Summarizing the last 18 years on the web. Between Twitter and Google Reader, the web was cut into two, and they didn't get along. We may now be on the cusp of fixing that. Why? Because WordPress and Mastodon work with each other in unforeseen ways. We got lucky, because I don't think this was done consciously by the developers of either product.
People and blogs involved with and about the IndieWeb community, the fediverse, and/or the open web in general.
We were late with the last episode of Core Int, so it’s basically two episodes this week. On the new show today, we talk about Daniel’s latest updates to Black Ink, version numbers, doing things the right way, tracking down Bitcoin’s Satoshi Nakamoto, and AI energy use.
I’ve decided to give Arc for Mac a real shot, going all-in as my default browser. I usually use Safari and have no complaints with it. Nice to see Arc trying some new things, though. Also liked Chris Messina’s post about where Arc 2.0 might be going.
Threads cross-posting from Micro.blog
TikTok even worse than we thought
NPR has reviewed internal documents from TikTok:
For the first time, internal TikTok communications have been made public that show a company unconcerned with the harms the app poses for American teenagers. This is despite its own research validating many child safety concerns.
We’ve known for a long time that the addictive nature of the infinite timeline pioneered by TikTok was causing problems for teenagers. But this is a whole new thing:
One internal report that analyzed TikTok’s main video feed saw “a high volume of … not attractive subjects” were filling everyone’s app. In response, Kentucky investigators found that TikTok retooled its algorithm to amplify users the company viewed as beautiful.
Shut it down. ByteDance has until January to divest the app and I have no sympathy for a delay. It needs new leadership.
Trying a new coffee place. Cafe at the Loren with a nice view across Riverside. Where I’m sitting used to be a Taco Cabana. ☕️
Don’t sleep on the “Custom home page” plug-in for Micro.blog if you need something simple for an extra site. I use it for standalone, single-page websites with a little HTML and CSS (or even JS).
Slack can sometimes be overwhelming. I make it work by limiting myself to about 3 channels in the Mac and iOS apps. Others can be viewed on the web as needed. Also, I mute almost everything, even channels I care about. The only flaw is that @here bypasses mutes, which I don’t think it should.
Threads cross-posting is finally rolling out more broadly for Micro.blog folks. Sorry if I didn’t get to your request for the beta earlier. I’m catching up and replying to everyone who asked about it in email.
The web lives!
Wibble-y-Wobble-y, Pace-y-Wace-y – Petafloptimism
petafloptimism.com/2024/10/08/wibble-y-wobble-y-pace-y-wace-y/
Pondering pace layers.
Travels in Europe
HTML for People
This is excellent! A free web book (it’s a book! it’s a website!) that teaches you how to make a website from scratch:
I feel strongly that anyone should be able to make a website with HTML if they want. This book will teach you how to do just that. It doesn’t require any previous experience making websites or coding. I will cover everything you need to know to get started in an approachable and friendly way.
👏
I’m not interested in a Tesla, or any new car, but I watched the robotaxi event because it felt like it was going to be a spectacle. I do think self-driving will be safer than human drivers. I’m not on board with humanoid robots, though. AI should be confined to software and small gadgets only.
Ben Werdmuller
• Ben Werdmuller
Insecure Deebot robot vacuums collect photos and audio to train AI
Mayor Adams just said in a speech Never Give Up Never Surrender….is he a GalaxyQuest fan?
Memorable TV-watching moments
I'm posting development notes on the wordland product in my wordpress/mastodon account. I'm starting to like using the new editor. Today I switched the format we save drafts in from HTML to Markdown. More consistent with my believe that Markdown is the ideal subset of web writing features for the social web.
Get your 🎃 and 👻 emoji ready. I’m brewing up something fun for Halloween.