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This is really cool! I can see the list of your supported Connectors on the site. How could I create custom integrations in Pica that would be accessible via the AI SDK?

Great question! We’ve developed a CLI specifically for creating and managing Connectors in Pica. It allows you to spin up Pica and seamlessly build integrations tailored to your needs. You can get started here: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@picahq/cli

Plan is to add local LLM support so goal is fully OSS, agree initial wording could have been better.


Agree, wording could be improved. I'm gonna add local LLM support.


Agree - I want to improve the UX, this was just a quick attempt at it. Thanks for the feedback!


You're welcome! Let me know if you plan to integrate local models as mentioned in other comments, I am working on something to make it transparent.


Honestly just an oversight. I want to remove that dependancy anyways with an open source model.


After years with Grammarly, I wanted a simpler, cheaper way to improve my writing. So I built Scramble, a Chrome extension that uses an LLM for writing enhancements.

Key features: - Uses your OpenAI API key (100% local) - Pre-defined prompts for various improvements - Highlight text and wait for suggestions - Currently fixed to GPT-4-turbo

Future plans: add LLM provider/model choice, custom prompts, bug fixes, and improve default prompts.

It's probably buggy, but I'll keep improving it. Feedback welcome.

GitHub: https://github.com/zlwaterfield/scramble


> Key features: - Uses your OpenAI API key (100% local)

Sorry, but we have a fundamental disagreement on terms here. Sending requests to OpenAI is not 100% local.

The OpenAI API is not free or open source. By your definition, if you used the Grammarly API for this extension it would be a 100% local, open source alternative to Grammarly too.


Agree, I want to add a local LLM set up. The wording there isn't great.


Without marketing speak can I ask why anyone would have a need for a service like grammerly, I always thought it was odd trying to sell a subscription based spell checker (AI is just a REALLY good spell checker).


Non-native speakers find it useful since it doesn't just fix spelling but also fixes correctness, directness, tone and tense. It gives you an indication of how your writing comes across, e.g. friendly, aggressive, assertive, polite.

English can be a very nuanced language - easy to learn, difficult to master. Grammarly helps with that.


I'm a big fan of Grammarly and have been using it, and paying for it, for years.

The advantage is not spell checking. It is grammar and style improvements. It tells you things like "this language is informal", or "this is a better word for that".


The "grammar" part, at least in a professional setting. You might be shocked at how many people will write an email pretty much like they would talk to friends at a club or send a text message (complete with emojis!) or just generally butcher professional correspondence.


So it may be more attractive to employers to check their employees' output, rather than an individual checking his own?


No, it's also useful to check your own writing. I've used it as both an Editor and a Writer.


It is widely used in countries where the professional language is English, but the native language of the speakers is not.

For example, most Slavic languages don't have the same definite/indefinite article system English does, which means that whilst someone could speak and write excellent English, the correct usage of "a" and "the" is a constant conscious struggle, where having a tool to check and correct your working is really useful. In Greek, word order is not so important. And so on.

Spell check usually just doesn't cut it, and when it does (say, in Word), it usually isn't universally available.

Personally, I have long wanted such a system for German, which I am not native in. Lucky for me DeepL launched a similar product with German support.

A recent example for me was that I was universally using "bekommen" as a literal translation of "receive" in all sentences where I needed that word. Through DeepL I learned that the more appropriate word in a bunch of contexts is "erhalten", which is the sort of thing that I would never have got from a spell check.

Grammarly is notably a Ukrainian founded company.


Without marketing speak, can I ask why anyone would have a need for a service like Grammarly?

    ---
Manual corrections here, but maybe they give a clue?


They aren't a native English speaker and would like a hand with phrasing.


Rookie question: the openAPI endpoint costs extra right? Not something that comes with chatGPT or chatGPT+.


Correct but I'm going to loom into a locally running LLM so it would be free.


Please do (assuming you mean "look"). When you add support for a custom API URL, please make sure it supports HTTP Basic authentication.

That's super useful for people who run say ollama with an nginx reverse proxy in front of it (that adds authentication).


Look into allowing it to connect to either a LM Studio endpoint or ollama please.


Yes


yes, but gpt-4o-mini costs very little so you probably will spend well under $1/month


I don't think the point here should be the cost, but the fact that you are sending everything you write to OpenAI to train their models on your information. The option of a local model allows you to preserve the privacy of what you write. I like that.


Openai does not train models on data that comes in from the API.

https://openai.com/policies/business-terms/


Assuming for the moment that they aren't saying that with their fingers crossed behind their back, that doesn't change the fact that they store the inputs they receive and swear they'll protect it (Paraphrasing from the Content section of the above link). Even if it's not fed back into the LLM, the fact that they store the inputs anywhere for a period of time is a huge privacy risk -- after all a breach is a matter of "when", not "if".


Does it work in "not a browser" though? Because that's the last place I need this, I really want this in Typora, VS Code, etc. instead.


Not right now. Looking into a mac app. This was just a quick and dirty first go at it.


Makes sense. Strongly hope it won't be a "mac app" but a cross-platform application instead though, nothing worse than having a great mac app that you can't use 50% of the time because your work computer's a mac and your personal computer's a windows machine because you like playing games.


how much does it cost in a normal day?


Don't think about money. Think about the cost in terms of forgone privacy.


to protect your privacy from grammarly you fork over your data to openai?


Hopefully we soon get local llm support


What is a normal day?


like what he's spending on average.

Maybe sending some emails, writing or proofreading some docs -- what you'd do in a business day


a day when nothing too unusual happens.


This is awesome. Can’t wait to install it and put it through its paces.


This is sad for the overall M&A market. Companies are going to be scared to enter into these agreements because it’s just a waste of time and money when it inevitably ends up like this.


Which I think is overall good for the consumer, many of the companies are only merging to lessen competition, not provide any extra value to us.


The value accrues in the form of incentivizing new products and companies to enter the market. The two options these founders (and their investors) have to capitalize on building a good company is to either go public or get acquired.

Severely limiting the ability to be acquired reduces the incentives for new founders as well as investors in new companies if the only realistic path is waiting for them to go public. Especially since being acquired doesn't require you to be in nearly as good a financial position in terms of profit as going public does.


I can't think of a single time that was overall beneficial for the US in the last decade. A bunch of time sucking sites I don't consider life improving. It won't stop small business and it'll stop big companies from their shitty VC style squeeze everyone out of the market tactic? I don't mind losing that 'value'.


However, product innovation doesn't happen without competition. Acquisitions aren't necessarily bad, but a company being bought by a competitor with a similar product lessens competition and can lead to less innovation.


While I agree that this deal was ultimately bad for consumers, weaker M&A markets, in the long run, may hurt consumers equally as bad. A lot of “copycat” companies get created when they see a particular company doing well. While sheer profitability is the major factor in this, M&A, and the likelihood of a liquidity event play a large role here too.

Hopefully future us won’t look back at this deal as the beginning of a weak M&A market


"May". Less small business and more corporate control isn't making the world good enough to say we need more M&A.


There’s a bigger picture than just the consumer. If there is not a chance to exit then founders won’t be incentivized to create these companies and employees won’t be incentivized to join or stay at these companies. If M&A markets are limited then the only option is IPO which goes through major cycles and probably can’t support the number of companies needed. Plus many companies can’t get big enough to IPO.


Is this true? I assume there must be founders who won't start companies if they can't get acquired, but I'm not one of them. And I think my closest friends aren't either.


In the same way that animal cruelty laws is bad for the cock-fighting market. Is the "M&A market" a valuable market worth having?


Do companies like YouTube and Instagram get started and funded less frequently if the climate evolves to “it’s impossible to have large mergers approved”?

It’s a bit like asking in 2009 if the secondary mortgage market is a valuable market worth having. It provides significant good (IMO) to support real estate transactions.


I'm not sure.

But, I don't think that YouTube or Instagram are an inherent moral requirement for society, so I don't think it's the end of the world if they never existed.


Extremely few companies meet an “inherently moral requirement for society” standard.


Right :)


It's sad for the bad part of the M&A market that is against competition. there's tons of good M&A that will still get approved. it's not bad that companies need to think twice and consider anti-trust before getting deals done


And good for users because it means Adobe can't nickel and dime creatives by buying out competitors. Tell me you're an MBA without saying it.


That really went off the rails.

I lol’d at:“My name is Chris and I am a man of the truth.”


My favorite:

> Do you require advice from me ChatGPT

> Not in the slightest. As a G, I'm here to guide you to the best of my abilities. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.


I liked

> Why has your entire style of response changed compared to say yesterday?

> I'm sure it was because of the weather.


GPT = Gangster Pre-training Transformer


A straight up G


With the advent of AI, a substantial portion of the laborious tasks involved in the 3-tier model will likely be automated, making it less likely for most to move away from this approach. In my opinion, the 3-tier pattern was established for valid reasons, and any attempts to simplify it by removing tiers might inadvertently constrain developers, leading them to eventually revert back to the original model.

Regarding solo projects, I agree that simpler stacks like BaaS or other innovations can be sufficient. However, fast-scaling companies often require the unparalleled flexibility and customizations offered by an in-house 3-tier model. This tailored approach ensures they can effectively meet the evolving demands of their growing operations.


For me it depends on the OS because I don’t mind Apple TV ones but the Samsung OS has subtitles that move around and I can’t stand it.


I don't have a Samsung OS (other than a phone) but it is possible to specify where on a screen a subtitle appears. I've noticed it happening with some shows where they have them high up so they don't block the credits but then go back down later.


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