> very bad user experience

"To use the Signal desktop app, Signal must first be installed on your phone."

thank god whatsapp doesn't do that either. or telegram. or allo back in the day, or every single mobile first messaging app

The only one I can think of that doesn't require a mobile login is iMessage, because it's not a chat app, it's lock in and data theft disguised as software

XMPP and Matrix don't require a phone number and have fine mobile apps.

And there's a reason they've achieved precisely zero penetration amongst normies.

A chat app is useless if your friends and family won't use it.

I've actually had good luck getting friends and family on Matrix, after they'd previously used either Facebook Messenger or Hangouts.

I think delta chat is a counter example.

The EU has received at least 69 shipments of Russian LNG in 2026. At this point, who isn't trading with Russia?

[Citations needed]

Imgur is blocked in the UK, and last I checked blocked connections from VPNs too.

Which scene are you referring to?

Try this one?

http://www.vfxhq.com/1997/stills/fifth/welcome.jpg

It's the wide shot of NYC after they leave the spaceport.

Probably not a good example. That one seems to be very low resolution unless I'm doing something wrong.

There's another higher resolution one in the thread. If that one is blocked as well there's always reverse image search.

Works in Opera with its built-in VPN.

Does anyone have any examples of using this in the wild?

I have fond memories of IRC channels full of all sorts of bots; the Matrix and XMPP rooms I've seen don't seem to have nearly as many fun automations.

I assume something of this nature will be wired up for LLM Claws.

Stick the claws into some IRC like channel, but they only have to talk HTTP, so there is less backend work required for the integration.

You may be interested in https://geminiprotocol.net/

A protocol “focused on reading” that doesn’t allow inline images in the document is completely unserious. Images predate text and are 100% essential in most forms of communication.

Yes that's exactly what we should be using. Totally agree.

What is the scrollwheel thing on the left side of some windows?

As I recall that changed the size of the (vector graphic) icons in the window.

Though it has been twenty-odd years since I last used an SGI box so open to correction!

Yes, it was essentially a "zoom" wheel.

"Surveillance Valley" is another excellent book about the tech industry's military roots.

FxTec Pro1 comes with an unlocked bootloader, and a slide-out keyboard for the true 2010 experience!

Also loosely related: Redbean is a webserver in a single-file that runs natively on six OSes for both AMD64 and ARM64

https://redbean.dev/