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  3. How to tell a formerly respectable brand has jumped the shark (after selling out to Qualcomm, who are their own special species of shitbaggery):

How to tell a formerly respectable brand has jumped the shark (after selling out to Qualcomm, who are their own special species of shitbaggery):

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  • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

    @ben Ah, I confused adafruit with arduino. (Adjacent customer space.)

    Ray McCarthyR This user is from outside of this forum
    Ray McCarthyR This user is from outside of this forum
    Ray McCarthy
    wrote last edited by
    #12

    @cstross @ben
    Yes, though Adafruit seems to have lost the plot some time ago.

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • DD D

      @cstross@wandering.shop

      Electricians: "look at this wiring.. thing.. gen AI showed me it's got so many things wrong if you even look at it you will die guaranteed."
      Adafruit: "good news we used gen AI to design a piece of electronics you can buy from us and play with!"

      Charlie StrossC This user is from outside of this forum
      Charlie StrossC This user is from outside of this forum
      Charlie Stross
      wrote last edited by
      #13

      @driusan See also:

      1 Reply Last reply
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      • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

        RE: https://fosstodon.org/@adafruit/116071513892549636

        How to tell a formerly respectable brand has jumped the shark (after selling out to Qualcomm, who are their own special species of shitbaggery):

        JargogglesJ This user is from outside of this forum
        JargogglesJ This user is from outside of this forum
        Jargoggles
        wrote last edited by
        #14

        @cstross
        They don't even explain how it's better or different than their other hardware. The entire sales pitch for it is literally just that they got an LLM to generate the design and it miraculously works.

        Even *if* I didn't care that they involved a dehumanizing, planet-boiling technology, they've still left me absolutely no reason to care that they made this.

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • jasegJ jaseg

          @cstross @adafruit I tried some ECAD-specific AI tools at work last week, and they perform really poorly. They can’t even do symbols right, and realistically the hard and time-consuming part is the footprint anyway, not the symbol.

          joschJ This user is from outside of this forum
          joschJ This user is from outside of this forum
          josch
          wrote last edited by
          #15

          @jaseg @cstross @adafruit And lets not forget: even if the LLM were able to "do it right", the price al of us pay for it is still too damn high (society, ethics, climate, water...).

          1 Reply Last reply
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          • jasegJ jaseg

            @cstross @adafruit For context, at least the symbol shown on screen does not look like something I’d accept quality wise for a library symbol. It has inconsistent pin spacing, the power pins should be on the top/bottom edges, for this kind of part the EP and GND pins should be stacked, the GND pin should be on grid, and the I2C pins should be on the left side of the symbol to preserve reading direction.

            JakeA This user is from outside of this forum
            JakeA This user is from outside of this forum
            Jake
            wrote last edited by
            #16

            @jaseg @cstross @adafruit yeah, this doesn't even meet my own low standards for personal projects, let alone something I wouldn't reject if the part librarian at work tried to pass it off to me.

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

              RE: https://fosstodon.org/@adafruit/116071513892549636

              How to tell a formerly respectable brand has jumped the shark (after selling out to Qualcomm, who are their own special species of shitbaggery):

              Ron JeffriesR This user is from outside of this forum
              Ron JeffriesR This user is from outside of this forum
              Ron Jeffries
              wrote last edited by
              #17

              @cstross
              This makes me sad. It's not the only thing that does, but it is one.

              1 Reply Last reply
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              • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

                RE: https://fosstodon.org/@adafruit/116071513892549636

                How to tell a formerly respectable brand has jumped the shark (after selling out to Qualcomm, who are their own special species of shitbaggery):

                adafruitA This user is from outside of this forum
                adafruitA This user is from outside of this forum
                adafruit
                wrote last edited by
                #18

                @cstross posts something wrong, does not edit or correct, gets a ton of people to pile on for showing what a new tool can and can't do... adafruit did not "sell out to Qualcomm" either. we are vc-free, loan-free, NYC, usa manufacturer, open-source... Charles why is wrong for a woman to experiment & use a tool to make her job easier? My company is Adafruit, not Arduino btw - Limor

                Piggo :verified_horse:P knowuhK πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦  CleoQc 🍁🦜🧢🚐🌈C NerbN 4 Replies Last reply
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                • adafruitA This user is from outside of this forum
                  adafruitA This user is from outside of this forum
                  adafruit
                  wrote last edited by
                  #19

                  @cazabon @cstross too late, he did it about 8 hours ago and kept going, any way - he caused a giant pile-on, we updated our post ... in the "UPDATE – Men on Mastodon" section ... https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/02/14/heres-our-first-gemini-deep-think-llm-assisted-hardware-design/

                  SablebadgerS maaneeackM Ethan BlackG 3 Replies Last reply
                  0
                  • adafruitA adafruit

                    @cstross posts something wrong, does not edit or correct, gets a ton of people to pile on for showing what a new tool can and can't do... adafruit did not "sell out to Qualcomm" either. we are vc-free, loan-free, NYC, usa manufacturer, open-source... Charles why is wrong for a woman to experiment & use a tool to make her job easier? My company is Adafruit, not Arduino btw - Limor

                    Piggo :verified_horse:P This user is from outside of this forum
                    Piggo :verified_horse:P This user is from outside of this forum
                    Piggo :verified_horse:
                    wrote last edited by
                    #20
                    @adafruit @cstross > decided to target Limor since she shared it
                    i wonder how he would have known who shared it or that you are a woman. seems like overreaction and bad spirit both ways
                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • adafruitA adafruit

                      @cazabon @cstross too late, he did it about 8 hours ago and kept going, any way - he caused a giant pile-on, we updated our post ... in the "UPDATE – Men on Mastodon" section ... https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/02/14/heres-our-first-gemini-deep-think-llm-assisted-hardware-design/

                      SablebadgerS This user is from outside of this forum
                      SablebadgerS This user is from outside of this forum
                      Sablebadger
                      wrote last edited by
                      #21

                      @adafruit @cazabon @cstross I gotta say I'm disappointed in @cstross for this. I mean it's one thing to be against AI, it's another to sabotage a small industry business like this.

                      ptorroneP 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • SablebadgerS Sablebadger

                        @adafruit @cazabon @cstross I gotta say I'm disappointed in @cstross for this. I mean it's one thing to be against AI, it's another to sabotage a small industry business like this.

                        ptorroneP This user is from outside of this forum
                        ptorroneP This user is from outside of this forum
                        ptorrone
                        wrote last edited by
                        #22

                        @Sablebadger Guys like @cstross do this to women online all the time, more so to ones that do open-source or electronics (like Limor), even after being told he targeted a different company, person, etc, he let it ride and went for the shares and stars... one his most popular ones already. Check out the pile on, it's... piling.

                        @adafruit @cazabon

                        1 Reply Last reply
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                        • David BeazleyD David Beazley

                          @Oggie @cstross My dog made two poops on one walk the other day.

                          Dec [{(:no_ai:)}]D This user is from outside of this forum
                          Dec [{(:no_ai:)}]D This user is from outside of this forum
                          Dec [{(:no_ai:)}]
                          wrote last edited by
                          #23

                          @dabeaz @Oggie @cstross
                          My dog dropped an almost perfect 3D print of the poop emoji a couple of years ago. I took a few photos (obviously) but never posted them online at the time.

                          1 Reply Last reply
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                          • adafruitA adafruit

                            @cazabon @cstross too late, he did it about 8 hours ago and kept going, any way - he caused a giant pile-on, we updated our post ... in the "UPDATE – Men on Mastodon" section ... https://blog.adafruit.com/2026/02/14/heres-our-first-gemini-deep-think-llm-assisted-hardware-design/

                            maaneeackM This user is from outside of this forum
                            maaneeackM This user is from outside of this forum
                            maaneeack
                            wrote last edited by
                            #24

                            @adafruit @cstross I saw the adafruit post, and the people telling you to get out because of using llm's before the bad post from cstross. In his thread someone pointed out he confused Arduino & Adafruit, and he confirmed but hasn't updated the main post. Using an llm and getting push-back on it was all you though. #noai

                            knowuhK 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • adafruitA adafruit

                              @cstross posts something wrong, does not edit or correct, gets a ton of people to pile on for showing what a new tool can and can't do... adafruit did not "sell out to Qualcomm" either. we are vc-free, loan-free, NYC, usa manufacturer, open-source... Charles why is wrong for a woman to experiment & use a tool to make her job easier? My company is Adafruit, not Arduino btw - Limor

                              knowuhK This user is from outside of this forum
                              knowuhK This user is from outside of this forum
                              knowuh
                              wrote last edited by
                              #25

                              @adafruit @cstross so much respect and love Limor!!

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • SablebadgerS This user is from outside of this forum
                                SablebadgerS This user is from outside of this forum
                                Sablebadger
                                wrote last edited by
                                #26

                                @cazabon @ptorrone @cstross @adafruit I do read his stuff, that's why I'm sorry disappointed by his actions.

                                1 Reply Last reply
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                                • SablebadgerS This user is from outside of this forum
                                  SablebadgerS This user is from outside of this forum
                                  Sablebadger
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #27

                                  @cazabon @adafruit @cstross then why hasn't he walked it back if it was such a simple mistake...

                                  1 Reply Last reply
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                                  • maaneeackM maaneeack

                                    @adafruit @cstross I saw the adafruit post, and the people telling you to get out because of using llm's before the bad post from cstross. In his thread someone pointed out he confused Arduino & Adafruit, and he confirmed but hasn't updated the main post. Using an llm and getting push-back on it was all you though. #noai

                                    knowuhK This user is from outside of this forum
                                    knowuhK This user is from outside of this forum
                                    knowuh
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #28

                                    @maaneeack @adafruit @cstross i understand disagreeing about ethical issues.

                                    I don’t get public humiliation and an attempt to erase everything Limor has done for aspiring nerds.

                                    The intolerance is intolerable.

                                    maaneeackM 1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • knowuhK knowuh

                                      @maaneeack @adafruit @cstross i understand disagreeing about ethical issues.

                                      I don’t get public humiliation and an attempt to erase everything Limor has done for aspiring nerds.

                                      The intolerance is intolerable.

                                      maaneeackM This user is from outside of this forum
                                      maaneeackM This user is from outside of this forum
                                      maaneeack
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #29

                                      @knowuh @adafruit @cstross llms as they are now are antitechnology & antiknowledge. They're using stolen data to train, stealing power & water to run, and people's ability to think. It'd be one thing if adafruit used an llm they trained on data they owned, instead they used fucking gemini of all things.

                                      adafruitA 1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • Charlie StrossC Charlie Stross

                                        RE: https://fosstodon.org/@adafruit/116071513892549636

                                        How to tell a formerly respectable brand has jumped the shark (after selling out to Qualcomm, who are their own special species of shitbaggery):

                                        Wolf in PDXW This user is from outside of this forum
                                        Wolf in PDXW This user is from outside of this forum
                                        Wolf in PDX
                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #30

                                        @cstross

                                        Dude, you done messed up.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • maaneeackM maaneeack

                                          @knowuh @adafruit @cstross llms as they are now are antitechnology & antiknowledge. They're using stolen data to train, stealing power & water to run, and people's ability to think. It'd be one thing if adafruit used an llm they trained on data they owned, instead they used fucking gemini of all things.

                                          adafruitA This user is from outside of this forum
                                          adafruitA This user is from outside of this forum
                                          adafruit
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #31

                                          @maaneeack @knowuh @cstross Please read our articles, we use the hundreds of open-source libraries I made and released, as open-source, and used for many of the experiments you see. It is trained on my code and I ask it to "write code like me" (but you can block, why read it?) - Limor

                                          maaneeackM 1 Reply Last reply
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