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fasterandworse.com
Steve Farrugia
@fasterandworse.com
1.3K followers 130 following 4.3K posts
Experienced user

Australian In Amsterdam

I talk about product design and I'm quite critical

open to work, open to talks

Words: https://fasterandworse.com
Videos: https://youtube.com/@fasterandworse
Audios: https://pnc.st/s/faster-and-worse
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fasterandworse.com
how far we've come
original ipod poster with solid green background, solid black silhouette of person holding solid white ipod with solid white earbuds plugged in. In french it says "10000 chansons dans la poche. Mac ou PC"
January 13, 2026 at 8:12 PM
fasterandworse.com
#silentsunday
January 11, 2026 at 8:41 AM
fasterandworse.com
Coiners: eliminate the need for a trusted third-party

AI bros:
Now AI is becoming the new intermediary. It’s what I’ve started calling “Layer 8” — the agentic layer that mediates between you and everything else on the internet. These systems will negotiate on our behalf, filter our information, shape our recommendations, and increasingly determine how we interact with the entire digital world.
January 11, 2026 at 12:20 AM
fasterandworse.com
wot
What we’re dealing with isn’t a values problem where developers are choosing convenience over principle. It’s a developer experience problem. And developer experience problems can be solved.
January 9, 2026 at 4:27 PM
fasterandworse.com
It's fair to say that Mozilla is riddled with AI addicts
We need to be honest about the current state of play: Closed AI systems are winning today because they are genuinely easier to use. If you’re a developer with an idea you want to test, you can have a working prototype in minutes using a single API call to one of the major providers. GPUs, models, hosting, guardrails, monitoring, billing — it all comes bundled together in a package that just works. I understand the appeal firsthand, because I’ve made the same choice myself on late-night side projects when I just wanted the fastest path from an idea in my head to something I could actually play with.
January 9, 2026 at 4:24 PM
fasterandworse.com
"the agentic layer that mediates between you and everything else on the internet"

blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/m...
There’s a reason the browser is called a “user agent.” It was designed to be on your side — blocking ads, protecting your privacy, giving you choices that the sites you visited never would have offered on their own. That was the first fight, and we held the line for the open web even as social networks and mobile platforms became walled gardens. Now AI is becoming the new intermediary. It’s what I’ve started calling “Layer 8” — the agentic layer that mediates between you and everything else on the internet. These systems will negotiate on our behalf, filter our information, shape our recommendations, and increasingly determine how we interact with the entire digital world. The question we have to ask is straightforward: Whose side will your new user agent be on?
January 9, 2026 at 4:22 PM
fasterandworse.com
in case you're wondering about the futility of it all, here's two job openings for the Firefox team

www.mozilla.org/en-US/career...
1. Director of Product Management, Generative AI 2. Staff UX Designer, AI Investment About this team and role: As a Staff UX Product Designer with an AI focus, you’ll help define the future of browsing and shape the next generation of AI-powered features in Firefox. You’ll collaborate with product managers, engineers, researchers, and content designers to create elegant, scalable experiences rooted in Firefox’s values of privacy, simplicity, and performance. In this high-impact, cross-functional role, you’ll explore new ideas, bring design systems to life, and elevate product quality with refined, visually engaging, and thoughtful design. You’ll influence how millions of people interact with the web—balancing trusted UI patterns with bold, forward-thinking AI innovations. You’ll design at the forefront of AI technology, shaping how people and businesses benefit from powerful new tools while influencing the future of Firefox—the only major browser not backed by billionaires. Join our distributed, mission-driven team and help make the web better for everyone as we build meaningful new AI experiences. About this team and role: Firefox isn’t just a browser. It’s where millions of people think, create, explore, and get things done. We are reimagining what that experience can be with consent-driven AI at the center. As our next Director of Product Management, Generative AI, you’ll lead the strategy to build AI-first experiences that make people more productive, focused, and fulfilled online. You’ll shape the vision, define the roadmap, and drive execution on products that help users solve real problems, faster and smarter while staying true to Firefox’s core values of privacy, transparency, and user control. This is your opportunity to create the next generation of web experiences, where AI assist users to unlock their potential.
January 7, 2026 at 8:14 PM
fasterandworse.com
incredible:
Firefox for Web Developers mastodon poll: after 1 day has 2,977 votes with the following options/results question: "Should translation be disabled if the AI 'kill switch' is active?" 25% - Yes 49% - Yes, but let me re-enable just translations 22% - No 3% - Man shrugging emoji user @duke_of_germany posted mastodon poll in response to Firefox for Developers poll: "Let's ask the real question: Firefox users, do you want any AI directly built into Firefox, or separated out into extensions?" after 7 hours has 2,935 votes with the following options/results 1% - I want AI built into Firefox 15% - I want AI separated into extensions 84% - Mozilla should not focus on AI features at all
January 7, 2026 at 6:16 PM
fasterandworse.com
this is the official response to the question of why there wasn't a poll option for no AI in Firefox
Firefox for Web Developers mastodon post reads "I didn't see the point in including options that were never going to be actioned. If anything, that would be extremely misleading"
January 7, 2026 at 3:59 PM
fasterandworse.com
Don't call it the "design" of the kill switch when you have to ask *us* what it should kill—as some kind of transparency/openness posturing.
screenshot of another Firefox for Web Developers mastodon post: "I posted this poll after a meeting where we discussed the design of the kill switch, and there was uncertainty around translations. I want to make sure the community's voice is represented in these discussions."
January 6, 2026 at 7:24 PM
fasterandworse.com
context
screenshot of Firefox for Web Developers mastodon post: "Firefox uses on-device downloaded-on-demand ML models for privacy-preserving translation. They're not LLMs. They're trained on open data. Should translation be disabled if the AI 'kill switch' is active?" followed by a poll with these options: - Yes - Yes, but let me re-enable just translations - No - [man shrugging emoji]
January 6, 2026 at 7:09 PM
fasterandworse.com
from their website—it appears they made...whatsapp?
Typical use cases - Make plans fast: Start a live text session; everyone's focused, you're done in minutes. Perfect for coordinating dinner, meetups, or quick decisions. - Loud environments: All the coordination of a call, none of the noise. Perfect for concerts, restaurants, and busy workplaces where you can't talk. - Well-being check-ins: “Are you okay?” Get an answered, presence-verified chat. Parent/teen check-ins with recurring schedules at set times. - Marketplace & dating: Share a burner tag until trust is established. Safe transactions and early-stage conversations with privacy protection. - Daily family coordination: Set recurring family check-ins at dinner time. Coordinate schedules, share updates, and stay connected with automated daily touchpoints. - Playful personas: Create fun burner identities with friends. Share temporary tags for games, jokes, or creative interactions that you can change anytime.
January 5, 2026 at 9:55 PM
fasterandworse.com
I bet neither of these do what you expect
youtube dropdown with two options visible: - Not interested - Don't recommend channel
January 5, 2026 at 6:22 PM
fasterandworse.com
We've been getting the snow in Amsterdam
Black and white photo of an old Citroen 2cv mini-van caked in snow, parked in front of shopfronts and a snow-covered footpath
January 5, 2026 at 5:18 PM
fasterandworse.com
#silentsunday
January 4, 2026 at 11:54 AM
fasterandworse.com
not any more!

www.ibm.com/think/topics...
Title: What is a digital twin? "Publishied 4th December 2020, Updated 17th October 2025" Digital doppelgängers Developers are designing digital twins capable of mirroring human behaviors and cognition. Digital doppelgängers can be used for both personal applications (such as legacy preservation or audience engagement) and professional ones (such as training employees or automating repetitive tasks). They can also be useful in research contexts. For example, researchers can perform experiments with synthetic users to simulate how real-life humans might respond to new products and features. Enterprises can then aggregate these findings to project population-level trends.
January 4, 2026 at 11:12 AM
fasterandworse.com
whenever someone talks about their digital twin
still from 1996 movie Multiplicity with three Michael Keatons in an open-top car. The one driving looks cool, front passenger looks chill, backseat one is wearing aviator cap and swimming goggles, looking like a manchild https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117108/
January 4, 2026 at 11:05 AM
fasterandworse.com
#silentsunday
January 4, 2026 at 9:57 AM
fasterandworse.com
All the wrong things
an "About Us" drop down menu with the options Quick Start, Talent Network, Affiliate Program, and Contact Us
January 2, 2026 at 6:45 PM
fasterandworse.com
this feels right
screenshot of the new york times article titled "Why Do Americans Hate A.I.?" with the lead photo of a humanoid bot that looks like an anthropomorphised answer to the question. All contained in a gilded ornate picture frame
January 2, 2026 at 4:00 PM
fasterandworse.com
still from movie Home Alone of Buzz character
January 1, 2026 at 7:16 PM
fasterandworse.com
She's loving the sounds of the Amsterdam firecrackers tonight
photo of a blonde chihuahua with a timid expression in her eyes
December 31, 2025 at 5:53 PM
fasterandworse.com
This kind of benefit of the doubt is what lets these fuckers proliferate
screenshot of mastodon post that says "Please be aware that this interview was posted 16 Sep 2025, several months before he joined Mozilla. So he is not talking about Mozilla or Firefox, but his view and experience when he worked at another company. Of course he has his past with him when he starts a new job, but important to know the setting for the interview."
December 27, 2025 at 12:15 AM
fasterandworse.com
I think we got there
Photo of a small Pavlova with strawberries and blueberries on top. It's safe inside a springform baking pan
December 25, 2025 at 10:07 AM
fasterandworse.com
they went to the trouble to write css to make those boxes appear clickable without an actual <a>
screenshot of inline css: ".three-col div:hover { cursor:pointer; filter:brightness(115%); transition:filter 0.3s ease; }"
December 24, 2025 at 4:53 AM