Being manipulated

This morning, I visited Reddit to answer a question about Craft. When I noticed five notifications, I clicked the bell icon. Two of them were about engagement stimulation, which I felt was manipulative and deceptive. I dislike being tricked this way. LinkedIn is also good at this. And Meta, the master of them all. Major platforms will likely face legal challenges in the future because their product design promotes toxic engagement tactics that manipulate users for growth. Om Malik won’t be around to see this unfold, sadly.

Is the iPad still valuable for me?

This morning I had a short discussion with my wife about how she could upgrade her aging 2018 iPad Pro, a device that is not supported by iPadOS 27. I suggested taking my 2024 M4 iPad Pro instead of buying a new one. She was dubious about the suggestion even if I don’t use my iPad often and instead voiced her desire to go with the latest iPad Pro which is not a cheap option. She still think that this upgrade circus comes down to programmed obsolescence. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I was ready to get rid of my iPad, can you imagine?

Mark Carney on the U.S. Under Trump: ‘Sometimes, Its Signature Is Written in Pencil’:

Carney is rising to the moment and showing the rest of the world how to deal with the Trump administration. Trump is erratic, emotionally unstable, ignorant, and dishonest. Carney is consistent, steadfast, knowledgeable, and honest. The only correct way to deal with a con man is to cut him off and call him out for what he is.

Gruber, now you’re talking! For once, I fully agree. I’m proud of Carney; I’m proud to be Canadian. I’m proud to stand up.

Striving with X

Federico Viticci is sharing an explanation about why MacStories resumed posting on X:

We want to be absolutely clear about something: returning to X does not represent a change in our values, what MacStories or we stand for, or an endorsement of Elon Musk. We abhor Musk’s politics, his rhetoric, his careless disregard for others, and the direction he has taken X. But we also disagree that participating on X means we have aligned ourselves with any of Musk’s views or actions. We reject Musk’s worldview and will continue to treat people with the kindness and respect they deserve wherever they are on the Internet.

That’s not enough. MacStories is contributing to the bad internet, the siloed internet. They are feeding the machine. I stopped reading MacStories long ago because it became something else I don’t really care about. Here’s another reason to stay away. MacStories is giving people more reasons to return to X, too. Sad that in today’s world you cannot stand by yourself and only depend on toxic platforms to thrive. Too bad, because the original MacStories was really great.

The untrustworthy partner

Well, we failed to conclude a deal with the Trump administration. A last minute change from the US smashed the only little bit of trust we had. Is it surprising? Just look at Trump’s behavior since is his in the office, this should be enough to stay away from him and his bunch of bandits to conclude that we cannot trust him, we cannot trust this administration and we cannot trust the US. The US is un untrustworthy partner.

Now, my hope is that we start talking the same language as they use with us and act accordingly. No return of American alcohol, block dairy products from entering Canada, put tariffs on energy we export, etc. Make them pay the price. Make the Trump administration look bad right before the midterms. Standing up isn’t a free ride and I’m willing to pay the price. I support Carney. 🇨🇦💪🏻👊🏻

Real followers, please stand up!

In followers rot, Matt forgot to cover followers that are trying to get your attention and hoping that you will visit their profile and get hooked to them by starting to follow you and like everything you post online. They are active but don’t really care about the content. I have a few of those on Bluesky and Mastodon (and a lot on Twitter, too).

What is morally acceptable?

Yesterday I had a long and tricky discussion with some of my colleagues about the war in Ukraine. It was tricky because one of my colleagues suggested to consider Russian side before judging that it is not ok to invade Ukraine. While he wasn’t fully up-to-date with what is going on in this war as I am, he kept pressuring me to think that Ukraine might have done bad things in the past to justify Russian invasion. I find this point of view morally hard to hold and justify. Even if it is about joining NATO or not and the effects on Russian political posture and geopolitical posture, I cannot accept any justification.