Eek!

Similar memories here. The first time I went on IRC using a Palm Pilot connected to a Ricochet modem, while in a moving vehicle (not driving!) felt like magic.

All valid points.

However, the actual capabilities of the AIs might not matter with respect to job displacement, since the people making the hiring decisions are absorbing the marketing hype but not using the tools.

Even if folks are still hired, they might experience second order effects like increased job stress and burnout: https://fortune.com/2026/02/10/ai-future-of-work-white-collar-employees-technology-productivity-burnout-research-uc-berkeley/

I’m rather glad that I’m reaching the end of my career and not trying to break into the market as a junior software engineer.

Indeed, it’s amazing how much stuff was / is out there in the open.

Hobbyist use of unencrypted protocols like telnet can be very educational, and the other commenter is right that not everything needs to be encrypted, especially within the confines of a homelab, for instance.

My support for ending telnet use is much more about things like IoT systems, industrial hardware and so on talking in the clear and being vulnerable to compromise.

This isn’t about telnet, per se, but is a good example of the problem: https://news.satnews.com/2026/02/04/russia-intercepts-europes-key-satellites-placing-nato-satellite-at-risk/

LodeMike, I’m curious about something. What’s the latest set of AI models and tools you’ve used personally? Have you used Opus 4.5 or 4.6, for instance?

I am not disagreeing with the points you’ve made, but it’s been my experience that the increase in capabilities over the last six months has been so rapid that it’s hard to realistically evaluate what the current frontier models are capable of unless you’ve uused them meaningfully and with some frequency.

I’d welcome your perspective.

Good point. I was referring more to telnetd as an unencrypted client-server protocol, typically to port 23. Often unauthenticated, ripe for MITM attacks.

That needs to end.

I share the author’s nostalgia for Telnet, as a kid who spent many lost hours trying to telnet into “interesting things” at the dawn of the internet. It is, however, long past time for the protocol to die and force ancient and insecure things to be retired. Thus might just do it.

Thanks for the clickbait headline. TL;DR - “custom firmware project resurrects the Nokia N8, transforming it from a drawer-dwelling relic into a functional device.”

Ars Technica had an interesting perspective recently on iOS 18 vs. 26 update adoption – https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/are-people-avoiding-ios-26-because-of-liquid-glass-its-complicated/ . It’s a bit of a statistical muddle.

Very unfortunate that Apple has consigned those of us that have devices theoretically capable of running iOS 26 to 18.7.2 . Since iOS 12 is still being patched, perhaps I should fire up one of my old phones and pick up security updates that way, versus subjecting myself to 26.

De-clickbait - as a stain for biological samples used in electron microscopy.

Ah, righto. That was an old rule in many subreddits. Seems to vary a bit by Lemmy community, though. I just cringe at clickbait!

A friendly request - please de-clickbait your headlines and say what the material is (although you do mention it in your summary).

That was a rule in some subreddits. I’ve found that, on Lemmy, de-clickbaiting headlines is generally appreciated.

That just reduces, rather than disabling the effect completely, correct?

When they add a real off switch for Liquid Glass, I’ll upgrade to iOS 26. Until then, 18.7.1 and my trusty 14 Pro Max will sustain me.

Downvoted for:

• Clickbaity headline.
• Annoying YouTube thumbnail face.

One of the fallacies of the EU anti-charger legislation is that the buyer may well have multiple USB-C chargers, but not have one which fulfills the charging requirements of the device (USB-C power delivery is a complicated thicket of wattages and capabilities as this PC World article notes: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2331534/the-bewildering-world-of-usb-c-charging-explained.html ).

The 96W charger shown is at the higher end of USB-C’s power delivery profiles, which further lessens the chance that a user will have an optimal charger on hand.

One can still write to them, of course (the two execs you referenced are <lastname>@apple.com). I wrote to Federighi about the badly redesigned photos app in iOS 18. There was no response, but they fixed a few things in iOS 26, so I like to think my feedback made a small difference.

Software development, equities trading and customer support according to the article.

Well put. I confess that my hot take was based on skimming the title of the article, and as you note, their vision is even more dystopian. Fire the pixels onto the screen and forget about them, I say!