Mastodon Feed: Posts

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

HOW can we change that dynamic? How can we create the sort of pressure that will allow @carlana's hopes to materialise in a reasonable time-frame?

Competition.

*This* is why the work of @owa is so foundational to the future of web development. They are making *enormous* progress on the most important root-cause problem on the web today. Just the *threat* of competition has already upped Apple's pace, and true engine choice will do much more.

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

So, if you care about the web, either as a developer or as a user, now's the time to go support @owa and get involved with their work.

Now, more than ever, they need friends and allies that can help inform regulators and legislators and (most importantly) the staffs of implementing organisations about how browser engine progress unlocks better outcomes for everyone.

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

Apple (enabled, sadly, by Mozilla) are now working behind the scenes to keep regulatory scrutiny from "forcing" them to deliver many features that developers are clamoring for in a timely way.

We should not be confused: the things on Carlana's list won't happen any faster than the things we've *already* shipped over objection and delay until the underlying dynamic changes:

https://microsoftedge.github.io/TopDeveloperNeeds/

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

What doesn't parse as cleanly is the "view from nowhere" that assumes that browser progress is *vis major* and happens at some natural rate that only needs to be redirected. The reality is much messier, but folks inside the room don't often tell the truth about it for fear of reducing an already depressing slog towards progress:

https://infrequently.org/2023/02/safari-16-4-is-an-admission/#fn-u-turns-1

Apple's unwillingness to engage in V0 design was a major factor behind the Blink fork. Post-fork antipathy toward cooperation followed.

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

The specific list of items in Carlana's list is constructive and good. I'd add data cascade, SVG extensibility, declarative component definitions, HTML modules, and much else. But the limiting factor on all of these *incredibly* obvious additions is the same as it has been for a decade: Apple's foot-dragging.

Until and unless we contend with the underlying force dragging us down, we will not progress at anything like a useful rate.

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

First, this sort of focus on what developers are struggling to express is *exactly* what led us to try to build Web Components in the first place. We did a ton of study of what was then the dominant strain of component construction challenge at the time, and did not imagine we'd end up unable to deliver on a reasonable timeline. But things happened; some of the recap is in this talk:

https://youtu.be/y-8Lmg5Gobw?si=UEuOyRoN4RSNc42i

So I'm absolutely on board with the intuitions of this post.

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

I'd missed this post from late last year by @carlana, and it's good enough that I think it deserves a response:

https://blog.carlana.net/post/2023/web-component-alternative-futures/

(short thread)

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

I assume it's probably like this for users who have more than one 2FA method, so they can choose between them at that point. But it's a really lousy experience for users who don't.

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

Pet peeve: 2FA flows where you have to click a button before they send you the 2FA code.

Just send me the code! Don't make me click another button.

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:

There appears to be a lot of paid political ads on #TikTok which is weird because such content is against the app's terms of service.

I think this is the biggest story no ones talking about, so I gathered up all the relevant reporting on the topic and published to my wiki.

https://wiki.fromjason.xyz/Collections/Biden's+New+Media

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

This is so much fun; particular props for making everything forkable in codesandbox:

https://dgerrells.com/blog/how-fast-is-javascript-simulating-20-000-000-particles

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

Nothing makes me feel more like an out-of-touch old man than Discord prompts to unlock stuff.

Sir, this is a chat app. I ain't doing no quests.

Reblogged by nadim@infosec.exchange ("Nadim Kobeissi"):

mysk ("Mysk🇨🇦🇩🇪") wrote:

@Mer__edith

Hi Meredith, let me address your points:

1. The issue we highlighted does not require “full” access to the device. Signal desktop stores the chat database in an unprotected area of the file system that’s accessible by any user process. This would allow any program without any special permissions or user prompts to access the database in full. This can be solved by sandboxing, which relies on the OS to prevent any process from accessing data within the sandbox.

… 🧵 1/4

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

I'm (finally) catching up on the details of the WPT licensing change from a few years back; this is a good overview of a switch to a license that looks, frankly, sketchy:

https://av.tib.eu/media/52830

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

lmorchard@hackers.town ("Les Orchard") wrote:

Shower thoughts time: Some days I feel like I'm from an alien species. I don't want power. I don't want to compete or win. I don't want attention, recognition, or praise. Any apparent understanding or enactment I have of these things is a clumsy simulation I've been forced into by others.

I want to learn, play, tinker, share, build, and repair in a mutually beneficial world. Maybe make a few connections with folks - but not too many. I want to hang out with animals. And I want everybody to be okay.

There's a scene in Darwin's Children by Greg Bear that I think about a lot, where a character says "It hurts to make others fail". She sounds like my people. Except, in the story, she's the result of a strange genetic mutation. So 🤷‍♂️

https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/2jeNBwgik7kC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=it%20hurts%20to%20make%20others%20fail

Attachments:

• Miss Kinney raised her eyes to the roof. Her face pinked. “You want to get the most baskets for your team, and keep the other team from getting any baskets.” Celia was getting tired of thinking this through. Tears started in her eyes. “I thought we were trying to get the most baskets.” “For your team,” Miss Kinney said. “Why isn’t that clear?” “It hurts to make others fail,” Stella said, looking around the court as if to find a door and escape. “Oh, puh-leeze, Stella, it’s only a game! You play against one another. It’s called sport. Everyone can be friendly afterward. There’s no harm.” (remote)

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

baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:

“Open Source Software: The $9 Trillion Resource Companies Take for Granted - HBS Working Knowledge”

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/open-source-software-the-nine-trillion-resource-companies-take-for-granted

> Many companies build their businesses on open source software

All of them. Not "many". ALL of them are built on Free/Open Source. It's just a question of degree. Pretty much all of software is built on looting the commons.

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

Looking young and happy.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/07/09/if-youre-wondering-where-im-at/

Attachments:

• Darlene Westad & James Myers, some time in the 1950s (remote)

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

TIL: https://pixelambacht.nl/2021/wakamai-fondue-command-line/

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

xahteiwi ("Florian Haas") wrote:

Which of the following is an appropriate response to a statement of fact, or to a disprovable hypothesis?

(Boosts OK)

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

mike@chinwag.org ("Mike, First of his Name") wrote:

NBD just a successful test of a 2MB RAM expansion for a Commodore 64. Just everyday things.

#retrocomputing

Attachments:

• Screenshot of a Commodore 64 program reporting a successful memory test. (remote)

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

IanDSmith@mastodonapp.uk ("Ian Smith") wrote:

Attachments:

• Matthew Dow Smith - @matthewdowsmith.bsky.so... Just remember: Arts & Humanities are so useless and pointless that Tech Bros were driven to spend billions of dollars to try and get a computer to do something that badly approximates something Arts & Humanities students could do half asleep and wired on coffee the night before the due date. (remote)

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

Hot damn!

https://sfstandard.com/2024/07/01/san-francisco-housing-permit-sb423-development/

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

PSA: Billy & Molly is adorably wholesome and if you (like me) hadn't watched it yet, you should.

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

Sometimes I think an app that's like 95% great feels worse than one that's 80%, because that last 5% just sticks out so much more.

kornel ("Kornel") wrote:

Software update prompts ask wrong person a wrong question.

They never ask if the user wants the changes—only when. Users can't refuse without being denied other features and security and compatibility fixes, and the product will stop working sooner or later.

"Is this update malware-free?" is a tough question even for a professional security researcher. Completely misguided to ask unqualified users, especially when not updating has risks too.

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

simple truth

Janes (UK security intelligence firm): “Ukraine’s air defense network will have a harder time defending against saturation attacks until it is reinforced, or Ukraine gains the ability to consistently and accurately strike the assets Russia is using to launch these attacks.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/08/world/europe/russia-ukraine-missile-strikes-childrens-hospital.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=highlightShare&sgrp=c-cb

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

‘The type of the weapon and its trajectory suggested that Russia intentionally targeted the hospital, according to Mr. Hoffman. He said that the trajectory of the missile “appears controlled,” and that it was likely programmed before launch.’

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/08/world/europe/russia-ukraine-missile-strikes-childrens-hospital.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=highlightShare&sgrp=c-cb

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

Well *that's* a headline:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/08/reform-uk-under-pressure-to-prove-all-its-candidates-were-real-people

kornel ("Kornel") wrote:

Chrome's biggest innovation was the short release cycle with a silent unceremonious autoupdate.

When updates were big, rare, and manual, buggy and outdated browsers were lingering for soo long, that we were giving bugs names. We documented the bugs in magazines and books, as if they were a timeless foundation of #WebDev.

Nowadays browser vendors can fix bugs in 6 weeks (even Safari can…). New-ish stuff is still buggy, but rarely for long enough for the bugs to make it to schools' curriculums.

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

Sustainable2050@mastodon.energy ("Kees van der Leun") wrote:

Confirmed: the June average of CO₂ at Mauna Loa was 426.9 ppm, that's 3.2 ppm higher than last year; another big jump!

Overall, we're still speeding in the wrong direction.

#emissions #co2 #climate #climatechange

Attachments:

• June 2024: 426.91 ppm June 2023: 423.68 ppm With graphs of growth in last 5 years, and of the whole record from 1958 tot today: continuously up, with regular seasonal swings. (remote)