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Snowshadow

Tech Stuff

Wanderlog Travel planning app, with group plans, offline access, collaboration, checklists and more.

Biason Julio

The untold history of web development:

1990: HTML invented
1994: CSS invented to fix HTML
1995: JS invented to fix HTML/CSS
2006: jQuery invented to fix JS
2010: AngularJS invented to fix jQuery
2013: React invented to fix AngularJS
2014: Vue invented to fix React & Angular
2016: Angular 2 invented to fix AngularJS & React
2019: Svelte 3 invented to fix React, Angular, Vue
2019: React hooks invented to fix React
2020: Vue 3 invented to fix React hooks
2020: Solid invented to fix React, Angular, Svelte, Vue
2020: HTMX 1.0 invented to fix React, Angular, Svelte, Vue, Solid
2021: React suspense invented to fix React, again
2023: Svelte Runes invented to fix Svelte
2024: jQuery still used on 75% of websites

Ashur Cabrera “I 😬 CSS Grid”

Anders Eknert

"Solutions architect" no, I'm a problems architect.

‎File Widgets It feels like Files app on iPadOS but will run on your Mac: “Bring your most important folders right to your desktop, beautifully displayed through interactive widgets.”

Daniel Terhorst-North

Today's typo:

"Estimates should be given as a rage.“

Goodpods Goodpods is like Goodreads except discovering podcast recommendations from other listeners.

Yaakov “DNS Dental: now open your mouth wide and say AAAA”

Chris “thanks google, exactly my thoughts!”

Desert Racer How about a CSS-only, no JavaScript, driving game where you can swipe left/right to avoid obstacles?

Four decades of MSX A trip down memory lane with the mighty future computer line that would take over the PC … or not.

sam henri gold “this is a terrible parenting technique”

Ninji

i love going to IKEA and experiencing swedish traditions… like fika, köttbullar, and the systemd emergency mode

Eye for Design

oshy “POV: You made the mistake of trying to track a package in 2024”

Peoples

Three Secrets of Resilient People 1) Shit happens, 2) some things you just can’t change, and 3) your thoughts are just that — thoughts are not reality.

ErrantScience

The real reason that a minute isn't an official SI unit is that it's actually a highly variable length of time. I've been working for 3 days on a job that I was assured would just take a minute

Business Side

Consumers will finally see FCC-mandated ‘nutrition labels’ for most broadband plans “The deadline for a new FCC rule that requires ISPs to publish “nutrition” labels during point-of-sale with basic information about their broadband offerings has passed.”

How Vice became ‘a fucking clown show’ The story of “an executive enrichment scheme” that went up in flames.

Navigating New Waters: 10 Tips for First-Time Founder Success “Tactical advice from seasoned founders like Thumbtack’s Marco Zappacosta and Dropbox’s Drew Houston about the biggest mistakes to avoid as a first-time startup founder.”

NYC Chicken Shop Replaces Cashier With Woman in Philippines On Zoom “The Zoom meeting info and password is written on a note facing customers.” What?

(The future of chatbots is outsourcing the cashier to a remote worker in a different timezone on a low hourly rate)

Machine Intelligence

Historical analogies for large language models These 13 perfect analogies predict how the world will change due to the invention of LLM, proving once and for all empirically that analogies are as stupid as a caged mouse.

myrmepropagandist

So now both humans AND AIs are using "Before 2022" in their searches to get better results.

That trick can be really helpful, and I think the fact that it's helpful ought to make us pause and rethink things a little.

Simon Willison

Oh this is interesting, it turns out Washington Post asked people about this a few weeks ago: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2024/what-is-ai/

Really interesting to me how experts and readers differ most widely on Translate (experts say it's definitely AI, readers say it could be), game opponents (readers say yes, experts say no), and Clippy (readers say Clippy "could be" AI, experts say not)

Insecurity

My ovulation tracker suddenly asked what state I live in

Edit #2: I’ve gotten permission to name the app as long as we don’t go brigading. The app is called Ovia. Avoid it like the plague!

Christie Dudley If you’re using LibbyApp from Overdrive, be advised that they were purchased by KKR and your usage information is no longer safe:

Yesterday I started receiving targeted ads based on ebook borrows from my library (San Francisco Public Library). The content of those ads suggested that the targeters were aware of which books I chose to read.

OpenTable is adding your first name to previously anonymous reviews First it was GlassDoor and now OpenTable is going to leak your name:

Restaurant reservation platform OpenTable says that all reviews on the platform will no longer be fully anonymous starting May 22nd and will now show members' profile pictures and first names.

Google must destroy $5 billion worth of user data illegally collected in Incognito Mode Yes!

Jan Penfrat

Holy shit, I thought I knew how evil the #SurveillanceAds industry was but here we are:

Two-thirds of European websites just ignore your #cookie choice and track you anyways, researchers from #ETHzurich found. 🤯

https://www.usenix.org/system/files/sec23winter-prepub-107-bouhoula.pdf

Hospital websites share visitors' data with Google, Meta

Academics at the University of Pennsylvania analyzed a nationally representative sample of 100 non-federal acute care hospitals – essentially traditional hospitals with emergency departments – and their findings were that 96 percent of their websites transmitted user data to third parties.

Cops Running DNA-Manufactured Faces Through Face Recognition

A police force in California recently employed the new practice of taking a DNA sample from a crime scene, running this through a service provided by US company Parabon NanoLabs that guesses what the perpetrators face looked like, and plugging this rendered image into face recognition software to build a suspect list.

Has Capitalism Been Replaced by “Technofeudalism”?

Everything Else

Creative Translations

MonotoneOfBill

A mythical creature in Scottish folklore somehow convinced people to install doorbells.

It was the Knock Less Monster.

Bluey: Producer confirms series return amid cancellation rumours No worries, Bluey is going to have another season! BTW I just started watching it and I really really like it. And I don’t have kids and I can still enjoy every single episode of this amazing show.

Nathan Knowler

I’m great at multitasking. I can procrastinate multiple things at once with very little effort.

Ads Don’t Work That Way Cultural imprinting, or why you can’t make an ad for yourself, and also why “I’m immune to ads” doesn’t actually make a difference, sorry to bother you with facts.

Dgar

Gravity is mass produced.

The 30-year hunt to find the Priscilla, Queen of the Desert bus: ‘My jaw was on the ground’

Dean Burnett A thread about how science sometimes delivers easily confusing information:

"If you're under 25 your brain isn't fully developed, so you can't be trusted to make informed decisions"

I'm seeing this a LOT lately, especially today with the Cass Review fallout. And it's utter guff, based on hearsay, misunderstandings of neuroscience, or wilful ignorance.

Why? I'll tell you why

More people care about climate change than you think "We’re all more likely to make changes if we think others will do the same.”

War and Peas