Alex Rock

@pierstoval
567 Followers
363 Following
4.6K Posts
β€’ πŸ’» Freelance full-stack web engineer, developer, coach and software architect.
β€’ 🧹 Legacy application renovator.
β€’ πŸ›  Expertise with PHP/Symfony, JS/Typescript, Svelte, Docker, Rust, and many other tools.
β€’ πŸ•ŠοΈ Free Open Source advocate.
β€’ Speaking πŸ‡«πŸ‡· and πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§
β€’ ⏲ 10+ years of dev experience
β€’ ✊ Woke leftist (words can change depending on far-righters' way to call us)
β€’ πŸͺˆ Musician youngling
β€’ 🌈
Linkshttps://links.piers.tech/
Githubhttps://github.com/Pierstoval
Blog (tech&non-tech)https://www.orbitale.io/
Portfoliohttps://alex-rock.tech/
Why did they call it "vibecoding" when "slopware development" was right there?

$company: You might be a PHP dev with a track record of OSS work, conference talks, experience with good practices, good examples, strong knowledge of design patterns, and experience across multiple frameworks with impactful projects, but your *Laravel* knowledge isn't strong so we need to *really* test you to see if you're good enough

$companyIHaveANewJobAt: Oh you haven't used (in a professional setting) the language we use before? That's fine

This post demonstrates two things:

First: Open Source needs more funding so that maintainers can easier separate work and personal life. Because it also allows bulding bigger teams to avoid the "Bus factor" problem.

Second, corollary: volunteer work has always existed, always will, and needs publicly renown rewards. That's the kind of thing that a "universal income" would allow. It's another proof that if they don't have to earn a living, people WILL do good things.

https://kennethreitz.org/essays/2026-03-18-open_source_gave_me_everything_until_i_had_nothing_left_to_give

Open Source Gave Me Everything Until I Had Nothing Left to Give

I thought I was having a spiritual awakening. I was having a psychiatric emergency. I was at a tech conference in Sweden when it started. I hadn't slept in...

Kenneth Reitz

I have a multi-screen setup, and the "DisplayPort <> USB type C" cable that I use to connect my laptop to a 3-display hub is failing.

I bought two "DisplayPort <> USB type C" new cables, with bidirectional transfer, 8K resolutions and stuff.
None of them work.

I'm waiting for a third cable, but a cable that can be used without the DP<>DP coupler that I currently need, wish me luck...

How do you do "display-port-based multi-screen setup with only usb-type-c computer output" these days?

Just discovered this: https://agelesslinux.github.io/

πŸ€”

Ageless Linux β€” Documentation

If a project has some minor releases during the year, and a lot of patch releases, like at least one per month, what do you think it means about the project's health?

Note:
- πŸ“Š Sharing allows more consistent data!
- πŸ’¬ Commenting allows for a broader view that's more exhaustive than checkboxes.
- πŸ™ Since I can't make 2 polls in one post, please only check 1 box per release type (patch / minor), thank you!

🚩 Lots of patches = lots of bugs
11.1%
βœ…οΈ Lots of patches = great support
44.4%
🚩 Lots of minors = unstable feature set
8.3%
βœ…οΈ Lots of minors = progressive, lots of new stuff
36.1%
Poll ended at .

As far as I'm concerned, you have three options:

1. Not watch the new Harry Potter.

2. Watch the new Harry Potter but shut up about it.

3. Admit to watching the new Harry Potter and be judged.

There is no fourth option. I think you should do number 1, but you're a grownup and I don't have access to your router, so it's not up to me. But understand that if you do watch it, you need to either shut the hell up or brace yourself. Because I am not here to make you feel ok about it.

Google Just Patented The End Of Your Website, https://www.forbes.com/sites/joetoscano1/2026/03/06/google-just-patented-the-end-of-your-website/.

Patent: AI-generated content page tailored to a specific user, https://patents.google.com/patent/US12536233B1/en.

So. Google wants to rebuild websites based on everything Google knows about the visitor user (history, devices, location, ads…) and the visited website.

It is destroying creativity, human work, brand, innovation, the funny unusual stuff that make a site different.

Google is destroying the Web.

#llm #web #google

Google Just Patented The End Of Your Website

A newly granted Google patent could let the search giant replace your brand's landing page with an AI-generated version you have no control over and only your buyers see.

Forbes
OH: β€œWhat is it about DNS that people find so difficult? It’s just cache invalidation and naming things.”

You did it! πŸ₯³

European Parliament just decided that Chat Control 1.0 must stop.

This means on April 6, 2026, Gmail, LinkedIn, Microsoft and other Big Techs must stop scanning your private messages in the EU. #PrivacyWins πŸ’ͺ