Mastodon Feed: Posts

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

I've been itching to do a thread on the concept of the "social graph" sooo bad.

Specifically the frenzy of APIs and ecosystems launched 2007 onward, when these companies realized that our social graphs were valuable.

But there's so many entry points, I don't know where to start and I kinda get stuck. ADHD brain/ executive dysfunction and all that 🫠🫠

Anyway, I find all this to be fascinating. Hopefully I can organize my thoughts enough to take a shot at it.

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

I did a cover of Fountains of Wayne because Fountains of Wayne are awesome, so there

https://youtu.be/HifAglX2iS4

Boosted by soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker"):
temporary@corteximplant.com (".tmp") wrote:

Found this FOSS Android app to detect smart glasses in use near you, and there is a lot to love here, even just based on the README:
https://github.com/yjeanrenaud/yj%5Fnearbyglasses

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

Hacker News discusses the merits of slapping recording devices off the faces of Meta glasses wearers:

"Slapping a pair of glasses that are recording you, processing your face, sending biometrics and images back to one of the worst privacy offenders on the planet off of the face of someone who is willingly doing all that without asking your permission is a perfectly appropriate reaction. Put your shoulder into it." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47226198

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷"):
SearingTruth@infosec.exchange wrote:

@fromjason

"Truth is defined by the weakest of us who must suffer through it."
SearingTruth

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

ChatGPT uninstalls surged by 295% after DoD deal https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/02/chatgpt-uninstalls-surged-by-295-after-dod-deal/

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

This AI Agent Is Ready to Serve, Mid-Phone Call:

"The audible AI assistant will be baked into the phone call, offering services like live language translation to anyone who chooses to opt in."

Aka, telecommunications companies found a new way to spy on our phone calls, so they can then sell to governments and ad-tech firms. I’m so tired, yall. https://www.wired.com/story/deutsche-telekom-elevenlabs-ai-phone-calls-mwc-2026/

zkat@toot.cat wrote:

doing a bunch of unsafe *mut *mut in Rust right now and feeling very "damn, y'all live like this?" about C/C++ folks.

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

"OpenAI says one basis for its willingness to work with the Pentagon is simply an assumption that the government won’t break the law."

lol, lmao. Sam Altman has broken every promise he's made to the public in breakneck speed. There is no bottom. He will do anything to gain power.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/03/02/1133850/openais-compromise-with-the-pentagon-is-what-anthropic-feared/

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷"):
BenjaminHCCarr@hachyderm.io ("Benjamin Carr, Ph.D. 👨🏻‍💻🧬") wrote:

#OpenAI’s “compromise” with the #Pentagon is what #Anthropic feared
Anthropic pushed for #moral boundaries. OpenAI settled for softer legal ones, and now it stands to benefit as the Pentagon rushes out politicized #AI strategy
Not clear OpenAI can build in safety precautions it promises as military rushes out a politicized AI strategy during strikes on Iran, or if deal will be seen as good enough by employees who wanted company to take harder line.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/03/02/1133850/openais-compromise-with-the-pentagon-is-what-anthropic-feared/
https://archive.ph/IMwlR

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

(although given the state of the news right now...)

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

Deleted a post which referenced an old news story which somehow resurfaced in my news feed. Damn it, algorithm, keep my news fresh!

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

Why We Struck Iran:

"Trump gets away with all of this by pretending we’re not really at war—a falsehood with which Congress is happy to play along. Asked if the U.S. is at war with Iran, Sen. Lindsey Graham told Meet the Press: “I don’t know if this is technically a war.” Absurd as that sounds, Democratic leaders are adopting the same framing. Sen. Chuck Schumer says the strikes are “risking wider conflict” as if this ... https://micro.fromjason.xyz/2026/03/02/why-we-struck-iran-trump.html

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷"):
rowlandm@disabled.social ("RM") wrote:

RE: https://mastodon.social/@fromjason/116154825042728437

Many DEI plans fail because they don’t understand:

1. that most DEI frameworks should talk in concrete terms, not in abstract terms,
2. what is systemic discrimination,
3. that systemic and subtle discrimination accumulates over time,
4. what Intersectionality really means and how it adds more nuances that need to be addressed, and
5. that providing opportunities, creating safe spaces, and sharing power are the antidotes to discrimination.

https://www.practicaldiversity.org/

#Diversity #Equity #Inclusion

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

All things considered, I wouldn't mind adding a share to mastodon button to my blog, maybe.

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/03/a-new-share-button/

zkat@toot.cat wrote:

So uh

does this mean that there is now precedent that at least "agentic" dev systems, potentially any genAI dev system, now leaves companies open to their code no longer being considered copyrightable if they use these systems?

https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-supreme-court-doesnt-care-if-you-want-to-copyright-your-ai-generated-art-171849407.html

zkat@toot.cat wrote:

One of the things about growing up Latin American, especially in the 90s, is that you get a very different perspective of LatAm artists that became big in the English-speaking world much later. Like, Ricky Martin was the cute little kid from Menudo long before he was the hot totally-straight-I-swear heartthrob doing world cup music, and Shakira was basically a Colombian Alanis Morrisette before she was the blonde bombshell reggaeton artist she is now.

Anyway all this to say listening to old Shakira stuff is great.

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

Surely the assassination of one guy won't cause an entire world war.

*Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand starts playing*

Boosted by soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker"):
nlupo@amikejo.xyz ("nLupo :anarchist_flag: :antrans_flag:") wrote:

@soatok And that's how devs caring about privacy should do.

soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker") wrote:

Here's something not so secret about most people (absent the incentives of attention economies): being mean takes way too much energy and attention.

I reserve the occasional rhetorical evisceration for cryptography projects that demonstrate arrogance while putting users at risk, but otherwise I'd rather spend my time on building things. That's significantly more useful to other people.

soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker") wrote:

Most of the time, vulnerability disclosure is a boring process. To wit: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/zz4yh

I told the developer about some issues found in Conversations.

I had looked at it in 2024 when I wrote Against XMPP+OMEMO but was too busy to verify them until recently. A lot of code had changed since then, and most of the probable bugs from then have since evaporated or were false positives.

Daniel fixed them all in like, 24 hours of me telling him.

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷"):
zachleat@zachleat.com ("Zach Leatherman") wrote:

it would be an understatement to say that tomorrow will be a very big day

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fontawesome/build-awesome

soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker") wrote:

Consequences also have consequences.

There are currently a handful of people openly hating on me because they see me, pissed off, and interpret my actions and tone as "arrogant" or "smug".

Which is a fair interpretation if you ignore the behavior that provoked my response. That is why I try to be transparent about my motivations for publishing my opinions whenever I'm using inflammatory word choice. But that can only help so much.

This is all to say: Don't be surprised if loose ties or strangers curse my name in your travels. Some of them may think they have good reason for it.

soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker") wrote:

One of the more painful (heh) lessons in life is that actions have consequences. Maybe social consequences. Maybe financial or legal ones.

Sure, you can't slap someone's face over the Internet (though IRC's /commands and trout were a common experience in my age group), the way you can in movie theater parking lots.

And the easiest way to avoid provoking a response you don't like is to avoid being a dick.

Matrix got proverbially smacked twice because its evangelists were rude and spoke over me.

Other messaging apps provoked this response through arrogance or trying to spread baseless fear in apps that actually implemented their encryption better than theirs.

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

I really want to start using the story feature on Signal. I used to write thread-like stories on Instagram and I missed that format.

I guess I'd just have to start publishing stories without anyone looking at them at first.

Boosted by soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker"):
S-Config@core.s-config.com wrote:

Microslop....

I'm doing my part.

Boosted by soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker"):
alice@lgbtqia.space ("🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)") wrote:

Here's to all the kids who were born with non-default settings; to all you who put the effort in to figure yourselves out.

You're amazing and deserve to be celebrated.

I'm glad you're here 💝

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

How much market cap can we wash away by simply using the term “Microslop?” My guess is a lot.

Microsoft gets tired of “Microslop,” bans the word on its Discord, then locks the server after backlash https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/03/02/microsoft-gets-tired-of-microslop-bans-the-word-on-its-discord-then-locks-the-server-after-backlash/

soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker") wrote:

Too many people would benefit from a bit of wisdom from growing up in the 90's and 00's:

Talk shit

Get hit

This doesn't always mean physical violence.

Sometimes it means a furry points out how shitty your code is after you grandstand pompously about how you write code or design protocols.

Something something all is fair in love and vore

Boosted by soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker"):
sarahjamielewis ("Sarah Jamie Lewis") wrote:

I am so glad I got the opportunity to grow up in an age where there were no restrictions on what I could do with computers I could access.

Personally I consider any attempt to remove that access from anyone as abhorrent. It is a core part of who I am.