Notices by Dwight Silverman (dsilverman@mastodon.social)

Also amazed to find that thecrueltyisthepoint.com is also still available! 😮

While researching the origin of "This machine kills fascists," the slogan Woody Guthrie put on most of his guitars, I found that thismachinekillsfascists.com is registered but unused at the moment. But hey guys, thisblogkillsfascists.com is, amazingly, available! 🤔

As it’s wont to do, Apple unveiled its updated operating systems at Monday’s #WWDC2025 keynote. There was a lot to process but these are the four items I think will impact most people.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/tech/article/apple-iphone-ipad-mac-ios-update-20368787.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaG91c3RvbmNocm9uaWNsZS5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3MvdGVjaC9hcnRpY2xlL2FwcGxlLWlwaG9uZS1pcGFkLW1hYy1pb3MtdXBkYXRlLTIwMzY4Nzg3LnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTc0OTkwNTY5NzMxNA%3D%3D&rid=YmE1NjU5MDMtMDM4OS00MDYwLWE1YzItNTYwNzYwZDQ2NDc5&sharecount=Mw%3D%3D

While @gruber was turned down for some face time (pun intended) with Apple jefes, @lanceulanoff of @TechRadar scored an interview with Craig Federighi and Mark Spoonauer about the Siri/Apple Intelligence debacle. Enlightening, if not fully detailed.

https://www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/this-is-what-really-happened-with-siri-and-apple-intelligence-according-to-apple

The co-founders of Ookla and its Speedtest.net app and Downdetector.com have teamed up to launch a new app for monitoring the quality of home or business internet connections, checkable from almost any device running on your network. @orbforge is good enough that it may end up replacing Speedtest for me.

Gift link:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/tech/article/ookla-orb-home-internet-speed-app-20357195.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaG91c3RvbmNocm9uaWNsZS5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3MvdGVjaC9hcnRpY2xlL29va2xhLW9yYi1ob21lLWludGVybmV0LXNwZWVkLWFwcC0yMDM1NzE5NS5waHA%3D&time=MTc0OTMwNTczMDMxNw%3D%3D&rid=YmE1NjU5MDMtMDM4OS00MDYwLWE1YzItNTYwNzYwZDQ2NDc5&sharecount=MQ%3D%3D

Got extensions in your web browser? Chances are you do. They bring superpowers, but if you don’t keep an eye on them, they could bring misery, or worse. Extension hygiene is a must!

Gift link!

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/tech/article/web-browser-extension-update-how-to-20347138.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaG91c3RvbmNocm9uaWNsZS5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3MvdGVjaC9hcnRpY2xlL3dlYi1icm93c2VyLWV4dGVuc2lvbi11cGRhdGUtaG93LXRvLTIwMzQ3MTM4LnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTc0ODcyNzcyNTE4OQ%3D%3D&rid=YmE1NjU5MDMtMDM4OS00MDYwLWE1YzItNTYwNzYwZDQ2NDc5&sharecount=Nw%3D%3D

I do think Anthropic is the best AI-company name, hands down. https://mstdn.social/@TechCrunch/114602874509968097

Stack overflow is almost dead - The Pragmatic Engineer

https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/stack-overflow-is-almost-dead/

How has Apple stumbled of late? O, let me count the ways! The company isn't doomed, but its hubris is its own worst enemy.

Gift link:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/tech/article/apple-challenge-app-store-ai-google-20314879.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaG91c3RvbmNocm9uaWNsZS5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3MvdGVjaC9hcnRpY2xlL2FwcGxlLWNoYWxsZW5nZS1hcHAtc3RvcmUtYWktZ29vZ2xlLTIwMzE0ODc5LnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTc0Njg4MDA1MjgzNg%3D%3D&rid=YmE1NjU5MDMtMDM4OS00MDYwLWE1YzItNTYwNzYwZDQ2NDc5&sharecount=Mg%3D%3D

As AI worms its way into the devices we use, I continually feel like something's missing. Generative AI like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude are pretty amazing, but I feel like they just aren't doing what I REALLY want. They feel like a techbro's idea of what THEY think I want.

Example: https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/windows-11-new-experiences-announcement-may-2025

What do you think AI should do for you that it doesn't do now? This may end up as a column, not sure. (And I don't want to hear "AI IS EVIL AND MUST DIE." Not useful in this context.)

In case you missed it from the weekend: Comcast keeps rolling out new products and tiers without data caps - but you have to use their internet gateway. https://mastodon.social/@dsilverman/114443997092128898

Deciding when to upgrade a smartphone, laptop/desktop or tablet is hard enough, but now buyers have to deal with looming, onerous tariffs aimed at Chinese-made goods – which includes most of the tech gear sold in the U.S. Here's how to decide when to pull the trigger in this confusing landscape.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/tech/article/iphone-tariff-price-hike-upgrade-20277040.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaG91c3RvbmNocm9uaWNsZS5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3MvdGVjaC9hcnRpY2xlL2lwaG9uZS10YXJpZmYtcHJpY2UtaGlrZS11cGdyYWRlLTIwMjc3MDQwLnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTc0NTA2ODMwNzIzMA%3D%3D&rid=YmE1NjU5MDMtMDM4OS00MDYwLWE1YzItNTYwNzYwZDQ2NDc5&sharecount=Mw%3D%3D

Be careful what you say on social media, part 2

by @mathewi via his excellent The Torment Nexus newsletter.

https://torment-nexus.mathewingram.com/be-careful-what-you-say-on-social-media-part-2/

So long Amazon – Baker On Tech

Veteran tech journalist and Amazon shopping junkie Phil Baker gets an email from Amazon saying he'd had too many returns. But it didn't way what "too many" is and didn't say whether he was being penalized in any way. It also said he could send an email in response but the decision would not be reversed - though it never said what the decision was!

@onejarednewman called it "Kafkaesque" in his Advisorator newsletter. Yep.

https://bakerontech.com/so-long-amazon/

@WarnerCrocker Yes. In other countries where protests have been effective, they involve not just weekend activism. You gotta show up every day for weeks.

The headline I originally saw on Instagram for this op-ed by Hillary Clinton was “This is Just Dumb.“ It has been watered down a little bit now, but the original headline is very fitting. Stupid is as stupid does, and in this case, stupid is dangerous.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/opinion/trump-hegseth-signal-chat.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

I don't need Windows anymore. One final tool broke my reliance on Microsoft | PCWorld

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2648498/i-dont-need-windows-anymore-one-final-tool-broke-my-reliance-on-microsoft.html

Companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple keep making product changes in the service of AI, whether users want them or not. Amazon's dropping of the ability for three of its Echo devices to process Alexa commands locally may not affect many users, but it's part of a disturbing trend toward erosion of choice - and trust.

Gift link.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/tech/article/amazon-alexa-commands-cloud-20230410.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaG91c3RvbmNocm9uaWNsZS5jb20vYnVzaW5lc3MvdGVjaC9hcnRpY2xlL2FtYXpvbi1hbGV4YS1jb21tYW5kcy1jbG91ZC0yMDIzMDQxMC5waHA%3D&time=MTc0MjY1Mzc2Njk5MQ%3D%3D&rid=YmE1NjU5MDMtMDM4OS00MDYwLWE1YzItNTYwNzYwZDQ2NDc5&sharecount=NQ%3D%3D

WTAF???? https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:o4pdps2jkn7uhrdgadni7djk/post/3ljq4dqhe422y

Can you really get Windows and Office for free? These hackers say yes | ZDNET

https://www.zdnet.com/article/can-you-really-get-windows-and-office-for-free-these-hackers-say-yes/

From @edbott: "Is this legal? LOL, of course it's not."