A screenshot showing side-by-side comparison of Google's Gemini LLM and Google Search answering the question "could you move diagonally in ultima 1". Gemini does a very succinct job of this, giving a definite answer with no "extras", while Google Search does not come close to answering the question (at least above the fold).

I think we're at peak LLM usefulness here. A succinct answer I'm willing to trust, no ads, nothing seeking my further engagement. Basically I can't see a way for Gemini to get any better for this type of dead-end query than where it's at right now. Prepare thyself for the crapwave.

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§1407 · April 30, 2024 · Software, Technology · (No comments) ·


dice

Once upon a time, I ported a turn-based strategy / tactical combat game to the web. The average play time for the game is quite long (many hours), so saving games is an important feature.

PC/Console games have two ways to do "game saves":

  1. Save on the machine, keyed to the user thanks to the operating system's file system and
  2. Save on the cloud, keyed to the user by some identity provider.

1) is easy to implement (writing and reading a file to disk). 2) is much harder to implement, costs money to run, and requires the gaming machine to have network connectivity.

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§1394 · April 19, 2024 · Apple, Entertainment, Firefox, Games, Google, Software, Technology, Web · (No comments) ·