rra

rra, 7 months ago to random

The Dutch public broadcast organization NPO ( (like a BBC or PBS) is now running its own mastodon instance with handles on its main domain!

Radio 1: @nporadio1

The instance itself is at https://social.npo.nl/

rra, 5 months ago to random

Smartphone manufacturers have recently begun announcing they will support their newer models of phones with at least five years of software updates. They like you to believe they are taking responsibility by themselves at the benefit of us the consumer.

The reality is that the new EU #Ecodesign guidelines are forcing them to do this if they want to stay on the European market:
https://repair.eu/news/new-eu-rules-smartphones-and-tablets-will-follow-new-ecodesign-requirements-by-june-2025/

via @jessika_richter

rra, 2 months ago to Netherlands

https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2024/03/15/poetin-komt-tanken-bij-vlissingen-a4193179

Last week the NRC reported about a little-known refueling (bunkering) point in the south-west of the #Netherlands, at the entrance of the Schelde near #vlissingen. The newspaper uncovered that it is being used by a #shadow #fleet of often badly maintained and very old tanker vessels which play a pivotal role in turning sanctioned Russian #oil in to not sanctioned oil. The vessels make their way from Baltic ports along the North Sea, either to India or Turkey. The newspaper called this bunkering point "Putin's petrol station", because on the way back the sanctioned vessels stock up on fuel. The ships all fly under several different "flags of convenience" and as their companies get put on sanction lists, the ships move to other owners.

It is not often that international politics, global capital, supply chains, the news and infrastructure congeal the way it does at Putin's Pitstop so I had to go take a look #infrastructours.

infra thread!

rra, 11 months ago to random

Wow the Mastodon FAQ on Meta is a piece of work. Really short-sighted and apolitical.

"Will Meta embrace-extend-extinguish the ActivityPub protocol?"

1. Yes.
2. 'No, look at XMPP, that is still around' is the worst argument. XMPP is completely harmless and neutered with respect to challenging platform power. There are great people working on it and I use it daily for many years, but from a political perspective it is dead. It improves but is steadily years behind the curve with features. Momentum and perspective matter! It could have been turned around if an easy integration with Mastodon was made as it would have given Mastodon instances e2ee messaging, but that didn't happen. (Not too late for that yet btw!)
3. Here is how Meta will EEE ActivityPub:
   It will start with Meta being the first ones that ship full account portability including post history. That is hard problem to solve decentralized, which is why we have it yet. But Meta won't care about that. They will just use Meta nameservers as a centralized identity provider which will make it possible. (Similar to how Bluesky does it btw. ) They are extremely well positioned to do this, FB is already "the identity platform" and there is regulatory pressure. From there on there will be increasing incompatibility and extensions on Meta's terms.

rra, 4 months ago to random

Low-Tech Magazine explores techniques of the past and combines them with the knowledge of today to propose more sustainable futures.

Based on this idea, Kris de Decker and Roel Roscam Abbing organize an evening exploring concepts from the Internet's history that can help create a more sustainable future internet. With talks by Kris De Decker, @rra and @timrodenbroeker

How about systems where independent publishers could own their platform? Or what about media where you actually get to see posts from those you follow?

The evening will start with short talks and then make space for a larger discussion and chats over a drink. Are you curious what fresh ideas from the past can tell us about the future and who are the people working on them? Join us at Akasha Hub in Barcelona on the 21st of February.

More info: https://www.meetup.com/es-ES/akashabarcelona/events/299157033/

Poster design by @johannagratzer

rra, 6 months ago to repair

Today I'm joining the Institute for Degrowth Studies for an introductory event on #obsolescence of digital devices. I'll be talking about the energy use of the internet, old devices and e-waste. I'll share how we investigated this topic through making a website that was designed to support 10 years or older devices, by drastically reducing the energy use of that website. As part of the event, there will be a workshop with an ad hoc museum of obsolete smartphones and tables. You can use them to put that and other websites and apps to the test. You can also bring your own and with the help of #Repair Café Malmö learn to judge the repairability of your old devices as well! If you are in Malmö drop by at #ABF, we start 15.30

https://www.facebook.com/events/996112338155422/

rra, 3 months ago to random

> In relation to other struggles in Germany, with this occupation, we want to take the next step in the fight for climate justice, because we are trying to bring in water as an issue, and we are trying to debunk the narrative of “green growth,” the idea that electric cars are solving the problem. At the same time, this occupation is related to the anti-fascist movement, because Elon Musk is also part of the fascist problem.

https://crimethinc.com/2024/03/08/germany-the-fight-against-the-tesla-gigafactory-some-occupy-the-forest-some-shut-down-the-power-grid

@CrimethInc

rra, 1 year ago to random

regarding the mastodon.social #spam I just tried and confirmed there is not even anything like a captcha during the sign-up process. I made an account with a throwaway mail provider within seconds.

Why does Mastodon not group DMs from people you don't follow in a specific view? Twitter has this as "Message Requests" (which by the way for me are filled with the same kind of mention spam as that currently originates from M.S., because spam logically follows from open sign ups)

rra, 9 months ago to random

Low-Tech Magazine released a thematic book series based on their archive. The first edition is called "How to Build a Low-tech Internet?" and includes two articles I contributed to!

https://test.roelof.info/log/how-to-build-a-low-tech-internet-book/

rra, 9 months ago to technology

The lessons of Chile’s struggle against Big Tech

By Evgeny Morozov

"As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Chilean coup, it’s tempting to see #Allende as a tragic but hapless figure, who spent most of his short-lived presidency fending off efforts to unseat him. [...]

And yet, for all the problems and crises, there were plenty of radical, utopian and even otherworldly initiatives that still have the power to inspire us today. Surprisingly, many of them had to do with technology; Letelier’s push for the tech equivalent of the IMF was just one of many examples.

Common to all of them was an understanding of #technology through the lens of geopolitics and heterodox economics – a lens that got destroyed by the global neoliberal transformation that followed the coup. While Pinochet embraced the Chicago School of #economics Allende’s government was the beneficiary of what might be called the Santiago School of technology. And as we contemplate a post-neoliberal future, free of the Chicago Boys’ influence, we have much to learn from these humbler but wiser Santiago Boys."

https://www.newstatesman.com/the-weekend-essay/2023/09/salvador-allende-fight-big-tech#selection-2019.0-2027.512

rra, 8 months ago to random

Floss enthusiasts be like:

> I had an emergency last week that requried me to drive more than 300 miles into the rural Midwest with my fiancee. Having learned of this emergency mere minutes after reading about Organic Maps, I decided to install the app and put it to the test on this sudden road trip.

https://hardfault.life/p/organic-maps-review

rra, 3 months ago to random

Imagine that instead of playing instance admin, of which we have thousands, Mozilla would focus on leveraging their browser, which only they can do, to fix usability and discoverability issues for the fediverse?

Imagine something like Street Pass by @tvler would be shipped by default.

rra, 9 months ago to random

technological autonomy not autonomous technology

rra, 2 months ago to Barcelona

Today I am hosting an introduction to PyFedi and a small hands-on workshop on translation in open source at the #Barcelona fediverse meetup #fediquedada

We will make a start with translating the software to castellano and catalan

https://bcn.convoca.la/event/fediverse-community-taller-descubrimos-y-traducimos-piefed

rra, 1 month ago to Typeface

'Teranoptia is a #typeface without letters, a peculiar contraption that allows you to imagine chimeric creatures just by typing letters with your keyboard. Its design has been inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry and by medieval illustrations, as well as by children's books. You can use it to create border ornaments, to daydream about monsters or just to spice your layouts with #marginalia.'

https://www.tunera.xyz/fonts/teranoptia/

rra, 8 months ago to technology

"This report argues that consumer technology reviewers have failed their basic nominal purpose of critiquing tools. Instead, inspired by values introduced by Apple in the late 1990s, the tech review industry prioritizes aesthetic lust as the primary critical factor for evaluating objects. The reification of these values in their scoring system is transmitted to consumers and manufacturers alike. Like other prurient things, the objects designed within this paradigm are optimized not for usefulness but for photogenic and telegenic properties, a framework that finds its fullest realization in YouTube reviews and unboxing videos. There, even the intimation of critical rigor within tech reviewing vanishes, the smartphone becomes the center of gravity, and manufacturers are even further incentivized to design products for end consumers who are less users than viewers."

https://components.one/posts/the-new-pornographers-tech-reviews

#consumerism #technology

rra, 9 months ago to random

A #petition by the european greens to ban the use of glyphosate in agriculture.

https://act.greens-efa.eu/glyphosate

"In the coming weeks, we have the chance to ban the use of #glyphosate in Europe. Sign our petition and join our call.

Glyphosate, the acting agent in Roundup, produced by Bayer-Monsanto, is a pesticide not only used in farming, but also in urban areas. And we know it is devastating for biodiversity: it just kills (almost) everything. "

It is not only linked to dramatic biodiversity loss but there are also indications it is linked to the prevalence of celiac disease (gluten allergy) and parkinson's disease (a fatal neurological disorder) in humans.

:boost_requested:

rra, 1 year ago to random

We're last-minute-hosting a #öresund regional hub for #ComputingWithinLimits at #lodis

Come and watch the talks and panels tillsammans!

more info and sign-up on dukop: https://dukop.dk/en/event/computing-within-limits-2023-oresund-regional-hub/5431/

https://computingwithinlimits.org/2023/

:boost_requested:

#limits2023

rra, 9 months ago to random

This talk will give a brief introduction into two EU bills that should top of mind for the digital rights and hacker community. The negotiations for the digital #identity and digital euro proposals have the potential to for tectonic change in the digital age. This talk will provide basic info, explain a bit how the EU works and try to mobilise more people to join the debate.

https://media.ccc.de/v/camp2023-57548-digital_identity_and_digital_euro

by

@edri @epicenter_works

rra, 4 months ago to random

In 2015 I organized a tour of data centres, internet and energy infrastructures to explore the question why data centers are built where they are built (https://test.roelof.info/projects/infrastructours/).

After the tour there was a lunch where people could make their own Double-Irish Dutch Sandwiches.

The recipe helps complete the picture of what makes "a good environment" for a multinational company and their data centers.

I rediscovered it again the other day and added it to my blog: https://test.roelof.info/log/double-irish-dutch-sandwich/

rra, 9 months ago to Futurology

In June I attended a workshop on #research on and through Mastodon by @ccamara and @__nate__. Part of the discussions during that workshop focused on understanding how computational research could happen on the Fediverse. Prompted by the upcoming mastodon 4.2 release, I wrote down some thoughts on what that can mean for scraping-based academic research on the fediverse.

My tldr: this type of research is going to happen regardless of whether people want it or not. Calls for changing research methods are insufficient. Instead, we could focus on mechanisms for cooperative actors to better navigate consent computationally. The new 4.2 toot:indexable flag possibly provides a model for this.

https://test.roelof.info/log/toot-indexable/

rra, 11 months ago to random

To add to @thisismissem thread on Lemmy moderation (https://hachyderm.io/@thisismissem/110550824230711531):

I'm in agreement with her. While I'd like things would be different, I don't see how people can think that the fediverse / #threadiverse as it stands now is a suitable replacement for Reddit. The entire labour strike on Reddit is centered around inadequate community moderation tooling and their API-reliant alternatives threatening to become unavailable.

Lemmy is fediverse's main answer to Reddit. Moderation tooling in lemmy is severely lacking and admins put themselves and the communities they host at risk by using that software in federated mode. I wrote this github issue over a year ago: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/2277 very little has changed since.

In it, I give the example of a user account where description avatar are all slurs and hatesymbols. The account is replicated across all Lemmy instances that existed at the time that account was made, and admins can do nothing about it. For fun: try to change the domain name of the account to any lemmy instance that was around at the time.

The way the main devs are handling that issue also does not inspire tremendous confidence. I'd say in a trusted group lemmy is mature enough to use, but definitely don't turn federation on..

freebliss, 2 months ago to random

deleted_by_author

rra, 2 months ago to random

Well, there goes the energy transition

"Going forward, we think that training and operating future models will be even more compute intensive.
We don't have a clear expectation for exactly how much this will be yet, but the trend has been that
state-of-the-art large language models have been trained on roughly 10x the amount of compute each year. Our training clusters are only part of our overall infrastructure and the rest obviously isn't growing as quickly. But overall, we're playing to win here and I expect us to continue investing aggressively in this
area. In order to build the most advanced clusters, we're also designing novel data centers and designing our own custom silicon specialized for our workloads"

Zuckerberg on AI in Meta's earnings call: https://s21.q4cdn.com/399680738/files/doc_financials/2023/q4/META-Q4-2023-Earnings-Call-Transcript.pdf

rra, 22 days ago to Luddite

I’m a #Luddite (and So Can You!) #comic by Tom Humberstone

https://thenib.com/im-a-luddite/

Alt text by @accudio

https://alistairshepherd.uk/writing/im-a-luddite-alt-text/c