iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Stephen Checkoway

Cynthia Taylor @pinkhairedcyn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Doing a password safety webinar and so far it is giving advice so bad I feel like it might be some sort of long con?

Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Neat! @chess.com added a checkers piece set and a set of bots you can play with varying levels of pieces replaced by checkers (or even "blindfolded"). My only gripe is I wish it supported more bots. (Nelson plays garbage openings, the next bot is 2000 Elo which is too strong for me.)

Final position of a chess game against the Nelson bot where all pieces (but not pawns) have been replaced with checker pieces. White has rooks delivering a ladder mate on f1 and h2. The black king is on b1.

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I just received a funny extortion spam email and I’m discovering there’s still no way to view the raw email text in iOS Mail. There are decade-old questions on stack exchange, Reddit, and Apple forums asking how to do this.

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I like my colleagues and they’d probably get the wrong impression, but I really want one of these for faculty meetings.

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mcc @dryad.technology · 29/09/2026

Note: It's not actually clear to me if the DOEd can unilaterally do the thing they claim they just did, but it doesn't entirely matter; if the goal is to produce instances of anti-LGBT discrimination, you just have to create an air of uncertainty, and someone will get excited and do a discrimination

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

www.lawdork.com/p/doj-scotus... Well this is bad.

While the case is over trans people in federal prisons, let there be no doubt: The Trump administration is seeking to use the presumptive unpopularity of this group — and lack of coverage that such cases garner — to advance extreme gender-restrictive policies that could apply to all trans people and, ultimately, to everyone.

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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 27/09/2026

Google finally updated some of its satellite images of Gaza and my god, it's horrific. The entirety of Rafah has been demolished. The majority of Khan Younis is in ruins. Entire towns completely leveled and erased of the map.

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Me: I played great in that endgame! I used my king to prevent promotion. I turned a passed pawn into a game-winning queen. Stockfish: You got lucky.

chess.com analysis graph of who had the advantage over the course of the game. There are very clear dips in the graph where I screwed up and turned an equal endgame into a losing endgame before eventually exploiting my opponent's mistake and winning.

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Reposted by Stephen Checkoway

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 26/09/2026

Does my Speak-n-Spell feel pain when I type O-U-C-H? The jury is out. Philosophers and neuroscientists say that's fucking stupid, but I called a guy from the Center for Pretending that Household Electronics Are Sentient and he said there's no way to know for sure.

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

@techconnectify.bsky.social regarding shipping completed software, when I was hacking cars circa 2010, you could actually put the Engine Control Module (and other ECUs) in reflash mode _while driving_ via the CAN bus . Doing it with the ECM caused the engine to shut off as you might expect.

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Deirdre Connolly¹ ² @durumcrustulum.com · 25/09/2026

nfs using rsa-1024 raw (unpadded) signing oracle

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Evan Urquhart @evanurquhart.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Everyone was so sure if they kept their heads down and avoided saying anything in support of trans people they'd be safe. The country was completely remade in the early months of 2025 and we're only just now noticing.

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"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Oh, that and "AI is an absolute disaster in the field of education, just a giant screaming comet descending from the heavens making all educational contexts less efficient and more time and labor intensive for a given amount of learning."

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

My collection of editions of Sipser’s “Introduction to the theory of computation” is now complete! The first edition is in my home office. The (newly acquired) second edition–the best edition imo—and third edition are in my school office.

Second and third edition of Sipser on a shelf next to a PiDP11.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Also, lest there be people who follow me who saw the very weird Advocate attack on the Blade doing pool duty Monday, that was a bad story. The Blade is a part of the print pool — not the TV pool — and the print pool coverage has continued this week. Here's the Blade's response to The Advocate:

washingtonblade.com

Washington Blade responds to concerns over White House pool duties

Inaccurate media reports create confusion but we stand with our colleagues

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I really don't get why Apple's Time Machine backups are so incredibly slow. It'll spend hours just computing which files need to be backed up and then hours more backing up. Partial backups aren't supported. Interrupting a backup _may_ lead to backups being corrupted. Terrible UX.

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Stephen Young @atomicwonk.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Henry Kissinger & Dick Garwin were debating missile defense. Garwin argued deploying a system was ineffective (it won't work) & dangerous (as adversaries will respond). Kissinger said it's impossible for it to be both. Garwin said "imagine you buy a squirt gun and charge a policy officer."

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Julia Evans @b0rk.jvns.ca · 22/09/2026

periodic reminder that Wizard Zines has an educational use policy if you want to use them in your university courses! wizardzines.com/education/

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Miro Haller @mirohaller.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

We finally finished the universal signature forgery for 1024-bit RSA! 2^32 oracle queries, 1200 core years precomputation, 180 core years for an individual forgery, and 3 years of human labor (no AI involved) by Laura, Adam, Nadia, Emmanuel and me to pull of this computation against real HSMs.

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I updated my "package Ghidra as a double-clickable macOS application" script. It packages up Ghidra 12.1.3 and OpenJDK 25 (and for arm64, it builds Ghidra's "native components" that Ghidra doesn't supply pre-built). It can create either an arm64 x86-64 version of Ghidra. github.com/stevecheckow...

github.com

GitHub - stevecheckoway/ghidra_app: Build a working Ghidra application for macOS

Build a working Ghidra application for macOS. Contribute to stevecheckoway/ghidra_app development by creating an account on GitHub.

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Micah Lee @micahflee.com · 16/09/2026

HaJ3FgupAm8RrDJW3MHgT9X7Ft27eVaD What is that? That's a hard-coded API token that Flock cameras use to identify themselves and get OAuth credentials, which can then be used to talk to Flock's production servers. Like, anyone on the internet can probably do this right now.

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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

many states, including California, also have an option to drop your ballot off directly at a elections office dropbox or election center and avoid USPS on the way back all together, which I'd recommend if possible.

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I know, I know. I'm doing it wrong. I'm using the wrong models. Or asking the wrong questions. Or not using the thinking mode or something. … Er, in the middle of writing this, I discovered that chatgpt silently _changed_ its answer! I got it to reproduce the original answer.

$Me: I said it gave an error and you agreed that your original output (which you have now reproduced) was wrong. ChatGPT: You’re right. I misunderstood “original answer” and reproduced the first, already-discredited command. That was plainly the wrong referent. The answer that subsequently changed was: Neovim expands % as the current filename, even inside shell quotes. Escape it: :%!awk 'NR \% 8 == 2' This keeps lines 2, 10, 18, etc. My previous command missed the required Vim-level escape. That is the version you were asking to recover. I should have inferred that from the sequence of messages instead of calling the first response “the original answer.”$

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I just received an email from @1password.bsky.social telling me that I can give Claude agents access to 1password-stored credentials. This is a terrible idea. I'm a little skeptical of the claim that Claude couldn't learn the passwords.

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

"Impressive knockout blow! Let's review what led to this checkmate win." I won by resignation @chess.com

Chess.com "You Won!" pop up telling me I won by resignation and then the AI "coach" said I won by checkmate.

Screenshot of the board showing that I just played …Rxa3 and no kings are in check. The AI coach's words about this being a checkmate win are repeated.

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Reposted by Stephen Checkoway

The Needling @theneedling.com · 09/09/2026

Google Maps Shrugs, Renames Lake Union to Lake Confederacy: tinyurl.com/54sx3nm

Google Map of Seattle showing Lake Union renamed to Lake Confederacy

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Hey, it's DON'T TELL THE JOKE ON THIS SLIDE/TELL THE JOKE day in my class today! (The "joke" is why do programmers confuse Christmas and Halloween?)

Screenshot of PowerPoint showing a slide with the tital: Octal: Base 8. The slide explains octal. The notes field reads DON'T TELL THE JOKE ON THIS SLIDE!

A screenshot of the next slide with a question asking the students to work out what 31 base 8 is in base 10. The notes field says to TELL THE JOKE.

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Ricky Mondello @rmondello.com · 08/09/2026

New post on my blog about switching password managers in 2026! It covers: - why your iPhone or iPad, and not your Mac, might be the place to start your switch - the recent controversy in password management and some thoughts on values - and more! rmondello.com/2026/09/07/s...

rmondello.com

Switching Password Managers in 2026

Important Note: Although I work at Apple in the password management and app/website authentication spaces, in this post I am speaking only for myself, personally. There is no “news” in this post or any kind of “inside scoop”. Please do share this post, but if I see “Apple’s Ricky Mondello” anywhere, I’ll be sad. My [...]

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Eric Blair @protecttruth.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

What we want House leadership to say is: We will hold DONALD TRUMP accountable. He is a corrupt criminal. Here are some of his criminal acts. We will hold hearings about those acts. We are coming for you, Mr. Criminal President. But they’re afraid to do that. Polls of swing districts, you know

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alicia 🍳 @acorviart.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

a murder [ #art ]

Illustration of a crow on a branch, surrounded by the old windows XP ghosting error screens, all duplicating the crow's face so it looks like there's a murder of crows.

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Dr. Jillian Scudder @jillianscudder.com · 31/08/2026

Tomorrow (September 1st) and Wednesday (September 2nd), we have a heat advisory for heat index temps of >100F (>~38C). September.

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I’ve heard of Ms. Rachel and, thanks to super annoying discourse on here, Hasan Piker. I am apparently 1 million years old (aka 40)

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John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Abolish ICE. Fire them all. Prosecute their crimes.

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

There's no forgiving this. No living it down. It's a stain on our humanity. When all this is over, the monsters who did this should be pariahs. And the soulless thugs who cheered it on while dehumanizing Haitian immigrants should be reminded of what they did every day of their lives.

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Bay Area friends: A friend found these small kittens behind a gas station and we've been trying to find them a home for almost two months. For now, they live in a small bathroom. Would you consider adopting? They are vaxxed, neutered, and incredibly affectionate. Please help!

Photo of three kittens. Two are orange; one is black.

Photo of two orange cats, one black, and one dark gray.

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Hot take: Blackboard bold should be used when writing on the blackboard. Normal bold should be used in typeset documents. ℤ just looks worse than 𝗭 in written material.

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Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

These people had protected status. They lived here legally. They worked, they paid taxes. They made lives. Raised families. Now we’ve dehumanized them. Ripped away that protection and told them to get out. This is a stain on the soul of this Nation.

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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 26/08/2026

ordinary people have no idea the system is such a kafkaesque nightmare

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rmhrisk @rmhrisk.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Think of this one as a field guide for all those countries and organizations making another run at these problems today: rmhrisk.github.io/verifier-nev...

rmhrisk.github.io

The Verifier Never Showed Up

Three decades of digital identity systems, sorted by how they actually failed, and why the half of the system that decides adoption is the half nobody funds.

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Dr. Jillian Scudder @jillianscudder.com · 21/08/2026

it’s real it’s a real book Time for emotions about seeing this in person, it’s been such a journey 💡📚💙

Copies of The Universe: A Graphic Guide in the box they just arrived in. The authors hand is resting on the book.

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Daniel Abraham @abraham.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

So Brad DeLong is wrestling with the Chinese Room. I have sympathy. I’m doing the same thing. Specifically I — like him — am comping to terms with the fact that 25 years ago I would have said language fluency was the litmus test for intelligence.

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

as a political philosopher I find this interesting: Sagal's frame "but it appears to be true" gives the impression that truth is the focal issues here. but maybe not! my very first publication as a baby philosopher was on "Trojan horse propaganda": true statements that function as propaganda

Peter Sagal:

"Everybody is furious at Mr Lipton for saying this but it appears to be true. Here’s the WSJ:"

WSJ screenshot in Peter Sagal's post:

"Leavitt had a reputation for being helpful to inquiring reporters: Replies to requests for comment often arrived with friendly exclamation points-even if she had just berated some of them for a "stupid question" in the briefing room moments before."

Eric Lipton NYT's quoted post:

"One you might find surprising. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt & members of her team have been extremely helpful in responding to questions I raise. Regardless of public facing commentary, privately they are willing to engage and address questions. And I have appreciated that. Thank you"

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Joshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 14/08/2026

Kinda hard to believe, but I think Democratic elites are waking up to the changing politics on the ground in America much faster than journalism elites, who seem to be trapped in a solipsistic mire and immune to any good faith criticism of the industry and its unjustifiable professional practices.

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Jesús Palacio @jepala.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

La NASA ha seleccionado hoy como "foto del día" la de Zaragoza con dos eclipses: el del cielo y el reflejado en el río Ebro science.nasa.gov/image-articl...

Today’s image features two total solar eclipses viewed from Zaragoza, Spain, one over the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar and the other reflecting in the Ebro River.

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I’m really happy that our work is public now. Former UC San Diego graduate student Sam Crow really deserves all the credit here. He did some excellent work and gave a nice talk this afternoon. Boeing was great to work with and graciously let us test in their lab.

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Stephen Checkoway @stevecheckoway.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I’m at USENIX Security and there have been more papers whose authors had visa issues and could not present their work than I’ve seen in the past 20 years of security conferences I’ve attended combined.

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