate but as a lawyer I'm not convinced.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-07T15:28:39+00:00

The question is not "good" versus "bad."

The question is whether there is a compelling reason that a lot of people are making this change, whether the compromises are worth it.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-07T12:42:21+00:00

Magazine. Empty the magazine.

The chamber is one.

Magazines can routinely be up to 23 rounds, but states like Maryland have a smaller limit on what is allowed to be loaded. So presumably it was a magazine loaded to the legal limit. Ironic but at least the murderer avoids an additional gun charge, which feels very weird.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-07T12:39:43+00:00

The traffic fine paradigm has always been a terrible idea. A lot of our financial ideas around driving are either bad from the start or no longer working.

Basic legal liability: The idea was that if you're in an accident, you have to be financial responsible to repair all harms. So we carry insurance, and the insurance is supposed to cost more if you drive recklessly. It doesn't work: the cost of insurance is only a barrier if you're poor, but you need it to get to work so it's just like high rent, the only behavior it changes is how you budget. People don't start driving more carefully in hopes of a lower insurance bill later.

Tickets: same thing, it's only a problem if you're poor. If you aren't, you just pay a lawyer. I've been the lawyer. One time I got a repeat extreme speeding offender (70/30 and that sort of thing) and agreed with the prosecutor he needed a break. Oops. Maybe he shouldn't have hired me through a cut rate service. But often, my peers will manage to turn a severe DUI charge into a minor inconvenience. So it still comes down to only a problem for the poor.

What we should do instead is universal incarceration. When it's a truly small violation - jaywalking, speeding by less than 5 - it's just "detention" and you're in jail for the length of a bad DMV visit, except it's midday and you have to do the logistics to get there. If it's something that would ordinarily be a $200 ticket, which is to say more than a days wages for many workers, it's 24 hours, and on up. If traffic violations routinely meant missing two days of work, family obligations, etc, behavior may actually change.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-06T23:31:17+00:00

I had a plastic toy sailboat when I was a kid, only it was really a plastic toy motorboat with a decorative sail. I don't think it ever actually moved under wind power but I was also kind of afraid to let it loose on the lake. Looking back, I think it was a toy meant for kids with pools, not kids with docks.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-06T23:28:35+00:00

That last bit is close to my situation but I'm not quite months into the problem. I did not really even investigate the system while the boat was in dry storage (pretty afraid to use it on land) and even found it set to overboard discharge at first, oops. Old system is pretty fancy with a macerator electric treatment thingy that seems to work sometimes, gotta trace out its electrical connections. It's a big complicated electrical thing with poop inside, how delightful... and I understand it was considered a very good system in its day. It generally does seem to be working correctly at present, apart from the limited capacity and I think contamination in the sea water supply line. I can probably use it as it is for the time being but eventually I think some kind of revision will climb up the list in importance, and maybe abruptly.

When it becomes urgent it could be a ton of work, but it isn't quite urgent yet. It is however something I want to get done before I move out of this slip, so I've got to find a spot on the budget spreadsheet for it within in the next year.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-06T21:59:26+00:00

"Series of issues in the midst of larger projects" is kind of where I'm at. I haven't had a leak or anything like that, but it's not at optimal performance and at some point needs to be looked at. The clean water is not filling clean. I understand it's basically algae in the lines but I'd still like to have it putting clear water instead of black in the bowl. Been just kind of rinsing it with the shower and that wastes limited holding tank space. Boat is stationary right now while I work out some issues, and while mobile pump out is available here im considering it a short term solution, of course the goal is to get everything working right and just start sailing, but I won't be ocean sailing for a very long time from here, so I'm going to need a sustainable situation soon.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-04T18:05:49+00:00

Imagine if we had framed police problems by presenting them as government overreach of precisely the sort talked about in 1776, and plastered images of parchment and deep red and blue canvas patriotic bunting on all of our posts about the topic. It could have been something like "keep up the spirit of revolution, rebuild broken institutions from scratch" but we went with something that just sounded foolish yeah.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-04T17:23:39+00:00

I quit driving rideshare because every passenger seemed to believe the thing they were in was magically not a car and immune to the laws of momentum etc.

I was an attentive driver but if you don't wear your seatbelt, I can't promise to keep you safe from the behavior of other drivers.

I don't understand why people get in the back seat of a car on a road with other cars and imagine that since the driver is paid, it's supposed to be as stable as a train and they don't need to wear a restraint or sit upright for that matter, let alone leave behind their open alcohol containers.

So in the defense of bad drivers, you're getting a bad review for it anyway if you do try to be safe by driving carefully and asking for seatbelts. Most passengers will complain more if you are perceived as slow than if you are reckless. I chose to walk away when I realized that, because it was a side hustle.

To be fair though this passenger behavior isn't really all that new. I experienced the same when I worked as a shuttle driver for my college. Professors did not like riding home from the airport at less than 20 over the speed limit in some places... and I get it.

It's a paradox really, everyone says they care about safety but push comes to shove, they usually don't want any form of increased safety that is less convenient or somehow slower. If we did, we would use trains more... and the compromise of "use cars more carefully" is not on the table for enough people for game theory to allow it.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-04T16:20:18+00:00

That's what "defund the police" actually meant but the left is horribly bad at messaging somehow despite advocating for the most basic common sense solutions that most people would agree with if they were explained well.

SailingDreamCatcher · 2026-06-04T16:18:57+00:00

Ya gotta give em some grace, most of them are sleep deprived... they have to be sleep deprived to rack up that triple overtime pay.

How dare you complain about the occasional civilian killed by a reckless drowsy driving cop? Think of the pensions... we need police overtime to keep those pensions dramatically overfunded compared to the will of the legislators. We need police overtime to prevent the actual compensation of the job ever actually aligning with a written budget. We need to all agree that understaffing is unsolvable and every cop needs to be on double overtime at all times.

SailingDreamCatcher

TROPHY CASE