robreed

@robreed@mastodon.social

Longtime IT/open web dev professional. Lifelong student of technology. Pragmatist. Aspiring decent human being. Reluctant bio writer. Read a few of my posts. I'm like that. I can't imagine that you need to follow me.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

SIM-swapping ring stole $400M in crypto from a US company, officials allege

Scheme allegedly targeted Apple, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile stores in 13 states.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/01/sim-swapping-ring-stole-400m-in-crypto-from-a-us-company-officials-allege/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

robreed,

SIM swap attacks are a scary big deal. I can't understand why carriers don't take them seriously.

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Floppy disk requirements finally axed from Japan government regulations

Government amends 34 ordinances to no longer require diskettes.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/01/floppy-disk-requirements-finally-axed-from-japan-government-regulations/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

robreed,

The way governments govern and regulate are just broken.

robreed, to random

I've been using Macs for a long time. My first computer was a Mac. My current computer is a Mac. I think it's almost silly to have to say the Mac is the most important thing Apple has ever done. By comparison the iPhone/iOS and everything else is… not much at best and mistakes at worst. Still I can't bring myself to feel nostalgic about 40 year of the Mac given how Apple has treated the platform over the past 10 years or so.

Here's hoping someone puts the personal computing back into PCs.

robreed, to random

Really happy to see "The top five RSS readers for keeping up with your news feeds" (https://www.theverge.com/24036427/rss-feed-reader-best) post today. RSS is like a (very useful) glimpse at an alternate future for the web. (Simple ideas just have more potential.)

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Elon Musk gives Tesla ultimatum: Another 12% of shares or no AI, robotics

Although 95% of its revenue is automotive, Musk says Tesla is a robotics/AI company.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/01/elon-musk-gives-tesla-ultimatum-another-12-of-shares-or-no-ai-robotics/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

robreed,

Whether a consumer, investor, … When you run into someone like Musk, you don't ask questions. You just turn around a walk away.

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Portable monitors could make foldable-screen gadgets finally make sense

Opinion: I'd rather have my secondary, portable screen fold than my phone or PC.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/01/portable-monitors-could-make-foldable-screen-gadgets-finally-make-sense/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

robreed,

@arstechnica These things are going to look super trashy in regular use.

robreed, to random

I don’t think I’ve ever been more dumbfounded by a pop culture thing than I am the viral popularity of Stanley cups.

robreed, to random

When your primary goal is making money, you invest in the problem not the solution to the problem.

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Since Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase, firm reportedly lost 72% of its value

Fidelity cuts value of X stake, implying 72% drop since Musk paid $44 billion.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/01/since-elon-musks-twitter-purchase-firm-reportedly-lost-72-of-its-value/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

robreed,

The value prospects of Tesla would look like Twitter does now if people looked at it soberly.

robreed, to random

You don’t have to look any further for the cause of our biggest problems than what we’re unwilling to change. It’s no coincidence those are the only places we choose not to look.

mattwilcox, to random
@mattwilcox@mstdn.social avatar

I’m bored shitless of debating Tailwind.

It’s a convoluted way of generating CSS; applied in a manner that tightly couples markup with design; littering fuck tons of needless classes everywhere; requiring build environments; and always behind the capabilities of actual CSS.

It is a tool for engineers to make their stuff look the same as other engineers websites. It’s at best good for limited use cases.

Otherwise; it’s a canker on the modern web.

I’ll refer to this post in all future debates.

robreed,

This seems to be where we're at… Repeating past mistakes in the name of in-group sameness and ease, because learning is too slow and success is a matter of ad spend.

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Getting prescription drugs online is so easy. Are regulators paying attention?

Telehealth prescribers flourish in the wake of the pandemic, regulatory gaps and all.

https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/11/getting-prescription-drugs-online-is-so-easy-are-regulators-paying-attention/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

robreed,

I'm dubious about claims that tech including AI will replace this or that. But doctors… I could see AI taking over much of medicine. Doctors just aren't that good. In fact we seem to have spent the past few decades transforming medicine into something perfectly suited to AI. Order the test, read the results, take the next step, (largely ignore the patient), repeat.

markwyner, to twitter
@markwyner@mas.to avatar

NPR’s data shows that they lost nothing after being ostracized by the psychotic white billionaire. It counters the idea that leaving Twitter is a loss. Let’s dismiss the idea that we need to be held hostage on any platform.

https://niemanreports.org/articles/npr-twitter-musk/

robreed,

As good, and not entirely surprising, as this is about NPR… Let's say NPR did lose traffic… Let's say that Musk's awful practices work… Is that a reason to participate?

Success is a bar to get over so that you can continue to do whatever it is that you believe is worth doing, not a metric to be optimized. That way of thinking leads to the Musks, Facebooks, Googles, … of the world in the first place. Maximizing revenue, 'impact', reach… whatever, is a terrible and misguided goal.

robreed, to random

To any furniture manufacturers out there - Make smaller size dining tables. People are living in smaller spaces. A right-sized table is invaluable but a lot of would-be buyers living in small places don't have room for your 100" rectangular/48"+ round tables. Offer at least 3 options at 36" or smaller square/cound and at least 1 clever longer but narrow convertible rectangular table.

Enjoy the sales. You can thank me later.

robreed, to random

Social media makes loud, chatty cowards of us all (well most of us).

anildash, (edited ) to random
@anildash@me.dm avatar

Roughly 1/3 of all sites on the Internet just entered the fediverse. You can’t stop an idea whose time has come. https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/11/wordpress-com-blogs-can-now-be-followed-on-mastodon-and-other-federated-platforms/

robreed,

I'm not sure that's how I see it. The fact that one company controls 'roughly 1/3 of all sites on the Internet' is not a good thing, and undermines the idea of the fediverse, at least in my opinion. Beyond that, a single company supporting a thing doesn't signal a groundswell of support (or even awareness). Regardless, I think it's a positive development.

VeryBadLlama, to random
@VeryBadLlama@mas.to avatar

2003: I found a neat website, if I want my friends to see it I'll have to email them the link

2013: wow, so many social media sites where I can easily share things with friends!

2023: I found a neat website, if I want my friends to see it I'll have to email them the link

robreed,

Social media is a dead end/wrong turn.

ben, to journalism
@ben@werd.social avatar

"Website business models that depended on clicks from social media are now broken." It was always a good idea to own your own relationships with your audience, but there's never been a better time than now. https://www.axios.com/2023/10/03/social-media-traffic-news-sites-decrease?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon

robreed,

I wonder to what part paywalls have played. Have we trained people not to bother leaving social media only to run blindly into one paywall after another? I know it's influenced my behavior. Owning your relationship with your audience is great advice! The trick is doing that without forcing users into choices you're going to lose as a content provider.

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Netflix raising ad-free prices in “a few months”

Higher monthly fees for no ads to start in US, Canada, WSJ reports.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/10/netflix-raising-ad-free-prices-in-a-few-months/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

robreed,

The tech works so well, and the businesses are so poorly managed. I’m not sure which is more surprising.

vwestlife, to random
@vwestlife@mastodon.social avatar

20 years of pickup truck design progress in one photo.

robreed,

What do you do when everyone insists on buying pickups when what they want is a sedan? Well of course you build a sedan with a pickup truck attached, and charge them for the price of two vehicles.

VeryBadLlama, to random
@VeryBadLlama@mas.to avatar

I have lived long enough to see the phase "there's an app for that" go from a marketing slogan to a threat

robreed,

It was always a threat.

timbray, (edited ) to random
@timbray@cosocial.ca avatar

Wondering about Long Covid (or Post-Covid Syndrome).
Do you know people who are suffering significantly as follows? (This is a multiple-choice poll.)

(pls boost if the subject interests you)

robreed,

One thing is for sure (and always has been)… Popularity is a terrible way to think of disease in the same way that it's a terrible measure of just about everything. The problem with opinion isn't that everyone has one, it's that it has very low utility. Popularity is inherently competitive, and competition, with its few "winners" and many "losers" is about as far from societal progress as you can get.

robreed, to random

Will AI make life worse in critical ways?

AI was not developed as a solution to any pressing societal need (e.g. no one thought, we need to solve the housing crisis let's develop a solution to address that problem. AI is that solution.)

So yes, AI will make life worse.

It is a technological product whose primary purposes are to radically grow the mistakes we're making.

No doubt people will repurpose it to counter the growth of those problems. That won't (can't) be nearly enough.

robreed, to random

You can tell a lot about people from the way we restrict public restroom access.

robreed, to random

We ought to elevate ideas and insight. We're not even attempting to do that. We're actively going in the opposite direction. We look for a select few people to listen to almost exclusively, regardless of what they have to say.

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