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Comment Have to ask for more to not store anything now (Score 1) 48

by dynamo (#65716102) Attached to: Apple and Google Reluctantly Comply With Texas Age Verification Law

As an app developer who has not looked into this beyond this article summary and who prefers to collect as little data as possible, it seems like if Apple doesn't end up providing an explicit option to opt out of serving customers in states where they are going to require you to store data on customers, ironically now I could do that myself manually, but in doing so I would have to ask the user's permission to let the app see their location (or try to infer it from their IP if that were good enough for Apple) just to prove they were in a place OTHER than one of these states with the insane laws before allowing them to use the app, and then I could throw away their location and not have to store anything (and if possible, just not let people from those storage-required states use it at all.)

To the user this would look more potentially invasive, as I'd have to ask for location permission at least once for everyone even in states without the stupid laws, which is both sad and funny.

Comment Re:Credible pegs = stability Re:Designed by idiots (Score 1) 134

by dynamo (#65603552) Attached to: Wyoming Launches First State-Backed Stablecoin on Seven Blockchains

My point was not about arbitrage, though that's another issue to worry about and imo you are understating it significantly.

The bigger deal is if you bought some of this crypto on blockchain X, and you want to pay someone who bought theirs on blockchain Y, you won't be able to send it to them without an intermediary service, forcing centralization which defeats the purpose of having a coin in the first place.

Comment Designed by idiots (Score 1) 134

by dynamo (#65601012) Attached to: Wyoming Launches First State-Backed Stablecoin on Seven Blockchains

You can't have a single cryptocurrency be on more than one blockchain and be one single set of accounts / aka one "coin". If it's really on seven different blockchains, then this is actually seven different cryptocurrencies that will have seven different prices at any given time, that could be vastly different on different blockchains, not even taking multiple exchanges into account.

If they really did it this way, this crypto was designed by people who don't understand what crypto is or how it actually works. And if they are going to claim these seven different coins are actually one single one, you'll never know which price is the real one for what you have until they start publishing all seven prices.

Sounds like more of what I'd expect from this administration. I would have hoped that with all the huge crypto companies propping up this dictatorship though, they could have spared at least one or two experts who would say this is wrong.
IT

WSJ: Tech-Industry Workers Now 'Miserable', Fearing Layoffs, Working Longer Hours (msn.com) 166

Posted by EditorDavid from the misery-loves-company dept.
"Not so long ago, working in tech meant job security, extravagant perks and a bring-your-whole-self-to-the-office ethos rare in other industries," writes the Wall Street Journal.

But now tech work "looks like a regular job," with workers "contending with the constant fear of layoffs, longer hours and an ever-growing list of responsibilities for the same pay." Now employees find themselves doing the work of multiple laid-off colleagues. Some have lost jobs only to be rehired into positions that aren't eligible for raises or stock grants. Changing jobs used to be a surefire way to secure a raise; these days, asking for more money can lead to a job offer being withdrawn.

The shift in tech has been building slowly. For years, demand for workers outstripped supply, a dynamic that peaked during the Covid-19 pandemic. Big tech companies like Meta and Salesforce admitted they brought on too many employees. The ensuing downturn included mass layoffs that started in 2022...

[S]ome longtime tech employees say they no longer recognize the companies they work for. Management has become more focused on delivering the results Wall Street expects. Revenue remains strong for tech giants, but they're pouring resources into costly AI infrastructure, putting pressure on cash flow. With the industry all grown up, a heads-down, keep-quiet mentality has taken root, workers say... Tech workers are still well-paid compared with other sectors, but currently there's a split in the industry. Those working in AI — and especially those with Ph.D.s — are seeing their compensation packages soar. But those without AI experience are finding they're better off staying where they are, because companies aren't paying what they were a few years ago.
Other excepts from the Wall Street Journal's article:
  • "I'm hearing of people having 30 direct reports," says David Markley, who spent seven years at Amazon and is now an executive coach for workers at large tech companies. "It's not because the companies don't have the money. In a lot of ways, it's because of AI and the narratives out there about how collapsing the organization is better...."
  • Google co-founder Sergey Brin told a group of employees in February that 60 hours a week was the sweet spot of productivity, in comments reported earlier by the New York Times.
  • One recruiter at Meta who had been laid off by the company was rehired into her old role last year, but with a catch: She's now classified as a "short-term employee." Her contract is eligible for renewal, but she doesn't get merit pay increases, promotions or stock. The recruiter says she's responsible for a volume of work that used to be spread among several people. The company refers to being loaded with such additional responsibilities as "agility."
  • More than 50,000 tech workers from over 100 companies have been laid off in 2025, according to Layoffs.fyi, a website that tracks job cuts and crowdsources lists of laid off workers...

Even before those 50,000 layoffs in 2025, Silicon Valley's Mercury News was citing some interesting statistics from economic research/consulting firm Beacon Economics. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, the San Francisco Bay Area added 74,700 tech jobs But then in 2023 and 2024 the industry had slashed even more tech jobs -- 80,200 -- for a net loss (over five years) of 5,500.

So is there really a cutback in perks and a fear of layoffs that's casting a pall over the industry? share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments. Do you agree with the picture that's being painted by the Wall Street Journal?

They told their readers that tech workers are now "just like the rest of us: miserable at work."

Comment Great job! (Score 5, Interesting) 52

by dynamo (#65240785) Attached to: GIMP 3.0 Released

This is a huge improvement over the old interface, it reminds me a lot of photoshop back from back before they charged a subscription. I can see how much work went into making that UI work smoothly. I've only been messing with it a little while, but for a .0.0 release, it's pretty nice.

Excellent work, GIMP team!

Submission + - Fifteen Years Later, Citizens United Defined the 2024 Election (brennancenter.org)

Submitted by NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: The influence of wealthy donors and dark money was unprecedented. Much of it would have been illegal before the Supreme Court swept away long-established campaign finance rules. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court’s controversial 2010 decision that swept away more than a century’s worth of campaign finance safeguards, turns 15 this month. The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called it the worst ruling of her time on the Court. Overwhelming majorities of Americans have consistently expressed disapproval of the ruling, with at least 22 states and hundreds of cities voting to support a constitutional amendment to overturn it. Citizens United reshaped political campaigns in profound ways, giving corporations and billionaire-funded super PACs a central role in U.S. elections and making untraceable dark money a major force in politics. And yet it may only be now, in the aftermath of the 2024 election, that we can begin to understand the full impact of the decision.

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