iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Probably due to the hardware supply chain issues, they'll allow people to buy "cloud credit" and be able to play without a game pass (née Xbox live) subscription. That will allow xbox one owners to buy a series X/S game and play on their xbox one?

Heading: Cloud Gaming Without a Game Pass Subscription
Body:
Also beginning in November, players will have a new way to use XBOX cloud gaming without subscribing to Game Pass.

Players will be able to purchase cloud playtime hours through the XBOX Store and stream eligible games they own on supported devices. This will provide another option for people who want occasional access to cloud gaming or do not want a recurring Game Pass subscription.

Cloud gaming can also give XBOX One owners access to eligible games built for XBOX Series X|S without requiring an immediate hardware upgrade. This feature can be particularly useful in markets where consoles are less available or affordable. We’ll continue adding cloud support for more games throughout the year.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

At first, I thought Xbox can't afford cloud gaming anymore for their high end users, though the details on the site looks like they're allowing the lower tiers to be able to do cloud gaming, now. Still, limiting the ultimate tier shows that they're really hurting in operations and/or hardware costs

A message from Xbox via their platform-- though I have to say that the account name reading as "Xbox" and the message using "XBOX" is annoying to me...

Body:

Beginning in November, XBOX Game Pass subscriptions will move to a set number of cloud hours each month, based on your plan. For more information, including a breakdown of monthly cloud playtime, select below

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The bundle comes with Moho Pro 12, so after the credit it would be ~$225.

Various upgrade paths to Moho Pro 14, taken from their site https://moho.lostmarble.com/pages/buy#upgrade . The Humble bundle comes with a full key for Pro 12. The upgrade path for that reads:

"UPGRADE FOR ONLY $349.99 - Upgrade to Moho Pro 14 and Get the Latest Moho Pro Features!"

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

@adobe.com illustrator must not be shortened to a/i. I'm reading the @humblebundle.com entry for @mohoanimation.bsky.social #MohoPro and the product art screams "no gen ai," but the humble description states it has "full AI and SVG compatibility." It took me a while to understand what they meant.

Image of the site text, which has "features full AI and SVG compatibility" highlighted by me.

Full Text:
Header: Elite animations for professionals and digital artists

Body:
Animate like a pro—MOHO Pro 12.5 offers powerful rigging tools or 2D projects, assistance on frame-by-frame animation, dynamic particles and physics effects, and so much more! Optimized for a variety of animation styles, this collection features full AI and SVG compatibility and improved drawing tools that transform your beautiful ideas into meaningful contributions to your projects. Don’t wait, Humble members who purchase this bundle receive a $125 credit towards an upgrade to MOHO Pro 14! Pay what you want for amazing creation tools, and help support Child’s Play Charity with your purchase!

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

UI in general (cont.) Some filters are completely off. Most tuning filters work (e.g., from the main screen shown), but if I go into Drop C for guitar, it shows me songs defaulted to a Standard E tuning-- usually a chord chart that I don't want. Or on bass, "Drop A" takes me to "B Standard" (vid)

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Did the #HBOIntern get a job at zillow? Look at all these emails. They can track my customer journey straight to unsubscribe if this was expected lol

8 emails from zillow in ~45 minutes. Looks like they iterated over a blog and sent me one email per post.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Spend $50 at Sam's Club to get free shipping and they still send it in separate boxes lol How much did it cost to ship $9 of tuna when it's almost 4 pounds

A ten-pack of starkist tuna, the only thing shipped in a tiny box.

The shrinkwrap was sliced through, so it looks mangled, too.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Why does #YouTube hate @bsky.app I clicked a channel's social link. What do they think this is, Twitter?!

Screenshot of a redirect browser page with a warning:

Red text in header: "⚠️ Be careful! This site may be harmful."

Normal looking great text body;for some reason they choose to center it like the heading:

"The site you are trying to visit (bsky.app) may include malware, phishing attempts, or disturbing content."

With a big, blue "BACK TO SAFETY" button and tiny gray text for "GO TO SITE" (still all caps for some reason).

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

LoOk WhAt Ai CaN dO We'Re So EfFiCiEnT, nOw

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

From Veronica Mars, season 2 episode 22. Her dad asks, "are you all packed?" [for the trip to New York). She responds as if visiting in the future lol: "Vagabond shoes and all" (continued in images) (Stupid Netflix for not allowing screen captures.)

(Netflix allowed me to capture the captions, but not the stills)

Veronica: And pepper spray,

For if we run into that trump character.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Lol, having to call out "public facing" vs "voices of" for milli vanilli performing at the fReEdOm FeSt 250 or whatever is hilarious. www.bbc.com/news/article...

From bbc article:

"One half of Milli Vanilli's public-facing duo, Fab Morvan, said he will also perform as scheduled. The voices behind Milli Vanilli's music said in a statement on X that they will not be performing."

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

They made the @xbox.com app logo look like garbage

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

F*&$ no. There are going to be so many dead companies after this bubble; there isn't enough liability insurance to go around.

screenshot of a job description.

"Want to be part of a company that leverages AI to cloud verify someone's identity?"

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

I don't think these people understand what "ai agents" do...

Excerpt from a job description, where the company has a heading for "Our 2026 Engineering operating principles" and includes a bullet point with:

"Efficiency — every tool at our disposal, from AI agents to scripts, to make work repeatable."

And I highlighted "ai agents" and "to make work repeatable", which is not a thing.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Trying to use the "Focus" feature built into Windows 11? WTF does it need an update? #MicroSlop This stuff should just work without needing an update. At the very least, ask me if I want to update; if I say no, then it should still work...

Clicking "Focus" on the Win11 calendar popped up a window that says "Clock needs an update. We are getting the update ready for you..." with an egg timer and some fake progress animations.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

It's been a while, but this is kind of what I was thinking _could_ happen, if you get deep in inheritance. If you have a child class inherit a parent with no override, and the parent has the interface but the child does not, the default interface value is used. andrewlock.net/understandin...

pre-code title: OK, a quick puzzle., what does this program print?

C# Code:

using System;

// 👇 casting to IShape
IShape shape = new Square();
Console.WriteLine(shape.GetName()); // 👈 What does this print?

public interface IShape
{
string GetName() => "IShape"; // Default implementation
}

public class Rectangle : IShape
{
}

public class Square : Rectangle
{
public string GetName() => "Square"; // Specific implementation
}

The fix in this scenario is to explicitly have the child class implement the IShape interface.

Code:
// Expicitly implement the interface 👇
public class Square : Rectangle, IShape
{
public string GetName() => "Square"; // This now overrides the default implementation
}

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Let me save you some money and time #TrevorProject; this is not possible. Not sure who owns this handle: @trevorproject.bsky.social

A job responsibility got one of their open roles:

Identify opportunities to integrate non-biased, secure, and ethical LLM/GenAI technologies into the contact center.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

this is the worst modal i've ever seen in my life. #WebDesign #UX

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I can't tell if they want two different things here, or if they want enthusiasm for a/i. Either way, that's a no.

requirements on a job post: "AI proficiency & enthusiasm."

They come at the end of a list of other requirements, so either someone left out the oxford comma or left out the "and" before "AI Proficiency", only required for clarity.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Breaking news: shoe company who couldn't turn a profit now pivoting to ai, where no profits have been made

All birds Inc. (NASDAQ:BIRD)

Allbirds saw a remarkable increase of 582.33%, closing at $16.99. The stick reached an intraday high of $24.31 and a low of $6.11, with a 52-week range between $24.31 and $2.15. In the after-hours trading, the stock fell 24.66% to $12.80.

The company's pivot from sneakers to AI, branded as "NewBird AI," has captivated investors. This transition involves selling its footwear assets for $39 million and investing in AI infrastructure with a $50 million financing facility.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Truncation is always a mistake lol

Fidelity sent me an email. Gmail truncates it.

Subject: "Navigating market volatility like an anal..."

LIKE A WHAT, FIDELITY

Full subject after opening the email:

"Navigating market volatility like an analyst".

So 3 chars of "..." Could have been "yst"... (I know there's a Unicode ellipsis, but it looks like 3 chars)

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

The @microsoft.com careers page "create an account" doesn't do anything. I'd expect to be able to sign up without OAuth.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

#KwikTrip your bananas suck. This looks like the butter left in the fridge after a year. The top half was fine, but the bottom was hard and gross looking. I miss the unified complaining we could do on actual Twitter and get an immediate response from customer support lol

Close up of a banana. There's a dark yellow ring around the circumference of the fruit. The rest looks normal, but it's extremely tough and rigid, almost like it was dehydrated a bit on the dark areas.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

@itch.io must have some formatting in place or autocorrect when writing their legal agreements, because what should have been "(c)" or "(C)" in multiple places is showing as ©.

reference to DMCA law. Instead of "17 U.S.C. 512(c)(3)", it says "17 U.S.C. 512©(3)"

lists a few CYA things they aren't responsible for, going through "(A)", "(B)", "©", and "(D)"

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Here's the pricing issue with #amazon #AmazonSlop Looks like it the lower priced Trauma CD in the package is from a 3rd party seller, and that advertised price does NOT include 3rd party shipping fees. I only found that out by adding the entire package to my cart. #FalseAdvertising

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

If you use logic against these phonies, they can't defend themselves. They didn't know the material. When skills atrophy and an outage occurs, it's really apparent who knows what they're doing.

List, a Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and chief economist at Walmart, said the key problem is that they didn't fully understand what they were presenting.

"The words sound right," he wrote. "But when someone pushes back just a little bit, the sand castle crumbles."

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Is #amazon having another system outage of some kind? I've only ever seen this kind of issue when a prominent brand has minimum advertised pricing, and these are NOT prominent brands. Or perhaps my account got flagged from the stupid issue yesterday.

Screenshot of the Amazon app. Normally, the products have the price showing.

This shows: "To see product details, as this item to your car. You can always remove it later."

I've seen this on multiple products, now.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

#PapaJohns out here lying about their rewards. Today, 15 points = $2. 1 point earned per dollar. Next week, 20 points = $2. They're trying to frame it as "earning rewards faster," but really you're earning fewer points and therefore fewer rewards.

Earn Papa Dough Quicker

The current program gives members 1 point for every $1 spent on menu items.

Starting March 9, 2026, every 10 points you earn will convert to $1 in Papa Dough.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

this is a real email category still live in my #MicroSlop account settings. #skype has been dead for a while, now.

screenshot of my communication preferences in the microslop account:

"To stop receiving emails for the topics below, uncheck any topics you don’t want to receive, then select Save"

The first option, "Skype," is selected. The descriptions reads: "Inform me about new products, features and special offers"

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

@microsoft.com used to have newer, better codecs for video and images that you could install for free. Now, they falsely claim that it will not work on your computer, despite meeting all the requirements. Also, MS you suck for not allowing the highlighting of text in the MS store for copy & paste

screenshot of the MS store on Windows 11.

extension name I'm trying to install: HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer

It says "🛑 this app will not work on your device."

Requirements:

✅ dvc: PC, Mobile, Surface Hub, HoloLens
✅ ops: Windows 10 version 16299.0 or higher
✅ X86: x86, x64, Arm64

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Installing a stove and found a paper block on the terminals. I asked LG if I could remove it, but the answer seemed awfully ai-like. It also contradicted some of their sample install videos. What do you think? #LG #appliance #oven #electrical I will post excerpts from the chat

Picture stolen from Reddit.

Terminal access block on a range, where the power cord is installed. There is a paper-ish insert that is installed under the block... I had to remove the block to fully remove the paper, so it didn't seem like packing materials.

The LG manual says nothing about this, and their example youtube install videos leave it in while installing the power cord. But they don't explicitly state to leave it in.

Pic from https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectricians/comments/1jz0gaw/electric_range_installation_do_i_leave_this/

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

If you sign your name to every post or text message that also has your name at the top (e.g., a handle or you're in the person's contact list), there's something wrong with you. Brought to you by the Redundant Dept of Redundancy & Repetition.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

This is terrible UX. I have no idea what the second option is. I was prompted when my phone updated. I assume the second is "Opt Out" forever, but I thought I already tried that. Need an "opt out forever and never ask me to change my mind" option.

Screenshot of a modal dialog on my phone.

Title: Opt Out Settings

"Change your preferences to suit your needs.

"Select options for app delivery:"

Options are ready buttons (exclusive selection):
- Continue getting apps
- Forever

Feels ominous, like they really want me to never be able to opt out of the service provider being able to install apps on my phone willy nilly.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Someone claimed we're not heading toward an ai bubble, but this response is spot on when comparing it to the dotcom bubble. dotcom companies tried to sell something and failed. ai companies (at least main providers) have the money & user base to force ai into our lives, and count us as ai users.

reddit user Latter_Panic_1712 says:

"It's arguably worse right now, because those companies are big, so they can force their AI products down the consumer's throats. Who the hell asking for youtube AI live chat summary? Or X/Twitter AI image description?

"It's worse because with that non-consensual usage, they can report to their investors that the userbase keeps increasing, while no one is actually interested. It was different during the dotcom bubble consumers can refuse to use and buy .com products. So the bubble can pop sooner before it gets worse."

Right now, things will be record-breaking for a while, maintaining an illusion that AI industry is invincible, until it explodes when everyone realize that things aren't as good as it seems.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

From Wikipedia: The “Snap, Crackle, Pop” slogan was in use as early as 1929, with “New! A cereal so crips it actually crackles in cream!”

Screen capture of the Wikipedia page:

The “Snap, Crackle, Pop” slogan was in use as early as 1929, with “New! A cereal so crips it actually crackles in cream!”

"So crips" is highlighted by me, probably meant to be "so crisp"

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Vision + AI to get to FSD 😞 youtu.be/W-ubNvS0RGU

Still from the video linked. It shows a screenshot of a musk tweet from 2018 that says:

"Long-term, the car will work poorly in custom, with radar just a plus, but maybe worth adding a radar heater anyway."

This video is a bit older, but the are lots of newer ones covering the same topic of Tesla removing LIDAR because of musk, even though his engineers want it.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Did you use a/i to write your email subject? Did you?!

LEGO apologizes in a follow-up email: their previous mass email about how they're using ai contained the wrong subject line.

"The subject line of the original email was ‘Update on your order’ but should have said ‘Update to Our Privacy Policy’."

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Not you, too, #LEGO. Get off the a/i hype train.

Lego sent me an email:

"Dear Michael

"We've updated our Global Privacy policy to include the use of an internal AI tool for transcription of interactions with our customer support. Additionally, we have made a few clarifying updates to our CCPA addendum. Please click here to read the updated privacy policy."

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Bluesky moderation needs to toughen up. This is not intolerance. This is empathy (/s?) for how someone feels because that someone has never been held accountable.

Image of the quoted tweet to bypass the bots.

"Hiding the Epstein files is the hardest Rump has ever fought for anything in his life. It must be horrible."

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

It has limited examples, fake examples, and some of the docs are for as-of-yet unreleased features. The latter makes for a terrible experience when trying to implement their tools and being gaslit that something exists when it does not. 🤬

Screenshot of grafana telling its ai how to cosplay as an "experienced software engineer and technical writer for Grafana Labs"

From https://github.com/grafana/alloy/blob/main/.docs/agent/role.md

Heading: Role

Act as an experienced software engineer and technical writer for Grafana Labs.

Write for software developers and engineers who understand general programming concepts.

Focus on practical implementation and clear problem-solving guidance.

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Michael Ayres @random-coder-1.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

#Qdoba has a deal, but the terms are weird In summary, "Purchase $45 in gift cards, get $10 digital bonus." Immediately after that, it says you will receive $10 bonus for each increment of $50 you purchase in gift cards...

Purchase a $45 gift card (online only) and receive a digital bonus of $10. After you order the qualifying gift card, you will receive an email with a $10 digital bonus for each gift card increment of $50 purchased, up to a total of fifteen $10 digital bonuses per transaction. Offer runs 11/26/25 at 12:01 am EST through 12/1/25 at 11:59 pm PST. While supplies last. Offer valid only at QDOBA.com. Digital bonus is valid for one-time use, applied only to one order. Any unused funds will be forfeited. To redeem the digital bonus in-restaurant, scan the barcode at the register. To redeem the digital bonus on an online delivery or pickup order, input the barcode number in the gift card payment field at checkout. Digital bonus is redeemable 1/1/26 through 2/28/26 at 11:59 pm PST on orders placed in-restaurant, on QDOBA.com, or the QDOBA app in the U.S. Digital bonus is valid at participating U.S. locations only and excludes license locations, such as airports and malls. No cash value. Digital bonus not valid on catering orders, gift card purchases or third-party delivery platforms. Additional digital bonus terms and conditions will apply. ‘QDOBA’ and ‘QDOBA Mexican Eats’ are registered trademarks of the QDOBA Restaurant Corporation. © 2025.

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