Blogs

Let’s go for my web review for the week 2025-20.

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“Google wanted that”: Nextcloud decries Android permissions as “gatekeeping”

Tags: tech, android, google, nextcloud, syncing

Again, Google doing its thing to protect its advantage… In the end it’s the users who loose control.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/nextcloud-accuses-google-of-big-tech-gatekeeping-over-android-app-permissions/

Rampant AI Cheating Is Ruining Education Alarmingly Fast

Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, teaching, learning, criticism

This is I think the most worrying consequences of this current hype. What happens when you get a whole generation which didn’t learn anything related to their culture? Is Idiocracy the next step? How close are we? At least, it will have made very obvious the problems with how our education system evolved the past twenty years (if not more).

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/openai-chatgpt-ai-cheating-education-college-students-school.html

If AI is so good at coding … where are the open source contributions?

Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, copilot, foss, quality

Such contributions still don’t exist. Or their quality is so abyssal that they waste everyone’s time. Don’t fall for the marketing speak.

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/05/13/if-ai-is-so-good-at-coding-where-are-the-open-source-contributions/

Stack overflow is almost dead

Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, knowledge

Looks like the writing is on the wall indeed… The paradox is that an important training corpus for LLMs will disappear if it dies for good. Will we see output quality lower? Or ossification of knowledge instead?

https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/stack-overflow-is-almost-dead/

AI Is Like a Crappy Consultant

Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, copilot, programming

Unsurprisingly it works OK when it’s about finding syntax errors you made or about low stakes mechanical work you need to repeat. The leash has to be very short.

https://lukekanies.com/writing/ai-is-like-a-crappy-consultant/

In 2025, venture capital can’t pretend everything is fine any more

Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, business, economics

It looks like desperate times for the venture capitalists behind the AI bubble…

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/05/03/in-2025-venture-capital-cant-pretend-everything-is-fine-any-more/

On Stochastic Parrots, commonly referred to as AI

Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, criticism

A short collection of links (some already seen somewhere else in the review) which altogether draw a stark picture of the LLM industry.

https://kuchenmampfer.de/en/posts/2025/05/on-stochastic-parrots-commonly-referred-to-as-ai/

Introducing oniux: Kernel-level Tor isolation for any Linux app

Tags: tech, networking, linux, tor, tools, privacy

Nice new tool from the Tor project. Looks like it’ll make it really easy to push traffic to Tor from the command line.

https://blog.torproject.org/introducing-oniux-tor-isolation-using-linux-namespaces/

On the Brokenness of File Locking

Tags: tech, linux, filesystem

It is indeed in a weird state on Linux to say the least. Make sure to follow the links there, they lead to more precise resources.

https://0pointer.de/blog/projects/locking.html

Lock-Free Rust: How to Build a Rollercoaster While It’s on Fire

Tags: tech, multithreading, atomics, rust

Not a huge fan of the writing style. Still this gives a good idea of what you have to deal with when you’re trying to build lock free data structures. Here it’s illustrated with Rust, but it’s not Rust specific.

https://yeet.cx/blog/lock-free-rust/

Writing that changed how I think about PL

Tags: tech, programming, language, compiler

Looks like a good list of pointers to understand languages and compilers… More reading ahead!

https://bernsteinbear.com/blog/pl-writing/

Initialization in C++ is bonkers

Tags: tech, c++, programming

Yes… definitely is too complex. This standard seriously needs a pass of simplification, I’m not at all convinced profiles would be enough to help for cases like this.

https://blog.tartanllama.xyz/initialization-is-bonkers/

Strong Units Conversions - Fluent C++

Tags: tech, c++, type-systems

This is one of the perks of a strong type system. You can ensure that you don’t mess up your units.

https://www.fluentcpp.com/2017/05/26/strong-types-conversions/

Plain Vanilla

Tags: tech, web, frontend, html, css, javascript

Looks like a good resource for modern web development without frameworks.

https://plainvanillaweb.com/

(t,i,x,y) => “creative code golfing”

Tags: tech, graphics, mathematics

Good reminder of all the nice animations you can do with a few dots and a couple of simple equations.

https://tixy.land/

Naked objects

Tags: tech, software, architecture, object-oriented, ddd

Didn’t know this kind of architectural pattern had a name. Interesting. I wouldn’t recommend it in any context though, but one more metaphor to reason with.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_objects

From GOOD to GREAT software engineer — How does the journey of growth look like?

Tags: tech, leadership, learning, knowledge, communication

Quite some good advice in here. I like being around people who proactively communicate, mind the quality of the communication and look for new things to work on. Who wouldn’t?

https://andrewwinnicki.medium.com/from-good-to-great-software-engineer-what-does-the-journey-of-growth-and-love-look-like-db0a38897d3c

Remote versus Co-located Work

Tags: tech, remote-working, team, organization, agile, productivity

Good summary of the different possible options around remote work.

https://martinfowler.com/articles/remote-or-co-located.html

Cost and Time are not Irrelevant

Tags: tech, agile, estimates, business

Or why estimates need to happen in one way or another.

https://ronjeffries.com/xprog/articles/kate-oneal-cost-and-time-are-not-irrelevant/

When Consultants Should Fire their Client

Tags: tech, business

There are indeed cases where you don’t want to hurt your reputation…

https://ozar.me/2014/09/consultants-fire-client/

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Bye for now!