Weekly Thing 295 / Links, Surveillance, POSSE
Weekly Thing 295 is packed with info about privacy and supporting the open web, which you are doing by reading independently published newsletters. You are amazing! Thanks for being here. š¤©
Hello and good morning! āļø
Hoping you've had a delightful week and start to the weekend. All good here with a lot of things going and on the whole mostly pretty good.
Iām happy to welcome October. I love the cool of Fall and the changing colors. Such a delightful time of year.
A highlight of the week was receiving my new iPhone 16 Pro. š± The camera improvements are nice but Iām still getting used to the camera control (err, button). Iām curious to see Apple Intelligence but none of that has shipped yet. It is faster but honestly my iPhone 14 Pro was plenty fast.
Iām for sure in a minority here but I wish that there was more to get used to. The last couple of times I've upgraded to a new phone it is really too easy. You turn it on, place it next to the old phone, hit some buttons and wait a couple hours. Voila, the new phone is ready to go and you are hard pressed to even find settings you need to change. Where is the fun?
It used to be that you needed a couple hours. You got to spend time exploring the nooks and crannies of setting screens. Maybe reinstall an app or two. Get things syncing right. Making sure your stuff was all just right.
I suppose Iām sounding like someone that used to "wrench" on their car in the garage complaining that now itās all too simple. But it sort of is. š§
Let's jump into the the linksā¦
Featured
Beyond the link tax: journalism and the changing nature of the internet - Halifax Examiner
I commented on linking on my blog in May:
Two decades ago when I started publishing on the web I would have never guessed that linking to websites, with no URL redirection or tracking tags, would feel almost subversive now. I now find myself delighting in adding even more links to blog posts. Creating the web I want!
I think I was slow to pick up on this trend. Most (all?) of the major social platforms have largely pushed the hyperlink, what I would suggest is the most fundamental thing about the web, out. They tune their algorithms to not surface links. And some of them, Iām looking at you LinkedIn, even intercept the user with a warning that they are about to go somewhere else, and are they really sure they want to do that?
Why is this? It is simple. If you have an attention business that generates revenue from surveillance the worst thing that can happen is that people leave your site. You lose their attention and cannot profit from their time.
The simple hyperlink is an existential threat. It must be stopped.
Pearce said he had "an epiphany" about this. It's an argument that hearkens back to an earlier internet, where you looked things up on a search engine and clicked on links. Sure, you may still do that, but the tech companies are successfully working to kill that internet and keep us within their enclosures. And AI search is only going to accelerate that process.
Essentially, what we are seeing is the slow death of the hyperlink, which makes arguments that taxing Google and Meta is tantamount to taxing links irrelevant.
I like how Pearce put it here:
There is a real bias against hyperlinking that has developed on platforms and apps over the last five years in particular. It's something that's kind of operating hand-in-hand with the rise of algorithmic recommendations. You see this on Elon Musk's version of Twitter, where posts with hyperlinks are degraded. Facebook itself has decided to detach itself from displaying a lot of links. That's why you get so much AI scum on Facebook these days. Instagram itself has always been kind of hostile to linking. TikTok as wellā¦
If you degrade hyperlinks, and you degrade this idea of the internet as something that refers you to other things, you instead have this stationary internet where a generative AI agent will hoover up and summarize all the information that's out there, and place it right in front of you so that you never have to leave the portalā¦ That was a real epiphany to me, because the argument against one form of this legislation was, "My God, you'll destroy this fundamental way of how the internet works." I'm like, dude, these companies are already destroying the fundamental way of how the internet works.
First let's clarify some things. The word Internet is being interchangeably used with World Wide Web, the Web, in ways that I think could confuse later topics. The link is a function of the web, there is nothing in the Internet that depends on a link. At least one reason I think this is important is to consider the App economy that Apple created and most of us spend a significant amount of time with. The App economy doesn't natively have a concept of a hyperlink. Instagram for example was born as an app and, as far as I know since Iām not a user, only has a utility kind of capability on the web.
So the argument here is not so much about destroying the Internet, as it is hurting and destroying the web. And for me at least, there is another aspect of this that is about limiting expression. I'm not going to pull freedom of speech here because I don't believe that applies. But when you create content on these platforms your ability to express yourself is limited by their treatment of links. That extends to other simple things like bolding or underlining text. Your little text box gets less and less functionality, making your data easier to manage by machine learning, and to capture into their attention system.
Iām not suggesting that these platforms should be forced to support links. They can and should do as they please. I find it interesting that while the App economy initially had no support for links they were so desired by users and developers that the community created a linking protocol on their own to get around it. And even in these social platforms the fact that many afford you a single, precious link has powered the growth of services link Linktree.
I do however think this is a sign we need to learn to identify in a service. I've written in the past about identifying addictive patterns in software so that we can be aware of these tricks. Perhaps we need to also identify other characteristics that tell us about the interests of the service we are using.
If a service does not support direct hyperlinking, without some scary warning, then we should understand that this is not a service that sees the web as a friend. Do we care about that with Instagram? Perhaps no. Do we care about that for a search engine? I would say yes. Do I care about that for where I publish content? For me it is non-negotiable.
Boats at Lake Harriet in the morning sun. I love that the ultra wide-angle lens on the iPhone 16 Pro is higher resolution now.
Oct 4, 2024
Lake Harriet, Minneapolis
Notable
LG Smart TVs, including OLEDs, now show screensaver ads - FlatpanelsHD
If there is a headline that could throw me into a rage it is this one.
- If I purchase a thing I should have reasonable say over what it does.
- My living room is not an okay place for your billboard to show up.
I have an LG TV. The display is incredible! But like all Smart TV's you cannot trust the software that runs on these things.
The announcement about screensaver ads on LG Smart TVs makes it sound as if the advertising team's priorities now overshadow those of LG's webOS team:
"The launch of our Screensaver Ads has been a significant milestone in enhancing viewer engagement on LG Smart TVs. This full-screen ad format has effectively utilized idle screen time to boost brand visibility. Feedback and study results have validated that these ads capture attention and drive meaningful interactions, making them an integral part of our ad offerings," said Chris Weiland, Director of Product Marketing at LG Ad Solutions.
Amazon, Google and Roku have long built their respective TV monetization strategies around ads, and with LG and Samsung turning webOS and Tizen into digital billboards, the only refuge appears to be Apple TV 4K, which can be connected to any TV. You can now disconnect your TV from the internet.
That my friends is why every TV I own has an Apple TV plugged into it and I never use any of the applications that run on the TV itself. I turn everything off and treat it like a simple display for HDMI.
I have however allowed them to be on WiFi because of my OCD needs to have current firmware. That is leaving a huge backdoor. Iām going to add a task to remove WiFi settings from all my TVs so that they cannot communicate with anything.
Bitcoin: A Global Liquidity Barometer - Lyn Alden
Interesting analysis advised from Alden looking at Bitcoin price movement and what it is aligned with.
This brings us back to Bitcoin. Unlike stocks, Bitcoin lacks earnings or dividends and doesn't have a structural bid to impact its performance. Unlike gold and bonds, at this stage of Bitcoin's adoption cycle, most pools of capital still view it as a risk asset. This potentially leaves Bitcoin with the purest correlation to global liquidity relative to other assets.
I consider Bitcoin a long-term hold. However, understanding what drives the price movement better would be helpful, particularly if Bitcoin is down significantly like it was in recent years. Connecting to price drivers could provide the insight needed to buy into those drops.
POSSE: Reclaiming social media in a fragmented world
White generally highlights many good benefits of the IndieWeb strategy to Publish on your Own Site, Syndicate Everywhere (POSSE). It is a great way to make sure that you always have full access to all of your writing, photos, and whatever else. Note that Iām careful to not say ownership because all social platforms assume ownership of everything you post. Syndicated from your blog doesn't matter. The syndicated copy of that article is now the property of the social platform.
I've been a micro.blog user for years now and Iām a big fan. I think micro.blog is probably one of the very best platforms for POSSE that exist. Micro.blog calls it cross-posting, and right now it supports syndicating to Medium, Mastadon, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Flickr, Bluesky, Nostr, Pixelfed, and Threads. That is impressive. It used to support Twitter before that site decided to withdraw from the web and charge erroneous fees for access to the API.
I used to use multiple of these but have lately stopped using them entirely. The issue I have is one that White highlights:
POSSE is not without its challenges, though. For one, although it handles the publishing end of things, it does not solve the issue of conversations fragmented across multiple platforms. When a person responds to a syndicated post, the reply typically remains siloed on that platform. (Some backfeed replies onto their own sites, though I choose not to do this.) Because I actively use the three platforms where I currently syndicate my microblog posts, I just reply to any comments on the platforms where they happen, and deal with the fact that sometimes similar conversations happen in multiple places.
Syndicating content into all these surveillance systems in some way feels to me like Iām supporting them. And then to see if I should follow-up with a reply I have to drag myself into these attention vices to do that. I don't think it is worth it and I've stopped syndicating entirely. I actually have feel a bit anti-POSSE really. For two reasons:
- I think where your writing goes affects the writing itself. I know this is true for me. When micro.blog was syndicating to Twitter (pre-X) I found myself routinely using 4 photos but no more. Why? Because only the first four would be syndicated.
- I found myself forcing my posts to be under 300 characters? Why, because that changed how it was syndicated.
The medium does matter, and I want my medium to be the open web. I also don't mind that if you want to read that, you need to leave those platforms and venture out into the web. Don't worry, it is great out here.
Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT | OpenAI
OpenAI is extending the context of ways you work with ChatGPT with this new offering. The overview makes a ton of sense, and will make ChatGPT a much more capable collaborator. Iām interested to try this out.
Paypal Opted You Into Sharing Data Without Your Knowledge
This article is for subscribers only but the headline and first paragraph are enough. LinkedIn has been on my naughty list for years for doing this kind of random opt-in to some new way to surveil your data or mine your activity. It seems PayPal decided that was far too great to not do too. I logged into my account and sure enough I have this Personalized Shopping feature defaulted to on. I've corrected that and reviewed the rest of my privacy settings.
It seems to be a best practice that once or twice a year you need to audit your privacy settings on these services.
Our Unevenly Distributed Future - Allen Pike
Pike's article is really about knowing how to pick trends and determine as a technologist where to invest your time. Having a career in technology is having a career in learning. However, I truly appreciated his Waymo story.
His eyes lit up. "Have you tried the self-driving cars yet?" A couple taps on his phone and a few minutes later, an algorithm was piloting us across the city.
As I understand it, my first experience in a self-driving car was typical:
- Minute 1: "How safe is this? Will it notice that cyclist? What about those construction cones?"
- Minute 10: "This is wild. It's driving so calmly and safely. I love it."
- Minute 20: (Bored, checking my email in the back seat.)
It was like a firmware update to my brain.
I think the simplest version of this for me was when I first replaced a spinning hard drive with an SSD. It was plain and obvious this is supremely better and all storage should be this. I felt similar when I first drove a Tesla, this was obviously better and all cars should be fully electric. I still think that even with the recent slowdown in electric. It is not as obvious for Web 3 and crypto, but it also isn't obviously not.
I also love Pike's observation on how quickly his expectations changed. Bored in 20 minutes. And then what he instantly thought of the previous method.
But Waymo hasn't gotten approval to drop off at SFO yet, and I had a flight to catch, so I booked an Uber, old-school style. I climbed in, and feltā¦ a little uncomfortable. The ride was a bit erratic. Who was this human driver, exactly? Will he notice that cyclist? And why can't I control the music?
I'd glimpsed the future, and quickly become an on-demand transport snob.
Expectations of technology change quick.
College students used Metaās smart glasses to dox people in real time - The Verge
The video embedded in the post from X is a good watch. A few years ago there was a similar test done where college students were asked if they could take a picture of them and they instantly identified the person with nothing else. This is extending that into a live view in glasses.
"The purpose of building this tool is not for misuse, and we are not releasing it," Nguyen and Ardafiyo write in a document explaining the project. Instead, the students say their goal is to raise awareness that all this isn't some dystopian future -- it's all possible now with existing technology. In particular, they point out that I-XRAY is unique because large language models (LLMs) enable it to work automatically, drawing relationships between names and photos from vast data sources.
How strange to consider a future where you can look at someone and know this level of information about them immediately.
Journal
Debate Season Begins
Sep 28, 2024 at 7:22āÆAM
Tyler is heading to the Minnesota Debate Teachers Association (MDTA) Jamboree today for his very first debate tournament and the official start of the debate season. I'm also going to be there judging rounds. It has been 35 years since I flowed a debate round!
The policy resolution selected for this season is:
Resolved: The United States federal government should significantly strengthen its protection of domestic intellectual property rights in copyrights, patents, and/or trademarks.
Listening to the arguments around this topic had me remembering the resolutions I debated in high school. I couldnāt remember them exactly but did remember the themes well. I found this comprehensive list of High School Policy Debate Resolutions on a blog with a wonderful debate-inspired name āThe 3NRā. Love that.
1987/1988
Resolved: That the United States government should adopt a policy to increase political stability in Latin America.
1988/1989
Resolved: That the federal government should implement a comprehensive program to guarantee retirement security for United States citizens over age 65.
1989/1990
Resolved: That the federal government should adopt a nationwide policy to decrease overcrowding in prisons and jails in the United States.
I remember the prison overcrowding one the best for sure. My partner Jeff and I were varsity debaters that year and took that resolution and stretched it very far in various arguments. I'm looking forward to seeing all of these debaters today making their cases around intellectual property.
Two AI Bots Discussing the Weekly Thing
Sep 28, 2024 at 9:00āÆAM
The best experience for this entry is to read this on my web site and use the audio controls there. I am linking to the audio files here as well but that will not work as well.
My friend Garrick recently shared about Two AI Bots Discussing His Work -- a test he did using Googleās Notebook LM. I listened to the three recordings that he shared and it was incredible.
I had to try this myself so I fired up Notebook LM and decided to throw some issues of the Weekly Thing at it. The results were interesting to say the least!
292 / Signal, Checkboxes, Hope
Notes:
- I found the beginning of this super interesting. It just jumps right into the privacy topic and for some reason even pulls in bee keeping which seems strangely connected to other things.
- The AI really got focused on the featured article about Section 230 and ignores everything else in this issue. There is a good chunk of writing in here about GTD that is entirely ignored.
- The bots totally understand what Section 230 is.
- It cracked me up when the AIās highlight quotes.
- I found it odd that it mostly pronounces my last name right, but gets it wrong one time.
287 / Plinky, Piccolo, Privacy
Notes:
- This one starts out with a much more traditional podcast introduction, even using a title āThe Deep Diveā. Very different from what it did on the other ones.
- The bots talking about stackless interpreters is pretty funny.
- This one works hard to cover all the various things in the newsletter and kind of rambles on.
276 / Contextual, Copilot, Collections
Notes:
- This issue includes the dates that it covers in the header, and the AI clearly sees that and makes an intentional reference to this being somewhat old. āBack in February 2024ā¦ā
- The Apple Vision Pro āAhh, yes. It was all the rage back then.ā
- āThis guy is writing the user manual for the future.ā Okay!
- Even the bots poke fun at blockchain. āObsessed with the idea of decentralization.ā š
- It is curious to me that in this one there are more references to āthis guyā and āthe authorā. It doesnāt seem to know who I am like it does in the others.
- I love the ātotally randomā reference to the blog post about the Minneapolis Downtown Council. The bots can't help but try to connect it to the rest of the content, which it isnāt at all. But it does make one up! Apparently I'm connecting urban planning to digital spaces.
Multiple Issues
At this point I was pretty impressed and intrigued by what this was doing. I wanted to try something with more content so this time I uploaded 14 recent issues of the Weekly Thing into the notebook and told it to generate. I was curious what it would do with this much material! This one has an entirely different structure.
Notes:
- The bots cover a lot of ground but focus a lot on the variety of topics.
- It is goofy to me when the AI says to the other one āI think I remember that oneā¦ā Huh?
- It thinks I switched my whole blog to a web3 platform, which I didn't. Not sure how it got that.
- āHeās grounded.ā If I want some compliments Iāll just listen to this. š
- āJamie doesnāt shy away from any topic. He even went deep on cryptocurrency.ā
Judged two novice rounds at the Minnesota Debate Teachers Association (MDTA) Jamboree today at Wayzata High School. Was fun to remember how to flow a round and the debaters in general did a great job for their very first rounds in a tournament!
We made our way to Wells Roadside tonight to try the newest smash burger place. This place has a cool location with a very classic drive-in feel. They specialize in wagyu smash burgers and are intentionally very affordable. You can get a double cheeseburger and fries for a very reasonable price.
Our Favorite Cheeseburgers
Sep 29, 2024 at 6:00āÆPM
Since we just tried a new burger place I thought it would be fun to capture our favorite places that the Thingelstad family goes to for cheeseburgers.
- Lionās Tap: this is not a smash burger but it is a delicious classic cheeseburger. The standard bearer.
- Tap Society: this is closest to our house and the burger here has evolved over the years. It is always good and a bonus that their fries and shakes are top notch too.
- Lake & Irving: the cheeseburger here is heavenly.
- The Dakota: there are much fancier items on the menu, but the double cheeseburger at the Dakota is great and one of the cheaper items on the menu.
- Flat Top: Honestly the best, and only true smash burger we get is the one I make on the flat top at the cabin. I havenāt found many (any?) restaurants that truly let the patty adhere to the grill surface to be scraped off. It adds a lot of time and effort.
Tammy and I went to a very cool small performance by Gary Louris of The Jayhawks and Golden Smog at OāShaughnessy Distilling. Just him and his guitar for 90 minutes.
Tammy and I went to see the Cowboy Junkies at The Dakota tonight. Both of us have enjoyed the Cowboy Junkies but hadnāt seem them live. The show was good and featured a bunch of new music, but got a little long for us with two different sets.
Transferring to the new iPhone 16 Pro!
Ordered these awesome new MNUFC license plates for my car! Go Loons! ā½ļø
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Briefly
This should not surprise anyone but I suspect it will. We need privacy legislation in the US. ā FTC Report Confirms: Commercial Surveillance is Out of Control | Electronic Frontier Foundation
ššš ā NIST proposes barring some of the most nonsensical password rules | Ars Technica
Rather than jumping into deep rabbit holes like Obsidian this is a framework that you can apply using the built-in Notes app. Reminds me a bit of the tool agnostic approach of GTD. ā Forever ā± Notes - A free framework for Apple Notes
I got my iPhone 16 Pro and am getting used to this new button. It does a lot of things. It reminds me of a control stick in a car in that way. I've found it a bit challenging to nuance exactly how I want it at time, but am still getting familiar. ā Nerdy Details: The Apple iPhone 16ās Camera Control Button - COOL HUNTINGĀ®
Fortune
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