Movies. Apps. Books. Drums. Jiu-Jitsu.
Austin, TX
Joined April 2010
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I got a Commodore 64 at 13 and never stopped building.
Since then: anti-spyware that hit $50K a day, three Atlas Shrugged films, an invite to the White House, two Apple Staff Picks, and an AI that watches movies.
Here's the short version 🧵
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Is your AI lying to you?
I tested instructions that push models toward the truth on four models. They helped Gemini and Sonnet, did no better than a one-line prompt on GPT, and split the graders on Opus.
Full results, failures included, in the reply.
Write-up, every answer and grade: scottdesapio.com/thoughts
Test kit to rerun it yourself: github.com/sdesapio/thoughts
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Wife sent me this pic and called me.
Well done, wife.
She searched for something, clicked a link, and boom.
Hi-jacked.
Security scam city. "You're in danger! Call us." 🤔
Luckily, these guys were leaning more on the ignorance of the end user than they were actual tech.
This type of thing, however, is going to become more and more prevalent, and more and more sophisticated.
Be vigilant. Do not become a victim.
If you ever see something like this on your machine:
1. Do not click on anything.
2. Do not call the phone number.
3. Hold the power button on your machine and force a shutdown.
4. Reboot.
Right now:
1. Make sure all of your devices are running the latest versions of their respective operating systems.
2. Go for a device-less walk with your family and come up with a safe word. You WILL be getting calls from people who SOUND like your family members. If something seems off, safe word. If they're asking you for money, safe word. If they say they're in trouble, safe word.
3. Stop checking your voicemail. For your voicemail greeting, simply say, "Hi, it's me. Please do not leave a message as I no longer check them. Thank you."
Be safe.
What I build now:
CinemaCloudWorks, film distribution software
iScreeningRoom, online test screenings for filmmakers
aiScreeningRoom, an AI that predicts how audiences will react to a film
Smartmoviesites, websites for feature films
Mila's Tools, a unit converter that earned an Apple Staff Pick (while Steve Jobs was still alive!)
BeepWatch, a timer for Apple Watch
Plus Mila's Currency, BJJ Timer & Scoreboard, Composr, and many more.
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Scott DeSapio retweeted
PSA: in light of recent cyberattacks and vulnerabilities, I recommend everyone:
* use a good password manager (1Password) and do not duplicate passwords
* use two factor auth for everything important (not via sms!! Google Authenticator or better yet YubiKey)
* Auto-updates on, and restart weekly so they actually install
* Freeze your credit
* Get an IRS Identity Protection PIN
* Get your cell carrier to give you a port-out PIN or number lock that makes the carrier refuse to move your number without the PIN
You can ask your claude code to audit what on your laptop is out of date and needs updating.
BeepWatch 3.7.5 is live. A user wrote in that his Apple Watch kept restarting, and his detailed notes helped me find the cause. Thanks, Steve!
What's new:
- Fixed an issue where BeepWatch could keep your Apple Watch awake after pausing a timer or closing the app, which could drain your battery or cause a restart.
- Paused timers now automatically wrap up after 10 minutes to protect your Watch's battery life.
- Apple Watch remote control timers only show as Ready on your Watch while they're actually open on your iPhone, so Play always works as expected.
- If a workout is interrupted by the app closing, reopening BeepWatch will properly end that workout session.
- Heads up: if you pause for more than 10 minutes while saving workouts to Apple Health, your progress up to that pause will be saved as one workout, and resuming will start a new one.
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Scott DeSapio retweeted
"If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth, by which no man was ever injured."
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
“We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.”
- Aristotle
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Scott DeSapio retweeted
Digger had Tom Cruise, a $125 million budget, and an Oscar-winning director. It still opened to just $8 million.
The problem wasn't the star. It was the marketing. The trailers showed Tom Cruise in prosthetics and never told anyone what the movie was about. Watching a big star do something you can't make sense of isn't a reason to buy a ticket.
iScreeningRoom audience surveys show it clearly. When we ask people what made them want to see a movie, 52% pick the synopsis. Nothing else comes close: genre 28%, title 26%, cast 22%, poster 13%. The story gets nearly twice the votes of any other reason, including who's in it.
A star can bring attention, but it's the star plus the story that sells tickets. Tell people what the movie is about, put it in front of the people who'll care about that story, and they show up. Leave the story out, and nobody shows up to find out.
New in BeepWatch 3.7.4:
* BeepWatch now speaks 14 languages - Danish and Vietnamese have been added, available on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch
* Interval volume now has a better range - set it low for a much quieter experience, or keep it at full volume as before
* Volume changes apply across the board: interval beeps, start and pause sounds, background audio, and the spoken finish announcement
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