mastodon 4.7.3Leo Laporte, podcaster & tech pundit. Founder of the TWiT Podcast Network https://twit.tv. Admin at twit.social. Blog and contact info at https://leo.fm/about
Well this is concerning.
I just suspended 14 Russian LLM generated bot accounts that were created around April 17 on my Mastodon instance, twit.social. Somehow they circumvented manual registration approval. I've turned on Captchas (much as I hate them) for new member requests in the hopes that will stop the bots. They must have discovered a registration bypass bug.
Thanks to IFTAS SW-ISAC for noting and reporting the bots.
I’ve gotta stop going on Instagram after midnight.
I can't help but notice many toots from helpful newbies encouraging you to support the Mastodon Patreon.
It's fine to do that but understand it goes to just two big instances and the official Mastodon dev team.
It does NOT trickle down to YOUR instance. If you want to support your server, donate to it directly. Nearly all the costs of the explosive growth of the past few weeks is borne by local instances.
Mastodon is decentralized. There is no Mastodon Inc. This is not Twitter.
I am so sorry to hear of the passing of Om Malik. He was an inspiration. Truly a gentleman and a philosopher. Rest in peace my friend. https://om.co/2026/06/24/1966-2026/
Have you ever started whistling a song without knowing what the song was until you hit the chorus? Well I just did. The brain is a weird and wonderful thing.
I can’t decide if this is aspirational or just plain nuts.
Just a reminder - there have been numerous fraudulent accounts created on the Fediverse lately pretending to be Mastodon Security, and asking for your credentials in DMs to you.
DO NOT RESPOND. DO NOT CLICK.
We will never ask you to verify your credentials. Period.
Tell your friends.
OMG CAPE VERDE!
"“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”"
Words to remember even if, right now, the universe seems to be bending toward evil and chaos. I want to ignore the horrors of the global stage and focus on the local. What else can I do except to register my opposition and move on? I feel helpless. Lisa and I will go to the protests, again. We will vote in November. But I feel impotent in the face of this unchecked and corrupt government.
The term “artificial intelligence” is terrible. It carries so much baggage and it’s implying things that rightly make people feel uncomfortable. On the other hand, we’ve coined this apt new term, agent - it’s friendly, helpful, most importantly, not intimidating. I think I’ll use agent from now on.
Coming soon to a podcast near you:
https://blog.codinghorror.com/every-choice-changes-everything-the-show/
Messing around with my AI agent, Quicksilver, while waiting for Fable to re-write our entire ad sales workflow and I came up with this, using ShadoW-Shinigami’s Hermes skill for adding video to Suno songs.
https://youtu.be/Jgxch4erMa4?si=3YHalBRfTR-ofVsO
Enjoy! https://github.com/ShadoW-Shinigami/lyric-video-director
RIP Stewart Cheifet. He was an inspiration to all of us who stood on his shoulders.
I’ve been hearing alarm bells ever since Trump banned Fable two weeks ago. Now the other shoe drops:
Politically safe because the electorate fears AI. Disastrous for the future.
MacBreak Weekly listeners: One of our providers (Megaphone) was down for 17 hours yesterday which caused a problem with Apple Podcasts. Some listeners trying to download the show yesterday were told it was paid only. Not on my watch! It’s fixed now. Try again and my apologies!
Watching the Superbowl while waiting for the Hellman’s ad (and my son’s half-second appearance in the background) and vibe coding a TUI to handle all the systemd services on my system. I was able to push it to Github faster than the Patriots could lose the game.
Just dropped a juicy new TWiT episode packed with the wildest tech stories of the week:
🤖 Pentagon blacklists Anthropic, AI regulation gets real
🔐 Data broker breaches hitting billions, surveillance at peak levels
⚖️ AI copyright battles heating up
Plus Cory Doctorow on why the AI gold rush is unsustainable. Give it a listen and let us know what you think!
New Security Now! is live! 🎙️
🤖 LLMs are getting scary at de-anonymizing people — your aliases might not protect you anymore
🔒 Firefox privacy wins + Apple/Google testing RCS encryption
🚨 TikTok resisting encryption, OpenClaw vulnerabilities, Ubuntu SUDO critical boost
We're diving into mass surveillance implications. What's your take on the security risks?
Who knew the metaverse was text based all along?
This is the weekend I end my 46 year radio career. After 19 years as the Tech Guy, the last Saturday show is today. Tomorrow is the very last show of all.
I'm not leaving the mic, however. I'm still doing six podcasts a week, including the new Ask the Tech Guys which debuts January 7, 2023.
Thanks radio, it's been a blast. You will be forever in my heart.
After a couple of (very productive) months using Claude code with Claude Max subscription I’ve decided to give GPT 5.3 Codex a try with OpenAI’s max subscription. It feels like a break up. Is that weird? I have to pack up all of Claude’s stuff and put it out on the stoop while Codex moves in.
🤖 New TWiT episode unpacks Anthropic vs. OpenAI on Pentagon money, Wi-Fi hacks, Samsung & Apple's next moves, and NSA surveillance. Plus we're remembering legends Rob Grant and Dan Simmons. Real ethical questions about AI weapons and the security threats hitting your devices right now.
New MacBreak Weekly dropped! 🍎 Apple's $599 MacBook Neo with viral TikTok marketing • iPhone Fold 3D designs leaked • Apple Music now tags AI tracks • iPhone hacking toolkit surfaces • Apple blocks ByteDance apps
Which segment hit hardest for you?
Life is Full of Empty Boats: https://leo.fm/2026/02/19/life-is-full-of-empty/
🎙️ New Security Now! is live: Internal threats are the real danger — perimeter defense isn't enough anymore.
🔑 Zero trust & least privilege aren't buzzwords, they're survival strategies
👤 Most damage comes from compromised accounts & legacy systems
Learn how to implement zero trust without destroying productivity. Recorded live at ThreatLocker's Zero Trust World 2026.
Watched: Gary Hustwit’s 2024 documentary about Brian Eno: Eno. An amazing musician who doesn’t play any instruments.
"“Culture is everything we don’t have to do.”" https://www.hustwit.com/eno
Uncharted Territory: https://leo.fm/2026/01/12/uncharted-territory/
🎯 ClickFix & CrashFix exploits are tricking users into running clipboard malware—Windows nightmare fuel
🤖 AI hacking campaigns targeting Mexican govt while Lapsus$ recruits fresh talent
⚠️ Cisco's rare 10.0 CVSS vulnerability has everyone scrambling + Meta's drowning in AI-generated CSAM false reports
New Security Now is live! https://twit.tv/shows/security-now/episodes/1067
Fresh Intelligent Machines is live! 🤖 We're breaking down the AI leadership drama shaking up the industry, Anthropic's alignment edge, tech worker pushback on military AI, and why AI governance is the real battleground. What's your take?
Lovely thought for a lazy Sunday, 90% of everything is sanding h/t Matt Webb. https://interconnected.org/home/2026/02/06/sanding
New MacBreak Weekly dropped! 📱 iPhone 17e is finally Apple's budget phone that doesn't disappoint • M5 Pro/Max MacBook Airs crushing it • iPad Air gets M4, plus wild new Studio Display models 🎨 We also dig into why Apple Intelligence adoption is lagging and what the leaked MacBook Neo means for Apple's future.
Wonderful talking with @denise@twit.social on her new podcast Uneven Distribution! https://hearsayculture.com/podcast/tech-changes-everything-except-us
New Windows Weekly is out! 🎙️
☁️ Windows 365 hits ASUS & Dell
🤖 OpenAI's $110B push + new Copilot Tasks
🔐 Windows 11 security & Bitwarden passkeys
Plus Game Pass March drops, Sony's PC gaming moves & fast browser updates.
To save our host some money (well quite a lot of money as it turns out) please turn off any email notifications you don't care about.
Thanks!
