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Chinese Electronics Firm Anker Starts Raising Prices on Amazon
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James Cameron: AI Could Help Cut VFX Costs in Half, Saving Blockbuster Cinema
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Study Finds Almost 200 Pesticides in European Homes
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Pentagon Axes $5.1 Billion in IT and Consulting Contracts With Accenture, Deloitte
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China Raises Tariffs on US Imports To 125%
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FDA Plans To Phase Out Animal Testing Requirements
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Error'd: Sentinel Headline
When faced with an information system lacking sufficient richness to permit its users to express all of the necessary data states, human beings will innovate. In other words, they will find creative ways to bend the system to their will, usually (but not always) inconsequentially.
In the early days of information systems, even before electronic computers, we found users choosing to insert various out-of-bounds values into data fields to represent states such as "I don't know the true value for this item" or "It is impossible accurately state the true value of this item because of faulty constraint being applied to the input mechanism" or other such notions.
This practice carried on into the computing age, so that now, numeric fields will often contain values of 9999 or 99999999. Taxpayer numbers will be listed as 000-00-0000 or any other repetition of the same digit or simple sequences. Requirements to enter names collected John Does. Now we also see a fair share of Disney characters.
Programmers then try to make their systems idiot-proof, with the obvious and entirely predictable results.
The mere fact that these inventions exist at all is entirely due to the ommission of mechanisms for the metacommentary that we all know perfectly well is sometimes necessary. But rather than provide those, it's easier to wave our hands and pretend that these unwanted states won't exist, can be ignored, can be glossed over. "Relax" they'll tell you. "It probably won't ever happen." "If it does happen, it won't matter." "Don't lose your head over it."
The Beast in Black certainly isn't inclined to cover up an errant sentinel. "For that price, it had better be a genuine Louis XVI pillow from 21-January-1793." A La Lanterne!
Daniel D. doubled up on Error'ds for us. "Do you need the error details? Yes, please."
And again with an alert notification oopsie. "Google Analytics 4 never stops surprising us any given day with how bugged it is. I call it an "Exclamation point undefined". You want more info? Just Google it... Oh wait." I do appreciate knowing who is responsible for the various bodges we are sent. Thank you, Daniel.
"Dark pattern or dumb pattern?" wonders an anonymous reader. I don't think it's very dark.
Finally, Ian Campbell found a data error that doesn't look like an intentional sentinel. But I'm not sure what this number represents. It is not an integral power of 2. Says Ian, "SendGrid has a pretty good free plan now with a daily limit of nine quadrillion seven trillion one hundred ninety-nine billion two hundred fifty-four million seven hundred forty thousand nine hundred ninety-two."
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AI Models Still Struggle To Debug Software, Microsoft Study Shows
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Russian Cable Attacks 'Threaten To Cut Off World's Internet'
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Microsoft is About To Launch Recall For Real This Time
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Fintech Founder Charged With Fraud After 'AI' Shopping App Found To Be Powered By Humans in the Philippines
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Data Centres Will Use Twice as Much Energy By 2030
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OpenAI Expands ChatGPT Memory To Draw on Full Conversation History
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Meta Says Llama 4 Targets Left-Leaning Bias
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China To Restrict US Film Releases
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Meta's New Tech Wants You Using Phones in Theaters
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Gas Boiler Fittings Outnumbered Heat Pumps By 15 To One in UK Last Year - Report
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Amazon CEO Urges 'Startup' Mentality in Shareholder Letter
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Trump: Apple Building in China is 'Unsustainable,' Could Exempt Some Companies From Tariffs
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Bank of England Says AI Software Could Create Market Crisis For Profit
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