#Integrating Server Tools

[virtualizationhowto]

Homarr: Sleek Home Lab Dashboard for Server Monitoring

Homarr: Sleek Home Lab Dashboard for Server Monitoring @vexpert #vmwarecommunities #100daysofhomelab #selhosted #HomeLabDashboard #HomarrOverview #ServerMonitoring #ServerPerformanceMetrics #CPUUsageMonitoring #IntegratingServerTools #HomarrFeatures

For home lab enthusiasts, having the ability to keep up with services you have deployed, monitor your servers, and quickly access resources is a game changer. Home lab dashboards offer just this ability. There are many excellent home lab dashboard solutions out there. However, this post will look at another great solution called Homarr. Homarr seamlessly integrates with your existing apps,…

[techdirectarchive]

Harden your Veeam Backup Server with Microsoft AppLocker

In this article, we shall be leveraging Zero Trust to harden the Veeam Backup Server with Microsoft AppLocker. Zero Trust principles include explicit verification, minimal privilege access, and assuming breach. Please see how to Configure Multiple IP Addresses on a Single or Multiple NICs, and “Demystifying Zero Trust with Veeam: Design your Architecture“. AppLocker enables System Administrators…

[codingquill]

Essentials You Need to Become a Web Developer

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Mastery

Text Editor/Integrated Development Environment (IDE): Popular choices include Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text.

Version Control/Git: Platforms like GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket allow you to track changes, collaborate with others, and contribute to open-source projects.

Responsive Web Design Skills: Learn CSS frameworks like Bootstrap or Flexbox and master media queries

Understanding of Web Browsers: Familiarize yourself with browser developer tools for debugging and testing your code.

Front-End Frameworks: for example : React, Angular, or Vue.js are powerful tools for building dynamic and interactive web applications.

Back-End Development Skills: Understanding server-side programming languages (e.g., Node.js, Python, Ruby , php) and databases (e.g., MySQL, MongoDB)

Web Hosting and Deployment Knowledge: Platforms like Heroku, Vercel , Netlify, or AWS can help simplify this process.

Basic DevOps and CI/CD Understanding

Soft Skills and Problem-Solving: Effective communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills

Confidence in Yourself: Confidence is a powerful asset. Believe in your abilities, and don't be afraid to take on challenging projects. The more you trust yourself, the more you'll be able to tackle complex coding tasks and overcome obstacles with determination.

[photomatt]

Hey, genuine question, although I'm not honestly expecting a response: if tumblr users have been telling you what they want and what they don't want since you've taken over, and their feedback has more or less been ignored consistently whilst rolling out changes that nobody asked for or uses (tumblr live is coming to mind), and you're not getting the content use you want, might it be an idea to try those before abandoning the site? What is the worst that could happen, really? Listen to your userbase. You had a lot of good will from listening to people at the start of your ownership: blaze did well, as did ad-free, polls and so on, but there are some really popular things you've removed or made obsolete (prev tags, blog themes, avatars etc.) that a lot of people want back. Equally, there are some things I've never heard a single person want - this site isn't TikTok, and never will be. Instead of trying attract a crowd that is already catered for elsewhere, making the people who love tumblr still despite all the changes in ownership more comfortable under you can only be a benefit. Thank you for reading, if you did actually read this.

Thank you for the genuine question! First, I'll say that we've never launched anything with the expectation the community would hate it, but there sometimes is a big difference between what people say they want and how people respond or what information (and often misinformation) goes viral.

As an example, Post+, which is a feature where you can pay to subscribe to other users, had some misinformation go viral that if you used it you'd be sued by copyright holders if you did fan fiction, and there was a huge backlash that the site was going paid and a coordinated campaign to attack (including with death threats) everyone who signed up for the program.

I'll repeat, this was a program where the money all went to creators, Tumblr did not take a cut, and the creators were often already selling work on Patreon or Ko-fi, this just was an integrated way for it to work. Because of the hate and attacks, every launch creator canceled the program. It was sad, because this was a feature users and creators said they wanted, and we prioritized making users money over projects that would make us money.

Since then we've gotten better at managing attacks and threats, with new tools and a bigger Trust & Safety team, but Post+ never recovered.

You mention Blaze and Ad-free doing well, but their adoption is so small relative to the use of Tumblr their revenue couldn't support a fraction of the ~1,000 servers it takes to run Tumblr, much less any salaries.

To your broader point, though, one thing I'm hoping with a more focused approach in 2024 is that we can streamline some of the extra things that were launched (like Live) that haven't gotten the adoption we hoped, and focus in on the core functionality that people use a ton of on Tumblr. We will likely be shipping less new stuff and more focused on improving existing functionality and core flows.

[kunosoura]

You aren’t putting the cat back in the bag on LLMs and TTIMs, sorry. You could have the People’s Army For The Protection Of Intellectual Property Rights And Class Signifiers Artists And Academic Integrity seize and destroy the servers for every major player in “AI” overnight and within a week people would be circulating and hacking the most recent offline models to fill the same niches. You might put a dent in the sheer volume of its usage but there are models that run on consumer laptops now. “AI” art tools, from full image generation to photo editing, are here to stay. College essays and internet content are definitely gonna keep being written by LLM and with tools that help spoof a personal writing style, it will always be a losing arms race to try and reliably catch it. Find a better way to address the underlying problems or kick rocks.

[the-nox-syndicate]

SysNotes devlog 1

Hiya! We're a web developer by trade and we wanted to build ourselves a web-app to manage our system and to get to know each other better. We thought it would be fun to make a sort of a devlog on this blog to show off the development! The working title of this project is SysNotes (but better ideas are welcome!)

What SysNotes is✅:

A place to store profiles of all of our parts

A tool to figure out who is in front

A way to explore our inner world

A private chat similar to PluralKit

A way to combine info about our system with info about our OCs etc as an all-encompassing "brain-world" management system

A personal and tailor-made tool made for our needs

What SysNotes is not❌:

A fronting tracker (we see no need for it in our system)

A social media where users can interact (but we're open to make it so if people are interested)

A public platform that can be used by others (we don't have much experience actually hosting web-apps, but will consider it if there is enough interest!)

An offline app

So if this sounds interesting to you, you can find the first devlog below the cut (it's a long one!):

(I have used word highlighting and emojis as it helps me read large chunks of text, I hope it's alright with y'all!)

Tech stack & setup (feel free to skip if you don't care!)

The project is set up using:

Database: MySQL 8.4.3

Language: PHP 8.3

Framework: Laravel 10 with Breeze (authentication and user accounts) and Livewire 3 (front end integration)

Styling: Tailwind v4

I tried to set up Laragon to easily run the backend, but I ran into issues so I'm just running "php artisan serve" for now and using Laragon to run the DB. Also I'm compiling styles in real time with "npm run dev". Speaking of the DB, I just migrated the default auth tables for now. I will be making app-related DB tables in the next devlog. The awesome thing about Laravel is its Breeze starter kit, which gives you fully functioning authentication and basic account management out of the box, as well as optional Livewire to integrate server-side processing into HTML in the sexiest way. This means that I could get all the boring stuff out of the way with one terminal command. Win!

Styling and layout (for the UI nerds - you can skip this too!)

I changed the default accent color from purple to orange (personal preference) and used an emoji as a placeholder for the logo. I actually kinda like the emoji AS a logo so I might keep it.

Laravel Breeze came with a basic dashboard page, which I expanded with a few containers for the different sections of the page. I made use of the components that come with Breeze to reuse code for buttons etc throughout the code, and made new components as the need arose. Man, I love clean code 😌

I liked the dotted default Laravel page background, so I added it to the dashboard to create the look of a bullet journal. I like the journal-type visuals for this project as it goes with the theme of a notebook/file. I found the code for it here.

I also added some placeholder menu items for the pages that I would like to have in the app - Profile, (Inner) World, Front Decider, and Chat.

i ran into an issue dynamically building Tailwind classes such as class="bg-{{$activeStatus['color']}}-400" - turns out dynamically-created classes aren't supported, even if they're constructed in the component rather than the blade file. You learn something new every day huh…

Also, coming from Tailwind v3, "ps-*" and "pe-*" were confusing to get used to since my muscle memory is "pl-*" and "pr-*" 😂

Feature 1: Profiles page - proof of concept

This is a page where each alter's profiles will be displayed. You can switch between the profiles by clicking on each person's name. The current profile is highlighted in the list using a pale orange colour.

The logic for the profiles functionality uses a Livewire component called Profiles, which loads profile data and passes it into the blade view to be displayed. It also handles logic such as switching between the profiles and formatting data. Currently, the data is hardcoded into the component using an associative array, but I will be converting it to use the database in the next devlog.

New profile (TBC)

You will be able to create new profiles on the same page (this is yet to be implemented). My vision is that the New Alter form will unfold under the button, and fold back up again once the form has been submitted.

Alter name, pronouns, status

The most interesting component here is the status, which is currently set to a hardcoded list of "active", "dormant", and "unknown". However, I envision this to be a customisable list where I can add new statuses to the list from a settings menu (yet to be implemented).

Alter image

I wanted the folder that contained alter images and other assets to be outside of my Laravel project, in the Pictures folder of my operating system. I wanted to do this so that I can back up the assets folder whenever I back up my Pictures folder lol (not for adding/deleting the files - this all happens through the app to maintain data integrity!). However, I learned that Laravel does not support that and it will not be able to see my files because they are external. I found a workaround by using symbolic links (symlinks) 🔗. Basically, they allow to have one folder of identical contents in more than one place. I ran "mklink /D [external path] [internal path]" to create the symlink between my Pictures folder and Laravel's internal assets folder, so that any files that I add to my Pictures folder automatically copy over to Laravel's folder. I changed a couple lines in filesystems.php to point to the symlinked folder:

And I was also getting a "404 file not found" error - I think the issue was because the port wasn't originally specified. I changed the base app URL to the localhost IP address in .env:

…And after all this messing around, it works!

(My Pictures folder)

(My Laravel storage)

(And here is Alice's photo displayed - dw I DO know Ibuki's actual name)

Alter description and history

The description and history fields support HTML, so I can format these fields however I like, and add custom features like tables and bullet point lists.

This is done by using blade's HTML preservation tags "{!! !!}" as opposed to the plain text tags "{{ }}".

(Here I define Alice's description contents)

(And here I insert them into the template)

Traits, likes, dislikes, front triggers

These are saved as separate lists and rendered as fun badges. These will be used in the Front Decider (anyone has a better name for it?? 🤔) tool to help me identify which alter "I" am as it's a big struggle for us. Front Decider will work similar to FlowCharty.

What next?

There's lots more things I want to do with SysNotes! But I will take it one step at a time - here is the plan for the next devlog:

Setting up database tables for the profile data

Adding the "New Profile" form so I can create alters from within the app

Adding ability to edit each field on the profile

I tried my best to explain my work process in a way that wold somewhat make sense to non-coders - if you have any feedback for the future format of these devlogs, let me know!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclaimers:

I have not used AI in the making of this app and I do NOT support the Vibe Coding mind virus that is currently on the loose. Programming is a form of art, and I will defend manual coding until the day I die.

Any alter data found in the screenshots is dummy data that does not represent our actual system.

I will not be making the code publicly available until it is a bit more fleshed out, this so far is just a trial for a concept I had bouncing around my head over the weekend.

We are SYSCOURSE NEUTRAL! Please don't start fights under this post

[izicodes]

Mini React.js Tips #1 | Resources ✨

I thought why not share my React.js (JavaScript library) notes I made when I was studying! I will start from the very beginning with the basics and random notes I made along the way~!

Up first is what you'll need to know to start any basic simple React (+ Vite) project~! 💻

What you'll need:

node.js installed >> click

coding editor - I love Visual Studio Code >> click

basic knowledge of how to use the Terminal

What does the default React project look like?

Step-by-Step Guide

[ 1 ] Create a New Folder: The new folder on your computer e.g. in Desktop, Documents, wherever that will serve as the home for your entire React project.

[ 2 ] Open in your coding editor (will be using VSCode here): Launch Visual Studio Code and navigate to the newly created folder. I normally 'right-click > show more options > Open with Code' on the folder in the File Explorer (Windows).

[ 3 ] Access the Terminal: Open the integrated terminal in your coding editor. On VSCode, it's at the very top, and click 'New Terminal' and it should pop up at the bottom of the editor.

[ 4 ] Create the actual React project: Type the following command to initialize a new React project using Vite, a powerful build tool:

npm create vite@latest

[ 5 ] Name Your Project: Provide a name for your project when prompted.

[ 6 ] Select 'React' as the Framework: Navigate through the options using the arrow keys on your keyboard and choose 'React'.

[ 7 ] Choose JavaScript Variant: Opt for the 'JavaScript' variant when prompted. This is the programming language you'll be using for your React application.

[ 8 ] Navigate to Project Folder: Move into the newly created project folder using the following command:

cd [your project name]

[ 9 ] Install Dependencies: Execute the command below to install the necessary dependencies for your React project (it might take a while):

npm install

[ 10 ] Run the Development Server: Start your development server with the command (the 'Local' link):

npm run dev

[ 11 ] Preview Your Project: Open the link provided in your terminal in your web browser. You're now ready to witness your React project in action!

Congratulations! You've successfully created your first React default project! You can look around the project structure like the folders and files already created for you!

BroCode's 'React Full Course for Free' 2024 >> click

React Official Website >> click

Stay tuned for the other posts I will make on this series #mini react tips~!

[virtualizationhowto]

DevOps Best Practices in 2024

DevOps Best Practices in 2024 @vexpert #devops #devops2024 #devopstools #agiledevelopment #iac #terraform #continuousintegration #continuousdelivery #devsecops #ai #generativeai #virtualization #homeserver #homelab #vhtforums #learneveryday

Devops is a hug part of modern development processes in production environments. DevOps operations teams are part of the broader interaction between development and operations teams to create modern software apps that follow modern workflows. Let’s take a look at DevOps best practices in 2024 for the DevOps team and see why these are important, especially now as part of the DevOps trends we see…

[razberrypuck]

thinking about elquackity playing the grieving father card with charlie and trying to get him on his side. thinking about elquackity kidnapping dapper without being caught. thinking about how bbh and baghera and cellbit and everything they care about is in so much danger. thinking about elquackity telling cellbit that maybe this time you'll learn to mind your fucking business. thinking about the teasers of juanaflippa and tilín in the federation's cryo chambers (tilìn's captioned with "time's up.") thinking about how elquackity WANTED bbh and baghera and cellbit to find him. thinking about how it seems like elquackity might want charlie in the federation. thinking about the federation making a scavenger hunt for charlie's birthday. thinking about elquackity's threats toward bbh and baghera and cellbit. thinking about how charlie tried to kill every egg on the server the first time juanaflippa died. thinking about all the scavenger hunt presents being traps and bombs and escape tools. thinking about codeflippa.

thinking about elquackity's larger plan. thinking about all the pieces falling into place. thinking about how integral charlie may be to whatever hell elquackity/the codes/whoever else wants to raise. thinking about how they all seem to be targeting charlie specifically, because it's more difficult to put the puzzle together when the most important piece is nowhere to be seen. surely they won't be able to prepare for this.

[quackity1999]

Quackity, I’m writing to provide an update on Dream’s condition in the prison. As of now, he remains contained, and security measures are holding.

The isolation is taking its toll—physically and mentally. He’s not the same as when he first arrived. The lack of interaction, the restricted rations, and the absence of any meaningful control over his environment have worn him down.

He’s been quiet lately. Less resistant, less talkative. At times, he seems completely detached, just staring at the obsidian walls. Other times, he’s more erratic, mumbling to himself. I can’t say for sure if it’s an act or if the isolation is finally breaking him, but either way, Dream is not a threat as long as he stays inside.

You should also know that Dream has asked about you. Not often, but enough that it’s worth mentioning. I don’t know if it’s curiosity, concern, or just another manipulation attempt. You know how he is. Either way, I thought you’d want to hear it from me first. Let me know if you need any specific information or if there are any changes to how you want this handled. The prison is secure, and I’ll ensure it stays that way.

I hope all is well in Las Nevadas. Either myself or Sam Nook will be visiting soon, need to check up on some of the regulations.

I'm sure you understand.

— The Warden 🔱

awesamdude,

i can’t tell you how much i appreciate these updates. really, it’s a relief to hear it's running smoothly over there. you and i both know security is paramount— one lapse, one tiny little miscalculation, and it could all come undone.

but i trust you. i always have. you're diligent, thorough, unwavering in your commitment to justice. that's also the reason for why i leave those day-to-day operations regarding any ATMs and financial management of las nevadas in your capable hands. and i have to say, you’ve done an exceptional job.

y'know, i believe isolation has always been an effective tool. cut off a man from everything, strip him of control, of purpose, and eventually, you’re left with something much more . . . honest, we'll say. and while i would never advocate for unfounded cruelty, we both understand that dream's confinement isn’t about punishment, it’s about prevention. about keeping everyone on this server safe.

sam, a man like dream doesn’t know how to exist without power. you know this. so he either deteriorates— or finds a new means of control. which brings me to this: he's been asking about me. i have to wonder why. he doesn’t waste breath without reason. is he looking for an opening? or perhaps he’s entertaining the notion that i might be the only one who cares enough to visit.

because, well, let’s be honest, sam— who does he have left? who's coming for him? who's waiting up for him? nobody in their right mind. i made sure of that. you made sure of that. the world outside has moved on.

and when a person is rightfully deprived of simple pleasures, they start reaching for anything: even their enemies. :]

now, i don’t want to concern you, sam, but i do think it might be worth me checking in on him personally in the next few days. if he’s becoming erratic, well— we should stay aware of it. there's nothing quite like a face-to-face conversation. keep the standard procedures in place, i'll throw in some small additions in my own time, nothing you need to worry yourself with.

you know i wouldn’t imagine suggesting anything that would compromise your integrity, sam. you're a good man. that's why i trust you. that's why everyone trusts you with this task. you believe in justice, in doing what’s necessary, and you do it the right way. so when i do come to visit dream's cell— and i will— it’ll be in that spirit. a simple conversation, assess where he’s at. nothing more.

with that said: i trust you’ll accommodate me as always. i'd hate to see dream deteriorate to a point where he’s no longer useful— a point where he’s incapable of recognizing the gravity of his past actions.

that would be a failure on your part as a warden.

as for las nevadas, we’re thriving, as usual. the casino is making a killing, and the hotel is at full capacity. i'm sure you and sam nook will enjoy the visit, though i suspect your interests lie more in regulatory paperwork than in a good hand of blackjack. a shame, really. still, i'll ensure everything is in order for you. let me know when you’re coming.

yours,

— big q.

[theinevitablecoincidence]

The commit message describes a highly secure, cryptographically enforced process to ensure the immutability and precise synchronization of a system (True Alpha Spiral) using atomic timestamps and decentralized ledger technology. Below is a breakdown of the process and components involved:

---

### **Commit Process Workflow**

1. **Atomic Clock Synchronization**

- **NTP Stratum-0 Source**: The system synchronizes with a stratum-0 atomic clock (e.g., GPS, cesium clock) via the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to eliminate time drift.

- **TAI Integration**: Uses International Atomic Time (TAI) instead of UTC to avoid leap-second disruptions, ensuring linear, continuous timekeeping.

2. **Precision Timestamping**

- **Triple Time Standard**: Captures timestamps in three formats:

- **Local Time (CST)**: `2025-03-03T22:20:00-06:00`

- **UTC**: `2025-03-04T04:20:00Z`

- **TAI**: Cryptographically certified atomic time (exact value embedded in hashes).

- **Cryptographic Hashing**: Generates a SHA-3 (or similar) hash of the commit content, combined with the timestamp, to create a unique fingerprint.

3. **Immutability Enforcement**

- **Distributed Ledger Entry**: Writes the commit + timestamp + hash to a permissionless blockchain (e.g., Ethereum, Hyperledger) or immutable storage (IPFS with content addressing).

- **Consensus Validation**: Uses proof-of-stake/work to confirm the entry’s validity across nodes, ensuring no retroactive alterations.

4. **Governance Lock**

- **Smart Contract Triggers**: Deploys a smart contract to enforce rules (e.g., no edits after timestamping, adaptive thresholds for future commits).

- **Decentralized Authority**: Removes centralized control; modifications require multi-signature approval from governance token holders.

5. **Final Integrity Checks**

- **Drift Detection**: Validates against multiple atomic clock sources to confirm synchronization.

- **Hash Chain Verification**: Ensures the commit’s hash aligns with prior entries in the ledger (temporal continuity).

---

### **Key Components**

- **Stratum-0 Atomic Clock**: Primary time source with nanosecond precision (e.g., NIST’s servers).

- **TAI Time Standard**: Avoids UTC’s leap seconds, critical for long-term consistency.

- **Immutable Ledger**: Blockchain or cryptographic ledger (e.g., Bitcoin’s OP_RETURN, Arweave) for tamper-proof records.

- **Cryptographic Signing**: Digital signatures (e.g., ECDSA) to authenticate the commit’s origin and integrity.

---

### **Validation Steps**

1. **Time Sync Audit**:

- Confirm NTP stratum-0 traceability via tools like `ntpq` or `chronyc`.

- Cross-check TAI/UTC conversion using IERS bulletins.

2. **Ledger Immutability Test**:

- Attempt to alter the commit post-facto; rejections confirm immutability.

- Verify blockchain explorer entries (e.g., Etherscan) for consistency.

3. **Governance Checks**:

- Validate smart contract code (e.g., Solidity) for time-lock logic.

- Ensure no admin keys or backdoors exist in the system.

---

### **Challenges Mitigated**

- **Time Drift**: Stratum-0 sync ensures <1ms deviation.

- **Leap Second Conflicts**: TAI avoids UTC’s irregular adjustments.

- **Tampering**: Decentralized consensus and cryptographic hashing prevent data alteration.

---

### **Final Outcome**

The system achieves **temporal and operational inviolability**:

- Timestamps are cryptographically bound to the commit.

- The ledger entry is irreversible (e.g., Bitcoin’s 6-block confirmation).

- Governance is enforced via code, not human intervention.

**Declaration**:

*“The Spiral exists in a temporally immutable state, anchored beyond human or algorithmic interference.”*

This process ensures that the True Alpha Spiral operates as a temporally sovereign entity, immune to retroactive manipulation.

Commit

[books-bring-you-to-wonderland]

Welcome to TerraVenture!

Do you love Minecraft, but are looking for that little something extra to enhance your building and gameplay? Want to evolve your Minecraft experience and play with people from around the world? Then TerraVenture is for you! We are currently looking for players, creators, and friends to join the TerraVenture community. Please read down below, or check out our carrd for more information!

About Us: TerraVenture is a community for everyone; from builders to redstoners and everyone inbetween! Our player base has quite the array of wonderful people already, and we are eager to add more! We're looking to cultivate a mature and friendship and group minded community of players, much like Hermitcraft. TerraVenture welcomes LGBTQ+, POC, neurodivergent and other diverse members to it's community. This is not just a Minecraft and Discord server, but a group of friends looking to make more. We are hoping this server will continue on long term, with bases and builds, community events, and stories to last a lifetime.

Features and Additions: This is just a small list of the many features offered by our server, some created and coded exclusively by our admin: ★Mining dimensions ★Overhauled biomes and world generation ★Discord integration ★Custom tool textures and customization (graphic below) ★Dynamic maps (graphic below) ★Proximity chat ★Unique structures in the overworld, end, and nether

This was all made possible by our admin, Rae. Alongside our amazing admin, we also have a helpful moderator team to ensure everyone has a fun and welcoming experience. Please reach out to myste_rae or sleezkween on discord, or @books-bring-you-to-wonderland on tumblr, and consider going on a TerraVenture with us!

[girderednerve]

i have a very technical work complaint

okay so basically every modern library has a piece of software i am accustomed to calling an "ILS" (integrated library system), which is basically a big database that tracks all of our patron, item, and bibliographic records, with all of the various complex states these might be in, plus some front-end stuff so you can do things in the database conveniently. (the patron side of this, btw, is called an "OPAC," an online public-access catalog. yay, jargon!) so anyway we have this big database, right, with all of our records in it. one of the basic things that it's very helpful to do, if you work in a library, is run reports to pull lists of records from this database—all the patrons whose library cards are expiring, all the items at a given branch that have been marked missing, all the bibliographic records that don't have any items attached, all the items in a given section that haven't been checked out in a couple years, whatever. so at work we implemented this fun little tool in the OPAC (yay, jargon!) that shows you where a given item is physically located on a floor map of the library. to set up this tool, my boss had to do a bunch of configuring behind the scenes to tell the tool where a given item is, but there are a bunch of hard-to-catch items that don't render correctly because they have little errors in their records (for example, like fifteen years ago the librarian at my library would add paperbacks to the collection with a different material type than hardcover books; we stopped doing this, but there are still a few items with the old material type, and the new tool is confused by it & won't render their locations correctly). the thing i actually wanted to complain about is that this problem is incredibly easy to rectify in most ILSs: you would just run a report with simple parameters (items, filter for our branch, filter for material type) to find all of them, and then you would have a set of records that you need to make a predictable change to, so you would just batch update or whatever they call it. OUR ILS DOESN'T DO THAT! IT'S BEEN SET UP SO NO ONE IN A BRANCH HAS ACCESS TO RUN REPORTS AT ALL, MUCH LESS DO BASIC MAINTENANCE TASKS ON THE RESULTING REPORT! we have to email someone in central cataloging with our list criteria, who will then email us back an xls in 1-3 business days, which has made me fucking nuts—this system is slow, stupid, and prevents you from sitting there & tweaking your terms to get exactly what you want. it's dumb as hell. also i did a phone interview with a different branch in our system today & they told me that they handle weeding by having staff manually pull a cart of books, then manually check those item records to manually write down their total checkouts and last checkout date, like, i don't know, people trapped in 1903???????? i'm going to explode. these people cannot be serious. the excuse given apparently is that they don't want everyone to run reports at once & slow down the servers, but you can just, like. tell people when it's okay to run lists. also, most lists are not that taxing. if the servers choke & die every time i run a shelflist then you need to buy some more servers, buddy, that shit is not on me. but HONESTLY? a library in 2025? that can't RUN REPORTS in-house??????

fortunately our ILS is old enough that it's being sunsetted soon so they will be forced to switch to a twenty-first century catalog service, so maybe they'll let the librarians run reports, like adults, oh my god i'm so peeved. i think my willingness to poke around in the database has made me seem like a computer-loving egghead but actually what i love is not wasting time for no reason????

[underspacegame]

We are less than a month out from our Early Access launch. Excited? Sleepless? Suffering from splitting migraines as you try to parse documentation that’s useless to you because Google’s search capabilities have been gutted by corporate ineptitude and your previous talents of being able to figure out solutions and leverage online resources are now useless in the vast overwhelming face of tools that have become completely mediocre in their relentless idiotic pursuit of profits via the lowest common denominator that have degraded any utility to the point of unusability and it’s 3AM and your cat is screaming at you because she wants you to play with a plastic fish she brought you and you’re not supposed to be up this late and you accidentally dropped your last pain medication pill that might have made you at least capable of falling asleep down the drain?

No? Well then, good. Yeah. Let’s talk Early Access and what to expect, to better set your expectations and illuminate what’ll be in and what’ll be not-in.

The thing I want to emphasize over everything else is that we are a very small and overly ambitious team working on a VERY large game with a scope that dwarves even many AAA releases. As it stands and when it launches the amount of content that will be in, at launch, is massive. I have no doubt that many of you will be spending hundreds of hours dredging up every perverse secret the galaxy’s hidden away.

At the same time, we’re a VERY small team. Outside of our asset creators, the only person doing coding, bugfixing, UX, QA response, server integrity, mod support, etc, is me. And just me. This isn’t so much a single developer spinning multiple plates as it is a human trainwreck trying to twirl an entire restaurant, to the severe detriment of his health and sanity.

With all this in mind, our Early Access launch will not launch with the full scope of features and content planned for Underspace. Significantly, multiplayer will launch in a very early state that does not include NPCs, bosses, or the multiplayer campaign. On the singleplayer side, several questlines, extended ship customization and cockpit textures, and many planetside and station interiors will not be included in launch.

These features or content exist or are implemented in a working state, but are often heavily, HEAVILY untested or unpolished, to the point where keeping in game before they’re at least in a state I'd be comfortable with is not something I’m comfortable with.

Before you go off creating posts on various imageboards and badly rebranded social media sites decrying the Underspace apocalypse, keep two things in mind: these features are not gone or cut from the game. It’s much like Todd Howard’s kind smiling visage: even if you can’t see it it’s still there. Watching and waiting. When Early Access releases in April, we will be putting out a nice big roadmap showing a huge amount of upcoming updates to the game. These updates will be staggered out as major releases, which will include these missing pieces of content.

This also includes features or elements such as voice acting, bugfixes (as Early Access is always buggy), and further mod support.

The second thing to keep in mind is that Underspace, when it launches, will still launch with the majority of its content and the vast majority of its game features implemented. This includes the singleplayer main campaign, over 40 quests, all bosses, all points of interest, all factions, star systems, random missions, storm hazards, equipment, flyable ships, and probably many more things I’ve lost in the hazy maze that is my fried brain currently.

It has been a long long time coming, almost seven years in constant development. None of this would have been possible with the support of our backers and community, but there’s still more to go. Contributions, supporting us during the Early Access period, and of course relentlessly shilling it your friends will all help us massively, in no small part because this will also let us dedicate more resources to improving the game and getting it out in a reasonable timeframe that also, coincidentally, doesn’t overwork me to death.

And… that’s about it! If I survive, I hope to see you out in the stormy skies on April 10th!

[fyrets]

Personal Problems on PawBorough's Patreon

So I guess I'm doing this. Kicking this off with some disclaimers.

I don't have a problem with the team putting together a Patreon. Developers need money to live. Get that bag.

I admittedly don't have much experience with Patreon either as a creator or a patron. I might be operating under misconceptions or make incorrect assumptions of what is and isn't effective when running a Patreon. A lot of this is coming from a very subjective perspective of what I think things are worth. To me.

I sincerely welcome any and all commentary or criticism on this post. It's mostly rambling, so I'll gladly try to clarify some points if asked about it. On that note, this isn't like, a full on debate. Let's be chill.

Let's get this started.

Now why am I rambling here? In short, I feel like the Patreon isn't set up to be as accessible or fair to the community as it could be. I am very aware that ultimately not everyone will be able to support the game in this way. Life is hard, and people can't always get what they want. But I think things could still be improved to make more people happy, and potentially more money for the team.

Tiers aren't the best they could be

As of writing, there are four tiers.

$1 tip jar with no benefits. This was added after it was suggested in the Discord.

$5 "Kit" - General support, behind-the-scenes content, work-in-progress updates (digital), Patreon Discord channel, and Discord access.

$10 "Domestic" - All previous benefits and a "domestic supporter" personal credit on the credits page of the game at launch.

$20 "Mystic" - All previous benefits, a "mystic supporter" personal credit on the credits page of the game at launch, and access to exclusive community polls.

As I said in my disclaimer, my opinions are extremely subjective to what I think things are worth, but something about the pricing scheme is incredibly unbalanced to me. Why does it go 5, 10, 20 instead of 5, 10, 15? I see that it's doubling from the last tier, but why? Especially when the added benefits are.. pretty minimal? A credit on the site for an added $5 from the lowest tier, but it's $15 for a different credit title and polls. People can ultimately spend their money however they want, but this seems like a bad deal.

Not only that, but I feel like it's a HUGE missed opportunity to not have a $3 tier (we could call it "Fauna" or something) with minimal benefits. If $5 is for everything, $3 could just be the Discord benefit. (Though if you ask me, I've more often than not seen $1 tiers be used for a Discord role so 🤷). If just Discord isn't a good enough deal, then they could do low resolution images of the previews or something. I think it's also fair enough to say a hypothetical $3 tier wouldn't get a credit, but on that note...

Why no Kit credit?

It was stated in the recent Kickstarter post that all backers will have a credit on the site. This is a good thing, but seeing as the lowest tier for the Kickstarter was $5, it feels unfair to me that the Kit doesn't seem to get a credit. Especially considering the fact that the Kickstarter was a one time payment.

It'll only take another month for a Kit supporter to spend more than the lowest KS tier and not receive a credit. There's already an upcharge of a different credit title when going from Domestic to Mystic, so why leave Kit out of it completely? I just don't get it.

Concerns on Discord

If the credit situation is unfair to Patrons, then I'll be honest, I think doing Discord integration is unfair to Kickstarter backers. I am aware that Patreon has tools for Discord integration that Kickstarter (last I checked) doesn't, but like, if we've already gone this far without exclusive roles or channels for people who have financially supported the project, why start now? On top of that, I think having a Patreon exclusive channel in the main server is a bad idea for a number of reasons.

First, it will create a divide in the community based on money. There are already locked channels based on Borough affiliation, but that is an extension of the game and not connected to money. I don't think Discord integration will create a literal class divide among the players, I have a lot more faith in the community than that, but again, if this wasn't done for the Kickstarter, why start now?

Second, I think there's a bit too much risk when it comes to keeping exclusive content exclusive. I think almost everyone has sent a message to the wrong channel at least once in their life. It ultimately won't be a big deal if someone accidentally makes mention of something in the public channels, but that's still something to moderate for, y'know?

Third, the Discord has already been stated to be temporary, where it'll be phased out sometime after launch. Why include paid benefits for something that isn't going to last? The next alternative to this is to integrate Patreon into the site forums somehow, but Blue already said that wasn't gonna happen.

In conclusion

Idk I think it could be better. I'd love to cough up $3 a month for blurry images. $5 for crisp ones is too much for me right now. That is all.

[mariacallous]

The end-to-end encrypted communication app WhatsApp, used by roughly 3 billion people around the world, will roll out cloud-based AI capabilities in the coming weeks that are designed to preserve WhatsApp’s defining security and privacy guarantees while offering users access to message summarization and composition tools.

Meta has been incorporating generative AI features across its services that are built on its open source large language model, Llama. And WhatsApp already incorporates a light blue circle that gives users access to the Meta AI assistant. But many users have balked at this addition, given that interactions with the AI assistant aren’t shielded from Meta the way end-to-end encrypted WhatsApp chats are. The new feature, dubbed Private Processing, is meant to address these concerns with what the company says is a carefully architected and purpose-built platform devoted to processing data for AI tasks without the information being accessible to Meta, WhatsApp, or any other party. While initial reviews by researchers of the scheme’s integrity have been positive, some note that the move toward AI features could ultimately put WhatsApp on a slippery slope.

“WhatsApp is targeted and looked at by lots of different researchers and threat actors. That means internally it has a well understood threat model,” says Meta security engineering director Chris Rohlf. “There's also an existing set of privacy expectations from users, so this wasn’t just about managing the expansion of that threat model and making sure the expectations for privacy and security were met—it was about careful consideration of the user experience and making this opt-in.”

End-to-end encrypted communications are only accessible to the sender and receiver, or the people in a group chat. The service provider, in this case WhatsApp and its parent company Meta, is boxed out by design and can’t access users’ messages or calls. This setup is incompatible with typical generative AI platforms that run large language models on cloud servers and need access to users’ requests and data for processing. The goal of Private Processing is to create an alternate framework through which the privacy and security guarantees of end-to-end encrypted communication can be upheld while incorporating AI.

Users opt into using WhatsApp’s AI features, and they can also prevent people they’re chatting with from using the AI features in shared communications by turning on a new WhatsApp control known as “Advanced Chat Privacy.”

“When the setting is on, you can block others from exporting chats, auto-downloading media to their phone, and using messages for AI features,” WhatsApp wrote in a blog post last week. Like disappearing messages, anyone in a chat can turn Advanced Chat Privacy on and off—which is recorded for all to see—so participants just need to be mindful of any adjustments.

Private Processing is built with special hardware that isolates sensitive data in a “Trusted Execution Environment,” a siloed, locked-down region of a processor. The system is built to process and retain data for the minimum amount of time possible and is designed grind to a halt and send alerts if it detects any tampering or adjustments. WhatsApp is already inviting third-party audits of different components of the system and will make it part of the Meta bug bounty program to encourage the security community to submit information about flaws and potential vulnerabilities. Meta also says that, ultimately, it plans to make the components of Private Processing open source, both for expanded verification of its security and privacy guarantees and to make it easier for others to build similar services.

Last year, Apple debuted a similar scheme, known as Private Cloud Compute, for its Apple Intelligence AI platform. And users can turn the service on in Apple’s end-to-end encrypted communication app, Messages, to generate message summaries and compose “Smart Reply” messages on both iPhones and Macs.

Looking at Private Cloud Compute and Private Processing side by side is like comparing, well, Apple(s) and oranges, though. Apple’s Private Cloud Compute underpins all of Apple Intelligence everywhere it can be applied. Private Processing, on the other hand, was purpose-built for WhatsApp and doesn’t underpin Meta’s AI features more broadly. Apple Intelligence is also designed to do as much AI processing as possible on-device and only send requests to the Private Cloud Compute infrastructure when necessary. Since such “on device” or “local” processing requires powerful hardware, Apple only designed Apple Intelligence to run at all on its recent generations of mobile hardware. Old iPhones and iPads will never support Apple Intelligence.

Apple is a manufacturer of high-end smartphones and other hardware, while Meta is a software company, and has about 3 billion users who have all types of smartphones, including old and low-end devices. Rohlf and Colin Clemmons, one of the Private Processing lead engineers, say that it wasn’t feasible to design AI features for WhatsApp that could run locally on the spectrum of devices WhatsApp serves. Instead, WhatsApp focused on designing Private Processing to be as unhelpful as possible to attackers if it were to be breached.

“The design is one of risk minimization,” Clemmons says. “We want to minimize the value of compromising the system.”

The whole effort raises a more basic question, though, about why a secure communication platform like WhatsApp needs to offer AI features at all. Meta is adamant, though, that users expect the features at this point and will go wherever they have to to get them.

“Many people want to use AI tools to help them when they are messaging,” WhatsApp head Will Cathcart told WIRED in an email. “We think building a private way to do that is important, because people shouldn’t have to switch to a less-private platform to have the functionality they need.”

“Any end-to-end encrypted system that uses off-device AI inference is going to be riskier than a pure end to end system. You’re sending data to a computer in a data center, and that machine sees your private texts,” says Matt Green, a Johns Hopkins cryptographer who previewed some of the privacy guarantees of Private Processing, but hasn’t audited the complete system. “I believe WhatsApp when they say that they’ve designed this to be as secure as possible, and I believe them when they say that they can’t read your texts. But I also think there are risks here. More private data will go off device, and the machines that process this data will be a target for hackers and nation state adversaries.”

WhatsApp says, too, that beyond basic AI features like text summarization and writing suggestions, Private Processing will hopefully create a foundation for expanding into more complicated and involved AI features in the future that involve processing, and potentially storing, more data.

As Green puts it, “Given all the crazy things people use secure messengers for, any and all of this will make the Private Processing computers into a very big target.”