I've completed my studio setup/patching for my new album, which is already in progress. The piece de resistance is a Manley Core channel strip. It quickly helped make the best clean electric guitar sound I've ever gotten. (Audio proof via some noodling I was doing)
Elec gtr --> Manley Core bussed to Ursa Major Stargate --> MXR Layers pedal
Also interesting: there is ZERO buzz or hum from my guitar when it runs through the Manley. This is the best preamp I've ever owned.
Voice has lagged in adoption behind screens. OpenAI wants to change that.Samuel Axon (Ars Technica)
Astonishing #Math fact:
2026 = 1⁰ + 2⁰ + 3⁰ + … + 2025⁰ + 2026⁰
Sensitive content
Being human is inherently chaotic, and being queer adds another layer of beautifully unpredictable flair. So lean into it.Titeänyä Rodríguez (Autostraddle)
If you see something you like on here, don't be scared to give it a favourite ⭐ !
If you really like something, you might want to also boost it 🔁 (which shares it with your followers).
There is no algorithm on here, so you can like and share whatever you want without any additional side effects.
Your timeline on here is entirely in your direct control, it isn't going to push stuff at you or hide stuff just because you liked or shared something.
Imagine as part of "Elbows Up" having a Government legislative program to guarantee a right to repair, with an emphasis on reducing e-waste (sustainability) and curbing anti competitive practice. This would include banning DRM.
Unlikely to happen.
it can start slow.
- repeal DMCA-style anti-circumvention crap
- prohibit non replacable batteries
- require supply of repair instruction and parts
- prohibit part keying
Etc.
Linux is good now. The author had enough of Windows and Microsoft shenanigans. I'm brave enough to say it: Linux is good now, and if you want to feel like you actually own your PC, make 2026 the year of Linux on (your) desktop
#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/?radd=1… today brings you 13 updated and 1 added apps:
* Linked Camera: a privacy-focused camera app built on the base of OpenCamera, with automatic Nextcloud sync for field work 🛡️
RB status: 782 apps (61%)
Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repository 
This is a repository of apps to be used with your F-Droid client. Applications in this repository are official binaries built by the original application developers, taken from their resp. repositories (mostly Github, GitLab, Codeberg).IzzyOnDroid App Repo
Launched Notepad on Windows 11 and found that they 1) added CoPilot and 2) automatically logged me into an account. I don't use a Microsoft account for Windows but one is required to install Office. They had no business reusing that signin for any software outside of Office. I just want a damned plain text editor.
Assholes. DIAF.
Some highlights that came up:
1. Something about the difference in approach, priorities, and psychology of building frontend versus backend.
2. How lightweight, high-quality websites may be crucial to our lives. (Including accessibility)
3. We "programmers and other nerds" are the worst people to use as a target audience for software.
4. Urging folks to switch to Linux when not everyone can leave Windows (11) is not a good thing.
And many more points.
Я сегодня поддался на уговоры сестры и решил дать шанс отечественному кинематографу — пошли мы в кино на фильм «Буратино».
Ну, что сказать, я думал, будет хуже. То есть и это было не очень, но из зала всё же никто не ушёл до конца сеанса. Но когда в фильме самыми симпатичными оказываются нарисованные, и даже не второстепенные персонажи — это говорит не в пользу фильма. Ну ладно, кроме троицы мультяшных тараканов симпатию вызывал и нарисованный же деревянный мальчик, сам Буратино.
Остальные персонажи были абсолютно никакие. Папа Карло был в разы деревяннее своего сына. Карабас не был страшным. Его труппа, — Пьеро, Мальвина, Арлекин и Артемон, — даже не деревянные, картонные. От Дуремара вообще только уши запомнились.
Сюжет — набор каких-то малосвязанных между собой сцен. У персонажей нет толком ни мотивации, ни характеров. Кадры как будто надёрганы из разных фильмов. С какого перепуга Базилио выглядит как Дракула Тима Бёртона? Почему Тортилла живёт в «Наутилусе» капитана Немо? И в каком водоёме? Моря на общих планах города я не заметил. Прожжёные жулики Алиса и Базилио почему-то вдруг проникаются к Буратино любовью и отпускают его обратно к папе в тележке, полной курток для Карло...
Музыку потырили из советского фильма, это как само собой разумеется. Но переделали тексты, и не в лучшую сторону. Кот и лиса вообще зачем-то пели на итальянском с переводом субтитрами, но совершенно левый какой-то текст...
То есть всё плохо получается? Ну, тараканы были забавные, ещё и сцена во время титров, когда таракан Антон (похоже, русский эмигрант) давал детям вредные советы. Буратино был неплохо нарисован, и был очаровательно наивен. На удивление Артемон, у которого на весь фильм был едва ли десяток слов (не фраз даже), пытался что-то сыграть, но ему просто нечего было. Ну, и да, как сказала моя сестра — ярко и зрелищно.
Но на «Чебурашку» я не пойду.
Twitter’s Grok AI is now being used by people to undress women, as verified by the BBC. Twitter refused to reply, simply saying “legacy media lies”. It isn’t a lie.
In the UK it is illegal to create or share non-consensual intimate images, including via AI. The UK gov say they are investigating.
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98p1r…
The BBC has seen several examples of it undressing women and putting them in sexual situations without their consent.Laura Cress (BBC News)
Obvious thing is happening btw - no world leader is willing to speak up about it. Because Elon is close to Trump and the administration - he's a protected person, basically.
The GenAI industry is also a protected industry - e.g. copyright law doesn't apply, either.
Here's an (cropped) example btw, of Grok casually taking the dress of an actress from Stranger Things (who is 14).
A few years ago this kind of thing would have been a major news story. But now, eh, it's just billionaires and their toys. Grok isn't even in "Spicy" mode (yes, an actual feature).
Political scientist Samuel Bagg explains why social identity is at the root of the misinformation crisis -- which calls for something deeper than factchecking.David Roberts (Volts)
The Platform-agnostic Reader Interface library for Speech and Messages: a new universal text-to-speech and screen reader abstraction library - ethindp/prismGitHub
Chatbot, please tell me how you can be worse:
OpenAI Reportedly Planning to Make ChatGPT "Prioritize" Advertisers in Conversation
futurism.com/artificial-intell…
OpenAI employees working on ChatGPT report plans to unleash sponsored advertisements above organic results.Joe Wilkins (Futurism)
#AskFedi what screen readers are people using these days?
With folks moving to more secure browsers, I feel like it’s time to find new ones for website accessibility audits. Curious how others are treating the browser upheaval & accessibility?
I’m working on this for one of my #nonprofit clients and to grow out our accessibility resources for communicators.
#accessibility #disabilityRights #disabiltyjustice #screenreader
these guys were our supplier when we owned a cafe, great quality teas they import
Wow.. This is timely, i finished @pluralistic 's book #enshitification yesterday and today this pops up on my masto feed. Pretty shameful. I'm not sure if there's really a chance it'll get taken down. so i'll use my comically long character limit for good here.
Originally posted at reddit.com/r/confession/s/P3zG…
"I’m posting this from a library Wi-Fi on a burner laptop because I am technically under a massive NDA. I don’t care anymore. I put in my two weeks yesterday and honestly, I hope they sue me. I’ve been sitting on this for about eight months, just watching the code getting pushed to production, and I can’t sleep at night knowing I helped build this machine.
You guys always suspect the algorithms are rigged against you, but the reality is actually so much more depressing than the conspiracy theories. I’m a backend engineer. I sit in the weekly sprint planning meetings where Product Managers (PMs) discuss how to squeeze another 0.4% margin out of "human assets" (that’s literally what they call drivers in the database schemas). They talk about these people like they are resource nodes in a video game, not fathers and mothers trying to pay rent.
First off, the "Priority Delivery" is a total scam. It was pitched to us as a "psychological value add." Like I said in the title, when you pay that extra $2.99, it changes a boolean flag in the order JSON, but the dispatch logic literally ignores it. It does nothing to speed you up.
We actually ran an A/B test last year where we didn't speed up the priority orders, we just purposefully delayed non-priority orders by 5 to 10 minutes to make the Priority ones "feel" faster by comparison. Management loved the results. We generated millions in pure profit just by making the standard service worse, not by making the premium service better.
But the thing that actually makes me sick—and the main reason I’m quitting—is the "Desperation Score." We have a hidden metric for drivers that tracks how desperate they are for cash based on their acceptance behavior.
If a driver usually logs on at 10 PM and accepts every garbage $3 order instantly without hesitation, the algo tags them as "High Desperation." Once they are tagged, the system then deliberately stops showing them high-paying orders. The logic is: "Why pay this guy $15 for a run when we know he’s desperate enough to do it for $6?" We save the good tips for the "casual" drivers to hook them in and gamify their experience, while the full-timers get grinded into dust.
Then there is the "Benefit Fee." You’ve probably seen that $1.50 "Regulatory Response Fee" or "Driver Benefits Fee" that appeared on your bill after the recent labor laws passed. The wording is designed to make you feel like you're helping the worker.
In reality, that money goes straight to a corporate slush fund used to lobby against driver unions. We have a specific internal cost center for "Policy Defense," and that fee feeds directly into it. You are literally paying for the high-end lawyers that are fighting to keep your delivery guy homeless.
And regarding tips, we're essentially doing Tip Theft 2.0. We don't "steal" them legally anymore because we got sued for that. Instead, we use predictive modeling to dynamically lower the base pay.
If the algo predicts you are a "high tipper" and you’ll likely drop $10, it offers the driver a measly $2 base pay. If you tip $0, it offers them $8 base pay just to get the food moved. The result is that your generosity isn't rewarding the driver; it’s subsidizing us. You’re paying their wage so we don't have to." social.lansky.name/@hn50/11582…
A confession from a mainstream food delivery app engineer Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/confession/s/gbrh2zxeou Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46461578Hacker News 50 (Mastodon)
feld reshared this.
this is absolutely infuriating. Especially the bit about using the cash due to go to delivery drivers being used to prevent them from unionising. I don't use these services. I won't use Amazon at all because of Bezos' union-busing activities. I wish people were able to come together to support each other but capitalism has everyone competing against everyone else for the crumbs that fall from bourgeois tables. This relentless assault on the working classes has to stop.
Goemon Ishikawa
in reply to Bri🥰 • • •Kaliah
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