Whether consciously or not, AI manufacturers have decided to prioritise plausibility over accuracy. It means AI systems are impressive, but in a world plagued by conspiracy and disinformation this decision only deepens the problem.
If someone’s been driven to Google something you’ve written, they’re stuck. Being stuck is, to one degree or another, upsetting and annoying. So try not to make them feel worse by telling them how straightforward they should be finding it. It gets in the way of them learning what you want them to learn.
The story that “artificial intelligence” tells is a smoke screen. But smoke offers only temporary cover. It fades if it isn’t replenished.
I love print stylesheets but I was today years old when I found out that print-color-adjust exists.
A thoughtful response to the current CMA consultation:
The inability to compete with native apps using Progressive Web Apps fully—particularly on iOS—also has a big impact on my work and the businesses I have worked with. Progressive Web Apps are extremely accessible for development, allowing for the creation of a simple app in a fraction of the time and complexity of a native app. This is fantastic for allowing smaller agencies and businesses to innovate on the web and on mobile devices and to reach consumers. However the poor support for PWA features by Safari and by not allowing them in the App Store, Apple forces app development to be difficult, time consuming and extremely expensive. I have spoken with many companies who would have liked an app to compete with their larger competitors but are unable to afford the huge costs in developing a native app.
Get your response in by Friday by emailing [email protected].
A superb piece of writing by Debbie Chachra on infrastructure, fairness, and the future.
Alone in my apartment, when I reach out my hand to flip a switch or turn on a tap, I am a continent-spanning colossus, tapping into vast systems that span thousands of miles to bring energy, atoms, and information to my household. But I’m only the slenderest tranche of these collective systems, constituting the whole with all the other members of our federated infrastructural cyborg bodies.
The “Adjust CSS” slider on this delightful homepage is an effective (and cute) illustration of progressive enhancement in action.
There’s a new reissue of the twenty year old documentary on Justin Hall’s links.net and the early days of the web.
The text of Mandy’s astounding dConstruct talk.
Marvellous stuff!
Molly Crabapple talks about her experiences sketching at Guantanamo Bay.
America, out of fear after September 11th, imprisoned many innocent men under the most brutal conditions, set up a Kafka-esque legal process that made it very, very hard for them to get their freedom, and is still keeping them there because of fear and political grandstanding.
Twitter for great justice!
Brighton's Lomokev narrowly avoids a 30 day jail stretch without trial... a fellow commuter thought his beard looked suspicious and reported him to the police.
Finally, questions are being asked about some of the more ludicrous patents out there. "Have inventors been busy patenting laws of nature, natural phenomena and abstract ideas?" Duh!
Playing with Lego Mindstorms on a train can get you arrested in Germany.
Unbelievable. Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime in the USA. Bye, bye, whistle blowers.
An article delving into the crazy, crazy world of the US Patent Office.
Amazing news! George Bush says, "Let's get rid of all subsidies together. Let's join hands as wealthy industrialised nations and say to the world, we're going to get rid of all our subsidies together."
Kick All Agricultural Subsidies. Here's a blog I can really get behind.