⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️ @falken@social.cleverlibre.org

When I was a smartass computer nerd in the 80s and 90s, an eternal theme was people asking me for tech support help and me having to slowly, patiently explain to them that computers aren't scary, they're actually predictable, they won't explode or erase your data (unless you really make an effort), and they operate by simple (if somewhat arcane) rules. Edit > Cut, then click, then Edit > Paste. Save As. Use tabs, not spaces. Stuff like that. Maybe not easy, but simple, or at least consistent and learnable.

But that's not true anymore.

User interfaces lag. Text lies. Buttons don't click. Buttons don't even look like buttons! Panels pop up and obscure your workspace and you can't move or remove them -- a tiny floating x and a few horizontal lines is all you get. Mobile and web apps lose your draft text, refresh at whim, silently swallow errors, mysteriously move shit around when you're not looking, hide menus, bury options, don't respect or don't remember your chosen settings. Doing the same thing gives different results. The carefully researched PARC principles of human-computer interaction -- feedback, discoverabilty, affordances, consistency, personalization -- all that fundamental Don Norman shit -- have been completely discarded.

My tech support calls now are about me sadly explaining there's nothing I can do. Computers suck now. They run on superstition, not science. It's a real tragedy for humanity and I have no idea how to fix it.

#HCI #UX #UI #okdoomer

Sad news - Mars helicopter Ingenuity suffered some rotor damage during flight 72 and its mission has ended.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends
#Ingenuity #Mars
9/n

Wow. RAND Corp has all of their old reports online for free - such as Paul Baran's 1962 invention of packet switching: https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P2626.html #ComputerHistory #PaulBaran #InternetHistory

@nixCraft Wait, what? It's a bug in the bootloader regarding HTTP headers?

I love Elle Cordova and her clever, funny videos. This one is for all my writer and editor frends.

@airspeedswift This is funny, *and* I think 'new version' for users means 'UI changes’ which is unfortunate.

VICTORY! Ring has announced it will no longer facilitate warrantless police requests for footage to Ring’s users. This comes after years of sustained pressure from EFF and other civil liberties and privacy advocates. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/01/ring-announces-it-will-no-longer-facilitate-police-requests-footage-users

Massive wave hits Marshall Islands.

"Climate change will manifest as a series of disasters viewed through phones with footage that gets closer and closer to where you live until you're the one filming it."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/01/23/marshall-islands-rogue-wave-video/72323059007/

#climatechange

I wanted to do a desktop scene for one of the my original Mac cross-stitches, but 512x342 is just too many pixels to stitch! So I cut and pasted the original screen down to a more manageable size, but still with some classic bits. Puzzle desk accessory! #NerdStitch 6/10

The fact that business owners fought to keep remote work from being more widely adopted is a fucking tragedy. Remote work solved so many problems i.e. less greenhouse gases, less traffic (which means less strain on infrastructure), more money circulating in smaller towns, less wasted time commuting for employees (which also means less money being wasted on gas) etc. But nope, we gotta justify these buildings somehow.

That British Establishment thing of never admitting fault, even when it's been disproved in a court of law.
This guy only looks out for himself, which is why he's so desperate to mention his current charity work (it's for the Salvation Army so he's still no saint if they're still anti-LGBQTIA )

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/24/former-post-office-investigator-insists-cleared-horizon-it-victim-was-guilty-inquiry-hears

#PostOfficeScandal #UKpol #Ukpolitics #UK

RT @gunsnrosesgirl3 :
3D-printed zoetrope 📹By artist Akinori Goto

New blog entry: Same bullshit, new tin

https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2024/01/same-bullshit-new-tin.html

Happy birthday !

Mon premier a été un Macintosh 512, tout de suite upgradé en Macintosh Plus (changement de carte mère et de capot arrière.

C'était en 1986 et pour faire des serveurs #Minitel avec Dragster !

"That's why 1984 won't be like 1984"... Big Brother étant à l'époque Big Blue !

La pub diffusée durant le Superbowl (de Ridley Scott) a d'ailleurs été restaurée en 4K: https://peertube.amicale.net/w/d9WPENYy4p3nNsoQDQnypu

I ran @p_malin's program and got this.
Source: https://bbcmic.ro/?t=9fmQa #bbcbasic

Anyone know of places hiring mid-level software developers? Remote in the UK (or able to employ someone in the UK). Working on climate change or adjacent ideally, but open to other stuff, too.

Asking for a friend (no, really). Boosts appreciated.

#FediHire #FediHired #ClimateTech

Norman Jewison (1926-2024) — Oscar-nominated director of IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and MOONSTRUCK.

Also: THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, CINCINNATI KID, THOMAS CROWN, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, ROLLERBALL and more in a 50-year career.

An extraordinarily versatile filmmaker whose work will endure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/movies/norman-jewison-dead.html #normanjewison