C33 Technology

How to Befriend Crows

Befriending crows is a wonderful thing. I have many crow friends at home and at work. They bring joy at unexpected moments and can rescue a miserable day even without shaking down the dust of snow that Robert Frost described. This thread is an updated version of one I posted at the bird site in July 2019.

Post to Mastodon v2.2 - Bug Fixes and Setup Questions

Another update regarding my Post to Mastodon Apple Shortcut automation, which is now at version 2.2! Specifically, I’ve learned two things about Apple Shortcuts today: Their logic for input type sucks and is very buggy. You can set setup questions so people don’t have to edit the shortcut after they download it!

Post to Mastodon v2 Shortcut - Image Support

Yesterday I released an Apple Shortcut (macOS, iOS, and iPadOS) that will allow you to quickly post to your Mastodon instance. As you might imagine, it received a little traction on Mastodon including the following feedback: A feature request already? Over the holidays?! I don’t have time to figure out…it’s done!

Automation

Posting to Mastodon via Shortcuts

The best thing to come out of Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase (and then backing out of the purchase, and then purchase, and then massive layoffs, and allowing crazies back on Twitter, and whatever happened today) is that Mastodon has been so much fun! One extremely minor annoyance has been the lack of good Mastodon clients, and while TapBots is hard at work on that right now, it makes posting on Mastodon a little bit harder than it was on Twitter.

Mike Masnick: Why Would Anyone Use Another Centralized Social Media Service After This?

If you haven’t been reading Tech Dirt, and specifically Mike Masnick’s post tracking the Twitter saga and what it shows about social media and content moderation in general, you have been missing out on some fantastic and thought provoking writing. Recently, Masnick is coming to the same conclusion that I am: I think federated social media (Mastodon, etc) might actually stick with the general public and if it does that would make things a lot better for everyone.

Tesla Stock Suffers Worst Week Since 2020

Tesla Inc. shares Friday wrapped up their worst week since 2020, as Chief Executive Elon Musk sold billions in stock and faced a call from a prominent investor to step down from the helm of the electric-vehicle maker. The recent sales have seemed tied to Musk’s acquisition of the social-media platform Twitter, which he bought for roughly $44 billion this year.

The Elon Twitter Train Wreck Continues

No one can keep up with the train wreck that is Twitter, and frankly I don’t want to. I did want to briefly comment on this item though: Twitter suspended the accounts of more than half a dozen journalists from CNN, the New York Times, The Washington Post and other outlets Thursday evening, as company owner Elon Musk accused the reporters of posting “basically assassination coordinates” for him and his family.

Automation

Hacking an Aqara Door Sensor into a Dead Bolt Sensor

Here’s an exciting home automation project for you: Can a door sensor work as a way to tell if a door is dead bolted? Yes…but do you have any paperclips? I’m a big fan of home automation, especially since working from home, and I’ve been experimenting with the Aqara sensors. Their door, temp, water, and vibration sensors all work great for me, but what I really need is a way to check if the back door of my garage is locked.

Bret Taylor steps down as co-CEO of Salesforce

Bret Taylor, whose career in tech can only be described as prolific, has stepped down as co-CEO of Salesforce. Salesforce said Wednesday that Bret Taylor will step down as co-CEO on Jan. 31, leaving Marc Benioff alone again at the top of the cloud software company he co-founded in 1999.

Where are the Passkeys?

David Sparks, of MacSparky, is wondering where his passkeys are now that iOS 16 and macOS Ventura are out. With Apple’s latest round of updates, we’ve got a new password feature that lets your computer manage passwords for you in the background. … I’m curious, however, as to when Passkey websites will start showing up.