Cassidy James :eos: :gg: :fh:

https://mastodon.blaede.family/@cassidy

Building useful, usable, delightful products that respect privacy.

:eos: Partner success at [@EndlessOS](https://floss.social/@EndlessOS ) Foundation
:gnome: [@gnome](https://floss.social/@gnome ) Foundation member
:flathub: [@flathub](https://floss.social/@flathub ) contributor

Previously: co-founder and CXO at elementary OS, UX architect at System76.

Frequently posting about #OpenSource, specifically in #GNOME and #Flatpak realms. I also enjoy #StarWars, #LEGO, #3DPrinting, and #SmartHome.

I have a background in UX architecture, open source, product design, & communication.

🌐 Website + links to elsewhere: https://cassidyjames.com
Pronouns: he/him
:gh: GitHub: https://github.com/cassidyjames
🕸️ Old posts: https://hci.social/@cassidyjames

Public Key

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NIP-05 Address

cassidy_at_mastodon.blaede.family@momostr.pink

Profile Code

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Author Public Key

npub1lvcsqmwtf0nedyct3pau5r4kyxfyvf5sp8d3u7xr5k7ypvh7xn5q7qcedh

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Published at

2024-07-10T09:21:15Z

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Last Notes

2024-08-18 04:46:14

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I second this! I also have the Sonoff ones with screens, some of the Sonoff ones without a screen, and an Aqara one. The Aqara has been the most finicky with falling off the Zigbee network, though less lately.

2024-06-25 02:52:16

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frustratingly, Canonical is going it alone yet again with Snap while the entire rest of the ecosystem has rallied behind Flatpak. 😣
I no longer recommend Ubuntu these days due to this—you can of course set up Flatpak on Ubuntu and get a pretty good experience with it, but it doesn’t need to be that painful out of the box. I have really been loving Fedora Silverblue, to be honest. It stays out of my way and lets me focus on doing my work without messing my system up under the hood.

2024-06-24 18:03:28

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the argument that you can’t do real work on Linux is always funny to me. I guess if Linux can’t be used for real work, I’ve just been pretending for the last decade or two. 😝
I think people really mean, “You can’t 1:1 replace an entirely Windows- or macOS-dependent workflow with Linux without some adaptation,” which, sure… but that’s not a failing of Linux—it’s a side-effect of that workflow!

2024-06-24 17:56:34

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The problem can can also be approached from the other direction: ISVs *please* stop promoting .deb/.rpm files—or at least relegate them to a nerdy section down below—and adopt Flatpak!
You can easily target Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Red Hat, Fedora, elementary OS, Endless OS, Steam Deck(!), Arch, etc. with Flatpak, all with minimal-to-zero user setup.
…Maybe do that?
#Linux #OpenSource #Flatpak #Flathub #LinuxApps

2024-06-24 17:44:03

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…Like, “This app may be available in App Center. Installing from App Center is preferred for improved integration plus security and privacy features. [Check App Center]”
If a user gets as far as trying to download a .deb or .rpm (or even .exe/.msi!), we have a utility in Endless OS that kicks in and does a decent job here directing them to the app store. But I get the feeling that we’re losing/confusing people before they even get that far.
#Linux #OpenSource #Flatpak #Flathub #GNOME

2024-06-24 17:42:29

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Adding something to a first-run tour doesn't seem to be a good solution; we’ve seen most people skip/close that on Endless OS, at least.
I sort of hate to suggest it, but maybe something _similar to_ (but distinct from!) what Windows does to direct people to Edge instead of another browser is actually viable?
Think: a pre-installed browser add-on that has a list of known download sites and displays a message to direct people to the app store.
#Linux #Flathub #Flatpak #GNOME #OpenSource

2024-06-24 17:37:20

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We do some things—like Flathub badges for the web—to help combat this, but it’s still a losing battle: major ISVs show downloads for “Debian” and “RPMs” which new users don’t understand. I’ve seen new users across elementary OS, Endless OS, and Fedora all get decision paralysis: “I don't know if I need the Debian or Red Hat version” or, "It doesn't show Endless OS so I guess I can’t get it”
I wonder if it’s something we can combat more proactively.
#Flatpak #Flathub #Linux #OpenSource #GNOME

2024-06-24 17:33:49

The sad state of app distribution on Windows and macOS continues to trip up first-time Linux users. It's still wildly prevalent to ignore the platform app store in favor of going directly to a company’s website to download apps on those platforms—and that makes it confusing to new Linux users who would be best served by using their OS’s built-in app store, instead.
#Linux #OpenSource #Flatpak #Flathub #LinuxApps

2024-06-22 04:12:28

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So there’s all kinds of progress addressing the needs/solving the problems app developers have; we probably just need to be louder about it.

2024-04-24 05:15:15

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right which is why part of the equation is developer verification, human review of app submissions and permission changes, and a more nuanced safety rating that takes into account network access—all the case with Flathub + GNOME.
Buuuut even then it seems like it would be easier not to promise safety, but to warn on more critical potential issues.

2024-04-24 05:09:03

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GNOME upstream is much more nuanced, but yeah, I am starting to think we should not have a “safe” badge at all if stuff that is safe gets downgraded for reasonable permissions while a three-years-outdated unmaintained web browser packaged against its developer's wishes that crashes in launch is considered “safe.”

2024-04-24 05:01:17

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nothing about the app listing lets you know it is unmaintained. To the contrary, it shows as a “Safe” app developed by me, provided by Fedora. It contains my app description that I wrote for it on elementary OS. You have to click into the detailed version history to even see how long ago it was last updated (3 years ago!).

2024-04-24 04:52:29

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I would be happy for someone to actually take the idea and make something decent from it. But I discontinued it because it didn’t really work well in a Flatpak world plus it was way over my head for responsible maintenance.
I didn’t even know it was being packaged by Fedora, let alone just there in the app store in Fedora 40.

2024-04-24 04:48:44

TIL Fedora is packaging a web browser app I developed for elementary OS and marked as end-of-life over two years ago, yet it happily shows up in Fedora 40 if you search my name. It crashes on launch, so it doesn’t even work…
WHY??
#Fedora #Linux

2024-04-17 20:09:16

Facebook’s “AI” is responding to posts pretending to be human; in this case claiming to have a gifted and disabled child who attends a NYC school.
How many other accounts are actually large language models masquerading as people? This seems incredibly irresponsible—and is a great reminder that “AI” is machines mindlessly regurgitating things from elsewhere on the Internet.
AI is not sustainable.
https://www.404media.co/facebooks-ai-told-parents-group-it-has-a-disabled-child/
Via [@jasonkoebler](https://mastodon.social/@jasonkoebler) for [@404mediaco](https://mastodon.social/@404mediaco)
#AI #LLM #LLMs #Meta #Facebook

2024-04-07 19:58:06

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It’s a shame that the industry is in the midst of such a circlejerk around the term “AI,” too, because I think a lot of machine learning is genuinely incredible and is the most underappreciated (and often invisible) aspect of a bunch of technology we use: our cameras, keyboards, copy/paste, voice recognition, smart homes, and more are often powered by machine learning models.
But let’s call everything “AI” now because a bunch of billion dollar companies decided it’s a fun space to compete in.

2024-04-07 19:33:29

“AI” as currently hyped is giant billion dollar companies blatantly stealing content, disregarding licenses, deceiving about capabilities, and burning the planet in the process.
It is the largest theft of intellectual property in the history of humankind, and these companies are knowingly and willing ignoring the licenses, terms of service, and laws that us lowly individuals are beholden to.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/06/technology/tech-giants-harvest-data-artificial-intelligence.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ik0.Ofja.L21c1wyW-0xj&ugrp=m
#AI #GenAI #LLM #LLMs #OpenAI #ChatGPT #GPT #GPT4 #Sora #Gemini

2024-04-05 16:15:29

Mastodon feature (or third-party integration) idea: curated/shared filters! I feel like I’ve thought about this from the spoiler angle before (platforms could have a list of potential spoiler-y phrases that get associated with a certain movie/show/etc. and then users could “subscribe” to those filters), but maybe it could be more crowdsourced? 🤔
#Mastodon #filters #ActivityPub #fediverse

2024-03-31 20:17:43

Has anyone automated a way to sync follows from Threads to Mastodon? I have a Threads account for now as a transition until I can follow everyone I care about on Mastodon directly; it would be nice to have some cron job automatically check if each of my Threads follows has enabled federation, and if so, follow them from my Mastodon account.
#Threads #Mastodon #fediverse #ActivityPub

2024-03-27 07:00:19

Servers in the fediverse have a responsibility to make decisions they believe are right for their users, like moderation—and naturally, some folks might disagree with those decisions.
But that’s a huge advantage of the fediverse: you can choose or move to a server that you trust, that you agree with, etc. and still interact with the rest of the fediverse; you can even bring your followers with e.g. if you switch between Mastodon servers!
#Mastodon #fediverse