This six part series (link goes to the first part), written by a former core Azure engineer, is mind-boggling. Microsoft sounds like a dysfunctional company whose software is dangerously unreliable

(I mean, more so than it has been historically)

https://isolveproblems.substack.com/p/how-microsoft-vaporized-a-trillion

RE: https://mastodon.social/@aboutsignal/116296187044136063

This is freaking awesome. The amount of work the global cryptographic community is putting into keeping our conversations out of the hands of our adversaries is monumental and under-appreciated. Respect. If you’re technical at all, scan through the paper summaries.

#privacy

I really like how watching the uxn channel on the concatenative discord has really left a permanent mark in my brain. Me and the rest of the mods basically let it operate as an automous zone in the discord. I even had it muted for the most part. Unbenounced to everyone outside that channel however, an AI booster and vibecoder had joined.

In a matter of a month or so, he killed the whole channel. Strangled it with his refusal to think. Every word someone said was feed straight into an LLM. Then, thrown back at chat cause the LLM could predict the correct code, and he could understand anything.

Eventually everyone grew so tired they began leaving. One fucking person leeched off a whole community. Never. Again. Ever inch you cede to LLM contributions in your community is another step towards its implosion. There is a reason so much of the art community has vehemently rejected whole sale.

But programmers need their new toys. And programmers demand every space follows industry trends and recommendation. And programmers cannot handle the idea of someone saying "no, we don't do that here". Cause nobody gets to say No in the software world. Things are always forced to evolve, consequences be damned.

I made the mistake once. I will not be making it twice. Do not help build the new car depedent infrastructure or everything you care about will be paved over.

The unusual browser feature I use most is Reader Mode.

SO MANY STUPIDLY DESIGNED WEBSITES!

Reader Mode: "Here is the main text in a sensible typeface at a reasonable size with high contrast and appropriate margins."

There should not be a need for Reader Mode. RM's utility is a solid indictment against web designers.

Look at your site-intended-to-convey-textual-information with Reader Mode. If it breaks, fix that. If the page is suddenly much easier to read... you have work to do.

Typeface.
Size.
Contrast.
Margins.

#accessibility #web #browser

"Every time any of LinkedIn’s one billion users visits linkedin.com, hidden code searches their computer for installed software, collects the results, and transmits them to LinkedIn’s servers and to third-party companies including an American-Israeli cybersecurity firm.

The user is never asked. Never told. LinkedIn’s privacy policy does not mention it."

https://browsergate.eu/