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jeffsonstein ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

[BEGIN TODAY IN HISTORY RUN]

blithe ("Blithe") wrote:

Me telling people my name in a bar: https://mastodon.ie/@thelifeofsharks/109556879072721809

Reblogged by blithe ("Blithe"):
amydiehl@mstdn.social ("Amy Diehl, Ph.D.") wrote:

Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
blender@video.blender.org ("Blender") wrote:

fribbledom ("muesli") wrote:

If you enjoy kidding yourself, here's the latest TIOBE Index:

https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/

Reblogged by nadim@symbolic.software ("Nadim Kobeissi"):
egbertrijke@mathstodon.xyz ("Egbert Rijke") wrote:

Reblogged by teller ("Siim Teller"):
DataChick@mstdn.ca ("Karen Lopez") wrote:

Attachments:

• Tweet image. @blkgrlBrilliant before you send that email, ask yourself: is this a December problem or a January problem? (remote)

Reblogged by lloydmeta ("Lloyd"):
hywan@fosstodon.org ("Ivan, the Language Mangler 🦀") wrote:

nadim@symbolic.software ("Nadim Kobeissi") wrote:

One of my gravest mistakes was not to understand the immense importance of physical exercise and fitness at a younger age. A daily, or bidaily, exercise regimen is necessary for proper living. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, and intellectual activity is no substitute.

Reblogged by rmrenner ("The Old Gay Gristle Fest"):
fraggle@octodon.social wrote:

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
Polychrome@poly.cybre.city ("Polychrome :meowtea:") wrote:

teller ("Siim Teller") wrote:

The habit of reading several books at the same time is back with a vengeance. Hoping to finish a bunch of these over the holidays.

Attachments:

• Books by Ray Bradbury, Al Ries and Jack Trout, Mannix and Crowley and Jules Verne.
• Screenshot of unfinished and unstarted books in Audible app

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
sejaques@ioc.exchange ("Sam Jaques") wrote:

Attachments:

• A chart plotting number of qubits against error rate, showing current quantum computers and the required capabilities of quantum computers to break RSA or solve chemistry problems. Today's quantum computers are in a tiny blob in the corner, with few qubits and high error rates. It just touches a large blue region representing where surface codes will work. Far to the right of the chart are steep lines representing the resources necessary to break RSA. The chart visually emphasizes the conclusion of the blog post, which is that there is a big gulf between today's quantum computers and what is necessary to break RSA. (remote)

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

And you absolutely have to hand it to 'em: with FB as a leprous foil, it's easy to look like a privacy hero while you sell out users left, right, and center.

Apple knew Zuck had no chill, and instead of making a platform that put privacy in mind, Apple is instead doing a series of performative dances to, you guessed it, support their PIVOT TO ADS:

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/10/22/apple-announces-more-app-store-ads/

Self-serving? Absolutely. But it requires tech understanding to see *just* how dastardly it is.

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

Remember: Apple and Google have GODLIKE powers via their App Store policies. They can boot anyone they like, at any time, for any reason they give fair warning about -- and in Apple's case, for reasons they invent on the spot.

Except for all the posturing and advertising (on a tube stop / billboard near you!), what they're *doing* about the problem is to ask people, very nicely, if they wouldn't mind being *quite* so naf?

That, btw, is an accurate technical description. Really.

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

The latest in too-small fig leaves is Apple's "App Tracking Transparency" and Google's response (which seems to be "um, something? someday?")

Why are these a joke?

Imagine if what Android and iOS had previously done was to paint a pinpoint target on your back every time you went to *think* about maybe spending money, and then shared that location and some high-fidelity proxy for your personal details with, you know, everyone?

Now imagine it's that, but at a zipcode level instead. LOL.

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

Because native platforms make *so* much high-precision, privacy invasive data available, so pervasively, the best that Apple and Google can do is a game of escalating "BEWARE OF DOG" posters on their app stores.

Is there enforcement? LOL, no. Obvs not. That would cost MONEY.

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

If you hear the phrase "SDK" bandied about in regard to native apps, what that is, in point of fact, are *extremely* aggressive privacy invading piles of code that the native app stores don't do much of anything to really police.

Google's trying with it's Android "Privacy Sandbox", but that's gonna requires Android OS updates, so you know, it's not actually serious. And it's *absolutely* not serious in a world where both Apple and Google let FB subvert your browsing (and yes, they allow that).

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

Making ads work on mobile, in a world where Apple and Google *also* broke browser choice & let Facebook stick the knife in further[1], requires attribution. And tracking is the key to attribution.

Why are native apps great for attribution/tracking? Because unlike the web, mobile native platforms have historically given up the goods from the word go.

Installing a native app in '16 was tantamount to handing advertisers your location history. Probably still is.

[1]: https://infrequently.org/2021/07/hobsons-browser/

teller ("Siim Teller") wrote:

I seem to have crossed the critical mass of active people I follow (119 total now) to make opening Mastodon entertaining and informative + provide enough content to fill a 5 minute break. Negative - need to watch out to not fall back into the infinite scroll addiction I had on the birdsite.

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

Modern App Stores are in 3 businesses (in descending order of revenue):

• skimming 30% from problem gambling behaviour via In-App Purchases in "casual" games (think Farmville+++)
• "oops, I forgot I was paying for that" subscription revenue
• selling adds for the first two

The last bucket fills app store managers with *intense* glee.

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

This might seem counter-intuitive.

Don't App Stores protect you from tracking and stuff?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Attachments:

• 1155a1638b1d217f.mp4 (remote)

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

Obvious to technologists, but opaque to normies: site keep trying SO HARD to get you to install their native app not because it's actually better, but because it's imbued (by Apple and Google) with MUCH better tracking potential.

The counter-argument is push notifications (which should be normalised this coming year as Apple is feeling regulatory heat), but I strongly suspect we'll see the same nonsense for a long while on the back of the tracking gap.

Reblogged by teller ("Siim Teller"):
waltmossberg@mastodon.world ("Walt Mossberg") wrote:

Reblogged by teller ("Siim Teller"):
evacide@mastodon.lol ("Eva") wrote:

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
stephaniewalter@front-end.social ("Stef Walter") wrote:

Attachments:

• Example of a colorful mesh gradient on the left and settings on the right (remote)

Reblogged by teller ("Siim Teller"):
RollingStone@mstdn.social ("Rolling Stone") wrote:

Attachments:

• 2f28e95b7a1d8971.jpeg (remote)

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

I cannot stress enough how few businesses can thrive under the the thumb of 15-30% taxes on all transactions.

Giving up on the web is giving up on a future of computing that doesn't involve paying a license fee to write code that matters. We must do better, so capitulation is for the birds.

Reject the ReactNative (et. al.) siren song of "write once, be taxed anywhere". Links that end you up in an oligopolist's walled garden for proprietary software aren't worth a damn and never were.

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

Even if you don't put a pseudo-moral valence on the question, it's at least shitty craft to sell out one's own potential.

I suppose there's good news now; the dam is breaking and regulators are looking (finally) at the ways that Apple has broken the mobile web for its own profit.

If you want to be a real part of fixing the web for the future, reach out to @owa, who are doing the deity's work in effecting change on this level.

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

If you're making things on the web, and you (like me) think the web is a cultural artifact that we should not let go quietly into that dark night, then _have some pride_. Know that native platform owners _want to put you out of a job_. They are literally coming for you and yours.

If you don't fight back, if you don't do what is possible, you're complicit not only in the end of your own career, but your peers, and the prospects of your clients.