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Bruce Lawson

@brucel.bsky.social
4K followers 75 following 1.3K posts

Web standards a11y lovegod who leverages synergies at Vivaldi browser. More posts & conversation at @brucelawson@vivaldi.net. This is broadcast-only, as I've been disappointed by non-Fediverse platforms before. Musician. He/ him. Personal views. RT≠+1.

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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Your valiant boy about to head into the European commission to meet a Big Tech Gatekeeper about the insane request by European commie users to run software they choose on devices they own.
Me in front of a giant European commission building
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I'm in a hall with loads of stained glass windows and portraits of Lord mayors and worshipful aldermen of the city, surrounded by people who bill by the nanosecond.
A posh room
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I'm having a proper Churchillian breakfast, with mushrooms and lots of white pepper and Henderson's Relish, as soon I'm meeting His Majesty's Most Valiant Competition and Markets Authority about the Big Tech's dirty tricks.
Fried agg and mushrooms on toast.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Here you go! ntsusa.org/fan-victoria...
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
We need someone to take the lead
A sketch of The Leatherman and a demonic possum holding a balloon in front of a Lovecraftian landscape
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Actual footage of WeebPonk's ferocious treeshakers accepting our offerings
A sketch of two monstrous trees and some tiny humans
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Here's the speech from Chi Onwurah MP yesterday in the Commons introducing her Digital Twin Bill, to outlaw surveillance profiling of individuals hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026...
Among the many consequences of the 40 years of neoliberalism repeatedly called out by the Prime Minister is a libertarian attitude to technology. We are told that Governments are too slow and too stupid to shape tech, and that the market knows best—the market will ensure the best, most innovative products and services are delivered to the people who need them and keep them safe in the process. I hope that we can all agree now that neolibertarian complacency has not worked.

The tech giants are hubs of amazing innovation but, as my Committee has heard, they are controlled by a small number of extremely wealthy men without the usual corporate governance or competitive constraints. We need to limit their power with our democratic power to protect our citizens. What better way to do that than by giving people the power to control whether we are being copied by companies looking to make money out of us? There is only one you, Madam Deputy Speaker—we need to keep it that way.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Tomorrow in Parliament, Chi Onwurah MP will introduce a 10 minute Bill called the Personal Data (Digital Twin) Bill, to crack down on tech companies turning people into algorithms. It will also cover deepfakes and personal likeness. chionwurahmp.com/wp-content/u...
Tech platforms and AI chat bots make models of individuals based on hundreds or
thousands or millions of data points from friends to content likes to purchases to
streaming preferences.
These “digital twins” are then used to predict our behaviour, to target advertising
and, in some cases, to groom extreme behaviours in ways outside of our control.
This stealth twinning violates the fundamental principle that a person should have
control over their likeness, and enables vast revenue streams, the pseudo
humanisation of AI and the sycophantic nature of chatbots amongst other harms.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I'm enjoying the caption of an MP's comment as KKKermit (aka Nigel Farage) returned to the Commons after spaffing away taxpayer's money on a needless by-election.
Farage enters the Commons. Subtitle: "See you next time"
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
To punish Microsoft for its self-preferencing its own browser on Windows, I have signed an executive order renaming U2's guitarist to "The Vivaldi". Thank you for your attention to this matter.
A picture of U2's The Edge, with "The Vivaldi" written above it in Trump's handwriting, and his signature.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Oh, hello real Blink-based Chromium on my test iThing! I've been running it for a couple of hours and my credit card hasn't been maxxed out, ISIS haven't stolen my pancreas and my house hasn't burned down, despite it having 66% of the terrifying Fugu web app APIs, rather than Safari's 25%.
iOS screenshot showing Chromium iconScreenshot of "how fugu is my browser.dev" showing 66% of APIs supported on Chromium iOSScreenshot of "how fugu is my browser.dev" showing 25% of APIs supported on Safari iOS
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Multi-column layout that ensures columns never require scrolling (writing goes from col 1 to col 2, they always fit the vertical viewport). Very, very cool. @rachelandrew@front-end.social shows you how rachelandrew.co.uk/archives/202...
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Microsoft built a Windows app to install extensions in every installed browser to change the search to Bing. "Wait! don't change it back!" begs the extension. I've no love for Google search, but Clippy farting in the face of the user's wishes is outrageous. www.windowslatest.com/2026/08/22/m...
Change back to Google Search?
The "Microsoft Bing Homepage & Search for Chrome" extension changed search to use bing.com
Change it back
Keep it

Wait—don't change it back!
If you do, you'll turn off Microsoft Bing Homepage & Search for Chrome and lose access to Bing search and wallpapers
Select Keep it to continue searching with Microsoft Bing
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
My new conference speaker photo just dropped.
Me in front of a sign with the words "I'm just an extreme example of what a working man can achieve"
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Happy 90th birthday to Margaret Hamilton, who led the development of the on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo Guidance Computer. Here she is in 1969, standing next to listings of the Apollo guidance software she and her MIT team produced.
black and white photo of a woman standing next to a stack of paper taller than she is.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Today's Vivaldi desktop snapshot includes an indicator in the address bar if a website is an installable PWA. This is because we 💕 web apps. Sadly, the lovely button I personally crafted was vetoed by our design team in a jealous rage. vivaldi.com/blog/desktop...
screenshot of Vivaldi offering to install my own website's PWA
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I can't believe that this obvious front for money-laundering criminal lowlifes has been allowed to open on our High Street. And right next to a barber shop that gets used by young kids, too. Disc race.
A Reform UK HQ shopfront next to a barber/ wet shave shop.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
#Blessed
Google Workspace
You've been selected to try new AI features

For a limited time, your account is eligible to try AI features typically reserved for paid accounts*.

 

Try them today to help save time and boost creativity.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I see the that the Arschlochtruppen of a group calling themselves "White Vanguard" were demonstrating in a town near me over the weekend, wearing black shirts and niqab.
7 men wearing black, only one with face uncovered, standing behind a portly man in black who is mouth-farting at a group of pensioners.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
At @vivaldi.com we 😘 the Web, so making Web App installation more visible (on all platforms that don't think they own the machine that you paid for). I mocked up a design that I felt gives PWAs the prominence they deserve, and dev genius Filip loved it so much it's in an internal test build!
A dialogue thingie for installing a web app from URL bar, with a massive gradient green button, with a purple drop shadow, and "Install the Web App!!!!!! NOW!!!" in red text.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I had a day off so La Daughter could colour in the tattoo she gave me for Fathers Day. All done except for my hand (4 hours was long enough!).
 A tattoo from elbow to knuckles, showing a green face in profile, surrounded by colourful flowers. The hand is lines only.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Obvz.
Cover of Loveless by My bloody Valentine
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
The man that Farage calls "an important voice for men" has been arrested for rape, arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation and offences relating to indecent images of a child. www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ju...
Farage and Andrew tate posing together
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
To stop my my new test iPhone polluting my office with its anti-Web Walled Garden vibes, I'm storing it in a special tin decorated with portraits of @zeldman.bsky.social and @meyerweb.com, containing garlic, a Ganesh, a chakra-cleansing crystal, a lucky badge and a Turkish talisman.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I just tried to read an article on adweek.com. Fair play to them for eating their own dogfood, I suppose.
A screenshot showing a webpage completely obscured with ads.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Yup, totally avoided gloating in the video meeting
me drinking from a massive metal cup trophy, with a union jack flag behind me
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Kilian's post on my blog
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Krystal Hosting's bluesky bio reading "working to make the world a better place"
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
In Greek mythology, the self-adoring Narcissus was brought down by a reflecting pool.
A naked Trump lying staring at his own reflection in a pool, in the style of John William Waterhouse.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
“Safari. Blazing fast. Incredibly Private.” – O RLY!?!? Some Gmail spam from Apple made me test their claims. Is WebKit faster than real Blink-based Chromium on iOS? Is WebKit uniquely private and secure? brucelawson.co.uk/2026/safari-...
email from Apple. "Safari. Blazing fast. Incredibly private. Safari fights tracking with machine learning."
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Some more photos of Queens Heath Pride, the local non-commercial LGBTQ+ event yesterday. It was lovely to see such a broad range of people celebrating the day after the out-of-town fascists came and embarrassed themselves, especially in such a non-corporate, community environment.
A group of people - young, older, a woman in a wheelchair - are chatting on a closed street in the sunshineA group of young people wave to a friend; a young black child is being given a piggyback. A man is signing British Sign Language on stage.A woman sits in a pub, smiling, showing her t-shirt which reads "Babs against fascism"Some people in summer clothing chat and dance in front of a bright piece of wall art
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
I'm happy that when the fascists came to my city yesterday, they were hugely outnumbered by counter-protesters, and lots of the knuckle-draggers skulked off home posting weepily about how local pubs and shops refused to serve them. Well played, Birmingham.
Placards lined up against a wall: "Woman against the far right", " More Blacks, More Dogs, More Irish", "Stop the yachts", "Birmingham says no to fascism" and "Fascists do not speak for me"
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
I had a great time as the MC for @pixelpioneers.co conference in Bristol yesterday, culminating in being invited onstage with @letorey.co.uk to wear owl masks and perform an interpretive dance to music that @heydonworks.com was making live using Web Components.
Me and Dave onstage wearing owl masks while Heydon does a banging Web Components
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Some #cssday photos: @ohhelloana.blog and me, with @meyerweb.com ; a feral crowd of Dutch CSS enthusiasts; @rgadellaa.bsky.social from OWA and me; 4 rival browser chums: @nomster.bsky.social from Chrome, @jakearchibald.com from Firefox, me, and glamorous @patrickbrosset.com from the Edge.
Ana and me, with Eric Meyer photocrashingFeral crowd of Dutch CSS enthusiastsRoderik from OWA and me4 browser reps, hugging.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
UK gov has been pimping "SafeToNet", a proprietary AI that lives on kids' phones and detects nude selfies and stops them sexting. The splendid @heatherburnstech.bsky.social noticed that this app was hailed by well-known protector of young girls, ex-Prince Andrew. heatherburns.tech/2026/02/20/t...
Daily Mail headline from 2019: Prince Andrew hails the power of women in industry as his Pitch@Palace project to encourage entrepreneurs celebrates its
fifth anniversary
• SafeToNet, designed by mother-of-four Sharon Pursey, 51, stops teens 'sexting'
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
I'm knackered after getting back to Lawson Towers in the early hours after a day synergizin' with the Glitterati in Brussels. I was invited to attend KushFest, organised by Mozilla, for panel discussions and an insight into the future of Big Tech regulation in UK, EU, Brazil and Japan.
Me, being beaten up by Lewis and Dawn, some feral competition lawyers from Guarriges.Some serious people from UK, Brazil, Japan regulators, on a serious panel.Kush Amlani, Mozilla's Director, Global Competition and Regulation, and the star of KushFest making his mum proud by wearing a suit.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
I'm off to sunny Brussels later for some envelope-pushin' bluesky-synergizin' with like-minded orgs who want to stop Big Tech drowning European tech in Silicon Valley slopbuckets. So naturally I have a commemorative t-shirt.
A superlatively glamorous middle-aged man looking breathtakingly gorgeous in a t-shirt that has the words "maliciously compliant" in a typewriter font.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
and it can import from Arc
Vivaldi onboarding screen, with options to import from Safari, Chrome, Brave, Edge, Arc and Firefox
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
All Chromium browsers are the same? O RLY ?!?!? Take a look at Google and Vivaldi's roadmaps.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Hmm, seems like it's directly on the Tools menu now. (I don't often do web dev these days so don't know when that changed)
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
"Society as we know it is at risk". Well, I just hope all you leftie eco "Wimmin" are blummin proud of yourselves.
Headline in The Telegraph: "Forget the manosphere. It’s angry Leftie women we need to worry about. Radicalised by the likes of Greta Thunberg, young females are spurning marriage and capitalism – society as we know it is at risk"
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
To celebrate this wondrous news that Google will turn its search into a walled garden sparkling autocomplete, trained on every one else's content, I'm wearing my best tech t-shirt.
Me, with my back to camera, wearing a t-shirt reading "Big Tech? Big No!"
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Oh, I just assumed you had a pet triceratops, because all cool and groovy people do. Here's me with Mr Chuckles.
me with hands outstretched, holding a pet triceratops
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Attention! The Telegraph reports that "Sex-crazed nudists are running wild". This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill.
Screenshot : The Telegraph. "Charles Moore
Sex-crazed nudists are running wild and the authorities decline to act A swinger's dream has become a villager's nightmare
in the tiny East Sussex village of Whatlington"
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
As luck would have it, on the platform for my train home from London I bumped into the disgraced ex-ambassador to Washington, Peter Madalorianson.
Me with cardboard cutout of star wars character
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
I'm in the European Parliament to argue that achieving European tech sovereignty requires enforcing the law against Big Tech taking the piss.
Me in front of a futuristic circular building
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
La Daughter painted me as a doctor, healing Winston Churchill's nasty haemorrhoids with HTML5 reiki. Limited edition autographed prints will be available for purchase very soon.
as mock-up of terrible AI Trump-posted art. Me as a Jesus-like figure laying my hands on the head of a sleeping Winston Churchill, surrounded by George Formby playing his ukulele, frida Kahlo and Hattie Jaques from 'Carry on Matron'. In the background is a stylised cityscape of Birmingham. In the sky is a celestial shining HTML5 logo, and 3 angry birds are flying.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Hérisson Ford.
Indiana Jones, fording a stream, but he's a hedgehog.
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Bruce Lawson @brucel.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
George Hérisson
The Beatles, except George Harrison is replaced by a hedgehog (with a trademark Beatles fringe)
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