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19 votes
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Could we make the web more immersive using a simple optical illusion?
8 votes -
The rise of self-hosted apps
14 votes -
The Performance Inequality Gap, 2023
4 votes -
Safari 16.4 is an admission
5 votes -
Google Adsense is bringing a bunch of policy changes that affect how your sites are monetized
Yesterday, Adsense support sent an email to their users regarding their upcoming policy changes. This primarily affects how subdomains are monetized. Going forward, your subdomains inside the...
Yesterday, Adsense support sent an email to their users regarding their upcoming policy changes. This primarily affects how subdomains are monetized. Going forward, your subdomains inside the primary domains in the "Sites" section (www, etc.) won't be allowed, any existing ones will be removed and their rules will be merged with the primary domain (such as example.com).
Furthermore, what constitutes a "Site" will also change henceforth. You can only add a primary domain (such as example.com) and the subdomains which are listed on the public suffix list (such as github.io, blogspot.com, etc.). Thus, your own subdomains (such as xyz.example.com or www.example.com) won't be allowed in Adsense.
I don't know what they will achieve by doing this considering they already vet and audit each site before approving them for adsense? In any case, other alternatives to Adsense exist such as Propeller Ads, CJ Affiliate, etc. for those affected by this move but I don't know their efficacy.
3 votes -
Google and Mozilla are working on iOS browsers that do not use WebKit
20 votes -
Which web browser do you use?
Most of the world seems to be settled around Chrome and Safari these days. I remember using Firefox a long time ago myself but then everyone started switching to Chrome and that also turned out to...
Most of the world seems to be settled around Chrome and Safari these days. I remember using Firefox a long time ago myself but then everyone started switching to Chrome and that also turned out to be a natural path of least resistance for web developers like me who had to test web apps in local environment.
This switch happened in circa 2015-16 if I recall correctly, many other browsers have evolved since then and people are looking at alternatives. The Android Kiwi browser, for example, is a great alternative for power users on mobile who need plugins but Chrome won't allow that. Other alternatives have evolved too like Brendan Eich's Brave browser which seems to be promising. Anyone here tried that yet?
I have half a mind to go back to Firefox but I recently learned about how Mozilla Corp is also funded by Google and that turned me off. Wouldn't you rather want to deal with the Devil directly instead of the Devil's assistant or sidekick!
And then there are also those who use Garibaldi, Midori, etc. but I can't go that purist way. I'm way too dependent on the digital way of life and sites like amazon and flipkart won't work in those browsers. What do you think should be the right path ahead from here?
24 votes -
Ecommerce and corporate websites need to adopt some minimalism and de-clutter
3 votes -
To use Disqus or Giscus (Github Discussions) for comments is the conundrum
I happen to host my blog https://prahladyeri.github.io/blog statically, built using Pelican and served on Github Pages. Plebs like us can't afford a backend server infrastructure, so we must rely...
I happen to host my blog https://prahladyeri.github.io/blog statically, built using Pelican and served on Github Pages. Plebs like us can't afford a backend server infrastructure, so we must rely on external services like Disqus for comment hosting.
So far, Disqus was the only fellow in town who allowed us to host comments on a free plan. Though there were some issues (bloat, adware, etc.), people seemed to be generally happy with it so far.
But now, a new fellow named giscus commenting system has entered the town, it's basically powered by github. Since I already host my blog on github pages, this should be a natural choice for me, right? Many bloggers seem to be migrating to this new system and I might too soon. The downsides however are as follows:
- It won't allow me to export existing comments from the old disqus system. Understandable to an extent as those exact author usernames may not be on the Github platform?
- Disqus interface seems to have improved all of a sudden in last few days! There no longer seem to be any ad and even the comment interface seems to be less heavy or cluttered now. It might sound a bit conspiratorial in nature but could this be the result of rising competition in the form of Giscus!
I'm a lazy status-quoist by nature and might well end up retaining disqus if they don't deviate too much from where they are now. But I'll keep an eye out on Giscus too and its progress. What do you guys suggest?
5 votes -
WebTV returns with custom server emulating 1999 experience
6 votes -
If you have more than ten tabs open they’re not tabs anymore they’re bookmarks wasting RAM
If you have more than 10 tabs open they’re not tabs anymore they’re bookmarks wasting RAM Alternatively: Hot take: if you need extensions to manage your tabs, you’re poorly imitating bookmarks...
If you have more than 10 tabs open they’re not tabs anymore they’re bookmarks wasting RAM
Alternatively:
This post brought to you by someone with 62,101 bookmarks. (1,234 of them are duplicates.)
22 votes -
What will a Chromium-only Web look like?
7 votes -
Firefox rolls out Total Cookie Protection by default to all users worldwide
39 votes -
iOS 16 bringing support for web notifications next year
10 votes -
A surprising number of the top 100,000 websites include keyloggers that covertly capture everything you type into a form
15 votes -
Firefox dying is terrible for the Web
26 votes -
Contra Chrome
13 votes -
Good web dev communities?
Hey folks. May someone recommend a good web dev community out there for quality discussions? Right now I'm using Vue for a project and I'm wrestling with architectural decisions. I'd love for a...
Hey folks.
May someone recommend a good web dev community out there for quality discussions?
Right now I'm using Vue for a project and I'm wrestling with architectural decisions. I'd love for a place where I can discuss different approaches' trade-offs and merits.
Many thanks. :)
11 votes -
Mozilla Rally - Data collection for research about data collection
9 votes -
Little 12ft.io bookmarklet
Today I was doing some paywall hopping and wondered why there wasn't a 12ft.io bookmarklet to make it a little easier. So I whipped up this little 5 second bookmarklet for anyone who hasn't...
Today I was doing some paywall hopping and wondered why there wasn't a 12ft.io bookmarklet to make it a little easier.
So I whipped up this little 5 second bookmarklet for anyone who hasn't bothered to do it themselves yet.
Just make a bookmark with the code snippet below as the URL.
javascript: (() => { window.location.replace("https://12ft.io/" + window.location.href)})();
I tried to make a link here that could be dragged and dropped directly into a bookmark bar, but it's disallowed.
20 votes -
Get that "client side rendered" effect
21 votes -
Building a memex in Ember by Andrew Louis
2 votes -
Twitter acquires Quill; will shut down service four days later
13 votes -
Retiring Alexa.com on May 1, 2022
9 votes -
Notes on Web3 for the "cautiously curious"
5 votes -
How Pinterest utterly ruined photo search on the internet
23 votes -
Is it me or are "news" articles on the web getting more and more irritating to read
I've recently experienced something multiple times and wanted to see if others are seeing this. I'm seeing various news articles where the first few paragraphs basically say the exact some...
I've recently experienced something multiple times and wanted to see if others are seeing this. I'm seeing various news articles where the first few paragraphs basically say the exact some information over and over again 3 or 4 times in slightly different ways. My most recent experience was this article about some hackers selling information on billions of Facebook users.
The article starts off with the title "Personal Information of More Than 1.5 Billion Facebook Users Sold on Hacker Forum". Straightforward and to the point. Next we get this paragraph in bold:
The private and personal information of over 1.5 billion Facebook users is being sold on a popular hacking-related forum, potentially enabling cybercriminals and unscrupulous advertisers to target Internet users globally.
Next is a bullet list of the highlights of the incident:
Highlights:
- Data scrapers are selling sensitive personal data on 1.5 billion Facebook users.
- Data contains users’: name, email, phone number, location, gender, and user ID.
- Data appears to be authentic.
- Personal data obtained through web scraping.
- Data can be utilized for phishing and account takeover attacks.
- Sold data claimed to be new from 2021.
This rehashes the number (1.5 billion) and place (Facebook), but does contain new information like what was leaked, and some unsubstantiated claims about whether it's authentic and how it was obtained.
The next paragraph repeats the 1.5 billion number a fourth time, and repeats that the data is available on a hacker forum. Two paragraphs later, we get another list of bullet points which are identical to the 2nd bullet point above; namely that the info contains:
According to the forum poster, the data provided contains the following personal information of Facebook users:
- Name
- Location
- Gender
- Phone number
- User ID
At this point I stop reading because I mistakenly think that I'm re-reading the same paragraph over and over again. It's an incredibly unpleasant experience.
Is anyone else seeing this? I've been seeing this not just on smaller sites like the one linked here, but on major news sites like CNBC and CNN, too. I know that news sites are having their budgets slashed, etc., but I literally can't read articles like this. I mean my brain just won't let me complete them because it thinks it's caught in a loop or something. It's hard to describe.
18 votes -
What is this Gemini thing anyway, and why am I excited about it?
13 votes -
Today is the World Wide Web's 30th birthday - On 6 Aug 1991, Tim Berners-Lee published the first page, and changed the world
11 votes -
The privacy war raging within the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), where normally-secretive tech companies are wrangling over the future of your data — and their own power — in plain sight
14 votes -
Have you felt or do you still feel the optimism of the Internet / Web 2.0 in the early 2000s and 2010s?
Title is the question. It's left open for your interpretation. It'd be interesting to see people's different interpretations and reasons.
18 votes -
The internet feeds on its own dying dreams
4 votes -
noyb issues more than 500 GDPR complaints in aim to end “cookie banner terror”
22 votes -
Tab viewer/organizer?
Weird question, but does anyone know of a simple tab viewer or organizer for Firefox (bonus points if it works on iOS)? I have... way too many tabs open, and I want to see what I can bookmark...
Weird question, but does anyone know of a simple tab viewer or organizer for Firefox (bonus points if it works on iOS)? I have... way too many tabs open, and I want to see what I can bookmark before closing rather than having to either close everything or manually check each tab.
11 votes -
MDN Plus announcement
10 votes -
A future without passwords
14 votes -
Introducing Observable Plot, a new open-source JavaScript library for exploratory data visualization
3 votes -
The slander industry
8 votes -
MathBox^2: PowerPoint Must Die
10 votes -
RIP SpaceJam.com, 1996-2021
16 votes -
Checkbox
12 votes -
I now own the Coinhive domain. Here's how I'm fighting cryptojacking and doing good things with content security policies.
15 votes -
Chrome's address bar will default to HTTPS
10 votes -
The web's first online bookmark manager [1997 snapshot]
12 votes -
A progress update on LinkLonk - a trust based news aggregator
Hey everyone, I launched my little project LinkLonk here on Tildes back in December and wanted to tell you how it has been going and get your feedback/suggestions. New changes since the launch:...
Hey everyone,
I launched my little project LinkLonk here on Tildes back in December and wanted to tell you how it has been going and get your feedback/suggestions.
New changes since the launch:
- The temporary accounts now automatically get deleted after 30 days of inactivity. I didn't have the deletion logic at the time of the launch, but had it implemented about 30 days after launch. Automatic account deletion is quite destructive - removes the account from the database (thank goodness for foreign keys and cascade deletes) and from Firebase Authentication. I'm happy that there were nobugs when I ran it the first time.
- In addition to submitting external links you can now create text posts. The posts are Markdown-formatted (similar to Tildes). One novel thing is that you can post "anonymously". The database has a record of who the author is so the author can delete/edit their post, it's just the name is not show next to the post.
- Comments - each item has a comment section. The comments are ranked based on how much you trust the people who upvoted each comment (as opposed to being pure popularity). This is the same ranking system that is used to rank the "For you" page, but now applied to comments.
- Unlike Tildes, the comments have a downvote button. The downvote does not bury the comment for everyone else. Instead, it makes your trust in upvotes of people who upvoted that comment go lower. So the downvote button effects what you see, not what others see. It is much harder to abuse that button that way. For that reason I feel much more comfortable putting it there. However, there is a second order effect. If you downvote a comment that someone else already downvoted - then you will trust the downvotes of that person. When they downvote some other comment - then it will rank lower for you. In a sense they earn your trust to moderate content for you by identifying comments you don't want to see.
In terms of users, there have been 260 user records created (some from my shameless plug comments on HackerNews). Of those, ~45 rated something - excluding those that were temporary accounts and were deleted. And I think we have 2 regularly active users (excluding myself). In my mind I had 10 as the number of active users that I was hoping to get by the end of 2021. At this rate we may reach it.
I was pleasantly surprised that there have been no misbehaving users. I didn't need to remove any content even once. This lead me to constantly postpone the implementation of a content reporting system. I hope it stays this way for a long time.
The whole idea of a trust based recommendation system is based on having someone to trust. Right now it is the RSS feeds that are generating most of the content recommendations for the active users. But ideally it would be mostly users recommending content to users. I have two priorities for the near future:
- Make the "single-player" experience better so the active users find value already. As an example, I added full-text search through items you liked
- Find more users to improve the "multi-player" experience. One option is to submit a "Show HN:" post on HackerNews. But you can only do it once and I'm not sure I'm ready to use that shot yet.
What do you think I should do next on these two fronts?
If you would like to give LinkLonk a try register with code "tildes" at https://linklonk.com/register. Feel free to comment on this post: https://linklonk.com/item/6347369602224750592
17 votes -
A look at search engines with their own indexes
26 votes -
organice is an implementation of Org-mode without the dependency of Emacs - built for mobile and desktop browsers
8 votes -
Facebook is a global mafia
10 votes -
How do we combat mass global misinformation? How about making the internet a little harder to use
16 votes