Charles ☕ Stanhope

I haven't been making progress on my own Indie Web efforts, but I'm glad to see others still going strong: "Happy Third Birthday to the Homebrew Website Club!"

Alex Jordan likes this.

2016-11-20T19:45:50Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

I hope we can shift attitudes like this:

“I’m also a very busy businessman and I don’t have time to fact-check everything that I put out there, especially when I don’t think it’s going out there for wide consumption.”

Says Eric Tucker, the man who helped start the rumor, and fake news stories, about "professional protesters" getting bused to anti-Trump rallies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/business/media/how-fake-news-spreads.html

It's always been a bad idea to spread misinformation (regardless of how few people you are talking to), but in the age of social media, we all have much more responsibility to be careful about what we state as fact.

Sarah Elkins , Alex Jordan , Christopher Allan Webber , Elena ``of Valhalla'' like this.

Alex Jordan , Alex Jordan shared this.

On the positive side, it appears Mr. Tucker did learn a lesson.

Charles ☕ Stanhope at 2016-11-20T19:46:07Z

2016-11-18T20:53:35Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

Latest sobering, wide ranging talk from Maciej Cegłowski (http://pinboard.in fame) transcribed for your reading enjoyment: "Who Will Command The Robot Armies?"

2016-11-15T20:42:46Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

This is a fine example of everything wrong with proprietary hardware and software.

"For about $50, you can get a smartphone with a high-definition display, fast data service and, according to security contractors, a secret feature: a backdoor that sends all your text messages to China every 72 hours."

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/us/politics/china-phones-software-security.html

Christopher Allan Webber , Ben Sturmfels like this.

Stephen Michael Kellat , Kevin Everets , Christopher Allan Webber shared this.

Oh, it's nice that your text messages are being backupped in multiple geographical locations and not just in one datacenter in the US!

No, wait... neither of them provide restore services, do they?

Elena ``of Valhalla'' at 2016-11-16T08:39:46Z

Charles ☕ Stanhope likes this.

prefer to just back up the sqlite file myself .. but where did they put it now?

not a biggie though .. I don't do a lot of sms, too lazy to do much typing on a phone.

Michael at 2016-11-16T14:17:05Z

Yep.

Sarah Elkins at 2016-11-18T03:02:45Z

2016-11-15T19:57:13Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

At a time when so much happens in video, the archive.org video library is a remarkable resource:

'On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump had harsh words for the media in general and some individual journalists in particular, using words like “scum,” and “sleaze” to describe them. On several occasions, he said he intended to open up libel laws so he could sue journalists and outlets, and indeed he threatened lawsuits when critical stories were published.

Many of these speeches were broadcast at the time and are now available on the TV News Archive, searchable by closed captions–as are statements he made on a whole host of topics. We are hoping journalists and researchers will use this rich resource as they report on Trump. If there’s a question about what Trump has said about a particular topic, when, and where, we may just have the video clip.'

http://politicaladarchive.org/trump-statements-on-suing-journalists-from-the-tv-news-archive/

2016-11-08T13:48:04Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

Mozilla's FlyWeb looks cool. Device and service discovery on your local LAN, in your browser, without going out to the cloud. And your browser can also host these servers. Privacy preserving, but functional!

https://flyweb.github.io/posts/2016/11/01/introducing-flyweb.html

Unfortunately, I have a hard time believing either Google or Apple would want to get on board since it seems like a feature that would eat into their native platform lockout. Microsoft might?

Show all 5 replies

@Sam Black When you say 'omit control of "device <-> device" communication', are you referring to the possibility of devices communicating on the LAN without knowledge or authorization of the owner?

Charles ☕ Stanhope at 2016-11-08T17:14:14Z

@cstanhope Yeah, pretty much. Since its not in the spec, you're relying on the goodwill of the device manufacturers to provide, and honour, any control you might want to exert.

Sam Black at 2016-11-08T18:58:50Z

@Sam Black True enough. Although, we're in that situation now, plus most "smart" devices pass through the cloud of somebody else's computers before connecting with the owner in the first place. :-/

You bring up a good point. What can be done to keep "honest devices" honest?

Charles ☕ Stanhope at 2016-11-08T21:38:21Z

@cstanhope True, and FlyWeb is certainly better in that respect,
but I'd expect at least something to address control in the spec,
rather than the laissez-faire attitude of the current draft.

I'd rather not retread email/SMTP history
by trying to tack on security at a later date.

To "keep honest devices honest", I can only think to have
trusted device(s) (router, user's smartphone, NAS, etc)
as a sort of LDAP/AD style authentication/authorization system.

On adding a FlyWeb device to the network,
it sends a broadcast to all FlyWeb servers of "Who is the boss?" and
the new device shows the returned "boss" device
to the user (via the device or web app).

Then in future if two FlyWeb devices want to share data,
they contact the "boss" device to get authorization,
and if missing, the "boss" device notifies the user of the request.

The "boss" device, if the user so wished,
could have a set of rules to accept connections without notification,
for example a smart light bulb and a smart dimmer switch.

It is a bit more involved than what a consumer might like,
and I could see "boss" device manufacturers
have a "default allow" policy to make it "easier" for users,
but the possibility of control would be better than the current none.

Sam Black at 2016-11-08T23:08:38Z

2016-11-05T00:00:21Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

I admit. Under my calm social media appearance, I am freakin' out about the US election. O_O

bthall , Stephen Sekula like this.

Stephen Michael Kellat shared this.

Just remember, it will end in tears regardless of who wins. It'll be okay.

Stephen Michael Kellat at 2016-11-05T01:22:09Z

bthall , [email protected] , Elena ``of Valhalla'' , Douglas Perkins and 1 others like this.

Also, remember that the election itself is not a bad action. Bad actions may follow the election, but that day itself is probably going to be peachy. All is not lost until it actually gets lost, one thing at a time.

Douglas Perkins at 2016-11-05T04:21:41Z

Stephen Michael Kellat , bthall , [email protected] like this.

2016-11-04T16:59:29Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

If you're going to have training only available in videos, please give me playback speed controls... #SooooSlooooooooow

2016-11-03T13:59:32Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

I may have said something like this before, but it would be nice if more filesystem code was available as libraries (maybe through something like a rump kernel). Having to be root and have kernel support to perform filesystem operations on disk images is less than ideal.

Too bad we're not all running GNU Hurd, that wouldn't be an issue there! :)

Christopher Allan Webber at 2016-11-03T17:46:45Z

Jason Self , [email protected] , zykotick9 , Charles ☕ Stanhope like this.

2016-11-02T18:55:25Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

People cooked up a way to use Facebook Messenger as an RSS client (which I assume helps route around Facebook's standard feed). Strange tensions going on in that proprietary silo. https://medium.com/superfeedr-thoughts/news-bot-facebook-messenger-abc2f4b28f19

2016-11-02T12:45:50Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

I like this characterization. I think I'll use it from now on.

"GPL has the Midas touch — anything it touches becomes gold."

From a comment on Wix developer Tal Kol's statement about using GPL code in their proprietary iOS app.

uıɐɾ ʞ ʇɐɯɐs , Timo Kankare , Christopher Allan Webber , sazius and 1 others like this.

Christopher Allan Webber , sazius shared this.

That's a great comparison =)

JanKusanagi at 2016-11-02T13:42:32Z

The problem with that quote is that it implies there's something magic about the GPL, when we know there's not.

Choosing to include a GPL component in a proprietary product just puts you in breach of the license; it doesn't change your product in any way. At that point you can choose to remove the component, replace the component, stop distributing your product or change your license. If you choose to use this software, you simply have to respect the license.

Ben Sturmfels at 2016-11-02T22:34:39Z

This Wix case specifically bothers me so much. The GPL component they chose to include in their proprietary app was based on an MIT component that did the same thing. They could have entirely legally included the MIT component in their proprietary app, but they clearly chose the GPL one for convenience or some other reason. This entire issue would have been avoided if they had simply understood the licenses of the software they were including, instead of just ignoring them.

Benjamin Cook at 2016-11-02T22:53:36Z

Charles ☕ Stanhope likes this.

@Ben Sturmfels I agree with you. My thought about the quote was to use it in situations where people otherwise characterize the GPL with the words "viral" or "restrictive" (or whatever other negative connotations). I considered it a more of tongue-in-cheek response in those situations. Of course, I suppose the story of Midas is actually a tragic one, so perhaps not the best idea.

Charles ☕ Stanhope at 2016-11-02T23:14:34Z

Christopher Allan Webber likes this.

2016-10-31T17:13:57Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

WebAssembly has already reached "browser preview". It looks like Mozilla, Google, and Microsoft are on board: http://webassembly.org/

2016-10-28T04:59:13Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

Today I learned the true meaning of pivot_root and that I can't solve all my problems with overlay file systems. #TheMoreYouKnow #WorstAfterSchoolSpecial

Alex Jordan , Claes Wallin (韋嘉誠) like this.

Claes Wallin (韋嘉誠) shared this.

2016-10-23T23:38:34Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

It's probably just confirmation bias, but ever since reading "How the Web Became Unreadable", it seems like I'm using Firefox's inspector to increase the contrast of text on web pages more frequently...

bthall , Alex Jordan like this.

Out of interest, do you ever use Firefox's built-in Reader mode? It essentially wipes out all the junk on the page and just displays nice readable text. I really like the idea, but admit I haven't actually used it much.

Ben Sturmfels at 2016-10-24T00:08:24Z

@[email protected] I use a Firefox addon called ToggleDocumentColors. One click of a toolbar button and it turns text black and backgrounds white. Click again and colors are back to normal.

James Dearing 🐲 at 2016-10-24T01:26:37Z

@Ben Sturmfels I do use Reader mode, but sometimes it doesn't work on a page, and so I visit the inspector. When Reader does work, it really works for me. They've even enhanced it recently to allow easy adjustment of column width.

@James Dearing Thanks for the suggestion! I will check out that extension.

Charles ☕ Stanhope at 2016-10-24T02:01:43Z

When Reader mode fails for me, I like to attempt to find a "print" version of the article. On sites without this option, I just disable the CSS, and enjoy the unadulterated plain text.

Benjamin Cook at 2016-10-24T19:25:53Z

Charles ☕ Stanhope likes this.

2016-10-23T14:55:44Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

Ripped out of its original context, Prof. Shoshana Zuboff's three laws:

Everything that can be automated will be automated.
Everything that can be informated will be informated.
Every digital application that can be used for surveillance and control will be used for surveillance and control.

Emphasis mine. Via Dan Geer's "Prediction and The Future of Cybersecurity".

James Dearing 🐲 , Alex Jordan like this.

2016-10-22T18:20:50Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

The Oregon voters' pamphlet contains information about elections and ballot measures. It also contains letters that provide arguments for and against different measures. I've been surprised in the past to find ironic or satirical letters in the arguments. I've never seen that anywhere else I've lived, but maybe I wasn't paying enough attention. Here's an argument in opposition example from this year. (That link may only work for Firefox.)

2016-10-22T00:33:49Z via Identi.ca Web To: Public CC: Followers

I find it awkward to use the "official" pronunciation of Guix while talking to my coworkers about it. :-/

Christopher Allan Webber likes this.

Claes Wallin (韋嘉誠) shared this.

I've come to like it over time, but it is quite literally "counter-intuitive".

Christopher Allan Webber at 2016-10-22T02:49:42Z

Early in our conversation, I bailed and said something like, "I know it's pronounced geeks, but let's just refer to it as gwicks." Anyway, as part of research I'm doing at work around build systems, I had the opportunity (finally) to explore guix. I was pleasantly surprised to find I could install it on this new ARM based hardware I just brought up with a rather modest base Linux installation. It was a kick to be able to "guix package -i emacs". Not that we'll be shipping Emacs in anything, but I couldn't resist in the moment. I hope I get an opportunity to explore guix some more.

Charles ☕ Stanhope at 2016-10-22T03:48:58Z

Claes Wallin (韋嘉誠) likes this.

Charles ☕ Stanhope [email protected]

I would like an http header I could set to let sites know I reject DRM

Meanwhile...