mike

mike, 21 hours ago to fediverse

Molly White is one of the most thoughtful writers and thinkers on the web today. In addition to being a high functioning crypto critic, @molly0xfff is a believer and practitioner in crafting the next era of the web.

Molly believes that human connections are an inextricable part of the web and sees a bright future ahead as those connections move from walled gardens to the open web.

Check out this fantastic conversation with her on the latest episode of #DotSocial on our #PeerTube instance or wherever you get your #podcasts.

https://flipboard.video/w/ovAsDRovkgbihkZa3wMcUA

mike, 2 days ago to random

The antidote to AI destroying the web is to strengthen human connection and to make those connections a fundamental part of the open web. Quickly.

mike, 2 days ago to random

"A quarter-century into its existence, a company that once proudly served as an entry point to a web that it nourished with traffic and advertising revenue has begun to abstract that all away into an input for its large language models."

https://www.platformer.news/google-io-ai-search-sundar-pichai/

mike, 2 days ago to random

@caseynewton Love the new Platformer logo.

mike, 3 days ago to fediverse

I talk about the #fediverse in this episode of Technically Optimistic, a terrific podcast by Raffi Krikorian and Emerson Collective. The topic: How to Save Social Media

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/technically-optimistic/id1689164209?i=1000654155177

mike, 3 days ago to random

He's baaaack.

mike, 9 days ago to random

This interview with @rileytestut by @davidpierce is SO good. Super exciting vision of an App Store powered by developers who are supported with Patreon or similar. This is a really big idea. Also love that Riley has been active in the fediverse since 2018!

https://www.theverge.com/24150467/delta-emulator-apple-app-voice-notes-ai-vergecast

mike, 10 days ago to fediverse

Hello fediverse!

So far we've federated 450 #Flipboard accounts which have now received more than 100,000 likes, boosts, replies and follows from people in the #fediverse. Today we are federating another 100 people who are curating terrific magazines that people in the fediverse can now enjoy.

Here's just one of my many favorites:

Addressing Climate Change Locally
By Ms. Coleman La Salle
High school Biology and Anatomy Teacher in Portland, Oregon

Federated link:
@addressing

Note that it takes time for newly federated magazines to populate so click on "Browse more on original profile" in order to see all the stories in the magazine. Once you follow, you'll see new stories as they are added in real time.

Enjoy and check out this post for more great examples:
https://medium.com/fedi-curious/over-100-000-social-interactions-from-the-fediverse-to-flipboard-f76465dee4f8

#ClimateChange

mike, 12 days ago to random

Well, I got my first white supremacist reply from the fediverse after posting an article about Elon from Flipboard.

I reported and blocked the account. I also looked at the instance admin's account and it's clear he's also a white supremacist. So that instance will be blocked on flipboard.com and flipboard.social as well as shared with other instance admins as a problematic instance for them to take action if they also deem appropriate. Took all of 2 minutes to help make the fediverse a bit better for everyone.

And the best thing is that anyone in the fediverse can do this too. Decentralized moderation FTW.

mike, 12 days ago to random

Gotta love how the fediverse is actively banning nazis while Elon is actively unbanning them and Substack does nothing.

mike, 12 days ago to random

I love this logo. Timeless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUWygGsyCyY

mike, 13 days ago to random

AI summaries of news = stealing from the journalists and the publishers who subsidized that journalism in the first place. Full stop.

mike, 15 days ago to fediverse

#PeerTube is awesome.

mike, 15 days ago to random

I absolutely love this piece by @molly0xfff

We can have a different web
https://www.citationneeded.news/we-can-have-a-different-web/

"The thing is: none of this is gone. Nothing about the web has changed that prevents us from going back. If anything, it's become a lot easier. We can return. Better, yet: we can restore the things we loved about the old web while incorporating the wonderful things that have emerged since"

"the skills and resources required to establish one's own sovereign plot become more accessible by the day."

Amen.

mike, 16 days ago (edited 16 days ago) to fediverse

In the latest episode of #DotSocial I interview @snarfed.org@snarfed.org, a passionate bridge builder with a focus on connecting people across the open web and the #fediverse. His latest work, #BridgyFed, connects #ActivityPub and #ATProtocol resulting in excitement, critique and lots of discussion.

Ryan and I talk about the parallel communities on #Mastodon and #Bluesky, their shared desire to create an open social web and the pros and cons of their underlying protocols, #ActivityPub and #ATProtocol. Can or should these be bridged? If so, how? As whole new communities continue to join the fediverse, how should the user experience evolve?

Listen to this excellent discussion on our @PeerTube instance or wherever you get your #podcasts.

https://flipboard.video/w/2Jj46hJaUQQG5TuiBYi9TR

mike, 25 days ago to fediverse

In order for the open social web to happen at scale, lots of companies and apps, big and small, need to adopt #ActivityPub. Threads is the largest player so far to do this and the implications are huge.

Why is #Threads doing this? Is federation just another feature or is it foundational to their entire experience? How is the Threads team thinking about moderation, monetization and privacy in these early days and going forward?

I asked @rklambo and @pcottle, two thoughtful and genuine leaders on the Threads team who joined me on the latest episode of #DotSocial. Check it out on our #PeerTube instance or wherever you get your podcasts.

https://flipboard.video/w/2q29uCjnHjot1CHu1CZBim

mike, 27 days ago to fediverse

The problem with building a closed social network is that it sets up an all or nothing premise for users. They might like some of the signature features but they'll leave if there's not enough people to network with. That's a shame and a huge barrier to innovation and new social products.

The #fediverse changes that forever. People can now use the features they like from a mix of apps across a common network of people. This means we can take a whole new approach to how "social" and "media" should work including discovery, user experience and monetization that will be far healthier than anything we've had in the past.

mike, 28 days ago (edited 28 days ago) to random

So far it appears the Israeli attack on Iran did not include an attack on nuclear facilities. CNN is reporting that Iranian state run media is currently playing it down and saying there have been "no disruptions". Meanwhile, people on X like Matt Wallace with 1.7M followers are posting that the attack was massive and showing fake images that include mushroom clouds.

mike, 1 month ago to fediverse

Today was a huge milestone in our quest to federate #Flipboard and tear down the walls around our own walled garden.

First, we launched a new version of Flipboard for iOS and Android which brings the promise of two way federation to life. Now when a federated Flipboard user curates, people in the fediverse can reply, favorite, boost or follow those Flipboard users who will in turn see that activity in their usual notifications tab. Even better, Flipboard users can directly reply to people in the fediverse -- and very soon they will also be able to follow each other.

Second, we federated some of our best curators today who are actively curating more than 10,000 magazines about everything from climate change to kale smoothie recipes. I'm grateful to our many curators and the service they provide to so many others who want to find the best content about a shared interest. I know our curators are excited to have millions more people who could potentially benefit from their curation. I also know that people in the fediverse will give a warm welcome to these curators. Especially now that everyone can hear and talk to each other over what was once two totally separate networks but now increasingly are in one and the same #fediverse.

mike, 1 month ago to random

Fediverse Eclipse > Twitter Eclipse

mike, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

So much energy going into AI chatbots. I'm curious what you think. Do you find AI chatbots useful? Are they useful enough that you are willing to pay to use them? Or do you think they are over hyped and not useful to you at all?

mike, 1 month ago to threads

Yesterday morning I was flipping through my Mastodon timeline via Flipboard and I saw a post from @gtconway3.

@tchambers had boosted George's post using whatever app Tim likes to use to these days (I suspect @phanpy though it could just as easily have been the native Mastodon app, @mammoth, @ivory, or @IceCubesApp)

I tapped on George's profile and saw he was posting from #Threads. I tapped the follow button and now I see his latest posts in Mastodon and Flipboard.

There's a whole new array of apps, people and posts in the fediverse and it all just works. It's wonderful.

#Fediverse FTW.

mike, 2 months ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

I'm surprised at how few retail websites have implemented Apple Pay for checkout. It's a pleasure to use a site that implements this and when they do I'm happy to buy directly from them instead of through Amazon. Sites that make you manually enter all your shipping and credit card information while navigating thru last minute check out popups is a big reason why it's so much more convenient to buy the same thing thru amazon.

There are a lot of things we can do to improve the web and make it more resilient to big tech. Optimizing web sites for rapid checkout with modern Apple and Google pay mechanics is one of them.

Edit: Some of you correctly point out that this is actually just trading reliance on one big tech entity for another. I agree and would love to see a better approach for convenient online payments but that future seems very far off. Ironically, Apple and Google Pay can help smaller merchants level the playing field with Amazon today while we await a better payment future.

mike, 2 months ago to random

This is what happens when you tap on your Threads user name right now. Interesting times ahead.

mike, 2 months ago to random

Tonight over dinner my teenage girls asked me what I thought about banning TikTok. I told them I thought it was a stupid idea, would solve nothing and would put the US on the same censorship path as China.

I instantly became the hero of the evening and then they told me I should run for president.