On the space of minds and the optimizations that give rise to them.

1801 - Joseph Marie Jacquard uses punch cards to instruct a loom to weave "hello, world" into a tapestry. Redditers of the time are not imp...

AI large language models have been heralded as revolutionary in the world of accessibility. But in order to create a more accessible internet, those with disabilities need to be included in the process of training the technology, advocates say.

Welcome to watchTowr vs the Internet, part 68. That feeling you’re experiencing? Dread. You should be used to it by now. As is fast becoming an unofficial and, apparently, frowned upon tradition - we identified incredible amounts of publicly exposed passwords, secrets, keys and more for very sensitive environments

How about this for a truism: a book is a book, and something that is not a book is not a book. This post will knock your socks off if you are inclined to affirm this statement, because in medieval …

Grab yours while supplies last. Apple has launched a limited edition iPhone grip and stand, designed by Bailey Hikawa "through an extensive interview...

After reading the book The AWK Programming Language (recommended!), I was planning to try AWK out on this year’s Advent of Code. Having some time off from work this week, I tried to implement one of the problems in it to get some practice, set up my tooling, see how hard AWK would be, and… I found I’m FP-pilled.

Two years ago, I wrote: Microsoft-the-company does not care about Infocom. But a lot of people in Microsoft must care. Microsoft is heavily populated by greying GenX nerds just like me. Folks who grew up with the first home computers and fondly ...

Cloudflare suffered a service outage on November 18, 2025. The outage was triggered by a bug in generation logic for a Bot Management feature file causing many Cloudflare services to be affected.

Download Art of Fauna: Cozy Puzzles by Klemens Strasser on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more games like Art of Fauna:…

Baltimore, MD (November 18, 2025): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is proud to announce a partnership with ElevenLabs, bringing the innovative ElevenReader platform to blind readers across the United States.

Reflections on my time leading Mastodon and what's to come next.

Microsoft Word and PowerPoint for Windows now use generative AI to generate alt text for images. This new feature provides higher-quality, context-rich descriptions and gives users more control over when and how alt text is added. The update is available to Microsoft 365 users with Version 2510 or later.

Greta works with a legacy tech stack, including a deprecated IDE from a defunct vendor, a dialect of C with limited compiler support, and a Pascal library with no source code. The code itself is problematic, with a monolithic main form, global state, and confusing file structures. Despite the challenges, Greta is happy with the team culture and is actively working on a .NET replacement.

According to a recent Google leak, we’re all to blame for poor quality search results. Summary and thoughts on Rand Fishkin's and Mike King's dropped dual reports on a large-scale leak of Google Search internal documentation for Content API Warehouse.

All web developers know, at some level, that accessibility is important. But when push comes to shove, it can be hard to prioritize it above a bazillion other concerns when you’re trying to c…

Chase, a developer, accidentally left a box unchecked while updating an Amazon Machine Image, causing hundreds of 100 GB storage volumes to persist after instances terminated. This mistake resulted in a $40,000 AWS bill, which was partially forgiven. Chase advises setting alarms for unexpected cost increases.

PHP 8.5, releasing on November 20, 2025, introduces several new features. These include the pipe operator for easier function chaining, the ability to assign new values to cloned objects, and the #[NoDiscard] attribute to indicate required function return values. Other notable additions are closure improvements, backtraces for fatal errors, and built-in array_first() and array_last() functions.

Baidu unveiled ERNIE 5.0, a proprietary multimodal foundation model designed to process and generate content across text, images, audio, and video. The model, positioned as a global contender in the enterprise AI market, boasts competitive performance against OpenAI’s GPT-5 and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro, particularly in structured document understanding and visual chart reasoning. Alongside ERNIE 5.0, Baidu introduced major updates to its digital human platform, no-code tools, and general-purpose AI agents, aiming to expand its AI footprint beyond China.

Edit ~/.ssh/config and add “ConnectionAttempts 120” to automatically retry SSH connections for two minutes after a reboot.

UK charity launches new digital archive that champions the legacy of disability arts and activism for public access

Julia Evans offers programming zines, including free black and white ones and purchasable colour ones. The Wizard Zines Collection, featuring 15 zines, is available for $145, and the Secret Rules of the Terminal zine is new. Free resources include experiments, playgrounds, and posters.

The author reflects on their journey with Ruby, from discovering it in university to building a career around Ruby on Rails. They highlight the vibrant Ruby community, the influence of key figures like Matz and _why, and the impact of Rails on web development. The author emphasizes how Rails’ ease of use and rich ecosystem made it a game-changer, allowing for rapid prototyping and experimentation. The Ruby on Rails community, once a welcoming space, has become increasingly hostile. The author, a trans woman, reflects on the community’s decline, highlighting the negative impact of David Hamburger Helper, a figure who embodies the community’s shift towards toxicity. The author also discusses the broader societal issues impacting the trans community, emphasizing the need for awareness and action. The author expresses concern about the influence of wealthy individuals and corporations on the Ruby community, specifically highlighting Shopify’s financial influence on Rubygems. The author also criticizes David Hamburger Helper, a prominent Ruby community leader, for his controversial and divisive statements, particularly those targeting the transgender community. The author argues that such behaviour is harmful and contributes to a toxic environment within the community. The author reflects on the negative impact of David’s actions on the Ruby and Rails communities, highlighting his domineering behaviour and the resulting decline of Ruby’s popularity. The author expresses disappointment in the current state of the tech industry, where creativity and programmer happiness are overshadowed by efficiency and conformity. They hope to influence those in David’s orbit to reconsider their support for him and to encourage the Ruby community to prioritize its core values. The author criticizes the toxic behaviour of David Hamburger Helper, arguing that it is harming the Ruby community and pushing out marginalized groups. They call on Ruby maintainers to take action, suggesting a fork of the project if necessary, and urge the broader community to stand up against abuse and support a more inclusive future for Ruby. The author also highlights the importance of democratic governance in open-source projects, citing the Python Software Foundation’s recent decision to prioritize their values over funding. The author reflects on their experience with the Ruby on Rails community, highlighting its fun and inclusive culture, while acknowledging its flaws and the presence of bad actors. They express disappointment with Ruby Central’s handling of a recent situation and criticize the far-right movement’s influence on trans rights. The author also shares their personal journey of growth and change, emphasizing the importance of kindness and vulnerability.

A study of over 130,000 adults with insomnia found that long-term melatonin use (over a year) was associated with a higher risk of heart failure, hospitalization, and death. The study, presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025, raises concerns about the safety of melatonin, a widely used sleep aid. Researchers emphasize the need for further research to assess melatonin’s cardiovascular safety. A study of 130,828 adults with insomnia found a potential link between melatonin use and heart failure. The study, using data from the TriNetX network, compared 65,414 participants prescribed melatonin for at least a year to a control group. While the study raises safety concerns, it cannot prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship, highlighting the need for further research. Contact 1-800-AHA-USA1 for public inquiries.

Cognixion is using Apple Vision Pro in a clinical study to explore how people with conditions like ALS and spinal cord injuries can communicate using brain signals, eye tracking, and AI. The study, which runs through April 2026, leverages Vision Pro’s high-resolution video passthrough and accessibility features like Eye Tracking and AssistiveTouch. This collaboration highlights how Apple’s accessibility framework, while not designed for medical use, is enabling significant advancements in healthcare technology.

The non-alcoholic beverage market in Canada is growing, but prices remain high. This is due to the complex and costly production process, similar to alcoholic beverages, and the need to maintain a premium price point to ensure perceived quality. As the market matures, prices may decrease slightly, but non-alcoholic drinks are likely to remain premium products.

CBC News will provide live coverage of the Remembrance Day ceremony from Ottawa on Tuesday, including a moment of silence and the laying of a wreath by the Silver Cross Mother.

Interac logo displayed in Toronto on August 23, 2023.

Stay sharp, and know the exits

If you follow me on social media, one of the themes you’ll find I talk about fairly often related to accessibility is how text that isn’t shown visually needs to have better verificatio…

A study assessed an LLM’s ability to generate accessible HTML code, revealing concerning shortcomings. The model demonstrated a superficial understanding of accessibility, often including unnecessary ARIA attributes and failing to address fundamental issues like form labelling and keyboard navigation. The findings underscore the need to improve training data to ensure AI-generated code adheres to accessibility best practices. The text discusses the limitations of AI-generated code in terms of accessibility, highlighting issues like improper use of HTML elements, lack of error state management, and unnecessary JavaScript. It suggests that these limitations can be addressed by improving training data, fine-tuning models for accessibility, and integrating accessibility considerations into prompt engineering and IDE integrations. The author emphasizes the importance of prioritizing accessibility in AI-generated code to ensure a more inclusive web.

In the mid-1990s, a Unix administrator named Mason worked for a newspaper that started a dial-up ISP. He shared a prank email about “Internet Cleaning Day” with the ISP help desk manager, who believed it and planned to notify customers. Mason quickly clarified the joke, averting a potential customer service disaster.

A government website rejected a strong, randomly generated password, requiring a manually selected one instead. The website’s password guidelines have since changed, but the author finds the situation ironic and concerning.

Meta’s smart glasses now feature a “quick connect” option, allowing users to create one-touch shortcuts for frequently used communication actions, reducing reliance on voice commands. This feature, similar to the Oakley Meta Vanguard’s “action button,” enables users to quickly message, call, or share media with a designated contact.

Apple’s ‘Accessibility Nutrition Labels’ will put investments in inclusive design in the spotlight. But Cory Joseph says companies don’t need to be huge to embrace accessibility.

We are excited to announce the upcoming launch of a new community bug tracking initiative at AppleVis. Since at least 2012, AppleVis has regularly published lists of new and fixed accessibility bugs in Apple software impacting blind, DeafBlind, and low vision users. As an independent editorial organization, we see the tracking and reporting of these bugs to be one of the more impactful ways in which we live out our mission to serve and empower our community.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), which takes place this Thursday, is a worldwide initiative dedicated to raising awareness about digital access and inclusion.

: Plus: How to make Google less unhelpful

Visible Voices is part magazine, part gallery, and part curated e-shop. As a whole, it’s a cultural rebrand.

Audible has announced that it is adding new audiobooks to its library using narration technology powered by AI from Amazon.

Over 20 years, AbleGamers has become synonymous with the accessibility movement as its presence and influence grew across the industry. However, new reports from former employees and members of the accessibility community describe abuse, financial mismanagement from leadership, and a board that failed to protect its employees.

Ahead of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) Apple is offering a preview of accessibility features coming to its platforms later this year; including Accessibility Nutrition labels for App Store apps, Magnifier for Mac, Braille Access, and more.

Users can control AI DJ with voice commands.

Donna J. Jodhan is pleased to share her latest ask an expert feature with you. Each month, Donna shares 10 tips on various pieces of software that are common, popular, and important to persons who …