Tootfinder

So Michelle7 over on BlueSky has a “Questioning AI Resource List” (Google Doc) that they’re maintaining.
It’s well worth keeping an eye on.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DKpUUvKyH9Ql6_ubftYMiZloXizJU38YSjtP5i8MIx0/edit?tab=t.0…

Questioning AI Resource List
Excellent summary of major problems with companies’ focus on AI written by expert in machine learning: https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again/ Another good summary piece that includes many examples (in general Ed Zitron’s work is a great resource): ...

#hagalil: das D-A-CH Bündnis gegen #Antisemitismus, hat nun einen konkreten, überparteilichen Fünf-Punkte-Plan gegen Antisemitismus entwickelt.

5 Punkte Plan gegen Judenhass
D-A-CH Bündnis gegen Antisemitismus Ein Fünf-Punkte-Plan für konkretes Handeln in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz Judenhass ist in Europa wieder Alltag geworden – im Netz, auf den Straßen, in Klassenzimmern, Hörsälen und sogar in staatlichen Behörden. Wir – Vertreterinnen und Vertreter ...

Reflection, co-founded by ex-Google researchers, unveils Asimov, an AI agent that reads a company's codebase, docs, and more to help software engineering teams (Will Knight/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/former-top-google-researchers-have-m…

Former Top Google Researchers Have Made a New Kind of AI Agent
The mission? Teaching models to better understand how to build code will lead to superintelligent AI.

Apparently you can't add photos to a #Google doc when accessing as a guest. You have to be signed in, which means you need a Google account.
They're slowly trying to make it impossible to use google #docs without an account.

Is google docs a safe thing to use in this environment?

»What Does That Server Really Serve?
How programs like Google Docs rob users of their freedom.
[…] Software as a service always subjects you to the power of the server operator, and the only remedy is to avoid it. […]«
Yes, we are living in the future, fifteen years ago. But even back then, those who looked into the future were labeled as paranoid crackpots and negative propagandists, but they were right.
🫤

Google is getting serious about dev tooling for web apps
— their new "Firebase Studio" is going to transform web app development.
It's a modern IDE in the cloud, packed with AI features.
Loads your projects from GitHub and installs dependencies instantly, without local downloads.
Not surprising from Google, with their hatred for local desktop apps

Safe. Everywhere. Always. | A Canberra Community Survey
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdSrRIhL9NhacbREQUPvZ-KN7VN15VelwkoXwIHFCDLq4qgHg/viewform

Safe. Everywhere. Always. | A Canberra Community Survey
Women should be safe no matter where they are, what they’re doing or what they’re wearing. In response to recent horrific events of men’s violence against women in our community, Senator for the ACT and Minister for Women Katy Gallagher is inviting all Canberra women and girls to share their experiences and ideas for change in the survey below. A summary of key findings from the survey will be made public following its conclusion, alongside a list of commitments and proposed next steps. A…

"Scale AI left public Google Docs with sensitive details about thousands of its contractors, including their private email addresses and whether they were suspected of
'cheating.'"
https://africa.businessinsider.co…

Scale AI exposed sensitive data about clients like Meta and xAI in public Google Docs, BI finds
As Scale AI seeks to reassure customers that their data is secure following Metas $14

#Google Docs: "These actions are unavailable using the Edit menus, but you can still use: Ctrl C for copy, Ctrl X for cut, Ctrl V for paste."
Yeah, sure, but I clicked "paste without formatting".
(Yeah, figured out it's Ctrl Shift V but still Google sucks.)

Scale AI used Google Docs to track work for customers like Google, Meta, and xAI, and left confidential AI training documents accessible to anyone with the link (Business Insider)
https://africa.businessinsider.com/new

Scale AI exposed sensitive data about clients like Meta and xAI in public Google Docs, BI finds
As Scale AI seeks to reassure customers that their data is secure following Metas $14

Me, writing up post-class notes about mergesort.
Google Docs: have you considered becoming a finbro instead? I hear it's very vogue in 2025.

Indie game devs who have made roguelikes, have them on Steam and want to be in the Steam Sale that @… is doing in October (you don't have to be a speaker at their conference to get your game in the sale!) - the form must be filled out by August 1, and it's here:

Call for Steam Event Participants 2025
Roguelike Celebration is an annual festival featuring the development, history, community, and play of roguelike games, procedural generation, and related topics. Our Steam event is an extension of the festival that seeks to highlight games from our community as well as games we think our community would like. ✨You don't have to be a speaker to be in the sale, and you don't have to have a game in the sale to be a speaker.✨ To submit your game for consideration, please fill out this form …

Anyone have any similar-shaped products to recommend (semi-structured shared documents, shared on a team, live editing, low friction)?
We have Google Docs, which will be…fiiiiiine, whatever, but I’m always interested in good alternatives.

Nice! Osma Suominen @… from National Library of Finland (Annif & FintoAI)'s 5 points for AI in libraries:
- Use AI to make the world better
- Use the smallest AI that works
- Don't depend on corporate AI
- Evaluate & create data sets
- Be open and transparent

For absolutely no reason I can guess, Google Docs starts to provide auto-complete in Portuguese (a language I never write in). I had begun to type "Represent"… Any guess what's going on? Is "9/10" somehow "Portuguese/Brazilian/Açores/… coded"?

Internal docs: Scale AI's efforts to train Google's Gemini were flooded with "spammy behavior" from unqualified independent contractors submitting shoddy work (Sam Blum/Inc)
https://www.inc.com/sam-blum/exclusive-sca

Exclusive: Scale AI's Spam, Security Woes Plagued the Company While Serving Google
How the startup that just scored a $14 billion investment from Meta struggled to contain 'spammy behavior' from unqualified contributors as it trained Gemini.

A project we kicked off in March, have worked on pretty much non-stop and have done loads of interesting new work on, all started to come together today.
Learnt loads; fully containerised dev & prod environment, brand new #rails 8 app, Avo dashboards, headless CMS, AstroJS website, new analytics platform, “novel” Google Docs to CMS ETL process, 3-stage production/staging/trunk AWS acco…

Here are the three primary kinds of community-based events we’ll be sponsoring during 31 Days of Action:

Open/community lab meetings over Zoom or live-streamed lab tours/demos

Teach-ins at local community centers, churches, parks, basically anywhere that’s not a college campus

Stand Up For Science tabling and demos that include “Ask a Scientist” booths,
pond water under a microscope,
strawberry DNA extraction,
egg drop competitions, …

SUFS 31 Days of Action Guidebook
🧬 WHAT IS STAND UP FOR SCIENCE? Stand Up for Science (SUFS) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization born from the rallies held in cities throughout the United States and around the world on March 7th, 2025. We believe that science is a public good that benefits everyone, and we’re leading...

I don’t suppose there are any good and complete iOS apps for fedi right?
I know there’s the #Feditext

Trade Unionists Against the Benefit Cuts (UKPol)
Good letter, including both the principle of the thing and the likely outcomes in practice. Starmer & co should take note.
"We the undersigned are trade unionists opposed to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence bill, designed to restrict access to PIP and to reduce the sickness element (LCWRA) of UC. We believe this is shameful anti-worker and anti-working class legislation. ...
"Not only will these cuts cause increased financial hardship for some of those made vulnerable by a disabling society, but will also add considerable expenses and a much increased workload to workers in several sectors. This is because more people will be plunged into debt. More people will be served with eviction notices... Cutting incomes will push people further from work...
"The Disability Policy thinktank forecast that the cuts will lead to £1.2bn in extra costs for the NHS and local care services provided by councils, raising the alarm for both councillors and MPs whether the cuts will backfire even on their own economic terms."
Still accepting signatures:
#disability #benefits #unions #NHS #debt #UK #UKPol