Your AI Is Moving Back Onto the Machine
8bitconcepts Research
The future of AI inference is not cloud versus device. The shift is hierarchy: cloud for frontier work, devices for the everyday intelligence layer close to private context.
privacy
From The Archives -- Down The Memory Hole
Chris Weigant
The midterm congressional elections will happen in early November, which is now less than four months away. Trump has already been making drastic moves (such as firing all the members of a federal elections security board) seemingly designed to sow chaos (or worse) when the ballots are cast....
From The Archives -- Election Nightmares
Chris Weigant
Up until now, some Democratic worries about the upcoming midterm elections have been dismissed by the "It could never happen here" crowd as unfounded nightmares. They pooh-pooh such worries as being laughably outlandish and accuse people who express these worries for overreacting about things...
Your ‘App’ Could Have Been a Webpage (so I fixed it for you…) – Dan Q
Adactio: Links
I can’t understand how we got to this place with “app culture”! Software companies are happy to make their lives harder (and more expensive: deploying to the big app stores isn’t free!), in order to deliver HTML content to fewer people and with fewer features than if they just published directly...
Friday Talking Points -- Quick Takes
Chris Weigant
Last week, we warned everyone that July was going to be a sketchy month for us, in terms of our ability to write these Friday columns. So we begin today with a program update. Today's offering is not a complete Friday Talking Points column. It is bare-bones, at best. We're not even really...
Friday Talking Points -- Rushed, Simulated, And Oddly Sterile
Chris Weigant
If anyone needed any further proof that everything that Donald Trump touches turns to schlock (or worse), this week's opening of the Great American State Fair certainly provided some. The initial idea wasn't too bad a concept -- have all 50 states send an exhibit to the National Mall, and it...
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Cue The Wild Accusations Of Election Fraud
Chris Weigant
It's Tuesday again, which means another round of primaries is happening. Maine's Senate primary will probably be the most-watched of the night, as everyone is waiting to see how Graham Platner does after facing new controversies last week, but there will also be primaries in Nevada, North Dakota,...
To Anyone Who Donates To The American Diabetes Association
Chris Weigant
I saw a story over the weekend that made my skin crawl and sent a chill down my spine. The news first broke in what I assume is a technical journal, MedPage Today. From their report: Members of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) were escorted by police out of the convention center in New...
It's 2026, and I want my digital life back
adansix
A nostalgic trip to the noisy modem era When I got my first PC, running on 100MHz, which I later overclocked to the amazing 133MHz, I discovered a new world. I could now surf the web, download softwares, crack them, modify their splash screens, icons and, as they usually weren't translated to the...
Friday Talking Points -- Trump's Lies Getting More And More Obvious
Chris Weigant
As Donald Trump's war of choice stumbles and staggers into its third month, you'll be happy to hear that not everyone has been economically hit hard by the rise in prices it has caused. That's right -- there is one clear winner in all of this disruption. This headline sums it up: "Shell Reports...
Friday Talking Points -- Stalemate
Chris Weigant
Donald Trump's war of choice with Iran ground to a stalemate this week, and it doesn't seem like progress will be made any time soon. One week ago, Iran announced (as a goodwill gesture, most likely) that the Strait of Hormuz was open once again. Trump then made a slew of sweeping announcements...
Swalwell's Exit
Chris Weigant
The fall of Eric Swalwell was swift. Last week, Representative Swalwell was the Democratic frontrunner in the California governor's race. Now, only days later, he has ended his gubernatorial campaign and is no longer a member of the House of Representatives. As political flameouts go, the fall...
Friday Talking Points -- Out Of This World
Chris Weigant
It was a very busy week in politics and we've got a lot to get to, but let's start out on a happy note for once, shall we? NASA's Artemis II mission is on its way to circle the moon, the first time humans have done so in over 50 years. So check out some awesome photos the astronauts took of...
Trump's Court Jester Strikes Again, With "A Throne Fit For A King"
Chris Weigant
At this point, it seems fitting that The Secret Handshake be officially proclaimed Donald Trump's court jester. The group, as the name implies, is secret. It is an artists' collective but nobody knows who is behind it or a member of it. They use intermediaries to file for National Park permits...
Friday Talking Points -- Chaocracy
Chris Weigant
Maybe we need a new word for the way Donald Trump seems to be running the country: "chaocracy." Rule by chaos. The "Madman Theory" writ large. Nobody has any clue what's going to happen next, from Trump himself all the way down to average Americans and the rest of the world. Of course, this has...
No Real Progress On Government Shutdown
Chris Weigant
The ongoing partial government shutdown is about to break the record for the longest government shutdown in history. It affects only the Department of Homeland Security, which has limited the shutdown's visibility to the average American (in comparison to previous wider-scale shutdowns), but that...
Feelings are Facts: Love, Privacy, and the Politics of Intellectual Shame
Alessandro Resta
Meredith Whittaker on privacy, intimacy, shame, and the shape of modern technology.
Linux, Freedom, and Philosophy
Andre Franca
When I first switched to Linux years ago, I was drawn in by the typical reasons: it was free, it was fast, and I felt like joining some kind of club of people who actually understood computers - poor me. But the more time I spent in this world, the more I realized that choosing Linux isn’t just a...
When Technology Serves (Not Controls)
Andre Franca
Have you ever asked yourself about the difference between technology that works for you and technology that quietly works against you? It’s not always obvious at first. A tool can seem helpful, even essential, until you realize you’ve handed over more control than you meant to. The line between...
Thoughts on Webapps
Andre Franca
I’ve been thinking about webapps lately, especially as I watch the endless cycle of software updates, permission requests, and the nagging feeling that every binary I download might be doing something I didn’t agree to in the background. The browser has become, almost by accident, one of the most...
1-2-3: 10 Years Of Decentralization
gramajo
1. Photo 10 years of Ethereum was a great day. I met up with the PiggyWallet team for some coffee sponsored by groundsDAO and then headed to the SF event at the Frontier building. Overall great vibes all around. Days like yesterday remind why I got involved in the space over 12 years ago. 2....
Disappointment with Samsung
Andre Franca
Samsung makes great hardware and then ruins the experience with software. I’m not saying this as some Apple fanboy. I left iPhone for Samsung about a year ago because I wanted more control and more flexibility. Android is supposed to be the “open” option. Reality has been a lot less sexy with slow...
Privacy applications and services
0ut3r Space
There are those who shout to abandon Google (or whatever big tech company), others shout to abandon closed source software, others recommend not using solutions from large corporations, and you also hear not to use open source or projects created by enthusiasts because they are not secure or of...
I Surrendered to Google
Andre Franca
I’m very upset these days. The web is really messed up. Can we really achieve even a little privacy? Some argue that it is a human right, but to me, privacy seems like a discussion for the elite, where only a few can afford this “luxury”, given the huge number of products we have to pay a premium...
Skiff Sold to Notion
Andre Franca
Yesterday, when I went to the website of my email provider, Skiff (a privacy-focused productivity platform), I came across the announcement that the company had been sold to Notion. Skiff Homepage - Screenshot taken on 02/10/24 As we begin to shift focus to our shared efforts with Notion, we...
State Surveillance Capitalism, with Chinese Characteristics
Stijn Vogels
Welcome to the brave new world of state surveillance capitalism, where your data is harvested for ad revenue and catalogued for national security, social order, and probably a bit of light amusement by an omnipresent algorithm somewhere. In most places, this is a job best left to evil corporate...
How to self-host Vaultwarden with Podman on a VPS
Andre Franca
I would say that one of the most important things in our digital life is to have good passwords, then to have a proper way to secure and manage those passwords. Thankfully, we have different solutions. Today I’m going to show you how to self-host Vaultwarden with Podman 1. Vaultwarden is described...
Remove Metadata From Photos on IPhone
Andre Franca
We often need to share a photo with someone special, but what usually goes unnoticed is the amount of metadata that is embedded in every pic we shoot. Even worse is the fact that many apps that we have on our phone work against us and steal these little pieces of information (the metadata) to...
Introducing Some Privacy to Your Digital Life
Andre Franca
Some time ago, searching for some more privacy-respecting softwares to replace the bad ones I used to have installed, I was introduced to the Privacy Guides website, recommended by the folks from the Techlore Channel. Many may wonder the reasons why we should care about our online privacy. I could...
Bandersnatch Advertising
0xADADA
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018) is an interactive film in which viewers are periodically asked to make decisions for the main character Stefan Butler, the decisions then result in different scenes, and paths through the film, resulting in a branching path to a variety of endings. Think...
HTTPS Is A Privacy Nightmare
paddlesteamer's blog
Every day, I see someone from the InfoSec
Taking Back What Is Already Yours: Router Wars Episode III
paddlesteamer's blog
In the previous part, we gathered the
Against Facebook
0xADADA
Alarm goes off, time to wake up. Snooze alarm, and then repeat: check email, check Facebook, check Twitter, check Snapchat, rinse; repeat again; no new posts? Check again. No second spared to compose a thought; dreams fade away. Day continues just the same way — rise, rinse, repeat, repeat. Can’t...
How Do Not Track and The EU GDPR Promise to Disrupt the Future of Web Advertising
0xADADA
Privacy is a fundamental human right. It is the right to control to whom and to what information is shared with others. Privacy protects the criteria used to determine how information is deemed private. Simply put, it’s ones right to keep or share information they themselves deem as private;...
Incentives and web browsers
Sufian Rhazi
What is funding the browsers we use?
Shadow leaks
Homing on Code
The recent linkedin password leak is a huge deal. The data was obviously leaked in 2012 but it’s ’;–have i been pwned? that notified me about it and not linkedin. I did change my password more than once since 2012. Is that enough reason for linkedin to not inform me about it? What if I removed my...
JusticeForAll Body Camera System
Anthony Destefano
FILE. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) There is currently a lot of talk in the media about police body cameras and the issues around recording when they use lethal force. After some reading on the subject I realize the current systems have a few technical challenges. Chief among them, is the manual...
Vendor lock-in is our least problem
Homing on Code
Do you remember My Opera? The place where fans of a once great browser would create their own blogs, participated in forums, maintained picture galleries and much more? It’s gone now. The great browser is also gone, replaced by a Chrome fork. Vendor lock-in is a big problem, but the possibility...
Cost of Privacy
Homing on Code
No time to read the whole thing? TL;DR around 250 USD per year and growing rapidly excluding the cost of personal time spent on maintaining my own services.More frequent readers of my blog will notice that I didn't write a single blog post in quite a while. The main reason is that I planned to...
Approaches for Pushing Do Not Track to the edges
0xADADA
Lets face it, Do Not Track (DNT) is dying a slow death. Content providers are either ignoring the setting, or giving lip service to DNT while taking no action behind the scenes. Worse yet, if users are able to find the browser preference, they don’t understand its purpose or value. Enabling the...