Laurence Gonsalves
@laurence.gonsalv.es
I like old computers, making things, science, math, and science fiction.
Currently making something new at @Nipht.io. Helped create Google Reader.
@xenomachina@oldbytes.space on the fediverse. Formerly @laurence on the birdsite.
IDIC 🖖
Currently making something new at @Nipht.io. Helped create Google Reader.
@xenomachina@oldbytes.space on the fediverse. Formerly @laurence on the birdsite.
IDIC 🖖
Posting this as a PSA for anyone else (or possibly my future self) who runs into this issue, as Googling was not helping me out...
February 8, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Posting this as a PSA for anyone else (or possibly my future self) who runs into this issue, as Googling was not helping me out...
Reposted by Laurence Gonsalves
"This is a Spoon."
I animated prose from voice talent @gideonemery.bsky.social that I found particularly helpful in our America.
I animated prose from voice talent @gideonemery.bsky.social that I found particularly helpful in our America.
January 28, 2026 at 5:19 PM
"This is a Spoon."
I animated prose from voice talent @gideonemery.bsky.social that I found particularly helpful in our America.
I animated prose from voice talent @gideonemery.bsky.social that I found particularly helpful in our America.
Android's setRotateEulerM function (which is supposed to create a rotation matrix for 3D vectors) has a bug that makes it pretty useless. This bug was reported 15 years ago. A fix has even been provided in the comments, and yet the issue is still open to this day.
Google Issue Tracker
issuetracker.google.com
December 27, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Android's setRotateEulerM function (which is supposed to create a rotation matrix for 3D vectors) has a bug that makes it pretty useless. This bug was reported 15 years ago. A fix has even been provided in the comments, and yet the issue is still open to this day.
A recent Android update somehow broke all of my launcher shortcuts so they forgot what their main icon was supposed to look like, and they just started showing the app's icon twice like Dr. Evil and mini-me.
If you ran into this problem too, recreating the shortcuts seems to fix the problem.
If you ran into this problem too, recreating the shortcuts seems to fix the problem.
December 23, 2025 at 8:10 AM
A recent Android update somehow broke all of my launcher shortcuts so they forgot what their main icon was supposed to look like, and they just started showing the app's icon twice like Dr. Evil and mini-me.
If you ran into this problem too, recreating the shortcuts seems to fix the problem.
If you ran into this problem too, recreating the shortcuts seems to fix the problem.
There was a funny glitch in the subtitles of the most recent episode of #Pluribus. When Carol says "this white powdery stuff", the word "white" is replaced by "#D1AD2C", which is the color code for the yellow used in the subtitles.
A "search and replace" error, or a weird Easter egg?
A "search and replace" error, or a weird Easter egg?
December 3, 2025 at 1:45 AM
There was a funny glitch in the subtitles of the most recent episode of #Pluribus. When Carol says "this white powdery stuff", the word "white" is replaced by "#D1AD2C", which is the color code for the yellow used in the subtitles.
A "search and replace" error, or a weird Easter egg?
A "search and replace" error, or a weird Easter egg?
Reposted by Laurence Gonsalves
left is the network engineer's system at home, right is at work.
September 26, 2025 at 5:10 PM
left is the network engineer's system at home, right is at work.
I've been programming in Python for over 25 years, and only just learned that comparison chaining is not just for relational operators, but for all comparison operators including == and is.
September 23, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I've been programming in Python for over 25 years, and only just learned that comparison chaining is not just for relational operators, but for all comparison operators including == and is.
I wish I had screenshots of the way the clock and phone apps used to look on Android for comparison, because these Material 3 Expressive updates look terrible. The spacing and sizing of everything is so inconsistent, and where did they get this ugly font from?
September 17, 2025 at 6:29 PM
I wish I had screenshots of the way the clock and phone apps used to look on Android for comparison, because these Material 3 Expressive updates look terrible. The spacing and sizing of everything is so inconsistent, and where did they get this ugly font from?
![Screenshot of 404 page reading:
404 Not FOund
Guru Meditation: [long hex number]
Goofy Deploy Page Server](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fyk7k47or5phqjdo3aykvhff/bafkreietzug75pxhuhqh5jabmxtacih3ko6texyywhw63afd5cialz7lwe@jpeg)
Reposted by Laurence Gonsalves
There's a LEGO ideas campaign for the Hearthian Lander! If it can get 10,000 votes of support, then LEGO will consider making it a real set. This one's even got a ship interior!
beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...
(Wait, have we done this before? 🤔)
beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...
(Wait, have we done this before? 🤔)
Outer Wilds Ventures | LEGO® Ideas
Outer Wilds is an amazing game created by Mobius Digital. It is a space exploration game where you take control of an astronaut who has to explore their tiny so…
beta.ideas.lego.com
July 24, 2025 at 5:39 PM
There's a LEGO ideas campaign for the Hearthian Lander! If it can get 10,000 votes of support, then LEGO will consider making it a real set. This one's even got a ship interior!
beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...
(Wait, have we done this before? 🤔)
beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...
(Wait, have we done this before? 🤔)
Setting timers on other speakers with Google Home has become completely broken in the past few weeks.
When I tell our kitchen speaker to set a timer on our upstairs speaker, it tells me that the timer has been started. However, if then I check what timers are running, there are none. It just lies!
When I tell our kitchen speaker to set a timer on our upstairs speaker, it tells me that the timer has been started. However, if then I check what timers are running, there are none. It just lies!
July 23, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Setting timers on other speakers with Google Home has become completely broken in the past few weeks.
When I tell our kitchen speaker to set a timer on our upstairs speaker, it tells me that the timer has been started. However, if then I check what timers are running, there are none. It just lies!
When I tell our kitchen speaker to set a timer on our upstairs speaker, it tells me that the timer has been started. However, if then I check what timers are running, there are none. It just lies!
At a panel at Open Sauce, and @vsauce.bsky.social concisely summed up how many of us feel about AI generated content:
"why would I want to watch something that someone couldn't even be bothered to make"
"why would I want to watch something that someone couldn't even be bothered to make"
July 19, 2025 at 10:24 PM
At a panel at Open Sauce, and @vsauce.bsky.social concisely summed up how many of us feel about AI generated content:
"why would I want to watch something that someone couldn't even be bothered to make"
"why would I want to watch something that someone couldn't even be bothered to make"
I only just now realized that the Omega class from Babylon 5 looks very similar to the Leonov spacecraft from the movie 2010 (1984).
July 10, 2025 at 9:44 PM
I only just now realized that the Omega class from Babylon 5 looks very similar to the Leonov spacecraft from the movie 2010 (1984).
I recently found an Odo rubber stamp I've had for probably 30 years buried in a drawer.
As a rubber stamp, maybe not so useful. However, because it looks like Odo's head and shoulders on a (mostly) flat base, you can rest it on a random object to make it look like it's Odo mid-transformation.
As a rubber stamp, maybe not so useful. However, because it looks like Odo's head and shoulders on a (mostly) flat base, you can rest it on a random object to make it look like it's Odo mid-transformation.
July 10, 2025 at 4:01 PM
I recently found an Odo rubber stamp I've had for probably 30 years buried in a drawer.
As a rubber stamp, maybe not so useful. However, because it looks like Odo's head and shoulders on a (mostly) flat base, you can rest it on a random object to make it look like it's Odo mid-transformation.
As a rubber stamp, maybe not so useful. However, because it looks like Odo's head and shoulders on a (mostly) flat base, you can rest it on a random object to make it look like it's Odo mid-transformation.
The box for the Lego Chrysanthemum set has a banana for scale!
July 10, 2025 at 5:41 AM
The box for the Lego Chrysanthemum set has a banana for scale!
In recent years I've seen people online use "weary" in place of "wary" *so* many times. I feel like it's becoming more common than the "their/there/they're" mixup.
weary: feeling or showing tiredness
wary: feeling or showing caution
Mnemonic: it's "beWARE", not "beWEAR".
weary: feeling or showing tiredness
wary: feeling or showing caution
Mnemonic: it's "beWARE", not "beWEAR".
May 10, 2025 at 11:58 PM
In recent years I've seen people online use "weary" in place of "wary" *so* many times. I feel like it's becoming more common than the "their/there/they're" mixup.
weary: feeling or showing tiredness
wary: feeling or showing caution
Mnemonic: it's "beWARE", not "beWEAR".
weary: feeling or showing tiredness
wary: feeling or showing caution
Mnemonic: it's "beWARE", not "beWEAR".
One feature of @nipht.io's browser extension I really like is that you can save a set of tabs all at once. It's handy for when you get to that state where you've got a dozen tabs open on some subject you were researching, but don't have time to deal with them "now".
no. never. i will accumulate an increasingly unbearable amount of tabs until i die
I have blogged my sage advice: restart your damn computer. defector.com/restart-your...
May 9, 2025 at 6:28 PM
One feature of @nipht.io's browser extension I really like is that you can save a set of tabs all at once. It's handy for when you get to that state where you've got a dozen tabs open on some subject you were researching, but don't have time to deal with them "now".
The "you probably don't know about" part here is killing me.
The last version of Windows that I used regularly, required that you press Ctrl+Alt+Del just to log on. This was supposedly a security measure, to make it harder for someone to create a password harvester.
The last version of Windows that I used regularly, required that you press Ctrl+Alt+Del just to log on. This was supposedly a security measure, to make it harder for someone to create a password harvester.
May 6, 2025 at 4:05 AM
The "you probably don't know about" part here is killing me.
The last version of Windows that I used regularly, required that you press Ctrl+Alt+Del just to log on. This was supposedly a security measure, to make it harder for someone to create a password harvester.
The last version of Windows that I used regularly, required that you press Ctrl+Alt+Del just to log on. This was supposedly a security measure, to make it harder for someone to create a password harvester.
Does anyone know the original source of this image? It's usually described as a 1970s or '80s vision of what a PDA or smartphone would look like, but the book it came from is never named. It resembles the style of some Usborne books (and the spelling of "colour" suggests that it isn't American).
May 5, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Does anyone know the original source of this image? It's usually described as a 1970s or '80s vision of what a PDA or smartphone would look like, but the book it came from is never named. It resembles the style of some Usborne books (and the spelling of "colour" suggests that it isn't American).
Reposted by Laurence Gonsalves
Movie you’ve watched more than six times using gifs.
(“Hard mode” no Star Wars, Star Trek, or LOTR)
(“Hard mode” no Star Wars, Star Trek, or LOTR)
April 26, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Movie you’ve watched more than six times using gifs.
(“Hard mode” no Star Wars, Star Trek, or LOTR)
(“Hard mode” no Star Wars, Star Trek, or LOTR)
I enjoyed this post about pipelining in programming languages. It doesn't mention Kotlin at all, but the way Kotlin's extension functions and lambda syntax support pipelining is probably one of its most underrated features.
herecomesthemoon.net/2025/04/pipe...
herecomesthemoon.net/2025/04/pipe...
Pipelining might be my favorite programming language feature
Free-standing function call syntax considered kind of suboptimal.
herecomesthemoon.net
April 23, 2025 at 6:34 AM
I enjoyed this post about pipelining in programming languages. It doesn't mention Kotlin at all, but the way Kotlin's extension functions and lambda syntax support pipelining is probably one of its most underrated features.
herecomesthemoon.net/2025/04/pipe...
herecomesthemoon.net/2025/04/pipe...
Tired of manually moving bookmarks from your browser to Niphtio? Now you can import directly from Chrome (and Chromium browsers)! 🤯Save time, effort, and more easily organize all your links in one place. Give it a try today!
#Niphtio #Chrome #BookmarkImport #TechTips
#Niphtio #Chrome #BookmarkImport #TechTips
April 17, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Tired of manually moving bookmarks from your browser to Niphtio? Now you can import directly from Chrome (and Chromium browsers)! 🤯Save time, effort, and more easily organize all your links in one place. Give it a try today!
#Niphtio #Chrome #BookmarkImport #TechTips
#Niphtio #Chrome #BookmarkImport #TechTips
Weird but interesting sculpture (?) at SJC.
April 11, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Weird but interesting sculpture (?) at SJC.