Bruce Lawson
LightNews LightNews
brucel.bsky.social
Bruce Lawson
@brucel.bsky.social
3.6K followers 45 following 740 posts
Web standards a11y lovegod who leverages synergies at Vivaldi browser. More posts & conversation at @[email protected]. This is broadcast-only, as I've been disappointed by non-Fediverse platforms before. Musician. He/ him. Personal views. RT≠+1.
Posts Replies Media Videos
brucel.bsky.social
According to Tech Radar, a reason to avoid using Vivaldi as your web browser is "No AI-powered assistant". Yup - and we're proud of it! If you don't want slop while you shop, or scurf while you surf, give the European browser a try.
vivaldi.com/blog/a-i-bro...
7. Vivaldi ***› Best build your own web browser with unique docking and tab-stacking SPECIFICATIONS Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS TODAY'S BEST DEALS VISIT WEBSITE REASONS TO BUY + Highly customizable design + Comes with built-in productivity tools + Includes an email client, and a feed reader + Built-in customizable ad-blocker and tracker REASONS TO AVOID - Doesn't have extensions and add-ons of its own - No Al-powered assistant
January 15, 2026 at 11:37 AM
brucel.bsky.social
Nice try, Enshittification Demon
prompt to "upgrade" to MacOS Tahoe with its "expressive and delightful" Liquid Ass UI, and more "Apple Intelligence" nonsense.
January 9, 2026 at 9:45 AM
brucel.bsky.social
It was good to wake up to the news that 3 of the shittiest people (Andrea Tate, Jake Paul, Little Tommy Ten Names) all got humiliated in Dubai, and the Orange Hate Gibbon rambled on about his wife's perfect panties, and mimed steaming them.
Trump sitting alone at a golf club table , slumped, asleep with mouth agape
December 21, 2025 at 10:16 AM
brucel.bsky.social
100% turnout for the @open-web-advocacy.org UK chapter xmas drinks, and my emeritus member's speech went down a storm.
Me and Stuart, in a pub. Looking dead glamorous
December 18, 2025 at 8:33 PM
brucel.bsky.social
.. of course, no vendor is likely to be able to ship their own browser engine, because if Apple unilaterally doesn't like you, it can remove any of your apps from iOS or Mac App Stores and remove your from the Developer program. Eg, "we can arbitrarily ruin you". developer.apple.com/contact/requ...
2.9 While in no way limiting Apple’s other rights under this Addendum or the Developer Agreement, or any other remedies at law or equity, if Apple has reason to believe You or Your Embedded Browser Engine App (Japan) have failed to comply with the requirements of this Addendum or the Developer Agreement, Apple reserves the right to revoke Your access to any or all of the Embedded Browser Engine APIs immediately upon notice to You; require You to remove Your Entitlement Profile from Your Embedded Browser Engine App (Japan); terminate this Addendum; block updates of, hide, or remove Your Embedded Browser Engine App (Japan) and/or other Applications from the App Store; block Your Applications from distribution on Apple platforms; and/or to suspend or remove You from the Apple Developer Program
December 18, 2025 at 11:12 AM
brucel.bsky.social
Some established browsers are betting their future on incorporating A.I., while A.I. companies are releasing browsers to slurp up your data even more. Here's Vivaldi's CEO @jon at Vivaldi's Reykjavík HQ announcing our 2026 roadmap.
December 16, 2025 at 6:01 PM
brucel.bsky.social
I think Shakespeare approves of me filing a claim against Anthropic in settlement of their alleged training of its stupid AI with books I co-wrote without permission. (Naturally, they deny doing anything wrong but nevertheless will pay $1.5 Billion to affected authors. Not each, sadly)
A document about the case and settlement, with a paperweight that is a bust of Shakespeare.
December 11, 2025 at 5:55 PM
brucel.bsky.social
Lawsuit Claims Google Secretly Used Gemini AI to Scan Private Gmail and Chat Data reclaimthenet.org/google-gemin...
Alt text Case 5:25-cv-09704-NC Document 6 Filed 11/12/25 Page 3 of 22: "2. However, on or about October 10, 2025, Google secretly turned on Gemini for all its users’ Gmail, Chat, and Meet accounts, enabling AI to track its users’ private communications contained in those platforms without the users’ knowledge or consent. As of the date of this filing, Google continues to track these private communications with Gemini by default, requiring users to affirmatively find this data privacy setting and shut it off, despite never “agreeing” to such AI tracking in the first place (“When you turn this setting on, you agree . . . .”). 3. Despite users never giving Google informed consent to track and store their private communications, Google does just that, using Gemini AI to access and exploit the entire recorded history of its users’ private communications, including literally every email and attachment sent and received in their Gmail accounts."
December 10, 2025 at 9:08 AM
brucel.bsky.social
My coffee machine is mid-range. But I only allow myself 4 cups a day. (Today I learned that what yanks call a "french press" is what we call a cafetiere, which is obvz now I know.)
December 4, 2025 at 6:57 PM
brucel.bsky.social
As a fashion influencer, Awesome Lawson Apparel(tm) has sent many buyers across the globe. Valiant Patrick Lauke sent me this from sunny Japan - a "Lawson Station" t-shirt, which will be the latest addition to my "Pret A Snogger" range. Thanks Pattypoo! #fashionBuyerOfTheMonth
Me wearing a white t-shirt with a blue logo reading "lawson station"
December 2, 2025 at 1:18 PM
brucel.bsky.social
Absolute scenes at Chateau Lawson yesterday when I caught La Daughter's Useless Dog somehow on top of the kitchen table munching a bowl of plum crumble I'd saved for El Son.
A French bulldog, entirely devoid of utility, on a tabletop, with its so-called "nose" in a bowl of crumble
December 1, 2025 at 11:28 AM
brucel.bsky.social
Anthropic: A small number of samples can poison LLMs of any size www.anthropic.com/research/sma... "as few as 250 malicious documents can produce a "backdoor" vulnerability in a large language model—regardless of model size or training data volume."
"You wouldn't poison an LLM"
November 28, 2025 at 1:32 PM
brucel.bsky.social
Oh, bloody hell, Useless Dog is at Chateau Lawson again
Me, and a useless French Bulldog
November 28, 2025 at 1:09 PM
brucel.bsky.social
More photos of my regulator-bothering trip for @vivaldi.com to Brussels last week. Some of the glamorous members of @browserchoicealliance.org ; me with John Ozbeige of @open-web-advocacy.org ; me underneath a horny lamp; Surrealiste pale ale (very nice)
out-of-focus shot of a man and 2 women eating posh food Me underneath a lamp made of old trombones and brass instruments Two handsome men in a cafe mugging to camera A man pouring a pint from a beer pump with an illuminated sign showing a red hand with an eye in its palm, reading "Surrealiste pale ale"
November 24, 2025 at 10:54 AM
brucel.bsky.social
A couple of meetings with members of the Cabinet in another vast Brussels Euro Building, then train to London, train home by 11pm and slept for 10 hours.
Me looking intimidated in front of a large office building. Behind me is Ana Lu, a sinister Brussels lawyer.
November 21, 2025 at 9:56 AM
brucel.bsky.social
A busy meeting at the European Commission about Big Tech's vexatious naughtiness.
Me in front of a very tall office building
November 18, 2025 at 6:30 PM
brucel.bsky.social
It was a delight to MC the grassroots community TechMids conference yesterday. Lots of glamorous people tried on my MC Hats.
A woman wearing an emoji poo hat Dr Tom Goodman, looking regal in my sequinned peaked hat, a smoking jacket and raising a glass of champagne A beautiful South Asian woman wearing my sequinned peaked hat A man wearing a sequinned AWS t-shirt, grinning and pointing to my sequinned peaked hat
November 15, 2025 at 12:02 PM
brucel.bsky.social
Scenes from @vivaldi.com HQ in Oslo: here's glamorous QA Hunk, Ruari, on his unicycle. FYI, he's a Linux devotee.
A Norwegian man, wearing a Norwegian hat and Norwegian facial hair, on a unicycle (nationality unknown).
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 AM
brucel.bsky.social
75 years ago today, European nations signed this Convention, so the Holocaust could not be repeated. Beware those who want this to end.
Right to life. Prohibition of torture. Prohibition of slavery and forced labour. Right to liberty and security. Right to a fair trial. No punishment without law. Right to respect for private and family life. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Freedom of expression. Freedom of assembly and association. Right to marry. Right to an effective remedy. Prohibition of discrimination. Prohibition of abuse of rights. EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS 75 YEARS (1950 - 2025)
November 4, 2025 at 7:28 PM
brucel.bsky.social
Absolute scenes on Kuenssberg this morning
Photo of Nigel Farage and Laura Kuenssberg in a TV studio. Speech bubble from Farage reads "I was about 14 and it was over a photo of Eva Braun". Speech bubble from Kuenssberg reads "Erm…I asked you about the West Bank".
October 12, 2025 at 10:36 AM
brucel.bsky.social
AT #smashingconf, @tkadlec.bsky.social is reminding us that betting on the browser (rather than JavaScript abstractions) is our best chance of long-term success.
Tim Catnip on stage
October 7, 2025 at 5:40 PM
brucel.bsky.social
I'm in New York, which is a bit different from original York, repping @vivaldi.com and @browserchoicealliance.org who are sponsoring @smashingconf.com.
Me and Ashley in front of sponsor board listing Browser Choice Alliance (and Microsoft Edge!) Me in a NYC street
October 7, 2025 at 1:49 PM
brucel.bsky.social
Happy Anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, to all decent people.
Plaque: Plaque "THE BATTLE OF CABLE STREET The people of East London rallied to Cable Street on the 4th October 1936 and forced back the march of the fascist Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts through the streets of the East End. "THEY SHALL NOT PASS""
October 4, 2025 at 12:42 PM
brucel.bsky.social
Prolonging the life of another Windows 10 machine by installing Linux while keeping a Windows look and feel. Thanks, ZorinOS! Naturally, Vivaldi is available from the Software store, and LibreOffice is pre-installed. My 80 year old mum took very little time to feel at home with it.
ZorinOS 17 installation screen The software store started from the Start menu
October 2, 2025 at 4:44 PM
brucel.bsky.social
I'm reading some shocking misapprehensions about web apps in the Malaysian government's report into mobile competition - big PDF: www.mycc.gov.my/sites/defaul...
Native apps often offer offline capabilities and benefit from the security measures of their OS, making them faster and more responsive. These apps are generally preferred over web apps because they align more closely with current user preferences and trends, offering a more tailored and engaging experience. Furthermore, growing emphasis on cybersecurity makes native apps more appealing, as they typically benefit from the robust security features built into the OS. This ensures better data protection and user privacy compared to web apps, which can be more vulnerable to security breaches and may not offer the same level of control over user data. While web apps are device-agnostic, meaning they can be accessed across different platforms and devices through a web browser, they lack the credibility of native apps. This is because web apps are not listed in app stores, which means users cannot rate and review them, making it harder to assess their reliability and quality. Furthermore, due to the limitations of browser-based APIs, web apps cannot access many hardware functions, such as biometric authentication (e.g., Face ID or fingerprint recognition) or more advanced device capabilities (e.g., NFC, GPS). While basic features like camera access or geolocation can still be utilised, these restrictions can limit the user experience. Additionally, web apps are often considered less secure than native apps because they operate over the internet and can be more easily targeted by hackers. According to CyCognito cybersecurity company, an estimated 70% of web apps assessed have security gaps, including the absence of web application …
September 30, 2025 at 5:51 PM