software

Don’t let a bot do your writing   Recently updated !

This entry was posted in Writing and tagged AI SanityProject software writing on by

A couple of days ago I was in a conversation where one of the people talked about letting an AI bot rewrite her business correspondence. She thought that her own style might seem abrupt and an appropriately directed chatbot could produce a less confrontational tone. Handing authorship to a bot is almost always a bad idea.

If it’s something purely utilitarian, like placing an order, then fine. Having software write up the request could save some time and make sure the numbers add up. But if it’s something the reader will care about, then it should come from you, not a machine. There’s still room for software to help you. A spelling and grammar checker can catch errors. I’ve used Grammarly and Language Tool. The important thing is to look at each suggestion and decide whether you want it. You can even have it check your tone, as long as you make the final decision yourself. Sometimes a “correction” will seriously change the meaning. The style might be wrong for your intended readers.

The point isn’t to flee from all forms of artificial intelligence. It’s to keep the content and voice yours. You may not be a pro-quality writer, but I’m sure nearly all of you reading this are competent. People would rather have something in your voice than something polished, grammatically correct, and fake-sounding.

If you let software be your full-time secretary, it will have a set of biases. Every creator of original text, human or machine, does. It will express views, perhaps subtly, by its choice of words and avoidance of topics or expressions. It will say things you wouldn’t.

Better to say things in your own way, improve your style as you go, and let your writing authentically represent you.

Honda’s user interface is terrible 2

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged cars software user interface on by

Most recent cars have a nice feature called a Tire Pressure Measurement System (TPMS), which warns you when your tires are low on air. My previous car, which was a Honda Civic like my present one, would automatically reset the warning after I inflated the tires and drove a little way. The current one, a 2019 model with a lot more tech, requires a manual reset which is almost impossible to figure out. I don’t know why the tech is moving backwards. If it were obvious how to reset it, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but Honda has no idea how to make a decent user interface.

For starters, the owner’s manual doesn’t say you have to do anything after you see the warning and inflate the tires. The first time this happened to me, I thought something was broken and had a service shop look at it. When it happened last week, I knew that I’d have to reset it, in spite of the absence of information in the manual. I checked some websites and videos and discovered that there are many kinds of Civic, even within the same model year, with seriously different ways of resetting. None of them matched my car. I’m a computer guy, so I was able to figure it out after a lot of trial and error, but if it gave me that much trouble, most people won’t be able to do it at all.
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It’s time to stop using Authy

This entry was posted in Commentary Tools and tagged Authy Internet software Twilio on by

Multi-factor authentication is a valuable security measure. If someone guesses or steals your password, it’s another barrier to their getting into your account. Using an application that generates access codes is one of the better ways to do it. Several applications are available, most of which use the same protocol. The Open Authentication architecture sets the standard, and many applications implement it, offering advantages or disadvantages. I’ve used Authy from Twilio for some time, but it’s time to leave.

The biggest dangers of using a 2FA application are a breach in its security and the loss of its availability. Authy has been deficient on both counts. In June, Twilio suffered a data breach. The exposed information wasn’t critical, but it could aid malicious parties in getting 2FA codes by trickery. Worse, Authy’s availability on various devices and computers has been erratic.
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AI Panic and NaNoWriMo

This entry was posted in Commentary Writing and tagged AI computers nanowrimo software writing on by

This has been the year of panic over artificial intelligence. It will take over our jobs! It will replace journalism, fiction writing, and maybe even songwriting! This panic has shown up in reactions to a measured statement by the board of National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. Three members of the board have resigned over the statement.

It begins: “NaNoWriMo does not explicitly support any specific approach to writing, nor does it explicitly condemn any approach, including the use of AI.” That’s not a very tactful way to start, I’ll grant; it could easily be read as endorsing the use of a computer to write your work for you. A clarification was added after the first paragraph, saying, “We also want to make clear that AI is a large umbrella technology and that the size and complexity of that category (which includes both non-generative and generative AI, among other uses) contributes to our belief that it is simply too big to categorically endorse or not endorse.”
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Grammarly is discontinuing desktop apps

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged Grammarly software technology on by

It’s been a bad February for desktop applications. Two that I use a lot are going away. Twilio Authy, used for two-factor authentication, will not be supported on the desktop after March 19, and it may or may not work at all after that. People who don’t plan for it may find themselves temporarily locked out of accounts that use it for 2FA. On Macs with the Apple processor, the iOS version of the application apparently works, though Twilio hasn’t certified it for the Macintosh. I got it running on my Mac without problems, and I’ve used it for a few days. It works, though its user interface is distinctively inferior on a computer with a keyboard and mouse.

Be careful, though. There are fake apps taking advantage of the confusion; as I’m writing this, there’s a app called “Authhy” (with two h’s) on the App store, which I’m effectively certain is a Trojan horse. I can’t find any way to report it to Apple.

More relevant to readers of this blog, Grammarly is discontinuing its desktop application. According to the notice when I run my app, it will stop working on March 18. It suggests that users go to its website to check their writing.
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