Google Bard is finally there

 Here are my take on the new Google AI:

Google has recently announced a new AI language model called Bard. 

Bard is a factual language model from Google AI, trained on a massive dataset of text and code. It can generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.

Beware though as it is still under development, but it has already shown great promise. 

Here are some of the key features of Bard:

• Factual language model: Bard is trained on a massive dataset of text and code, which allows it to generate text that is both informative and accurate.
• Multilingual: Bard can translate between over 100 languages, which makes it a valuable tool for communication and collaboration.
• Creative: Bard can write different kinds of creative content, such as poems, code, scripts, musical pieces, email, letters, etc. This makes it a powerful tool for artists, writers, and developers.
• Intelligent: Bard is able to understand and respond to natural language queries. This makes it a valuable tool for research and learning.
• Answers can be listened to via an audio option
• Responses can be shared on reddit, linkedn, or exported into Google Docs

I believe that Bard has the potential to be a powerful tool for many different purposes. It could be used to:

• Improve communication and collaboration between people who speak different languages.
• Create new and innovative ways to learn and educate.
• Generate creative content that is both informative and engaging.
• Answer your questions in an informative way, even if they are open ended, challenging, or strange.

I am excited to see how Bard develops in the future. 

Happy Accidents saves the day (again)!

Playing with 'Happy Accident '

happyaccidents.ai/image

for the prompt and details (model, lora, etc ...)

Happy Accidents saves the day!

Since the ban of free google account using colab for generating AI artworks, 

Many users have upgraded their google account, others have left, and after using free online services, they might get frustrated to not having access to text inversion and Loras/Lycoris modules. 

There is a new deal as recently https://www.happyaccidents.ai/ is adding these modules for free as new features

The results are quite good:

see for yourself

Alternative to Google Colab

As google colab is hunting down all 'stable diffusion' users (this happened last week (April 18, 2023))

it is time to find alternatives, for people not able to afford a pricey PC configuration

https://aqualxx.github.io/stable-ui/

prompt:

Sofia Vergara, Latina, make up, focus on torso, bikini outfit , looking at viewer, smiling, detailed face, beach and ocean background

negative prompt:

nsfw, (worst quality, low quality:1.3), (depth of field, blurry:1.2), (greyscale, monochrome:1.1), 3D face, nose, cropped, lowres, text, jpeg artifacts, signature, watermark, username, blurry, artist name, trademark, watermark, title, (tan, muscular, loli, petite, child, infant, toddlers, chibi, sd character:1.1), multiple view, Reference sheet

I am not making any bad statement about google's decision ; it was extremely generous of them to allow their free platform to be used for generating images, and many people have been able to discover 'stable diffusion' thanks to that. But from their press release, it seems like lately the activity was getting really heavy on their server and they had to stop the free services.

How to download a ckpt model

These ckpt files are huge (at least 2GB and usually 4GB, they can reach up to  8GB) 

First method:

1. An easy way to get them inside of a google colab

by adding these commands inside a code snipet:

!git lfs install
!git clone https://huggingface.co/WarriorMama777/OrangeMixs

git lfs install is required to download file heavier than 100MB

and the clone command is a way to copy the huggingface.co repository 

in this example the OrangeMixs model

2. Alternative way

Using the huggingface-hub library for Python

!pip install huggingface-hub
from huggingface_hub import hf_hub_download
hf_hub_download(repo_id="WarriorMama777/OrangeMixs", filename="VAEs/orangemix.vae.pt", cache_dir="./")

Training a lora (stable diffusion) [part 1]

Step by step Lora Training

Training a model is very demanding, and the result is a minimum 2GB file ; while a Lora (Low-Rank Adaptation) will be less than 150MB.

Where to start?

I would recommend this google colab link

Linaqruf/kohya-trainer/blob/main/kohya-LoRA-dreambooth.ipynb 

Step 1:

Requirements: The preparation of a set of images, and texts (dataset)

Another requirements is a google account (to use the colab link and google drive)

Each image and text's name must match - the size of the images should be 512x512 pixels 

It is convenient to use https://www.birme.net/ to resize the dataset.

For the text, best is to give a little description on each file, or to use the img2txt feature and get the terms directly from the AI.

 Only 5 images (and texts) are going to suffice, but 15 or more will make the model more reliable.

Once the dataset is complete, put these files into a folder with the number of repeats (5 or 10) and the concept (something like exp, or person, or Bcloth, etc ...)

Once ready add the datasets into the google drive

Step 2: 

Open the colab trainer

Go to github.com/linaqruf/kohya-trainer

and pick Kohya Lora Dreambooth

To be continued ...

Artificial Intelligence with Google

 Using colab.research.google.com

and loading a stable diffusion model

following this guide

https://rentry.org/hypernetwork4dumdums

but what is 'textual inversion' anyway?

https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui/wiki/Textual-Inversion

Instagram: accounts that are inspiring, interesting or simply fun

Here is a list of active and inspiring Instagram accounts 

- https://www.instagram.com/tealswanofficial/

- https://www.instagram.com/paoesco8ar/

- https://www.instagram.com/loopydavestuff/

- https://www.instagram.com/rickandmorty/

- https://www.instagram.com/dtiysgallery/

- https://www.instagram.com/artgerm/

- https://www.instagram.com/rin_city/

let's call this list the 2021 cool influencers starter pack

more will follow

Instagram - why this is the new platform of the future

Yes, Instagram (IG) is the new place to be 

 

Here is the little poem:

Facebook days are over, 

tumblr is dying, 

soup.io is dead already 

tsu.co has died too 

diaspora never really took off, 

myspace has become a meme 

 

why is Instagram the new shiny platform where everybody wants to be?

 - no friend limits 

- the big influencers are there 

- it is super fast, super 'in your face' 

- the interactions are easy and very much encouraged 

- a picture is worth a 1000 words 

- there are tons of contents everyday 

Now there are restrictions, weird decisions too 

- the Instagram mobile application is the way to go if you are using instagram via a browser, some features are missing no upload are possible, which is like the number one feature for this app 

- zero tolerance for nudity, and the IG police is really tough many famous influencers have lost their account because of a particular photo - that was considered 'lewd' and there are no way to get the account back - the new account restart from scratch many have fled the platform just because of this 

- the IG platform belongs to facebook - so, people fleeing facebook, because of their privacy policy are actually staying withing this toxic social media manner to collect data and sell them to marketers 

- many e-girls are there promoting their onlyfan ; but it is subtle (or sometime not) 

- lots of message spam - with weird url are sent to you daily - 

 

Why I will never join facebook

Be a part of a "tribe"

facebook isn't the first social group that ever existed - before facebook was bolt.com (or recently orkut.com), or even now many other underdogs like hi5.com, Netlog, Tagged, Bebo co-exist, even with the previous leader of the pack which is unable to regain popularity myspace.com...

Social group website, works more or less the same way ... you create an account, you post photos, videos, links and interact with "your tribe" - be it your close family, your co-workers, or simply people that are sharing more or less the same hobbies.

Now being successful as a social group is not easy - you have to provide an attractive website, with ease of use, you have to be aware that some people will post things that are not "politically correct" or might even be illegal (in some way - like links to download of mp3 or 'bootleg' movies etc ...).

And even in many instance, the most annoying of all, porn - the all invasive porn that will find the way into any sort of network to spread.

That's the reason you will have this 'report button' - and that link will suddenly disappear, and sometime users account...

Now for the social group provider, the only thing that really count (at the beginning) is to spread like wildfire, so the first case of "porn invasion" or abuse from users will be ignored. Because the step after acquiring a large user base, is the step where user get trapped with this particular website.

Enter the Trap

After your friends, co-workers, etc ... are trapped, then basically this website will become the way you will interact with them by chat, or messages left on their timeline, the problem is that on this platform - you are under surveillance, under scrutiny of marketers, business poll, advertisers, and psychologists that are trying to manipulate, control, and brain-wash people.

And at some stage, you will have to make this choice to stay in because the interaction with your "tribe" is more important - or you will just figure out, that enough is enough and wasting your time in being part of an experiment to turn you into a lab rat, is definitely going too far.

The tactics they're is using to give the impression that it constantly grows - is that you can't ever delete your facebook account, it will stay there "deactivated" ... ready for you to reactivate it (because they know you will be back anyway).

At first (like in any abusive relationship), the partner is showing all his "attractive" side, and wants you to be part of what looks like an interesting and passionate symbiotic relationship - and as soon as you are part of it, it decides (without your accord) that well, some things should be different, and then it starts doing thing in secret, and you will feel more and more like you have been duped, you have been foolish to even start dating this asshole, but it's too late ... now he has all your stuffs, and the more you wait the harder it will get.

And that's the reason you will never find me on facebook.

Image Credit :
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/2019.html
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/2017.html

Additional Credit :
http://www.moreofit.com/similar-to/www.hi5.com/Top_10_Sites_Like_Hi5/

An offer you couldn't refuse

Interviews are welcome

I feel like it would be beneficial to open my blog to other people and allow them to have a place to post about their services or hobbies.

If you are an artist, freelance, cosplayer, linux developer, aspirant designer, comics writer, reiki master, spiritual healer, clairvoyant etc ... and be interested to post an interview on my blog. Here are the questions template I would use - send the completed interview to my email address

Questions

These would be the questions (feel free to modify them, as you like)

1. Can you give a short bio ?
2. What got you into "your field of expertise" ?
3. What are the required qualities of a "person in your field of expertise" ?
4. What are your visions of "your field of expertise" for the next years ?
5. What do you wish "your field of expertise" would be in the future ?

Please then add any of your links you'd like to share

Example of an interview with Katybear - found here.

P.S : As the editor I keep the right to decline posting or review part of the interview - or to discontinue this service anytime.

The service is free but donation are welcome.
See static page for more details http://alashazam.blogspot.com/p/open-for-interview.html

Brutal capitalism

Starting your own business

Many people nowadays are deciding to make the step, and start their own business, it's in the air ... The days of being an employee for life in a company is over, now people have to change career at least every 2 to 4 years.
And the prospect of having a boss in a corporations that lead a race to the bottom (term devised by Seth Godin) isn't a daily motivation.

But what are the alternatives?

The first thing obviously is to do a bit of soul searching, and understand what makes you unique and then to launch a career as an entrepreneur.
Of course we hear a lot about freelance writer, internet expert, web-designer, or virtual call-center agent, life coach, private tutor and any sort of consultant. 

But at the end of the day ... all these people are discovering that they just have switched their employee's seat for an even tougher job - where this time they have to be the employee, the decision-maker, do all the administrative tasks, and more every-day... because of aggressive deadlines, difficult customers, or a bad payment.
They find the hard way the not so glamorous side of having a business of their own, which offer many challenges like the need to build a network of customers, and build up trust with them, and all that takes time... time when the competitors starting now are making huge discount to enter the market.

So after a while, things can get ... challenging.

And that's because the economy has entered a new phase, a new revolution - and is accelerating the movement, I call this "Brutal Capitalism" and things are getting weirder and weirder ; when you start to realize that jobs like "webcam model" are basically starting to appear as viable business model or an attractive solution for young girls.

Because confronted with the choice of uninteresting jobs paid with minimal wages, they happily turning themselves into sex workers.



This is my rant for the day. Maybe "Brutal Capitalism" isn't hard enough .. "Hell Capitalism" could be more suitable.

Quick SEO tips for blogspot

The old fashion way

Here's a few tips on SEO (Search engine optimization) for blogger
How you would add them into your blog - would be ... manually

Above is what an extract from a blogspot html file - (not the xml file) the actual source for the page displayed :

Meta Tags

Now under blogger / settings / preferences you will find this "Meta tags" section

that is relatively new - and do pretty much the same job as above, but in a more elegant way:

Because this will add a new settings for each new post - called search description :

There you go happy bloggers ...

How To Identify Keywords For Your Blog Posts Using Analytics: "the titles where I use the words “ufo”, “secret”, “alien” and “cia” are by far the most popular of all of my titles. Focusing on those particular topics, I will be catering to what my readers clearly enjoy reading about on my blog."

How To Discover Money Making Topic Ideas For Your New Blog: "The real key to finding profitable topics for your blog is a lot of searching and may’be a little bit of luck. I have found these tools by Google to be invaluable search engines and have been able to increase traffic to sites/blogs I have worked on in the past substantially with them."

What People are searching for on the Internet, and what are they currently talking about ?

There's nothing more frustrating than being out of sync with what other people are talking about.

But thanks to the internet, and it's constant flow of information you can easily get the pulse of what's happening online.

The website you can use to have an instant overview of what's hot/popular today is popurl.com ; it will display nicely what links are being shared, and upvoted on a long list of social community.


Now if you want to have a peek at what the people are searching for then Google Zeitgeist is probably the best bet, especially the very powerful insight feature.

"Google Zeitgeist: What people are searching for at Google and its associated specialty services in a variety of categories. There are versions for various countries, as well."

You can have a full list of other useful links on this article below : 
What People Search For - Most Popular Keywords - Search Engine Watch (SEW)