Sasha Kotlyar
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arktronic.com
Sasha Kotlyar
@arktronic.com
38 followers 70 following 150 posts
Technomage. Software guy. Tea drinker.

See also @[email protected]
Posts Replies Media Videos
arktronic.com
So far, I've been enjoying using Lyrion Music Server with both physical Squeezebox hardware and software-based players. It's not sexy, but it just works. Cross-player sync, Spotify integration, Internet radio, etc., just... work.

Legacy doesn't have to be a bad word. It can mean stability.
February 18, 2026 at 2:06 AM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
whitep4nth3r.com
love a bit of continvouclous morging
Bugfixes (all one word) from rel comma branch may by continvoucly morged back into develop
February 16, 2026 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
briantylercohen.bsky.social
BREAKING: @barackobama.bsky.social clarifies his position on aliens after his answer during the speed round of our interview went viral.
February 16, 2026 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
benjedwards.com
Sorry all this is my fault; and speculation has grown worse because I have been sick in bed with a high fever and unable to reliably address it (still am sick)

I was told by management not to comment until they did. Here is my statement in images below

arstechnica.com/staff/2026/0...
I have been sick with COVID all week and missed Mon and Tues due to this. On Friday, while working from bed with a fever and very little sleep, I unintentionally made a serious journalistic error in an article about Scott Shambaugh. Here’s what happened: I was incorporating information from Shambaugh’s new blog post into an existing draft from Thursday. During the process, I decided to try an experimental Claude Code-based AI tool to help me extract relevant verbatim source material. Not to generate the article but to help list structured references I could put in my outline. When the tool refused to process the post due to content policy restrictions (Shambaugh’s post described harassment). I pasted the text into ChatGPT to understand why. I should have taken a sick day because in the course of that interaction, I inadvertently ended up with a paraphrased version of Shambaugh’s words rather than his actual words. Being sick and rushing to finish, I failed to verify the quotes in my outline notes against the original blog source before including them in my draft. Kyle Orland had no role in this error. He trusted me to provide accurate quotes, and I failed him. The text of the article was human-written by us, and this incident was isolated and is not representative of Ars Technica’s editorial standards. None of our articles are AI-generated, it is against company policy and we have always respected that. I sincerely apologize to Scott Shambaugh for misrepresenting his words. I take full responsibility. The irony of an AI reporter being tripped up by AI hallucination is not lost on me. I take accuracy in my work very seriously and this is a painful failure on my part. When I realized what had happened, I asked my boss to pull the piece because I was too sick to fix it on Friday. There was nothing nefarious at work, just a terrible judgement call which was no one’s fault but my own. —Benj Edwards, February 15, 2026 I have been sick with COVID all week and missed Mon and Tues due to this. On Friday, while working from bed with a fever and very little sleep, I unintentionally made a serious journalistic error in an article about Scott Shambaugh. Here’s what happened: I was incorporating information from Shambaugh’s new blog post into an existing draft from Thursday. During the process, I decided to try an experimental Claude Code-based AI tool to help me extract relevant verbatim source material. Not to generate the article but to help list structured references I could put in my outline. When the tool refused to process the post due to content policy restrictions (Shambaugh’s post described harassment). I pasted the text into ChatGPT to understand why. I should have taken a sick day because in the course of that interaction, I inadvertently ended up with a paraphrased version of Shambaugh’s words rather than his actual words. Being sick and rushing to finish, I failed to verify the quotes in my outline notes against the original blog source before including them in my draft. Kyle Orland had no role in this error. He trusted me to provide accurate quotes, and I failed him. The text of the article was human-written by us, and this incident was isolated and is not representative of Ars Technica’s editorial standards. None of our articles are AI-generated, it is against company policy and we have always respected that. I sincerely apologize to Scott Shambaugh for misrepresenting his words. I take full responsibility. The irony of an AI reporter being tripped up by AI hallucination is not lost on me. I take accuracy in my work very seriously and this is a painful failure on my part. When I realized what had happened, I asked my boss to pull the piece because I was too sick to fix it on Friday. There was nothing nefarious at work, just a terrible judgement call which was no one’s fault but my own. —Benj Edwards, February 15, 2026 I have been sick with COVID all week and missed Mon and Tues due to this. On Friday, while working from bed with a fever and very little sleep, I unintentionally made a serious journalistic error in an article about Scott Shambaugh. Here’s what happened: I was incorporating information from Shambaugh’s new blog post into an existing draft from Thursday. During the process, I decided to try an experimental Claude Code-based AI tool to help me extract relevant verbatim source material. Not to generate the article but to help list structured references I could put in my outline. When the tool refused to process the post due to content policy restrictions (Shambaugh’s post described harassment). I pasted the text into ChatGPT to understand why. I should have taken a sick day because in the course of that interaction, I inadvertently ended up with a paraphrased version of Shambaugh’s words rather than his actual words. Being sick and rushing to finish, I failed to verify the quotes in my outline notes against the original blog source before including them in my draft. Kyle Orland had no role in this error. He trusted me to provide accurate quotes, and I failed him. The text of the article was human-written by us, and this incident was isolated and is not representative of Ars Technica’s editorial standards. None of our articles are AI-generated, it is against company policy and we have always respected that. I sincerely apologize to Scott Shambaugh for misrepresenting his words. I take full responsibility. The irony of an AI reporter being tripped up by AI hallucination is not lost on me. I take accuracy in my work very seriously and this is a painful failure on my part. When I realized what had happened, I asked my boss to pull the piece because I was too sick to fix it on Friday. There was nothing nefarious at work, just a terrible judgement call which was no one’s fault but my own. —Benj Edwards, February 15, 2026
February 15, 2026 at 9:03 PM
arktronic.com
Finished the Lower Decks Warp Your Own Way interactive graphic novel. It is SO GOOD! I wasn't sure what to expect, but I can confidently say that everyone who enjoyed Lower Decks should get it. The Hugo award was well deserved.
February 15, 2026 at 5:22 AM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
grapheneos.org
Our latest OS release adds a sandboxed Google Play toggle for extending RCS compatibility in Google Messages to the rest of the carriers supporting it by granting ICC authentication access to sandboxed Play services. T-Mobile is the main one requiring it.

bsky.app/profile/grap...
February 13, 2026 at 9:12 PM
arktronic.com
OMG, they desecrated Zombocom!
February 8, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
kyleor.land
Feels like we've hit a tipping point
kylegriffin1.bsky.social Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 12d
BREAKING:

New reaction from Leader Jeffries to the racist Trump video:

"This disgusting video posted by the so-called president was done intentionally. Fuck Donald Trump and his vile, racist, and malignant behavior. This guy is an unhinged bottom feeder."
February 6, 2026 at 11:17 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
rmac.bsky.social
The comms rep just had no ability to comprehend that AI takes in the information that already exists in the world and repackages it. Our reporting had yet to be published and therefore wasn't out in the world hadn't been ingested by any chatbot.

And they just... believed the chatbot.
February 5, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
vscode.dev
You told us you’re running multiple AI agents and wanted a better UX. We listened and shipped it!

Here’s what’s new:
🗂️ Unified agent sessions workspace for local, background, and cloud agents
🔀 Parallel subagents
💻 Claude and Codex support for local and cloud agents
🌐 Integrated browser
& more...
February 4, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
rmac.bsky.social
Democracy doesn't die in darkness. It dies in the back pocket of a billionaire.
February 4, 2026 at 9:49 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
annaecook.com
So I know a lot is going on right now, but I do want to share this:

I’m excited to share the launch of the new Microsoft Inclusive Design website 💙

This project is my love letter to the community and practice that’s shaped my work for nearly a decade.

inclusive.microsoft.design

1/
Microsoft Inclusive Design
Microsoft Inclusive Design is a practice that anyone who creates and manages products and services can use to build more inclusive experiences for everyone. Get the principles, guidebooks, workshop to...
inclusive.microsoft.design
February 4, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
simonwillison.net
Two new speech-to-text models (similar to Whisper) from Mistral today - one of them is API-only, the other is a 8.9GB Apache-2.0 licensed open weights model for "realtime" transcription. They're both very good! simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/4/v...
Voxtral transcribes at the speed of sound
Mistral just released Voxtral Transcribe 2 - a family of two new models, one open weights, for transcribing audio to text. This is the latest in their Whisper-like model family, …
simonwillison.net
February 4, 2026 at 10:43 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
willoremus.com
Whatever you think of the Washington Post at this moment, here's a chance to support the dedicated, hard-working journalists who were just laid off. If you have the means, your donation is most welcome. If you don't, a kind thought and maybe spreading the word to others is support enough 💙
Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund
www.gofundme.com
February 4, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
kyleor.land
February 3, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
marypcbuk.bsky.social
alt text a coiled rattlesnake on a yellow background, wearing a red ballcap and matching ball gag, with a collar and leash; the text reads TREAD ON ME, DADDY
tommysiegel.bsky.social Tommy Siegel @tommysiegel.bsky.social · 22d
drew this parody gadsden flag six years ago, and it seems it’s still relevant as the bootlicking has only increased.

(if you’ve shared a version, I’d appreciate if you shared this one — I’m making more stickers, flags and t-shirts to give 100% of profits to MN mutual aid! www.tommysiegel.net)
January 27, 2026 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
georgetakei.bsky.social
After being held in two of them as a boy, I fought for decades urging America to never again build concentration camps and put human beings in them. It breaks my heart to watch this happen twice now in my own lifetime.
Screenshot of an X.com post by The Associated Press (@AP) stating that dozens of immigrant families protested for better treatment behind fences at a Texas detention facility, where a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father were sent after being detained in Minnesota. Below is a video thumbnail showing a crowd gathered outdoors along a fenced walkway; many people wear bright blue or red outerwear, and some hold signs.
January 27, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
mikemcmahan.bsky.social
I like that they think this is going to mollify anyone, when it'll just make us greedy for more.

And teach us that this is working.

Keep it up.
January 27, 2026 at 12:43 AM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
theverge.com
"Why is it so normal for law enforcement — those who are supposed to be keepers of law and order — to kill Americans? And why is the only question at the end of the day how much their victims deserved to die?"

Read more from @sarahjeong.bsky.social: www.theverge.com/policy/86745...
Verge headline: It doesn't matter if Alex Pretty had a gun by Sarah Jeong Photo by Steven Garcia depicts several masked law enforcement agents soaked in red light at night
January 25, 2026 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
carson.house.gov
ICE shot a man on the ground point blank.

I voted against DHS funding this week, and the Senate has the chance to follow suit next week.

Republicans: Wake up. Our government is killing its own people.
January 24, 2026 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
techconnectify.bsky.social
I think it's best for my mental health to stay the hell away from the internet today.

But, now and forever, fuck ICE
January 24, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
georgetakei.bsky.social
Priorities matter. So do elections. Vote the GOP out!
creenshot of an X.com post by Dan Koh claiming Trump is spending $30B on 10,000 more ICE agents, listing alternative uses for the money (ACA subsidies, ending prescription copays, eliminating medical debt) and criticizing the policy. Below the text is a TV news screenshot with a ‘Breaking News’ banner about a shooting in Minneapolis and on-screen text reading ‘$30 BILLION…’.
January 16, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Reposted by Sasha Kotlyar
thehousered.bsky.social
every single successful general strike in US history has had union backing through the local AFL-CIO

this is the first time it’s been called for since the 1940s
January 16, 2026 at 9:24 PM
arktronic.com
Published my first NuGet package! www.nuget.org/packages/Sli...
SlimProtoNet 0.1.0
.NET Standard 2.0 library for building Squeezebox-compatible clients that communicate with Logitech Media Server / Lyrion Music Server (LMS). Implements the SlimProto TCP protocol with UDP discovery, ...
www.nuget.org
January 16, 2026 at 3:14 AM