Nicolás Alvarez
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nicolas17.xyz
Nicolás Alvarez
@nicolas17.xyz
170 followers 100 following 1.4K posts
Award-winning Git repository surgeon. Currently hacking and documenting Apple stuff for fun and no profit.
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nicolas17.xyz
Last Wednesday while sitting in the train (no computer), I got a lot of planning work done on how I was going to implement something. Even better, on the walk from the train station, I figured out that implementing that thing was going to be pointless and I shouldn't do it at all.
eternalskiestcg.bsky.social Eternal Skies @eternalskiestcg.bsky.social · 2h
Trying to measure coding productivity is, and always will be, a fool's errand.

Why? Because I can go for a walk then take a shower and have an idea, then write a single line of code that fixes everything I was working on.

Immense productivity, but by most metrics I didn't do anything at all.
November 16, 2025 at 6:13 PM
nicolas17.xyz
@ifixit.com Apparently Apple is now providing the battery alone as a replacement part for the MacBook Pro M5: support.apple.com/en-us/123176

But no other changes were done to the manual yet, and the parts store website is broken right now...
MacBook Pro (14-inch, M5) Exploded View and Orderable Parts - Apple Support
Diagram and list of part names and numbers
support.apple.com
November 15, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
antlervel.vet
I made a joke in my main Discord server about DOOM E1M1 being in a major key and @abigbagofkeys.sickonedude.com actually made it. Jesus fucking Christ listen to this hahahaha
November 14, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
newjorg.bsky.social
Steam Machine René Magritte style “Ceci n’est pas une Xbox”
November 12, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
crtpixel.bsky.social
Now that the embargo is up on the Steam Machine, I can reveal to you its actual size.

And while what I've been allowed to play on it is limited, I can tell you that Towerfall runs perfect on it
Definitely not the Steam Machine. This is an OUYA
November 12, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
archive.org
Internet pioneer Vint Cerf, co-creator of the TCP/IP protocols that built the Internet, celebrates the Internet Archive reaching 1 trillion pages & reflects on why preserving our digital history matters for generations to come.
More ⤵️
blog.archive.org/2025/11/12/v...

#Wayback1T
November 12, 2025 at 4:44 PM
nicolas17.xyz
@lookitup.baby good news
tankgorl.bsky.social 🔆Tanker Lesbian Elize/Standing with Ukraine💙💛 @tankgorl.bsky.social · 6d
this has to be the single greatest image in the history of sports
November 12, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
oregonthedm.bsky.social
The difference in time between now and I can has cheezburger

Is the same between I can has Cheezburger and the Berlin Wall falling
The legendary cat meme that started an era
November 10, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
nicolas17.xyz
Mordi says: Do you feel good when you finish a project, or do you just feel empty/hollow? I reply: what do you mean by "finish a project"?
October 30, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
pusheen.bsky.social
Send this to the GOAT 🐐
November 7, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
gwenma.bsky.social
While I wouldn’t call this cute, there is a big payoff after a significant build up here. I promise nobody dislocated a shoulder.
November 1, 2025 at 2:27 AM
nicolas17.xyz
I NEED a bluesky uspol labeler, please.
November 5, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
phineas.bsky.social
New awareness campaign
A digital poster in the style of a World War II propaganda piece. Isolaed on a yellow background, a normal, squarish, 20-something guy with glasses is sitting working on a laptop. A ghostly figure of Hitler has his arm around the guy and is grinning and shaking a fist triumphantly looking at the laptop screen. On the lid of the laptop where an apple might otherwise be is an openAI logo, bright green, and dripping green ooze down the lid. Text on the poster, in combinations of sans-serif type and brush script reads: Using Generative AI? You’re prompting with Hitler! GenAI is a Fascist Project! Try using your brain instead Don’t surrender your creativity to the tech billionaire’s control
November 3, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
fieldexplores.bsky.social
Costume Inspiration - Gator Days
Costume Inspiration - Gator Days Transcript Panel 1 Gustopher and Douglas are meeting up to go Trick-or-Treating. Gustopher sees that Douglas has decided to go as the classic ghost for Halloween. Various spooky things are happening in a house in the background. There are two mysterious figures on the second floor with a spider above them. And demonic entity also appears to have a plate full of eyeballs as a bat watches from above. I hear they're full of protein. Gustopher: DOUGLAS! Great costume! Douglas: Thanks. Panel 2 Douglas poses in his costume. It's just a simple sheet with eye and arm holes cut out but it's effective. I'd give it four out of five rocks. Douglas explains his inspiration for the costume. Douglas: I decided to be a ghost. It represents my fear of never truly being seen and my hope to be remembered. Panel 3 Gustopher stands in his own costume. He is wearing the same taco costume he wore last year. He begins to contemplate his inspiration for such a costume. Thankfully, the house behind him does not have anything too spooky in it. Just a cat looking at what's going on outside. Panel 4 Gustopher carefully chooses his words and explains his inspiration for his fine taco costume. Gustopher: I'm a taco because I like tacos. The cat in the window appears to be doing something. Smiling? And shadowy tendrils are erupting beneath the cat. Okay, I'm sorry. This is too spooky. The eyeballs were bad enough. I'm leaving.
October 31, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
zkat.tech
I'm going to continue mincing no words about the fact that I think less of you—yes, you—if I ever see you posting about how interesting/compelling/useful "some aspect" of genAI tech is, especially if you're a techie, because I know full well YOU know the harms involved by now.
October 29, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
noethematt.bsky.social
"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"
October 28, 2025 at 10:46 AM
nicolas17.xyz
Typing "jj git init" and joining @steveklabnik.com's cult.
October 28, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
python.org
as a condition of funding, we were asked to affirm that we wouldn’t undertake any diversity, equity, and inclusion work, whether or not we used the government funds to do so. The PSF simply couldn’t agree to that statement,
October 27, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
python.org
The PSF applied for a $1.5M grant from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to make innovative improvements to packaging security—and we were recommended for funding! But...
October 27, 2025 at 2:47 PM
nicolas17.xyz
I haven't seen this guy in a while :(
nicolas17.xyz Nicolás Alvarez @nicolas17.xyz · Jan 6
Neighbor cat has claimed me as its property 🥰
October 26, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
ellearmageddon.bsky.social
i’ve actually done this, and in addition, asked them what our process is if someone gets abducted while traveling for work.

then offered to help answer that second question, so we can publish internal policy on it.
cooperlund.online Cooper Lund @cooperlund.online · 22d
Realized his morning that I need to ask my HR department what the leave policy is if someone gets indefinitely detained by ICE, just to get them thinking about it
October 25, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
nicolas17.xyz
Speaking of nightmares:
ugh so... Someone in a group chat accidentally sent a homework question (wrong chat, was probably meant for classmates). Someone else replied with answers from ChatGPT. I was like wtf is the point of that, if he wanted to ask ChatGPT he'd use it himself. He said the answer was hilariously wrong and he was sharing it to make fun of it but I got angry and said "no you're just legitimizing the stupid hype of using Al for everything". AND THEN I WOKE UP! THIS IS AT LEAST THE SECOND TIME THIS BULLSHIT GETS INTO MY DREAMS! Explains the extremely weird behavior of my phone keyboard tho.
October 24, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Nicolás Alvarez
hypervisible.blacksky.app
At some point it has to become clear that this tech exists is to create a more toxic society and enrich its owners. These uses are not aberrations but rather the entire purpose.
OpenAI's Sora 2 Can Generate Videos of Celebrities Appearing to Shout Racial Slurs
OpenAI's Sora 2 video generation model can be exploited to push misinformation and depict public figures behaving badly despite promised guardrails.
www.rollingstone.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:07 PM
nicolas17.xyz
Who could have predicted this?
macrumors.bsky.social MacRumors.com @macrumors.bsky.social · 27d
iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle
iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass. The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted increases the opacity of Liquid Glass and adds more contrast. The new setting can be found on iOS and iPadOS by going to Settings > Display and Brightness, or System Settings > Appearance on the Mac. Increasing opacity and adding contrast applies to Liquid Glass throughout the operating system, including in apps and Lock Screen notifications. There are multiple other new features in iOS 26.1, including a new slide to stop feature for alarms and timers, new Apple Intelligence languages, a redesigned Apple TV app icon, changes to the Settings app, and more, with a full list of features available in our iOS 26.1 feature guide.Related Roundups: iOS 26, iPadOS 26Related Forum: iOS 26 This article, "iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums
www.macrumors.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:09 PM
nicolas17.xyz
@eean.dev
brenttoderian.bsky.social Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Oct 17
“Now Scientific American has updated and re-released what it calls the “classic graphic” that shows that a human on a bicycle—able to coast, or freewheel, without pedaling—remains the world’s most energy effecient traveler.” @carltonreid.com on the re-release of the iconic graph in @forbes.com.
Heat map of travel efficiency, updated
October 17, 2025 at 4:54 PM