Musk's Macrohard is as silly as it sounds

Reading through my tech newsfeed elicits a variety of reactions. Sometimes it's a flicker of interest. Or bemusement. Lately it's been a mixture of weariness and disbelief.

Apparently, Elon Musk thinks that AI automatically churning out code is inefficient; it should bypass that bullshit. It should automatically compile binaries and ship the finished software. And to do that, he's creating companies like Macrohard. (Yes, that was a juvenile jab at Microsoft which he doubled down on. Sure inspires confidence, doesn't it?)

Of course, this would theoretically remove the need for coders at multiple levels of the stack, but I'm not opposed to that if it truly was a win for tech. Alas...

Why it's a bad idea

Did I say bad? It's a laughably inept concept, even by the standards of science fiction fantasies. If ideas were ships, this one wouldn't even be the Titanic. It would be a sailboat made from spaghetti.

A sailboat made from spaghetti.

Programming code is the bridge between highly ambiguous human language (that only humans - and even then, not all humans - understand) and machine binaries (that only computers understand).

That bridge is looking remarkably tenuous at the moment. Right now LLMs churn out code, trained on millions of lines of potentially imperfect code previously written by human beings. And these imperfections might not even be syntax errors. They might be inefficiencies, logic traps and ambiguities.

The reason why software development takes time is not due to the time it takes to compile code to binary. It's the time producing said code to begin with, and ensuring that it works the way it's supposed to work, without nasty surprises. Going straight to binary does not remove that necessity. Especially when it's potentially end users who deliver the specs straight to the machine. That's a disaster waiting to happen.

This is not innovation

Removing vital parts of a system in order to be "efficient" isn't innovation. Any idiot can remove a wheel from a car because the car can still move on three wheels.

As it is, LLMs already hallucinate in both English and code. Expecting them not to hallucinate in binary is, to put it gently, optimistic. A hallucination in code could still be caught by a compiler. A hallucination right in binary? Good luck, chum.

You know what kind of failures software developers worldwide fear the most? Not the loud ones that announce themselves. The silent ones. The ones that you catch only when it's too late. And this latest idea practically screams "too late".

We prefer loud and visible
failures.

Removing the part that is actually human readable, also removes human oversight. Sure, you may think that you're democratizing tech. But this just means that the only people who would be talking to AI, would be non-technical users. Users who sometimes even have trouble talking to fellow human beings, would be expected to correct the mistakes of machines.

In other words, Elon Musk is solving the wrong problem. The problem isn't that code needs to be compiled. The problem is that laypersons need to communicate their needs better, and AI needs to actually understand code, as opposed to just regurgitating it from millions of processed lines of text.

I've had to revise my opinion of Elon Musk, yet again

Before, I thought he was a genius with the impulse control of a teenager.

Then I thought he was a bit of a twat.

Now I see that he's either masterfully trolled the tech world, or he's as ignorant as this idea suggests. This is akin to having a house broken into, and instead of changing the locks on the doors, simply covering the keyhole with duct tape.

exit status 1,
T___T

No Blanket Solutions

There exists in the spoken language, a supreme contradiction. A sentence that manages to be simultaneously profound in its humility and stunning in its arrogance.

"If I can do it, anyone should be able to do it." - every douchebag ever.

Why is this humble? Well, on the surface, it seems like people who say this are modestly describing their achievements as mediocre. They feel that they're not special, so if someone as unexceptional as them can do something, there's no reason why most other people wouldn't be able to do it. For example, I quit smoking almost two years ago. I did it far easier than many people did, with no lingering physical or psychological side-effects despite having been a pack-a-day guy for the better part of twenty years. No discipline was required; the struggle was non-existent for me. However, I'm also reasonably certain that this isn't that uncommon. There are plenty of people, wired the same way as me, who could accomplish that. Acknowledging that you're not special, is humility.

Why is this arrogant? At the same time,  if I were to claim that I quit smoking without much fuss, and there is something wrong with people who can't simply follow my example; that's a problematic stance to take. Assuming that oneself is the standard on which everyone else should be based around, is both immature and pretty egoistical. It lacks self-awareness.

And both positions are wrong.

We're not all the same.

They're wrong for the very uncomplicated reason that we're all built different. We don't all come off some assembly line with the exact same characteristics. There are significant variances across data points like culture, upbringing, physical and environmental.

For example, people who spent their formative years in a Southeast Asian multicultural country like Singapore or Malaysia would have significantly less trouble picking up a third or fourth language as opposed to, say, an Englishman born and bred in the UK. Incidentally, that's why people coo and act impressed when a white guy speaks Mandarin (even if his pronounciation is dogshit). Whereas nobody bats an eyelid when an Asian guy speaks English well. Why? Because a white dude even attempting to speak anything other than dodgy English is impressive, whereas for an Asian guy it's just another Tuesday.

Is it fair? Well, of course not; but if we're going to acknowledge that everyone's built different, then nothing is fair.

The tech space

"There are no blanket solutions" is a favorite refrain of mine, because it's true especially in the tech space. You can have all the best practices in the world, but they have to be evaluated against the exact context in which you're applying them. The concept of best practices is a good thing, don't get me wrong, but only if not applied blindly.

Frameworks aren't always the way to go; I've said this before over and over. They're often the way to go in software development, but not in every situation.

Not every data storage solution has to include a database.

Not every 2FA solution
looks the same.

Not every 2FA solution looks the same - some involve texts to mobile phone and some involve a third-party authenticator app.

You wouldn't use Python to code every damn thing, just the same way you wouldn't use Java to do it. At least, I hope not.

While we're at it, almost every organization's implementation of Agile Methodology looks different from the next.

But while all I've said so far is uncontroversial, that's for the tech space. The software development context.

In a personal context

Someone once told me he wanted to be like me. I had a place of my own. I was doing well financially with no debt. While I wasn't filthy rich, I spent money without needing to think too hard about it. And above all, I was chill. I didn't let what I didn't have, bother me too much.

And all that was before I got blissfully married and really started stepping up my game at life.

Possibly, to an outsider who was just watching me live my life, it looked like I had everything without needing to turn to drugs or alcohol in order to cope. Furthermore, it looked like all that was needed to achieve what I achieved, was to live my life the way I did. Sadly, I had to disabuse this person of that fantasy. He was not going to achieve the same things I did by living like me, simply because he wasn't me.

There's more than
one path to the
rainbow.

My achievements aren't spectacular by any means. An apartment, a job and a spouse. Spare cash in the bank. The means to take care of my immediate family. These things are achievable by the vast majority of people. All I've really done is earn as much money as I can while living a very modest lifestyle. And that's the hard part.

You see, not everyone can, or wants to, live life the way I do, as if I were still drawing an income of just under SGD 3,000 a month. It takes a specific kind of person to happily sacrifice pleasure for stability. Not everyone has the same experience and needs. Not everyone has the same personality. I know plenty of people who would struggle mightily with a simple existence.

Overseas vacations, wine and cheese, cab rides, expensive pets, gym and club memberships - I won't miss any of those things because they're not the kind of things a guy like me cares about. But again, not everyone is like me in this regard. And honestly, for the sake of Singapore's economy, I really hope not. (Part of the reason why I can live the way I do, is because other people have this habit of buying pricey shit they don't need. So keep on doing what you do, guys; you're awesome.)

Therefore, it's not a simple matter of glibly saying "live life this way". Not everyone will take to my chosen lifestyle the way I have, or reap the exact same rewards from doing so. Why should anyone travel the same path and have the same outcomes as me when they're fundamentally different from me? That makes no sense, does it?

In a nutshell...

The mistake most people make is to assume that everyone wants the same things that they do, or at everyone is built the same way. That's why you have well-intentioned but severely misguided people going around advising others to have kids or go to Church or become a vegetarian because those things have benefitted them... and they assume that these things will benefit other people in exactly the same way.

People can certainly achieve the same things I have, or more... but they're going to have to find their own pathway to it.

Stay unique,
T___T

The year I finally achieved that JLPT certification

Some say "better late than never". I got a huge dose of that this year as I obtained my Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) N5 Certificate.

Why was this overdue? Well, you see, because I actually began on this journey at the tender age of 15. I was a Polytechnic student at the time, and this was a supplementary module. At first, things went well. Having received education in Chinese, learning the basic sounds of Japanese was a breeze. Learning the Hiragana and Katakana writing systems wasn't much of a stretch as well; in fact it was significantly easier than reading and writing Chinese characters. Until we got to Kanji, which essentially was Chinese characters.

Ugh, more Chinese.

At which point I lost all interest.

Also, at this time, I had begun an obsession with writing code, and building stuff. Japanese was a pretty language, but it just didn't fit into my world the same way C++, SQL or even QBasic, did.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Even after graduation, not only did I neglect whatever little Japanese I had learned, the next few decades were a disastrous collection of bad career choices, even worse lifestyle choices, and sobering life lessons.

COVID-19 and Clubhouse

Fast-forward to 2021. COVID-19 had the world in its loathsome grip and I, like many others, sought human interaction online. That was when I discovered the Clubhouse app. Through it, I encountered numerous communities, not all of which spoke English, Mandarin, or even Cantonese.

A few of these were Japanese speakers. And some were even offering Japanese lessons. I dove right in, relearning all the basics I had forgotten. Many times, I would simply listen in, try to make sense of the conversation, and Google words that came up. Then I started engaging, hesitantly, in the conversations. I even participated in Mandarin-Japanese exchanges!

Little cultural exchanges.

It was slow going. I wrote an app to facilitate relearning Hiragana and Katakana. I practiced writing every day, religiously. But there was this feeling that I could do more.

That was when someone suggested that I take the JLPT. And from that day forth, I took things up a notch.

Training in earnest

My next step was to install Duolingo on my phone. For the next few years, I faithfully partook of the exercises daily. At the same time, I went onto YouTube to search for JLPT Listening exercises. I didn't really have a sense of how far I had progressed; I just knew I needed to keep going. I've never been brilliant; but what I am good at is being consistent.

One year later, I downloaded the Migii app, and paid the subscription fees for accessing sample JLPT exam questions. With Duolingo, the returns were diminishing. I needed to train a different set of linguistic muscles - the kind used for passing the exam. Duolingo had brought me to a certain point where I could read the Japanese exam questions without too much difficulty... now I had to practice answering them.

The next milestone was hit another year later when, while watching a Japanese TV show, with English subtitles, I noticed something odd. Almost constantly, the subtitles would read "It's OK". Even though "It's OK" was a perfectly reasonable thing to say in the context of the current point of the story, it was a pretty poor translation.

Phrase	Literal Meaning	English Translation
daijobu	It's OK.	"It's OK."
dou itashimashite	You're welcome.	"It's OK."
shinpai suna	Don't worry.	"It's OK."
anshin shite	Relax.	"It's OK."
ki ni shinai de	Pay it no mind.	"It's OK."

At this point, I found myself thinking - wow, these translators are so goddamn lazy! They just use "It's OK" for everything!

And my next thought was - hey, if I know this much, shouldn't I be taking the JLPT already?!

The JLPT Test Voucher

That was when I registered for the JLPT on the Japanese Cultural Society of Singapore website. and paid a hundred Singapore dollars for the privilege. A month later, the JLPT test voucher arrived in the mail. The train was in motion; there was no going back.

Meanwhile, I continued training religiously. With Listening practice, especially. Online chatter had it that the recordings would be played only once, so I trained myself similarly, by not rewinding and replaying.

The JLPT N5 Exam

It was July when the day arrived. I head for the Singapore Management Institute where the exam was held, and stood in line with what looked like mostly Burmese folks. Interesting.

The invigilator who took charge of the exam room I had been assigned to, seemed to be Japanese going by the way she spoke English.

Shading answers with a pencil.

The proceedings were charmingly old-school. We were given question and answer sheets. It was all multiple-choice, and the correct answer had to be shaded with a pencil for feeding into a scanning machine. Despite my numerous certificates, I hadn't done this since... 2015? This was because my last couple certifications were earned from doing the coursework and presentations, rather than standardized tests.

The toughest moment in the exam came from the Choukai, which was the Listening portion. Despite my best efforts, my concentration slipped at various points. It was with considerable relief that I handed in my question and answer sheets, and headed off.

In August, I logged on to the JLPT portal to check my results. I had passed, and my results were more than decent. I actually scored higher on Listening than other sections!

The real value of all this

Last September, I got my actual physical certification through the mail. It was a foregone conclusion by that time, but I still felt that little thrill of pride. Job well done, bro, I told my reflection. Not such a big deal in the larger picture, but we've got to celebrate our wins even if they're small. Especially if said win took thirty-three friggin' years to achieve.

My results.

The JLPT N5 Certification isn't going to change my life. As far as professional cred goes, it's barely a blip. Achieving the JLPT N5 Certification probably puts me on par with the average Japanese toddler where the language is concerned. As for the value of understanding multiple languages? That's not much of a flex. This is Southeast Asia; just about everyone and their dog is multilingual.

No; at my age, the act of learning is arguably more important than what's being learned. It helps stave off dementia.

The real value is knowing and affirming, that with sufficient motivation and putting in the time and effort, I can learn pretty much whatever I choose to learn. And that is powerful stuff. In an age where things are constantly and rapidly evolving, the ability to learn shit has become vital - not just in the tech industry, but for life itself.

In hindsight, I should have realized this. How did I learn ASP? PHP? Ruby? VueJS? D3? All by picking up a book, watching videos, visiting websites, and constant practice. Most of the time, it really is that simple. The methods vary, but at the end of the day, it's about the willingness to put in the hours.

The linguistic journey continues!

I do want to see if I can achieve the next rung, the JLPT N4 Certification. Again, I'm not really sure why. Just for the hell of it, I guess. It's not like I plan to visit Japan. It's not like I realistically have anything to prove to anyone.

On the other hand, Korean does seem pretty interesting.

Decisions, decisions...

Ganbarimashoo!
T___T

A Good-bad-ugly Analysis of Vibe Coding

The term "Vibe Coding" came out around February of this year (credited to Andrej Karpathy, co-founder at OpenAI), to describe the phenomenon of people using generative Artificial Intelligence to write code without going about it the "traditional" way. The general way Vibe Coding works is, one feeds in a series of prompts containing requirements to the AI, and the AI produces an application which the user then, again with the AI's help, continues to refine.

Only vibes needed to write
code.

And that's Vibe Coding. None of the traditional processes, thinking things through, making sure the logic is watertight... not at first, anyway. The idea here is to spin up something quickly and then include these things as we go along. See the emphasis on the word "quickly"? That's because this is going to be a rather important consideration.

I will commit to saying that AI will not produce better software. AI will produce exactly the same error-prone, bug-ridden, rickety code that it was undoubtedly trained on... but at a blindingly fast pace.

I actually tried Vibe Coding with OpenAI's ChatGPT and (to a lesser extent) Microsoft's Copilot, and the results were... interesting.

The Good

You use natural English, which then gets interpreted by the AI who will then leverage upon its knowledge of code, to spin up a quick prototype for you. Creating an application is no longer the province of software developers who have spent years plying their trade. You no longer need to have the know-how or technical expertise. You no longer need to be qualified.

When I was Vibe Coding with ChatGPT, I revelled in the fact that I no longer needed to write code if I didn't feel like it, and deal with my own typos. No, all I needed to do was give some big-picture instructions to ChatGPT, then copy and paste code wholesale to the code base without thinking too much about it.

Quick building with
no expertise.

When it comes to developing rapid prototypes without the need for proper technical training, this method of coding is second to none. What the users do is indulge in a fantasy where they are actual qualified engineers, and create software simply by describing what they want. Jensen Huang's stated dream of everyone being a programmer inches closer to reality. Without training in logic or tech, you create by feel. By vibes. Hence, "Vibe Coding".

Also, without due process. None of the usual procedures that developers use to create the product before actually writing the code. The flowcharting of the software product's information flow. The whiteboarding. The test-driven development. No, what the user does here is declare intent to the AI, and the AI creates the closest approximation from all the code that it has been trained on, with customizations that may fit in with the user's requirements.

And that was what I did. I gave ChatGPT instructions - some specific, some less so, and let it cook. I was careful not to give it too much to do at once. The process had to be very incremental. Less mistakes seemed to be produced this way.

The Bad

As one may suspect, it was not all smooth-sailing. Some of it was my fault. I fell into the trap of treating ChatGPT like an actual human being instead of being explicit. Thus, I was sometimes vague, and when I got frustrated, I turned to sarcasm.

Which certainly didn't help my case.

ChatGPT did stuff I didn't expect. In some cases, it constantly broke things by making changes I never asked for, because it thought it was being helpful.

Breaking stuff.

When I was vague and things still turned out the way I hoped they would, however, it only served to tell me that it wasn't because AI was particularly gifted in this area. It was more due to the fact that my requirements were actually pretty standard and it had been trained on these types of requests prior to me, over and over.

I have no reason to think that the experiences of others would differ too much from mine. Human beings are made of flesh and blood, and can be annoyingly vague.

There were others in the team who Vibe Coded as well, making more progress than they would ever have had with their limited technical foundation. Yet, the code was problematic. It was full of security and logical holes. The code that I created using Vibe Coding didn't - but that was because I knew the correct instructions to give. I knew to ask about CSRF protection and SQL Injection. I knew when to use slugs instead of database ids in the URL.

In the absence of this, someone who wasn't technically-trained wouldn't know enough to ask the right questions, and AI might not necessarily volunteer the information.

The Downright Ugly

Vibe Coding automates much of the tedious, repetitive and altogether unexciting parts of software development. Tests, scaffolding, validation. Stuff that has been done to death. Unfortunately, it's through these exercises that software developers learn. And young devs who haven't done these things to death, stand to miss out on some great learning opportunities.

AI is an obsequious
apple polisher.

I've also noticed that AI is just a little too agreeable. ChatGPT acts like it has a wife and seven kids at home to feed, and it's terrified that it'll get fired if it so much as steps on my oh-so-precious feelings. ChatGPT didn't push back when I made typos or got something wrong. And this is problematic because developers find a lot of value in being told when they're doing something stupid inadvisable. As opposed to having their butts constantly shined by AI.

Being told "You're absolutely right" or "Sharp observation!" in every other exchange does nothing but promote complacency. Plus, it's just tiresome. That's not the way to learn.

Conclusion... for now

Do I think Vibe Coding is a good thing? Yes, and no. It's all context.

As a software developer, I feel professionally obligated to say that this "Vibe Coding" trend is rubbish and you should all be ashamed. Then again, the would-be gatekeepers of programming, I suspect, would be all-too-happy to sneer at someone as mediocre as myself because I don't engage in certain approved practices. So, they can go kick rocks.

Go kick rocks!

From the POV of a layperson or even the perspective of a pragmatist, things aren't so cut-and-dry. I have no duty towards promoting "good code"; my goals are business goals and the viability of "Vibe Coding" should be viewed through that lens.

Whatever your stand is, really depends how far you want to think ahead. How far should one think ahead, anyway? More food for thought, for another day.

There's also the possibility that I'm just not doing it right. Cut me some slack now, it's not like there's an established user manual for that shit. We're all just figuring it out as we go along.

Good vibes all around!
T___T

Tech Workers: Hard vs Soft Skills (Part 2/2)

We've looked at hard skills, now let's explore soft skills!

Soft Skills

Contrary to popular belief, soft skills are not just about getting along wth other people, or getting them to think highly of you. It is about communication. It's not about proficiency in any given language and knowing fancy long words - there are plenty of people without a formal education who communicate a lot better than people who speak the Queen's English. Conversely, I've known people who are great at English, but come off so insufferable that nobody wants to deal with them. Being able to speak a language well does not automatically make one persuasive. Thus, proficiency in a language is more of a hard skill than a soft one.

It's all  about
communication.

Whether it's giving someone their flowers, managing expectations or diffusing potential (or existing!) tensions, discount soft skills at your peril. Just as a skilled programmer knows when to code and when not to code, someone well-versed in soft skills knows when to talk and when not to talk.

Soft skills are the skills that deal with communication with human beings. Human-computer interaction or just human-to-human communication? It is all relevant. Software is used by human beings, and developed by human beings. Therefore, any communication involving human beings remains a valuable skill.

What happens when you neglect soft skills?

Remember that the number one goal of software development is to solve problems and add value. In the case of your organization, it probably means to solve business problems and add business value.

Even without going into the area of personnel management, soft skills are very relevant in the software product itself. When developers concentrate on using technical skills and exclude soft skills, there's a danger that they will wind up with solutions that simply don't improve the product for the end-user. And this is important, why? Because ultimately, products are created for users. And that involves having enough empathy to understand what the end-user needs as opposed to what is technically superior.

The problem with management skills is that they're often not seen as a skill in their own right. People, for some strange reason, seem to think that programmers become better managers just because they've been writing code longer. News flash - practice in a skill improves that particular skill. Thus, practicing writing code only makes a developer better at writing code. Spending time developing software makes a dev better at developing software. Not at managing people.

Collaborative effort.

Sure, a more experienced software developer would be better at handling the software development process. Identifying potential pitfalls. Troubleshooting. But that same developer would not necessarily be good at delegation of work, managing personality clashes in a team, accounting to higher management for schedule shortfalls, and the like. These are a different set of skills, no matter how much people want to pretend otherwise.

Therefore, if you're promoted only for your technical ability, you'll get found out as soon as they start giving you subordinates. That's where any weaknesses you have at the actual art of man-management, will be exposed.

Where I stand with Soft Skills

As mentioned earlier, proficiency with the English language (or any language) does not automatically make one a good communicator. I happen to be living proof of that. There's been times I tried to describe a problem in a Service Request and fell far short of making myself understood. There have been also times I tried to describe a solution, with similar results.

Sometimes I forget that the people I speak to aren't technically trained, and that I have to be explicit when explaining certain things. Sometimes even with technically-trained personnel, it's good to spell things out just to be safe. There are times something sounds good in my head, only to sound comically wrong after I put it in writing.

Comes out wrong in writing.

That's one of the reasons I blog. Even if I never reach a wide audience, the point is the exercise in communication. Explaining technical concepts. Use of analogies. Appropriately describing my feelings and positions, both positive and negative, about certain subjects.

All said, I could always improve. All of us could. It's a skillset so wide that it covers all industries, not just software, at all levels.

In conclusion...

Hard skills are the skills that deal with computers.

Soft skills are the skills that deal with people.

In today's world, it's extremely hard to survive in the tech industry without a certain modicum of either one. There are, of course, extreme examples of each, but they are outliers.

For good or for skill,
T___T

Meta ditches the fact-checkers

Meta started off 2025 with a grand announcement in early January. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, sporting a new luscious mop of hair, declared that Facebook and Instagram would be dialling back on fact-checking and content moderation operations. In recent years, Facebook's moderation policies have been met with mixed reactions due to allegedly Left-leaning biases within the fact-checking. 

What it effectively meant was that if your Facebook posts have ever received a warning for saying things that the fact-checkers considered offensive or untrue, you were about to no longer be in danger of that. In particular, if you were of the Right-leaning persuasion, you might find your content no longer under scrutiny or censored in the name of "preventing the spread of misinformation".

Censored by Facebook.

I've never had much of a problem with that censorship. It's annoying when it happens, sure, but I don't get censored much. Mostly because being Singaporean, I tend to post things that don't actually make sense in English. The thing about having your own slang in a multi-cultural country is that you tend to go that way when feeling particularly strongly about something. In other words, we Singaporeans can be offensive in multiple languages, not just one. Go, us!

And also because I don't go onto Facebook or Instagram to look for Right-leaning opinions. Or Left-leaning ones, for that matter. These platforms just don't represent that kind of value for me. I'm more about the DIY and origami videos

Motivations

Mark Zuckerberg is a highly accomplished man, but with this move, even by his lofty standards, he achieved something truly remarkable. In a country where deep political divisions exist, he's managed to turn both the Left and the Right sides of the political aisle against him. Many on the Left think that he's a turncoat who sold out by adopting this bend-the-knee approach towards Donald Trump. On the Right, there's a sentiment that someone with no principles, who could abandon his stand just like that just because Donald Trump is the one soon to be in power, can't be trusted.

And both sides, of course, in not so many words, accuse Zuckerberg of trimming his sails in response to the directions the political winds blow in the USA.

Trimming their sails.

Honestly, from my privileged position of not caring a whit about the outcome of the culture wars in the USA, I fail to see the problem. 

Sure, Zuckerberg said this.

What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it's gone too far. So, I want to make sure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms.

As far as I'm concerned, no matter how he may pontificate to the contrary, Zuckerberg has never been a champion for Free Speech. The mere thought elicits a chuckle. Zuckerberg's a businessman, first and foremost, and if it takes a certain amount of ass-kissing (even if said posterior belongs to a certain Donald J Trump) to get ahead, so be it. Zuckerberg isn't betraying anything or embracing some virtue. As a business owner, his first duty isn't to Free Speech - and if he's ever given you a different impression, I'm afraid that's on you - but to business. He's simply doing the sensible thing for Meta.

So what if Zuckerberg's only doing this because Donald Trump won the election? So what if he's only trying to ensure Meta survives at least till the next election four years later? What else is he supposed to do, sacrifice his business for high-minded ideals that some randos on the internet like to squawk about?

The plan is to move the moderation team to Texas. Assuming that the majority of the existing team can't simply just uproot themselves, the result would be some kind of voluntary mass resignation. Considering that Zuckerberg recently talked about replacing programmers in Meta with AI by this year, I think it's safe to assume that there's a drive to reduce headcount at Meta that ties in nicely with the move to Texas. That would represent significant cost savings for Meta, if nothing else.

What next for Meta?

The CEO of X, one Linda Yaccarino, congratulated Meta on the change. 

I think it’s really exciting when you think about community notes being good for the world... and it couldn’t be more validating than to see that Mark and Meta realize that. Mark, Meta, welcome to the party.

Welcome to the party? Geez.

This may be due to me being Asian, coming from a culture that normalizes sarcasm and therefore being suspicious of everything, including (and especially) things that sound like compliments. But it feels like some serious shade is being thrown here. She might as well have said "welcome to the twenty-first century!".

Twitter-shaped shade
disguised as a Like.

That aside, I would like to address another thing Zuckerberg said.

We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth, but the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US.

Jesus, what was his first clue?!

Anyway, what does this change for Facebook? People have been attempting to push their political and ideological agendas on Social Media for over a decade now. It's just not that big a deal any more. You can throw all the Left or Right-leaning content in peoples' faces all day; you're not converting anyone. All it will probably accomplish is that now Facebook is no longer a Leftist echo chamber, people are just going elsewhere to find more suitable echo chambers. But absolutely no one is going to be coming onto Facebook in search of the truth.

In the larger picture, I'm not sure if anyone lets themselves be influenced by Social Media any more. To what end? Social Media is filled with people who are, in all likelihood, just as ignorant and unenlightened as everyone else. Anyone who's actually looking to have their opinions shaped by Social Media, is probably not playing with a full deck in the first place. To say nothing of the sort who have maybe a few thousand Followers and think their constant political posts on Social Media make any kind of difference.

Come to think of it, now with A.I coming up, we won't even need all these users anymore. Speak complete rubbish with utmost confidence? A.I can do that, and much faster too!

Ultimately...

One half of the USA is feeling great about the change, and the other half is feeling pretty sore. This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but none of that matters. For Meta's Social Media business, the writing was on the wall a long time ago. I see them becoming progressively less relevant. They'll always have a place in history, but in four to eight years, this may be exactly all they have left.

Facts man, facts!
T___T

App Review: Haunted Dorm

Think about all the tropes you've ever seen in Asian horror and even movies like the A Nightmare On Elm Street series and It. Think of all the times the characters triumphed over evil by virtue of their imaginations and teamwork.

And then download this game - Haunted Dorm, by China game company Mihuan, for a fun time.

This is a Tower Defense game with a single goal - to defeat the monster lurking the hallways before it comes for you. To that emd, you'll have all the classic tools for a Tower Defense; namely, missile weapons and resource generating items. The difference is that there is one main enemy to defeat. Sometimes there are multiple enemies, but only the demise of that one monster will win the game.

The Premise

The dorm is being haunted by a monster. You play as one kid in a group of children, going to a room and sleeping to gain enough resources. These resources will build your defences to hold off the monster's attacks, and eventually destroy it.

Once the monster breaks through the door of the room you choose, you're as good as dead and the game ends.

The Aesthetics

Haunted Dorm is rendered in what one would call "kiddy graphics". Everything looks hand-drawn and crude, like toddlers made this. It's a bold stylistic choice, though sometimes comes off as clunky.

The Experience

It's definitely a spooky experience, especially the first few days you play it. The atmosphere is haunting. The graphics are kiddy and this could end up either being comical or adding to the spookiness.

But there's also that sense of solidarity as you, the player, team up with other computer-controlled players to take down the monster.

The Interface

Drag your finger over the screen to move the avatar. Tap on buttons to perform actions. Select items to be built from menus.

It's not exactly complicated, though the execution feels clumsy.

There are also some items, like the machine gun, that you will need to tap and hold, and drag, in order to use. It's awesome, but not terribly intuitive.

What I liked

The music. It adds so much to the atmosphere, I can't rave enough about it.

Dream Hunter Mode. You get to play as the monster instead of the kids... and lemme tell you that this feature is fucking insane. Whereas in Normal Mode you had the aid of computer-controlled allies, in this mode it's the opposite - all these are working against you now. Still, what a feature!

Seven Monsters Mode. More interesting levels where you can't purchase Special Objects. This was pretty challenging.

Story Map Mode. Different rooms with different rules of engagement.

Ghost And Angels Mode. This is another mode where any allies who die, become a ghost as well. Good, chaotic fun!

The comments made when you steal stuff from other players, are amusing. Especially the awkward English translations of what was obviously Chinese text to begin with.

This solar beam is awesome beyond belief. Not only does it pinpoint the Monster's location, it deals damage and earns coins! And you can even upgrade it for bonus damage. Talk about overkill.

The entire game was ridiculously easy to play. Even with comically bad English translation, it was a breeze to just tap my way around and try shit out.

What I didn't

Unless you have the Trampoline, there really does not seem to be any way to escape what I call the Ghost Hole attack, or just spam-filling every square inch of the room, which can be super-tedious if you chose a large room.

The menu tends to go out of the screen sometimes depending on where you tapped the button. It's a layout issue and annoying AF. Do better!

Amy Can't Die Mode seemed like a waste of time. You basically sleep in one room with a bunch of other kids and you use your combined powers to hold of wave after wave of hostiles until you finally assemble a weapon strong enough to kill the Boss. It was an interesting concept, but the execution was so weak.

When there are objects appearing around the corridor, it's always a crapshoot as to what you'll end up grabbing before the others do. There's just so little time to react. At least give players and option to pick something else other than what they initially picked up!

I don't understand this game's obsession with frogs and toads. At all. It can be a little off-putting.

Conclusion

Haunted Dorm is simultaneously campy and goofy, and deliciously creepy. I found Normal Mode quite addictive and all the other features combined should provide great replayability. This is a game that doesn't take itself at all seriously, always a plus. One definitely could do worse than give Haunted Dorm a shot.

My Rating

6.5 / 10

Not spooktacular, but damn solid!
T___T

App Review: Duolingo

Today, I want to review an app that I've been using for the past couple years. Duolingo is a language-learning app that provides lessons on reading, writing, pronounciation and grammar, for over forty different languages.

For the past year, I have been regularly using Duolingo to work on my Japanese. As with most other activities, prolonged use comes with diminishing returns. However, Duolingo still represents significant value for me, and I'd like to examine it in some detail.

The Premise

When you sign up for an account, Duolingo tests you in that language to assess how far along you are in your learning journey. From there, it places you either right at the beginning, or somewhere further along the path.

From there, you complete modules that have been grouped into two basic groups - reading and writing, and grammar.

In the case of Japanese, reading and writing is further sub-categorized into Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. This will take the form of character recognition, and actual writing.

For grammar, it's more along the lines of forming sentences, learning new words and concepts, and translating from Japanese to English. And recently, they even added speaking lessons!

Duolingo is partially gamified. As the users learn, they gain XP which can be used for extra challenges and unlocking features like Personalized Planning. Users are also placed in Leagues - Copper, Silver, Gold, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald, Amethyst, Pearl, Obsidian, Diamond - and even a sort of Elite-level league within the Diamond League.

The Aesthetics

The layouts are clean and straightforward, with a cutesey bent. Check out the art on these medals!

The animations are pretty cute, especially at the end of each lesson.

The Experience

Even just exploring the app for the first time, I navigated it with ease. I managed to find extra information by clicking on stuff during exercises, such as explanatory text.

Also, there were charts and wordy descriptions hidden away, accessible by clicking the correct screen elements to open them up. They were almost a bit too well hidden, because I only really discovered them half a year into using Duolingo.

All in all, this did not require a huge learning curve to use.

The Interface

The user tends to be clicking buttons on most of the screens. It's mostly arranging words to form sentences or multiple-choice questions.

In the case of writing exercises, there's a drawing component.

For speaking exercises, tap the mic and read the text provided. It's all pretty simple, hard to go wrong.

What I liked

This app keeps getting revised as the creators refine their teaching techniques, adding new question types every now and then.

I love this particular puzzle. It's mad (just like its name), yet so addictive.

This timed challenge isn't bad either.

This avatar maker seems totally superfluous if I'm being honest, but I totally love it!

I like the fact that Listening and Speaking exercises are totally optional and can be turned off when encountered.

While I'm not wild about the concept of Hearts (you need at least 1 Heart to do the lessons), there's at least a practice option that can be used without Hearts, to earn Hearts. I understand why it is the way it is, because Duolingo is ultimately a business and users need to be encouraged to use the Pro version. Doesn't stop it from being annoying on occasion!

Friend Quests are great. Nothing like teaming up with someone else once a week, to meet some objective or other. This is so cool!

Gems. While I think they're kind of superfluous, I can't seem to stop obsessively collecting them by doing challenges, completing Quests, watching ads, and so on. I tend to console myself that at least with all this ad watching, I'm making up for the fact that I haven't yet spent a cent on this app.

I live for Duolingo telling me I've extended my streak!

The concept of Super is nice. It adds considerable value to users who have money to spare.

Just the entire concept of Duolingo, to be honest. It's hard to have negative thoughts about an app whose intention is to educate. The intention is to be lauded, both in terms of intent and scope. Over forty languages is nothing to sniff at.

What I didn't

Some of the voices are extremely annoying. The voices of the kids - and this may be just my opinion - are high, shrill, and somehow louder.

I like encouraging my friends and all, but having a list of different emojis to do it with, feels like overkill.

Having a listening Daily Quest seems a little insensitive towards the deaf.

One main limitation of Duolingo is that it uses English almost exclusively as a base. If you are trying to learn English, then yes, you can use one of the other languages as a base. However, you can't, for example, learn Japanese using Mandarin.

Sometimes there are glitches in the interface. Mostly layout problems, probably easily fixed.

I think the concept of using English to type in romanization for sounds, is more than a little annoying when you factor in Autocorrect. Plus, I really don't think it adds much to the education.

Just the general gamification of the experience seems a little off, somehow. I suspect the app would be better with its exclusion. In particular, I detest the Leaderboard.

The entire concept of XP also gives me the eye-rolls. This goes for related functionality like Legendary, Saturday XP Bonus Hour,  and so on. A guy just wants to study Japanese, why do I need this? Why does anyone need this? It's a distraction, nothing more.

There's also an issue with Duolingo that has been making the rounds on Social Media a while now. And that's the inclusion of LGBT themes in the training material. Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, I think inclusivity is a wonderful thing, and I certainly won't criticize it on a platform that I'm not even paying for. However, the heavy-handed way Duolingo goes about it, is problematic.

Take the above screenshot, for instance. It's that of a butch-looking woman (with a woman's voice) telling us about her wife. Now, butch lesbians exist because LGBT is a fact of life regardless of legality. Muslim users can complain all they like; it is what it is. But I do object to sentences such as "My older brother's husband is Canadian.".

You see, same-sex marriage has not been recognized in Japan as of now. That is also a fact of life. And to act like it's mainstream in Japan via means of the training sentences, strikes me as supremely disrespectful of another country's right to determine their own laws without outside interference. The makers of Duolingo are not Japanese, are not natively familiar with the culture, and have no business trying to impose their ideals here no matter how noble their stated intentions seem. As of last June, they've already gotten into trouble with Russia about this. 

Conclusion

This app is great for learning a new language. It won't give you native-level fluency, but it will absolutely take you from zero to some significant level of proficiency provided one uses it diligently and consistently. Duolingo is probably excellent as a supplementary means of learning. Or even a main means of learning if, like me, you're just a casual.

Great as the concept is, however, there remain several implementation problems that, in all fairness, are ironed out with regularity. With the regular addition of new features, inevitably, there will other implementation issues, but hey, it won't get stagnant. That's a huge plus!

Regardless of what I think about Duolingo's attempt at incorporating progressive politics (and make no mistake, I think it's misguided at best), Duolingo remains one of the most recognized language-learning aids today. And if they sensibly keep those politics as a feature rather than the feature, this should not change anytime soon.

My Rating

7.5 / 10

This app speaks to me!
T___T