⊥ᵒᵚ⁄Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️ @falken@qoto.org

FB deleting accounts, en masse, no appeal, using AI. Suspend, tell users to submit personal video (verification) which AI harvests, account permanently erased anyway. Oh, you can now PAY for a new account, which they will harvest, and remove without cause if they want to. https://apple.news/AXHZYr83aRlizgWtmXo52Bw

Cross post from my professional life, because I like the story: Sometime in 2008 or so, I was doing work at a NASA data center at the Langley Air Force Base in Hampton Roads, Virginia. While there, I met a person who remains one of my all-time consulting heros and idols. 1/?

The gaslighting continues.

"RFK Jr suggested that antidepressants and other medical drugs were driving transgender people to embark on mass shootings."

Trans are the new scapegoats.

“There was no time in the past when people would walk into a church or a classroom and start shooting people."

Really? Data shows mass shootings in these venues have been taking place for decades.

“And it’s not really happening in other countries.”

Guns?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/rfk-jr-offers-bonkers-explanation-165412881.html
#Politics
1/n

Microsoft Refuses To Divulge Data Flows To Police Scotland https://slashdot.org/story/25/08/28/1815208/microsoft-refuses-to-divulge-data-flows-to-police-scotland?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

People who are still inclined to believe that Linux systems will stop booting next month because of secure boot rollover! Send me evidence that you have donated to a charity and, if Linux stops booting on any system after 2025-09-11 because of some sort of certificate rollover bullshit, I will (your choice) either match that donation or pay you back your donation (you will need to deal with the tax consequences), up to a total of $50,000.

@dangoodin The fundamental problem is that the entire authentication ecosystem is utterly confusing to a large segment of users, who are already disadvantaged by -- for example -- Google's atrocious account recovery system. Passkeys are adding another layer of complexity especially when users who don't understand them are being pushed to establish them (or even having them established automatically by dark pattern login flows). Especially for users who only use the Internet from a single device, or users who do not have smartphones, or always have to borrow someone else's device or computer for access, passkeys are making even more confusing an already confusing environment where so many users get locked out of their account through no fault of their own. So it is not unreasonable to judge the ecosystem as a whole, and vulnerabilities as they impact the whole.

"AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry."

Win win.
I just registered my name & book details with the appropriate law firm.

Check if your book/article/paper is on the list here:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/

If it is, go here:
https://www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-author-contact/

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/08/authors-celebrate-historic-settlement-coming-soon-in-anthropic-class-action/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_social-type=owned

#authors #books #AI

Also, if any Android devs follow me and would be up for doing a quick Q&A about the future of apps on Android, please get in touch.

(Again: reposts appreciated.)

@scottwilson I've never been so glad to have an older model of a device jfc.

Would any app creators/designers be willing to go on the record regarding their thoughts on Liquid Glass for a piece I’m writing? If so, please DM me. (Can be pointing out issues with it, or even being in favour.)

(Reposts appreciated!)

@GossiTheDog on Steam, MS has to deal with the threat of getting massively downvoted by "people who had their shit ruined by shitty MS software". If things get really bad, Gabe might even intervene.

On their own home platform, they can just not give a shit. Bury the bad reviews, hell bury the whole review system.

I guess it was inevitable that Trump's National Design Studio ("update the Government’s design language to be both usable and beautiful") should have a website with shouty all-caps text, because they don't know that CSS has been able to do text-transform: uppercase for the last 15 years. It was also inevitable that it would use Tailwind, given that "Tailwind" and "Trump" both mean "fart". https://brucelawson.co.uk/2023/jane-austen-tailwind-and-modern-full-stack-development/

Google asks what we think of their plans to block Android app installs outside of Google Play (unless the developers let Google verify their identity and pay a fee).

Want to tell them your opinion, just submit this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfN3UQeNspQsZCO2ITkdzMxv81rJDEGGjO-UIDDY28Rz_GEVA/viewform?usp=dialog

@nixCraft I‘m old enough to remember the XFree86 config mode lines that could brick your CRT

@rl_dane@polymaths.social @evgandr@mastodon.bsd.cafe

In Firefox I think I managed to work around that with (one or more of) the following about:config settings:

layout.css.scrollbar-width-thin.disabled = true
widget.gtk.overlay-scrollbars.enabled = false
widget.non-native-theme.gtk.scrollbar.round-thumb = false
widget.non-native-theme.gtk.scrollbar.thumb-size = 1

With this, scrollbars are not considered part of the content, and don't require mouse-over to be visible.