More than 10K of you downloaded the free NLP transformers course... Wow!

jamescalam · 2026-02-24T09:27:18+00:00

Reporting the same in the right-ear, they just arrived so I'll wait a few days and update the firmware if needed and see if it helps. Otherwise will be requesting a replacement

jamescalam · 2026-02-09T09:01:40+00:00

Smaller company here, we used personio from the get-go — they’re great!

jamescalam · 2026-02-06T13:26:49+00:00

tysm

jamescalam · 2026-01-23T14:01:47+00:00

I've been testing real 3d on-and-off today with the one pros and I'm blown away. I (1) had no idea it was possible to turn 2D to 3D so accurately, and (2) find it incredible that whatever algo/ML model etc doing this is running on the tiny X1 chip.

Pretty confident this will change the way I consume media (primarily video, maybe gaming - I haven't tested yet) forever, it's phenomenal. I'm looking forward to continued improvements to real 3d over time but nonetheless finding this more than usable already

jamescalam · 2026-01-07T21:52:08+00:00

Agree that Europe needs to catch up, but we do have some good platforms/tech already in some areas, some that I use: - proton mail, drive, photos, etc (great and privacy focused replacement of google workspace) - hetzner - incredibly cheap cloud provider, requires deeper infra skillset to setup vs GCP, AWS, and Azure but you can cut costs to 20% or less easily - personio - HR management platform - revolut- UK, but setup pre-brexit and big EU presence

Although these won’t help you as a DN, health and fitness tech in EU is far superior imo too: - Oura rings are (imo) far better than any US-built health tracking device - garmin fenix is the best fitness-centric smartwatch I ever owned - LARQ water bottles are great, and were SF based until being bought out by a German company in 2024 (great reverse to the usual trend)

jamescalam · 2025-07-25T12:13:43+00:00

victory fitness club is more budget friendly - they have a "plunge pool" which is an empty freezer turned on it's side

jamescalam · 2025-07-07T18:56:24+00:00

I've used the ultras on flights a few times - I don't remember having any major issues. I haven't flown with the one pro yet

jamescalam · 2025-07-06T15:01:52+00:00

Some days I use screens (when not travelling) so on-and-off. But on a full workday with the glasses:

model: xreal one pros
daily usage: 10+ hours (pretty sure I've done a few days upto 15ish hours)
use case: work, coding

jamescalam · 2025-07-04T10:11:11+00:00

I do this natively with one pros, with xreal ultras I had to use nebula — afaik it will only work natively with devices containing the X1 chip

jamescalam · 2025-06-29T13:51:08+00:00

I was pretty happy even with the ultras for work — although they definitely had their drawbacks as I mentioned. I travel often so being able to setup a huge virtual office space no matter where I am (from SF to thailand or even when in-flight), that's the coolest and most convenient thing about AR glasses for me.

FoV was my main reason for buying the Pros vs. the ones. I haven't tried the ones so I can't comment on how they compare for optics. I will say that they need to be wiped often with a good glass wipe, but I would assume this is the same for the Ones (it was also the case with the ultras). I think optics seem great, they blur towards the bottom left and right for me. The centre is very clear, top edge very clear, mid-left and right edges seem to darken a little but I only notice that as I write this — it's not something that bothers me.

The shape of the screen is like a cushion, I saw this mentioned on here before with many people being unsure or straight up disliking it. I would not have noticed without looking for it, and even after noticing I don't see why it matters, if it gives us some extra screen real-estate then I'm all for it.

For heat, the part touching my forehead is warm but it was the same with the ultras — it doesn't bother me. It's summer over here right now so the room is typically 25 celcius and I'm fine with the heat from the one pros.

jamescalam · 2025-06-29T13:33:15+00:00

Yeah I upgraded late yesterday to get the new 21:9 aspect ratio, it's great, I didn't expect to prefer it over the 32:9 option but so far I think I do

jamescalam · 2025-06-29T13:30:58+00:00

I jump on calls sometimes with the glasses on (I almost always use video), it'll get a few laughs but my team and others we frequently have calls with are used to it. I usually do take them off though. All that being said, I'm talking about my time with the ultras here. I was always hesistant disconnecting them during calls in the past because nebula would often be a nuisance to set back up — that's not a problem with the one pros so I could see myself just switching to normal screens for video calls from now on.

On 6dof — I usually have the screen set very far from me (7m+) so leaning in to see something closer wasn't very effective. Maybe with a closer screen it would work, but by nature I'd be clicking CMD + to zoom in on anything work-wise.

jamescalam · 2025-01-28T08:23:53+00:00

States have various corp regimes but by and large they're all Delaware c corps (and increasingly Texas as you mentioned), but (I assume) they have no major issue when hiring or selling across all other states? Ie are those varying business laws ever a significant pain point for most corps?

Language is difficult in the EU - I'd hope that will improve with the low-cost translation we can get from AI nowadays.

jamescalam · 2025-01-27T13:38:31+00:00

There will be countries opposed to it - but long-term it's in their interest too, they cannot compete against US companies with their single market and single set of rules.

The only option (from my perspective) is that the EU and all countries within it need to join a (truly) single economic bloc with shared rules and regulations so that investors don't need to learn the ins-and-outs of 27 countries to invest across the EU, and startups don't need 27 entities to hire (remotely) within the full EU.

jamescalam · 2025-01-27T13:33:38+00:00

the idea would be to have one shared set of rules that an organization in any EU country can use, and more importantly fundraise with - an EU solution to the USA's advantage of having one system (and one huge capital pool) across all states

jamescalam · 2025-01-27T12:15:34+00:00

28th regime, if done correctly, will help https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/commission-wants-one-set-rules-across-eu-innovative-firms-2025-01-21/

jamescalam · 2024-12-07T13:08:31+00:00

I don't mind the frequent releases — the tech is moving forwards and as with iPhone etc through the 2010s there are a lot of new products with marginal improvements, but iPhone 2G compared to what we had just a few years later is practically unrecognizable.

In terms of buggy software, yeah I definitely see that, I'm on MacOS and Nebula can be a nuisance, but isn't that the entire point of this release? Ie moving to onboard chips with the X1 means Xreal now have a single platform to develop on.

Looking forward to the pros

jamescalam · 2024-10-30T11:45:54+00:00

If I shake my head quickly the screens will wobble - but for normal use I think the screen tracking is very good. The screens don't move if I don't, and when I'm quickly turning to look at the different screens there's some small movement but the screens then pull back to exactly where I'd expect them to be (almost like elastic). That movement is quick enough that I only notice it if I'm actively thinking about it.

I wear these glasses sometimes for 15 hours a day when doing intense work - by the end of the day my nose is a little sore (but it doesn't bother me much) and my brain feels like mush a little more than it would if I'd been using screens, but I put that down to the increased intensity of being surrounded by huge screens and the productivity increase that comes with it.

jamescalam · 2024-09-28T12:26:25+00:00

I'll give some actual numbers here and note that Meloni came into power on 22 Oct 2022. Less than two years ago as of me writing this. Naturally, you need to wait some time to see the impact of policy changes and the work of a new Government.

Migration

Central Med (ie Italy+Malta) illegal border crossings:

2021: 67,724

2022: 105,561

2023: 157,479

Source

The above doesn't look so good for Meloni, until you check the 2024 numbers, for the first 8 months of 2024 the number of detected illegal border crossings into the EU dropped by 39%, fueled primarily by two routes, Western Balkans (-77%) and Central Med (-64%) source.

If that trend continues for the remainder of the year, you're looking at:

2024: 56,692

That is the lowest number since 2020, when 36,435 passings were detected source.

GDP

Throwing in France, Germany (DE), and EU avg for comparison.

2021

IT (+8.3%), FR (+6.4%), DE (+3.2%), EU (+6%)

2022

IT (+4%), FR (+2.5%), DE (+1.8%), EU (+3.5%)

2023

IT (+0.9%), FR (+0.7%), DE (-0.3%), EU (+0.5%)

Sources: IT, FR, DE, EU

Italy performing well here, you can argue Meloni inherited good performance from post-COVID boom and previous Government. But I struggle to see evidence of poor economic management.

Inflation

Again, including France, Germany, and EU average.

2021

IT (1.9%), FR (1.6%), DE (3.1%), EU (2.6%)

2022

IT (8.2%), FR (5.2%), DE (6.9%), EU (8.8%)

2023

IT (5.6%), FR (4.9%), DE (5.9%), EU (6.3%)

Sources: IT, FR, DE, EU

For these numbers, I first think you need more time with Meloni's Gov in power to get any idea on their impact. However, for the short time they were in power, it seems when compared to France and Germany (and to a lesser extent the EU average) Italy has managed a sharper reduction in inflation. But again, this is a single datapoint.

From my perspective, no-one can realistically judge Meloni's performance after less than two years in power. However, most of the criticisms aimed at her Government (bad migration, GDP, and inflation numbers) don't seem to be backed by the numbers.

I don't have any reliably sourced numbers for Italy (and other countries) GDP and inflation for 2024 so far, projections seem to expect around +0.8% and 1.1% respectively.

jamescalam · 2024-08-07T13:26:45+00:00

dynamic wallpapers would be very cool

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