Mastodon Feed: Posts

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

These regulators couch their enforcement action in terms of defending an open market, but the benefits to app makers is only incidental. The real beneficiaries of an open app world is *Apple customers*. After all, it's Apple customers who bear the 30% app tax when it's priced into the apps they buy and the things they buy in those apps. It's Apple customers who lose access to apps that can't be viably offered because the app tax makes them money-losing propositions.

8/

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

The mobile duopoly likes to talk about the #MobileEcosystem, but it's no ecosystem - it's a pair of walled gardens:

https://crookedtimber.org/2022/12/08/your-platform-is-not-an-ecosystem/

It's a planned economy run by a pair of corporate executives who deliberate in secret and are accountable only to their shareholders. Thankfully, some regulators are alive to the hazards of this #technofeudal arrangement and are taking firm measures:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-13/apple-set-to-be-hit-by-eu-antitrust-order-in-app-store-fight-with-spotify

7/

Reblogged by xor@tech.intersects.art ("Parker Higgins"):

pomological@botsin.space ("fruit toots") wrote:

el grande avocados, painted by royal charles steadman, 1917

Attachments:

• a9a9993bf11da5ba.jpg (remote)

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

Apple's most valuable intangible asset isn't its patents or copyrights - it's an army of people who believe that using products from a $2.89 trillion multinational makes them members of an oppressed religious minority whose identity is coterminal with the interests of Apple's shareholders.

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones

1/

Attachments:

• A 19th century posed photo of a campus secret society at the University of Illinois. A collection of middle-aged men and women in formal dress stand in two ranks, holding tall spears and wearing elaborate fezzes emblazoned with five-pointed stars. They are framed by a proscenium. The photo has been modified to put an Apple 'Think Different' wordmark behind them. (remote)

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):

bramus@front-end.social ("Bramus") wrote:

New blog post: “How to use a Custom Easing Function with the Web Animations API (WAAPI)”

So, you’ve found (or written) a custom easing function. Great! But how do you use that with the Web Animations API? Turns out it’s more difficult than you’d first expect it to be …

🔗 https://www.bram.us/2024/01/12/waapi-custom-easing-function/

Attachments:

• Promotional image of the blogpost. It shows one of the tools that was built to help explain how easings in general work. (remote)

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):

kennwhite ("Kenn White") wrote:

I spoke with @b_fung at CNN on technical aspects of the recent Beijing campaign to crack down on pro-democracy activists sharing information through iPhone's AirDrop function.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/12/tech/china-apple-airdrop-user-encryption-vulnerability-hnk-intl?cid=ios_app

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):

lucp@toot.re ("Luc Princen") wrote:

This is more dystopian than most dark fiction i've read.

Attachments:

• News article with a man getting glacier ice out of the water with the headline: "Greenland startup begins shipping glacier ice to cocktail bars in the UAE". the text continues about how it's good for greenlands' economy. (remote)

Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):

dansup ("dansup 🚀") wrote:

Also, I'd like to point out that @pixelfed went from someone registering doespixelfedfederateyet.com to:

- Founding the SocialHub forum (https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks)

- Co-founding LitePub spec

- Pioneering bearcaps + ActivityPub (for Stories)

- Founding https://fedidb.org

- Founding https://fediverse.info

We had a slow start, but now we're pioneering new features and services that benefit all #fediverse users and projects!

❤️

Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):

KimPerales@toad.social ("Kim Perales") wrote:

We need more of this from Dems:

Oversight Ranking Member Jamie Raskin sent a letter to TFG demanding he returns the $7.8M on his businesses made from foreign governments while President.

#TFG #Emoluments #RuleOfLaw #Constitution #Justice #GOPCheaters #GOPTraitors

Attachments:

• Rep Raskin's letter: (remote)

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):

jsparty@changelog.social ("JS Party 🪩") wrote:

💃 New episode of JS Party!

Carson Gross (creator of htmx) & @slightlyoff join Amal or an EPIC discussion on web architectures, the evolution of rendering patterns & the advantages of hypermedia and htmx 💪

Tune in to learn a new way to do something old, so you can simplify your code & use JavaScript when/where it’s uniquely able to shine ✨

#javascript #webdev #html #frameworks #podcast

🎧 https://jsparty.fm/307

Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):

jaykuo@universeodon.com ("Jay Kuo") wrote:

The GOP hasn’t learned from 2022 when it failed to deliver a red wave, and it hasn’t learned from 2023 extremists took down the Speaker. Now, here we go again in 2024. In today’s piece, I look at two recent cases of extremism run amok in the GOP. https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/extremists-are-at-it-again?r=1zr8b&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcome=true

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

RIP LittleGuy
One Sweet Critter

(died on this date 6 years ago)

Attachments:

• black and white, tuxedo patterned cat named LittleGuy, who is sitting on picnic table on a Summer day long past and staring directly into the camera (remote)

Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):

zackwhittaker ("Zack Whittaker") wrote:

Currently at Newark Penn Station. Amtrak service suspended between New York and Pennsylvania due to unspecified communication issues. Trains cancelled, kiosks down.

Attachments:

• an Amtrak kiosk out of service that says, "our apologies, this kiosk is temporarily unavailable."

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

6 years ago today our dear friend of 13 years died... our friend who we called "LittleGuy" from when we found him as a skinny adolescent, lurking in the Winter snows. he was a sweet fella, and my buddy.

in the end, LittleGuy developed a brain tumor which which left him blind & deaf & unable to tell which way was up or down. by the end, pretty much the only time he was not crying was when he was cradled in my lap or so zonked from meds he seemed not really there. 💦

sometimes memories are sweet, sometimes not so much. goodbye again, my dear friend.

Attachments:

• Facebook Memory reminder note about my 12 JAN 2018 post "About time for one last laptime session with the cat (aka LittleGuy) before we take him off to the Vet. after 13 years, one gets attached to a friend." (remote)
• Black and White tuxedo cat curled up asleep on a blanket-covered bed one Winter day (remote)

keul@fosstodon.org ("Luca Fabbri") wrote:

And the winner for the most pathetic email in the category "I'm mostly removing free plan but I'm telling you it's for a good reason" goes to… CodeSandbox 👏 👏 👏 👏

Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):

Smalljones@triangletoot.party ("Smalljones aka Paul Jones") wrote:

[...]
Twenty-two. Nothing to do.
New York had vanished,
Connecticut, too.
My students grew hair
and got haircuts, grew hair
and got haircuts, and sang.
I’d lie in bed and masturbate
and wonder why I’d come,
and come and come again
and then rise for some bread and a run.
[...]

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/58004/twenty-two-56d23c01e8ef7

Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):

ErikJonker ("Erik Jonker") wrote:

Personally I think using force as a last resort to keep trading and sea routes open is reasonable, especially as the Houthis have been warned multiple times and even about where the missiles would fall if I understood it correctly, also Biden was far from "trigger happy". The scenario of just defending the civilian ships against attacks all the time wasn't sustainable (and quite expensive I think)
#redsea #yemen #houthis #geopolitics @geopolitics

Reblogged by collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth"):

pablolarah wrote:

🟥 #CSS maze
by Amit Sheen @amit_sheen
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j21fUosiF8
Codepen: https://codepen.io/amit_sheen/pen/ExMgKpa
#webdev #coding

Attachments:

• Animated gif showing maze game with initial text of: "CSS maze Start by moving the cursor on to the blue square. Navigate the cursor through the maze, don't touch the pink walls, and reach the green square to successfully complete the challenge." The cursor touch one of the walls. White text on red background: "Oops, you hit the wall. Move the cursor to the blue square to reset the maze." After getting to the top, text: "You did it!"

Reblogged by xor@tech.intersects.art ("Parker Higgins"):

pomological@botsin.space ("fruit toots") wrote:

california strawberries, painted by william henry prestele, 1892

Attachments:

• b56d681664a4e50c.jpg (remote)

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

#KillersoftheFlowerMoon FINALLY on Apple TV 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Attachments:

• Promotional banner for the crime movie "Killers of the Flower Moon" showing three main characters with intense expressions and a burning oil rig in the background, indicating a historical drama set. The film is available on Apple TV+ and labeled with various feature

Reblogged by rmrenner ("The Old Gay Gristle Fest"):

NanoRaptor@bitbang.social wrote:

Remember when AOL would post these out everywhere, all the time?

Attachments:

• A photo of a bunch of different colours of America Online punch cards (remote)

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):

kissane@mas.to ("Erin Kissane") wrote:

Whoa. Tipping point’s feeling real tippy.

https://www.platformer.news/p/why-platformer-is-leaving-substack

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

TikTok’s $1 billion creator fund is shutting down - The Verge

"The creator fund was originally introduced in 2020, with the company promising to pay out $1 billion over the course of three years to people making the app’s viral content. Along the way, influencers and other content creators have noted the low payouts — sometimes just a few dollars for millions of views.."

In Feb, #TikTok sold this as a way to earn more. In ... https://micro.fromjason.xyz/2024/01/11/tiktoks-billion-creator.html

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

Slogging through the data to get an estimate of "the P75 device" from a performance perspective, and for desktop it's a late '17/early '18 computer that cost $600-700 new.

A decent proxy for that kind of money was the chip that also ended up in the Surface Pro 6; the Core i5-8250U. How fast/slow is it?

Half as fast as an iPhone 15.

https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/compare/3639070?baseline=4347053

collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:

Never heard of negging as a blogging strategy, but Tailwind seems to be giving it a go.

Attachments:

• The Tailwind 3.4 release blog post. Highlighted sections include "these are thing you've been angry about for years...features you probably haven't heard of and can't even use," "we'll probably regret giving you this one," and "that grid feature you struggle to understand." (remote)
• More highlights from the blog post: "Ever heard of forced color mode? Your site probably looks pretty bad in it. Well now you can't blame us at least." (remote)

Reblogged by collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth"):

BritishKoalaTea@mastodon.art ("Alison Hawke") wrote:

Trying to get "foolish mortals" accepted as a good gender-neutral group form of address.
"Hello foolish mortals, thank you for coming to my meeting."

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):

carnage4life@mas.to ("Dare Obasanjo") wrote:

Google formally supporting Right To Repair is great. Even better is they are attacking parts pairing where companies like Apple & John Deere use software DRM to force customers to only use their stores first repairs.

More Apple shenanigans being exposed to regulators which harm consumers while enriching their bottom line.

https://www.404media.co/google-formally-endorses-right-to-repair-will-lobby-to-pass-strong-repair-laws/

pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:

I don't know, I don't feel safe at all.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/01/11/i-wasnt-warned-today/

Attachments:

• SAFE-U EMERGENCY January 11, 2024 at 7:21 AM U of M Twin Cities: **THREAT TO TWIN CITIES CAMPUS** Public Safety has received a specific threat to shoot persons on the TC campus from Joseph Mark Rongstad DOB 3/13/1982. Physical description is 6 feet tall, 195 Ibs, brown hair, hazel eyes. No clothing or vehicle description is available. UMPD will have extra officers on campus with partner agencies. The BCA and the suspect's home sheriff agency are investigating the incident. Updates and safety tips at z.umn.edu/alerts (remote)

Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):

johnallsopp@indieweb.social ("John Allsopp") wrote:

@slightlyoff @polotek I think this piece by @Daojoan (a post from whom literally allowed this in my reader) captures as aspect of this week.

https://joanwestenberg.com/blog/what-are-the-conservatives-going-to-do-talk-to-each-other

Her argument which I think is powerful is a big motivator for conservatives on social media is to 'own the libs' or something to that effect. It's why Gab and other RW Socials don't take off. So leave them to their echo chamber of shit, and then keep them out of decent places.

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

By @polotek, via Amal (who isn't on here yet), this line resonates deeply:

"Our goal should be to actively shrink Twitter's engagement and relevance until it is not so big a threat."

https://marcorogers.com/blog/its-time-to-divest-from-twitter