Tom Brown🏒
@herestomwiththeweather.com
Software developer and beer league hockey player
[bridged from https://herestomwiththeweather.com/ on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
[bridged from https://herestomwiththeweather.com/ on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
As a company that has long boasted about its commitment to principles, Apple has had a bad several months. It removed ICE Block from the App Store. It let X remain, empowering its users to create child porn, which is apparently “free speech” now. After two American citizens were killed by ICE […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 26, 2026 at 4:41 AM
As a company that has long boasted about its commitment to principles, Apple has had a bad several months. It removed ICE Block from the App Store. It let X remain, empowering its users to create child porn, which is apparently “free speech” now. After two American citizens were killed by ICE […]
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
On March 2, we are going to try something different. Something in addition to the regular twice/year FediForum un-conference (so don't worry).
We will run an un-**workshop**, on a topic that many in the community have told us is very pressing for them:
How do we grow the Open Social Web?
When […]
We will run an un-**workshop**, on a topic that many in the community have told us is very pressing for them:
How do we grow the Open Social Web?
When […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 21, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
If you run a mastodon instance, it's time to upgrade. There are some security issues fixed in the version released today: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.5.5
Release v4.5.5 · mastodon/mastodon
Upgrade overview This release contains upgrade notes that deviate from the norm: ℹ️ Requires assets recompilation For more information, view the complete release notes and scroll down to the upgrad...
github.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:39 PM
If you run a mastodon instance, it's time to upgrade. There are some security issues fixed in the version released today: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.5.5
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
RE: https://mastodon.social/@mcc/115924028281889489
i did not understand this until I tried to run Linux on a new thinkpad after years of running it on old computers
i did not understand this until I tried to run Linux on a new thinkpad after years of running it on old computers
mastodon.social
January 19, 2026 at 11:09 PM
RE: https://mastodon.social/@mcc/115924028281889489
i did not understand this until I tried to run Linux on a new thinkpad after years of running it on old computers
i did not understand this until I tried to run Linux on a new thinkpad after years of running it on old computers
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
Anyone know who came up with the phrase "spicy autocomplete" for LLMs?
January 16, 2026 at 3:20 AM
Anyone know who came up with the phrase "spicy autocomplete" for LLMs?
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
I published this fictional scenario planning piece about mitigating a hypothetical newsroom raid yesterday. It feels a lot more relevant today. https://werd.io/the-zurich-protocol/
January 14, 2026 at 11:14 PM
I published this fictional scenario planning piece about mitigating a hypothetical newsroom raid yesterday. It feels a lot more relevant today. https://werd.io/the-zurich-protocol/
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
*The WELL State of the World for 02026 is off to the races.
https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/561/State-of-the-World-2026-with-Bru-page01.html
https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/561/State-of-the-World-2026-with-Bru-page01.html
The WELL: State of the World 2026 with Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky
The WELL: State of the World 2026 with Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowsky
people.well.com
January 7, 2026 at 10:26 AM
*The WELL State of the World for 02026 is off to the races.
https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/561/State-of-the-World-2026-with-Bru-page01.html
https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/561/State-of-the-World-2026-with-Bru-page01.html
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
Holy smokes I just read maybe the best #scifi short story ever. Written in 1959 by Stanislaw Lem, "The Friend" (newly translated into English) seamlessly moves from human to AI narration and back in a dizzying, psychedelic explosion of language, imagery, and metaphor that breaks all narrative […]
Original post on aoir.social
aoir.social
December 30, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Holy smokes I just read maybe the best #scifi short story ever. Written in 1959 by Stanislaw Lem, "The Friend" (newly translated into English) seamlessly moves from human to AI narration and back in a dizzying, psychedelic explosion of language, imagery, and metaphor that breaks all narrative […]
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
You may have heard that the maintainer of med-mastodon.com, a large, prominent Mastodon server, recently decided to shut down the server without warning, leaving his users with no access to their data.
This could happen to you at any time.
If you care about this, you should be backing up your […]
This could happen to you at any time.
If you care about this, you should be backing up your […]
Original post on federate.social
federate.social
January 2, 2026 at 4:48 PM
You may have heard that the maintainer of med-mastodon.com, a large, prominent Mastodon server, recently decided to shut down the server without warning, leaving his users with no access to their data.
This could happen to you at any time.
If you care about this, you should be backing up your […]
This could happen to you at any time.
If you care about this, you should be backing up your […]
enjoying a cup of coffee at jo's on south congress
January 2, 2026 at 2:49 PM
enjoying a cup of coffee at jo's on south congress
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
One of the best journalists in recent history has a new and scary scoop: The feds are pouring HUGE amounts of cash into big banks, apparently to avoid a new (and predictable) meltdown.
Once again, Wall Street makes reckless bets, and gets rewarded for failure […]
Once again, Wall Street makes reckless bets, and gets rewarded for failure […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 30, 2025 at 4:29 AM
One of the best journalists in recent history has a new and scary scoop: The feds are pouring HUGE amounts of cash into big banks, apparently to avoid a new (and predictable) meltdown.
Once again, Wall Street makes reckless bets, and gets rewarded for failure […]
Once again, Wall Street makes reckless bets, and gets rewarded for failure […]
at the continental club
December 31, 2025 at 1:01 AM
at the continental club
watching Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague. pretty good so far.
December 29, 2025 at 5:49 AM
watching Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague. pretty good so far.
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
The Xbox Boycott (Still) Matters
YouTube video by People Make Games
www.youtube.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
it's truly amazing what LLMs can achieve. we now know it's possible to produce an html5 parsing library with nothing but the full source code of an existing html5 parsing library, all the source code of all other open source libraries ever, a meticulously maintained and extremely comprehensive […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 17, 2025 at 3:06 AM
it's truly amazing what LLMs can achieve. we now know it's possible to produce an html5 parsing library with nothing but the full source code of an existing html5 parsing library, all the source code of all other open source libraries ever, a meticulously maintained and extremely comprehensive […]
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
The media needs to stop writing headlines like “The CDC changes course on vaccines and autism” and “The CDC defends measles response”.
NONE of this is coming from legitimate scientists at the CDC.
ALL of it is coming from RFK Jr.
Every such headline is causing further harm to public health.
NONE of this is coming from legitimate scientists at the CDC.
ALL of it is coming from RFK Jr.
Every such headline is causing further harm to public health.
December 17, 2025 at 1:49 AM
The media needs to stop writing headlines like “The CDC changes course on vaccines and autism” and “The CDC defends measles response”.
NONE of this is coming from legitimate scientists at the CDC.
ALL of it is coming from RFK Jr.
Every such headline is causing further harm to public health.
NONE of this is coming from legitimate scientists at the CDC.
ALL of it is coming from RFK Jr.
Every such headline is causing further harm to public health.
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
I'm hiring a Director of Product Engineering for our product team at @ProPublica. If you're an engineering leader in the US who wants to truly make a difference, we're a nonprofit newsroom investigating abuses of trust in the public interest. Please consider joining us. #amhiring #getfedihired […]
Original post on werd.social
werd.social
December 11, 2025 at 3:19 PM
I'm hiring a Director of Product Engineering for our product team at @ProPublica. If you're an engineering leader in the US who wants to truly make a difference, we're a nonprofit newsroom investigating abuses of trust in the public interest. Please consider joining us. #amhiring #getfedihired […]
watched Rashomon tonight. appreciated the Robert Altman extra on the DVD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYWQa0GExt8
December 10, 2025 at 6:22 AM
watched Rashomon tonight. appreciated the Robert Altman extra on the DVD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYWQa0GExt8
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
It's called READING A BOOK.
(Or even watching a video. Or talking to people...)
(Or even watching a video. Or talking to people...)
Jimmy Fallon: "And do you use ChatGPT when raising your baby?"
Sam Altman: "I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT."
Sam Altman: "I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT."
December 9, 2025 at 4:07 PM
It's called READING A BOOK.
(Or even watching a video. Or talking to people...)
(Or even watching a video. Or talking to people...)
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
Happy to announce that Gem Fellowship applications are now open! If you're a Ruby open source maintainer, this grant program is for you. 💎
https://gem.coop/fellowship/
https://gem.coop/fellowship/
gem.coop
gem.coop
December 1, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Happy to announce that Gem Fellowship applications are now open! If you're a Ruby open source maintainer, this grant program is for you. 💎
https://gem.coop/fellowship/
https://gem.coop/fellowship/
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
back in 2023 when Threads launched, a friend working there said Zuck pushed everyone to create a mastodon-compatible twitter clone so they could pitch it as an open source API to distract the US govt from breaking Meta up, which ultimately worked
November 18, 2025 at 11:03 PM
back in 2023 when Threads launched, a friend working there said Zuck pushed everyone to create a mastodon-compatible twitter clone so they could pitch it as an open source API to distract the US govt from breaking Meta up, which ultimately worked
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
I did not have "new surge of accounts on infosec.exchange due to X bungling their passkey migration" on my bingo card for today
November 12, 2025 at 6:51 PM
I did not have "new surge of accounts on infosec.exchange due to X bungling their passkey migration" on my bingo card for today
confirmed the x screwup, although i didn't get locked out of my account. i just had to switch to a different browser: https://mastodon.social/@zackwhittaker/115538435987842093
Zack Whittaker (@[email protected])
Looks like Elon Musk botched X's passkey and security key switchover, and users are reporting that they're getting stuck in endless loops and, in some cases, getting locked out of their accounts. https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/12/elon-musks-x-botched-its-security-key-switchover-locking-users-out/
mastodon.social
November 12, 2025 at 9:08 PM
confirmed the x screwup, although i didn't get locked out of my account. i just had to switch to a different browser: https://mastodon.social/@zackwhittaker/115538435987842093
Reposted by Tom Brown🏒
But on a related topic, if the ATProto would start supporting WebFinger based discovery rather than just its own limited .well-known path, then some of the stuff would be gotten for free
(And this is very much a non-IndieWeb answer as WebFinger is not in line with the general approach of IndieWeb)
(And this is very much a non-IndieWeb answer as WebFinger is not in line with the general approach of IndieWeb)
Not sure why #ATproto uses /.well-known/atproto-did to discover handles rather than using #WebFinger like #Mastodon and having a rel-self to a did:plc URI
Feels needless to have two discovery layers? And would have enabled the same handle resolution for both Mastodon and Bluesky?
Feels needless to have two discovery layers? And would have enabled the same handle resolution for both Mastodon and Bluesky?
Mastodon uses a rel-self, type-application/activity+json link to the absolute URL of the user (/users/foo)
@atproto.com / @bsky.app could have done the same and had a rel-self link to the did:plc URI (eg. did:plc:z72i7hdynmk6r22z27h6tvur)
Reference for #ATproto docs: atproto.com/specs/handle...
@atproto.com / @bsky.app could have done the same and had a rel-self link to the did:plc URI (eg. did:plc:z72i7hdynmk6r22z27h6tvur)
Reference for #ATproto docs: atproto.com/specs/handle...
November 11, 2025 at 9:54 PM
But on a related topic, if the ATProto would start supporting WebFinger based discovery rather than just its own limited .well-known path, then some of the stuff would be gotten for free
(And this is very much a non-IndieWeb answer as WebFinger is not in line with the general approach of IndieWeb)
(And this is very much a non-IndieWeb answer as WebFinger is not in line with the general approach of IndieWeb)