GoatCounter is an open source web analytics platform available as a free donation-supported hosted service or self-hosted app. It aims to offer easy to use and meaningful privacy-friendly web analytics as an alternative to Google Analytics or Matomo.
Raised on “Stranger Danger,” today’s helicopter parents are so overprotective and safety conscious they won’t even let their children go on unsupervised playdates. So how did Disney convince them to willingly give away the entirety of their children’s personal information to a faceless corporation: their names and addresses, what they like to eat, the names of their friends and family members, and their favorite cartoon characters?
Apparently, the answer is convenience.
Companion piece here, focusing on the tech stuff: https://www.optoutproject.net/data-free-disney/
This is not to say that I never use GPS systems, but I try to minimize my use — using them only when absolutely necessary — because becoming dependent on them causes the parts of your brain that do that work to atrophy. Literally.
Whoops, never thought of that before! Like, I know using AI to write makes me a worse writer, but using GPS directions in Google Maps also makes me worse at navigating? It makes sense in retrospect. And with the GPS I never have to develop the skills to navigate in the first place. Yikes!
Today, it may seem to many that the cluster of technologies marketed as “AI” is entirely new, and, logically, that objection to it must likewise be unheard-of. But, as the demonstration shows, not only is “AI” not especially new; protesting it has a long history. [...] [W]e are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.
We envision a resistance that is, by its very nature, a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction.
Some fun (for a variety of fun) Microsoft Windows horror graphics (not graphic-graphic, no worries).
But what I vehemently object to in this situation is the use of the first-person voice without my review or permission. The language used in the description makes it sound as if I wrote it (“In this post, I share my personal journey…”). Because I have fiercely protected my authorship throughout my life and what my name is attached to, any generative AI writing that purports to be in my voice without my informed consent is a profound violation of my authorial voice, agency, and frankly it feels like fraud or impersonation. As an archivist who has spent almost twenty years thinking about accuracy in information, it makes my skin crawl that there is a metadata field with the sole purpose of generating SEO-engagement purporting to be my voice that doesn’t disclose the authorship was actually non-consensual AI.
I always knew that if I was going to make it big, I had to have a deep faith in these stories, yet I could never muster that conviction. I still believe in the things that I build, but never for long. I consider that a blessing, because I feel freer from the illusions that so many tech people seem caught up in. But having my third eye open doesn’t help me achieve great things.
Nor do I feel at peace sitting still. I can’t seem to accept that I would spend this one precious life I have not shining as bright as I possibly can, not for the money or the status, but just to feel what Teddy Roosevelt called the “strenuous life,” to enjoy it juice, pulp, and pith.
I don’t know if there’s a career for me beyond tech’s golden handcuffs. It’s funny, no one ever went out of their way to compliment me on my engineering prowess, but I’ve had many people tell me that I have a gift for words and for teaching. I feel called to write, but the things that well up in my chest sometimes feel too controversial and vulnerable. I’m afraid of being hurt.
I think Millennials as a whole were told that if we want to succeed we have to go whole-hog into one thing and make it our identity. If you can't or won't do that, then you're not a success. (I think this is capitalism doing something. You can't market yourself to a boss or to an audience if you like 5 things and they're all different topics.) But I think a lot of people would actually prefer to just be mildly amused (especially at work) and spend time doing other things and not just ONE THING FOREVER.
I fucking hate the Tech Bros. I hate the hype. I hate the Bros wrongly claiming LLM's will turn us all into toast. I hate their never-ending quest to make their investments have a return. I hate the venture capitalists in their Patagonia vests who talk about "disruption" while they burn down the library of human experience and fuck over workers. I hate them with the specific, intricate hatred of a survivor who knows exactly how the grift works.
I hate LLMs. My hatred knows no bounds. I love the small web, the clean web. I hate tech bloat.
And LLMs are the ultimate bloat.
[...] I posit: Kovid betrayed us with Calibre 8.16.2, and we as a community never should have let that happen, never have placed such a burden on individual generosity. The synthesis of these two truths, then, is nearly self-evident. There must be a new effort, free from AI encumbrances, that is built from the ground-up as a community effort. Something that can outlive the decisions of any one participant, something that does not place any one individual under an untenable load.
The rereading Project aims to do precisely this.
I'm interested to see where this project goes. It's unfortunate that Calibre is really the only widely-used/available cataloging system (I know there's other options but not if you a) want to use Linux and b) have thousands of things to catalog) so another option or two would be great!
Gemini is a new internet technology supporting an electronic library of interconnected text documents. That's not a new idea, but it's not old fashioned either. It's timeless, and deserves tools which treat it as a first class concept, not a vestigial corner case. Gemini isn't about innovation or disruption, it's about providing some respite for those who feel the internet has been disrupted enough already. We're not out to change the world or destroy other technologies. We are out to build a lightweight online space where documents are just documents, in the interests of every reader's privacy, attention and bandwidth.
I want to make a Gemini version of my site! For fun!
Every time there's news from Mozilla we see a lot of takes around here along the lines of: they're clueless, their heads are in the sand, they don't know their userbase.
Alternative interpretation: We're looking at another case very much like Bluesky - a corporation with somewhat-openwashed branding which knows exactly who their userbase is, hates it, and wants a different one.
The rationale is clear enough; the browser is just a massive opportunity for datamining. The "AI" startups can only dream of controlling a browser with even the marketshare of Firefox. In that light, it's no use having a userbase of technically competent, privacy-aware dissidents who can work around the extractive dark patterns. Let's face it people, we're not profitable to surveillance capitalism
Lightning fast and privacy-friendly, Kavita is a self‑hosted digital library for EPUB, PDF, comics and manga — with built‑in readers (single, double page, and webtoon mode), OPDS, and rich metadata. Install and share your server in minutes.
Like Plex but for books/comics!
Quill OS is an open-source, fully-functional standalone OS for Rakuten Kobo's eReaders.
If you run an organisation of any kind (non-profits, businesses, clubs etc), this guide is aimed at helping you get the most out of being on Mastodon and the Fediverse. The Fedi works a bit differently to social networks you may be used to, and has some unique advantages as well as unique challenges.
As an alternative to depending on Facebook and Instagram, perhaps!
“I felt like Jason and the mods cared more about Claude than the welcoming community they built. Considering Jason is the owner of the server, I wouldn't trust him to be able to put the community first before putting AI first,” ML told 404 Media.
(Need free account to read full article or else here: https://archive.is/Ypur6)
Turn your ListenBrainz, Last.fm, or Navidrome listening history into a shareable poster with your top artists, tracks, listening time, and favourite genre from the last 12 months.
Super cute and fun! A good alternative to the Spotify wrapped things.
A thorough set-up for organizing trip data, useful for keeping track of hotels, flights, sightseeing, etc. Uses quite a lot of community plugins.
Simple setup guide and asset files from https://daily-tarot.squarespace.com for adding a random tarot pull to your Obsidian daily note :)
Definitely adding this to my e-grimoire.
There is a tedious point that advocates of AI art will periodically articulate to the effect of AI rendering art accessible to more people—ones lacking in time or ability to otherwise produce it. The response to this is generally that the time and labor involved is fundamental to art. But even more fundamental is the thought involved. At the end of the day what defines art is the existence of intention behind it—the fact that some consciousness experienced thoughts that it subsequently tried to communicate. Without that there’s simply lines on paper, splotches of color, and noise. At the risk of tautology, meaning exists because people mean things. Nobody else is going to do that work for us. If we don’t do it, really, what’s the fucking point?
