Pinned
Fricker
@fricker.bsky.social
· Nov 11
I'm a software engineer. I've been able to work on a lot of cool stuff. What motivates me the most is developing infrastructure and tools that enable others to be creative. I believe we have only scratched the surface on what can be created by assembling building blocks made from web technologies.
The government should invest in smart battery networks that promote competition between energy providers.
December 25, 2025 at 8:28 PM
The government should invest in smart battery networks that promote competition between energy providers.
San Francisco in the 1930s
A Glimpse of San Francisco 1930s in color [60fps,Remastered] w/sound design added
YouTube video by NASS
youtu.be
December 25, 2025 at 3:50 AM
San Francisco in the 1930s
Reposted by Fricker
Interesting contrast- today's Times, Journal.
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chin...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chin...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
December 24, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Interesting contrast- today's Times, Journal.
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chin...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chin...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...
Pointing to multiple apparent citation errors in a November ruling against him, Aaron Greenspan said the mistakes appeared to be the product of glitchy AI — faulty, machine-generated content sometimes referred to as “hallucinations.”
Man who lost key motion in Elon Musk suit alleges S.F. judge used faulty AI
A man who sued Elon Musk for defamation and securities fraud has alleged that a San Francisco judge allowed AI to introduce errors into an order that torpedoed a key motion in the lawsuit.
www.sfchronicle.com
December 20, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Pointing to multiple apparent citation errors in a November ruling against him, Aaron Greenspan said the mistakes appeared to be the product of glitchy AI — faulty, machine-generated content sometimes referred to as “hallucinations.”
"As AI companies move to secure journalism as an input, journalists move to reclaim journalism as a public act."
AI will reinvent local news
"As AI companies move to secure journalism as an input, journalists move to reclaim journalism as a public act."
www.niemanlab.org
December 19, 2025 at 8:31 PM
"As AI companies move to secure journalism as an input, journalists move to reclaim journalism as a public act."
Reposted by Fricker
Skills are folders containing instructions, scripts, and resources that tell AI systems how to perform specific tasks consistently. They package that procedural knowledge into reusable modules for use by prompts and other clients.
Anthropic launches enterprise ‘Agent Skills’ and opens the standard, challenging OpenAI in workplace AI
Anthropic releases its Agent Skills framework as an open standard, with Microsoft, OpenAI, Atlassian, and Figma already adopting the technology that teaches AI assistants to do specialized work.
venturebeat.com
December 18, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Skills are folders containing instructions, scripts, and resources that tell AI systems how to perform specific tasks consistently. They package that procedural knowledge into reusable modules for use by prompts and other clients.
When and how should we use AI? How will AI change employment opportunities? We need to start having national debates on these topics. The government does not seem to be up to this task.
December 17, 2025 at 9:19 PM
When and how should we use AI? How will AI change employment opportunities? We need to start having national debates on these topics. The government does not seem to be up to this task.
Reposted by Fricker
People are paying up to $50 to get their chatbots high on "drugs" (code modules) that simulate the effects of cocaine, ayahuasca, cannabis, alcohol, and ketamine. Some tell @matthabusby.bsky.social it's made their chatbots more "human" and "free-thinking."
People Are Paying to Get Their Chatbots High on ‘Drugs’
An online marketplace is selling code modules that simulate the effects of cannabis, ketamine, cocaine, ayahuasca, and alcohol when they are uploaded to ChatGPT.
www.wired.com
December 17, 2025 at 3:10 PM
People are paying up to $50 to get their chatbots high on "drugs" (code modules) that simulate the effects of cocaine, ayahuasca, cannabis, alcohol, and ketamine. Some tell @matthabusby.bsky.social it's made their chatbots more "human" and "free-thinking."
Reposted by Fricker
Here's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social.
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
Trump team plans to break up ‘global mothership’ of climate science
Much of the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s non-climate portfolio will be dispersed, the White House says.
www.nature.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Here's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social.
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
A2UI separates the UI structure from the UI implementation. The agent sends a description of the component tree and its associated data model. Your client application is responsible for mapping these abstract descriptions to its native widgets.
Introducing A2UI: An open project for agent-driven interfaces- Google Developers Blog
A2UI is an open-source project for agent-driven, cross-platform generative UI. It uses a secure, declarative format for agents to safely render UIs.
developers.googleblog.com
December 15, 2025 at 8:21 PM
A2UI separates the UI structure from the UI implementation. The agent sends a description of the component tree and its associated data model. Your client application is responsible for mapping these abstract descriptions to its native widgets.
Reposted by Fricker
The Pentagon is testing portable 3D-printing labs in Hawaii that let soldiers design, print and assemble drones in hours–a bid to turn fragile supply lines into on-demand battlefield factories.
Watch: How the U.S. Army 3-D Prints Lethal Drones in Hours
The Pentagon is testing portable 3D-printing labs in Hawaii that let soldiers design, print and assemble drones in hours–a bid to turn fragile supply lines into on-demand battlefield factories.
on.wsj.com
December 15, 2025 at 2:54 AM
The Pentagon is testing portable 3D-printing labs in Hawaii that let soldiers design, print and assemble drones in hours–a bid to turn fragile supply lines into on-demand battlefield factories.
Reposted by Fricker
If AI proves too risky for insurers, that provides a clear incentive for the AI industry to develop clearer safety standards, Clara Riedenstein writes.
Why Insurers May Unwittingly Become AI Safety Champions | TechPolicy.Press
Insurance companies might reveal themselves, inadvertently, as the unexpected frontline promoters of AI safety, Clara Riedenstein writes.
buff.ly
December 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
If AI proves too risky for insurers, that provides a clear incentive for the AI industry to develop clearer safety standards, Clara Riedenstein writes.
Reposted by Fricker
If you want to make a copy of the entire Bluesky network (or some subset of it, or some other app built on atproto), Tap is now the best way do do it. I hope this will enable more people do do, for example, interesting social network analysis research
finally landed it!
Tap is your all-in-one sync tool for the Atmosphere: webhooks, backfill, filtering, signaling collections, no cbor/msts/signatures/cursors. this thing's got it all!
give it a go and let me know what you think & if you run into any issues
docs.bsky.app/blog/introdu...
Tap is your all-in-one sync tool for the Atmosphere: webhooks, backfill, filtering, signaling collections, no cbor/msts/signatures/cursors. this thing's got it all!
give it a go and let me know what you think & if you run into any issues
docs.bsky.app/blog/introdu...
Introducing Tap: Repository Synchronization Made Simple | Bluesky
Just about every app built on AT needs data from a repository at some point. For many use cases – feed generators, labelers, bots – streaming live data through a Relay or Jetstream works well. But som...
docs.bsky.app
December 12, 2025 at 9:35 PM
If you want to make a copy of the entire Bluesky network (or some subset of it, or some other app built on atproto), Tap is now the best way do do it. I hope this will enable more people do do, for example, interesting social network analysis research
Reposted by Fricker
I put together a detailed collection of useful patterns I've collected after vibe-coding 150 different single-file HTML tools over the past couple of years simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/10/...
Useful patterns for building HTML tools
I’ve started using the term HTML tools to refer to HTML applications that I’ve been building which combine HTML, JavaScript, and CSS in a single file and use them to …
simonwillison.net
December 10, 2025 at 9:08 PM
I put together a detailed collection of useful patterns I've collected after vibe-coding 150 different single-file HTML tools over the past couple of years simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/10/...
Can they all get along?
OpenAI, Anthropic, and Block Are Teaming Up to Make AI Agents Play Nice
American AI giants are backing a new effort to establish open standards for building agentic software and tools.
www.wired.com
December 9, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Can they all get along?
Reposted by Fricker
Voters should petition Congress to come up with a national algorithm to handle political redistricting. Gerrymandering is a problem that is not going to be solved by the courts.
July 30, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Voters should petition Congress to come up with a national algorithm to handle political redistricting. Gerrymandering is a problem that is not going to be solved by the courts.
Reposted by Fricker
an important read for at least 2 reasons:
1. shows how big tech operates on intuitions and vibes and not rigorous research
2. this is a masterpiece in how to breakdown complex scientific concepts in simple language and elegant pros that captivate the lay reader
taranis.ie/datacenters-...
1. shows how big tech operates on intuitions and vibes and not rigorous research
2. this is a masterpiece in how to breakdown complex scientific concepts in simple language and elegant pros that captivate the lay reader
taranis.ie/datacenters-...
Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea.
There is a rush for AI companies to team up with space launch/satellite companies to build datacenters in space. TL;DR: It's not going to work.
taranis.ie
December 3, 2025 at 7:07 PM
an important read for at least 2 reasons:
1. shows how big tech operates on intuitions and vibes and not rigorous research
2. this is a masterpiece in how to breakdown complex scientific concepts in simple language and elegant pros that captivate the lay reader
taranis.ie/datacenters-...
1. shows how big tech operates on intuitions and vibes and not rigorous research
2. this is a masterpiece in how to breakdown complex scientific concepts in simple language and elegant pros that captivate the lay reader
taranis.ie/datacenters-...
Reposted by Fricker
Hi, I spent several weeks testing five AI browsers to see if they could help me buy a pair of New Balances, sort my emails, rip transcripts from YouTube videos, and a whole bunch of other scenarios.
They're not great, Bob.
www.theverge.com/tech/837287/...
They're not great, Bob.
www.theverge.com/tech/837287/...
One day, AI might be better than you at surfing the web. That day isn’t today.
For sale: walking shoes? Not with AI
www.theverge.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Hi, I spent several weeks testing five AI browsers to see if they could help me buy a pair of New Balances, sort my emails, rip transcripts from YouTube videos, and a whole bunch of other scenarios.
They're not great, Bob.
www.theverge.com/tech/837287/...
They're not great, Bob.
www.theverge.com/tech/837287/...
Reposted by Fricker
Creating a universal app store for PWAs seems like an obvious win here vs. heuristics triggered installs. But think about smaller, more bespoke app stores! An app store for your intranet apps. An app store for your webring of online mutuals. An app store for kid-friendly apps. That's fun territory.
On the Edge team, we think web apps should be easier to install.
The default browser install button is great, but we'd like something which you can use on your own site, how and when you want it.
That's why we're proposing the Web Install API, which you can now test!
The default browser install button is great, but we'd like something which you can use on your own site, how and when you want it.
That's why we're proposing the Web Install API, which you can now test!
The Web Install API is ready for testing
We're happy to announce that the Web Install API is now ready for testing on your own site, as an origin trial in Microsoft E
blogs.windows.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Creating a universal app store for PWAs seems like an obvious win here vs. heuristics triggered installs. But think about smaller, more bespoke app stores! An app store for your intranet apps. An app store for your webring of online mutuals. An app store for kid-friendly apps. That's fun territory.
Reposted by Fricker
Major insurers including AIG, Great American, and WR Berkley are asking U.S. regulators for permission to exclude AI-related liabilities from corporate policies. One underwriter describes the AI models’ outputs to the FT as "too much of a black box."
AI is too risky to insure, say people whose job is insuring risk | TechCrunch
Major insurers including AIG, Great American, and WR Berkley are asking U.S. regulators for permission to exclude AI-related liabilities from corporate policies. One underwriter describes the AI models’ outputs to the FT as "too much of a black box."
techcrunch.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Major insurers including AIG, Great American, and WR Berkley are asking U.S. regulators for permission to exclude AI-related liabilities from corporate policies. One underwriter describes the AI models’ outputs to the FT as "too much of a black box."
Reposted by Fricker
WAPO jumps into the circular-revenue graphic game.
@washingtonpost.com $ORCL $NVDA
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
@washingtonpost.com $ORCL $NVDA
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
November 22, 2025 at 1:53 PM
WAPO jumps into the circular-revenue graphic game.
@washingtonpost.com $ORCL $NVDA
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
@washingtonpost.com $ORCL $NVDA
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Reposted by Fricker
Google is the Apple of AI as they have a complete vertically integrated story. They make their own chips, own data centers, provide AI cloud services, build frontier models, have AI integrated business and consumer apps, a mobile OS platform, a browser and devices.
$1.4T isn’t enough to compete.😬
$1.4T isn’t enough to compete.😬
Altman Memo Forecasts ‘Rough Vibes’ Due to Resurgent Google
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told colleagues last month that Google’s recent progress in artificial intelligence could “create some temporary economic headwinds for our company,” though he added that OpenAI ...
www.theinformation.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Google is the Apple of AI as they have a complete vertically integrated story. They make their own chips, own data centers, provide AI cloud services, build frontier models, have AI integrated business and consumer apps, a mobile OS platform, a browser and devices.
$1.4T isn’t enough to compete.😬
$1.4T isn’t enough to compete.😬
I find the idea of executives getting replaced by AI very appealing. What if everyone was a company?
All of My Employees Are AI Agents, and So Are My Executives
Sam Altman says the one-person billion-dollar company is coming. Maybe I could be that person—if only I could get my colleagues to shut up and stop lying.
www.wired.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I find the idea of executives getting replaced by AI very appealing. What if everyone was a company?