For the second time in as many days, I’ve seen paid promotion from Incogni (one in a YouTube video and on the 9to5Mac website). According to the Incogni website:

Incogni is a personal data removal service that automatically removes your information from data broker websites, significantly reducing your digital footprint. Anyone can get instant access to personal data online—Incogni makes sure it stays private.

I was curious and headed to their website, where you can enter your email address to test the service. The problem is that, according to their ToS and privacy policy, they collect email addresses this way so they can bug you with promotions and all that. I find this against their value proposition and it weakens their credibility. People willing to pay for such a service are probably protective of their email address, and yet, this is the first thing Incogni collects. If they offered a way to test the service, albeit in a limited way, while saying they don’t collect email addresses to perform these tests, it would be quite another matter, and I would be more willing to test and maybe even subscribe! But no. Bummer. I’ll pass.

My bookmarking web app is now mature, but one thing was missing: an MCP endpoint. I wasn’t sure whether I could add that feature while running on Vercel. Well, after less than an hour, Claude Code helped me get my MCP endpoint running smoothly and responding to all sorts of prompts! I was expecting a much more challenging journey. 😅

I’m currently testing Quick Reads by @mattbirchler, and I must say that I’m impressed. From the onboarding experience to the actual product use, it’s a joy to use. The read-aloud voices are top-notch. I have small and bigger plans for this relatively new service, and I’m really looking forward to making this happen.

No One’s Happy recent blog post suggesting not to use native apps:

“Most native apps collect far more data than their website equivalents ever could. They request permissions to hardware, sensors, and background processes that browsers deliberately restrict. The third-party software embedded in these apps frequently transmits your location, device identifiers, and behavioral data to third parties before you even see a consent prompt. This data is in tandem bought, sold, and aggregated by brokers. It has been used to out individuals, track immigrants, and enable prosecution over reproductive healthcare.”

While this is true, refusing to use native apps is surprising advice. One might think the App Store submission process that every developer is subject to prevents bad actors, but it doesn’t. Coupled with the developer’s ordeal with the App Store review process, some developers are suggesting focusing development efforts on web applications instead. And finally, vibe coding might be another factor driving a move toward web application development. Yet the web is a jungle where user tracking is a standard “feature” that mines the browsing experience with bloated web pages that sell you ads and lead you to forced engagement.

I wanted to open a link pointing to a post on x.com. Clicked on it. After a few seconds, X website opened but right after the App Store launched to the download the app for reading content on X. I went back to the website, dismissing the App Store. Clicking to play the shared media again launched the App Store. I went back to watch the video. What an awful experience.

I wondered if installing the X app would make the experience more tolerable. The login / signin screen scared the shit out of me when I started remembering all the bad things about social networks, Musk, etc. but then I started thinking that even if things like the dark web is bad, some people still need to visit this place for investigation. Was I investigating this morning when opening up X? I certainly was looking to understand something.

Having to create a new X account, then being exposed to ads, tracking, etc. killed my desire to understand. It’s ok not to understand everything. I’m a happier ignorant.