Web Review, Week 2023-36
Let’s go for my web review for the week 2023-36.
New EU Rules: Smartphones and Tablets will follow new ecodesign requirements by June 2025! - Right to Repair Europe
Tags: tech, repair, smartphone
Some progress, still a long way to go.
Organic Maps: Offline Hike, Bike, Trails and Navigation
Tags: tech, map, tools, gps
First time I hear about this application. It seems really nice, I’m taking it for a spin. Not sure I’ll use it to replace OsmAnd just yet. That said it’s UX seems better than OsmAnd so far.
USENET, the original social network, is under new management
Tags: tech, newsgroups, social-media
USENET lives! Another revival coming?
https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/30/usenet_revival/
The boiling frog of digital freedom | Gazoche’s blog
Tags: tech, surveillance, vendor-lockin, gafam
I think I’d have gone further in the past for such a thought experiment… still if you wonder why people are fighting for digital freedom, here is why.
https://gazoche.xyz/posts/boiling-frog/
It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy | Mozilla Foundation
Tags: tech, automotive, surveillance
This is really bad… it’s way worse than I suspected. The car makers really need to change their practices. Go and sign the petition.
X/Twitter has updated its Terms of Service to let it use Posts for AI training
Tags: tech, twitter, ai, machine-learning, social-media, copyright
Are we surprised? Not at all…
https://stackdiary.com/x-can-now-use-posts-for-ai-training-as-per-terms-of-service/
Mastodon is easy and fun except when it isn’t - Erin Kissane’s small internet website
Tags: tech, fediverse, criticism
Interesting look at the challenges ahead for the fediverse. Not easy since some of this is cultural clash, some of it is technical and solvable though.
https://erinkissane.com/mastodon-is-easy-and-fun-except-when-it-isnt
why not matrix? – Telegraph
Tags: tech, matrix, messaging, criticism
Clearly a list of concerns to keep an eye on for wider Matrix adoption. Clearly some basics are not covered still.
https://telegra.ph/why-not-matrix-08-07
The Top Programming Languages 2023 - IEEE Spectrum
Tags: tech, language
Newer language really have a hard time moving up in this ranking. Lots of inertia all around.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-top-programming-languages-2023
An Internet of PHP – Timo Tijhof
Tags: tech, php
Like it or not but PHP is indeed here to stay.
https://timotijhof.net/posts/2023/an-internet-of-php/
The technical merits of Wayland are mostly irrelevant
Tags: tech, linux, graphics, wayland
Indeed, at this point it’s not that people don’t want to switch. Very often they just don’t have a choice.
https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/unix/WaylandTechnicalMeritsIrrelevant
How I joined the bug 323 community | Blog | Superflous Returnz | ptilouk.net studios
Tags: tech, bug, compiler, cpu
What’s worse than a compiler bug? A processor one… very interesting deep dive in this particularly nasty one.
https://studios.ptilouk.net/superfluous-returnz/blog/2023-08-11_bug323.html
Weight Gain and Perf Loss | Julien Jorge’s Personal Website
Tags: tech, c++, compiler, cpu, caching, performance
Interesting tale and exploration on how a change in includes impacted cache misses. This is sneaky (and solved with more recent compilers).
https://julien.jorge.st/posts/en/weight-gain-and-perf-loss/
Euclidean affine functions and their application to calendar algorithms - Neri - 2023 - Software: Practice and Experience - Wiley Online Library
Tags: tech, mathematics, date
A good proof that it’s still possible to innovate with interesting performance gains for rather mundane tasks. If you’re into calendars this is an interesting read.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/spe.3172
Mashing Enter to bypass full disk encryption with TPM, Clevis, dracut and systemd
Tags: tech, linux, security
Interesting and unfortunate security issue… This is admittedly a somewhat unusual setup though, but to be kept in mind I think.
https://pulsesecurity.co.nz/advisories/tpm-luks-bypass
Bring your own interface
Tags: tech, architecture, design
This is indeed a good thing to hide dependencies behind interfaces when it makes sense.
https://blog.verygoodsoftwarenotvirus.ru/posts/interfaces/
TDD Doesn’t Force Good Design • Aaron Bruce | aaronbruce.com
Tags: tech, tdd, tests, design, architecture
Definitely this, the message is often coming across lacking nuance. TDD can help you towards good design, but it’s not ensuring you’ll have a good design.
https://www.aaronbruce.com/posts/tests-dont-force-good-desgin/
How to prepare for difficult conversations
Tags: tech, ai, gpt, simulation, conversation
Now this is actually an interesting and good use of the latest trend in large language models. You can simulate difficult conversations, getting more experience there can help.
https://www.stefanobaccianella.com/p/how-to-prepare-for-difficult-conversations
What I wish I knew when I became CTO
Tags: tech, cto, business, management, technical-debt
I’d take the more stack related side of this article with a pinch of salt. It seems a bit too specific to the company behind the story. The rest of the article rings true and spot on though.
https://medium.com/sketchdeck-developer-blog/what-i-wish-i-knew-when-i-became-cto-fdc934b790e3
5 things that are typically confused for productivity. - Jason Yip - Medium
Tags: tech, management, productivity
Indeed, these confusions are widespread. Even worse, they generally lead you away from actual productivity.
https://jchyip.medium.com/5-things-that-are-typically-confused-for-productivity-cbdf61a21cb6
The Worst Programmer I Know - Dan North & Associates Ltd
Tags: tech, management, productivity, metrics
A good reminder that you better measure the right thing… otherwise you might consider someone as unproductive while he has in fact a large impact.
https://dannorth.net/2023/09/02/the-worst-programmer/
JP’s Website · 2023-08-28 · Everything I know about floppy disks
Tags: tech, storage, history
Ever wonder how floppy disks worked? Here is your chance to find out, good reference.
https://thejpster.org.uk/blog/blog-2023-08-28/
Shining a Light on the Digital Dark Age - Long Now
Tags: tech, archive, history
It’s too often forgotten how much our culture is fragile. So many digital artifacts which could just vanish or not be readable anymore years from now.
https://longnow.org/ideas/shining-a-light-on-the-digital-dark-age/
Climate Change Tracker
Tags: climate, science
Very welcome tool, well done as well.
https://climatechangetracker.org/
Bye for now!