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Jan Maarten

@janmaarten.com

780 followers 300 following 460 posts

Inclusive designer, privacy advocate, writer, and future hermit. (he/him) Please don’t add me to your starter packs. Opinions are my own. 🌐 https://janmaarten.com

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Jan Maarten @janmaarten.com · Nov 15

Me, an accessibility designer losing his chill: If you do that, no one using assistive tech will be able to use this

Dev: Okay but is it really a problem if it isn't accessible?

Me: We need to make sure that everyone can access this

Dev: What do you mean everyone??

Me:

a man in a suit is crying and says `` everyone '' .

Alt: A man maniacally shouting "EVERYONE!", enunciating and drawing out every ear-piercing syllable. Clip from the film The Professional.

media.tenor.com

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Jan Maarten @janmaarten.com · 9h

WorldCoin failed in its effort to obtain all our biometrics and this seems like a continuation of that effort; another attempt to grab identifying data (via ID-driven age gating).

Instead of scanning your iris for cash, you exchange your ID for a wank.

Seems pathological at this point.

The Verge @theverge.com · 20h

Sam Altman says ChatGPT will soon sext with verified adults

ChatGPT is about to get flirty.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 18h

i don't have the words to emphasise how seriously bad things are gonna get

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 19h

"Starting in December 2024, the researchers began contacting the affected telecoms. T-Mobile responded by encrypting its satellite transmissions within weeks, but responses from other cell carriers were mixed."

Everything is cool and normal.

www.wired.com/story/satell...

Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data

With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data—including thousands of T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications—sent by satellites unencrypte...

www.wired.com

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 2d

There is a cult of action at the heart of tech.

This cult says: don't mind that the systems are broken. Don't try and fix them. You can just do things, using you ubermensch will.

AI has plugged into this cult to promise 10x-ing your action. But instead your will becomes subservient to the machine.

"Just doing things" is not a path to value

Action for the sake of action feels good, but the path of least resistance leads you to surrender your own agency.

productpicnic.beehiiv.com

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Jan Maarten @janmaarten.com · 2d

The comma seems unnecessary at this point.

Reposted by Jan Maarten

Ian Coldwater 👻🌿 @lookitup.baby · 2d

Boss, we’ve got a problem. Users don’t want this stuff! They keep wanting to turn it off, even when we keep turning it back on!

Boss: I have an idea

Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 2d

bitch what

Onedrive settings. A toggle for using AI to detect and identify faces is set to on. The caption says, you can only turn off this setting 3 times per year.

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · 3d

WTF: "An Education Department staffer told USA TODAY the agency laid off just about every employee who works to administer funding for IDEA, the primary federal law supporting students with disabilities. He was unsure how those programs will exist moving forward."

www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

www.usatoday.com

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Spoopy Angelos 👻 @arn.is · 5d

One of my longest posts… blends together enshittification, bullshit jobs, managerialism, extractivism, deskilling under AI.

Influenced by works of @katecrawford.bsky.social @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy @olivia.science @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social @cwarzel.bsky.social and many others

The infrastructure of meaninglessness

Listen, there are two realities that we should be aware of. AI exists to make your job obsolete because the alternative is that AI makes managers obsolete. Let me try to break down this theory, which...

collectivefutures.blog

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

dorian @doriantaylor.com · 13d

it really does seem like computer guys just want to make the world worse

it's like they're at the point they're literally sitting around in a room going "how can we make the world a worse place?"

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Denis - The COVID Info Guy @thecovidinfoguy.bsky.social · 13d

Scientists Finally Reveal Biological Basis of Long COVID Brain Fog.

Patients with brain fog may have disrupted AMPA receptor (AMPAR) expression—key molecules for memory and learning. Imaging of Long COVID patients showed elevated AMPAR density tied to more severe cognitive impairment.

Scientists Finally Reveal Biological Basis of Long COVID Brain Fog

Researchers employed a specialized brain imaging technique to identify a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for Long COVID. More than four years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, scien...

scitechdaily.com

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Ben Patton @benapatton.com · 14d

I feel my webby friends would like this. Might be a fun excuse to dabble in random things and show some fun possibilities with your skills!

Thinking of the recent convo with @amyhoy.bsky.social on Javascript.

Piccalilli @piccalil.li · 14d

A really cool idea: a challenge to build a little website every day in October based on a daily theme.

weirdweboctober.website

Weird Web October

A challenge to try and make a website every day of October, based on the theme for each day

weirdweboctober.website

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Scott Riley @scott.is · 14d

imagining a future where orgs/people with morals and spines who build stuff for actual people instead of someone at the end of a b2b supply chain start to really thrive.

calm apps that do their job well and fuck off. less focus on growth. more human touches. no selling of souls to vc.

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Grant Stoner @supercrip1994.bsky.social · 15d

cool. lol. lmao even

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Scott Riley @scott.is · 15d

"I vibe-coded a…"
"I asked ChatGPT to…"

Brother please I am begging you to do something enriching with your time on this planet. Please stop treating your relationship with artificial intelligence as a personality. Please just play Final Fantasy Tactics Advance or Paint A Picture or Something.

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Jan Maarten @janmaarten.com · 16d

@caitlynmayers.bsky.social gets the credit for this one

Jan Maarten @janmaarten.com · 16d

Apple doesn't use WebGL to render any of the new UI, so we should drop the letters "GL" when we talk about Liquid Glass.

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Dr Satoshi Akima, FRACP @toshiakima.bsky.social · 17d

We found a link between SARS-CoV-2 reinfection & #longCOVID, & a post-pandemic rise in thrombotic events across all populations, regardless of vaccination or prior infection. Findings support continued COVID diagnosis in suspected cases & mask use by healthcare workers treating respiratory patients

www.mdpi.com

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Jan Maarten @janmaarten.com · 18d

You too can save the world by not trusting the computer.

Per Axbom @axbom.com · 19d

Happy Petrov Day to those who celebrate. On September 26, 1983, Stanislav Petrov made the correct decision to not trust a computer.

I've attached a short clip from a reenactment of the situation in the documentary The Man Who Saved the World.

1/11

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 19d

Using an emergency declaration, Trump’s timber production executive order would ease environmental protections so as to greatly expand logging in the national forests.

A report from our friends at @highcountrynews.org:

The dismantling of the US Forest Service is imminent

The public has less than a week remaining to comment on the administration's plans.

www.motherjones.com

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Nic Chan @nicmakesstuff.bsky.social · 19d

Designer friends are gonna want check out my buddy @janmaarten.com + Daniel's talk on Accessibility Annotations Around the World
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Gm...

You're also gonna want to check out the incredible annotation toolkit that was just released to make design handoff easier!

Jan Maarten and Daniel Henderson-Ede / Accessibility Annotations Around the World #id24 2025

YouTube video by Inclusive Design 24 #id24

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Jan Maarten

Katie Langerman @katielangerman.com · 19d

I find myself reaching for this kit more and more lately. It has ALL THE THINGS. Seriously next level, check it out!

Jan Maarten @janmaarten.com · 19d

If you missed my @inclusivedesign24.bsky.social talk, the GitHub Annotation Toolkit is now open source! Download it from the Figma Community or our open source repository.
github.blog/changelog/20...

Open sourcing the GitHub Annotation Toolkit - GitHub Changelog

GitHub’s Annotation Toolkit is now available as an open source Figma library. This comprehensive annotation system helps you organize your design canvas, diagram your UI anatomy, and annotate accessib...

github.blog

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Jan Maarten @janmaarten.com · 19d

There is a LONG list of folks to thank:
@ericwbailey.website @alexislucio.bsky.social @obee.me @ichelsea.bsky.social @joelamyman.bsky.social Demelza Feltham, Allie Thu @hellojanehere.bsky.social @julianmka.bsky.social Daniel Henderson-Ede, Devin Owsley, Jasmine Friedrich, Kevin Oliveira, David Cox

Jan Maarten @janmaarten.com · 19d

3. Quick shortcuts to help speed up the annotation process for common use cases.

4. In-depth documentation for every type of annotation, and if you don't want to read a whole website, it's integrated into the library (and components themselves). We made this info easy to access and hard to ignore.

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Jan Maarten @janmaarten.com · 19d

This one is NOT for accessibility specialists. It's for everyone!

We deliberately built this library so anyone can pick it up and run with it.

1. There are tools to help designers to organize their canvas and make sense of their flows.
2. Guardrails to help carefully handle problematic patterns.

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Jan Maarten @janmaarten.com · 19d

To hear others tell it, it's the most comprehensive annotation kit there is. It supports iOS & Android (finally). It has everything you would expect from an accessibility annotation kit AND components for tables, lists, live regions, language, video/audio embeds, checklists, gestures, and much more.

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