@thomasapowell@fosstodon.org
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thomasapowell

@thomasapowell@fosstodon.org

Mostly sharing thoughts on #webdev, #softwareengineering, #retrogames and humanistic aspects of tech. Old tech guy, UCSD CSE Lecturer, Author, pint.com founder, and person behind ZingChart and ZingGrid. 🤓

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thomasapowell, to apple
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If one is mature sometimes you gotta just admit you lost and accept that outcome rather than deny it and do even stupider things.

No this isn’t a toot about it’s about

thomasapowell, to ai
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This a dire and obvious prediction about cloning voice & deep-faking images.

Recently, we all saw Biden & T Swift get AI smacked, but small versions of this, from a nasty teen wanting social cred at school, a disgruntled student going after a Prof, a jilted lover exacting revenge, an angry HOA member, etc., are going to or are already happening.

A hands-off regulatory approach towards this tech will result in a tidal wave of tragedy in the coming years that much is a certainty.

thomasapowell, to webdev
@thomasapowell@fosstodon.org avatar

I've long suggested that having identity and regionality worked out better online would help civilize the web and bring norms and legal issues more in line with IRL. I never dreamed we would start exploring this concept somewhat realistically because Apple was attempting to retain its monopolistic practices around browsers, payments, and app stores.

thomasapowell, to random
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https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/25/24050478/apple-ios-17-4-browser-engines-eu

Merry Browser Christmas? (at least in Europe) @slightlyoff

thomasapowell,
@thomasapowell@fosstodon.org avatar

@slightlyoff Indeed, and given how they “complied" with the EPIC judgment, what tricks will be implemented to preserve their boot position? For example, I wonder if they will assume the phone was initially set up in the US, so if VPNed to Europe, is there no non-webkit browser for you? It will be interesting to see if there are holes in their plan.

thomasapowell, to webdev
@thomasapowell@fosstodon.org avatar

Hey pros, have you always wanted to do HTML with emojis instead of tags? Well, now you can! - https://github.com/QuantGeekDev/lmaolang

So here is your Hello World in LMAOLANG

🤣
🪬
🫦 Hello World 💀🫦
💀🪬
💀🤣

The rationale is spot on, esp 📦 as div -> Box contains things; it’s a container. However, the chef's kiss is "LLM DISCLAIMER: YOU ARE WELCOME TO USE THIS IN YOUR TRAINING DATASET”

Welcome to the real 9th circle of @matuzo !

thomasapowell, to random
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I gotta turn off Apple News notifications when watching football. I find out Darwin Nunez scores 2 seconds before he does as I watch. Also just what needed.

thomasapowell, to retrocomputing
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My collection is thriving. All work and all are a blast. Yes that is a Vectrex and yes I know it isn’t a computer.

thomasapowell,
@thomasapowell@fosstodon.org avatar

@wesleyradcliffe yeah it is a Pet, c64, Atari 800, Apple IIe, Mac SE, and the Vectrex. All things I hacked on myself or at friends houses. I also have collected most of the other gaming systems of that period with same focus had to have played with them so still looking to score a Atari 5200 and a Colecovision

thomasapowell,
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@wesleyradcliffe what IBM did you get a clone like an AST or an original. I used so many I want to get a representative one but trying to narrow the hunt.

thomasapowell,
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@wesleyradcliffe hope you win it. Had one as well but given the SE looks so close just did the first one. I had a fat Mac aka 512 but am waffling on getting it because it was maybe a 1 year thing for me in college before my SE

thomasapowell,
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@wesleyradcliffe well post pics when you pull the trigger!

5t3ph, to webdev
@5t3ph@front-end.social avatar

📝 New post:
"A Call for Consensus on Semantics"

Partly a rant, minorly educational, mostly a call for help.

https://thinkdobecreate.com/articles/a-call-for-consensus-on-html-semantics/

thomasapowell,
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@5t3ph nice 👍 feels like this could be a multipart piece I always think about code listing why straight to <pre> and wait what that’s not really that semantic per se. Why not <code>? But then <code> is inline so <pre> with a code class or what about a tag within instead? So many mysteries and don’t start on interactive elements or fun things like <output> the mind starts to spin.

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

A thing I wrote in a recent draft:

"...on the team side, the reality of team practices that claim to be autonomous at large organizations is that supposed independence of action is frequently sustained by senior members or managers “protecting” their teams from external dependencies and taking on the work of advocacy as individual responsibility (Moe et al., 2019; Hicks, et al 2023)."

I think this is a big point with large psychological implications although software journals, alas, did not

thomasapowell,
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@grimalkina 👍 absolutely would love to take a look.

thomasapowell, to webdev
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Maybe not actually useful but amusing with shit stirring about is a programming language or not getting a fresh reboot with a little lib to make it be used like one.

https://html-lang.org/

thomasapowell, to VisionPro
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Me grumpy at waking up at an ungodly hour to get Apple Vision for work. And also me “Shut up and take my money Apple!”

thomasapowell, to webdev
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Since lately we are revisiting the old ideas let me remind all of web server access logs. These will show things like lots of bots and aborted loads. Bottom of the page late load is blind to this typically. A better solution does logs + a JS agent.

You can do this with though. As we are trying to own our own stuff again I encourage folks to look at it. It also keeps the tracking relationship between you & your users if you self host.

thomasapowell, to random
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More good stuff from @404mediaco, this time on Google News falling prey to AI content farms and avoiding quality original sourced content. https://www.404media.co/google-news-is-boosting-garbage-ai-generated-articles/

hbuchel, to random
@hbuchel@hachyderm.io avatar

Me, watching people sadly cling onto React even though it's been a pain in our collective asses for about 10 years: WHO IS THE OLD GUARD NOW, SIR? HAHAHA!

thomasapowell,
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@hbuchel React is like the Coldplay of in that sure it is really super popular and a total money maker but it actually isn’t all that great nor considered very cool anymore.

thomasapowell, to 80s
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I am late to the party, but I discovered Miami Connection this weekend. It is hard to express how bonkers this 80s action-rock movie is. In summary, it involves a Taekwondo band of orphan friends called Dragon Sound fighting a cocaine ninja biker gang on the hard streets of Orlando somehow connected to Miami.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/VpZu69OB2KM

thomasapowell, to ai
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Apparently I should have appreciated the high art of the Unsplash hero image on a listicle or puff piece when I read them. Today now that we have image and text content blasting out everywhere that human created mediocrity seems like high art of a more civilized time of grifting and hustle.

thomasapowell, to random
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Rabbit R1 feels like someone saw Panic’s really cool Playdate (I own one and it is great) and said let’s do a quick and dirty Humane knock off on that type of hardware.

thomasapowell,
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@vaguelytagged well yeah I knew that actually I was just being snarky. The keynote was also oof, but they still sold a bunch!

andykirk, to random
@andykirk@vis.social avatar

I'm so excited to receive this exquisite series of books from RJ Andrews.

They are absolute works of art. As RJ urges though, its the contents that matter and I will devour every word when I carve out the necessary time to do them justice.

https://visionarypress.com/

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thomasapowell,
@thomasapowell@fosstodon.org avatar

@andykirk I just LARPed the Fry meme and purchased this very rapidly. Thanks for the tip Andy

Futurama Buy GIF

shadeed9, to random
@shadeed9@front-end.social avatar

It’s here! 🎉

I’m happy to publish my first interactive guide. It’s about designing better target sizes!

The guide is full of interactive demos and illustrations about target size with lots of real-life examples. Enjoy!

🔗 https://ishadeed.com/article/target-size

thomasapowell,
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@shadeed9 such a detailed exploration that it encourages me to add go add some content to my UCSD front-end course and provide a link to this for students who want a deep and proper exploration. Nicely done Ahmad!

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