William Pietri
@williampietri.sfba.social.ap.brid.gy
Chicago-area writer, software developer, runner, and nerd wrangler. Very interested in online community and reducing the harm of tech. Creator of @sfships […]
🌉 bridged from https://sfba.social/@williampietri on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/
🌉 bridged from https://sfba.social/@williampietri on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/
One possibility is that Apple is bad at "AI". Another is that Apple is still good at making user-focused products, which is not compatible with the current "AI" zeitgeist. https://www.theverge.com/news/835466/apple-ai-chief-john-giannandrea-steps-down-siri
Apple AI chief steps down following Siri setbacks
Apple has a new AI chief.
www.theverge.com
December 1, 2025 at 11:08 PM
One possibility is that Apple is bad at "AI". Another is that Apple is still good at making user-focused products, which is not compatible with the current "AI" zeitgeist. https://www.theverge.com/news/835466/apple-ai-chief-john-giannandrea-steps-down-siri
There's one pinball vendor that is the oldest of old school. So much so that you order by emailing them. They send you the parts and an invoice, and then you pay on receipt. I am old enough to get it, but I have no idea what somebody who grew up with online shopping would make of it.
December 1, 2025 at 4:07 PM
There's one pinball vendor that is the oldest of old school. So much so that you order by emailing them. They send you the parts and an invoice, and then you pay on receipt. I am old enough to get it, but I have no idea what somebody who grew up with online shopping would make of it.
In my darker moments I suspect AI coding will win out not because the code is any good, but because so many of my fellow developers are used to working in large, no-good code bases that won't even notice the problems.
December 1, 2025 at 3:24 PM
In my darker moments I suspect AI coding will win out not because the code is any good, but because so many of my fellow developers are used to working in large, no-good code bases that won't even notice the problems.
Reposted by William Pietri
@williampietri Mine is "I don't get it".
As in someone sees something they don't understand and instead of acquiring more information and then making an educated opinion, they just judge it based on peer pressure "opinions" and then go live their life with that opinion set in stone about the […]
As in someone sees something they don't understand and instead of acquiring more information and then making an educated opinion, they just judge it based on peer pressure "opinions" and then go live their life with that opinion set in stone about the […]
Original post on mstdn.games
mstdn.games
November 30, 2025 at 4:27 PM
@williampietri Mine is "I don't get it".
As in someone sees something they don't understand and instead of acquiring more information and then making an educated opinion, they just judge it based on peer pressure "opinions" and then go live their life with that opinion set in stone about the […]
As in someone sees something they don't understand and instead of acquiring more information and then making an educated opinion, they just judge it based on peer pressure "opinions" and then go live their life with that opinion set in stone about the […]
One of my least favorite online phrases is "I don't see why" used to mean "I think you're a fool". It implies the speaker is the wise, objective judge, and them not seeing something is equivalent to it being wrong.
Lately I've been taking it as if they actually recognized they were not seeing […]
Lately I've been taking it as if they actually recognized they were not seeing […]
Original post on sfba.social
sfba.social
November 30, 2025 at 4:22 PM
One of my least favorite online phrases is "I don't see why" used to mean "I think you're a fool". It implies the speaker is the wise, objective judge, and them not seeing something is equivalent to it being wrong.
Lately I've been taking it as if they actually recognized they were not seeing […]
Lately I've been taking it as if they actually recognized they were not seeing […]
Reposted by William Pietri
@sue
These people need an education in programming just so they internalise that "I don't know how this works" is exactly equivalent to "I don't know if this works" or even "I don't know what this does".
These people need an education in programming just so they internalise that "I don't know how this works" is exactly equivalent to "I don't know if this works" or even "I don't know what this does".
November 29, 2025 at 1:53 PM
@sue
These people need an education in programming just so they internalise that "I don't know how this works" is exactly equivalent to "I don't know if this works" or even "I don't know what this does".
These people need an education in programming just so they internalise that "I don't know how this works" is exactly equivalent to "I don't know if this works" or even "I don't know what this does".
Reposted by William Pietri
I think the basis for this misunderstanding is the belief that LLMs are a new abstraction for coding, but as I've said before I think that is totally wrong framing here. Code generation does not equal a programming abstraction.
November 29, 2025 at 2:02 PM
I think the basis for this misunderstanding is the belief that LLMs are a new abstraction for coding, but as I've said before I think that is totally wrong framing here. Code generation does not equal a programming abstraction.
Reposted by William Pietri
So back in 1944, a German U-Boat Commander named Heinz-Wilhelm Eck did exactly what US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered US military forces to do - kill the survivors of a destroyed boat at sea.
Now, as then, this is considered a War Crime.
In 1945, Commander Eck was tried, found guilty […]
Now, as then, this is considered a War Crime.
In 1945, Commander Eck was tried, found guilty […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 29, 2025 at 12:24 AM
So back in 1944, a German U-Boat Commander named Heinz-Wilhelm Eck did exactly what US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered US military forces to do - kill the survivors of a destroyed boat at sea.
Now, as then, this is considered a War Crime.
In 1945, Commander Eck was tried, found guilty […]
Now, as then, this is considered a War Crime.
In 1945, Commander Eck was tried, found guilty […]
Reposted by William Pietri
I sometimes see people describing resistance to LLM assisted coding as gatekeeping and I get that, software engineering culture is absolutely rife with gatekeeping, I quite literally dedicated dedicated my career to developer education because I want more people to have access to these […]
Original post on glasgow.social
glasgow.social
November 29, 2025 at 1:37 PM
I sometimes see people describing resistance to LLM assisted coding as gatekeeping and I get that, software engineering culture is absolutely rife with gatekeeping, I quite literally dedicated dedicated my career to developer education because I want more people to have access to these […]
Is there some way I can either search or get a list of my followers? There's a server that every time I see it in my mentions it's somebody being a dick. I'm trying to figure out if I should just block the whole server.
November 25, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Is there some way I can either search or get a list of my followers? There's a server that every time I see it in my mentions it's somebody being a dick. I'm trying to figure out if I should just block the whole server.
Question for dog fans:
My downstairs neighbor just adopted a dog. Every time I walk down the stairs, he barks a lot.
I thought I'd make friends with him, so we arranged a time for me to walk down the stairs and say hello. I of course brought a bag of treats. He was skeptical at first, but once […]
My downstairs neighbor just adopted a dog. Every time I walk down the stairs, he barks a lot.
I thought I'd make friends with him, so we arranged a time for me to walk down the stairs and say hello. I of course brought a bag of treats. He was skeptical at first, but once […]
Original post on sfba.social
sfba.social
November 21, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Question for dog fans:
My downstairs neighbor just adopted a dog. Every time I walk down the stairs, he barks a lot.
I thought I'd make friends with him, so we arranged a time for me to walk down the stairs and say hello. I of course brought a bag of treats. He was skeptical at first, but once […]
My downstairs neighbor just adopted a dog. Every time I walk down the stairs, he barks a lot.
I thought I'd make friends with him, so we arranged a time for me to walk down the stairs and say hello. I of course brought a bag of treats. He was skeptical at first, but once […]
USPS keeps emailing me to say that a package is coming from "HQ - ECNS". I had no idea what that was, so I searched my email. Turns out I had received a package from them in February, so I searched USPS for that package id. It told me that tracking was not […]
[Original post on sfba.social]
[Original post on sfba.social]
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Select for Purchase](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2cxuata4ik5aba2xgnervivs/bafkreidjizeebxdqs53kgvcchyudd5ukwtzrxwh3dbdm6msqym4uy5f4oy@jpeg)
November 21, 2025 at 2:37 PM
USPS keeps emailing me to say that a package is coming from "HQ - ECNS". I had no idea what that was, so I searched my email. Turns out I had received a package from them in February, so I searched USPS for that package id. It told me that tracking was not […]
[Original post on sfba.social]
[Original post on sfba.social]
Reposted by William Pietri
We're delighted to announce that there is no bad news about the economy to report!
November 19, 2025 at 6:32 PM
We're delighted to announce that there is no bad news about the economy to report!
Ok, I want to try something that social media's not good at: collective analysis with empathy and nuance!
There's a guy I met at a Lean conference years ago. I like him. He's very smart and analytical, but his experience is in manufacturing, not software. He's since retired, and has been trying […]
There's a guy I met at a Lean conference years ago. I like him. He's very smart and analytical, but his experience is in manufacturing, not software. He's since retired, and has been trying […]
Original post on sfba.social
sfba.social
November 17, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Ok, I want to try something that social media's not good at: collective analysis with empathy and nuance!
There's a guy I met at a Lean conference years ago. I like him. He's very smart and analytical, but his experience is in manufacturing, not software. He's since retired, and has been trying […]
There's a guy I met at a Lean conference years ago. I like him. He's very smart and analytical, but his experience is in manufacturing, not software. He's since retired, and has been trying […]
Glad to see these people fucking all the way off. My gratitude goes to all the people of Chicago who pushed back, and to the media like Block Club who diligently exposed the nonsense and awfulness […]
Original post on sfba.social
sfba.social
November 16, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Glad to see these people fucking all the way off. My gratitude goes to all the people of Chicago who pushed back, and to the media like Block Club who diligently exposed the nonsense and awfulness […]
This is brilliant. But eventually it's going to get noticed by the "AI" companies and added to some sort of list of things to optimize for. And we have to keep in mind that a lot of "AI" appearing to work is really you asking it for something that was a previously discovered failure. Each time […]
Original post on sfba.social
sfba.social
November 16, 2025 at 4:21 PM
This is brilliant. But eventually it's going to get noticed by the "AI" companies and added to some sort of list of things to optimize for. And we have to keep in mind that a lot of "AI" appearing to work is really you asking it for something that was a previously discovered failure. Each time […]
I often fact-check memes, just to know what's true. This one started out funny but before long I was staring into the abyss.
Not the existential abyss that God is dead and life has no intrinsic meaning, I hasten to add. I've lived next to *that* abyss for years. It has a lovely view once you […]
Not the existential abyss that God is dead and life has no intrinsic meaning, I hasten to add. I've lived next to *that* abyss for years. It has a lovely view once you […]
Original post on sfba.social
sfba.social
November 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
I often fact-check memes, just to know what's true. This one started out funny but before long I was staring into the abyss.
Not the existential abyss that God is dead and life has no intrinsic meaning, I hasten to add. I've lived next to *that* abyss for years. It has a lovely view once you […]
Not the existential abyss that God is dead and life has no intrinsic meaning, I hasten to add. I've lived next to *that* abyss for years. It has a lovely view once you […]
Reposted by William Pietri
my husband made it so the home assistant voice assistant can use full-on ollama to interpret instructions. then he told it to turn the lights on. it's been explaining its thought process for over five minutes now and the lights are still off.
November 15, 2025 at 1:06 AM
my husband made it so the home assistant voice assistant can use full-on ollama to interpret instructions. then he told it to turn the lights on. it's been explaining its thought process for over five minutes now and the lights are still off.
The Economist, generally a pretty sober publication, is clearly getting alarmed about the state of American corporate finance and the AI bubble […]
Original post on sfba.social
sfba.social
November 13, 2025 at 4:13 PM
The Economist, generally a pretty sober publication, is clearly getting alarmed about the state of American corporate finance and the AI bubble […]
Just got back from Mexico City, which I loved, but I have to share this photo of the worst electrical outlet I've ever seen.
November 12, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Just got back from Mexico City, which I loved, but I have to share this photo of the worst electrical outlet I've ever seen.
Reposted by William Pietri
Have any tips about Trump's businesses or other money-in-politics info?
Email: z_everson@protonmail.com
Mobile/Signal: 202.804.2744
OnionShare (requires Tor): 224medfh4632g3ze5otkskg5onhe27ssw3vghy3swknmdng5yj4n3eqd.onion
Suggested reading—
Email: z_everson@protonmail.com
Mobile/Signal: 202.804.2744
OnionShare (requires Tor): 224medfh4632g3ze5otkskg5onhe27ssw3vghy3swknmdng5yj4n3eqd.onion
Suggested reading—
Here’s how to share sensitive leaks with the press
Thinking about securely leaking information to news organizations? This guide will show you how.
freedom.press
November 11, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Have any tips about Trump's businesses or other money-in-politics info?
Email: z_everson@protonmail.com
Mobile/Signal: 202.804.2744
OnionShare (requires Tor): 224medfh4632g3ze5otkskg5onhe27ssw3vghy3swknmdng5yj4n3eqd.onion
Suggested reading—
Email: z_everson@protonmail.com
Mobile/Signal: 202.804.2744
OnionShare (requires Tor): 224medfh4632g3ze5otkskg5onhe27ssw3vghy3swknmdng5yj4n3eqd.onion
Suggested reading—
Reposted by William Pietri
"Thank you for your service"
Experiences vary.
Experiences vary.
November 11, 2025 at 2:18 PM
"Thank you for your service"
Experiences vary.
Experiences vary.
Reposted by William Pietri
Men replying to women with some sort of perceived gotcha and as their first interaction, this is the masto shit that would earn you a sore face where I come from, say what you like about glaswegian men but they are overwhelmingly not that stupid
November 8, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Men replying to women with some sort of perceived gotcha and as their first interaction, this is the masto shit that would earn you a sore face where I come from, say what you like about glaswegian men but they are overwhelmingly not that stupid
Reposted by William Pietri
It's almost as if letting the ultra-rich own the entire mainstream press and also all the big social platforms had a downside.
November 3, 2025 at 11:22 PM
It's almost as if letting the ultra-rich own the entire mainstream press and also all the big social platforms had a downside.