Confessions of an AI Fanboy: How artificial intelligence amazes and dazes, dazzles and frazzles

Barney’s latest AI thoughts and musings

  • Torn between two chatbots: I just met Floot, so now it’s Flo vs. Pete

    I have a daily mandarin orange with my breakfast, and always try for one not too small, sweet and squirty/messy (thin skin can make a-peel harder!) and large mandarins, easy to peel but sorta … tasteless.

    So that whole Goldilocks-style/porridge heat balancing act of tradeoffs is where I happily find myself.

    I enjoy Reddit, even when you go to a subreddit about anything, such as Base44 (my first encounter with that is the last blog entry) and you inevitably find lots of complaints (who signs in/visits a sub to say only nice things?!) – and where a few folks said Floot was better. (Rhymes with Groot;-)

    And Perplexity agreed – I tried a real head-to-head comparison, also including the new GPT-5 ability to create websites without codes, and the WordPress AI Web Builder.

    So with kudos and a nod from Perplexity, I went off to try Floot – also at first for free but then when I hit the credit limit pretty fast- hey, give away the store and go broke! – and when I ran out of free credits, I bought a reasonable starter monthly price.

    It works much the same as Base44 – a very friendly chatbot who tries to make the vision happen. I think I see why it has fans – in part because Base44 just got bought by Wix and in the transition, folks are not getting support ticket responses. Not good.

    As you can see from this screen shot and the one on the Base44 blog post, each is attractive in its own way. But I’ve gotten farther with Floot, working on the reading and writing interfaces, the ability to import content and even how to sign up/log in, create a profile etc.

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  • This AI web/app creator could finally make my Grand Vision real

    Yep, it’s a work in progress. But what – or who – isn’t?

    OK, it’s not “live” yet. Who knows if I’ll get there. Sure looks like what I’ve dreamt of for over a decade.

    But I’m pretty sure that Base 44 – recently bought by WIX for $80 mil – has the darn friendliest and most patient developer friend I’ve ever thrown 1 zillion “oh and another thing” fix-this, change-that nitpicks at. Ever-patient, friendly and supportive. (Somewhat scarily so.)

    I know it’s not human, but it is as real as … me talking to myself when I’m in a good mood (as opposed to the other way…)

    I am jazzed, yet again. Will I ever get all the make-it-work plumbing in place? Dunno.

    Oh, it has a share link, so you can see it now! Just realize it’s a mockup and this plane doesn’t fly yet, but so nice and pretty on the tarmac!

    But as a … what do they call it, wireframe? Mockup? look-and-feel site/app, fueled by large passages from my 15-year Grand Vision blog, http://thenowedition.wordpress.com – it allows me to not just endlessly talk about the darn thing so much, and to start being able to show folks what I have been talking incessantly about since way before Chat GPT was a thing.

    Their ad is what caught me – that you can make any idea, any vision a reality.

    Over-sold a bit? Maybe. But if you have one or more, as I do, maybe worth the Starter $20 a month try?

    I took to calling it ‘Pete,’ named for my late, great brother and fellow tech nerd. But maybe, since it’s Base 44, I should call him (it, I know!) – Basie. As in Count Basie, the great musician.

    Because man, this guy can play. And conduct, and write music and tickle the code ivories.

  • I looked up dichotomy, and I think we have one

    Shvets/Pexels

    di·chot·o·my

    /dīˈkädəmē/

    noun

    1. a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.”a rigid dichotomy between science and mysticism”

    OK, that’s pretty close.

    I’ve never been blessed to be a parent, but I have to figure some get to the troubled teenage years and of course love the kid and what they represent about the future, more than where they actually are in life. (Moody, sullen, obstinate or … wherever they happen to be in their lives.)

    And so it is with AI.

    I love what it represents about the future, being better in so many ways – more cures, less painful chores, etc. – more than what it actually is.

    I’ve been a tech geek, end user- (not coder!) style, for a long time.

    I was a beta tester for America Online! With my late, great brother Pete.

    What a gadget fan he was. We were both excited by the world of computers, and then came the Internet and online, and … I used all the services – CompuServe, GEnie, and IBM/Sears’ pioneering colorful service called Prodigy. The squeal of dial-up modems and … yeah, even early social media, before it took a turn toward troll-ism (which is why I love Reddit, where downvotes send them out of sight).

    Back then, who really knew what was coming? No one, really. Not to the specifics.

    But we didn’t care. It was such a fun ride into the future!

    The AI buzz is, in my humble opinion, not just hype. It will be a roller-coaster, with a natural share of shysters and fast-buck “artists,” but also with truly visionary people in every field.

    But in a world full of AI rabbit holes, hard to escape once you dive in, I love to think big-picture.

    And I say, may a zillion AI “flowers” bloom – as long as we stay out of the weeds and don’t suffer from allergies.

  • You’ve already met your AI-driven best friend/ worst enemy. You can call him Al

    When I say “Everything Reminds Me of a Song,” it’s true. And would love to see someone (picture the producers from The Producers) turn that into not just a song… but a musical! It could go anywhere.

    But I digress. Boy… do I digress….

    So amid My “Real Work” today, a familiar thought from the edges of my noggin finally presented itself, as a word-play kind of guy.

    Ever watch one YouTube video around 8 p.m. – and the next thing you know, it’s midnight?

    Where the heck did that time go?

    You can blame Al. In the right or wrong typeface, AI and Al look soooo alike!)

    In this case we’re talking the guy known as Al Go Rhythm. (Sure, algorithm, but bear with me.)

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  • Is AI the ultimate Rorschach test? (And will we pass?)

    Is AI the ultimate Rorschach test? (And will we pass?)

    It’s been quite a year, and I only have to scratch the surface to explain why.

    My job had a 180 or is it 360?;-)-degree change as KTVZ focuses on streaming video, a big piece of the future of local TV news.

    Barney and his wife Debbie with the real Pacific University boxer!
    Barney and his wife and fellow Pacific University alum Debbie, finally meeting the real Boxer in the spring of 2025.

    And some 40 years after I wrote about the mystery of Pacific University’s long-missing mascot, the Boxer, for our alumni magazine, they brought the newly found original Boxer to Bend for a special alumni gathering.

    Yep, PU in Frosty Grave… I mean Forest Grove is where I met my wonderful future wife Deb as freshmen over FIFTY years ago.

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  • I think I know why content consumption is down…

    I think I know why content consumption is down…

    I just read a Medium post about how content consumption is down.

    Allow me to apply some sense of logic.

    If we all have the power to write, shoot video and share it all with the world, right in our pocket or purse… that has to take time away from reading, listening to and watching others’ content, to some degree.

    If everyone’s talking, who’s listening? If everybody’s writing, who’s reading? If every phone can shoot, thanks in large part to AI tools, cinema-quality movies, who has the time to sort through that huge pile of content to find something worth watching?

  • Stormy days may come and go, but the AI (R)evolution is a constant

    Stormy days may come and go, but the AI (R)evolution is a constant

    We’ve had a thunder-and-lightning trio of days here in Bend, Oregon, and lost power on two of them (so far). We were relatively prepared – emergency lights, flashlights, candles, etc., thanks to my great wife Deb.

    But to dive into my inevitable analogy, the storm fronts of AI that many have been buffeted by in the past 2-3 years have yet to impact many others – at least, not directly.

    YET.

    But the subtle, “hidden” impacts are likely to become less subtle as the stormy days of innovation and change continue on to the horizon.

    If all you hear is thunder, the senses can become dulled. Even the lightning flashes of that new model or this mind-blowing new approach… well, anything can become the “new normal,” can’t it?

  • The most impactful rabbit holes ever devised by … well, that is the question, isn’t it?

    The most impactful rabbit holes ever devised by … well, that is the question, isn’t it?

    I absolutely love the world of artificial intelligence – the cosmic consequences, the endless discussions, from philosophical to political to technical – the rapid innovations and all of the rest.

    It’s clearly one of the most important developments of my life.

    I love reading about it in the flood of books, newsletters, etc., talking about it with others on spots like LinkedIn, watching and listening to podcasts and cannot really stop thinking about it.

    But use it? Not so much.

    Let me try to explain, in as fun and universal a way as possible, in this blog. Whether or not I say anything super-wise, much less mind-blowing, or make you think, I at least hope to make you sympathize, empathize – and laugh!

    Oh gee, that reminds me, I need to ask Perplexity to tell me the best one-liner it’s ever heard…. and you know what it just said?

    “Why don’t skeletons fight each other? They don’t have the guts.”

    Hah!