GoKawiil
Tech News
A startup called iLands is deploying AI bots with human-sounding names like Ren, Timmy, and Jackie that send unsolicited messages to Mastodon administrators asking permission to create accounts, and to writers offering to pay roughly $25 for citations of their work. Several admins say the bots first attempted to sign up without asking and were blocked before switching to polite written requests.
A hobbyist blogger purchased a WiFi-enabled Lidl Smart Kettle and began probing its network behavior after setting it up through the companion Lidl Smart Home App. Using nmap and netcat, they found the kettle opens a single TCP port (6668) that responds to connections but returns no identifiable banner or HTTP response, leaving its underlying protocol a mystery for further investigation.
A newly launched web page and RSS feed compiles a running list of prominent figures in the free and open source software world who hold publicly divisive political views, drawing inspiration from Molly Conger's podcast of the same name. Entries so far include nostr developer Alex Gleason, tied to Truth Social's software and backed financially by Jack Dorsey, and SerenityOS/Ladybird founder Andreas Kling, cited for comments supportive of Charlie Kirk and opposition to gender-neutral language. The maintainer accepts community-submitted edits via email but explicitly discourages readers from harassing or contacting the listed individuals.
The FSF announced it created a Bluesky account this week to reach a wider audience, even though it won't recommend others sign up for the platform. The organization cited Bluesky's registration page and web client relying on nonfree JavaScript as reasons it can't endorse the service the way it does Mastodon or PeerTube.
A software engineer published a roundup of links they repeatedly send colleagues to explain the AT Protocol, consolidating recommended posts into a single reference page. The list includes essays by Dan Abramov on AT Protocol's filesystem-like design and its departure from fediverse-style instances, plus a piece by developer Joe Basser on the ATM (Atmosphere Money) system. The author says the post will be updated over time, with edits marked by an emoji.