Ben Schwarz
@benschwarz.bsky.social
Founder & Product developer @ calibreapp.com. Into sustainability, online privacy, cycling, photography, music, hiking, native country and creative pursuits 🌞
Pinned
Ben Schwarz
@benschwarz.bsky.social
· Apr 29
🆕 Core Web Vitals test tool update:
Now you can view up to 40 weeks (~9 months) of metrics for your sites.
Data fetched **fresh daily** from Google directly.
Enter URL, get a free #webperf dashboard 👇
calibreapp.com/tools/core-web-vitals-test
Now you can view up to 40 weeks (~9 months) of metrics for your sites.
Data fetched **fresh daily** from Google directly.
Enter URL, get a free #webperf dashboard 👇
calibreapp.com/tools/core-web-vitals-test
Shoutout to all the boys who try to peddle “tech isn’t political”, nice try fuckos
Powerful page outlining how US fascist tech are using government funding to solidify their backing.
This is a regime that wants control, with violence, where necessary.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
This is a regime that wants control, with violence, where necessary.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
The Authoritarian Stack
How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next
www.authoritarian-stack.info
November 13, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Shoutout to all the boys who try to peddle “tech isn’t political”, nice try fuckos
Powerful page outlining how US fascist tech are using government funding to solidify their backing.
This is a regime that wants control, with violence, where necessary.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
This is a regime that wants control, with violence, where necessary.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
The Authoritarian Stack
How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next
www.authoritarian-stack.info
November 13, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Powerful page outlining how US fascist tech are using government funding to solidify their backing.
This is a regime that wants control, with violence, where necessary.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
This is a regime that wants control, with violence, where necessary.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
If AI is so great and clever why are people inventing new shitty data formats for it?
You’ve got all the compute power in the world and you can’t read json? lol, lmao even
You’ve got all the compute power in the world and you can’t read json? lol, lmao even
November 12, 2025 at 6:17 AM
If AI is so great and clever why are people inventing new shitty data formats for it?
You’ve got all the compute power in the world and you can’t read json? lol, lmao even
You’ve got all the compute power in the world and you can’t read json? lol, lmao even
Reminder: SoftBank invested $4.4 billion dollars into WeWork 🤡
Japanese giant SoftBank said Tuesday it has sold its entire stake in tech giant Nvidia for $5.83 billion.
Click here to read more: https://cnb.cx/49LCIs8
Click here to read more: https://cnb.cx/49LCIs8
November 11, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Reminder: SoftBank invested $4.4 billion dollars into WeWork 🤡
Reposted by Ben Schwarz
My first advice to junior contributors is to STOP using vibe coding for PRs. OSS is always about people more than about code. We don't need more code generated by LLM, we need more people who care.
November 10, 2025 at 11:47 AM
My first advice to junior contributors is to STOP using vibe coding for PRs. OSS is always about people more than about code. We don't need more code generated by LLM, we need more people who care.
Reposted by Ben Schwarz
6 years ago I started a side project to build a web accessibility tool that prioritises simple reporting and quick feedback loops so that teams can fix a11y regressions before they affect users.
I am so proud to say that side project is now finished, and A11y Pulse is live.
www.a11ypulse.com
I am so proud to say that side project is now finished, and A11y Pulse is live.
www.a11ypulse.com
A11y Pulse
A11y Pulse: Automated accessibility testing for your website. Improve your site's accessibility and compliance with ease.
www.a11ypulse.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:22 PM
6 years ago I started a side project to build a web accessibility tool that prioritises simple reporting and quick feedback loops so that teams can fix a11y regressions before they affect users.
I am so proud to say that side project is now finished, and A11y Pulse is live.
www.a11ypulse.com
I am so proud to say that side project is now finished, and A11y Pulse is live.
www.a11ypulse.com
I’m not sure if impressed or concerned, maybe some of both:
Not handing over your passwords to federal police can result in jail time of 10 years. Ahhh the colonies
Not handing over your passwords to federal police can result in jail time of 10 years. Ahhh the colonies
Kind of an interesting story of the AFP cracking into a crypto wallet from the new commissioner today, after discovering random numbers in the notes app www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/...
October 29, 2025 at 3:09 AM
I’m not sure if impressed or concerned, maybe some of both:
Not handing over your passwords to federal police can result in jail time of 10 years. Ahhh the colonies
Not handing over your passwords to federal police can result in jail time of 10 years. Ahhh the colonies
Reposted by Ben Schwarz
The ASA welcomes the Albanese Government’s decision to rule out a Text and Data Mining (TDM) exception to Australian copyright law, which would have allowed for AI training on authors’ work.
aapnews.aap.com.au/news/copyrig...
aapnews.aap.com.au/news/copyrig...
Copyright laws to protect creatives from AI data mining
Tech developers will not have a "free pass" to use creative works to train AI systems, but advocates say more protections are needed against copyright theft.
aapnews.aap.com.au
October 26, 2025 at 10:43 PM
The ASA welcomes the Albanese Government’s decision to rule out a Text and Data Mining (TDM) exception to Australian copyright law, which would have allowed for AI training on authors’ work.
aapnews.aap.com.au/news/copyrig...
aapnews.aap.com.au/news/copyrig...
I watch a lot of open source projects’ issues on GitHub.
On a regular occurrence, maintainers are politely asking “could you please disclose if you used LLM to generate this PR”.
This is the polite and exhausting way to say “this looks like incomprehensible bullshit, why are you wasting our time?”
On a regular occurrence, maintainers are politely asking “could you please disclose if you used LLM to generate this PR”.
This is the polite and exhausting way to say “this looks like incomprehensible bullshit, why are you wasting our time?”
October 25, 2025 at 3:58 AM
I watch a lot of open source projects’ issues on GitHub.
On a regular occurrence, maintainers are politely asking “could you please disclose if you used LLM to generate this PR”.
This is the polite and exhausting way to say “this looks like incomprehensible bullshit, why are you wasting our time?”
On a regular occurrence, maintainers are politely asking “could you please disclose if you used LLM to generate this PR”.
This is the polite and exhausting way to say “this looks like incomprehensible bullshit, why are you wasting our time?”
Any boss that says 'no politics at work' almost certainly has shitty beliefs and will create space for their own politics. Seen it play out too many times to believe otherwise.
October 23, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Any boss that says 'no politics at work' almost certainly has shitty beliefs and will create space for their own politics. Seen it play out too many times to believe otherwise.
I guarantee we’ll see lots of untested, shoddily implemented ARIA as a result of this. Because they’ll use LLMs to implement it.
It's neat to see them encourage developers to add ARIA tags to pages though, an "agent" can be thought of as effectively another form of assistive technology
October 21, 2025 at 10:37 PM
I guarantee we’ll see lots of untested, shoddily implemented ARIA as a result of this. Because they’ll use LLMs to implement it.
Time to crank out the ol' us-east-1 ouija board
October 20, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Time to crank out the ol' us-east-1 ouija board
“AI artist” is mad because someone took the phrase, “day to night transition” FROM HIM and generated an image based on stolen content.
Apparently this constitutes as intellectual property theft. Someone call the cops, this child is upset.
Apparently this constitutes as intellectual property theft. Someone call the cops, this child is upset.
October 18, 2025 at 9:19 PM
“AI artist” is mad because someone took the phrase, “day to night transition” FROM HIM and generated an image based on stolen content.
Apparently this constitutes as intellectual property theft. Someone call the cops, this child is upset.
Apparently this constitutes as intellectual property theft. Someone call the cops, this child is upset.
If you want to drive a car that makes more than 70dB of tailpipe exhaust noise, you have to pay a monthly premium levy to the local EPA, and you aren't allowed to drive it between 10pm and 7am.
Do you have any extremely niche, but serious, ethical stances?
October 17, 2025 at 3:25 AM
If you want to drive a car that makes more than 70dB of tailpipe exhaust noise, you have to pay a monthly premium levy to the local EPA, and you aren't allowed to drive it between 10pm and 7am.
I see a lot of people discovered the <output> tag for the first time this week.
My question is: why are you excited by it? I really can’t think of a pattern where it would be actively useful? It seems too limited to be valuable.
My question is: why are you excited by it? I really can’t think of a pattern where it would be actively useful? It seems too limited to be valuable.
October 17, 2025 at 3:11 AM
I see a lot of people discovered the <output> tag for the first time this week.
My question is: why are you excited by it? I really can’t think of a pattern where it would be actively useful? It seems too limited to be valuable.
My question is: why are you excited by it? I really can’t think of a pattern where it would be actively useful? It seems too limited to be valuable.
Reposted by Ben Schwarz
My take is that either Next.js doesn't make it easy enough to create sites that perform well, or it's just not good technology.
Having used Next.js for several years (along side lots of other frameworks), and being super experienced in this area, I can tell you:
It isn't a good framework.
Having used Next.js for several years (along side lots of other frameworks), and being super experienced in this area, I can tell you:
It isn't a good framework.
October 17, 2025 at 12:25 AM
My take is that either Next.js doesn't make it easy enough to create sites that perform well, or it's just not good technology.
Having used Next.js for several years (along side lots of other frameworks), and being super experienced in this area, I can tell you:
It isn't a good framework.
Having used Next.js for several years (along side lots of other frameworks), and being super experienced in this area, I can tell you:
It isn't a good framework.
Reposted by Ben Schwarz
I dug into progressive image rendering and found a bunch of common assumptions aren't quite true.
➡️ JPEG & WebP progressive-renders worse in Safari
➡️ AVIF _does_ support progressive
➡️ But JPEG XL in Safari doesn't
➡️ JPEG XL decodes much slower than AVIF
⬇️ and more
jakearchibald.com/2025/present...
➡️ JPEG & WebP progressive-renders worse in Safari
➡️ AVIF _does_ support progressive
➡️ But JPEG XL in Safari doesn't
➡️ JPEG XL decodes much slower than AVIF
⬇️ and more
jakearchibald.com/2025/present...
The present and potential future of progressive image rendering
Exploring progressive image rendering across JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, and JPEG XL.
jakearchibald.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:16 AM
I dug into progressive image rendering and found a bunch of common assumptions aren't quite true.
➡️ JPEG & WebP progressive-renders worse in Safari
➡️ AVIF _does_ support progressive
➡️ But JPEG XL in Safari doesn't
➡️ JPEG XL decodes much slower than AVIF
⬇️ and more
jakearchibald.com/2025/present...
➡️ JPEG & WebP progressive-renders worse in Safari
➡️ AVIF _does_ support progressive
➡️ But JPEG XL in Safari doesn't
➡️ JPEG XL decodes much slower than AVIF
⬇️ and more
jakearchibald.com/2025/present...
According to HTTP Archive, Next.js sites see the **worst** Core Web Vitals performance when compared to other popular frameworks
httparchive.org/reports/tech...
httparchive.org/reports/tech...
October 16, 2025 at 3:51 AM
According to HTTP Archive, Next.js sites see the **worst** Core Web Vitals performance when compared to other popular frameworks
httparchive.org/reports/tech...
httparchive.org/reports/tech...
Reposted by Ben Schwarz
Container queries and CSS make it simple to smoothly transition an element to the other side of its parent container without knowing exact dimensions or distance.
Read more in my latest post: ryanmulligan.dev/blog/transit...
Read more in my latest post: ryanmulligan.dev/blog/transit...
October 13, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Container queries and CSS make it simple to smoothly transition an element to the other side of its parent container without knowing exact dimensions or distance.
Read more in my latest post: ryanmulligan.dev/blog/transit...
Read more in my latest post: ryanmulligan.dev/blog/transit...
Back in 2015, there was a Reply All Podcast episode about a guy in France who made a living in the 80s using Minitel sex chat rooms where he pretended to be a few different women.
2025 Innovation: You can tell an LLM you want to fuck it 🙄
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1...
2025 Innovation: You can tell an LLM you want to fuck it 🙄
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1...
October 15, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Back in 2015, there was a Reply All Podcast episode about a guy in France who made a living in the 80s using Minitel sex chat rooms where he pretended to be a few different women.
2025 Innovation: You can tell an LLM you want to fuck it 🙄
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1...
2025 Innovation: You can tell an LLM you want to fuck it 🙄
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1...
All this talk of teen social media ban from the eSaftey commissioner who wants to pick and choose websites that are “safe” or “not safe” (based on ??? criteria), but what about games like Roblox built for children having nazi and child pornography content? Crickets!
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
How sexual predators and far-right extremists are using Roblox to target children
Experts warn Roblox has a predator problem, amid reports Australian children are being exposed to a range of disturbing experiences on the platform.
www.abc.net.au
October 14, 2025 at 2:14 AM
All this talk of teen social media ban from the eSaftey commissioner who wants to pick and choose websites that are “safe” or “not safe” (based on ??? criteria), but what about games like Roblox built for children having nazi and child pornography content? Crickets!
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
AirPods Pro 3 hearing test is pretty interesting, it plays tones at different frequencies at low volume.
You tap the screen when you hear it. I had to breathe very slowly (or hold breath) to hear, but got good results.
You tap the screen when you hear it. I had to breathe very slowly (or hold breath) to hear, but got good results.
October 13, 2025 at 10:01 AM
AirPods Pro 3 hearing test is pretty interesting, it plays tones at different frequencies at low volume.
You tap the screen when you hear it. I had to breathe very slowly (or hold breath) to hear, but got good results.
You tap the screen when you hear it. I had to breathe very slowly (or hold breath) to hear, but got good results.
Reposted by Ben Schwarz
I made something! Monomarks.at is an open social bookmarking tool along the lines of Pinboard or Delicious, and it's based on ATProto, because I was inspired by @danabra.mov's widely-read post. Log in with your Bluesky account to save bookmarks and browse links posted by the people you follow. 😎
Monomarks: open social bookmarking
Open social bookmarks
Monomarks.at
October 11, 2025 at 5:15 AM
I made something! Monomarks.at is an open social bookmarking tool along the lines of Pinboard or Delicious, and it's based on ATProto, because I was inspired by @danabra.mov's widely-read post. Log in with your Bluesky account to save bookmarks and browse links posted by the people you follow. 😎
Reposted by Ben Schwarz
If you think this is US-only, it's not.
If you think the GDPR protects you, it's doesn't.
If you hadn't realised privacy is a national security and corporate espionage issue, it is.
If you think politicians can't tackle this, they can.
If you believe that tech or business need this, they don't.
If you think the GDPR protects you, it's doesn't.
If you hadn't realised privacy is a national security and corporate espionage issue, it is.
If you think politicians can't tackle this, they can.
If you believe that tech or business need this, they don't.
Either real-time bidding data or app SDK data is being bought and used by ICE to seize people from the streets. If you didn’t believe that the adtech stack is a human rights concern, I’m not sure what more evidence you need. www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-t...
ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day
Documents show that ICE has gone back on its decision to not use location data remotely harvested from peoples' phones. The database is updated every day with billions of pieces of location data.
www.404media.co
October 1, 2025 at 6:36 AM
If you think this is US-only, it's not.
If you think the GDPR protects you, it's doesn't.
If you hadn't realised privacy is a national security and corporate espionage issue, it is.
If you think politicians can't tackle this, they can.
If you believe that tech or business need this, they don't.
If you think the GDPR protects you, it's doesn't.
If you hadn't realised privacy is a national security and corporate espionage issue, it is.
If you think politicians can't tackle this, they can.
If you believe that tech or business need this, they don't.