Mastodon Feed: Posts

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

The federation concept is dope. Big fan. But this emerging worldview that "all connection is good connection" regardless of implementation or even an ounce of thoughtfulness, is bizarre.

To me, it feels like VC growth-at-all-cost religion repackaged. Big Boz memo vibes. It's giving "your safety is a sacrifice I'm willing to make"

Where's this weird urgency coming from? What deadline are we trying to meet that demands such thoughtless action, and subsequent unabashed defending?

#fediverse

Attachments:

• So we connect more people That can be bad if they make it negative. Maybe it costs a life by exposing someone to bullies. Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools. And still we connect people. The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is *de facto good. It is perhaps the only area where the metrics do tell the true story as far as we are concerned.

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

You know there are marketers just foaming at the mouth to show a unique AI-generated video to every individual visitor like a never-ending A/B test.

You know they're already figuring out how to host that binary or whatever.

You know we're about to 10x the resources we consume to load a goddamn web page, just so we can sell more Expedia or whatever fucking bullshit.

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

TIL about Color.io; this a badass PWA. So flipping cool.

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

What #movie have you watched more than any other movie?

Mine is Catch Me If You Can, which I've watched maybe 100 times?

#favoritemovie

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

Back in January FediDB reported 1.5 MILLION new sign ups (13.5%) in December for Mastodon. It was a whole thing. People celebrated.

I found it odd as the monthly active user metic only increased 0.2%.

That surge is now missing from the totals and from December?

February 18th shows 10 million total users. The chart suggests that the December spike never happened.

Did we dream it? Where'd those users go?

#spam #spambots #aibots

From: @fromjason
https://mastodon.social/@fromjason/111722864894996063

Attachments:

• Post from January 8th shows 11.1 million total users and a spike of 1.5 million new users in December 2023.
• February 18th shows 10 million total users. And the chart suggests that the December spike never happened.

Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

#threads #Meta

Attachments:

• Still of the movie banshees of inisherin: A man inside a rustic room looking at the floor with text overlay "Me at Mastodon trying to escape Meta" and a person at the window with text "Threads.net".

Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):

nullagent@partyon.xyz wrote:

Not even sure where to start with my landlord situation, but y'all I need to move.

https://gofund.me/2be47dfa

#MutualAidRequest #Landlord

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

jerry@infosec.exchange ("Jerry Bell :verified_paw: :donor: :verified_dragon: :rebelverified:​") wrote:

May I present…

Attachments:

• aa0889715721a35b.mp4 (remote)

Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):

nina_kali_nina@tech.lgbt ("Nina Kalinina") wrote:

It is time for me to re-do my old thread about the origins of "80 columns" and how it can very well be related to pretty ancient stuff, not dissimilar to "space shuttle and horse's rear end".

As you know, the default mode on IBM PCs is text 80x25. The limitation of 80 columns per line, also known as "80 column rule" is still widespread; for example, that's the rule for Linux kernel. But why 80? Why not 70 or 90?

The answer to that is usually "IBM punch cards are 80 characters wide", but things are more interesting than that!

First, the commonly accepted column width was supposed to be 72. American typewriters used to have just 72 columns, earlier DEC terminals supported only 72 columns, and even IBM punch cards had only 72 columns for text.

Second, yes, IBM punch cards were 80 characters wide, but why?

Attachments:

• DEC VT52 terminal (photo from wikipedia) (remote)
• IBM Fortran coding form - 72 columns for text, 8 for sequence number (remote)

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

Let me explain:

Around 2019, Meta and Google decided to advocate for #DataPortability and an #OpenWeb. Weird right?

It might be because of Amazon. AWS has become too powerful in cloud computing.

#Amazon maintains its 35% cloud market share by making it extremely expensive and complicated to move data out of its data centers.

The #DataPortability craze is largely faux grassroots movement to loosen Amazon's grip on the market.

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

Can't help but notice that Crypto, AI, and Spacial Computing all have two things in common:

1. All require mass amounts of cloud computing power.

2. All are heavily hyped by the cloud computing oligopoly— #Microsoft, #Amazon, #Google, and #Meta.

Also can't help notice that everything we attribute to the "web in transition" and the #openWeb is related to the turf war between these 4 companies.

From: @TodePond
https://mas.to/@TodePond/111949535160207502

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

owa ("Open Web Advocacy") wrote:

Let’s make it very clear. Apple is under NO obligation to kill Web Apps in the EU. It’s a spiteful decision driven from pure greed.

Don’t put up with it, join us in fighting back

https://open-web-advocacy.org/apple-attempts-killing-webapps/

Reblogged by isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:"):

inthehands@hachyderm.io ("Paul Cantrell") wrote:

There’s a lot to chew on in this short article (ht @ajsadauskas):
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20240214-ai-recruiting-hiring-software-bias-discrimination

“An AI resume screener…trained on CVs of employees already at the firm” gave candidates extra marks if they listed male-associated sports, and downgraded female-associated sports.

Bias like this is enraging, but completely unsurprising to anybody who knows half a thing about how machine learning works. Which apparently doesn’t include a lot of execs and HR folks.

1/

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

If it's between

A. the people who live in the margins; who always experience the brunt of techno-utopia, and

B. the tech-bros who say "it'll be different this time"

I'm giving all the grace and benefit of doubt to group A.

Every time. Always. Forever. ❤️ #SmallWeb #indieWeb #Fediverse #fediverseMeta

isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:

There's a weasel living around and under our house. I'm not sure if it's just one weasel (unlikely) or even the same one, because we only spot it may be two or three times a year for may be a dozen of seconds. It's impossible to ever take a picture of it. So every time it happens we cherish the experience and share it among the family.

"I saw our weasel today again! it ran from here to there!"

"Wow!"

Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):

clacke@libranet.de ("clacke: inhibited exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛") wrote:

Concept: an immortal who doesn’t shy away from photos or paintings. Draws self portraits on cave walls. Photobombs everything with a pout and a suave pose. Commissions numerous portraits of themself as a literary Romantic before faking their death. Tries to be at least slightly famous every time they have a new identity. Creates a conspiracy blog linking all their past photos together before mysteriously disappearing in mysterious circumstances. Mysteriously. Usually only disappears for 10 to 20 years after “"dying”“ before making another appearance. Everyone else in the immortal community lowkey hates them. “Ah, fuck. You’ll never guess who’s resurfaced again.” “Fucking… Dave?” “Fucking Dave.”

‌cityelf.tumblr.com/post/150695…

cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:

Anybody know of an incoming call indicator light that can connect to cell phones over bluetooth? Something like this but over bluetooth:

https://www.amazon.com/PHONE-LIGHT-FLASHER-RINGER-1/dp/B00627EIS0

Basically I want something completely stripped back to the core function of showing a light indicator of some kind. Anything more than that will just be trouble. (I'm not adverse to snipping wires to speakers when needed, but excess functionality tends to be its own source of trouble.)

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

The small digital community is an act of defiance. It exists in a web where perpetual growth and relentless extractions are the only pursuits.

#SmallWeb #indieWeb

Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):

loren@flipping.rocks ("Loren") wrote:

i was originally going to only post the more cropped version of this without the clothes pin but then i realized what good scale it gave for just how tiny the golden crowned kinglets are. they are so! small!

#birds

Attachments:

• a golden crowned kinglet jumping off an evergreen branch with wings both spread wide and head turned up to the left. little orange feets dangling. further up the branch there is a wooden clothes pin clamped onto the branch. don't ask me why there is a clothes pin there i can't remember what it was pinning up, maybe a christmas ornament someone put there? or a cut out of something? it's in my parents front yard and whatever it once held is long gone by this point but the clothespin was looked over and remained there (remote)
• the same image as the previous but cropped in to exclude the clothes pin (remote)

Reblogged by isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:"):

semioticstandard@wandering.shop ("R. Leigh Hennig") wrote:

You need to stop using Chrome NOW. It’s not hyperbole: Google just rolled out a change to Chrome that tracks the sites you visit, builds a profile, and shares that with any page you visit that asks.

This is real. It’s not tech bro conspiracy shit.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/googles-widely-opposed-ad-platform-the-privacy-sandbox-launches-in-chrome

#privacy #google #chrome

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

And don't let anyone go unchallenged who attempts to frame this as a small instance problem.

A mass exodus from small to big servers would weaken decentralization. Who does that benefit?
https://fieldnotes.resistant.tech/what-is-decentralization/

#fediverse
From: @are0h
https://h-i.social/@are0h@h-i.social/111953598989236478

Attachments:

• What is Decentralization? Decentralization is important because building systems that distribute power is important. Building systems that resist abuses of power is important. In it's simplest definition, decentralization is the degree to which an entity within the system can resist coercion and still function as part of the system. Now be careful, coercion doesn't mean force, it means negative incentives to align with an authority.

Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):

are0h@h-i.social ("Optional Dictator") wrote:

I like that people are talking about how the lack of progress in security and safety in Mastodon is enabling some pretty nasty stuff.

Keep talking and bringing attention to that.

Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

If an instance wants to do the "watch before block" thing, great. Write out and publish your terms. What is acceptable and what isn't? No more vague expectations.

If a fediverse leader amplifies rationale thats misleading, call them in and make your case. Most want what's best for the collective. Give them a graceful out so they don't double down.

Also, Ecorp will prob target small instances first. Don't let them. Unite.

Last, keep talking.

Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):

RedtheBean ("Red (Rachel Smith Loesche)") wrote:

#TIL how to see all the accounts and domains I have blocked on #Mastodon and... they're saved and made available as downloadable CSVs for us!

Preferences>Import/Export 🙂

#Block #Blocking #Blocked

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

I just realized that #whatwg is the acronym for

The Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group

And

Where Have All The Websites Gone

Is this poetry?

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

I get it though. Reading an article on most blogs is a fucking nightmare.

I come from the digital marketing world, where we're always trying to coax the visitor to click through to the next page. So we make pop-ups, and floating buttons, and call to actions and blah blah blah.

In that pursuit we've lost the ability to make users comfortable on the page they're on. As if somehow waving a newsletter CTA in their face is more valuable than simply providing a pleasant reading experience.

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

Imagine stumbling across a post you wrote about the web, curation, and algorithms, only to see a "Save a Click" AI summary in the comments lmao.

#SmallWeb #indieWeb #whatwg

Attachments:

• A screenshot of a Reddit post by a bot summarizing the post. Below, a still from the God Father "Look how they massacred my boy"

Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):

Daojoan ("Joan Westenberg") wrote:

Xbox laying off 2,000 workers because "the industry didn't grow enough" is obtuse at best.

And it ignores a simple economic reality even a toddler should be able to understand:

Infinite growth is a goddamn myth.

It’s the great collective delusion of capitalism.

An industry cannot grow year on year indefinitely.

At some point you run the fuck out of consumers.

If your business model is based on hand waving hypothetical growth, you’re either lying to us or you’re lying to yourself.

Attachments:

• The image contains a quote attributed to Xbox’s Phil Spencer, discussing the implications of an industry that doesn't grow. Spencer acknowledges job eliminations at Xbox and discusses the necessity of building a sustainable business. The quote highlights a desire for a healthy industry, where players find top games and people invest in their careers, indicating that success depends on being part of a growing industry. Spencer references Lisa Su, AMD's CEO, predicting a decline in AMD-powered consoles in 2024. Spencer concludes that without growth, the gaming industry will struggle.

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

AI is now being used to corrupt biology.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/02/18/the-opposite-of-inspire/

Attachments:

• AI-generated "cell" (remote)

Gargron ("Eugen Rochko") wrote:

There is an ongoing spam attack on the fediverse for the last couple of days. It's more widespread than before, as attackers are targeting smaller servers to create accounts. Before, usually only mastodon.social was targeted and our team could take care of it. For server administrators out there: If you don't need open registrations, switch over to approval mode. If you do, blocking disposable e-mail providers is a massive stopgap to the problem. Mastodon also supports hCaptcha.