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When Dave Plummer wrote the original Task Manager for Windows NT, he specifically avoided linking with a CRT to make the binary as small as possible. As such, the first version of Task Manager to ever ship with Windows was an 85 KB executable.

Now cut to today. On Windows 10, the laggy, crappy UIA-heavy Task Manager is around 1.2 MB.

But wait, because it gets worse!

On Windows 11, the new Task Manager using WinUI and admittedly with *slightly* better accessibility and *slightly* less lag, is 5.6 MB, with a nearly 1 MB TaskManager.DataModel.dll next to it.

And when they ask me why I am utterly obsessed with binary size, this is why.

in reply to Quin

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Matt Campbell

In music, we often think the past was better, because we remember the greatest hits of the past while we constantly hear the merely average or bad stuff in the present. I think it's the same for us nerds and software. Dave Plummer's original Task Manager was one of Windows's greatest hits. I'm sure NT4 also had stuff that was merely functional and inefficient by the standards of its day. And now Microsoft has seen fit to replace Task Manager with the equivalent of filler music.

Matt Campbell reshared this.

in reply to Matt Campbell

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Tech Singer

I agree, but in music, the instruments don't change very much over time, though they do change to some extent. Comparing your 486 to what we have now, what we should be seeing now is excellent speed and performance, no matter how bad the actual code was in the days of NT. What we do see is real degradation. Some of that degraded performance is because of new features that many people do actually like and use. A great deal of it, though, is bloat, very niche features which could be turned on or off if needed, lazy coding... I could go on.
This entry was edited (1 day ago)

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Canadian Government Introduces New Stablecoin Act as Part of Budget Implementation Legislation
michaelgeist.ca/2025/11/canadi…

Canadian Government Introduces New Stablecoin Act as Part of Budget Implementation Legislation - Michael Geist

The Canadian government yesterday tabled its Budget Implementation Act. Running at over 600 pages, the bill includes several notable provisions related to digital policy including the repeal of the Digital Services Tax, the restoration of a privacy p…
Michael Geist

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As a polytheist, I worship gods from a few different pantheons. When the weather turns colder, and I wake up to a world covered in glittering frost every morning, my focus turns to the Norse pantheon.

Their myths were born from a people who were living through the end of the last Ice Age, and so it's easy to see how the Frost Giants were their adversaries.

Here in the Northern forests of the American continent, an average of 39% of days in the year will reach below freezing. I feel like I know what it's like to battle the cold and darkness of winter. It's difficult, depressing, and hard to get out of bed sometimes, but I can take comfort in knowing that my gods are right there with me.

#NorsePagan #Polytheism

#NorsePagan #polytheism

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We love the story of 17th century Tulipmania and its financial collapse. How could those people have been so stupid to bet the house on a tulip bulb?

At the end of September, the 8 largest stock holdings in the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) were all AI stocks, amounting to a quarter of the value of the entire pension fund.

The #AI bubble may be about to burst. Mark Carney must not bail out its Tech Barons
breachmedia.ca/ai-bubble-may-b…

#AI

mastodon - Link to source
Should I have gone with DotPad X over Cadence? For me, I don't think so. Your trade-offs may vary but:
Both devices have a refresh noise. There's no way around it. I wish I could hear the DotPad X in action, but very few or practically nobody has posted a demo of this. I would expect it to sound like a Monarch, if the cell tech is the same or similar. Even if we consider Cadence louder, the refresh is near-instant. Not as instant as a classic piezoelectric 40-cell, but let me say, itt's no more than .5 to 1 seconds for the entire 4 lines to refresh. This doesn't get longer when you connect more than one because they refresh together, but you do get slightly louder clicks. So refresh rate itself? Cadence still wins.
Then for me the battery is what sealed the deal. Weeks on a charge? DotPad X looks to be 8 hours. A workday's worth, sure, but not much more.
And for sure, this is Cadence gen 1. Can you imagine what this little company from Indiana could do with it if more people saw things this way? How the tech could improve, maybe dampening over time the clicks?
Joe and the rest of their team have been incredible. For repairs, they told me they send you a new unit and you then send yours back. Very prompt at responses too during the day, you're not left waiting on hold.
So if anyoone again asks: "Do you regret Cadence despite its press conference-like noise when refreshing?" My answer is still a resounding no. I love 48-cells in my pocket, sized like an 18-cell.

Peter Vágner reshared this.

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Když přijdete o řidičák, tak podle toho, jak jste o něj přišli, vás čekají různé cesty k jeho získání zpět. Ty nejdrsnější jsou po odebrání papírů na více než 18 měsíců, kdy musíte projít terapeutickým kurzem za 15k, který trvá 20 hodin. Na druhou stranu u takového vybodování vám bez řečí vrátí papíry po 12 měsících.

Tady asi nejvíc pozor na rychlost >+40 v obci a >+50 mimo obec, to je řidičák pryč na místě. Podobně to je s chybějící nebo zakrytou RZ - to říkejte že se nasedali do auta, které mělo obě RZ v pořádku. A hned poté na nehody se zraněním. Taková nehoda může mít mnoho forem a snadno přijdete o papíry i když si budete myslet, že jste nic špatného neudělali. Příkladem může být řidič autobusu, který prudce zabrzdí kvůli situaci před vozem a někdo uvnitř autobusu se zraní.

idnes.cz/zpravy/domaci/silnice…


Desítky tisíc řidičů přišly o „papíry“, ale zpět je nechtějí. Silnice jsou plné lidí bez řidičáků

V Česku existuje početná skupina lidí, kteří přišli o řidičské oprávnění a nechtějí je zpátky. Podle zjištění redakce iDNES.cz je celkem 37 768 vybodovaných řidičů, jen letos jich následkem bodů přišlo o „papíry“ 4 175.
iDNES.cz
in reply to 🔩 Adam Štrauch

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Jiří Eischmann

O papíry můžou lidi přijít i při zkouškách na jinou skupinu. Když jsem dělal zkoušky já, bylo tam dost profesionálních řidičů, kteří si potřebovali jen přidat další skupinu. Zkoušející na začátku řekl, že jim dává poslední možnost odejít, pokud si nevěří, že pokud nedosáhnou bodů, které jsou potřeba pro skupiny, které už mají, musí řidičák odevzdat. Všichni zůstali a někteří na konci museli odevzdat řidičáky. Ne, že by jim to ušlo o pár bodů, ale měli třeba 25/65. 🤯
in reply to Jiří Eischmann

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🔩 Adam Štrauch

Takhle rychlé to není. Tím, že odevzdáš kartičku, o oprávnění nepřijdeš. Na to musí proběhnout správní řízení na úřadě, které se dá odkládat dokud ten test neuděláš. Dneska už s kartičkou jezdit nemusíš, takže pokud nejedeš do zahraničí, tak stačí být jen rychlejší než úřad.

Nicméně je to jedna z dalších cest, jak o papíry přijít, když to člověk nechá dojet do konce 🙂

This entry was edited (1 day ago)

mastodon - Link to source

When Everyone’s a Developer, How Do We Promote the Web Platform Over React?

webtechnology.news/when-everyo…

#webplatform


When Everyone’s a Developer, How Do We Promote the Web Platform Over React?

2025 is a strange time to start a newsletter about web technology. The past four editions of WTN have focused on the intersection of the web and AI, because frankly that's where most of the excitement is on today's internet.
Richard MacManus (Web Technology News)
#webPlatform

mastodon - Link to source
With NVDA, why can we navigate HTML tables by cell, but not tables in Windows apps? Foobar2000's key assignments list is a table, but you can find them in first-party apps as well, like Event Viewer. Even Explorer lists are, arguably, tables, but those do allow cell navigation. Sure, Explorer lets you use plain arrows instead of table commands, but it works. Why not use table navigation for all tables?
in reply to James Scholes

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Alex Hall

@jscholes @TheQuinbox @miki In Task Manager, on the processes tab, I have a data grid of processes. However, it acts more like a tree view, with multi-window processes able to be expanded or collapsed. I don't have any other columns I can move to. If I want to see how much memory Firefox is using, I... Actually, I'm not sure how I'd do that. There are sort options for memory, CPU, and more, but no columns for those data points.
@miki @Quin @James Scholes

mastodon - Link to source

Hainbach and Audio Thing made the HP Word Generator into sonic software...

Love that this idea is spreading; you can do so much with it, from rhythms and glitchy grooves to textures.

Not just the usual plug-in formats -- Linux and iOS, too.

cdm.link/hainbach-and-audio-th…

Hainbach and AudioThing made the HP Word Generator into sonic software - CDM Create Digital Music

The Hewlett-Packard Word Generator 8006A has become an unintentional legend of sound lovers, transforming this obscure lab equipment into a kind of instrument.
Peter Kirn (CDM Create Digital Music)

mastodon - Link to source

Das Verständnis digitaler Souveränität und digitaler Grundrechte, wie es Bundeskanzler Merz und Kommissionspräsidentin von der Leyen zum Ausdruck bringen, ist verkürzt, nicht nachhaltig und aus der Zeit gefallen. Der frühere EU-Kommissar Breton hat recht: Wir machen uns zum nützlichen Idioten derjenigen außerhalb von Europa, die im globalen Spiel der Kräfte europäische Regeln schleifen wollen, um ihre eigenen Firmen zu stärken und eigene Regeln durchzusetzen

CONT

in reply to Ulrich Kelber

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Ulrich Kelber

Das weder Merz für die Vorbereitung und in der Durchführung des Gipfels gestern, noch von der Leyern in der Entwicklung des digitalen Omnibusgesetzes das Gespräch mit Wissenschaft oder Zivilgesellschaft gesucht haben, ist eine drastische Verkürzung, wie eine Entscheidung in einer gesellschaftlich entwickelten Demokratie entwickelt werden sollte. Nur Manager von Firmen, deren Interesse an kurzfristigen Gewinnen orientiert sind, als Gesprächspartner zu wählen, bleibt unverständlich

CONT

in reply to Ulrich Kelber

mastodon - Link to source

Ulrich Kelber

2018 wurde die DSGVO und 2022 bis 2024 die anderen Regeln einstimmig im europäischen Rat und mit großen Mehrheiten im Europaparlament beschlossen. Jetzt diese Regeln, die europäische Anbieter genuin einhalten könnte und die us-amerikanischen und chinesischen Anbietern bei konsequenter Durchsetzung Probleme bereiteten, zu verwässern und unkontrollierbar zu machen, wird digitale Innovation in Europa schwächen statt stärken. Eine laissez-faire-Strategie scheitert immer, Opfer sind unsere Werte

iceshrimp.net - Link to source

I do ironically enjoy it when a company releases a new and improved #LLM, and suddenly some extremely specialized and specific tasks that I use LLMs for perform drastically better. And suddenly they can complete the exact examples I used to provide in my prompt, all by themselves. And seem to perform the task in my exact style, even though I'm not giving them my prompt examples anymore. Hmmm, it couldn't be that they trained on my prompt data, could it? Even though they said they don't do that? Nah, of course not! They'd never!

Oh well, at least someone, somewhere, spent several billion dollars to make something I do once a week slightly easier.

#llm
in reply to Michał Dziwisz

mastodon - Link to source

Jacek Zadrożny 🇺🇦

@midzi @miki W VS Code możesz dodawać markery jako zadania dla agenta. Może gdzieś indziej też działają, ale nie sprawdzałem. Ja korzystam z 2: TODO: i FIXME:. Pierwszy to polecenie stworzenia czegoś nowego, a drugie - poprawienia. Wpisujesz w komentarzu na przykład TODO: napisz funkcję, która przyjmuje plik JSON i zwraca go w YAML. I agent sam znajduje odpowiednie funkcje i koduje.
@miki @Michał Dziwisz

mastodon - Link to source

Signal just released a "poll" feature with great fanfare, while all #deltachat apps already integrated a full suite of chat-shared apps, checklists, polls, shopping lists, calendar, editor + tons of games.

Better, anyone can create new apps, eg as github/codeberg forks from existing apps, and post it to their chats for instant deployment. No need to ask for permission, register an account, and no hosting or DNS: actually "server-less" and fully end-to-end encrypted :)

webxdc.org/apps

web page screenshot of https://webxdc.org/apps
screenshot of official Signal account in Signal Android that announces "Signal polls are here" with three paragraphs of explanation.

webxdc apps

webxdc.org
#deltachat

reshared this

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The Dulon Von Paradis Project: blog post 2, November 18, 2025 | Patreon,
I’m in the thick of thinking and planning for our trip to Europe next March to research the lives of 18th century Blind musicians Maria Theresia Von Paradis and Friedrich Dulon. Experiencing and performing live music in my home city of Toronto gives me lots of chances to reflect on music and our relationship to it. Thank you Canada Counsel for making this all possible!
patreon.com/posts/dulon-von-bl…

mastodon - Link to source
I just discovered that current versions of Pages on the Mac export tagged PDF files by default. Only if tables contain more than 10,000 rows, will tags be omitted. That can be overridden by changing the Accessibility popup menu setting in File/Export/PDF under Advanced from „Standard" to "on“. Then, Pages will always create tags even with large tables and very complex formatting. But even the Default setting means that most documents created in Pages will be tagged, if using alt text for images, proper tables, lists, and paragraph styles such as Heading 1 or such. Very nice!

mastodon - Link to source

Serious post, please boost...

On #InternationalMensDay here's your periodic reminder, fellow AMAB & prostate carrying people who are over 50:

Go see your doctor. Don't put it off. Ask for a DRE or a PSA test. Yes, DRE means a finger up your bum, get over it.

They probably won't find anything wrong, but if they do then early intervention will help you avoid the situation I'm in. PSA units should be 3-5; mine was 1206 and my prostate about the size of an orange.

Stage 4 cancer is no joke.

#internationalmensday
This entry was edited (1 day ago)

reshared this

peertube - Link to source

Nahradil jsem Windows za Fedoru Silverblue v tátově novém notebooku
Táta za mnou přišel, že potřebuje nový notebook. Po pěti letech se na jeho současném HPčku projevují znaky používání. Protože příprava Windows nešla úplně dobře, domluvili jsme se, že zkusíme Fedoru Silverblue. A o tom je dnešní video.
#linux #fedora #notebook
This entry was edited (1 day ago)
in reply to Michal Špondr

peertube - Link to source

Adam Štrauch

Minimálně nějaká historická verze jela: https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/Linux,_Wine_%26_MediaMonkey

S tátou jsme zkoušeli Linux v době Ubuntu 6.06 a to mu ještě nesedlo. Myslím, že tenkrát jsem mu tam dával Kubuntu a nepomohlo, že měl ještě nějaké Windows only appky. Teď je situace jiná v tom, že jde o nový stroj, Gnome je o galaxii dál než bylo tenkrát KDE a tisíce světelných let přes Windows co se týče použitelnosti. Tak jsem zvědavej, zda si na to zvykne.

mastodon - Link to source

I wrote down a few notes on my approach to #OSS projects maintenance batsov.com/articles/2025/11/16… I hope someone will find those useful.

#FOSS #Ruby #Clojure #Emacs


Burst-driven Development: My Approach to OSS Projects Maintenance

I’ve been working on OSS projects for almost 15 years now. Things are simple in the beginning - you’ve got a single project, no users to worry about and all the time and the focus in world.
(think)
#foss #emacs #oss #clojure #ruby
in reply to Borris

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Alex Hall

@BorrisInABox @Scott That I get, but it just seems like the options would be there for the sake of parity. They are in playback > volume in one place, so I'd expect to find them in that same place in the main UI. If nothing else, binding keys to them by default would make sense. James has to be right that there's a way to control volume that isn't accessible. No volume control at all out of the box seems like a strange choice.
@Scott @Borris
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