Geek Stuff category archive
Facebook Frolics 0
Cathy O’Neil skewers the Zuckerborg’s argument that it is to big and complex to break up. A snippet (emphasis added). As an aside, I suspect that U. S. Steel, American Sugar, and other trusts busted by Teddy Roosevelt made similar arguments.
Really? No doubt, the breakup would be difficult for Facebook’s managers, who rely on data sharing among WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook to create the most complete possible profiles of users and then sell their attention to the highest bidder. If the companies were separated, all the investment they’d been making into surveillance and targeting wouldn’t immediately work out as well as they had hoped. For them, the product is the advertising, not the service to users.
“It’s All about Mememememememe” 0
In the midst of a larger article about pro- and anti-vacine memes on “social” media, psychologist Utpal Dholakia notes the following:
Influencing others and changing their minds is a fourth reason to post, but it’s a distant fourth for most of us.
The Disinformation Superhighway 0
Websites wielding weaponized widgets perpetuate petabytes of prevarication in these viral times.
Decorated 0
Ubuntu MATE with the Plasma Desktop. The wallpaper is from my collection.
I must admit that getting into the holiday spirit in these Trumpled times has been difficult.
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
It seems that the new right-wing “social” media app, Parler (no, I won’t link to it), which aspires as far as I can tell to be a wingnut Twitter, has got itself some unexpected fans.
Geeking Out 0
Virtual machines of Slackware –Current (foreground) and CentOS v. 7 in VirtualBox on Mageia v. 7 using the Fluxbox window manager. The wallpaper, a scene from Land’s End, is from my collection.
Ring Wraith 0
“Smart home” is an oxymoron.
(snip)
Through the family’s four Ring cameras, a hacker screamed, “Help me!” as officers checked inside the home to make sure everyone was safe.
Back outside, the officers realized the intermittent screaming was coming from the home’s Ring cameras.
Geeking Out 0
Magiea v. 7 with the Fluxbox window manager using the Operation style.
I do likes me my pretty pictures.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
Arash Javanbakht, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, explores how “social” media’s algorithms, designed to keep us eternally engaged in ephemera, lead us down the disinformation superhighway. A nugget:
As a result, the algorithms amplify the negative and then spread it by sharing it among groups.
DIY 0
And now for a bit of good news . . . .
Geeking Out 0
The Fluxbox window manager on Mageia v. 7. That’s gkrellm in the bottom right, xclock in the upper right, and the Fluxbox menu in the mid-left. The background is from my collection.
I do like me my right-click menu, as I can access the menu from any point on the screen.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Christine Louise Hohlbaum reflects on the power that we have ceded to technology companies. It is a particularly timely article amongst the swirl of lies and conspiracy theories surrounding the upcoming election.
Here’s a snippet:
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*The citation is from Which Side of History?, a recently published collection of essays.
Geeking Out 2
Listening to the Philo Vance mystery, the Movie Murder Case, from OTR.net with the VLC media player on Magiea v. 7 under the Fluxbox window manager. The wallpaper is from my collection.
Oh, and that’s Firefox and Claws Mail in a tabbed window together shaded (or “rolled up”) there towards the top of the screen, and Konsole shaded just beneath them.
You can’t do that in Windows.
The Internet of Things 0
“Smart home” (meaning one where every gadget has a network connection) is an oxymoron.
I can push my coffee maker’s “on” button all by my ownsome, thank you very much.
Via Bruce Schneier.