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NotHarlock

@notharlock.bsky.social

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ On the enshittification treadmill with you. Technologist (dev). Rather vapid. (He/him, early 30s, ace) I don't follow back Here for: funny shit, infosec, FOSS, UK, Europe, transit, climate, civility, rights, intersection of tech with all people

336 Followers  |  741 Following  |  565 Posts  |  Joined: 19.11.2024  |  2.3648

Latest posts by notharlock.bsky.social on Bluesky

It's another (regressive, backwards) step in what has been happening for a long time: photoshop. The videographer asks: do we trust this information? We haven't trusted it for decades - because of airbrushed photos.

14.08.2025 22:45 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I have a couple of scripts that remain in "not fit for release" state for several years, but I'm using them.

Dumb example: being able to skip songs by tapping a sequence out on my mouse button, so that I don't have to have a "next song" button bound separately

04.08.2025 04:21 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
A frame from the original video on the left, and on the right it's a small screenshot from the Wikipedia article for the unicursal hexagram, a shape corresponding to the green line traced on the left.

A frame from the original video on the left, and on the right it's a small screenshot from the Wikipedia article for the unicursal hexagram, a shape corresponding to the green line traced on the left.

There's some cool album covers in these

29.07.2025 21:35 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I agree but one way it might go is more places like stations and hotels/restaurants/malls would have porters (which someone might also try to replace with robots). Would still leave plenty of gaps though, eg. random streets, countryside, most places

23.07.2025 04:06 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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You found it, right? On the app ot can look like something you can't expand.

22.07.2025 23:25 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

hunter2-- I mean... ●●●●●●●

22.07.2025 18:53 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

politeness and being upfront goes a long way.

22.07.2025 18:51 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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GitHub - redecentralize/alternative-internet: A collection of interesting new networks and tech aiming at decentralisation (in some form). A collection of interesting new networks and tech aiming at decentralisation (in some form). - redecentralize/alternative-internet

As for what to do about it:
1. I'm looking at this for some inspiration but I've not made up my mind on what to use: github.com/redecentrali...
2. As a Bluesky user I might move my account to my own server, but possibility exists that HMG forces Bluesky to block atproto services that don't comply

22.07.2025 16:30 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

VPNs are always just a workaround.
Every Home Secretary since I have lived in the UK has had a major 'authoritarian streak' and attacked personal freedoms little by little over time, often in a tech-illiterate way (like this).
And most of us are frogs in boiling water, not realising.

22.07.2025 15:09 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The Online Safety Act comes into effect on Friday, which means the internet's going to get fucked for everyone in the UK. You'll have to provide some form of age ID to access so many websites, including Bluesky. IDK what to do about it other than wait and see how it all plays out.

22.07.2025 12:29 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
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Selling your digital soul to use Bluesky's DMs isn't just a bad idea, it's the law Getting carded is one thing. A full strip search? Welcome to Britain OpinionΒ  On June 10, social network Bluesky announced that in 15 days it would introduce age verification for UK users, to comply with the UK Online Safety Act. As this law threatens non-compliant content companies with eight-figure fines from July 25, you can see why. The how, however, is breathtakingly inexcusable.…

Selling your digital soul to use Bluesky's DMs isn't just a bad idea, it's the law

21.07.2025 09:06 β€” πŸ‘ 33    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 21
an Alamy stock photo captioned: "A Highways Agency roadside emergency telephone on the A66 in Cumbria." It's like a pay-phone but no paying, no buttons except a 'yes/no' button pair. Orange handset in a grey box with an orange covering door opened to show the receiver. There are instructions written in 6 languages on the inside of the door.

an Alamy stock photo captioned: "A Highways Agency roadside emergency telephone on the A66 in Cumbria." It's like a pay-phone but no paying, no buttons except a 'yes/no' button pair. Orange handset in a grey box with an orange covering door opened to show the receiver. There are instructions written in 6 languages on the inside of the door.

some motorways in the UK have emergency-only phones.

But those that get removed from villages are not replaced with emergency-only phones. Sometimes they get saved. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
I was also in a train station last week, still had 4 built into a pillar (1 vandalised though)

16.07.2025 02:54 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

The mechanism in-game is actually very simple (just like transistors and synapses are kind of simple in terms of their inputs and outputs). But combining them makes it a computer. I'd say not all computers are Turing complete but all Turing complete machines are computers (including biology)

14.07.2025 02:21 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Introduction to Computing - Let's Make a Redstone Computer #1
YouTube video by mattbatwings Introduction to Computing - Let's Make a Redstone Computer #1

this reminds me of the Redstone computers people build in Minecraft - the in-game mechanism is Turing complete, and Turing-completeness is usually used to judge this kind of thing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=osFa...

14.07.2025 02:21 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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SUSE launches new European digital sovereignty support service to meet surging demand With SUSE's help, European companies and governments can ensure their IT support, software, and data assets are safe.

"The Digital Sovereignty movement is a big deal in Europe for a reason. Today, over 90% of European data resides on servers operated by non-EU and primarily American companies. This dependency exposes EU entities to data privacy, economic leverage, and potential risks of foreign surveillance."

08.07.2025 18:41 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

As someone without a personality, this.

26.06.2025 11:26 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Can I be your neighbour now? Just for the food. :)

25.06.2025 01:33 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I searched the quote to see whether someone actually said it - found out it's a quote from Sadhguru, an Indian guru/yogi. (That means I still don't give it much credence πŸ˜„) - his foundation has a page full of the quotes, many of them are "it's all in your head" kind of stuff, ignoring how we evolved

24.06.2025 23:07 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Although, re-reading what I just wrote, the Aurelius quote would even suggest that the 'present' isn't something that can be suffered directly.
I think what I take from it is that the emotional 'pain' or irritation comes from inside me. I acknowledge that first, then 'take care of business'.

23.06.2025 22:32 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

But taking it to its logical conclusion isn't the way - because moving forward requires a bit of forward thinking, too, and if no one ever worried about pending and possible needs, we'd not be able to build even a basic society.

23.06.2025 22:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I see it as a single aspect of stoicism, but oversimplified. A regular theme, but not the entire point, of stoicism is in the vein of: "External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now." (Marcus Aurelius)

23.06.2025 22:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I'll definitely try this microwave trick. In my supermarket the 'protein bars' like Quest are like 10 meters away from all the others - next to the medicine. πŸ˜†

23.06.2025 21:47 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Usually fines are meant to kind of offset the externalised costs the violator has imposed on the community (obviously it isn't worth nearly Β£1k). It's the same reason policies framed as "anti-driver" in that piece are usually popular after they're implemented. Lumping the two together isn't right.

15.06.2025 15:35 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

No. But I do note the article itself is about privacy in what's now an oppressive state.

13.06.2025 23:09 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

yep! unpaywalled:

12.06.2025 20:33 β€” πŸ‘ 6801    πŸ” 3535    πŸ’¬ 84    πŸ“Œ 86

Citizen $real_name who paid for wired at $date has read $article and then shared it via $social_media_platform at $precise_date

Very private.

13.06.2025 02:34 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Never thought of checking the food hygiene ratings. I use Google Street View to see if it's a place that serves customers direct too under the same brand, but sometimes that's a few years out of date.

09.06.2025 04:35 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I've made this point multiple times before but if Bluesky wants to grow, the things they need aren't opinion pundits but accounts that publish new information. That's breaking news reporters, politicians and stuff like official organization accounts that publish official statements.

08.06.2025 21:44 β€” πŸ‘ 5148    πŸ” 726    πŸ’¬ 127    πŸ“Œ 81

The software they're putting on missiles (and other weapons that need positioning) now to defeat jamming is basically "reading a map" anyway - comparing footage of the area with its memory, inertial positioning among other things.

07.06.2025 20:17 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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@technologyreview.com you guys could write a neat article about how mobile web design has gone downhill

07.06.2025 20:09 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@notharlock is following 20 prominent accounts