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gigastacey

@gigastacey

Recovering tech journalist and IoT expert who now works on cybersecurity, IoT, and right to repair for Consumer Reports.

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Latest posts by gigastacey @gigastacey

I cackled!

06.03.2026 05:52 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Gudrid ThorbjarnardΓ³ttir - Wikipedia

This is the story of this explorer who lived roughly 1200 years ago. She would be considered well traveled even by today's standards. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudrid_...

06.03.2026 05:36 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
A close-up of the the figurehead of a ship with a hand on top of it. It is a sculpture made of bluish stone. It is unclear what animal it is but it seems a little silly.

A close-up of the the figurehead of a ship with a hand on top of it. It is a sculpture made of bluish stone. It is unclear what animal it is but it seems a little silly.

The entire sculpture features a woman standing in a boat with the aforementioned figurehead and she has a baby or small man standing on her shoulder. The woman is looking ahead, wearing a cape, and has one arm jutting out with her hand on her head. She appears to be holding the hand of the tiny man who is on her shoulder with the hand that's on her head. The sculpture is standing in a field with a body of water in the deep background.

The entire sculpture features a woman standing in a boat with the aforementioned figurehead and she has a baby or small man standing on her shoulder. The woman is looking ahead, wearing a cape, and has one arm jutting out with her hand on her head. She appears to be holding the hand of the tiny man who is on her shoulder with the hand that's on her head. The sculpture is standing in a field with a body of water in the deep background.

Here's a derpy figurehead on a sculpture of a famous Icelandic explorer.

06.03.2026 05:31 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
A terracotta horse with a lively facial expression, a slightly open mouth, ears pricked up, and a bobbed tail. It seems very eager to be where it's at. It is Chinese and from 24 to 220 AD.

A terracotta horse with a lively facial expression, a slightly open mouth, ears pricked up, and a bobbed tail. It seems very eager to be where it's at. It is Chinese and from 24 to 220 AD.

Look at this incredibly enthusiastic, 2,000-year-old terracotta horse at the Seattle Art Museum. I love a derpy animal sculpture.

06.03.2026 05:26 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1
Side of a Washington ferry boat and wooden pilings on the water. It's a sunny day with blue skies and deep blue water. The boat is white and green.

Side of a Washington ferry boat and wooden pilings on the water. It's a sunny day with blue skies and deep blue water. The boat is white and green.

Is it possible to take a bad WSDOT ferry photo? Maybe.

05.03.2026 22:55 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Y'all, the FCC is celebrating National Consumer Protection Week. A fact I found surprising given the steps it has taken to make Broadband Labels less useful, slowing down the cybersecurity label for IoT devices, and essentially turning the public airwaves for broadcast TV into a corporate asset.

05.03.2026 21:14 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
This smart device stops sneaky AI gadgets from listening to your conversations Spectre I is a portable device that prevents nearby microphones from recording your voice, by creating a protection zone around you that blocks smart devices, phones, and AI recorders from capturing c...

For $1,200 I need a lot more details on the physics-based research that makes this device work.

"Unlike traditional signal jammers that rely on strong radio interference, the device uses artificial intelligence, signal processing, and physics based research to target microphones directly."

05.03.2026 21:03 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

If we survive this kakistocracy we really are probably going to have to completely rebuild the entirety of U.S. IT infrastructure

05.03.2026 20:21 πŸ‘ 312 πŸ” 88 πŸ’¬ 14 πŸ“Œ 4

The reason for the delay is unclear. Ordinarily, the city has provided a .csv file within weeks of my request, but this time, they're saying it will be at least April, or 10 months after I requested a directory that was current as of last June.

05.03.2026 19:16 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

If anyone has wondered why PubliCola hasn't updated our City of Seattle employee directory, which we've maintained ever since ex-mayor Jenny Durkan took it off the city's website 5 years ago), it's because the city hasn't provided the records. I asked in June, and just got another delay notice.

05.03.2026 19:14 πŸ‘ 50 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Sigh....

03.03.2026 23:54 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I am so sorry. I've been there. I've found body doubling to be helpful. Only in that I can tackle a few tasks, not that my brain actually changes. YMMV and I am happy to volunteer as a double.

03.03.2026 21:08 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Double Blind Armadillo - Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast Cellular providers need to know your location in order to deliver calls and text message to your phone. But it turns out that they...

Is it possible for a cellular provider to be private? They must know where your phone is, but can they not know who owns it? I ask Nick Merrill, founder of MVNO @phreeli.bsky.social, about their Double Blind Armadillo #privacy protocol.

podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2026/03/02/d...

02.03.2026 15:29 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Also, the lack of blinding pain fools you into thinking that you *could* be productive and then you just feel bad about yourself.

Feel better and take your meds.

27.02.2026 21:05 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Oh it's Thursday! I need to check in on the cyber attack going down on The Pitt.

27.02.2026 02:31 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I constantly dream that I have scheduled interviews that I have actually not scheduled and am baffled when they are not on my calendar. I just assume my brain is telling me who I should reach out to in the only way it can at 4 AM.

27.02.2026 00:13 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Logitech Keys-To-Go 2 Bluetooth keyboard with open battery tray and mini screwdriver.

Logitech Keys-To-Go 2 Bluetooth keyboard with open battery tray and mini screwdriver.

Truly idiotic #ProductDesign: you need a special screwdriver to change the #Logitech Keys-to-Go 2 batteries.

They die soon, with little warning.

What if you’re traveling?

This should be taught at design school as an exemplary #fail.

#engineering

26.02.2026 18:16 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

As someone who ran SETI or IBM's protein folding project back in the day, it's kind of sad to see a company using a consumers' bandwidth, IP address and compute for scraping the web for AI. And using that IP address to circumvent tools to prevent such scraping.

26.02.2026 18:47 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Your smart TV may be crawling the web for AI ο»ΏSome TV apps let you watch programming with fewer ads, as long as you allow your TV to participate in a global proxy network.

This story from @jank0.bsky.social detailing how Bright Data is turning smart TVs into the backbone of a giant residential proxy network for scanning public web pages has me wondering about the potential harms. It feels like turning consumers into digital drug mules of a sort.

26.02.2026 18:42 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

Yes!

26.02.2026 04:26 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

oh, sad.

25.02.2026 17:33 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Congratulations! And I am sad I will never see you on TWiT again πŸ˜†

25.02.2026 15:59 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

wow. so everything. My car does show the make and a number. And yes, I have a huge issue with my car's lack of security. I had to make a phone call so it wouldn't post my actual name in 28pt font on the display every time I got in or out of the vehicle.

24.02.2026 20:31 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Does it show off a MAC addy, something else, or just an SSID? I am familiar with the concept, but don't know what information they actually show.

24.02.2026 20:19 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

thank you!

24.02.2026 19:58 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
ADT Buys Startup That Uses AI to Show What Triggers Motion Sensors Security company ADT Inc. has bought AI startup Origin Wireless Inc. for $170 million in a deal that will allow it to upgrade its popular home security products with new artificial intelligence featur...

ADT buying Origin Wireless is a big move for the alarm company into Wi-Fi sensing. This is a potential privacy alarm bell, because Origin's software turns Wi-Fi products into sensors. And those sensors can be used to infer a lot!

24.02.2026 19:58 πŸ‘ 23 πŸ” 14 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

this is a twist!

24.02.2026 18:45 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This is a good answer for the kettle question.

24.02.2026 18:44 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

This feels closer to our home, but I am discovering that people do not often drink 3 cups of tea in a row a few times a day and am also possibly extremely tolerant of stagnant water :)

24.02.2026 17:59 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
California city turns off Flock cameras after company shared data without authorization The cameras will stay off until the Mountain View City Council can discuss how to handle the matter at a February 24 meeting, Police Chief Mike Canfield said in a letter to the community.

I'll add that there is a risk that Flock will turn on features that violate the laws of the specific jurisdictions that try to wall off the data from outside law enforcement as well therecord.media/california-c...

24.02.2026 17:55 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0