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David Golumbia, 1963–2023

Sad to hear that David Golumbia died. If you’re unfamiliar with The Politics of Bitcoin and you’re in tech, it’s a must-read.

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WordPress blogs can now be followed in the fediverse, including Mastodon

I'd prefer if this was default WordPress functionality - but the big lede is buried here. Hosted WordPress sites are getting fediverse compatibility. That's a huge deal.

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Finishing With Twitter/X

Who at the intersection of tech and politics is still posting on Twitter? And should they be? A good breakdown.

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Unity has changed its pricing model, and game developers are pissed off

As with API pricing changes across social media, these tiers disproportionately penalize indie developers. The message is clear: they don't want or need those customers. In a tighter economy, much of technology is re-organizing around serving bigger, wealthier players.

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Microsoft announces new Copilot Copyright Commitment for customers

“As customers ask whether they can use Microsoft’s Copilot services and the output they generate without worrying about copyright claims, we are providing a straightforward answer: yes, you can, and if you are challenged on copyright grounds, we will assume responsibility for the potential legal risks involved.”

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Silicon Valley's Slaughterhouse

“Andreessen wasn’t advocating for a tech industry that accelerates the development of the human race, or elevates the human condition. He wanted to (and succeeded in creating) a Silicon Valley that builds technology that can, and I quote, “eat markets far larger than the technology industry has historically been able to pursue.””

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Google vet wants to turn your hot water heater into a "virtual power plant"

I really need this for my home, and I suspect my entire region needs it. This could do a lot of good and be the start of something much bigger using virtual power plants as a platform.

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It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy

Every modern car brand abuses your personal information. 84% sell your data (including where you go and when). 56% will share it with law enforcement without a warrant. And none of them have demonstrably adequate security.

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Tucson's Molly Holzschlag, known as 'the fairy godmother of the web,' dead at 60

Rest in peace, Molly. We've lost one of the really good people who made the web better.

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In Europe, a regulatory vise tightens around big tech

Good overview. I think European tech regulations have been broadly good, establishing the anti-competitive and pro-privacy rules that US legislators have failed to enact. If we could only all be so protected.

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Educational Sensational Inspirational Foundational

A really great list of foundational and/or influential writing about how to build the web, starting with Tim Berners-Lee's Cool URIs Don't Change post from 1998.

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Web Scraping for Me, But Not for Thee

Good commentary on the dissonance between vendors like Microsoft banning scraping of their platforms while simultaneously releasing products that depend on scraping other peoples' data. Some sort of commons agreement would go a long way here, but it won't happen while platforms can get away with this one-sided relationship.

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Introducing the 100-Year Plan: Secure Your Online Legacy for a Century

I'd love to understand what prompted Automattic to offer a hosting plan for $38K. On one level, I love it - it lasts for 100 years! and I love Automattic! - but I can't justify this, and I'm not quite sure who it's for? If this is marketing, what are the goals?

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Changes to UK Surveillance Regime May Violate International Law

The UK seems to want to break international law to retain its ability to mass surveil by forcing software vendors to break their protections for users everywhere. It's an anti-democratic approach that puts journalists and vulnerable populations at risk. It also counter-productively undermines the UK's own technology sector.

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'We're Winning': Apple Formally Endorses Right to Repair Legislation After Spending Millions Fighting It

I'm a little bit suspicious that Apple is suddenly into right-to-repair, but broadly this is good. I just wish it was a nationwide law instead of one that is limited to California. Hopefully the idea can expand to the federal level.

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404 Media

A new, independent, worker-owned venture by ex-Motherboard journalists. I'm a subscriber.

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The Secret Weapon Hackers Can Use to Dox Nearly Anyone in America for $15

It costs $15 to uncover an American's personally identifiable information illegally for potentially violent purposes. But also consider the number of entities that have access to this information legally, without any oversight. None of it should be allowable.

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RSS Zero isn’t the path to RSS Joy

“RSS is not email. You don’t have to get to inbox zero!” is a correct take, in my opinion; that’s certainly how I approach my feed reader. But also, I’ve got bad news about my email inbox.

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Thousands of scientists are cutting back on Twitter, seeding angst and uncertainty

Scientists are fleeing X for Mastodon, citing far-right science denialism - and far-right hate in general. I don't exactly know what Musk thinks he's going to be left with after all this.

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Datasette Cloud

Simon Willison's Datasette now has a SaaS version that saves you having to install or set anything up. This is perfect for smaller newsrooms and orgs that are technically stretched but want to analyze data. I'm excited to see where he goes with it.

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StreetPass for Mastodon

Genuinely brilliant. StreetPass finds the Mastodon accounts of people whose websites you browse, allowing you to check out their accounts and follow if you're interested. I love it.

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An Opinionated Guide To Alt-text

A great, short guide to writing alt text to support data visualization from Jasmine Mithani.

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Elon Musk's Twitter throttles links to Threads, Blue Sky and New York Times

Really, truly: there is no good reason for any media company or publisher to still be posting on X.

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Announcing the Tor University Challenge

This is a worthwhile project, and would be a major win for freedom of expression and freedom from surveillance. I'd love to see more of my higher education friends take part.

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How to verify your Threads account using your Mastodon profile

It's truly beautiful to see Threads begin to embrace indieweb and federated social web protocols. This is a first step; true federation is, I've been assured, coming.

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