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Alex Russell

@infrequently.org

5.5K followers 970 following 1.4K posts

Trying to make a web that works for everyone. Also at https://toot.cafe/@slightlyoff For more: https://infrequently.org/about-me/ https://infrequently.org/

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · Oct 27

Platforms are competitions, and the web is losing. We can do simple, straightforward things to combat that decline...but contemporary frontend isn't doing those things.

Why not?

A consolidated thread from last week:

infrequently.org/2024/10/platform…

Platform Strategy and Its Discontents - Infrequently Noted

Alex Russell on browsers, standards, and the process of progress.

infrequently.org

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 1h

...and so even though @404media.co isn't *actually* connecting the dots yet, it's at least pointing out that there *might* be alternatives. Which Apple must *hate*.

If their staff ever got a demo of PWAs, I suspect it might even radicalise them.

You up, @open-web-advocacy.org?

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 1h

So Apple is asking the Trump administration for a shield against the web. It wants US foreign and trade policy to punish the EU for having the temerity to legislate that it allow choice in browsers the same way it does on macOS.

**THIS**, along with competing native app stores, is what Apple fears.

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 1h

But a quick check shows that Apple has totally failed to make its own web apps platform functional...:

webventures.rejh.nl/blog/2024/histor…

...never mind competitive:

infrequently.org/2025/09/cupertin…

An Abridged History of Safari Showstoppers - Webventures

TL;DR: iOS Safari is more than an inconvenience for developers, it's the fundamental reason interoperability has been stymied...

webventures.rejh.nl

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 1h

It was at it again *last month* in the UK, making the same tired arguments: it shouldn't allow competent browsers because that would be "dangerous" (never mind Apple's own industry-trailing browser security record) while *simultaneously* claiming the App Store faces stiff competition from...web apps

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 1h

Cupertino wants nothing more than to to kill them, and last year it nearly succeeded:

infrequently.org/2024/02/home-scr…

Apple has argued against them in every capitol whilst claiming they are capable and a check on the App Store. But it's doing everything it possibly can to nerf them.

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 1h

And what is it the EU is threatening, exactly? Alternatives to Apple's chokehold on access to commodity APIs, including the safest versions that have ever been devised: the web platform.

Apple *hates* the web, and in particular, web apps (a.k.a., PWAs)

/cc @open-web-advocacy.org

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 1h

Specifically, Tim Apple is asking for air-cover against the EU, which is threatening to apply [ checks notes ] democratically passed [ double checks ] "laws" (whatever those are). And for the mere price of his dignity and our democracy, he's getting it:

on.ft.com/46GT5Ey

Brussels told to prove digital rules do not ‘punish’ US tech or fix them

Donald Trump’s ambassador to EU says no US president can ‘allow these kinds of infringements’ on American companies

on.ft.com

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 1h

This is a good start! Much better than the risible coverage from every single outlet I could find about the ICE Block takedown last week. Mentioning that the web is an alternative starts to open the door to the conversation about why this is happening...which is that Apple wants stuff from the govt.

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 1h

So Apple is censoring another ICE-spotting app, and I think we need to talk about the coverage, as much as Apple's groveling pre-compliance.

@404media.co broke this, specifically @josephcox.bsky.social, and unlike some previous coverage, it includes this:

404media.co/apple-banned-an-….

"The website for Eyes Up which functions essentially the same way is still available. The site includes a map with dots that visitors can click on, which then plays a video from that location. Users are able to submit their own videos for inclusion. Mark said he manually reviews every video before it is uploaded to the service, to check its content and its location. "

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 2h

Cheers! Interesting to hear.

Reposted by Alex Russell

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 27d

I'd list all the things Jack Posobiec is known for, but I think it would get me banned on Bluesky in the current environment of automated moderation.

Let's just say he has an extensive page at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Anyway, CBS News is talking with Posobiec about his friend Charlie Kirk.

YouTube screenshot of Face the Nation from CBS News: Jack Posobiec reflects on the life of his friend Charlie Kirk

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 3h

Every huge codebase (50+ engineers) I've worked with that have done upgrades in recent years have hit major issues with the introduction of scheduling. Adds variance to lab and RUM perf metrics, as well as <Suspense> randomising timings and introducing visual artifacts (flashing, delays, etc.)

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 3h

Then you're not actually working in a large codebase.

Reposted by Alex Russell

Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · 4h

The White House Antifa Roundtable is one of the best displays I’ve seen of this-is-how-bad-it’s-gotten — just a sewer of open fascism, dementia, morons and freaks, and incoherent rage.

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Reposted by Alex Russell

Joseph Menn @joemenn.bsky.social · 3h

The president's antifa expert tells Holocaust jokes and uses neo-Nazi codes like 1488. www.splcenter.org/resources/ha...

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Reposted by Alex Russell

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 4h

Our authoritarianism is run on clichés borrowed from the Eastern Europe of twenty years ago. Paid protestors, disloyal cities, evil Soros, vast conspiracies — it was all tiresome then and there, and now it’s pathetic.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5h

Trump: "They're, like, insurrectionists, they're terrible people. But you really wonder why. Why are they doing it? What are they gaining? Other than they're obviously paid. They're paid a lot of money."

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Reposted by Alex Russell

Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 7h

Got a recent Pulitzer for warning on the spread of autocracy around the globe, after decades of service to the paper? You can bet your butt you're getting laid off by form email, on Yom Kippur

Dave Jorgenson @davejorgenson.bsky.social · 12h

The Post laid off seemingly the remaining of their liberal-leaning staff members on Opinion last Thursday, when some of them were observing Yom Kippur.

from @oliverdarcy.bsky.social for Status
status.news/p/washington-post-opinion-cuts-adam-oneal

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Reposted by Alex Russell

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 4h

genuinely think they are feeding him AI videos

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5h

Trump: "I don't know what could be worse than Portland. You don't even have stores anymore. They don't even put glass up. They put plywood on their windows."

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 4h

I'm interested to hear what this stack is.

Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 4h

Deservedly so.

Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 4h

Define "pretty big"? We're talking productivity suites and systems with tight (and heavily managed against regression) latency budgets.

Reposted by Alex Russell

Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 7h

Please join me in raising funds for medical cargo buses and trucks with electric jamming for brigades of Ukraine's Khartiia Corps. These automobiles make the difference between whether people survive or not. We can do something very specific and meaningful to help.
www.help99.co/patches/timo...

Timothy Snyder: Freedom is Action

Professor Timothy Snyder – a prominent voice of freedom, teams up with NAFO to fundraise for ten trucks and ten cargo buses with anti-drone jamming systems. These will transport and protect those who ...

www.help99.co

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Reposted by Alex Russell

Popehat Agitates And Irritates @kenwhite.bsky.social · 5h

/3 Here, by the way, is what the Supreme Court ACTUALLY said about Trump’s theory in Texas v. Johnson 36 years ago:

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 5h

Every time I watch a team of hard-working folks burn months on a React upgrade, I'm reminded of how thoroughly the JS-Industrial-Complex gaslit us.

You know who hasn't slogged through constant breaking change migrations? Web Components developers. New runtimes drop *every month*...and it's *fine*.

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Alex Russell @infrequently.org · 5h

If lending that monopoly to authoritarians for a bit is the price, so be it, says Cupertino.

It's all part of the playbook, which is anti-democratic in practice, if not theory:

infrequently.org/2025/09/appl...

Apple's Antitrust Playbook - Infrequently Noted

Apple wants to launder the consequences of its own anticompetitive, anti-user choices through a credulous tech press. The goal is to frame regulators for Apple's own deeds, and it's rotten to the core...

infrequently.org

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