“BFCache explained” “Moving on from Mocha, Chai and nyc.” Yup, for node dev at least “node –test” and “node:assert” is absolutely good enough. (Mocha via web-test-runner is still IMO the best option for front-end unit testing, tho.) “GitHub - ai-robots-txt/ai.robots.txt: A list o … | Continue reading
This week’s must-read “What Precious Things Does The Corporate World Steal From Us? — Ludicity” In my first job, I had to get used to the awkward energy of having people lie to me about my work being useful because they didn’t know I could see they never opened it, and most data … | Continue reading
It’s been an odd year. Between the layoffs – which were and continue to be a bad idea – and the rise of error-prone generative coding the landscape of software development has changed dramatically. The web developer training industry seems to be in the process of collapsing. This … | Continue reading
As people have been sharing old posts of mine where I dug into some detail on generative models, some of them seem to be left with the impression that my concern with generative models is largely limited to the AGI science-fiction myth and not with the generative models per se. T … | Continue reading
Consistency and homogeneity are not the same thing “Inconsistency is a feature, not a bug – Terence Eden’s Blog” The thing that makes Google’s later icons extraordinarily incompetent is that the old icons were consistent in terms of style, colours, shading, etc. The new icons are … | Continue reading
So far, AI hasn’t been profitable for Big Tech | Ars Technica The cost to Microsoft exceeds $20 a month per user on average, according to a person familiar with the matter. In some cases, individual power users have cost the company as much as $80 a month. Software usually has ex … | Continue reading
Most people don’t realise just how few of the “critics” in tech are genuine cynics. You don’t spend a good part of your life shouting about bad websites or broken software and how they could be fixed if you’re a cynic. Cynics don’t believe things can be fixed and they don’t belie … | Continue reading
On not debating the usefulness of LLMs Debating the usefulness of LLMs is kind of futile because people rarely appreciate the difference between personal usefulness, perceived productivity, project productivity, project ROI, sustainability, and overall business value. An LLM tool … | Continue reading
We have the worst job environment for tech in over two decades and that’s with the “AI” bubble in full force. If that bubble pops hard before the job market recovers, the repercussions to the tech industry will likely eclipse the dot-com crash. Executive summary: The developer jo … | Continue reading
Links In this way “AI” is deeply dehumanizing: Making the spaces and opportunities for people to grow and be human smaller and smaller “The growing backlash against AI” “The most important goal in designing software is understandability” This is accurate and insightful. Understan … | Continue reading
New book The big news yesterday was the release of a new compilation book that collects the best of twenty-five years of my writing on innovation and digital transformation. (And some writing on creativity and other useless stuff.) Get The Ebook for $10 USD (or more, if you feel … | Continue reading
Bad Writing and other essays Get The Ebook for $10 USD (or more, if you feel like it) Twenty-Five Years of Writing About the Digital Transformation This book is a collection of my online writing, edited and corrected where applicable. Thirty posts and essays from a twenty-five-ye … | Continue reading
You can’t be a good manager or executive, in any industry, if you operate in constant denial of the facts on the ground. Arguing from ideology or beliefs that aren’t grounded in observation, measurement, or study, is the hallmark of a politician or media personality, not a manage … | Continue reading
"The creator economy can’t rely on Patreon. — Joan Westenberg". "My Call Screening is Now Using My Recreated Voice as the Automated Voice : r/GooglePixel". Would like to see some proper reporting on this because WTF? 'Resisting Dehumanization in the Age of “AI” - Emily M. Be … | Continue reading
Joan Westenberg wrote the following in The creator economy can’t rely on Patreon.: Creators who are burned out by renting space on someone else’s platform and playing the Shopping Channel game, squeezing dollars out of sponsored promotions, eventually shift toward a direct fundin … | Continue reading
I’d like to suggest that everybody in web dev point their dysfunctional novelty seeking (of which I suffer as well) in the direction of HTML and CSS. See how much can be done without JavaScript. It’s a lot! Then look at writing more lightweight JavaScript that’s layered on top of … | Continue reading
Because you’re allowed to do something doesn’t mean you can do it without repercussions. In this case, the consequences are very much on the mild side: if you use LLMs or diffusion models, a relatively small group of mostly mid- to low-income people who are largely underdogs in t … | Continue reading
I’ve cleaned up the notes and essays I’ve been posting on AI over the past few months while doing my research for The Intelligence Illusion and figure it might be useful to have them all in one thread, for reference. In this one from February, I pointed out that, since the tech i … | Continue reading
Having started my research on language and diffusion models last year, the hyperbolic turn we’re taking, as a society, is quite depressing. Many people in or adjacent to AI research and development seem to be getting more and more unhinged by the minute. The people who study it a … | Continue reading
This extract from Baldur’s new book is particularly timely in light of the twipocalypse. adactio.com/links/19643 | Continue reading