Little Bits: Issue #35 For March 2026
A brief reminder of the power each of us hold and how their is a positive side to the Internet through all these shiny new little bits.
tech
Decided to hop on https://fedihood.social and see what it's like. Seems like a fun concept! Those of you who feel comfortable joining totally should (you can use a pseudonymous acct if you like).
It seems to be largely lacking in users still. I would love to see this thing take off in a real way!
Wait, dead mic?
Alright, it is in fact Sunday-morning-in-Europe but I am elbow-deep in setting up some machine over the world's slowest network connection, so if you're into that this is that. #lispyGopherClimate #emacs #ssh #actuallySshX Just building #acl2 and #lambdaMOO . ( #lisp, #logic and #mud ) (and #i2p but there's no accounting for taste).
https://toobnix.org/w/gXLXQqxf5MYg1NDF2Ua6oA
Every week since 2022 ! #peertube #podcast #tech #live every 8am Sunday UTC.
Edited 33d ago
I published “Being the Change🌍 (featuring my abandoned and ongoing changes)” at
https://www.ii.com/be-the-change/
#BeTheChange #BeingTheChange #BeKind #CarFree #Boycott #Shopping #FLOSS #Standards #Activism #Hacktivism #AsciiDoc #Markdown #Privacy #Security #Tech
#InfiniteInk
#Byℵ #ByNM
I recently reread Fred Brooks's 1986 classic No Silver Bullet, which you can find here: https://www.cs.unc.edu/techreports/86-020.pdf . I think it is useful to re-consider Brooks's distinction between the essential complexity versus the accidental complexity of software development in light of the recent mania behind using LLMs for coding. Which of these types of complexity does LLM use address? Does it introduce more of either class of complexity?
In light of what I've seen, LLM use seems to provide the illusion of addressing both kinds of complexity in the short-term while it increases essential complexity in the long-term. It may or may not reduce some accidental complexity; the verdict is still out, as far as I can tell. Judging from the recent leak of the Claude Code front end source code, LLMs seem to introduce an enormous amount of new accidental complexity.
To the extent that LLMs are in the category of what Brooks calls automatic programming, this quote he shares from David Parnas is important:
Taken together, all this seems to suggest that LLM use in coding is a net negative, and if the above is to be believed it will result in worse outcomes, not better, over the long haul. Definitely re-read Brooks and see if you agree.
#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #AgenticAI #LLMs #ClaudeCode #software #tech #dev #SoftwareEngineering #SoftwareDevelopment
In light of what I've seen, LLM use seems to provide the illusion of addressing both kinds of complexity in the short-term while it increases essential complexity in the long-term. It may or may not reduce some accidental complexity; the verdict is still out, as far as I can tell. Judging from the recent leak of the Claude Code front end source code, LLMs seem to introduce an enormous amount of new accidental complexity.
To the extent that LLMs are in the category of what Brooks calls automatic programming, this quote he shares from David Parnas is important:
Automatic programming always has been a euphemism for programming with a higher-level language than was presently available to the programmer.
Taken together, all this seems to suggest that LLM use in coding is a net negative, and if the above is to be believed it will result in worse outcomes, not better, over the long haul. Definitely re-read Brooks and see if you agree.
#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #AgenticAI #LLMs #ClaudeCode #software #tech #dev #SoftwareEngineering #SoftwareDevelopment
On Taking Care of The Self
It is with a slow dawning that I have come to notice, day after day, the multitude of unspoken assumptions that haunt me like ghosts, ever present yet scarcely acknowledged. They're the soft, invisible mandates that require me to approve of particular narratives, to the quiet adoption of certain scripts that have become, in our present age, almost cultural orthodoxy. Among these scripts, perhaps the most ubiquitous is the well‑intentioned, if not occasionally perfunctory, messaging of […]
https://untilted.weblog.lol/2026/06/on-taking-care-of-the-self
#PersonalBlog #Blog #Weblog #MentalHealth #SelfCare #SelfCompassion #SocialMedia #Gratitude #Pressure #Expectations #Mental #Physical #Health #Psychology #Technology #Tech #Adjacent #ThisIsNotAWordPressBlog
I realized that if I was writing a program and it didn't always work, I had a choice: I could either fix it, or call it AI.
#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #AgenticAI #LLMs #Claude #ClaudeCode #ChatGPT #tech #dev #software #SoftwareDevelopment #SoftwareEngineering
It's hard to believe this is even a web page. They have taken Three.js to a new level #tech #technology #webdev #gamedev
Edited 90d ago
Why I'm using wired Android Auto when all the cool kids are switching to wireless
Sometimes, you have to dial back the tech to make ends meet.
#Tech #Technology #TechNews #AI #Gadgets #Software #Cybersecurity #Apple #Google #Microsoft #Startup #OpenSource #ZDNet [ZDNet]
La IA generativa estará prohibida en los colegios de primaria de Noruega a partir del próximo curso 🔥 El ejecutivo laborista ha justificado la decisión en una caída sostenida de los resultados académicos y en el temor a que la IA termine reemplazando el aprendizaje en lugar de apoyarlo.
🔗 Noticia completa: https://www.elmundo.es/tecnologia/2026/06/19/6a3597b8e9cf4a3d118b459b.html
#AI #education #school #Norway #genAI #generativeAI #ban #tech #technology #books #books #learn #learning
Mastodon, I need your help! As more European countries and orgs look to ditch US technology and move to sovereign or open source alternatives, I'm trying to track these efforts.
So far, I've found more than half a dozen government agencies, cities, orgs, that are embracing digital sovereignty but want to hear about other examples that I've missed. Who else should I be adding to this?
Here's a list of what I have so far:
*Edit: This list is now on Proton Sheets, as I should have seen that coming*
Edited 155d ago
honestly i welcome the data center lobby just openly saying climate goals needed to be trashed so the tech industry can build ai — intense heat waves, record forest fires, worsening natural disasters be damned
https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-choose-ai-climate-goals-data-center-chief-warns/
#lispyGopherClimate https://toobnix.org/feeds/videos.xml?accountId=580185 #live #lisp #tech #podcast #weekly since 2022 at 0UTC Wednesday (Tuesday night in the Americas).
https://toobnix.org/w/1z43HJ2YboZUuE2U8LKRMj
#climateCrisis #haiku by @kentpitman whom has also told me not to ruin the dramatic tension by just saying what (if?)
https://github.com/netsettler/netsettlement !!!!!!
Starting a lisp #zine ! See https://lispy-gopher-show.itch.io/zine/devlog/1560799/ansi-cl-clim-20-spec-zine-jam-instruction-copypasta . Also: https://codeberg.org/screwlisp/shizamuran-sudokus
@mdhughes #underStone #gamedev https://mdhughes.itch.io/understone
Edited 87d ago
Explain this one to your grandpa: Zoom is partnering with World, Sam Altman’s human ID verification company, to make sure people, not robots, are attending meetings. (Hmm, wasn't the point to remove humans from the chat?) Read more from @Techcrunch:
#Tech #AI #Zoom #Technology #SamAltman #ArtificialIntelligence
🎉 The Schedule of DWeb Camp 2026 is out 🎉
We received an unprecedented amount of proposals for this year.
Our incredible track curators and our scheduling team worked hard to accept as many as possible.
➡️ Here is the long-awaited schedule: https://dwebcamp.org/schedule ⬅️
⚠️ Expect changes: we are still ironing out the details.
#DWeb #DWebCamp #schedule #camp #event #Berlin #talks #camping #proposals #tech #technology #decentralization
Did you know there's a newcomer EU comissioner on mastodon 
? 🇪🇺 Henna Virkkunen, @HennaVirkkunen , is the Executive Vice-President for #Tech Sovereignty, #Security and #Democracy of the European Commission. Together with @EUCommission , it's the only official #EU account on #mastodon, according to https://european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/social-media-channels_en , at least for now...
It seems like a start, doesn't it? After all, the #fediverse is key in #TechSovereignty
Edited 154d ago
How the modem dial-up sound was actually created 
Edited 151d ago
"RFK Jr.'s "Re-Parenting" Brain Worm Strikes Again" https://www.blueamp.co/p/rfk-jr-really-thinks-he-can-re-parent I unloaded on RFK Jr's dipshittery and racism...I'm quite sure you'll like it. Check it out!
A TASTE: "There are bad ideas, worse ones seemingly produced by that monster truck filled with congealed-month-old-cheese-whiz #Trump calls an IQ, and then there’s RFK Jr. Here he goes again, he’s talking, so he’s saying something racist or stupid or ignorant or conspiratorial—usually all four!
I mean, JFC, has anyone not reached a point where they’d like to duct tape the guy’s mouth shut to just not hear the noise anymore? And, no, I’m not talking about the voice caused by inherited spasmodic dysphonia. I mean the idiocy exiting Jr.’s pie-hole"
#news #politics #usa #iran #health #ai #publichealh #tech #culture #us #media #press #donaldtrump #maga #science #fascism #israel #eu #tv #america #unitedstates #middleeast
Florence makes in-depth videos about retro technology of all kinds, especially gadgets and household appliances. You can follow at:
➡️ @flo
Don't worry if the account looks blank to you, that just means no one from your server follows it yet. If you follow, the videos will start gradually showing up on your server too.
You can also follow Florence's non-video account at @themaritimegirl
#FeaturedPeerTube #RetroTech #RetroTechnology #Gadgets #Tech #PeerTube
NEW: How Google and AI Nearly Made a Seasoned Reporter Spiral
"I thought I had missed something major in my reporting. Turns out I had stumbled into an AI-fueled feedback loop that involved a real LLC’s fictional website and a search engine that’s thrusting unreliable answers on users."
#News #Google #AI #Journalism #Media #Technology #Tech #Research #LLM #artificialintelligence
Amnistía Internacional finalmente llegó a la misma conclusión que nosotros planteamos desde fines de 2022: se deben prohibir los modelos de IA generativa basados en la extracción de datos de la web porque son ilegales por diseño, independientemente del uso que se les dé 🎯
🔗 Toda la INFO + el informe completo: https://arteesetica.org/la-ia-generativa-es-ilegal-por-diseno-informe-de-amnistia-internacional/
#AI #tech #technology #genAI #generativeAI #unlawful #Amnesty #Amnistia #Midjourney #OpenAI #ChatGPT #Gemini #Google #StableDiffusion
Switzerland plans a gradual shift from Microsoft products to reduce dependency, citing digital sovereignty and long-term control over public IT systems 🇨🇭
Open-source alternatives are under review amid cost, lock-in, and US Cloud Act data access risks tied to foreign providers 🔍
🔗 https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-authorities-want-to-reduce-dependency-on-microsoft/
#TechNews #Swiss #Switzerland #Microsoft #OpenSource #FOSS #DigitalSovereignty #Sovereignty #Privacy #Cybersecurity #Regulation #Infosec #Tech #Government #IT #Office #LibreOffice #Linux #US
Am I the only one having issues with the Aurora #Android app? Updating & installing apps seems broken.
I'm using V4.8.3 on LineageOS 22.2 (Android 15) & on Iodé 7.6 (Android 16). The latter returns "Unable to parse TLS packet header" the older Android phone attempts to download & silently fails. It does not matter if I use a Google account or an anonymous account.
Are you able to update/install apps with Aurora?
Edited 76d ago
right so i got the PowerBook G4. problem is that the 4 key is extremely sensitive and was actually firing repeatedly. i took the 4 key off and it stopped. the slightest touch of the rubber dome thing makes it fire the 4 key. any ideas on how to fix it?
please boost this post, i don't want to use it without a proper 4 key!
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