New by me: A look into UK orgs outsourcing critical business and cyber functions to low cost providers and the fall out. I'll probably get in trouble for writing this one. doublepulsar.com/the-elephant...

@blowdart.me I think we should update .NET's envvar naming guidelines.

✈️ Thinking about holiday travel? Make sure your passport is ready! If you live in WA-01, join us in Mill Creek on Oct. 16 for a passport application event. Register below to renew or apply for a passport at the event. bit.ly/46gI5w1

the actual advances in new iPhone models are often about security (everyone is always trying to make memory allocation more secure and less of an attack surface because memory reuse/corruption attacks are key to a lot of exploits)

I’m picky about my dev workflow, so adopting new tools takes time. But I’ve used git worktrees exclusively for the past year and have loved it. 🌟 They’ve been game-changing as my engineering impact/scope has grown. More details on my setup: blog.safia.rocks/2025/09/03/g...

Most software tort proposals in the U.S. focus on defining a standard of care for developers, writes @csetgeorgetown.bsky.social's Micah Musser. But what happens after a finding of liability?

Ethics, social studies, and history should all be mandatory learning. "But I'm an engineer" or "but I'm a scientist," they'll say, " those are humanities subjects "... Yes, that is literally the point. Everything you do affects humanity, and that impact needs to be understood by everyone involved.

A Computer Can Never Be Held Accountable Therefore A Computer Must Always Make Every Management Decision So You Can Say “Don’t Blame Me, Take It Up With Executron The All-Knowing”

Interesting post that also touches on some issues we've had when trying to use LLMs to TM components. The big sticking point IMO: a threat model requires as input what you *intended* the component to do, but an LLM can only see what you *actually implemented*. This gap leads to false confidence.

I will caveat that "I didn't mean for this to happen" can be an absolving thing, but only when there's no reasonable way to know that "this" would follow from one's action or lack thereof, and that was manifestly not the case here. It's like the legal distinction btwn intent and gross negligence.

The Decima engine really is gorgeous.

"an entirely new version of the Siri voice assistant that can inject itself into conversations between multiple people. ... It could interrupt a conversation between friends about dinner plans, say, and suggest nearby restaurants..." No. No no no no no no. I keep my devices silent for a reason.

We still doing cancelable opinions? My turn. Tech company statements "we're democratizing <thing>" are bullshit. It's actively harmful because it delegitimizes expertise and papers over nuance. This in fact *undermines* an informed democracy. Stick with the less sexy "we're commoditizing <thing>".

let’s goooooo @elections.kingcounty.gov

Honest answer: Almost all 2FA deployed at scale shares one of the fundamental sins of passwords: being phishable. That is, a convincing but fake website can trick someone into giving away a 2FA code. What passkeys do is replace broken, phishable passwords with something that's always strong.

Oh, goodie! Wonder when we can expect windbg support?

There have been many attempts to farm out content moderation to AI that have been...not great. So I'm interested in this thread about Zentropi at TrustCon.

Obligatory classic:

Come take my money!

Seattle-area friends, friendly reminder that elections are coming up next week, and you can even get text alerts to track your ballot through the return & verification process! kingcounty.gov/elections

Jen Easterly writes a post on LinkedIn addressing her position at West Point being rescinded: "A casualty of casually manufactured outrage that drowned out the quiet labor of truth and the steady pulse of integrity." www.linkedin.com/pulse/harder...

Really great @caitjgibson.bsky.social profile of Ms. Rachel:

Windows Enclaves gain a useful primitive

Redmond / Woodinville / Bothell looking good today from the trail! (photo set 1 of 2)

J'ai arrivée chez @blowdart.me.

If you would like to laugh about incurable diseases and cry about a van, watch this incredible TEDx talk about technology by @scott.hanselman.com

Recent Edge update broke your omnibox search experience? Instructions for fixing it -->

Marvelously done, everybody involved with the decision to platform Musk at Microsoft's recent build conference. Really a strong demonstration of our ironclad commitment to high corporate values and ethical standards. 🙄

I am spending the day listening to audio recordings of my own voice. This is hell. I am in hell.

My fellow MSFTies! The Giving portal has a campaign running to collect donations to benefit Texas natural disaster relief efforts. Direct link: microsoft.benevity.org/campaigns/89...

Old 'n busted: case law New hotness: case slaw

I keep saying how strange it feels to talk to US tech folks about technology as if nothing else was going on, when so much is going on; that notion that technology can be apolitical is only ever a sign of privelige and politics is coming for technology. layoffs will be part of the changing landscape

"A failure to uplift the humanities, not just as critical underpinning for STEM research and technologies, but as essential to every feature of the research enterprise, has been part and parcel of this catastrophe." Wise words today from my friend @kawulf.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/2znzw5bd

Ran into an interesting implication today while reviewing a largely LLM-authored risk assessment doc. Something of an extension to the whole "you must check output for accuracy" motto. The model had a section on risks and mitigations, and one line said essentially "<action> leads to <outcome>." 1/

And to check if the project has passed a security audit and to check how healthy the community is and how often bugs get patched. You don't want it to be free as in mattress

Interesting article about how adversaries are compromising ubiquitous, poorly secured consumer cameras to gain wartime intelligence on their adversaries, including mapping out potential targets and recording troop movement. Gift link.

so off that Supreme Court decision, we offer you a guide on how to advocate for trans rights in your community:

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? With almost no exceptions, every single cybersecurity breach occurs via mechanisms the technology industry knows how to fully and robust defend against, but didn't

time for this again from @onthemedia.bsky.social

Okay, let’s go through all the changes that Trump’s new cyber EO (www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...) makes to Biden’s January 15 cyber EO (bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-roo...) ...

I had this wonderful rant brewing about the sloppy state of software engineering in the Year of Our Lord 2025. Alas, back to the drawing board because it [quite amusingly] comes across as an anti-AI screed, even though it has nothing whatsoever - zip, nada - to do with AI. Time to brew a new rant!

An insignificant anecdote, but all this recent talk of blue books reminds me of when I switched my handwriting to small caps in college. The profs had *very* mixed feelings on this. Some called it unprofessional. Others thanked me for showing consideration for legibility.

Been wearing my @doom.com The Bark Ages shirt with @xboxp3.bsky.social and others around the office helping support multiple humane society charities. They are back for those who asked for two weeks only! news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/0...

Seattle and beyond just got a little closer. 🚊

ICYMI Microsoft just announced Agent ID at Build today. Now a single place to start managing access controls for the agents in your organization! This is just the start folks 🦾

.NET 10 has made good progress on this front in preview 4 for Linux. More coming for Linux and Windows soon!

I am genuinely stunlocked that they brought him into this conf. Just shows a complete misunderstanding of who MSFT customers are. The largest geographical share of MSFT dev tools are in Europe, where most of that world runs on .NET. He is *hated* over there now, and for good reason.

At 8:32 a.m. on May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens captured the world’s attention as it erupted with a force that changed the landscape of the Pacific Northwest. On this 45th anniversary, we at PNSN acknowledge the impact this event had on geoscience and our understanding of volcanoes.

Redmond extends its reach. Today, Bellevue. Tomorrow -- well, still just Bellevue. But ~8 months from now, Seattle and beyond! 🦦