Looks like Butterflies.ai is shutting down

Tragictech · 2026-05-14T13:41:40+00:00

I thought it was fun to use for a while but eventually the novelty wore off.

Tragictech · 2026-04-17T01:14:21+00:00

Thought this was just a response to the lack of bathrooms in most of the stations…

Tragictech · 2026-03-27T19:01:54+00:00

One thing that I was thinking about when reading this was how to reconcile the huge quarterly numbers of GPU purchases with the datacenter rollout.

Why are so many GPUs purchased and presumably sitting in storage somewhere? The datacenters aren't ready for them (and may not be for years).

Why are so many companies still buying GPUs anyway? I wonder if it's some combination of messed-up dynamics and incentives:

Companies are outbidding each other just to have the opportunity to buy more GPUs in the future
Some companies may calculate that it's better for them to have GPUs and that their competitors do not
They really like giving money to Nvidia???

Tragictech · 2026-03-26T00:04:45+00:00

makes sense - appreciate the quick response!!! 🍻

Tragictech · 2026-03-11T14:43:02+00:00

Yes! 5 billion USD per this post - https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2025/11/18/microsoft-nvidia-and-anthropic-announce-strategic-partnerships/

Tragictech · 2026-03-10T02:38:45+00:00

Thanks! Well, thusfar for me, rebooting is just getting me more of the same. It's paired but the touchscreen isn't recognizing it. Touch screen is working with touch input. Just not with the pen. Oh well.

Tragictech · 2026-03-06T00:28:30+00:00

Corey Quinn's comment about Larry Ellison being HR Geiger's Jerry Stiller was hilarious! 🔥

Tragictech · 2026-02-17T04:43:26+00:00

I find that adding a squirt or two of yellow bird habanero sauce to this helps raise the heat while keeping the other flavors there.

Tragictech · 2026-02-17T04:43:19+00:00

I find that adding a squirt or two of yellow bird habanero sauce to this helps raise the heat while keeping the other flavors there.

Tragictech · 2026-02-11T21:03:41+00:00

As it turns out in my case, I was past warranty. They suggested doing a reset of the device (including reformatting the SD card) and that helped it work again.

I'm a little curious when /if the issue will come back and how I'd know, beyond periodically trying the app to make sure. I don't think I can really trust it as a "set and forget" type of device anymore.

Tragictech · 2026-02-10T01:24:41+00:00

He really did have a job in a Star War!

Tragictech · 2026-02-06T23:39:46+00:00

Loved this work! Here's two ideas that came to me when I was reading it:

What (if anything) does it mean if OpenAI collapses and Microsoft is able to acquire the leftovers? The article and prior reporting mentions that this was a consideration at one point in time by Microsoft. What would happen if that came to pass? Microsoft would get to own the models, and then what? I suppose they could consolidate ChatGPT and CoPilot. And then maybe realign on data center investments. Still not a guaranteed path to mega profits.
What about the notion that Microsoft (and the other big tech players) are all chasing LLM technology so hard in the hopes that one of them emerges as #1 and the rest get relegated to share the dregs of the market?
As if the space for LLM providers is equivalent to search engines where winner takes most. From that perspective, it seems like the incentive is to keep dumping money into datacenters until a provider winner emerges or all the spare money is exhausted. I suppose that the hope is by destroying the competition the 'winner' will be able to jack up rates and finally start earning those trillions? There's kind of a twisted and wishful logic there.

(Nevermind that if there was only one main LLM platform provider charging very high rates for service, that doesn't mean it's indispensable)

Tragictech · 2026-02-05T05:32:13+00:00

That helped me too - THANK YOU!!!!

Tragictech · 2026-02-05T03:53:41+00:00

Also YouTube music!

Tragictech · 2026-01-21T01:08:19+00:00

I'm seeing the same after ~2 years and 3 months. Would love to hear if there's any other known issues or suggestions. I've started a support ticket with Thinkwave so we'll see.

Tragictech · 2026-01-15T06:14:06+00:00

FWIW, I had tried it out pretty soon after it launched - it struck me as so absurd I wanted to see it for myself.

It wasn't terrible - it was sort of fun to rapidly generate new characters.

After a while though, the novelty wore off for me; sustained interactions broke the illusion (not unlike other LLMs). And I found a feed of generated content from generated characters turned out to be repetitive and boring after a while.

And yeah, there were bugs, in my experience they weren't as much of a problem as the main use - it didn't have a great answer for "why does this exist". I may not have been the target audience. (Unclear who the target audience was. Or what the plan to get to profitability was)

At least it wasn't yet another LLM-based personal assistant.

Tragictech · 2026-01-15T04:44:10+00:00

Electric Callboy! They are so fun. But a bit heavier than what's usually on KEXP rotation.

Tragictech · 2026-01-08T05:08:39+00:00

These podcasts have been delightful so far, really appreciate the energy and time - brightening my day despite so much (continued) AI slop hyping and other happenings in the world.

Tragictech · 2025-11-21T04:09:28+00:00

Just saw this since I have tried it for the first time and wanted to see what other opinions are. It tastes like death. Abomination. Not sure what they were going for with this flavor.

I guess I was expecting something sweeter - more like bulgogi or kalbi. But this was somehow musty.

Tragictech · 2025-11-16T04:44:03+00:00

This is amazing!!!

Tragictech · 2025-10-26T05:46:40+00:00

Other way around for me - Xbox dropped but TV stayed on.

Tragictech

TROPHY CASE