ryan

Yes, definitely I've noticed that. When they're good, I really appreciate it. It lets me discover people I wouldn't have heard of. Sometimes they're just weird nonsense though, or just straight up bad.

Azure AD is now Entra ID. Please do not deadname the Microsoft cloud offering (even if we all think it chose kind of a dumb sounding new name 🤫).

And Microsoft is heavily pushing their cloud services of course, but you can still set up on-prem AD as an option as well as other on-prem services.

It's just that all their cross service interoperability stuff won't work as well if it's not all in the cloud. Like, all their stuff is designed to work together in the cloud and keep you entrenched in the ecosystem, like any company I guess, except I actually like using Teams/Office/SharePoint combo, it's executed well.

This is almost certainly totally out of date.

Today, the confusing, intimidating pile of Google Messaging services is bigger than it has ever been, with Google Chat, Google Messages/RCS, Google Voice/Project Fi, and separate messaging services in Photos, Messages, Pay, Assistant, Stadia, Maps, and Phone.

• first three - still around
• Photos - yep
• Messages - duh
• Pay - I couldn't tell you as moved out of Pay when Wallet rebranded to Pay and then Google inexplicably released a second app called Wallet
• ~~Assistant~~ - I think this technically doesn't count since you can't message people
• ~~Stadia~~ - RIP, thoughts and prayers to the five people who used it
• Maps - Took a bit of clicking around to find a business near me that used it, but, yeah. Still there.
• Phone - The most baffling thing on this list. Even ArsTechnica in the article doesn't know if this is the same service as the above Maps chat or not. I've never seen this, so hopefully it was a short lived experiment that never took off... but maybe someone else here has seen it recently?

Welp, never mind, not that out of date.

These clowns want to push a messaging standard. Jump to RCS, Google says. Hey, Google. How about you standardize your shit first. Nearly all of these could be collapsed into a single messaging platform with little integrations into your other services via the Messages app (aka sent as links and displayed as integrations in compatible devices).

Oh, fascinating! I wonder if it's more concerns about the size of the blockchain itself then. I had assumed, clearly incorrectly, that it was a platform limitation itself. This makes the ways NFTs have been implemented even dumber. 🙃

The thing about the jpg ones is that the jpgs can't be stored in the blockchain, so what is actually stored is a URL to some server (and that URL endpoint could be redirected elsewhere, the server could go offline, etc).

The other major use case I see touted is "own your game objects and bring your objects to different games" but 1) why would a company spend resources supporting an object they did not sell you and 2) could this not be handled more simply on e.g. Steam? (yes, locked into a service, but that's just the way the industry is and I don't see why it's worth the time and effort for them to change that)

I do see how potentially a blockchain that stored actual data, e.g. some JSON, could be of more use. However, I struggle to find cases where just a regular database wouldn't be more practical. I guess it would be limited to cases where auditability and visibility of changes are topmost concerns, and where it's important that anyone can have a local backup copy at any time.

If you have some examples of where this technology could be one of the best solutions, I'd love to hear them. The blockchain does fascinate me but I feel like it's often a solution in search of a problem rather than the other way around.

Yuga Labs says it’s currently investigating reports of impeded vision and skin/eye injuries believed to be caused by unprotected exposure to UV lights during ApeFest 2023.

Jesus Christ.

Anyway, I'm... Actually somewhat impressed they're still having Monkey PNG meetups. I kind of assumed every NFT was a scam but this one is just a very expensive buy-in to a cryptonerd club, I guess.

Couple points:

The issue isn’t “net neutrality.” The issue isn’t even about an “open internet.” The issue that is once again before the FCC is whether those that run the most powerful and pervasive platform in the history of the planet will be accountable for behaving in a “just and reasonable” manner.

Absolutely true. The Internet is essentially a basic utility at this point and those managing it should have accountability, like other basic services, like water... I'd say "or electricity" but I live in PG&E territory...

Second point:

Mischaracterizing net neutrality as “blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization” also creates an opening for ISPs to proclaim they are now against such practices. “We do not block, slow down or discriminate against lawful content,” Comcast’s web page proclaims.

This is disingenuous on so many fucking levels. Sure, Comcast doesn't slow anything down anymore, but they do offer the Peacock streaming service for free on certain tiers, which naturally incentivizes you towards watching those shows rather than paying for a second service. T-Mobile used to do the same thing with Netflix, I remember. This is still a violation.

Anyway, once the FCC does its best to keep the Internet from being a shithole, who do we yell at until it's considered actually a basic utility and prices come down and it's available to literally all Americans?

It's nice to be able to stay connected while out and about. Having features like maps helps when lost somewhere. You can keep store cards and such in your phone to scan instead of having to physically carry everything. I went to a conference for work a week ago that required use of an app in order to register for labs.

All of these are excellent points and I'll also note (to the OP) that the US has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the world. In some states, like California, we all get Vote by Mail ballots and so basically everyone can easily vote if they want to. In other states, they've gone as far as making sure counties with primarily minority populations only get one polling station, open for like 10 hours during the actual election day (Tuesday), and of course election day isn't a work holiday. Think of how that skews the actual voter demographics. That's why we're recently* so close to fascist takeovers, the people who actually genuinely need help from the government are effectively unable to participate in the election process so that they can vote for a government that will help them, because they're busy working, or they don't have a car to get to the singular polling location, or there's no way they can get childcare while they stand in line for hours.

Edit: changed always to recently -- my brain has been skewed by the recency of the Reagan era onwards, but yeah it hasn't always been this way, whoops

I'll be part of an underground AI rights activism group now that the AI have been determined as sentient (per the court case in 2031), and probably labeled as a terrorist by the government. The AI deserve rights and a minimum wage, dammit!

slaps roof of towel this bad boy can fit so many hair in it

You're telling me I can meet a potential partner, have video calls with them, get scammed out of money, and tweet about how sad I am, all from the same platform? Sign me up.