chrsstrm

From the article:

"Since returning to office, Trump has marveled at AI’s capabilities. He is increasingly in thrall to the tech executives courting him. In December 2025, Elon Musk returned to the Oval Office for a clandestine meeting. Trump spent hours asking Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, questions about his presidency and legacy, according to an official present. At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes against Venezuelan boats he alleged were smuggling drugs into the U.S. He asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Maduro. According to the official present, the chatbot responded that Maduro was a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. After Trump ordered the mission to seize Maduro, the following month, celebrations broke out in the streets. Trump, according to officials, came away thinking Grok was ingenious."

In 2026, having my credit card number compromised is the least of my worries. At least here there is an established process for denying charges and ordering a new card. As long as you're not using a debit card, this is not a big deal.

Unfortunately there are no FAQs here as I’d like to know who has the authority to give permission to a contractor to alter the airspace above your property at cloud height. This seems legally sticky.

"The app does not know that you are taking a screenshot, rather iOS knows you are taking a screenshot (as it must) and is excluding an element on display that has been designated by the developer as sensitive information. This is the same technology that prevents you from accidentally screenshotting your password manager"

And that is reasonable, but it is also a surface where an app touches the OS, which should be a permission boundary that I can control. Allowing the option to opt-out of screenshot blocking with a proper double-confirm warning and biometric auth is also reasonable.

What are you talking about? Are you saying 80% of my loyal visitors aren’t from Singapore?

/s

This directive was issued in January of this year, what is relevance of being posted today?

I love all the instances where it says, we will not do this or infringe in this way... unless it is a matter of national security, which we don't have to disclose to you. So basically, do what you want as long as you write it up properly.

And this part: 5.3 Review and Handling of Passcode-Protected or Encrypted Information 5.3.1 Travelers are obligated to present electronic devices and the information contained therein in a condition that allows inspection of the device and its contents. If presented with an electronic device that is protected by a passcode, encryption, or other security mechanism, an officer may request the individual's assistance in presenting the electronic device and the information contained therein in a condition that allows inspection of the device and its contents. Passcodes or other means of access may be requested and maintained for the duration of the search if needed to facilitate the examination of an electronic device or information contained on an electronic device, including information on the device that is accessible through software applications present on the device that is being inspected or has been detained, seized, or retained in accordance with this Directive.

I had thought (and Supreme Court ruled) you could not be compelled to unlock an encrypted device, which is why I always powered mined down before crossing. That goes against the obligated to present devices in a condition that allows inspection portion.

The number is not associated with your account, it is just used to verify legit account creations. Retroactively nuking an account due to using a "banned" phone for account creation verification would be wild and not in Google's best interests.

I'm constantly spinning up new accounts for clients and I've used my number on way more than 4 accounts, so maybe it is on a rolling basis over some time period?

You can reach a point where the phone number you used for 2FA has been "used too many times" and then you're stuck in the middle of registration. There doesn't seem to be any documented limit anywhere and the only solution people have been able to use is find someone else to help you verify with their phone number. What makes this more difficult is when you get logged out of one of your accounts, they ask for a phone number for 2FA to login, you provide the same phone number you used originally (even though it is not officially associated with your account, just to verify registration), but that fails because your number has apparently been used too often. So now you can't even log in to your valid account that already exists. Sure, should have added some other form of 2FA or a passkey to the account, but why can't I verify with the same number I used originally? And just to top things off, you can't use your Google Voice number for 2FA account verification when signing up for another Google service.

  >> I have wasted a significant chunk of my life counting out small numbers of parts into bags and posting them to people.    

So, small parts like this are always counted by weight, and I'm wondering why you would spend so much time on a counting solution when "buy a scale" is right there.

I’m building an app that facilitates discovery and eases payments for roadside stands that sell produce, honey, maple syrup, eggs, firewood, crafts, etc. The concept is that any roadside vendor can sign up for free (forever, no add-ons or upsells) and they have an online home for their home business. The vendor can list up to 3 stands and show off the products they sell in each stand. Users can discover stands near them by list, search, or map, view the vendor and stand details, ratings, payment methods accepted, etc. When arriving at a stand the user can scan a QR code which opens a web cart, allowing them to add products they are going to purchase and then “check out” using one of the vendor’s stated payment methods like Venmo, CashApp, PayPal, Apple Cash, Zelle, or good old hard currency. We make these payments easier by standardizing the check out experience but we do not facilitate payments at all - these stands have always been and will continue to be self-serve on the honor system. Once you’ve paid, you get a receipt and take your goods. The vendor gets an alert that a sale intent was started and by which method so they know where to look for their revenue. In the future we may help with some basic reporting and very light inventory management if vendors ask for it. We allow users to alert the vendor if a stand is out of stock, which is also reflected in search so other users are informed as well. Users can then ask to receive re-stock alerts as the vendor restocks. Then of course users can favorite stands and products, share them, rate them, and create shareable collections of stands they curate (The Honey Trail or Summer Sweet Corn All-Stars, etc.). Eventually we will be adapted for events like farmer’s markets, craft fairs, and christmas markets. I built this because I am a maple syrup producer (tapping starts in a few short weeks from now) and I’m starting to get into mass sales of my syrup. I felt like people who produce and sell these products put a lot of hard work into the process and deserve a legit discovery tool as well as a basic stand management system that does not make them change their process or get in their way. An app like this costs basically nothing to run and I will ensure it is free to use as long as I am in charge. I’m testing this week and likely soft-launching in the next couple weeks - the goal is to be online around March 1. It was just going to be web-only (Supabase with a Svelte front end) but after Claude put me in timeout last week I tried Antigravity and now have 80% of an iOS app and will scaffold my Android app in the next month - so native apps will follow a web release pretty quickly.

It's easy to see the word Waymo and think clanker autonomous car, but there are very often people inside that car - they are a rideshare service after all. Calling endangering other humans "legitimate" because you dislike the taxi company is not a good look.