Replugging bepis, another way to write 'flat' HTML using operators with a slightly different operator set: https://github.com/dosyago/bepis
For me I just wanted to stop writing all the extra syntax (like `< > =` and closing tags) and use symbols my fingers were already reaching for. Just about conciseness, efficiency and enjoyment.
I really like the operator choice in this project!
Obligatory humblebrag/shameless plug for my open source PDF(+ other docs) to Image converter, which runs as a web app. It's self hosted open source (but easiest to run on FreeBSD). Uses Ghostscript/OpenOffice under the hood:
This is not an Open-source portfolio template (but I guess you could use it for that), it's my portfolio of work in open-source. It's all my own projects, not contributions to other things.
I'm putting it out here with the understanding it will probably attract some snark and hate (that's fine, to be expected here) but with the intent of someone seeing it and going "I wanna hire that guy/fund that guy/sponsor that guy." Veeery unlikely, but there's always a possibility.
Also waiting for the "Who is/wants to be hired" post for March. Where is that? Is that still done here?
produces repayable archives in a format that doesn't have the issues of WARC. It's a work in progress tho and currently archives everything, instead of just what you select.
You can of course edit the archive by hand. it's very simple to do, but not as simple as being able to select only what you want.
I think there's a whitelist Domain option that works per archive.
I don't think it's an existential threat to FAANG. Because they could request access to your data to perform their AI/analytics on it to then be able to deliver you value-added personalized services.
Most likely these sort of brokered accesses will be the purview of third-party data brokers who will handle your pods for you.
Why would people accept their data to be harvested?
I guess money could be an incentive, which is quite interesting because it would fundamentally revert the power dynamics between the big data abuser and the people.
>Why would people accept their data to be harvested?
Same as always, to get services free of charge. If I want my photos to be searchable, I'm going to have to let someone run their AI on them.
As an iPhone user, I have my photos in iCloud. I'm paying for it through high device prices and storage fees.
But as Apple's business model is to sell expensive devices, they won't let me securely share my photos with my wife who doesn't own any Apple devices.
So I also upload all my photos to Google Photos where I'm benefitting from a far better AI as well.
If my photos were stored in a Solid pod, I could grant access to various service providers who use various different business models, but it would be far more flexible and easier to switch.
That's what I'm hoping for. Not sure if it will ever come to pass, but it's worth a try.
> If I want my photos to be searchable, I'm going to have to let someone run their AI on them.
In the next month or so, that won't be true anymore if you use PhotoStructure to host your photos and videos. Disclaimer: I'm the author.
PhotoStructure is software you run, on hardware you own. It runs on desktops, docker, or headless servers, like your NAS. Your library is stored in a cross-platform, open format, so you're free to change how you host your library. I'm still enrolling beta users to try it for free in exchange for their feedback. Later this year, rather than being ad-supported, a subscription will enable advanced features (like automatic tagging based on image content).
(and as the Solid framework becomes more useable, I'll definitely try to support it).
To add another item to your list, when you're in Apple News and maybe you're reading a free online publication like The Hill, there's no obvious access to Safari, and when you try to share the link it's an Apple News link. There used to be an easy way to get to Safari until recently.
But what if pods are inherently "closed" as you imagine, but a company would actually have to pay a fee to access some of the data and run whatever algo they want.
Would this create a society where low income persons would be perennially targeted by intrusive ads?
That society doesn't need to be created because it already exists. What Solid would do is give all of us a bit more flexibility to set our own priorities than we have now.
People on low incomes will always have fewer options and less flexibility. If we want to change that, we must change income inequality. No technology or business model will ever change that.
I'm more pessimistic. The internet and the apps we use frequently are like a public utility. The space is undergoing an era of massive consolidation and centralization.
This happened with railroads, and electricity, in the past. That period of consolidation was never followed by counterbalanced period of decentralization, a period of people operating their own mini-rail-car services, or micro power plants (solar, but...you know...).
It was followed by steady decline in prices of tickets, expansion in size of monopolies and steady decline in quality of service.
But you know, electricity and railroads became "democratized" just not in a "democratic" way. It's democratized because everyone can use a bit of it for basically nothing.
Then, the companies that made their fortunes often moved onto other high growth industries and the public became inured to the dilapidation, because the product had basically stagnated.
I don't see this company making any statement that suggests to me it can bring about some other possible future.
I disagree with the title. I've used waterfall and still found engineering hard.
Even you have a bulletproof requirements document, implementation and engineering still produces unforeseen eventualities and unexpected consequences.
I think software engineering is hard primarily because it's the coalface between abstract and concrete.
We're wired to be great at concrete, but capable at abstract. With software it's like we can get ourselves into a perfect storm of intractable-for-us problems.
Other forms of engineering, civil, mechanical, etc are still really hard, but I think we're better wired for them because they're less abstract, more concrete.
But in software, abstraction is part of your bread-and-butter daily-grind tool-kit.
Respectfully, ( that's a cool name ) but I think you're missing the point here by reducing it to this bipolar conflict between politically insecure acting out and idiocy. I think it's a much cooler and bigger picture.
I think the case is actually very interesting, and not clear cut. It's going to be interesting to find out what the law means as applied to software in this way. I think it's fascinating. A real test between the 'old power' of the law, and the 'new power' of software, I think seeing this play out and considering the implications is incredibly interesting, and as tech people, we're the best placed to enjoy how interesting is.
All the shrill rhetoric of both sides and press aside, I think it's a very significant case even if they weren't massive companies (...tho maybe it couldn't have come this far if the companies hadn't been able to afford it).
In a similar, but less glamorous vein was the LinkedIn vs somebody data scraping case, the outcome of which was very interesting and meaningful. Anyway, I hope people can appreciate the significance of the case without dismissing or simplifying it in this shrill, childish way, and can think about the software implications, which are probably going to be very interesting.
I mean when it's all done we'll probably get to know where we all stand more clearly with software, licensing, re-use and so on, and probably new opportunities we don't see clearly now will become possible because of how the law is figured regarding this. I think that's fascinating, and has nothing to do with idiocy or politics.
For me I just wanted to stop writing all the extra syntax (like `< > =` and closing tags) and use symbols my fingers were already reaching for. Just about conciseness, efficiency and enjoyment.
I really like the operator choice in this project!