Manton Reece
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  • Trying to parse the significance of Jeff Dean leaving Google after 26 years, and Demis Hassabis stepping into a new role as chairman of DeepMind. Is this a shakeup, or just that everyone is ready for a change? Sounds more amicable than the usual AI executive reshuffling.

    → 4:48 PM, Aug 5
    Also on Bluesky
  • Tragic reporting from Bloomberg about how safer TikTok algorithms were withheld from some users so TikTok could A/B test engagement:

    Chase’s account was stuck in a so-called filter bubble, an online echo chamber that pumped out repetitive content the algorithm predicted he’d want to watch. There he received an “onslaught” of suicide and self-harm content, according to the document.

    If you accidentally create a harmful product, that’s one thing. It can be fixed to prevent future harm. But if you have the fix and refuse to deploy it widely, to me that’s inexcusable.

    → 4:10 PM, Aug 5
    Also on Bluesky
  • Good news that the iPhone announcement will likely be an in-person live event. It’s past time. And it’ll be a more personable way to introduce John Ternus.

    → 3:47 PM, Aug 5
    Also on Bluesky
  • Micro.blog mission, short recap

    Micro.blog is often confused with systems like Mastodon or Twitter. They are really very different. Those platforms connect your writing to people. Micro.blog connects it to the web.

    The community is amazing too. I’m as committed as ever to the idea that small, open platforms can focus on safety. But what separates the platform from everything else is its open web principles. Every feature — from conversations to cross-posting — exists first to support writing on the web. Making blogs better and your presence on the web better.

    Some people prefer the engagement they get on Mastodon or Instagram or whatever other social platform. That’s okay. It’s a big world and you should use whatever best suits you. And I’ll remain clear-eyed about what we’re doing and what we’re not doing.

    → 1:24 PM, Aug 5
    Also on Bluesky
  • I had missed that mastodon.cloud is shutting down. While its active user base has been shrinking, it still has a lot of total users and millions of posts. There’s still no way to migrate posts between Mastodon servers. (Mastodon posts → Micro.blog and some other fediverse servers works.)

    → 12:38 PM, Aug 5
    Also on Bluesky
  • Wavelength 2.0 for iOS seems hung up in Apple app review. It has been a few days. In the meantime, I have plenty to work on, but I’d love to ship it this week. 🤞

    → 8:39 AM, Aug 5
    Also on Bluesky
  • Austin landmark.

    A circular plaque with the text Austin Landmark and a crest is mounted on a brick wall.
    → 10:57 PM, Aug 4
    Also on Bluesky
  • OpenAI shared some text messages and emails to support their side of the Apple lawsuit. OpenAI opens with this:

    Apple is one of the greatest companies of all time, and built a reputation for obsessing over the smallest details. This careless, aggressive and oddly personal lawsuit sadly doesn’t live up to that reputation.

    Apple is clearly worried about OpenAI’s upcoming device. I remain skeptical of any company of Apple’s size using lawyers to stop a competitor.

    → 11:45 AM, Aug 4
    Also on Bluesky
  • Lots of recent work on the apps is rolling out. A new version of Sunlit today that has a bunch of design improvements and fixes. And the brand new Wavelength (our app for podcasting) is ready on Android, with iOS hopefully to follow soon.

    Micro.blog includes podcast hosting at all plans. Crazy.

    → 11:19 AM, Aug 4
    Also on Bluesky
  • I made a change today for new users to essentially require setting the “about me” text for a Micro.blog profile. After you confirm signing up, you’ll get this page with some random profiles. I hope that it’ll help with discovery in the future and also weeding out non-humans more easily.

    A user interface for signing up and updating a Micro.blog profile is shown, featuring text input for about me information against a cloudy sky background.
    → 4:41 PM, Aug 3
    Also on Bluesky
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