Ukrainian forces turn to unmanned ground vehicles to counter drones
Ukrainian forces turn to unmanned ground vehicles to counter drones
Specialized Ukrainian units using unmanned ground vehicles are emerging across all brigades. These machines already carry out most supply runs and evacuations on the front lines.Emmanuel Grynszpan (Le Monde)
New law in Burkina Faso bans homosexuality
New law in Burkina Faso bans homosexuality
Lawmakers in the country's unelected parliament have approved fines and prison sentences for persons convicted. Homosexuality is illegal in around 30 African countries, but not until now in Burkina Faso, whose military seized power three years ago.Le Monde with AFP (Le Monde)
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- "we want to break with our colonial past"
- embraces ideology originating in former colonial powers
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Homophobia in Africa: The American far-right's footprint
Investigations reveal how American far-right activists are contributing to rising anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in Africa. With funding and support from Uganda to Nigeria, they're influencing laws and public opinion.Martina Schwikowski (Deutsche Welle)
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Every of these organizations should be banned from Europe, with their leaders and members monitored afterwards like potential terrorists, or European democracies will fall in favor of Seven Mountain Dominion flavored christian fascism.
I have a feeling that the great anti-islam and "cultural christianity" in the atheist movement was a psyop.
Homophobia isn't universal, but it's not an uncommon cultural feature either.
Racism, specifically centering around skin colour and related features, is actually pretty recent and pretty Western. In ancient times they hated over different things. Religion was obviously big in the medieval period, food preferences come up surprisingly often if you go all the way back to clay tablet times.
Raceism, specifically centering around skin colour and related features, is actually pretty recent and pretty Western.
If I may take a guess, it's also because up until historically recently, larger groups of ethnicities didn't know that other such groups existed. To be racist, you need to be aware of people you'd clarify as another race
Nah, people did move around a bit. Herodotus discusses the "Aetheops" (subsaharan Africans) in his Histories, for example. Rome straight up had emperors who we wouldn't consider white.
The real catalyst seems to have been the situation in the New World, where coincidentally black slaves were suddenly cheap and abundant, and the colonisers where much lighter than the natives. It was a convenient worldview, basically.
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Ten years after the migration crisis, Germany assesses Merkel's 'Wir schaffen das' legacy
Ten years after the migration crisis, Germany assesses Merkel's 'Wir schaffen das' legacy
'We will manage,' Chancellor Angela Merkel declared on August 31, 2015, as hundreds of thousands of refugees, particularly from Syria, sought asylum in the country.Elsa Conesa (Le Monde)
China reveals potent tech powering high-orbit radar satellite wonder
China declassifies tech of world’s first high-orbit radar satellite, worrying US
Disclosures about surveillance satellite Ludi Tance 4-01confirm numerous breakthroughs in sensitive, electronic warfare-related technology.Stephen Chen (South China Morning Post)
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[Meta] Other free streaming sources acceptable here?
Wondering if other sources of free streaming VOD movies are acceptable here? There are multiple, legal AFAIK ones, although almost always with geo-restrictions of some kind.
E.g. Could I cross-post this here?
Some example sources:
- Plex
- Tubi
- Fawesome
- Mometu
- TheArchive.tv
- Filmzie
- Flixhouse
- FreeMovies+
- Mercado Play
- iQiyi
Links etc here:
Crunchy roll and yt-dlp
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IIRC Crunchyroll used to be a pirate site so that may be where you heard that? But they've been legit for years.
I would say just look for x265 (HEVC) webrips of your favorite content and throw it on a Plex (or Jellyfin if you don't have any Apple stuff) server. On the flip, if you have all Apple tech, Infuse is a good option, but IIRC it doesn't stream outside your network like the other two do.
Google's plan to restrict sideloading on Android has a potential escape hatch for users
Google's plan to restrict sideloading on Android has a potential escape hatch for users - Android Authority
Android will block users from sideloading apps made by unverified developers next year, but we may have found a workaround.Mishaal Rahman (Android Authority)
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tl;dr you can still "sideload" via adb.
This is so incredibly inconvenient as to be meaningless.
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There are plenty of people developing apps that require root, and users who run those are already jumping through a million hoops of cat and mouse to keep their fucking mcdonalds app detecting it so they can get cheaper coffees and free fries.
Like seriously, wtf McDonalds, your app is like the ultimate root/safetynet/device id detection tool, I don't think there exists even a banking app that is as hard to fool.
That's not who we're talking about. We're talking about the 0.1% who have custom ROMs.
It won't kill it completely but it will severely hurt it. The more complicated it becomes, the smaller the userbase becomes.
Apps like Syncthing have already discontinued development due to Google shenanigans + lack of users. That'll only get worse as the userbase shrinks.
Not at all, just get comfortable with ADB and use Claude to walk you through the steps.
I see this as an absolute win. /s
Edit: Y'all, ADB isn't hard to use. At all.
Every day? Who needs to install an app every day?
Not saying this isn't annoying AF, it is, but it's not the absolute lockdown that we all feared.
So just take one day a month and do your maintance. Anything that isn't from the Play store isn't exactly getting Dev work every day to patch whatever.
Whatever, I don't love this either, but it's not some absolute deal breaker IMO. Maybe 6/10 dealbreaker. We disagree and thats fine. Now please downvote like you were going to do anyway.
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As far as I know, ADB needs to be run on another device which is plugged into the phone.
I suppose one could write a script/app that detects the device is plugged in, and automatically looks for and installs updates using adb. That would be the least amount of friction.
Essentially banning any apps that would hurt googles profits.
I thought that was pretty obvious.
We hope that Google keeps its word and preserves ADB installation
lol, adb is the first loophole that will be closed.
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Home - FuriPhone FLX1 Linux Phone
The FLX1 Linux smartphone is the best Linux Mobile! Privacy, security and a fast UI. Use Android and Linux apps the way you want.Furi Labs: Planned Permanence
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Yeah, that's why it's still in the "considering" phase for me as well - especially considering Trump's tariffs crap. It also seems a tad underpowered for the price, and they still don't have the promised removable battery replacements in their store.
It's worth remembering, though, that the cost covers the constant software updates, as well as their user support. As such, it's much like the Apple model of business, except much more open - so in the end it's probably worth it.
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While that is true, it does not invalidate the poster's point. All of the effects of drugs are just "effects". They could just as easily market cough syrup as a sleep aid with the "side effect" that it suppresses coughing.
The difference in definition in this context is simply that "drug uses" is the list of its effects that they were going for, and "side effects" are a list of effects that they were not. Its entirely a man made distinction. Extend that reasoning to the "installing" vs. "side loading" discussion to see the poster's point.
I believe him to be suggesting that "side loading" is a very different word for "installing" that can be loaded by PR people to shift public opinion against the practice. Whether or not they are doing that I can't say myself, but that appears to be the point being made.
They could just as easily have coined it "direct installing" or "USB installing", but they didn't even though those terms are more descriptive. Draw from that whatever you will.
Talking to the wrong guy here, I've taken many a medications against their intended purpose: I am a curious guy.
But that sounds like saying, in the context of Google's intention of disabling app sideloading, that warning users that it poses a security risk because it's their intended purpose for android, is fine because the authority on android is Google.
Don't just take the word of authority at face value, when they prioritize profit and mindshare over personal freedom.
Wait, so now I have to talk to a doctor before installing from F-Droid? Well, shit.
For all intents and purposes, your comment actually invalidates the premise of using 'sideloading' as a term for installing from outside the 'official' method.
You buy cough syrup because you're coughing, not because you want to be drowsy (I would hope that's the case). In the same way, you install Spotify to listen to music, not to get all your data extracted and sold. Getting drowsy is an inconvenient side effect of the medication, the same way that data grab and ads are an inconvenient side effect of the app.
You're not 'side-medicating'.
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You are the master of your body, the person who decides ultimately what goes in and out of your body, No doctor can force you to take anything. That's what I mean, The play store aka the doctor wants to become the master that decides what apps go in or out of your phone, instead of the user. My comment doesn't invalidate the premise of the use of the term sideloading, because I don't agree with the term to begin with.
Whether the effect is ideal or not does not change what is chemically happening in the body. The body can't tell apart side effects from the main ones, so this distinction exists because humans deemed it so, just like the distinction between play store sanctioned apps, and everything else. It's a distinction that Google is now abusing for it's own monetary benefit.
It is, because it's actually the term that defines the process of transferring files not from an external networked device - downloading - or to an external networked device - uploading - but between two local devices - sideloading.
It's over two decades old, you downloaded an mp3 from kazaa, and then sideloaded it to your player.
For android apps, I believe the term originates from the method of using ADB to directly write the app to the phone memory, the command of which is "adb sideload filename"
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Thay recoined jaywalking to put the blaim of the accidents to pedestrians and take away the road from them.
How do you suppose that works, exactly?
I assume you're unaware of the concerted advertising campaigns by auto manufacturers to take public streets away from pedestrians, including things like
The industry hired actors dressed in old-fashioned clothing to illegally cross streets, making the behavior seem outdated
missedhistory.com/1800/lobbyin…
"Jay" had started as a word for drivers driving on the wrong side of the road
jaywalker was pre-dated by jay-driver – a driver of a horse-drawn carriage or automobile that refused to abide by the traffic laws by driving on the wrong side of the road
debrabernier.com/the-history-o…
The History of Jaywalking in the U.S. - DebraBernier
While the term jaywalking has been used for decades, the origin of the word itself seems to come from several different sources. Before the 20th century,Robert Brown (RootSuit@dmin)
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I assume you're unaware of the concerted advertising campaigns
Maybe try to stay on topic?
jay-driver – a driver of a horse-drawn carriage or automobile that refused to abide by the traffic laws
So jay-walker seems appropriate, does it not?
It's extremely on topic for the thread you responded to.
Google has a concerted effort to make "sideloading" bad, so they can remove it without public backlash
The next comment in the chain mentioned how auto manufacturers did the same thing, villainizing people using public spaces by calling it "jaywalking" until it became illegal to walk on public roads
That was done to take public spaces away from pedestrians and give it to cars
This is being done to take software outside of Google Play away and give the only profit to google
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Which is why I linked two articles discussing the history of the term "jay" and how and why it was used to essentially mean "a stupid person"
Then I even took a quote out for you explaining that car companies paid people to do it trying to vilify it
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how and why it was used to essentially mean "a stupid person"
You told me how it was used to mean "a stupid driver". Seems like an accurate term to describe drivers and walkers alike doing stupid things, like walking into traffic. 🤷
The existence of the word does not blame anyone.
It wasn't a word for crossing the street until Ford wanted to make it illegal to cross the street.
Maybe that's the historical context you're missing
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They didn't make illegal to cross the street. They made it illegal to cross the street in a particular time or place where the walker would endanger themselves.
I'm not missing any historical context. What I'm missing is how the term is inaccurate or used inappropriately.
If you actually care, you can start with things like "walkable cities," look at city planning before Ford made it illegal, look into how NYC has made it no longer a crime, etc.
It doesn't actually seem like you do, though
Ford's work to reframe the action caused massive changes to urban planning, mostly for the worse.
Their work to change cultural views are apparently so strong, you can't see how changing the language around it was "inaccurate or inappropriate"
That's what Google is doing to the average user for "sideloading" - in a few generations, they will have stigmatized it enough that people will be saying it shouldn't be allowed
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Again, you keep insisting that I just don't understand anything about walkable cities or talking about Ford's ad campaigns. I do. That is not what we're discussing.
What we're discussing is how the word is inaccurate or inappropriate or "blames" anyone other than those who are doing exactly what the word is intended to describe. And it doesn't seem like you have any interest in putting forth a legitimate argument so I guess we're done here.
The same goes for "sideloading".
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I see your confusion. You are assessing it from the reality when the project already succeed. You think: people who wonder on the street are to blame if they are hit. How term change it in anyway? Right? Streets are for cars. Obviously.
But before the campaing, the streets actually belonged to the people and cars was the dafoult expectation. You had a shopping carts there, children plaing, cyklist and walkers. Cars were introduced, and the responsibility was on the driver to keep attention. When the increasing number of accidents start to generate the bad press and there was a risk that use of car will become highly regulated, they launched the the campaign with a basic premise "car accidents victims are simpletons that have only themselves to blaim".
Your confusions is a testimony to how well it worked.
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You think: people who wonder on the street are to blame if they are hit.
I have said absolutely nothing to give you that impression so I have to assume this is just an ad hominem in the absence of any legitimate explanation.
Seems like an accurate term to describe drivers and walkers alike doing stupid things, like walking into traffic. 🤷
- I think you may have glossed over the word "drivers" there. The word was used to describe people ignoring traffic regulations, both while driving and walking.
- I didn't "blame" anyone, I just said it was ignorant, as is the literal definition of the word, according to the person I replied to.
- Society has this super weird position that there can only ever be one person or entity to blame. You can blame a pedestrian for ignorantly wandering into traffic while simultaneously blaming the driver for being inattentive.
To be clear, your position is that "stupid person walked into the traffic" and "it's that person fault" are two different things? You grasp the tiniest of straws. (You accused me of ad hominem, look up motte-and-bailey)
But even beside that you miss the point entirely. What I tried yo explain you there was that there was no "into the traffic" there. People didn't "wonder" on the streets. They were just there. Like today they are on the sidewalk. People were the rule cars were the exception. If electric scooter run into the pedestrian, you don't defoult into "the pedestrian was likely ignorant". Imagine scooter manufacturers start to call people involved in the accidents like this something like "loonies" or "zombies" until the legislation that people can walk only directly beside the curb is passed... And 10 years from that somene like you will argue "but skipping across the entire sidewalk is ignorant and careless. Term loonie sounds accurate to me".
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You grasp the tiniest of straws.
Absolutely not. Those are enormous straws...
What I tried yo explain you there was that there was no "into the traffic" there. People didn't "wonder" on the streets.
- That is not what you said. What you said was, and I quote "You think: people who wonder on the street are to blame if they are hit."
- If people are not "wandering into the street" then they are not "jaywalking", are they?
People were the rule cars were the exception.
It doesn't matter which one is which. The one that is "jay" is the one doing so without any regard for the rules, endangering themselves and other road users.
Imagine scooter manufacturers start to call people involved in the accidents like this something like "loonies" or "zombies"
That would be a completely different use of the word, since neither of these words mean "someone who operates scooters carelessly and without regard for the rules", as jaywalking does.
What I tried yo explain you there was that there was no "into the traffic" there. People didn't "wonder" on the streets.You think: people who wonder on the street are to blame if they are hit.
One of these things is not like the other.
Yes, those are not the same and that's exactly the point.
2nd one is me trying to understand your perspective and assumimg that you asses the irresponsibility of wondering into trafic must comr from the modern perspective in accordance with modern standards (existing traffic laws and road culture) - reality after PR campaign.
1st one is pointing out that that traffic laws and road culture were different back then, and.we.can't even talk about "wondering into" traffic anymore than we could talk about "wondering into sidewalk" - reality before PR campaign.
Those two not being the same is the result of PR campaign changing one state of round culture to another by stigmatizing being a pedestrian on the street. That's the problem we are discussing.
Come on.
(Man, I'm regretting biting after it was obvious this conversation is going nowhere. This time I'm truly out. Feel free to have your last word, but - hopefully - I'll not address it)
and assumimg that you asses the irresponsibility of wondering into trafic must comr from the modern perspective in accordance with modern standards
So you're confused because you made baseless assumptions about me personally? Yeah, that'll do it.
- You could blame the pedestrian, but it would be incorrect. A pedestrian is more vulnerable and harmless than a vehicle, and arguably has more of a reason to be traveling through the downdown of a city on foot than the vehicle does.
When cars began taking over streets making it dangerous for the people there, and auto makers lobbied to make cities more car centric, it made the cities way worse.
Imagine for a moment if in the model t days, the dangerous vehicle was held responsible and regulated instead of the people walking. We would have walkable cities today and cars wouldn't be allowed to take over.
We are not talking about individual blame, we're upset at the historical choices that led to a car centric landscape.
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You could blame the pedestrian, but it would be incorrect.
How would you know that when I haven't even specified any circumstances? Unless your intention is to suggest there are no circumstances in which a pedestrian is even partially to blame?
If a pedestrian sprints out from behind a wall into traffic moving 70MPH, that's 100% the driver's fault for hitting them? This is the logic you want to go with?
A pedestrian is more vulnerable and harmless than a vehicle
What does that have to do with whose responsibility it is!?
and arguably has more of a reason to be traveling through the downdown of a city on foot than the vehicle does
No they don't? And why are we downtown?
Imagine for a moment if in the model t days, the dangerous vehicle was held responsible and regulated instead of the people walking.
You mean instead of a world where we hold responsible the people who are actually responsible?
We would have walkable cities today and cars wouldn't be allowed to take over.
No, we would just have more criminals. The only way we have walkable cities is by banning cars.
We are not talking about individual blame, we're upset at the historical choices that led to a car centric landscape.
I know you want to talk about that. I agree with you. But it is, in fact, not what we're talking about. We're talking about the supposed use of the word "jaywalking" implying that all pedestrians are to blame for collisions.
The time is 1900. There are no traffic laws. A car almost runs into a dude.
If you say, "that car is dangerous" you are correct, and society tends towards making laws that protect pedestrians.
If you say "that person is jaywalking" you are framing the situation such that the car has more of a right to be there than the person. Maybe you think that cars are modern. "The wave of the future." This is the incorrect framing. We have seen how much of a mistake this was.
Some places like the Netherlands have been undoing the damage, rectifying the error in urban design.
We are downtown because that was the context in which the term "jaywalking" was invented. To kick pedestrians out of their own downtown.
We're talking about the supposed use of the word "jaywalking" implying that all pedestrians are to blame for collisions
Maybe that's what you're talking about. The rest of us are talking about how "jaywalking" was coined to make a normal behavior (people walking around their city) seem wrong. That is why so many people are telling you to listen to what they're saying.
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Can't help but notice you declined to answer any of my questions.
If you say "that person is jaywalking" you are framing the situation such that the car has more of a right to be there than the person.
Incorrect. You are framing the situation such that the jaywalker is endangering themselves and other road users by ignoring the rules of the road that keep everyone safe. "Jaywalking" does not refer to pedestrians as a whole, only the people committing the act of jaywalking.
Some places like the Netherlands have been undoing the damage, rectifying the error in urban design.
Wonderful! Good for them!
We are downtown because that was the context in which the term "jaywalking" was invented.
Okay, so "jaywalking" only applies "downtown". Presumably you can provide a source for this?
The rest of us are talking about how "jaywalking" was coined to make a normal behavior (people walking around their city) seem wrong
That is not what you're talking about. You're talking about automotive propaganda and the history of urban infrastructure. Nothing about the term itself or how it was misused or appropriated to mean something other than exactly what it does.
That is why so many people are telling you to listen to what they're saying.
They keep saying things that I already know. Strawman topics that I agree with and don't require further discussion.
You are framing the situation such that the jaywalker is endangering themselves and other road users by ignoring the rules of the road that keep everyone safe. "Jaywalking" does not refer to pedestrians as a whole, only the people committing the act of jaywalking.
This is simply miskaken. At the time the term was invented, the streets were for pedestrians. There were natually no laws or norms saying people shouldnt walk in the street. Car companies waged a campaign to kick pedestrians out. If we can't agree on this basic fact, I am not sure how to continue the discussion.
References: vox.com/2015/1/15/7551873/jayw…
salon.com/2015/08/20/the_secre…
missedhistory.com/1800/lobbyin…
counterpunch.org/2018/03/13/th…
bbc.com/news/magazine-26073797
Jaywalking: How the car industry outlawed crossing the road
The idea of being fined for crossing the road can bemuse foreign visitors to the US, where jaywalking first became law after a car industry campaign.Aidan Lewis (BBC News)
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There were natually no laws or norms saying people shouldnt walk in the street
There aren't any today either. But there are regulations about where and when people should walk in the street. Violations of these regulations (not literally just moving your feet back and forth) are known as jaywalking.
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There are laws
Now you're doing that strawman thing again. No one said there were no laws. What I said is that there are no laws saying that people cannot walk in the street.
They are called the right of way.
Yes, exactly. Jaywalking is the act of ignoring the right of way. Thank you for clarifying that.
I will not argue further with someone who is unable to incorporate new information.
Please, by all means, stop arguing.
How is that offtopic? It's direct answer to the question that was asked.
The point is, there shouldn't be a distinction. To make one is to support prejudice against installing software from elsewhere.
If you use "installing" for stuff from the Google store but any other word for stuff from other sources, you are aiding and abetting Google's anti-property-rights propaganda.
there shouldn't be a distinction.
There has to be. When 99% of installs come from one location, there needs to be a way to describe that other than "Installing apps from outside the default app store".
To make one is to support prejudice against installing software from elsewhere.
No? It isn't.
The majority of PC game sales happen via steam but we don't call games purchased from GOG "sideloaded."
There is no necessary reason to make the distinction
There is no necessary reason to make the distinction
There is and I've already given it. MS app store doesn't make up 99% of installations.
Okay, I understand your position. Android's play store has market dominance, so the a term to distinguish between 99% of play store installs vs others, makes sense.
Now, that is a tangent to the main issue, just arguing semantics. The issue is control versus
openness, not about the term sideloading.
Is Google's plan to restrict app sideloading a good thing in your eyes, or no?
Now, that is a tangent to the main issue
A tangent someone else made. Many others really.
just arguing semantics
100%
Is Google's plan to restrict app sideloading a good thing in your eyes, or no?
Absolutely not. I will no longer recommend Android to anyone. It's cooked, as far as I'm concerned.
Nice, I could tell you're a smart dude, so at least we all can agree that Android is no longer to be trusted.
Funny how words and language become the focus of this thread, and then the main issues get pushed to the side. I was arguing against you as if we didn't agree on the main problem 😅
When 99% of installs come from one location, there needs to be a way to describe that other than “Installing apps from outside the default app store”.
Y tho. What difference does it make? Its the same thing.
Installing an app is not the same thing as installing an app?
Yes, that's exactly what I said 😮💨
I didn't say that's what you said
It was clearly the implied suggestion. I've already answered your questions a dozen times elsewhere. Gonna have to have a poke around because I don't feel like typing them again.
Or do you agree that there's no functional difference and splitting hairs about where it came from is just a way to enforce corporate hegemony?
The functional difference is that one means "installing from anywhere" and the other means "installing from outside the default app store". They are different words with different meanings, one being more specific than the other.
It's like saying "neurosurgeon" instead of "medical professional". There is a difference. One is much more specific. "Neurosurgeon" wasn't made up by Big Pharma to gaslight you into believing brain surgery was bad, it's just a lot fewer words than "medical professional who does surgery on brains".
The functional difference is that one means “installing from anywhere” and the other means “installing from outside the default app store”. They are different words with different meanings, one being more specific than the other.
If the outcome is the same, then there is no functional difference. If I say I need to see a doctor, there is a functional difference between a neurosurgeon and another medical professional. If I say I want to download a calculator app, there is no functional difference if I download it from a first-party app store or a third-party app store. You're splitting hairs. Stop supporting corporate hegemony.
If the outcome is the same, then there is no functional difference.
The outcome is absolutely not the same. If Google said "we're no longer allowing you to install apps", that would be a completely different conversation. There is a functional differrence.
If someone sent a nurse in to do your neurosugery, that would absolutely not be the same...
I don't understand why this needs to be explained...
You're splitting hairs
My brother in Christ, you're literally the one splitting hairs...that's the opposite of what I'm doing.
Why would you want to call it sideloading when you're not loading from the side?
I don't know what you think "loading from the side" means? I use the term for the same reason I use any other term: to convey ideas through common understandings.
It's just doing what Google wants you to do.
Why the fuck would Google care what words you use?
It means downloading not from the internet but from another device.
Google wants it to mean installing software they don't condone, but I don't see why the rest of us should follow their lead. I don't know anyone who calls installing from FDroid "sideloading"
The words people use influences public opinion and the bottom line of corporations such as Ford and Google.
If there is a functional difference, then why can't you say what the difference is? You continue to refuse to do so BECAUSE THERE IS NO FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENCE. All you're doing is installing an app. The only thing that changes is where the app comes from and if your corporate overlords approve of it's origin. So again, what fundamental difference does it make where the app comes from?
My brother in Christ, you’re literally the one splitting hairs…that’s the opposite of what I’m doing.
I'm saying they're the same. You're saying these two things that are functionally identical are fundamentally different. In what conceivable way am I splitting hairs?
then why can't you say what the difference is?
I literally just did, twice. If you're just going to submit angry replies without actually reading the comments then this discussion is doomed, so good day.
The words for distinguishing between apps that come from one trusted location vs others is usually untrusted or unverified apps versus trusted or verified ones. "Installing apps from outside the default app store" converts to, "Installing an untrusted app".
It's not that complicated.
"Installing apps from outside the default app store" converts to, "Installing an untrusted app".
It doesn't. It's not that complicated.
"lots of other people" was not the words I used.
It can be both "installing" and "sideloading". One is just more specific.
—99+% are from official repositories
LOL you just lumped every other repository into one and then excepted the AUR for...reasons?
Because the AUR is by users. The others aren't.
I know you just can't explain the difference though so wrote this instead.
Wow, you're frustrating. If using an unofficial source for applications is called sideloading, why isn't that term used for desktop computing?
You are also frustrating, asking me questions that I've already answered: Because 99% of people aren't using the default app store on desktops.
even within android, if you attempt to install an apk directly, it doesn't say "would you like to sideload this application?", but instead says, "Do you want to install this app?".
Even Google's own OS doesn't use made up language.
When you install a '.exe' file in Windows, you don't call it 'sideloading', you call it 'downloading and installing'.
This is the exact same thing. I download from sites, F-Droid, Obtainium, etc., and install the software that is the file I downloaded. I'm effectively NOT side-anything.
The issue people have with making the distinction is that Google is trying to spin the narrative and make side loading seem like a dangerous and bad thing to the average user base who don't know any better.
They're taking umbrage with you agreeing that quantitative usage of a storefront makes something simply installing vs side loading a program. Because it helps Google's narrative in a way.
Google is twisting the word to justify their purpose of preventing people from installing anything that isn't from their walled garden. So anything that sounds even close to support for that motive is going to be met with pushback, even if it is a word that existed before Google's use of it. Google's implicitly saying that installing something from anywhere other than their store is something nefarious or otherwise bad/risky. Google is trying to perform the same kind of security theatre as the US with the NSA at airports.
Honestly, it doesn't matter to me where you install an app from because you're simply installing it. Whether that's from Google's storefront, Apple's, or somewhere else, you're installing an app. The circumstances where I'd need a term to specifically say that I'm installing an app from outside the default app store would also be covered by simply saying "I got it from GitHub (or wherever)." It takes the same energy to answer the question of where you got it from regardless of whether you say that you installed it or you side loaded it.
Google is twisting the word
How is it being twisted? They're using it in exactly the way it is intended to be used?
By justifying getting rid of it as "security concerns". This is the first time the average user will have heard the term, so it will be linked in their head to this and therefore as risky/dangerous and they won't question why Google would want to make it harder, if not impossible, for people to install apps or other software without Google's explicit permission.
The walls around the garden get taller, and those inside won't question why there aren't any doors.
By justifying getting rid of it as "security concerns".
That has absolutely nothing to do with what you said. What you said is that they were "twisting the word". Once again, they're using it in exactly the way it is intended to be used.
So it's always had a negative connotation to it? Because that's what I'm saying. That Google is using the word by its correct definition, but adding to the original definition a subtext that side loading is a bad thing. Hence, they're twisting it from its original meaning to a negative connotation to the average person (who has never heard the word before).
It's like Windows' UAC popping up with a warning when you try to install just about anything. To the average computer illiterate person, they're going to second guess whatever they're installing as "dangerous" while the rest of us are like "shut up Windows, of course I want to install the Nvidia drivers, that's why I clicked on the damn thing."
Installing software without a store was just called installing software.
Sideloading is when you download from the side, e.g. downloading software from a separate device instead of from the internet or physical media.
Go for it.
Source: dictionary.cambridge.org/dicti…
I will concede that the corporate use of 'sideloading' is bypassing the official store, but if you look at the other examples you'll see that it is not the only usage. I think it is important to frame installing software as just that.
sideload
1. to put software on a computer or mobile phone without using the official way…dictionary.cambridge.org
Installing software from outside the play store should be called installing software
Good news. It is!
It's installing software from the play store what should have a special name, like "gatedloading" for example.
Make it hap'n Cap'n. You're still not invalidating the term of "sideloading".
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And "littering" is the "real" culprit why we all drawn in uneccesey plastic. We should blame consumers not the polluters.
Corporations do it all the time.
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why can google not just code something like this into android:
allow apps from:
( ) All sources (how it is now; allow each app to install apps from external sources)
( ) Just Google Play
( ) Apps which have been verified by Google Developer Program
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Option 1 is a potential cause of "lost" revenue.
Late stage capitalism absolutely forbids anything that could cause that, even if the cost of implementation outweighs any potential gain.
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That would just continue to ensure lock-in, and at least the EU would never go for that (& neither would I). Sideloading should still be allowed.
Google's Play Store security has never been all that stellar, anyway.
Taking Google at their word for a moment
And why should we do that?
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The implication here is, if they implement this, is that they volunteer to assume liability, should e.g., your bank account be drained despite undergoing their forced strict lockdown on paid and owned devices.
Fat chance, because laws are meaningless to crime syndicates
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I can see it already:
() Just Google Play (safe)
() Verified apps (not recommended)
click on Advanced settings
() All sources (Unsafe. Will probably kill your cat and burn down your house)
tick the box
Are you sure?
click yes
ARE YOU SURE?
click yes again
ONE HUNDRED PERCENT SURE?
wait for the 30 seconds timer to count down
click yes
( ) I do not love my cat and want him to die.
tick the box
( ) I accept the very real risk of my house burning down
tick the box
Please wait 24 hours for the change to apply. You can reverse it at any time from this menu.
get spammed every hour for the next 24 hours with notifications asking me to fix my security settings
get a bigass ⚠️ every time I turn on the phone
every once in a while the change just straight up reverses and I have to do it all over again
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Doesn't work, the reason they can expire is to make certificate rotation possible.
If an expired ssl certificate is cracked it doesn't matter because no browser will accept the expired certificate, with your idea the expired certificate just signs an app with the date of 1984 and it works.
Certificates in SSL can't change the date because that date is signed by a certificate higher in the hierarchy.
This isn't "my idea", this is how the industry already does code signing. You can't sign something with a date of 1984 because your certificate has a start and end date, and is usually only valid for 1 year.
You can read more about how this works here:
knowledge.digicert.com/general…
The trusted 3rd party in this case is actually multiple 3rd parties. There's several options for trusted timestamping just like there's multiple trusted root CAs for SSL. Since the timestamping service is free and public, anyone can use it to sign anything, even self-signed certificates. There's no mechanism to deny access, at least for this portion.
There's always a risk the root CAs all collude and refuse to give out certificates to people they don't like, but at least so far this hasn't been a problem. I don't have a better solution unfortunately. If we could have a 100% decentralized signing scheme that would be ideal, but I have no idea how you would build such a thing without identity verification and some inherit trust in the system
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Then why aren't they already doing that by blocking DuckDuckGo?
The DuckDuckGo app blocks all apps from sending to Google (and other advertisers) tracking/ad data on a system level. And it's freely available on the Play Store (has been for years.
play.google.com/store/apps/det…
If they wanted to prevent apps from blocking their ad abilities, this app would never have been allowed on the Play Store.
DuckDuckGo Private Browser - Apps on Google Play
Private. Fast. Fewer Ads. DuckDuckGo never tracks you.play.google.com
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Does it actually block ads in apps?
Blokada 5 blocks ads in apps and it was removed from the google store years ago. You have to sideload it in order to use it.
There's a neutered version on the google store, but it doesn't block ads effectively.
Google also removed an addon called Adnauseam, which clicked ads in additional to blocking them. That way, advertisers still have to pay site owners for your visit. Google removed it without justifiable reason, then kept it removed since there was no sufficient backlash.
It's the main reason why I switched to Firefox. That kind of abuse is for useful idiots.
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This simply doesn't work anymore for all apps on my Pixel 8.
Many I installed manually just redirect to the Play store with the message it could harm your device and you should download from Play.
GrapheneOS patches this behavior if apps match their Google play signature IIRC. This is a behavior that apps on the play store can opt into (basically they block operation if they aren't installed via Play).
It was rather annoying until recently, since some apps require you to be on a certified Android install to find them in the Play store, but don't actually check play integrity in the app. These apps when installed via Aurora wouldn't work for me until Graphene patched this.
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Since Google’s goal is to improve security
This is an obvious lie.
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Leaving ADB open to unverified apps is more than I was expecting. ADB is reasonably straightforward to use even without actually being an Android developer.
There was never any way they'd integrate it to play protect and still allow play protect to be disabled. I prefer this to being required to use play protect personally, though the services do seem somewhat redundant. Presumably the whole point of doing this is to create an Apple style walled garden (which is of course very profitable). Google likely doesn't want to fully lock it down and risk legal trouble, they just need to make it difficult enough that the masses don't bother installing unapproved apps that may not act in Google's interests.
I still hope the EU takes legal action against this anyway.
they always do this to gaslight us into accepting things we would not. when blocking installs from outside gplay is a possibility, further restricting it is a relief, not the outrage it should still be.
that or they got a feel for it and decided to settle with less restriction. for now.
the permanent solution as always is deposing them from this position of enormous power and monopoly. easy said.
Trump Admin Circulating Plan to Transform Depopulated Gaza Into High-Tech Cash Cow
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/47721311
Under the proposal, the US would take control after "voluntary" relocation of Palestinians from the strip, where proposed projects include an Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone and Gaza Trump Riviera & Islands.Archived version: archive.is/newest/commondreams…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
Trump Admin Circulating Plan to Transform Depopulated Gaza Into High-Tech Cash Cow
Under the proposal, the US would take control after "voluntary" relocation of Palestinians from the strip, where proposed projects include an Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone and Gaza Trump Riviera & Islands.
Archived version: archive.is/newest/commondreams…Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
Trump Admin Circulating Plan to Transform Depopulated Gaza Into High-Tech Cash Cow
Under the proposal, the US would take control after "voluntary" relocation of Palestinians from the strip, where proposed projects include an Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone and Gaza Trump Riviera & Islands.brett-wilkins (Common Dreams)
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Goodness... I thought it was just one of trump's social media pundits spouting nonsense, maybe with an AI-generated image or two, but this is serious. That I hate America and Israel at this point goes without saying, but I hate any country or politician that closes their eyes to what these nations have become.
You really need to read the article, but here is a lengthy quote regardless:
The GREAT Trust was drafted by some of the same Israelis behind the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), whose aid distribution points in Gaza have been the sites of deliberate massacres and other incidents in which thousands of aid-seeking Palestinians have been killed or wounded.According to the Post, financial modeling for the GREAT Trust proposal "was done by a team working at the time for the Boston Consulting Group"—which played a key role in creating GHF. BCG told the Post that the firm did not approve work on the trust plan, and that two senior partners who led the financial modeling were subsequently terminated.
The GREAT Trust envisions "a US-led multirlateral custodianship" lasting a decade or longer and leading to "a reformed Palestinian self-governance after Gaza is "demilitarized and de-radicalized."
However, to journalist Hala Jaber, the plan amounts to "genocide packaged as real estate."
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Take one of the most violently-contested parts of the Earth, a center of blood feuds that have been raging for, depending on how you count it, between eighty and six thousand years, a place that has become synonymous for "a location of endless conflict," take that piece of real estate, enhance the violence, and then tell yourself you're going to build a bunch of high-end condos and invite rich assholes to move in.
What could possibly go wrong?
Hmm I'm confused...
"Voluntary emigration" is widely considered a euphemism for ethnic cleansing, given Palestinians' general unwillingness to leave their homeland.
But I thought they were refugees, i.e. Gaza ISN'T their homeland. If they are living in their homeland then how are they still refugees?
One of my friends is a Ukrainian refugee. He isn't living in his homeland and doesn't consider himself British.
The land now known as Israel, including Gaza and the West Bank, is their homeland. These people are refugees because they were driven out of their homes during the violent formation of Israel in 1948 and many of those who survived ended up in refugee camps in Gaza. Gaza is one small corner of their homeland. Over the course of 70 years or so, these refugee camps became entire cities because these people had nowhere else to live, for generations. So they were refugees in a small corner of the country that was once theirs. Then Israel destroyed even these cities.
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Honey, would you give me a hand assembling the new BÄNGGEN precision guided munition that IKEA just delivered?
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OK. I'm at wit's end attempting to convince Google's LLM to pronounce an English name correctly.
Seriously, 15 times is my limit on correcting an LLM.
The name in question? Rach. Google absolutely cannot pronounce it in any other way than assuming I was referring to Louise Fletcher in the diminutive.
Specifying "long a" did nothing, and now I'm past livid. If you can't handle a common English name, why would I trust you with anything else?
This is my breaking point with LLMs. They're fucking idiotic and can't learn how to pronounce English words auf Englisch.
I hope the VCs also die in a fire.
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How the death of a delivery driver ignited Indonesia
How the death of a delivery driver ignited Indonesia
Protests over corruption and inequality have spiralled into violence, arson and deaths.Gavin Butler (BBC News)
TikTok has also suspended its live streaming feature in Indonesia "for the next few days", in a bid to limit potentially inflammatory content amid concerns about live mass mobilisation.
Complicit traitors. No surprise there.
You're right it's bad that they shut down. Does make me wonder about the use of "traitors" since I don't think tiktok could ever have been considered on the side of the people.
I hope these events result in better lives for Indonesians.
Now Live: Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Accelerates Climate Research, Neuroscience, Quantum Simulation
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/36980362
Now Live: Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Accelerates Climate Research, Neuroscience, Quantum Simulation
Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Now Live | NVIDIA Blog
At JUPITER’s inauguration ceremony in Jülich, attended by Germany Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the Jülich Supercomputing Centre and NVIDIA unveiled ways the supercomputer is already spurring innovation across the world.Chris Porter (NVIDIA Blog)
Now Live: Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Accelerates Climate Research, Neuroscience, Quantum Simulation
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/36980362
Now Live: Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Accelerates Climate Research, Neuroscience, Quantum Simulation
Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Now Live | NVIDIA Blog
At JUPITER’s inauguration ceremony in Jülich, attended by Germany Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the Jülich Supercomputing Centre and NVIDIA unveiled ways the supercomputer is already spurring innovation across the world.Chris Porter (NVIDIA Blog)
Now Live: Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Accelerates Climate Research, Neuroscience, Quantum Simulation
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/36980362
Now Live: Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Accelerates Climate Research, Neuroscience, Quantum Simulation
Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Now Live | NVIDIA Blog
At JUPITER’s inauguration ceremony in Jülich, attended by Germany Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the Jülich Supercomputing Centre and NVIDIA unveiled ways the supercomputer is already spurring innovation across the world.Chris Porter (NVIDIA Blog)
Now Live: Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Accelerates Climate Research, Neuroscience, Quantum Simulation
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/36980362
Now Live: Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Accelerates Climate Research, Neuroscience, Quantum Simulation
Europe’s First Exascale Supercomputer, JUPITER, Now Live | NVIDIA Blog
At JUPITER’s inauguration ceremony in Jülich, attended by Germany Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the Jülich Supercomputing Centre and NVIDIA unveiled ways the supercomputer is already spurring innovation across the world.Chris Porter (NVIDIA Blog)
YouTube is now flagging accounts on Premium family plans that aren't in the same household
YouTube's latest crackdown may affect your family plan
YouTube is now enforcing its rule that all Premium Family plan members must reside in the same household as the family manager.Karandeep Singh Oberoi (Android Police)
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Fuck GOOG for normalizing surveillance capitalism
Fuck YouTube in particular for making it basically impossible to usefully host an Invidious proxy any more and for their algorithmic manipulation
PeerTube is the Way
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If you want monetization and scalability, you're gonna have to get ads. Ad-free subscription services that actually benefit the creators are exceedingly rare. Very few people (less than 0.1%) are "making it" on Patreon and the like. The bitter truth is that most users can't afford to financially support their favorite creators, and damn near zero creators could get the level of exposure needed to be sustainable without an ad-based platform backing them.
Video hosting is expensive af. Ultimately, small-time content creation is completely dependent on corporate benefactors. This is why every video platform that's tried to compete against YouTube has failed. Nebula is trying, but that's only useful to creators who fit within its specific niche.
I'm not saying this as a vote of support for the current system. Just an observation of how the market has played out so far.
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Ad-free subscription services that actually benefit the creators are exceedingly rare.
Believe it or not, YouTube Premium is one of them. A Premium view is worth more than an ad-supported view to a creator.
(Obviously Patreon is better, as they can’t make a living off of only Premium views because it’s a smaller group; the population of ad-supported users is much much larger. But YouTube Premium does benefit the creators more than ad-supported YouTube does.)
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No, and neither has anybody else. Not saying that to be rude or dismissive, but just using their own numbers on the front page to paint a picture. They have ~3,000 paying members as of right now. Patreon has over 10,000,000 paying members, and even then only a tiny, tiny fraction of their creators are actually sustainable.
Paid subscription services like this are a great idea, in theory; I'd love to get away from ad-supported platforms. But the truth is that they just don't work for all but a few lucky people.
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No saying you're wrong though.
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That's 100% true, but YT also foots the bill that creators would otherwise be responsible for when it comes to just the basics. Free hosting/distribution of high res full-length videos, globally accessible, with a player app that is actively developed and maintained, a recommendation algorithm to put your content in front of viewers' eyes... That, alone, has tremendous value for a creator that they really can't get anywhere else without paying out of pocket. All of those things would have to otherwise be paid for/maintained by the creators. While it's not a direct payment, YT relieves a huge burden for creators.
It sucks because it keeps creators' success dependent on corporate oligarchs. But at the same time, it's also great because it gives them a fighting chance to get started.
Nowadays i see the frontpage, sigh in disgust and close the page. And I haven't even seen an ad there yet. This would be the cherry on top
So is it YouTube family or YouTube household?
Either way, probably need to setup site to site VPN and route YouTube traffic through a central location, if you can block geolocation.
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Their course was clear the moment they ditched their slogan "don't be evil". And here we are, again.
First of all: The extension doesn’t seem to be blocking any connection on Orion, only websites.
Second of all: Here’s a link to the uBlock Origin Light app on the AppStore
uBlock Origin Lite
uBO Lite (uBOL) is a reliable and efficient content blocker. The default ruleset corresponds to uBlock Origin's default filterset: - uBlock Origin's built-in filter lists - EasyList - EasyPrivacy - Peter Lowe’s Ad and tracking server list You can…App Store
That app doesn’t work with the current version of safari. This is what I see when trying to enable:
"uBO Lite" is not supported by this version of Safari.
I’ve been using Orion with uBlock and have been satisfied the last few months.
Requires just about the latest iOS (18.6)
Also - Apple seems to be hiding it from search results on the App Store even though I found it a week ago!
That was my reminder to update my system. Thanks!
I’ll test out Safari + uBO for a bit and see if I prefer it. Do you have any sites you can check for how good your adblocker is? I used to use one but that was ages ago, I don’t remember the name anymore.
😀
Top web search results for “adblock test”—the top two, both, are usually good to both run (though I’ve never been too scientific about it)! One tries to show ads for your review, the other gives a % blocked.
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Same here. I’ve cancelled Netflix, never got Disney plus, never use prime (though I think I have access to something through prime shipping).
YouTube however; I watch this every single day, use it for learning, relaxation, documentaries etc.
It’s a fantastic platform and well worth the subscription AFAICS.
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What I'm not ok with YouTube premium :
- The price is too high for a subscription. For that price I could get thousands of movies on a competing service like Netflix.
- Even if you take YouTube premium they are still farming your data and selling it to third parties.
So even if I watch a ton of YT I refuse to pay to sell my data.
If I pay for YT they have to not track me and not sell my data (at least data coming from YT).
So yeah taking YT is hassle free but is quite the scam if you think about it. Before paying you were the product. After paying you are still the product but on top of that you give them money.
Even if you take YouTube premium they are still farming your data and selling it to third parties.
The big data-farmers like Google aren't selling it to third parties. It's worth far more if kept to themselves and used to build an ad platform.
I think the price is a far better deal than Netflix. Even when I had Netflix, basically all I watched was Breaking Bad. Shows I like or want to view now just live on my media server. It came to a point I couldn't find anything interesting to watch and cancelled it. I don't remember the last time I watched an actual movie. There is so much more than I'll ever have the time to watch on Youtube. If they want to use what I watch to attempt to show me ads I'm very likely never going to see elsewhere, I honestly don't care. They are going to try to show me ads which will almost certainly get blocked, anyway. I'm not watching anything on Youtube I wouldn't mind telling anyone about anyway.
I don't feel scammed, and it impacts my day-to-day life in no ways aside from saving me time having to fiddle with my network for 30 minutes every time an actual video won't load because I'm trying to block a 30-second ad at the router.
Netflix also sells data to 3rd party marketing services.
I honestly wouldn't mind paying for it if it didn't feel like such a fucking rip-off.
For example, for £19 a month I could sub to Netflix top tier. For that, I and three others could watch their stuff in UHD, all at the same time. And sure, Netflix content might be somewhat average these days, but it's still reasonably high quality and costs a decent packet to produce.
By contrast, YT Premium for family is £20 a month, with which I can access a bunch of videos that, while enjoyable, do not cost Google anything to make. Yes, hosting costs money, and yes, they (theoretically) pay the video creators. But it doesn't feel like £20 a month, y'know?
Part of the trouble is that they lump YT Music in to the same subscription. But I don't want or need that. I have Apple Music with its lossless catalogue, and library that I've built up over many years. If YT offered a straight up ad-free plan that I could share with my family that cost a tenner a month, I'd probably go for it. It would mean being able to watch videos on Apple TV without having to fuck about downloading them to my Plex folder first, because they've injected SO MANY ADVERTS in now that the YT app is completely unusable.
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If you pay, the platform remains great. I get a discounted YouTube premium membership through my mobile phone company. I think YouTube is great, I never see ads, lots of features.
Just to offer an alternative view.
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more money than you or I will ever see in our lifetimes
I mean, I feel like you need to expand your comparison a little as the amount that you'll see in your lifetime is such a minute grain of sand on a beech compared to corporate profits. The money they made today, hell, in the last hour... minute... will dwarf the amount that you will likely see.
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actively strives to make the user experience worse for people who don't pay
And evidently those who do! My parents live in a different country. What are they, not my family? What's the family plan for? (Rhetorical question)
With Vanced I have so many more options to customize my experience. I can hide shorts I never watch, set a fixed resolution for data and wifi, return the stupid dislike ratio they removed... And if I'm using Vanced anyway to fix all the issues they introduce, why on earth would I additionally pay for their service?
I want to pay for their shit, especially to support content creators, but I can't support a platform whose singular mission it is to make everything worse for everyone constantly. Feels like every month I have to get a new extension to undo some horrible design decision.
whiteknighting
was a weak-ass criticism when it was on 4chan being leveled at anyone who said anything not derogatory about a woman, and it's weak-ass now. Oh no, someone on the internet has an at-least-partially positive opinion of a company, how awful, we'd better stereotype and body-shame them for it.
If you had your way, the only comments about YouTube - or any other product from a large company - that would be allowed would be negative ones. How the fuck does that make sense?
By Darwin you see a lot. I was merely stating that I think YouTube premium is worth the price I pay for it.
Is there no product you are satisfied with? Your life must be pretty bleak.
YouTube steals other people’s work?
I tend to watch content creators who willingly put their content on YouTube. Am I missing something here…?
* most content isn't uploaded by the copyright holder (e.g. TV excerpts)
* demonetized videos will still have ads (at least for people without ad blockers)
* videos are used for machine learning without credit to authors or financial compensation (especially without consent when it's not the copyright holder uploading them)
I'll join you in the downvotes. There's many reasons to hate YouTube. Asking them to pay for video content to everyone for free is a bit silly.
I'm also not saying you shouldn't use alternatives or run an ad-blocker. Those are cool. I just find it funny how someone is saying: "I get some benefit in paying for this service" results in such backlash, lol.
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I'm willing to sacrifice some of my valuable internet points here and be down voted to low hell.
I was going to make a comment along those lines.
They are, at the core, an ad company. Their motivation is to make money, and we are free to pay or not pay for their services.
The idea that we have a right to a non essential product for free is entitlement. They make a shit load of money, but also pay money to most content creators. Could they provide a service where they essentially just pay for costs? Sure, but no for profit Corp is going to do that, it has to make money somehow. While I'm all for peer tube, I really don't know if it's sustainable.
I wonder how many of the people who demand free access to services donate to FOSS Development.
Maybe some form of consumer co-op, where users essentially pay for operating costs, could be an option.
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Is recommending a product that you’re satisfied with “shilling”?
Is there a product in this world that you think is worth the price? Does that make you a shill?
I'm OK with your opinion and I appreciate hearing an alternate view to offset the echo chamber effect.
But for a lot of us, or at least me, its far deeper than just cost and ads.
It's the fact that steps keep being taken to make the platform worse. They don't want the platform usable unless you pay, and in this case they're even taking a stab at the people who pay...you don't pay enough in their mind.
If they had balls, they would just make it a closed platform. Pay to access, and restrict that per account IP. But they'd rather gaslight everybody and slowly turn up he heat so the frogs don't jump out of the pot. This way they maximize their profits for longer.
Point of all of that is, they don't care about he platform or service at all.
For me, its not even about that. Their algorithm was so jacked up I was sick of being fed videos I didn't want to see over and over, and videos I've already watched over and over. That's why they added the subscription bell...because you would subscribe to things you wanted to watch and they never showed it to you. It wasn't "you" tube it was "their" tube.
I bailed on them years ago. I still watch some content on there because there really isn't a viable alternative. I use a scraper that gives me a feed of just what I want and without ads. I watch what I like and move on with my day. I'm back in control of my video viewing.
Weird number of downvotes here -- I thought they were meant for low-effort or non contributive comments, not an "I disagree" button. This person is giving a unique perspective as a subscriber (in this thread, anyway) and should be met with curiosity, I think. It is helpful to know that there are people who enjoy paying for it, so thanks for giving your opinion here.
I disagree because they have a dominant position for reasons other than having a good product -- they squash competition trying to make the space better while themselves actively making it worse. Subscribing means supporting that style of inhibiting innovation, not to mention the other user-hostile practices they embrace (extend, extinguish). They are an ad company and obligated to make a profit, I get that, but I refuse to abide this style of using investor money to operate at a loss for years while deceptively capturing the market before raising prices. If your product is good, it shouldn't need to be artificially propped up.
but I refuse to abide this style of using investor money to operate at a loss for years while deceptively capturing the market before raising prices.
Indeed, no company should be praised or rewarded for emulating the moves that made companies like Walmart and Amazon big.
This capitalist hellscape would be slightly more tolerable if there was ample competition in every space. Companies need to be motivated to make their profit in ways that please the consumer, but also in ways that are increasingly more ethical.
But truly, as they say, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. Modern slavery and third-world exploitation...even literal child slavery are rampant in our supply chains and offshore manufacturing.
Even Google indirectly uses child slavery. The court threw the case raised against them (and other giants) out last year because these companies simply purchase "unspecified amounts" of cobalt through "global supply chains" - never mind how it came to be on the global supply chain to begin with and how much obscene profit these companies make off these resources.
Deactivated Premium recently. I used their music app when driving – expecting some ads now - nope, it just doesn’t allow running in the background anymore.
Seems like such a hostile thing - I’d like to think running ads would be a positive net income for them. (Now that I think of it - maybe they don’t have it built out into their music service.)
Then they ditched it for YouTube music, which was a worse experience and lacked the features.
NewPipe told me I was IP banned last week but it went away.
I'd rather stop using than give them money.
If the user use different VPNs then it shouldn't be able to tell the different between that and being in different locations.
So are they gathering internal network data, are they spying on the LAN and wifi ?
There's a reason every shitty shit wants you to install their app instead of just using their fucking webpage, which already sucks enough.
That likely makes you easier to track. User agents don't really matter all that much if an advanced tracking script is used. When your IP address is the same, your browser engine is the same, your canvas data stays the same, your window size stays the same, your operating system stays the same, then they will just know that you also use an extension that makes your user agent not reflect your system and track you based on that too.
Use Mullvad Browser without changing anything important (change the default search engine at most) and preferably use a proper VPN to actually avoid tracking during regular internet usage. Or use LibreWolf to at least fool naive scripts.
I would suggest reading this too:
github.com/arkenfox/user.js/wi…
3.3 Overrides [To RFP or Not]
Firefox privacy, security and anti-tracking: a comprehensive user.js template for configuration and hardening - arkenfox/user.jsGitHub
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Technically, yes, most sites won't have such sophisticated logic. But any Google, Microsoft, or Meta service you use most definitely will.
I really liked CreepJS's "Visits" feature where it would show a counter for how many people have visited with exactly the same browser fingerprint (which would usually be 1 unless you were using Tor Browser or Mullvad Browser), but they seem to have removed it for some reason along with "Lies" and "Trust Score". You can still check it out here though to see just how much identifying information even a simple hobby project can gather in less than a second.
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it's because Youtube is a content monopoly. TikTok is a platform for short content...on youtube it's a feature with shorts. Twitch is a platform for live streaming content...on youtube it's a feature with, other than discoverability, the same features. Any music streaming service? again...it's a feature on youtube. The fact I could export my playlists from any music streaming platform and import it to Youtube and listen to it ad free via an ad blocker? come on. So as opposed to using multiple platforms, with youtube you have it all in one place. So no, this will not get people to stop using it.
Premium you don't need if you're even the slightest bit tech savvy. but no one is ever going to stop using youtube, there's no point. I mean I use peertube as much as possible but every now and then I'm back on youtube because of all those features in one place and some things I just can't find on peertube.
Why pay for premium anyway? Let alone a family plan. You still get ads. They can be skipped too — SponsorBlock will do it for free. Google could use this but chooses not to.
They want YouTube to be like cable TV. You pay for it. You watch ads. You pay more for premium channels.
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Background playing on mobile
The fact that they put this behind a paywall is enough for me to never pay them a dime.
I found a neat little workaround that I used for a while. I’d load the video up in my browser, turn the phone on an off a couple times, press play on the lock screen, and enjoy it that way.
Edit:
Still works. Just gotta full screen the video and then power off before it kills picture in picture.
And now I’m listening in the background as I type this.
@interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml gave me a really good suggestion the other day. If youre on Firefox, it might work for you too 😀
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firef…
I just have the video running on Firefox and can them go to another App / turn off the screen
Video Background Play Fix – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)
Download Video Background Play Fix for Firefox. Some sites may not work with Firefox for Android video background play feature. This add-on provides a quick fix by blocking the Page Visibility API and the Fullscreen API.addons.mozilla.org
Most certainly off-topic, but I have found other cool workarounds for apps.
For instance, if you open 2 windows of, say, PowerPoint (1 you want to use, the other you must close after; read below). Then, go to the one you don't want to use (or at least one you use for this method), and wait for the no account/Office not bought/whatever pop up; in any case, do NOT close the pop up. Open the other PowerPoint, and then close the former. If done right, you'll be pleasantly surprised that it works perfectly! After that, you can open any additional ppt files. Do note that, after you close PowerPoint entirely, you gotta do this all over again.
it downloads them directly from YouTube
Thus, pirating them. More or less by the same method that is used to download every single WEB-DL movie/episode you see on torrent sites.
It’s not pirating if you’re obtaining a video that they’re making available to you for free lmao.
Otherwise it would be “pirating” to just load up YouTube.com in your browser and watching any old video.
The three people who replied before you said they don't get the sponsor plugs.
When I had YTP (I had a trial, it was like 3 months for $1), I got the sponsored segments. So either those other people are lying, or they don't understand what I'm saying.
YouTube is fucking garbage.
I don't care about the ads because it's fucking garbage, and why would I watch garbage?
YouTube is my only subscription.
I use it for Music and Video. I definitely get my money's worth, they're streaming to me at least 8 hours a day.
If it's not background music, it's videos. I can't even fathom how many hours of ads I have avoided.
I pay for premium because currently it's the easier option for getting no Ads on all my devices. Yes I could install a third party client on my TV, Phone & use uBlock on Desktop, but two of those require active upkeep.
- YouTube Music is included.
For sponsorships, YouTube Premium has the "Skip Ahead" feature which basically leeches off sponsorblock users where commonly skipped sections can be also skipped by you.
It's just currently easier to pay than to pirate. I will say however, if it gets too shitty, I will resort back to pirating.
I cancelled Netflix when they did the sharing bullshit and I cancelled prime when they wanted MORE money to not give me ads. Fuck that.
However, you and I seem to be in the minority since these mega corps push one bullshit after another and people just bend over and go "please use lube this time..."
If you watch vapid slop content on Youtube, that's on you. Don't blame Youtube for giving you what you apparently want. I watch howto's, "edutainment", science and engineering stuff, conference talks, and overall generally positive, helpful content. This is a totally different thing from Netflix, which is mostly just fiction. I'd never pay a subscription for that. The cost of Premium seems like a fair value for what I get out of it, especially since creators get a higher payout for Premium views.
Yeah, Google still tracks you. So does absolutely everyone else, including your ISP that you're paying for. Until you make it illegal, that isn't going to change. I'm not going to put everything on hold waiting for better consumer protection laws, shit's way too dysfunctional for that to be realistic. Life isn't perfect.
Fuck em. We try to pay even tho we know how to get it for free. Go back to ad blockers.
Not a perfect experience but it’s better than putting up with that corporate bullshit.
I used to be an a friend's planning exchange for sharing Disney plus. But he booted me after I kept putting weird shit on his family calendar.
"Wash that thing on your back that's hard to reach and puts out a putrid smell."
"Soak feet in melted butter."
I've been a premium member since then. I've been watching the battle with ad blockers from the sidelines.
Who is winning that battle? This will inform my next move.
Peertube needs monetization and the ability for people peer without self-hosting. A torrent client of sorts.
The product, in it's current form cannot replace Youtube. Youtube gives you traffic, a free place to host even your crappiest footage, and money if enough people start watching it regularly.
Peertube isn't free, it's just someone else footing the bill, which breaks under load.
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Seeing the number of dead torrents, it’s highly likely that many videos will quickly die as well
But it would be nice to have a way to seed.
Problem with all federated platforms: which one should people pick? Most instances don’t federate with others
highly likely that many videos will quickly die as well
Ideally, everyone would just post their own stuff from their own disk. As things got popular, the fans would cache it for others. We'd just need the self-hosting angels to help us with discoverability.
Realistically, a quick death is probably a fortunate way to save resources if a video can't gain traction from being useful or entertaining.
If a video doesn't do well, it doesn't need cached because it's not being watched.
They pay to store their flops.
I was reacting to this:
Realistically, a quick death is probably a fortunate way to save resources if a video can’t gain traction from being useful or entertaining.
I'm even more confused now.
You mentioned with the number of dead torrents that videos would die quickly.
I mentioned that unpopular videos probably should die quickly.
You mentioned that the solution won't work I suspect your definition of not working is probably different than my definition of not working. But I'm not exactly sure at this point.
I thought you wanted videos to only be hosted through peers, without any server storing them, just like torrents
I said that would mean most videos would die
Okay, yeah, that scans.
By suggest the peeeing app, I'm also suggesting a change to the architecture then I've talked about previously, probably have not made clear here.
The peering app works more like a torrent client. It's not just caching things that you've seen, but you can also place your content there.
We would separate the content from the indexing. A peer tube provider could offer both roles. People could store their own data locally or pay the provider a small amount to use their storage. Maybe even IPFS style that would just pin it for you for a fee. It would make the model sustainable.
Everyone is responsible for their own seed content that way. Nobody is required to pay millions of dollars to store a bunch of bullshit for nothing that they don't care about, which would end up making what monetization that can happen more effective.
Advertisers are just pouring billions of dollars into YouTube. They could have direct payments to smaller providers much easier without all that waste. We just need a sustainable storage method in a way for people to get paid.
Then they can stay on YouTube.
Federation can't solve the price of storing / hosting video the same way that capitalism can.
Firefox + ublock origin still works to block all YouTube ads
Invidious is a frontend for YouTube that blocks all their trackers and ads
PeerTube is an alternative community ran platform to replace YouTube in the future
That part is working now
I can load in my subscriptions.csv file from youtube into my subscriptions list on my Invidious account.
And that all works through a web browser
Just use Firefox Mobile to watch YouTube.
Ad blocking through uBO and can enable playing with locked screen.
I keep trying to convert my friends to using Firefox mobile for this reason. I generally try not to evangelise too much, but I have so many friends who keep complaining about ads when browsing the internet on mobile, and this would literally solve their problem. One friend complained about ads so frequently that they ended up getting irked at me telling them the problem was solvable. Our unhappy compromise was that I would stop telling them to use Firefox and uBO if they stopped complaining about this so much in front of me.
I respect their choices, but by God, I'm baffled by them. I get that inertia makes it hard to make switches like this, but when you're spending so much time complaining about how much effort it takes to use the internet on your mobile, why would you not just solve the problem?
I had someone say "Well, yours doesn't do ads" and, in the year of 5 manufacturers pumping out 10 different SKUs a year, we had the same model phone.
I said "Yours doesn't have to, if you set it up that way."
The answer? "Well, c'mon, play the video."
Like, yeah, let's just brush past the... What? Five or six tap solution? And before anyone asks, not a romantic opening. Generally people don't make passes at bridge trolls who evangelize for open source software.
I think that's the point.
They've had such trouble even selling YouTube premium that now they're making it even less worthwhile, and expecting people to still buy it...
I don't know what companies don't get. Family means so many different things and they're trying to dictate and control what it means to be a family. They don't get to decide that. Many people I consider to be family, have zero blood relation to me, but they've stood by me like brothers and sisters when shit goes down, often staying to help long after my blood relatives, have abandoned me. The people I share a bloodline with are simply not as much of a family to me as these people I grew up with, and have stuck with me through thick and thin.
If I buy a "family" plan of anything, I expect that the family I've chosen can be among the people I can share that plan with. If I'm paying for a personal plan and sharing it with others, I get it, fair game. But if I'm specifically buying it because I can share it with family, then let me share it with family, or fuck the fuck off with that bullshit.
Sorry, bit of a rant, I know everyone here already knows this so I'm preaching to the choir.
Be well.
Meanwhile on Steam my "family" consists of 3 adults with different addresses, last names, and credit cards, who have had accounts for decades and never lived at the same place.
We have full access to each other's library.
Sure, the 2 constants in the universe are Entropy and Enshitification. When Steam turns to shit I'll go back to Piracy just like I did when Netflix went to shit.
My point is that companies don't have to be shit about account sharing and family plans, and people don't have to accept it.
It's mostly that a feature on it went from "okayish" to "far more consumer-friendly", which was incredibly unexpected of them to do. Everyone figured Steam library sharing would die but instead they roll out Family that has far looser restrictions than the system they'd had for over a decade.
Can't play the same game at the same time unless both own it, and DLC isn't shared, but my partner being able to play anything I own that I'm not playing is pretty rad of a positive change.
Meanwhile Nintendo's system got worse instead.
I had that error a couple of times, and it inexplicably resolved itself. Try having the person join again (which may require a new invite). I think only 1 out of 4 members of my family were able to join without that initial error message. This was back when Steam had just switched how they handled family sharing, so I assumed it was just an implementation bug of some sort. One of my friends took three attempts before they could join, but it worked ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Though I will note that steam family sharing no longer works if the person is located in another country for the purposes of Steam billing region (so my Norwegian friend could not join my UK family)
Good for you! I hope you find a good job soon.
In the meantime, I recommend doing some exercise because that's something you can completely control your progress on. If you don't have a gym membership, body weight workouts are absolutely a thing you should check out.
My understanding is that gaben has already put an action plan in place for when the company moves on from his leadership.
From what I've heard of it, the people in line behind Gabe will be upholding the same values.
We should have at least another ~40 years or more of this before sometimes entitled brat inherits the company and sells it off to a foreign interest.
With all that being said: long live gaben.
With all that being said: long live gaben.
I like Steam, I like that they aren't being dicks and treat users well. That said: billionaires are not your friend.
There is no such thing as an ethical billionaire.
I didn't say there was.
I just want this specific billionaire to continue to live because, unlike most billionaires, he's not making my life more difficult.
He's basically refused to let steam become enshittified. Other billionaires would have long ago succumb to the one that they serve, the almighty dollar, and done whatever they can to extract the most value from their user base. Enshittifying the platform in the process, and actively making my life worse.
So as far as I'm concerned, when it comes to billionaires, gaben is far from the worst.
I have a short list of billionaires that kinda fit into the category of: I don't mind that they exist.
There's a much longer list of billionaires that I'd like to see pushing up the daisies.
Not that I can, or would, do anything to make that happen. I just, wouldn't hate it if it happened.
yt-dlp https://xvideos.com/insert-porn-video-123
Amazon cracks down on Prime free shipping sharing
The company is ending the program in favor of Amazon Family, which lets users share Prime benefits with another adult, but they must share the same address.Annie Palmer (CNBC)
I really think corporations are starting to overplay their hands here. People don't need Prime as much as Amazon thinks they do, people don't need YouTube as much as Google thinks they do, and so on. Especially in the case of YT, yeah, turns out it's easy to compete when your service is free. But once it gets freemium enough, things like Peertube start to take a place on the optimal frontier. Right now Peertube only competes with YouTube if you're sensitive to the dimension of a service being centralized or not, most people don't give a shit about that. But the dimension of cost and ads? Enshittify YouTube too much and suddenly Peertube has its place for anyone who cares about money or time (i.e everyone).
And Prime? Don't think people won't start just going to stores again, or buying directly from producers. At least if I go to an actual website to buy my stuff I don't need to worry about getting ripped off by some drop-ship fake brand garbage.
People love their little conveniences and will try to hang on to them, sure...but I think this could really start to backfire if they push it much further.
I think it's important to keep expectations realistic though..
in the case of Youtube there are very few groups/companies/whatever that could keep up with that kind of bandwidth. Federation helps here but it's still a pretty niche thing for 99% of people who don't know/care and just want their social media/forum/video site to work.
I had recently heard about that service for the first time and I do think it's a good step forward. But like you said, being properly walled off is a big miss w.r.t the ideal vision of Internet culture. I think that's why I like the idea of server bill crowdfunding (same model that Lemmy instances use basically). Some people need to step up and pay for it, and once a threshold is reached, the content is publicly available for all. But it's not like the people who pay are martyrs, since of course if nobody pays then the thing is lost entirely.
For a video hosting service, I feel like paywalling features is a good compromise, too. Once the bills are covered, everyone gets to enjoy ad-free, unsponsored videos... something along those lines would be preferable, at least to me since I feel like the openness of the internet is a great component to what makes it such a special place. Not that I mind private internet spaces either. I think both are important. So I think Nebula has a place in my personal utopian internet landscape too lol
For those select few that have an iPhone
You have a few options:
- be EU citizen and sideload a cracked YouTube (similar to vanced, but you need certificates on iOS which sucks)
- pay for a dev account and sideload regardless of above
- buy two apps: vinegar and AdGuard. AdGuard speaks for itself, vinegar is a tool that forces YouTube to use the html 5 player inside of safari and thus forcing it to your will
I know iPhones are hated here, but I saw the android will stop sideloading coming from a mile away. At least here in the eu apple can suck one and I can still sideload whatever I want
you need certificates on iOS which suckI can still sideload whatever I want
??
Also, the dev’s other apps are pretty amazing too!
I'm on my brother's premium. I told myself if my brother stopped wanting to pay for it I'd pay for it myself because I hate ads that much.
On the other hand, if Youtube itself takes it away from me I'm going to just stop watching Youtube.
They don't care about whether they live with you or not. It's about providing less service than what you're paying for. Like how mobile carriers say, "unlimited data*" -- *after 25GB, we [may] slow your connection speed to 256kbps. So this way, it's "5 accounts*" -- *they must physically live with you. So now you're paying for 5 accounts, where 3 or 4 of them technically are unusable.
Why? Money. Those other people who you would have shared with now need to get their own account(s). Suddenly, "profits are through the roof!" -- until the next big squeeze. At this point, Google is squeezing its customers like a dry tube of toothpaste.
Sure, it takes a bit of effort. But if you replace your routers with ones that have open-source firmware or actual workstations acting as gateway routers and running business-class open-source software, you can create a personal VPN between everyone involved that shows only one exit point to world+dog.
The trick is with ensuring that all YouTube stuff gets properly and comprehensively funnelled through this exit node - VPNs can easily leak data if not configured properly, and sometimes do so despite good configs - and implementing this even on other devices that require individual VPN connectivity (roaming, like phones).
Plus, having a mobile device’s VPN auto-recognize when it’s connected to a known good network, and have it automatically disable itself in favour of the VPN on that network, is not something that’s easy to do.
Finally, doing so without a high-quality, high-speed ISP plan can easily lead to an unusably slow VPN. The “mothership” exit node, in particular, would have to be gigabit or better - and symmetrical as well, so fibre and not cable - because it has both the node and connections to other homes and devices. If everyone started suckling the YouTube teat at the same time, things would likely slow down pretty fast on anything significantly less than a symmetrical gigabit connection.
You just install tailscale on a home computer, tell it it's an exit node. Install tailscale on your phone and your laptop and whatever other computers you have.
Boom, VPN home and use your home IP.
Stripe CEO Explains Why Stablecoins Are Winning Over Global Businesses
Stripe CEO Patrick Collison said stablecoins are gaining adoption because they offer businesses faster, cheaper and more reliable payments than traditional systems.
Stripe CEO Explains Why Stablecoins Are Winning Over Global Businesses
Stablecoin news: Stripe CEO Patrick Collison outlines the benefits businesses see in stablecoins, the day after Stripe and Paradigm launches Tempo.Siamak Masnavi (CoinDesk)
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True, but only if the provider is a private company - which is batshit crazy.
If it is on the national bank to provide this service, we would actually get more transparency than today.
Money is already being printed all the time, but with stable coins on a blockchain, we would always know the circulation number.
Yeah, a national bank will for sure do it in a transparent, nondiscriminatory way /s
You'll be able to only use it using a closed app requiring google play services, safety net and with an account linked to your identity. Which means that either all your transactions are public and undeniably linked to you, or the blockchain is not transparent and open to manipulation. And they will find a way to "prevent terrorism and protect children" by blocking certain accounts.
Yeah, but we are not talking about apps.
We are talking about stable coins, which is on a blockchain. The app is not important, as the stable coins would have to integrate will alot of paying options and banks.
Which means alot of different apps.
If it is on the national bank to provide this service, we would actually get more transparency than today.
lmao. Why do you think the world is choosing crypto over banks? Apart from a few privacy coins it's completely transparent. Far more transparent than any central bank. And that's just talking about transparency...
We are talking about your post about stable coins. Then we imagine how it could be done with the information you provide.
Also, the EU is making a digital Euro. Might be on the blockchain also, might not, but it's an option still.
Search for it and read about it, if you want to know more. There's some official sources.
Nonsense.
This time it's a fully realized mature product, that is both cheaper and more stable than the regulated banks.
Now please hand me your money!
Studies show that sociopaths and psychopaths are better fits for CEO roles.
If you look at it from a strictly financial angle, Patrick Collison would get really wealthy from a US annexation of Canada as his company would get access to the very lucrative and deregulated US market.
You need to have zero conscience to take the best strictly financial decisions for a company, with no regard for suffering or human life.
I'll argue that calling them unintelligent dismisses their capacity for harm.
CEOs tend to be intelligent, cold and calculated. They will take whatever decision it takes to maximize profit, with complete disregard for human life. Even when they seemingly echo conspiracy theories, they generally do it with the end goal of increasing profits by pushing some narrative, for example.
We need to understand and acknowledge that they know exactly what they are doing, and that they and their companies need to be controlled using legislation. They will not be swayed by pity and emotions, they must be controlled by other means.
and when they inevitably crash?
It's just another "bubble". The state will probably bail out the rich with an inflation tax on the poor as usual.
... and when the petrol-dollar inevitably crashes?
So I've been reading into stable coins a lot, because I don't understand why anyone would care about them. And what I've come to realize is they are a benefit to two groups:
- Financial institutions: Stablecoins have fewer regulations and basically allow for things you can't do with actual dollars/currency
- People with limited access to financial institutions (think poorer people and/or countries): With fewer regulations it's easier for people to transact Stablecoins than dollars/currency
At the end of the day, it feels like a "true" digital currency would be the better solution, but everyones jumping on Stablecoins because they're here now and less regulated.
I think there is potential in a more cash-like digital currency, but Stablecoins seem ripe to break in some unforseen way, especially given the current administration.
Edit: Edited to fix formatting.
it feels like a “true” digital currency would be the better solution,
For whom?
everyones jumping on Stablecoins because they’re here now and less regulated.
Yeah. Nobody wants to wait around for an imaginary solution from the state. Nobody really wants the state violently attacking their lives. So yeah cryptos are a much better choice for most people and institutions.
For your first question, I think the average person would benefit from a simple digital currency that let's them exchange "cash" without having to jump through a bunch of hoops. Venmo, Zelle, etc. are all proof that normal people want easy ways to pay each other.
As for your second point, I'm not sure I follow. But I assume you're implying that crypto is better because it isn't tied to the state?
Salesforce tech CEO says AI enabled him to cut 4,000 jobs
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the use of AI agents had enabled him to “rebalance” his headcount in the customer support division by trimming 4,000 jobs.“I’ve reduced it from 9,000 head to about 5,000 because I need less heads,” Benioff said.
Benioff called the first eight months of 2025, during which an estimated [10,000 jobs have been lost to AI] “eight of the most exciting months of my career.”
“There were more than 100 million leads that we have not called back at Salesforce in the last 26 years because we have not had enough people,” Benioff said. “We just couldn’t call them back. But we now have an agentic sales that is calling back every person that contacts us.”
The use of AI agents — artificial intelligence systems that plan and automate tasks that typically required human employees in the past — has enabled Salesforce to call back around 10,000 leads a week, Benioff said.
Salesforce, which is the largest private employer in San Francisco, has around 76,000 employees globally.
These companies entrenched themselves and showed that they are terrible to work with.
As someone starting a business, I’m just admiring all these companies like the plague.
My work is not in tech, but I used to work in tech and have been building everything with open source software.
Hosting as much as I can and even coding some things myself.
I wonder if these companies are going to end up dead over these in the future.
China develops AI robot capable of human farming tasks
China develops AI robot capable of human farming tasks
China develops AI robot capable of human farming tasks-english.news.cn
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FarmBot | Open-Source CNC Farming
Farming and gardening robots for home, educational, and commercial use. Premium Hardware · Worldwide Shipping · Drag and Drop Farm Designer · Step-by-Step Assembly Instructions · Own Your FoodFarmBot
North Korea's Kim Jong Un to watch Beijing military parade alongside Putin and Xi Jinping
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is heading to Beijing by train on Tuesday to attend a military parade with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, North Korea’s state media reported. The event could demonstrate their potential three-way unity against the United States.Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the 26 world leaders who’ll join Chinese President Xi Jinping to watch Wednesday’s massive military parade in Beijing that commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and China’s fight against Japan’s wartime aggressions.
While the event would mark Kim’s first attendance of a major multilateral event during his 14-year rule, it would also be the first time for Kim, Xi and Putin, all key challengers of the U.S., to gather at the same venue. None of the leaders have confirmed a private trilateral meeting.
https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-kim-china-xi-putin-parade-9b47625f8f6c1e0c0391de9fae848e11
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They already told him he couldn't sit with them bc he was wearing sweatpants on a Monday.
Actual footage of Putin breaking the news and breaking Trump's heart 💔
Most of Canada’s counter-tariffs on the U.S. have now ended
Most of Canada’s counter-tariffs on the U.S. have now ended
Last month, Prime Minister Carney said many of Canada’s tariffs on the U.S., on goods that comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement, will come down starting Sept. 1.Uday Rana (Global News)
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What shit reporting. What is the aggregate value of current American tarrifs on Canadian goods and services and what is the aggregate value of Canadian countertarrifs on American goods and services?
Journalism is dying and Global is anything but "news". They literally just quote what people say, without research or context or logic. Lazy bullshit.
I setup a Mastodon relay - anyone want to help me test?
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35533581
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35533537
I setup a Mastodon relay - anyone want to help me test by adding it to their instance? Would help me know if the "Recent jobs" stat is working (I think it requires 2 instances at minimum to show jobs) and if adding to instances (outside of my own) is working properly and how traffic looks.
I setup a Mastodon relay - anyone want to help me test?
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35533537I setup a Mastodon relay - anyone want to help me test by adding it to their instance? Would help me know if the "Recent jobs" stat is working (I think it requires 2 instances at minimum to show jobs) and if adding to instances (outside of my own) is working properly and how traffic looks.
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Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world's leading experts say
Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world's leading experts say
The world's leading association of genocide scholars cited several actions by Israel, including attacks on the healthcare sector and the killing of children.Emir Nader (BBC News)
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I genuinely believe that the vast, vast majority of people on this planet who are aware of the situation in Gaza can see that it's a genocide and that Israel is criminal.
I don't have anything to base it on, but I just have a feeling that we've reached a turning point in how Israel is perceived globally. I don't know what that will mean in the future, but I think it'll mean something big.
A) yes the view is changing
B) it's not going to be big because it's a small conflict in a tiny country.
Could you elaborate what this is supposed to mean?
They are not going to be wiped off the map soon and neither are they going to reform their country and have peace for everyone.
Main thing about the conflict is how stuck it is.
I think my point stands.
Israel has clearly lost most of the Democratic voter base. They're losing conservatives too, but it's really hard to overstate the importance of losing Democratic support. American Jews are increasingly unwilling to support the Zionist project, and Israel has always depended greatly on international support for everything from financial assistance to providing the actual Jewish bodies who are needed to actually move into settlements and birth more Israeli Jews.
We're not far from a day when Israel loses access to their US weapons and tech infrastructure. But their economy was never designed to work without American Jews visiting and moving to Israel.
Personally, I'd like to see the international community force the adoption of a democratic one state solution. And I think that's no less far-fetched than something like a return to the previous status quo.
I really don't think the next Democratic president will be a Zionist.
It's like abortion and guns. There used to be pro-gun Democrats and anti abortion Democrats, but culture changed and those are no longer positions you can hold off you want to get elected to any position.
In 2028, defending Palestinian genocide is going to be as electorally viable as saying abortions should be "safe, legal, and rare".
the west is still not willing to sanctions isrsel itself cuba style.
Pretty much this. Same for Russia.
I think the current government can be gotten rid of and a new government may handle things differently. That's about as good as it will get.
Trump and whoever comes after him when he croaks will still support Israel.
Well, duh!
"If you want to know who rules over you, just look for who you are not allowed to criticize." - Kevin Alfred Strom
Funny how with any other country the west has a hair trigger with calling out genocide, but Israel gets a free pass somehow.
Come on, that's not a good look is it.
Sorry did not know that was a supremacist. I just remembered that quote from somewhere. Regardless of the source, it rings true. Be it Israel, trump, religion, etc.
Just looked up the Wikipedia article. That guy was seriously fucked up.
My bad.
I mean if it's any consolation, America under the leadership of Trump or Vance isn't going to do jack shit to help Palestine or anyone else. They're literally fucking over their own people and telling them that empathy is a sickness.
Rest assured if any country is going to be leading the charge it won't be America. The entire country is on the verge of complete collapse. I would actually be more surprised if it doesn't happen at this point. It's pretty much inevitable. That's not hyperbole, collapse of the U.S. and democracy and division into smaller city state monarchies is literally the goal of this administration. If that happens, North Korea levels of isolationist policy is the only possible outcome.
Fuck another country.
We need to rebuild the UN from scratch, start over. This time, no veto rights for anyone. This time, give the fucker teeth. Give it the atrong Army it needs. If some dictator, be it a Korean one, a Chinese one, a European one, a Russia one, or an American one, decides to behave like an asshole we can send the actual world police on their asses, and this time it will be a police that is guided by ALL of humanity, not just a rich few assholes that can buy a politician to veto anything useful the UN could decide.
Also, why aren't any Arab countries doing something to end this instead of staying on the sidelines?
I get where you're coming from, but slow your roll on "It's time to forget what happened in 1940-45".
Understanding history is a vital part of not repeating mistakes.
Perhaps I was too poetic: that was my point.
You can't point to the IDF and say, 'Hey! Look! See how they're doing the same shit Nazis did??' if people aren't well informed about all the shit that Nazis did.
Jesus fucking christ, do you really need to have what he meant spelled out to you in fucking crayon???
He means lets stop allowing them to hide behind 6 million dead people to deflect, or worse, justify, what they are doing today.
Yes, I understand that. Which is why it would be a mistake to forget it.
It's not coincidental that the Holocaust is our most useful case study in understanding and explaining Israel's crimes against Palestinians. If you want to oppose genocide, it is a mistake to try to do so by "forgetting" about a genocide.
Remembering previous genocides is an important part of preventing/halting genocides.
Also, why aren’t any Arab countries doing something to end this instead of staying on the sidelines?
Because the last time they did, most of the Sinai peninsula ended up under Israeli control.
why aren’t any Arab countries doing something to end this instead of staying on the sidelines?
CIA's hard work.
Everybody says that Israel is committing genocide. Even some Republicans are boasting about it, even the Israeli government is boasting about it without using the word specifically.
At this point you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that would deny it's a genocide, except for using the word
Days since Israel committed genocide: 0
This is a live ticker. Come back daily for updates!
Because everything that is the state and institutions is a-ok in the minds of liberals and neoliberals.
Also if this shit does blow over and the media says 'actually there was an unacceptable genocide going on long before this!' The people who tacticly supported it and were always talking about civility snd debate will claim that they were always vehemently against it...
Meanwhile they will claim that activists who were always against it to have been stupid idiots who just wanted an excuse to break things and not go to work like adults and they were actually for the genocide! Thus their arrests and criminal charges will stay and they will continue to have their credibility attacked.
Flotilla leaves Barcelona in biggest attempt yet to break Israeli blockade of Gaza - National | Globalnews.ca
Flotilla leaves Barcelona in biggest attempt yet to break Israeli blockade of Gaza
A flotilla with aid and activists left Barcelona for Gaza to break Israel’s blockade, as famine worsens and over 63,000 have died in nearly 2 years.globalnewsdigital (Global News)
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DAT-protocol
I stumbled onto this interesting protocol. Already has a browser using it called the beaker browser
Basically a decentralized protocol for data with Git-like features built-in. I wonder if any of you have stumbled onto this. Any thoughts ?
dat-ecosystem - explore p2p projects
dat-ecosystem is a post-web p2p community of projects - Most projects are self funded. Some of the projects contribute maintainance and development to core pieces of the Dat ecosystem while others create high level applications built on top of p2p pr…dat-ecosystem.org
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What is it?
From one of the projects
Agregore, a browser for the distributed web, facilitates peer-to-peer data sharing without central servers, supporting protocols like BitTorrent and IPFS for direct loading and sharing of content.
So instead of putting stuff (like my webpage) on a server, I share it P2P? But then my computer has to run 24/7 which basically makes it a server, right?
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Teatro del silenzio 2024: who wants to live forever
Anche noi vogliamo dare il nostro contributo per UnoRadio – la musica condivisa nei social network decentralizzati italiani.
Forse per il pubblico mainstream non sarà la migliore interpretazione di questo brano ma, per quella che è la nostra storia personale, qui c’è dentro anche un po’ di noi.
Who Wants to live forever di Bocelli e Brian May
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
[Video clip] Tech CEOs at the White House - One-upping each other in Ass-kissing
barf
Source: chaos.social/@D_70WN/115156775…
D_70WN 🌈 🏳️⚧️ (@D_70WN@chaos.social)
Attached: 1 video Spätestens jetzt sollte dem dümmsten klar sein, wenn die ganzen #gafam #techbros u.a. diesem Typen (Psycho) huldigen und fein weiter unsere Daten Missbrauchen.chaos.social
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YSK: Before she was the CEO of BlueSky Jay Graeber worked in cryptocurrency
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Grab…
In 2015, Graber began working as a software engineer for SkuChain in Mountain View, California. She then worked in a factory in Moses Lake, Washington, where she soldered bitcoin mining equipment. In 2016, she began working as a junior developer for the Zcash cryptocurrency.
So lately I have been trying to figure out why people are calling BlueSky decentralized and I noticed that fun fact. It made me realize how cryptocurrencies are something else that was often technically "decentralized" but in reality controlled by a single person or group.
In case it's also not known, Jack Dorsey who helped found BlueSky is a big cryptocurrency booster.
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Because however one feels about blockchain tech and its future, past companies within the crypto industry are notorious for selling the moon, being shady, and cashing out early. 'ZCash' appears to be a good example, particularly because a small group exerts such a high level of control over it.
And if the parallel holds, and at least some of that applies Jay Gaeber's own personal experience and expectations of what a company's trajectory should look like, it doesn't bode well for Bluesky.
Because the claims of people involved with cryptocurrency are historically very untrustworthy, that's why.
The thing that got me interested is that BlueSky says it's "decentralized" but the more I look into it, it's only "decentralized" using a very narrow, highly technical definition of the term "decentralized".
Cryptocurrency is the same. People with a financial stake in cryptocurrency often say it is "decentralized" but it's only true if you accept their extremely narrow definitions of what that word means.
I keep seeing people ask why people call Bluesky decentralised. I never see people call Bluesky decentralised.
(Okay, "never" isn't quite correct, I've seen the term used in relation to Bluesky maybe a handful of times but you make it sound like that's their main selling point)
I never see people call Bluesky decentralised.
I find that surprising, because BlueSky uses that term: bsky.social/about/blog/02-22-2…
Jay Graeber herself .
Here is the Verge calling it decentralized: theverge.com/23686778/bluesky-…
Here is NYT calling it decentralized: nytimes.com/2024/11/22/technol…
Here is CNN calling decentralized: cnn.com/2023/04/28/tech/bluesk…
Bluesky’s CEO wants to build a Musk-proof, decentralized version of Twitter
Originally funded by Twitter, the decentralized social media service Bluesky is opening up to more users. CEO Jay Graber says Elon Musk banning links to Twitter competitors is “exactly why what we’re building is important.”Alex Heath (The Verge)
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Bluesky Announces Series A to Grow Network of 13M+ Users - Bluesky
Bluesky now exceeds 13 million users, the AT Protocol developer ecosystem continues to grow, and we’ve shipped highly requested features like direct messages and video.Bluesky
For me the mistrust on bluesky started when it was so easily adopted as "twitter" alternative, mastodon being just there struggling for that.
In order to achieve that a lot of money and influence have been moved around. People didn't organically moved, they were influenced to move there. I don't trust that.
Gunboats follow sanctions in US strategy on Venezuela
The US naval buildup off Venezuela's coast is not about drug interdiction, but imperial pressure. Caracas's response, grounded in asymmetric defense and bolstered by key Eurasian alliances, has transformed a lopsided showdown into a contest of global powers.The US has entered a new phase in its long war on Venezuela. Having exhausted economic and diplomatic tools, it has now turned to the military lever, dispatching warships to the Caribbean in a naked display of force.
This escalation caps years of imperial targeting of the Bolivarian government in Caracas – beginning with sweeping sanctions under former US President Barack Obama, tightened to unprecedented levels under President Donald Trump, and sustained through bipartisan consensus.
Officially, Washington frames this as part of a broad “counter narcotics” campaign targeting so-called terrorist organizations. But that story collapses under scrutiny. What the US really seeks is regime change and regional control, thinly veiled behind drug war rhetoric.
Gunboats follow sanctions in US strategy on Venezuela
The US naval buildup off Venezuela's coast is not about drug interdiction, but imperial pressure. Caracas's response, grounded in asymmetric defense and bolstered by key Eurasian alliances, has transformed a lopsided showdown into a contest of global…thecradle.co
How decentralized Bluesky is compared to the Fediverse.
cross-posted from: sh.itjust.works/post/45188740
arewedecentralizedyet.online/
Are We Decentralized Yet?
A site with statistics regarding the decentralization status of various web servicesarewedecentralizedyet.online
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GitHub - bluesky-social/pds: Bluesky PDS (Personal Data Server) container image, compose file, and documentation
Bluesky PDS (Personal Data Server) container image, compose file, and documentation - bluesky-social/pdsGitHub
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Yes. The relevant metric:
99.55% of posts are on a single instance. That is not "federated" in any meaningful sense.
Self-hosting a Bluesky PDS means running your own Personal Data Server that is capable of federating with the wider Bluesky social network.
GitHub - bluesky-social/pds: Bluesky PDS (Personal Data Server) container image, compose file, and documentation
Bluesky PDS (Personal Data Server) container image, compose file, and documentation - bluesky-social/pdsGitHub
PDSes only store user data. These are full instances that can be used to browse the network. The idea is to make your account really yours. Bluesky is hosting most of them. But there are some people who do it on their own.
But bluesky controls much more important components in the network, namely the Relay and AppView.
If Bluesky decides to cut off your PDS you are pretty much alone.
Bluesky is pretty much a centralized platform like Twittler.
Bluesky's Moderation Architecture
Moderation is a crucial aspect of any social network. However, traditional moderation systems often lack transparency and user control, leaving communities vulnerable to sudden policy changes and potential mismanagement.docs.bsky.app
Zeppelin.social is 3rd party appview and you can host your own
whtwnd.com/bnewbold.net/3lo7a2…
A Full-Network Relay for $34 a Month
Add using DID:Web and you're now fully self hosted
A Full-Network Relay for $34 a Month | bryan newbold (🚴Vancouver Island 🇨🇦)
This is an update to a Summer 2024 blog post. At the time, atproto relays required a cache of the full network on local disk to validate data structures. With the Sync v1.1 updates, relays don't need all that disk I/O.whtwnd.com
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So why does everyone keep referring to Bluesky as decentralized or even comparable to the fediverse
Bluesky is the newest iteration of privately owned and controlled social media
Because silicon valley thinks it can define reality however it wants and keep telling us not to believe our lying eyes.
Weirdly this seems to work better on techy people who don't like thinking about politics but understand the technical details of this extremely well than it does on normie progressives because progressives just see the obvious predatory reality and don't get distracted in minutiae connected to very obviously empty promises.
The tech press does not ever talk to progressives though...
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I'm with you. To my knowledge all my irl woke friends ride only mainstream social media.
I had a local anarchist reach out to me on my ancient FB Messenger of all things.
I get that it's not the most important part if you're doing prefiguration, but as far as I can tell most people just want to be where most people are, even if it is supporting actually vile corporations.
Unfortunately not understanding or being sufficiently motivated by the threat of corporate social media is still prevalent among a good amount of lefties I know, but I find even when they are uninterested in leaving corporate social media they can at least understand the logic behind it in a way a lot of techy type people start to just get combatitive when you try to explain.
Most often when I have a conversation about this with someone who is very technically well versed with computers and the types of systems that are relevant to federated social media their response is to answer every one of my broader ethical questions by changing the topic to a conversation about technical details and they either utterly miss the point or outright refuse to have a discussion about it because they think I am being too cynical.
Ultimately these people only have one real argument which is to just repeat the mantra "stop being so negative, lets just wait and see before we jump to conclusions" endlessly about the same cycle of bullshit repeating over and over again.
this seems to work better on techy people who don't like thinking about politics but understand the technical details
Not weird at all; this was the case with cryptocurrency too. Otherwise qualified and intelligent people would invest in centralized scam coins because they had no understanding of economics, just tech.
It's sad but cool that it works the same way with social capital.
Intelligence and expertise is worth pursuing for the benefit that comes from learning for the sake of learning, but it is true that there is a danger to knowing more and more about a very narrow subject in that it becomes more and more seductive to believe that the thing you are an expert in is a key to understanding everything else and that this gives you a righteous vantage to look down upon the genius of others and judge from afar.
Some of the smartest people there has ever been or likely will ever be throughout history have time and time again completely undermined their potential by falling prey to this delusional drug of a belief.
So why does everyone keep referring to Bluesky as decentralized or even comparable to the fediverse
They call it marketing, I call it propaganda.
"It's the same picture."
Always has been. The only difference is what they're selling.
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Because, despite being wildly impractical, it’s technically built on tech that COULD be decentralized.
Yes exactly, it reminds me of the logic of cryptocurrency boosters. I just found out that the bluesky CEO (not to mention jack dorsey) are both crypto advocates so it makes a lot more sense now.
YSK: Before she was the CEO of BlueSky Jay Graeber worked in cryptocurrency
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Grab…In 2015, Graber began working as a software engineer for SkuChain in Mountain View, California. She then worked in a factory in Moses Lake, Washington, where she soldered bitcoin mining equipment. In 2016, she began working as a junior developer for the Zcash cryptocurrency.
So lately I have been trying to figure out why people are calling BlueSky decentralized and I noticed that fun fact. It made me realize how cryptocurrencies are something else that was often technically "decentralized" but in reality controlled by a single person or group.In case it's also not known, Jack Dorsey who helped found BlueSky is a big cryptocurrency booster.
whtwnd.com/bnewbold.net/3lo7a2…
A Full-Network Relay for $34 a Month
A Full-Network Relay for $34 a Month | bryan newbold (🚴Vancouver Island 🇨🇦)
This is an update to a Summer 2024 blog post. At the time, atproto relays required a cache of the full network on local disk to validate data structures. With the Sync v1.1 updates, relays don't need all that disk I/O.whtwnd.com
It's not:
In July 2024, running a Relay on ATProto already required 1 terabyte of storage. But more alarmingly, just a four months later in November 2024, running a relay now requires approximately 5 terabytes of storage. That is a nearly 5x increase in just four months, and my guess is that by next month, we'll see that doubled to at least ten terabytes due to the massive switchover to Bluesky which has happened post-election. As Bluesky grows in popularity, so does the rate of growth of the expected resources to host a meaningfully participating node.
whtwnd.com/bnewbold.net/3lo7a2…
Check atproto.africa, app.wafrn.net, zeppelin.social and altq.net
A Full-Network Relay for $34 a Month | bryan newbold (🚴Vancouver Island 🇨🇦)
This is an update to a Summer 2024 blog post. At the time, atproto relays required a cache of the full network on local disk to validate data structures. With the Sync v1.1 updates, relays don't need all that disk I/O.whtwnd.com
So why does everyone keep referring to Bluesky as decentralized or even comparable to the fediverse
Parrot the marketing hyperbole.
The enshitification continies.
Because Bluesky claims that they want to develop their relay tech into a standard like HTTPS or something, and then hand it off to a nonprofit to maintain so that it's usable by everyone. The tech has the possibility to be decentralized/federated baked into it, but whether or not it will be anything other than a pipe dream/marketing hype has yet to really be seen.
They present themselves as basically a Lemmy.world equivalent to those who care about decentralization, which is not a significant portion of their user base. For most people it's just a buzzword, I believe.
This site currently measures the concentration of user data for active users: in the Fediverse, this data is on servers (also known as instances); in the Atmosphere, it is on the PDSes that host users' data repos. All PDSes run by the company Bluesky Social PBC are aggregated in this dataset, since they are under the control of a single entity. Similarly, mastodon.social and mastodon.online are combined as they are run by the same company.
Fediverse Observer checks all sites in the fediverse and gives you an easy way to find a home from a map or list or automatically.
Lemmy Sites Status. Find a Lemmy server to sign up for, find one close to you!lemmy.fediverse.observer
If your idea of a federated Twitter is a bunch of mini-Twitters that sometimes exchange indirect replies or something, then the Fediverse fulfills that purpose completely. Mission accomplished, we can all go home now.
If your idea is that the replies to every post look the same to any user, anywhere, at any time, even the thing Mastodon merged half a year ago that supposedly fetches all replies if you remember to navigate to the topmost post, and wait up to 15 minutes for your view of the thread to coalesce, falls short.
And this is why hosting Mastodon is cheap, it fundamentally cannot provide the functionality BlueSky offers. Of course, you might think that such functionality is not desirable anyway, and that's entirely fair. But if you're looking for the immediacy that centralized Twitter gave users, I don't see a way for Fedi to ever provide that, whereas there is a path to BlueSky decentralization. It's a fact that your UX is diminished if all of your followers and followeds are not on the same instance.
But in the end, I think there is space for both.
If your idea is that the replies to every post look the same to any user, anywhere, at any time
This is only true of Bluesky because everyone is using Bluesky's infrastructure at the moment. If Bluesky ever deindexes someone and they start posting to an alternative relay, you suddenly don't have a guarantee of a full view of a post's replies.
Content addressing means you can make your instance pull from both their relay and the bluesky relay and trivially merge threads and views without consistency issues, so that's solvable.
The bigger issue is all those other regular users who doesn't, and still get confused (unless they manage to pick a client app that does it for them)
I mean, this would become less trivial the more replays go into use, where to get a full view you'd have to pull from all the relays that exist.
ActivityPub's solution to this is just IMO better, the original post has a replies collection attached to it that acts as the authority the replies the post has. This also allows creators to eject replies from the collection. There are issues with the way fedi software currently handles fetching from these reply collections, but the missing replies thing is very solvable in ActivityPub.
Doing it this way is why small instances gets hammered when a user's post goes viral.
And as for moderation bluesky also carries information with the top post from the post author and allows hiding replies too, etc. This gets enforced on the appview side, so the posting user's PDS is unscathed if it goes viral.
Bluesky is built to assume a handful of big relay (remember that a relay can merge in contents of another) and a bunch of appview and a ton of PDS servers, feed generators, moderation labelers, etc.
Realistically, the relay network will likely end up voluntarily adopting a tree topology - hobbyist communities would run small relays bundling all activity from members' PDS servers, then a larger relay in front gathers everything from a ton of smaller relays and makes it available to appviews
Doing it this way is why small instances gets hammered when a user’s post goes viral.
Setting up caching in the reverse proxy layer would alleviate this a lot of this. Like, GoToSocial only recommends to set up caching for the key and webfinger endpoints, where having it set up to cache posts and profiles for like 60 seconds (or however long the Cache-Control header says, Mastodon defaults to 180s) would alleviate the strain on the server so much.
There are other thing you can do, like this post explains some other things for Misskey, but the defaults should be sensible so you don't have to be a sysadmin expert to host an instance and they're currently not. I host 2 Lemmy instances (ukfli.uk and sappho.social) from a £5/month VPS and they're able to handle bursts of hundreds of requests without issue.
Bluesky is built to assume a handful of big relay (remember that a relay can merge in contents of another) and a bunch of appview and a ton of PDS servers, feed generators, moderation labelers, etc.
People are already building small, non-archival relays so this assumption seems mute. It's also important to remember that relays are an optimisation, not a core part of the protocol.
How to optimize your fediverse instance
A compilation of tips to optimize fediverse instances. Notably their reverse proxies, configuration, and load balancing.Latte macchiato (Latte's Blog)
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But....I came here just for the gloating fediverse content.
What else could there be?
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second, even on this account my last post was 1 month ago.
I mean I agree... it's kind of the constant crux isn't it?
The IT nerds pick a protocol that's uncontrolled, you need to select options and servers, because... well obviously that's kind of the definition of uncontrolled.
Some big name with big VC backing makes a big platform, makes it simple as possible, no choices, no control but good defaults. Average joes all flock there, build huge communities, users happy. Obviously the bulk of the creative types, celebrities etc... that most people care about flock there.
Big corp or VCs start demanding more monetization, or political censorship, or whatever kind of enshittification they inevitably always will. Users complain, but it all continues to amplify... open communities announce "hey we've got our alternative here", they say "thanks but nah that's too complicated, and you don't have the users that I want to see anyway". People complain more... and either adapt and accept the enshitification as normal... or maybe another big VC backed individual or other corp opens an alternative and pulls off the impossible critical mass goal, and process repeats.
I don't really know the solution, just know the pattern. Bluesky is IMO the new twitter... fundimentally I don't see it as super different than the old twitter. Only way I really see everything working is if say... a corporate backed giant actually played nicely and allowed interoperability with a federated protocol that's actually... well hostable.
It's basically like exactly what happens out in the real world... walmart comes offers better convenience and lower prices than local competitors... local economy adapts to walmart, individual stores shut down... half of owners, etc... forced to working for walmart for garbage pay.
I think the difference is that while other services boom and bust, the fediverse keeps growing slowly because it is decentralized, and can't be enshittified in the same way.
It is not as easy or attractive as Bluesky right now, but it keeps growing slowly and getting more kinds of people.
Maybe it won't be the network of choice for journalists, metal celebrities, etc, like twitter and bluesky, but it already is making its way as something more like old school tumblr -- some people like it, some don't.
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It's doable on Mastodon but significantly more complicated.
You need crawlers to index posts across the Fediverse (and avoid getting them blocked), personalized recommendation models per user, and you need pre-emptive caching on the user's instance for anything recommended (ideally the crawler would make a cache on behalf of each of the opted-in users' instances, but without content addressing this is a security risk). You also need to poll for edits / deletions.
On Mastodon, your instance doesn't receive posts until somebody on your instance interacts with the account posting it (following the poster, browsing directly to the post, etc).
Feeds with recommendations requires fetching stuff in advance to not be slow and janky. Basically the feed service would need a bot account on your instance and retrieving all popular posts, given the current architecture. Having thousands of these bots across every instance do this would cause a significant performance hit on smaller Mastodon instances when one of their users posts something popular. So you need something different, like a server plugin where the bot fetches the content once and tells all participating Mastodon servers about their cached copy, so they don't all have to hit the hosting instance. But that's a security risk with the Mastodon design.
They're implementing E2E encrypted social stuff. Voting privacy and encryption is linked.
Especially when you have users across multiple servers and both want voting privacy AND being able to deal with vote manipulation. You need stuff like pseudonymous commitments per account attested to by the hosting instance, etc. The only thing that's simpler but still private is having instances just digitally sign a total vote tally, which also means you can't detect vote manipulation on other servers at all.
But accounts are already pseudonymous?
Here's where I am at:
I can check if my votes are federated correctly by checking if any of my votes are suppressed or votes in my name are made up. If my instance sends a different random token with each vote, I can still do that, as long as I know which tokens are assigned to my votes.
But vote tallies can also be manipulated by making up new votes through fake/bot accounts. If a vote can be connected to posts, this can be checked to some degree. Say, if an instance has a lot of voters that never post, that indicates a problem.
I don't see how the second thing with E2EE.
The very very short TLDR is that anonymization is very hard, but there's auditable cryptographic voting schemes which preserves anonymity by using anonymous cryptographic commitments and one of a bunch of different techniques to count encrypted votes (homomorphic encryption, threshold encryption, etc).
You could set it up so you know which server each set of votes comes from but not which users on the server. You could also make it prove each vote comes from one real account and that no account voted twice. You could even make use of commitments plus ZKP to prove banned accounts can't vote!
It sounds complicated because it is complicated. And somewhat inefficient. But it's possible. And it would be fully encrypted and anonymous voting.
You could also make it prove each vote comes from one real account and that no account voted twice.
How would it prove that the account is real? I suspect that the meaning of "real account" is not the opposite of bot or sockpuppet.
I assume it proves that there is a public key associated with each vote.
It doesn't sound like cryptography is able to add anything worthwhile. You have to trust the instance to police itself. Self-hosted instances still don't vote anonymously.
A group of users has to cooperate to hide their votes from others and each other. Only the tally is known, but you have to trust the group. On the Fediverse, such a group will be the users of an instance. The more users the instance has, the more anonymous the individual becomes.
You have to trust the instance admins to weed out bots and sock puppets, which is extra hard when they don't see the votes either. Presumably, compensating by collecting and keeping other data, such as IPs, for longer is undesirable. You have to believe that admins, volunteers all, are willing to do the extra work and that they don't actually favor manipulation for ideological reasons.
The only way to uncover untrustworthy instances is to look at aggregated data. I guess you'd have to get/scrape data for some community and then analyze by instance if the number of posters is out of whack with the number of voters. I wonder if anyone's ever done such a thing. It's certainly more challenging than looking at oddities among voters who brigade some topic.
Admins of large instances could get away with having many sock voters among the real users, if they wanted to manipulate discussions for, say, ideological reasons.
It is my understanding Bluesky outright is not decentralized. It may have an API that allows satellite instances but if the main official instance goes down the platform dies.
Mastodon, Lemmy and their siblings are decentralized in that no one instance is sacred. If sh.ijust.works were to go offline right now, the rest of Lemmy would keep right on trucking. Hell, all of "Lemmy" could die and Mastodon and Peertube et al would keep right on trucking.
ok, but, does ActivityPub have portable identity and/or content addressability yet, so that when some of those servers (which are often hobbyist-run and/or tenuously funded) inevitably cease operating their users can continue on a different server? 👀
It's a rhetorical question, and the answer is no.
otoh, atproto's PLC DID method is also not really decentralized... but at least the rest of their system is actually substantially more decentralized architecturally than AP is.
To anyone interested in reading a very informative in-depth discussion of this topic, I recommend the blog post How decentralized is Bluesky really? by ActivityPub co-author Christine Lemmer-Webber (followed by this and this).
Reply on Bluesky and Decentralization | bryan newbold (🚴Vancouver Island 🇨🇦)
This is a reply to Christine Lemmer-Webber's thoughtful (and widely read) "How decentralized is Bluesky really?" blog post. I am so happy and grateful that Christine took the time to write up her thoughts and put them out in public.whtwnd.com
... but at least the rest of their system is actually substantially more decentralized architecturally than AP is.
In the blog post you linked, neither the author or myself came to your conclusion:
However, I stand by my assertions that Bluesky is not meaningfully decentralized and that it is certainly not federated according to any technical definition of federation we have had in a decentralized social network context previously. To claim that Bluesky is decentralized or federated in its current form moves the goalposts of both of those terms, which I find unacceptable.
The blog post also says this:
There is one other thing which Bluesky gets right, and which the present-day fediverse does not. This is that Bluesky uses content-addressed content, so that content can survive if a node goes down. In this way (well, also allegedly with identity, but I will critique that part because it has several problems), Bluesky achieves its "credible exit" (Bluesky's own term, by the way) in that the main node or individual hosts could go down, posts can continue to be referenced. This is possible to also do on the fediverse, but is not done presently; today, a fediverse user has to worry a lot about a node going down. indeed I intentionally fought for and left open the possibility within ActivityPub of adding content-addressed posts, and several years ago I wrote a demo of how to combine content addressing with ActivityPub. But nonetheless, even though such a thing is spec-compatible with ActivityPub, content-addressing is not done today on ActivityPub, and is done on Bluesky.
My comment should have been clearer; what I meant when i said it is more "decentralized architecturally" I was referring to the data model part of the architecture as opposed to the physical server infrastructure currently operating it. The latter is obviously quite centralized still, but the former is designed for resilience against nodes unexpectedly (and permanently) failing.
Okay yes this makes sense. Although, honestly i think I'd prefer the AP method of doing it because BlueSky sends ALL content to all nodes, so it's MUCH less cost effective to join with a private server.
I run my own lemmy instance, so i know the data volume since 2023 has been probably like a terabyte or so. But, with BlueSky I'd have to account for the data volume of all users on the platform as a whole, bringing the data volume way up to tens of terabytes (a guess based almost entirely on nothing).
So it really boils down to yes I agree that AP has problems with data accessibility, but I'd prefer that over unnecessary data redundancy
with BlueSky I’d have to account for the data volume of all users on the platform as a whole, bringing the data volume way up to tens of terabytes
I think this is a common misconception based on some critics' incorrect assumptions and back-of-the-envelope math. See the atproto overview for the different components involved, and then this post (from a BlueSky employee) "A Full-Network Relay for $34 a Month" for some numbers.
If I understand correctly, to run a "full nework relay" does mean to consume all of the text posts from all known servers, but not necessarily all of the media, and not necessarily to keep data you aren't interested in for any long period of time.
Also, you can run your own PDS and/or App Views without running your own relay at all. And, you can also use multiple other people's relays.
Disclaimer: I'm not an atproto expert, and I haven't set any of this up myself.
You can design an appview that crawls PDSes directly, no relay needed.
AppViewLite does that
portable identity
So like when bluesky starts having to pay back their investors I can portable my identity to.... one of the other equally populated blueskies out there?
Blacksky
Decentralized social media built for community power, culture, and collective freedom.Blacksky Community
There are already "other Blueskies" out there, and you can already port your identity to them.
However, most users haven't, and most users are not motivated to do so. Thus, OP created a website.
We're counting hypotheticals as real now? I suppose your not-hypothetical girlfriend goes to another school too, right? Just not motivated to visit?
As you're no doubt aware, the reason 99.9% of bluesky users are on a single server is obviously not because "nobody is motivated" to create other servers.
I'm just going to respond to what you said before you edited your comment to be a reaction gif.
Since (as of November of last year) a majority of Bluesky's user base is non-technical, they have don't have the knowledge or motivation to switch to another PDS. If 30 million users joined mastodon.social, the fediverse would also be centralized.
The only way for Bluesky to be decentralized by the metrics you use is for them to force users onto other PDSes.
For those who enjoy in-depth write-ups, Christine Webber has looked at how decentralized BlueSky is really, before: social.coop/@cwebber/113527462…
How Decentralized Is Bluesky Really? dustycloud.org/blog/how-decent…A technical deep-dive, since people have been asking me for my thoughts. I'll expand a bit on some of the key points here in a thread. 🧵
Exactly.
Communities are not higher quality with a million people. Small communities where you can know who the other posters are are a much better experience.
There can be disagreement about anything.
I’m just not wasting my time trying to have a conversation with x_h1tt1er42069_x. I can find him at anytime on Reddit if I have a problem that only he has a Solution.
Having such a person in this community wouldn’t be an enjoyable experience.
Because they've been told it's federated and don't understand that it really isn't. My bluesky profile reads "Created a profile until you all figure out Bluesky is another Twitter."
All I use it for is to read post from people not on mastodon and to reshare my bridged posts from mastodon.
Most likely because they care less about the idea of federated platforms and more about "not Reddit" and "not Twitter." I'm one of those users personally (not that I don't care about the idea, it's good to have a return of what is effectively 3rd places of the internet). Most of them, like me, probably came here during the Reddit migration and moved to BlueSky when that took off in popularity.
If I didn't dislike the Twitter format as much, I'd probably spend more time on BlueSky than forgetting about it until one of these threads appears, and I'd probably be on Tumblr still if I didn't only use social media from my phone and Tumblr didn't have such a horrible app.
People are going to go where the people are, for better or worse, until something pisses them off enough to go somewhere else. I originally created a Twitter account to follow a bunch of artists I followed who left Tumblr during the porn ban. I didn't care for the platform (I hate the tweet format) but that was where all the artists went so I followed. Similarly, when the 3rd party api fiasco hit Reddit, I left and immediately went looking for where the people from the subs I read by "newest posts first" went - except the communities fractured and disappeared. It was the possibility of them reforming here that made me go through a GitHub to figure out how to make an account (spoiler: they never really did reform). I had no idea what a federated platform was supposed to be or do.
The fact that Lemmy is so niche is its biggest advantage and its biggest curse. You either love how small it is, like Reddit back in the day, or you suffer the lack of population for the things that you're into, and the very nature of the federated platform makes it that much harder to centralize enough people in one niche to form a community (there we go again - centralization). Lemmy is the Wild West frontier town to the big social media giants' company towns.
Oh yeah sure. I'm here after all, jumped ship from Reddit a year or so ago and I actually prefer Lemmy.
I jumped ship from twitter to mastodon around the same time. And while I like the idea of mastodon and I like the interface, fact is that Reddit / lemmy is a different sort of usage from twitter / bluesky / mastodon. Twitter I mostly used to keep up with my favourite content creators, and occasionally shout at clouds. Those content creators just aren't on mastodon, they've mostly moved to bluesky. Those are the users that are the foundation of a platform like that. So yeah, I use lemmy and bluesky now.
TBH I'm not sure mastodon could scale up big anyway - it would be a nightmare trying to regulate bad content and comply with local laws etc.
How do you algorithmically manipulate those 12M people with Mastodon?
The usual way, whatever that is. What would Mastodon do about it? How do you manipulate Bluesky?
BTW, Bluesky has almost 40M users.
It's the number in OP, so I ran with that. The fediverse number apparently excludes Gab and Truth Social. Makes sense, since those aren't federated with the rest, but that also shows an issue.
How do you manipulate Bluesky?
The same way you manipulate Twitter, by tweaking the algorithm.
Capitalists love interoperability when they can use it to disrupt other capitalists. When they get in a dominant position they hate it.
It's basic enshittification theory.
Arizona’s Heat Is So Extreme Even Rattlesnakes and Cacti Are Struggling | You have to wonder, if these creatures built to survive this can no longer survive, what’s going to happen to us?
Arizona’s Heat Is So Extreme Even Rattlesnakes and Cacti Are Struggling
Two Arizona rattlesnakes died while underground, cooked to death in their burrows. These are creatures evolutionarily suited to survive.Luis Prada (VICE)
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We're all perfectly "evolutionarily suited to survive", just not to the environment we're making.
We'll adapt, or we'll die, just like everything else.
Sucks, but that's our fate, now. We should not have done this thing.
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Humans are kind of a notoriously migratory species.
Time to see to what extent that instinct still exists.
Old cyberpunk saying:
"The future is already here, it just isn't evenly distributed."
Sure, in the long run, we are all dead.
In the medium term, there are better and worse spots to try and call home, should one want to elongate one's lifespan.
Increase the resolution of your projection render, and you can see more details.
Oh right of course, the economy being globalized also means everyone everywhere has the same standard of living, perfectly equally distributing resources despite massive local and regional differences in geography, culture, populatiion density, thank god communism has been achieved.
Also, of course, climate change will just have precisely the same climatic effects over all of these highly varied areas.
And finally, it certainly will not be the case that industrialized and militarized technologically advanced societies will displace and dispose of any indigenous populations on now relatively fertile land, nor will poor subsistence farmers who already live on extremely thin margins be obliterated by the slightest breach of those margins... or just physically displaced by rising sea levels or floods or fires literally permanently destroying the land they work.
No, there are just no historical precedents for anything like that, no.
... You can't possibly be serious, can you?
We will all die. Well, except for the billionaires in their nuclear powered bunkers.
If only scientists had been shouting about it since the 70's. Oh. Wait a minute.
Honestly, we kinda deserve it at this point.
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It goes further back than the 70s.
Climate change was even mentioned in a mainstream movie in 1958. Specifically, “Indiscreet,” a charming romantic comedy starring two of Hollywood’s biggest stars of the time, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.
In this innocuous scene, the two lead characters (Philip and Anna) have recently met and are out on their first date. To break the tense, awkward silence during a painfully long elevator ride, Anna attempts to make casual small talk with Philip.
————
INT. ELEVATOR:
ANNA:
It’s unusual for the weather to be so muggy this time of year.
PHILIP:
Yes, I read an article the other day that claimed the world’s weather was changing.
ANNA:
Really? That’s interesting.
PHILIP:
Yes, isn’t it?
————
Yes, Philip, it IS interesting. And you should’ve shared that article with Anna’s brother-in-law, the diplomat! Then we might not all BE in this situation…Philip!
😡
News Coverage of Coal's Link to Global Warming, in 1912
A 61-word article in two obscure New Zealand newspapers nailed the connection between coal burning and global warming .Dot Earth Blog
The first mentions of climate change are well over 100 years old.
It’s like Y2K; the first person to realize that it was going to be a problem did so in the 1950s, and it hit mainstream again in the 70s. But we didn’t throw billions at the problem until the mid 90s…
Except this time there is likely no amount of money that can keep the climate train from hitting the wall. But we might be able to slow the train down a little.
"It’s so hot that even the famous cacti of the Sonoran Desert, such as the saguaro cactus —the Trident-like one you’ve seen in countless cartoons and cowboy movies —are struggling in the heat. They photosynthesize at night, when it gets a little cooler. But climate changeHas extended the times in which it is hot as hell not only further into the calendar year but further into the night. The saguaro cactus is struggling to photosynthesize when it’s still over 100 degrees, even after the sun has set."
Cacti, and plants in general, do not and cannot photosynthesize to any appreciable degree at night. Even the brightest, fullest moon and clearest sky full of stars is not enough light for this process to be effective/efficient. They do their carbon capture / gas exchange primarily at night, but that's a separate process and is not the same thing as photosynthesis.
But also, this whole section is just poorly formatted, unedited, incorrect, and badly written. Like even the tone seems to change in these "2" paragraphs. Why even include this in the article? It really undermines the rest of the content, in my opinion.
"This city (Phoenix, AZ) should not exist.It is a monument to man's arrogance."
Peggy Hill.
I was debating whether I should correct you that it was, in fact, Bobby who said this - or whether that would be pointless and rude.
While debating, I looked it up so I could source my potential claim and it turns out . I apologize for doubting you!
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
I... guess I appreciate that you bothered to look into it and just freely admitted what you were going to say was wrong?
Lol, but no really, that kind of intellectual honesty, as well as restraint in general, are rare and commendable.
But uh, no need to apologize for an unrealized thought crime lol.
Honestly, I think it's good policy to announce when one is convinced that one's beliefs are wrong. Whether doing so preemptively is universally a good idea is debatable, but I thought it might be helpful for some who thought as I did and maybe it would even garner a laugh from you. Not that I know you in any particular manner.
All that cheerfulness and attempt at morality aside, it can be hard to take the same stance once one has defended one's position, so maybe this is good practice for when I've actually stated my beliefs and need to swallow my pride.
Hope you're having a great weekend!
Likewise, in all respects and regards!
Hope your weekend goes well too.
The world objectively would be a better place if more people spent more time second guessing themselves and their preconcieved knowledge sets and beliefs, in a way that at least resembled critical thinking.
Or, in less words... intellectual humility, as opposed to incurious and stubborn overconfidence.
Only if you join me in it and also let me give you a heartfelt compliment.
Oh right, we would have to make sure that room has AC, if its in Phoenix.
That person has not yet allowed it, but I'm interested in what heartfelt compliment you have to offer them.
I know less about them than I do you (I've seen a few of your other posts on lemmy) so I'm genuinely curious. Complimenting strangers is a big part of my life and I'd like to learn from you.
Hah, I mean, I don't know them at all lol, my approach would just be to have a bit of chat about how their life has been going recently, and I'd bet I could find some admirable trait or accomplishment.
Or maybe they just dress particularly well, maybe they have a pleasant voice... possibilities are endless, so long as you keep and open mind and more or less just politely say what you really feel.
... Its funny, I am quite a cynic at a broad societal level, but actually person to person? Still tend toward naive optimist.
[PDF] Two authors file a proposed class action lawsuit against Apple, alleging Apple knowingly used a dataset of pirated books to train its AI models
::: spoiler Comments
- Hacker News;
- Reddit.
:::
- Apple Intelligence is a set of generative AI programs and technologies designed and
maintained by Apple.- Apple—one of the world’s most valuable companies—has invested substantial capital and engineering resources into Apple Intelligence. It regards Apple Intelligence as a breakthrough
innovation that will make its users’ experiences “profoundly different” across various product applications. Through Apple Intelligence, Apple hopes to add trillions to its market capitalization in coming years.- But Apple is building part of this new enterprise using Books3, a dataset of pirated
copyrighted books that includes the published works of Plaintiffs and the Class. Apple used Books3 to train its OpenELM language models. Apple also likely trained its Foundation Language Models using this same pirated dataset.- Apple is building another part of its Apple Intelligence empire by using Applebot, a software program that copies mass quantities of webpages (also known as “scraping”). Apple scraped data with Applebot for nearly nine years before disclosing that it intended to train its AI systems on this scraped data. Scrapers like Applebot can also reach “shadow libraries” that host millions of other
unlicensed copyrighted books, including, on information and belief, Plaintiffs’ and Class Members’ copyrighted works.- The Foundation Language Models within Apple Intelligence depend on the contents of their training datasets. The Foundation Language Models operate by copying and later simulating
creative expression found in copyrighted works. For this reason, the inclusion of expressive high-quality
material—especially copyrighted material—in Apple’s AI training datasets is deliberate and
commercially significant. For instance, to access even more copyrighted material to develop its valuable
generative AI products, Apple entered into a multimillion-dollar licensing agreement with Shutterstock.
But not with Plaintiffs or the Class.- Plaintiffs and the Class are authors who have registered copyrights for their published works. They did not consent to the use of their works in any Apple Intelligence model, including the
Foundation Intelligence Models and OpenELM language models.- The licensing market for AI training data is burgeoning. Nevertheless, Apple did not compensate creators for use of their copyrighted works and concealed the sources of their training datasets to evade legal scrutiny. On information and belief, Apple continues to retain a private AI training-data library including thousands of pirated books to train its future models, without seeking Plaintiffs’ or Class Members’ consent or providing them compensation.
- In sum, Apple has copied the copyrighted works of Plaintiffs and the Class to train AI
models whose outputs compete with and dilute the market for those very works—works without which Apple Intelligence would have far less commercial value. This conduct has deprived Plaintiffs and the Class of control over their work, undermined the economic value of their labor, and positioned Apple to achieve massive commercial success through unlawful means.
Guyana says its solders were shot at while transporting ballots to polling stations near Venezuelan border
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35522130
archve.org snapshot of guyanachronicle.com articleEarlier this year US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “It would be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they were to attack Guyana or attack ExxonMobil”.
Guyana says its solders were shot at while transporting ballots to polling stations near Venezuelan border
archve.org snapshot of guyanachronicle.com articleEarlier this year US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “It would be a very bad day for the Venezuelan regime if they were to attack Guyana or attack ExxonMobil”.
Joint Services patrol attacked while transporting staff, election materials near Guyana-Venezuela border -
A JOINT Services came under attack while transporting Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials and election materials near the Guyana-Venezuela border onStaff Reporter
Chinese cluster now world's top innovation hotspot: UN
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/47662510
Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou has overtaken Tokyo-Yokohama to become the world's top cluster for innovation, the United Nations said Monday.
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Is this Lemmy thread full of bots/ Fake comments?
I am asking for 2 main reasons.
- I can't even think of any way that a recent thread can get this giant amount of comments.
- I have a concern here about how Lemmy can fight bot accounts. Is there is any plan or way for that or is Lemmy defenseless against bots?
More importantly, is Lemmy. World admins/mods investigating or are aware of this?
Revealed: Israeli military’s own data indicates civilian death rate of 83% in Gaza war
Remember when they claimed that they killed 9000 hamas militant in 3 months?cbc.ca/news/world/israel-war-g…
Revealed: Israeli military’s own data indicates civilian death rate of 83% in Gaza war
Figures from classified IDF database listed 8,900 named fighters as dead or probably dead in May, as overall death toll reached 53,000Emma Graham-Harrison (The Guardian)
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Sorting globally by comments in my main page(I block suspicious instances) brings the following post as the second most comments post, this year:
So, to put it simply.
Either the post I am suspicious of is highly lucky in comments or that the post comments is full of bots.
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I don't think it's strange that a post like the one in your OP would be top (in terms of comments) for the year, with or without deleted comments.
Doesn't unreasonable.
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When I click that link, and go there in a browser without logging in, I only see 70ish comments listed. But I also see a lot of removed comments as I scroll down, mostly from a single user. My uneducated guess is that there was already some chicanery in the thread, which the Mods have dealt with, and you are seeing the result of that.
As far as what can be done about it, there really is little to be done, as log as Lemmy remains open (and federated). Posts and comments hop around from one instance to the other, and while some instances can take a hard line against bots some other instance can be more permissive then it becomes a game of whack-a-mole. Active, open moderation is the best cure, but takes effort.
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I see as showing 13,627. So probably script/s.
Which also explains my being banned from an instance after sleepily uninstalling my particular browser which stores passwords, rather than merely rm'ing from the home screen. I couldn't find my key at reinstallation, so had to rereg for some instances, then a few days later found it and was able to recover passwords. I can easily see why the admin of that instance assumed
Private instance, also clearly lying about forgetting password.
It happens. But I'm not bothering with re-regging.
@FuckingHellGenocida@lemmy.cafe has a ton of deleted comments, then this comment replies to one of them. in which
@GenocideCuntFuckoff@lemmings.world replies over 2000 times.
You also have this comment asking about bots. To which JordanLund replies it is a single person running scripts. His reply garners nearly 1300 replies from @ZioDumbokrat69@lemmings.world
Between those two sets of replies, that is 3,310 of the comments. This is not counting the top level comment spam.
There are only a handful of comments remaining in the thread. Less than 20 legitimate comments.
Its all from one spammer who threadiverse folks regularly talk about needing to manage spam from (if I'm not mistaken about who it is. They change usernames all the time and I don't keep up with their accounts cause I'm not an admin)
The mods appear to have dealt with the issue appropriately. For me it only shows 77 comments as the "count", but there are like a bajillion deleted comments by the same guy
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Sorry, I know getting lots of the same response can be a bit much
Hope you have a lovely day 😀
I'm not sure about that, but follow the link below if you're interested in buying crypto or need ED medication.
link
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god that's toxic. is lemmings.world a common instance to see that kind of unhinged shit from? I'm considering blocking the instance to prevent ever interacting with one of that guy's alts
edit: apparently it's a known problem. but yeah it's only a matter of time before somebody like that starts hedging their bets and trying other places
Asda trials 'transforming' new AI technology on UK supermarket shelves
Asda trials new AI technology on UK supermarket shelves
Asda is currently trialling new 'transforming' AI-powered cameras on some UK supermarket shelves to help monitor stockMolly Court (Lancashire Telegraph)
A proposal to help the Lemmy devs
I've heard about the Lemmy devs struggling financially to be able to support Lemmy in the past. A lot of users say they'd support the devs if they shut down lemmy.ml, but it can be hard to quantify the value of such statements.
Thus, a proposal: Some trusted team of admins from another instance, say .world or blahaj.zone for example, should set up an account for people who want to support Lemmy but not lemmy.ml to donate into. This account would immediately donate all the money sent to it, if and when lemmy.ml is shut down. The Lemmy devs could think of it as an emergency fund for a rainy day, and if the financial situation ever gets desperate enough for them, they could shut down lemmy.ml and draw on this fund.
A side effect of the fund's existence may be that people, now given the choice to support Lemmy without supporting lemmy.ml, stop donating to the devs directly and just put their money in the no-ml fund instead. if that happened, the devs would have no choice but to shut down .ml, but hey, that's the free gift economy for you.
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hankskyjames777 e Pamasich like this.
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hankskyjames777 likes this.
Hell no, why would anyone sane give money to tankie scum like the Lemmy devs?
You are better off donating to World or the Piefed developers.
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hankskyjames777 likes this.
I think it's kinda a dick move to hold a fund ransom until something is fulfilled, politician does this and it's already bad enough. What if the fund being held by said account being misused? What if lemmy dev insist that they will not back down? Would the fund be held until it does, which will likely take forever?
If i want to donate and 100% make sure some of the fund actually reach my goal, i would've just donate to them. If i don't agree with their political view point i will just don't donate, or donate to piefed which equally need the fund to progress. Having someone else holding the fund for me is very icky, financial-wise.
Communick: social media and messaging hosting that respects you and your privacy
Communick, open communications and social media hosting servicescommunick.com
Communick: social media and messaging hosting that respects you and your privacy
Communick, open communications and social media hosting servicescommunick.com
More than 250 media outlets protest over Israel murdering Gaza journalists
More than 250 media outlets protest over Israel murdering Gaza journalists
Media outlets have staged a front page protest to highlight the killings of more than 200 journalists in 22 months.Al Jazeera
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aramis87 likes this.
Raoul Duke likes this.
This 50% recycled glass solar panel performs like brand new
This 50% recycled glass solar panel performs like brand new
SOLARCYCLE and Arizona State University built a solar panel with 50% recycled glass, and it performed just like a new one.Michelle Lewis (Electrek)
UK | Police make arrests at London Palestine Action ban protest
More than 1,000 people have pledged to risk arrest in what is billed as the largest protest since group was proscribed
Archived version: archive.is/newest/theguardian.…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
Biden chooses Delaware for his presidential library as his team turns to raising money for it
Former President Joe Biden has decided to build his presidential library in Delaware. He has also tapped a group of former aides, friends and political allies to begin the heavy lift of fundraising and finding a site for the museum and archive.
https://apnews.com/article/biden-presidential-library-delaware-42d1c3fd0b25fb2f4e579307984f6ddb
adhocfungus likes this.
Israeli president’s planned visit to UK angers MPs
British lawmakers urged UK government officials not to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog when he visits next week, Anadolu reports.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250906-israeli-presidents-planned-visit-to-uk-angers-mps/
Raoul Duke likes this.
Bad Science on Sea Level
Bad Science on Sea Level
In a recent report about climate change from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), the authors state that “U.S. tide gauge measurements reveal no obvious acceleration beyond the historical ave…Open Mind
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Raoul Duke likes this.
I don’t have the time but I’d love to read this more thoroughly later.
One issue I have with change point models is the design of the model often assumes (or enables the likelihood function) to assume a change point exists. On a flat line it will fail to find a change point, but on a constant slope it will always select one.
I much prefer something like a restrictied cubic regression spline, where a change point can exist but the model has more freedom in accepting drift. Realistically most datasets don’t have a single change point, but there are plenty of times it’s worth asking.
Bad Science on Sea Level
Bad Science on Sea Level
In a recent report about climate change from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), the authors state that “U.S. tide gauge measurements reveal no obvious acceleration beyond the historical ave…Open Mind
unexposedhazard
in reply to Davriellelouna • • •