Web Review, Week 2025-08
Let’s go for my web review for the week 2025-08.
How Google turned ‘I’m not a robot’ into a massive surveillance system - Boing Boing
Tags: tech, google, surveillance
A good reminder that everything they buy they turn it into a surveillance system indeed… This time under the pretense of security.
Stalkerware apps Cocospy and Spyic are exposing phone data of millions of people
Tags: tech, privacy, security
That’s a lot of stalkerware in the wild. And this exploit is only about two such apps. What’s wrong with people that they install this kind of crap on their loved ones smarphones?
How to Backdoor Large Language Models
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, copilot, security
The security implications of using LLMs are real. With the high complexity and low explainability of such models it opens the door to hiding attacks in plain sight.
https://blog.sshh.io/p/how-to-backdoor-large-language-models
Groundbreaking BBC research shows issues with over half the answers from Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistants
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, reliability, research
Interesting research, looking forward to the follow ups to see how it evolves over time. For sure the number of issues is way to high still to make trustworthy systems around search and news.
ChatGPT’s Political Views Are Shifting Right, a New Analysis Finds
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, politics
This might be accidental but this highlights the lack of transparency on how those models are produced. It also means we should get ready for future generation of such models to turn into very subtle propaganda machines. Indeed even if for now it’s accidental I doubt it’ll be the case much longer.
https://gizmodo.com/chatgpts-political-views-are-shifting-right-a-new-analysis-finds-2000562328
AI is Stifling Tech Adoption
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, copilot, programming, innovation
This is definitely a problem. It’s doomed to influence how tech are chosen on software projects.
https://vale.rocks/posts/ai-is-stifling-tech-adoption
Notes: AI Copilot Code Quality
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, copilot, productivity, maintenance
People really need to be careful about the short term productivity boost… If it kills maintainability in the process you’re trading that short term productivity for a crashing long term productivity.
https://kracekumar.com/post/ai_copilot_code_quality_paper/
Can I ethically use LLMs?
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, ethics
I like this paper, it’s well balanced. The conclusion says is all: if you’re not actively working on reducing the harms then you might be doing something unethical. It’s not just a toy to play with, you have to think about the impacts and actively reduce them.
https://ntietz.com/blog/can-i-ethically-use-llms/
exo: Run your own AI cluster at home with everyday devices 📱💻 🖥️⌚
Tags: tech, foss, ai, machine-learning, gpt
Early days but this looks like an interesting solution to democratize the inference of large models.
https://github.com/exo-explore/exo
Meshtastic
Tags: tech, networking, radio
This is definitely a fun and interesting project. Such decentralized mesh network are tempting to play with.
The IPv6 transition | APNIC Blog
Tags: tech, networking, internet, ip
Very interesting paper on the IPv6 transition. It shows quite well the stagnation we’re in and provides good arguments about why it is so slow to transition.
https://blog.apnic.net/2024/10/22/the-ipv6-transition/
Taichi Lang: High-performance Parallel Programming in Python
Tags: tech, python, performance, gpu
Looks like an interesting DSL to write high performance Python code.
A year of uv: pros, cons, and should you migrate
Tags: tech, python
More feedback about uv use in the wild. This is getting really close to becoming the de facto solution for new projects.
https://www.bitecode.dev/p/a-year-of-uv-pros-cons-and-should
Programming with Math | The Lambda Calculus
Tags: tech, mathematics, logic, science
A neat little introduction to an important field in computer science. Lambda calculus is often too little known but it has very important ramifications in several fields.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViPNHMSUcog
Your company needs Junior devs
Tags: tech, teaching, learning
Definitely this. It’s important for an organization to create knowledge… and this requires both people willing to learn and to teach.
https://softwaredoug.com/blog/2024/09/07/your-team-needs-juniors
Don’t call yourself a senior until you’ve worked on a legacy project
Tags: tech, problem-solving, learning
I’m not sure I would phrase it like this but there’s quite some truth to it. It’s important to figure out what we take for granted and to open the black boxes. This is where one finds mastery.
https://www.infobip.com/developers/blog/seniors-working-on-a-legacy-project
Introducing Test-Last Development (TLD)
Tags: tech, tdd, satire
This is a good satire which shows well the excuses people use to not test first.
https://bitfieldconsulting.com/posts/test-last-development
Bye for now!