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Posts by Afterhours

Mark Scott in Conversation with Sir Tim Berners-Lee: This is for Everyone <p>Sir Tim Berners-Lee argues that the web is at a crossroads: it can either continue to fragment and centralize around powerful platforms, or be deliberately reshaped to restore user control, trust, and openness.</p> <h2 id="1-the-original-vision-of-the-web">1. The Original Vision of the Web</h2> <ul> <li>The web was designed as an open, decentralized system where anyone could publish, link, and innovate without permission.</li> <li>Early design choices prioritized universality, interoperability, and low barriers to entry.</li> <li>TBL emphasizes that the web’s problems are not inherent to the technology, but to how it has been governed and commercialized.</li> </ul> <h2 id="2-how-the-web-went-off-track">2. How the Web Went Off Track</h2> <ul> <li>Power has consolidated around a small number of platforms that control data, attention, and infrastructure.</li> <li>Business models built on surveillance, targeted advertising, and engagement maximization have distorted incentives.</li> <li>This has led to: <ul> <li>Loss of user agency over personal data</li> <li>Misinformation and polarization</li> <li>Erosion of trust in online information and institutions</li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p><img alt="Sir Tim Berners-Lee" src="https://halans.com/orig-content/uploads/2026/timbernerslee2.jpg" /></p>

2 months ago 0 0 0 0

Building Slop Detector with Spec-Driven Development ## tl/dr; Spec-driven development starts by writing precise specifications before any coding. Using OpenSpec, each feature of _Slop Detector_ was defined through short documents that explained the problem, goal, and structure. This approach reduced context load for coding tools like Claude and Codex while keeping each task traceable. _Slop Detector_ runs on Cloudflare Workers and checks text for AI-style phrasing with 45 regex patterns. It reports which expressions appear and assigns a confidence score indicating the likelihood of synthetic writing. By establishing specifications first, the process keeps code consistent with intent and limits unnecessary improvisation during development.

6 months ago 1 0 0 0

Slowing Down in a Digital World: The Enduring Appeal of Vinyl Lately, I’ve been getting back into vinyl — partly as some retro novelty (as a GenX-er), but also as a quiet rebellion against the algorithm, and constant hum of the digital world. Digital playlists run constantly in the background, while working, walking or cooking, going for hours. Vinyl doesn’t allow that kind of distraction. When a side ends, silence takes over until I get up and turn it. That pause becomes part of the experience, a deliberate gap in the noise of the day. My Apple Watch no longer needs to remind me to stand up every 50 minutes.

6 months ago 1 0 0 0

Mastercard, Visa, and Stripe: Powering the Agentic Commerce Era ## tl/dr OpenAI introduced Apps in ChatGPT at their 2025 DevDay, after posting about ChatGPT Instant Checkout and the Agentic Commerce Protocol a week earlier. E-commerce is entering a new phase as agentic commerce—where AI agents shop, compare, and transact autonomously—becomes operational. Mastercard, Visa, and Stripe are leading this change with distinct initiatives: Mastercard’s Agent Pay, Visa’s Intelligent Commerce, and Stripe’s Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP). These systems are redefining digital transactions by embedding AI-driven trust, security, and interoperability into global payment infrastructure.

6 months ago 1 0 0 0

Australian OSINT Symposium 2025 Takeaways The Australian OSINT Symposium 2025 brings together open-source intelligence (OSINT) practitioners, leaders, analysts, and researchers to advance tradecraft, harness AI, and strengthen intelligence capability. The theme, _Building Enduring OSINT Capability_ , addresses how to sustain OSINT at the individual, team, and organizational levels in an era of rapid technological change and global complexity. # Australian OSINT Symposium 2025 **Date:** September 18-19, 2025 ## Day 1 Takeaways ## Information ≠ Intelligence ### On Ethics and Trust Sessions underscored that raw data has no value without context, verification, and accountability. One speaker compared journalism and OSINT, arguing that publishing information without ethical judgment risks harm to vulnerable communities. Examples ranged from footage of war crimes in Sudan to the choice not to film prisoners in Afghanistan. The erosion of public trust in journalism was a warning: without professional standards, OSINT could face the same fate.

6 months ago 0 0 0 0

Australian OSINT Symposium 2025 Day 2 Notes # OSINT Symposium Day 2 Sept 18-19 2025 https://www.osintsymposium.com https://www.osintsymposium.com/2025-agenda The Chatham House Rule applies ## DAY 2 ### The Illegal Empire, Business is Booming _This presentation will not be recorded_ Hayley Van Loon, Crime Stoppers International _The Illegal Empire refers to a global network of illicit economies—from environmental crime and drug trafficking to human exploitation and financial crime. This session explores how OSINT is being used to support the Stop the Illegal Empire campaign by tracing financial flows, connecting crime types and enabling more agile, international disruption efforts._

6 months ago 0 0 0 0

Australian OSINT Symposium 2025 Takeaways The Australian OSINT Symposium 2025 brings together open-source intelligence (OSINT) practitioners, leaders, analysts, and researchers to advance tradecraft, harness AI, and strengthen intelligence capability. The theme, _Building Enduring OSINT Capability_ , addresses how to sustain OSINT at the individual, team, and organizational levels in an era of rapid technological change and global complexity. # Australian OSINT Symposium 2025 **Date:** September 18-19, 2025 ## Day 1 Takeaways ## Information ≠ Intelligence ### On Ethics and Trust Sessions underscored that raw data has no value without context, verification, and accountability. One speaker compared journalism and OSINT, arguing that publishing information without ethical judgment risks harm to vulnerable communities. Examples ranged from footage of war crimes in Sudan to the choice not to film prisoners in Afghanistan. The erosion of public trust in journalism was a warning: without professional standards, OSINT could face the same fate.

7 months ago 0 0 0 0

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Australian OSINT Symposium 2025 Day 1 Notes # OSINT Symposium Day 1 Sept 18-19 2025 https://www.osintsymposium.com https://www.osintsymposium.com/2025-agenda The Chatham House Rule applies The **Australian OSINT Symposium 2025** brings together open-source intelligence (OSINT) practitioners, leaders, analysts, and researchers to advance tradecraft, harness AI, and strengthen intelligence capability. The theme, _Building Enduring OSINT Capability_ , addresses how to sustain OSINT at the individual, team, and organizational levels in an era of rapid technological change and global complexity. **Focus Areas** * **Human capability – tradecraft, leadership, resilience** : Strengthening practitioner and team expertise through professional development and leadership skills. * **Sustaining capability amid technology shifts** : Adapting OSINT methods to automation, AI, and evolving tools while preserving operational effectiveness. * **Impact of capability** : Demonstrating how applied OSINT informs decision-making, supports security and law enforcement, and delivers public-good outcomes.

7 months ago 0 0 0 0

Web Directions Engineering AI Takeaways # Web Directions Engineering AI **Date:** September 12, 2025 ### 7 provocations on the future of AI in engineering The AI moment in software engineering is usually framed in glowing terms: faster code, more productivity, fewer bottlenecks. Tools are pitched as _copilots_ , _assistants_ , _**accelerators**_ , to help developers focus on higher-value work. But at Web Directions Engineering AI in Sydney, speakers offered a set of insights that were less about hype and more about friction: the hidden costs, the unexpected consequences, the ways AI is reshaping not only how we code, but how we think. The themes that emerged point to shifts in how engineers think, how they work, and how their roles are defined.

7 months ago 0 0 0 0

Web Directions Engineering AI Notes # Web Directions Engineering AI **Date:** September 12, 2025 Exploring the evolution of software engineering in the age of AI. ## **Co-pilot, not auto-pilot** **Dave Berner, Co-founder & VP Eng Kinde** Dave is based in **Byron Bay** , co-founder of **Kind** (authentication & billing platform). and runs the **More Founders Show** podcast. His talk reflects his evolving relationship with AI: from late adopter → all-in → back to a more cautious, balanced stance.

7 months ago 0 0 0 0

Web Directions Engineering AI - Notes # Web Directions Engineering AI **Date:** September 12, 2025 Exploring the evolution of software engineering in the age of AI. ## **Co-pilot, not auto-pilot** **Dave Berner, Co-founder & VP Eng Kinde** Dave is based in **Byron Bay** , co-founder of **Kind** (authentication & billing platform). and runs the **More Founders Show** podcast. His talk reflects his evolving relationship with AI: from late adopter → all-in → back to a more cautious, balanced stance.

7 months ago 0 0 0 0

Cloudflare Immerse Sydney - Notes # Cloudflare Immerse Sydney **Date:** September 4, 2025 _Immerse by Cloudflare is a curated, one-day experience designed to bring together technology leaders, visionary developers, and strategic partners for a day of inspiration, collaboration, and bold ideas. Set against the stunning backdrop of Sydney’s iconic harbour, this immersive experience, across three tracks, will challenge conventional thinking and help you unlock new possibilities for your organisation._ ## The Cloudflare Developer Advantage **Aly Cabral — Vice President, Developer GTM, Cloudflare**

7 months ago 0 0 0 0

Building an MCP Server for Your Hugo Blog # Building an MCP Server for Your Hugo Blog: Making Your Content AI-Accessible Modern AI assistants like Claude are becoming increasingly powerful at helping with research, writing, and problem-solving. But what if your AI assistant could directly access and search through your blog’s content? That’s what I tried to accomplish by implementing a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for my Hugo-powered blog. Of course, AI assistants can browse the web, but having a dedicated MCP server for your blog allows for more efficient and targeted searches.

8 months ago 0 0 0 0

Uses # Lately using: ## Photography gear: * **Camera** : Fujifilm X-T5 * **Lenses** : Fujifilm 50-140mm f2.8 WR IS, 16-55mm f2.8 WR, 10-24mm f4, 16mm f1.4, 90mm f2 WR (62mm), 56mm f1.2 (62mm), 35mm f1.4, 60mm f2.4 macro/portrait, 27mm f2.8 (pancake) * **Laptop** : MacBook Pro 14" (M1 Pro, 2021) * **Desktop** : Mac mini (M1, 2020) * **Apple Vision Pro** * Still on **Flickr** , since 2004 Best buy this year so far is a Philips Air Fryer. * * * _Tools and gear currently in use for writing, coding, and photography (updated semi-regularly)._

8 months ago 0 0 0 0

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Vibe Coding I’ve been using GitHub CoPilot for a while now, assisting me with this Hugo blog (written in GoLang, which I’m unfamiliar with). Additionally, I experimented with GenAI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Mistral to generate small JavaScript games that can be downloaded and executed in a browser. In early February 2025, I stumbled upon a tweet from Andrej Karpathy (via via because I am no longer on there), a founding team member at OpenAI and now at eurekalabs.ai, who coined the term “vibe coding” to describe a new way of programming that leverages the power of AI and machine learning.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

Everything Electric Sydney 2025 ## Everything Electric at the Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park Visited first day Friday (only) of the three-day event. Talks wise, same discussions as previous years, but the exhibition was more interesting with lots more vendors and products. Lots of new Chinese EV brands (in addition to BYD and MG, Zeekr, Leapmotor, Deepal, XPeng), which to be honest were quite impressive, compared to for example the VW models present. Test drove an electric Mini (had a Mini D some 10 or so years ago), which had an annoying fake sound which can only be turned off in eco mode?

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

AI Safety Inventory Listen to the Deep Dive of this page: Download The Deep Dive First Published: June 2 2024 ### The Bletchley Declaration The Bletchley Declaration, issued by countries at the Bletchley Park AI Safety Summit 2023 (Nov 2023), emphasizes the need for safe, human-centric, and responsible AI development. It acknowledges AI’s transformative potential and associated risks, particularly with advanced AI models. The declaration calls for international cooperation to address these risks, promote AI safety, and ensure AI benefits are inclusive and sustainable. Key areas of focus include transparency, accountability, risk assessment, and collaboration on safety research and policies.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

Microsoft AI Tour Sydney ## Main Themes of the day * **AI Transformation** : The pervasive impact of AI across industries, revolutionizing customer experiences, employee workflows, business processes, and innovation. * **Copilot & Agents**: The rise of AI-powered assistants like Microsoft Copilot and the potential of AI agents to automate complex tasks and achieve goals autonomously. * **Secure & Compliant AI**: Emphasizing the importance of building trustworthy AI solutions with robust security, privacy, and responsible AI principles. * **Azure AI Platform** : Positioning Microsoft Azure as the comprehensive platform for developing, deploying, and scaling AI applications. ## Key Takeaways ### AI for Developers **GitHub Models** : A platform allowing developers to easily experiment with various AI models, including OpenAI, Mistral, Llama, and Cohere.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

visionOS Day Sydney ## Highlights ### The Dawn of Spatial Computing Oliver Weidlich (https://www.contxtu.al) introduces us to the dawn of spatial computing, a paradigm shift that moves us from interacting with screens to experiencing digital content within our physical space. Spatial computing, described by Simon Greenwald as early as 2003, is now entering a new era with the launch of Apple Vision Pro in 2024. As Tim Cook puts it, it’s > the first computer you look through, not at.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

Web Directions Next 2024 Web Directions Next 2024, at the amazing Frank Gehry designed Dr Chau Chak Wing UTS facility, explored the future of product, design, and strategy, with a particular focus on the intersection of technology, society, and the environment. Speakers tackled diverse topics like the design of institutions, life-centered design, AI’s impact on UX, and the future of social networks. ## Key Themes **1. Beyond Human-Centered Design:** Steve Baty and Martin Tomitsch advocated for _life-centered design_ , which integrates environmental and ethical values into the design process. They exposed the limitations of user-centered design, highlighting the need to consider a broader range of stakeholders, including the environment and ethical considerations.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

Sentient Design Workshop Notes ## Sentient Design FAQ ### What is Sentient Design? Sentient Design refers to intelligent interfaces that are contextually aware and can adapt in real-time to user needs. These interfaces leverage AI to understand intent and provide radically adaptive experiences. They are collaborative, multimodal, continuous & ambient, and deferential. ### What is the Sentient Design Triangle? The Sentient Design Triangle is a framework for understanding and mapping different types of AI-mediated experiences. It classifies experiences based on three attributes: _Grounded, Interoperable, and Radically Adaptive._

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

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Google NotebookLM Having fun with Google’s NotebookLM and its Audio Overview, generating “Deep Dive podcasts”, based on uploaded PDFs or other documents. I should mention, NotebookLM is a great research tool, generating FAQs, Study Guides, Briefing Docs,… But the Deep Dives are next level. Have a listen, based off content available around here: ### The Future of Cyber Warfare Download The Future of Cyber Warfare Deep Dive ### Viasat Cyber Attack Case Study Download Viasat Ukraine Case Study Deep Dive

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

Apple Vision Pro I succumbed, and a few days later I bought the Apple Vision Pro. I had a second demo session, and this time with a 22W Light Seal, which did fit better. There are some 3 dozen lightseal sizes, different in depth, width and height. I went with one size larger than the one I had in the store demo. A 15 minute demo in the Apple Store really doesn’t do the device justice.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

Apple Vision Pro Demo Session Booked a Vision Pro demo session at the Apple Store (Charlestown). So many thoughts. Over the years, I have had a play with HoloLens, Magic Leap One, Google Cardboard (lol), and I have an Oculus Go somewhere in a box. I dabbled with photographic 180VR and 360VR (7-8) years ago, using A-Frame and Google VR. The Vision Pro demo session is a 30 minute, heavily curated session. It starts with a chat, to determine which one of the different demos they’d do with you. I got the entertainment one, but not sure which other ones they have. I did not get the 3D butterfly and Dino experience though (even though I was hoping for that). They explain the different gestures, and ask you to perform them (without the device). And then you need to scan your face.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

AI Safety Inventory Listen to the Deep Dive of this page: Download The Deep Dive ### The Bletchley Declaration The Bletchley Declaration, issued by countries at the AI Safety Summit 2023 (Nov 2023), emphasizes the need for safe, human-centric, and responsible AI development. It acknowledges AI’s transformative potential and associated risks, particularly with advanced AI models. The declaration calls for international cooperation to address these risks, promote AI safety, and ensure AI benefits are inclusive and sustainable. Key areas of focus include transparency, accountability, risk assessment, and collaboration on safety research and policies.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

Everything Electric Sydney # 3-day Everything Electric weekend “Everything Electric Australia” in Sydney Olympic Park is an evolution of last year’s Fully Charged Live Darling Harbour show, continued its focus on battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as well as home energy technologies, now on a larger scale. The event, sponsored by companies like Polestar, NRMA, Origin Energy, the NSW Government and many others, featured about 80 exhibitors and aimed to encourage the adoption of cleaner technologies as well address psychological barriers to BEV adoption. Visitors could test-drive a variety of BEVs, including models from Polestar, Audi, Hyundai, BMW, and many others. It’s a unique opportunity for Australians to compare and test-drive different models in one place.

2 years ago 0 0 0 0

Rear View Mirror _This is a post I mainly wrote for myself, as a debrief for the period driving a Tesla, but I thought I ’d share it anyway, as it may be helpful to others who consider buying a Tesla._ ## Bye Bye Tesla At the end of December 2023, and inspired by Michael Stipe, I traded-in my 2021 Tesla Model 3 Standard Range+ (LFP battery, Made in China), having done just under 28.000 km. Back then, it was the cheapest model, just under $60k AUD. I liked the slick shape, but it had a boring colour selection (I went for dark grey). It was a smooth drive, a clean and simple interior, and the fastest car I ever owned (which wasn’t any goal, it just happened to be that way, because “EV”), and efficient, giving me about 400km range. Although I can’t ever be quite sure if I would have ever gotten 400km, or if it always was more around 350km. It has a deep booth, with a large under-floor storage space, as well as a large frunk.

2 years ago 0 0 0 0