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• Post #4392328

  My LocalFirst talk is up! How the Desktop UX needs to evolve This is a "part 2" of my @ubuntu talk last year. This time with more demos! #ux https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IOLRcFC6OY

• Post #4252134

  I have a drawer with a ziplock bag for each type of USB cable. And for years I've had one bag for USB-C to C. I'm finally just giving in, buying a cable tester, and breaking them up into USB-C power+data and USB-C video, because this is just getting out of control.

• Post #4226881

  I'm watching the first season* of the British tv show The Avengers. It is shockingly good! I'm only two shows in and I'm hooked. The writing, the characters, and the overall vibe are so much more than I expected * Season 1 was lost, I'm actually starting with season 2

• Post #3983914

  I've found LLM tech to be useful in limited, controlled conditions. Its current mass deployment is hard to support for ethical and environmental reasons. However, I want to keep exploring how best to use it, and of course, when NOT to use it. I'm not a freaking fanboi here. This tech has serious limits! I've now installed pi.dev so I can work with a local model for small things, an open model for medium things, and a frontier model (which I'd rather not use) for a limited number...

• Post #3948610

  I have one last thing to share about my Skoda rental car. (the running gag of #UX design) This last example is just chef's kiss: 1. Grammatically incorrect 2. Use of a proprietary word which is guaranteed to confuse 3. The verbless assertion to fix #2 by reading the owner's manual This just fails in so many ways.

• Post #3910673

  I'm REALLY trying to move off of foundational LLM models and would like to run something locally. For the moment, that's just coding. I've heard that Qwen2.5-Coder or CodeGemma are SLMs that are targeted on just coding so are much smaller, and in theory anyone can run on a 16GB Mac. Has anyone tried this? Are there better alternatives?

• Post #3855251

  RE: https://social.coop/@scottjenson/116856536251575471 A slot opened up for the @kde@floss.social Akademy 2026 conference this September so I'll be in Graz speaking on the "future of destkop UX". I'm so happy this worked out as the KDE community has always been so supportive of my ideas. https://conf.kde.org/event/11/contributions/332/

• Post #3807626

  RE: https://social.coop/@scottjenson/116913589001924603 I've been in UX for 40+ years (I started at Apple). Recently, I've been working on bringing UX to FOSS projects, and I see this attitude far too often (but not always!). It's terribly exciting to see this thread get so much support and love. There is hope yet. https://bsky.app/profile/lookitup.baby/post/3mqkllnokgk2d

• Post #3788899

  I like this post from Ian Coldwater. Slagging off users isn't a growth strategy. Now, you may not want growth, perfectly fine, but this is specifically calling out apps that want mainstream consumers

• Post #3715456

  I've been experimenting with Claude Fable 5 and have to say, as a #UX designer who is just trying to build simple prototypes, it really is valuable. I've tried 6 different explorations of my demo and it nailed it every single time. Being able to rapidly test out my own ideas is incredibly liberating. While the utility is there, the current landscape of these frontier corporate models comes with massive ethical and environmental baggage. This is not a long term solution! That’s exactly...

• Post #3489076

  "Oh no! We forgot Timmy!" I know I'm on a tear right now with Automobile #UX but messages like this just have me scratching my head? Yes, I know, baby's have been left in cars but two extremely obvious points: 1. It is a statistically insignificant number 2. This message wouldn't help anyway.

• Post #3417378

  Now THIS is a museum! The Lennusadam maritime museum in Tallinn. This was fun....

• Post #3375665

  A surprising downside to the "mobile app revolution": 1) Many local communities have parking/bike/transit apps 2) no cash, all bank card 3) Local communities can't use big multinational credit card clearing systems 4) So non-EU cards are rejected I can't park or ride a bike (well I can if there is a kiosk, it's just the apps I'm locked out of) Rather hostile to non-EU tourists.

• Post #3350225

  I visited the Helsinki Library and it has a frigg'n makerspace in the middle of it! Laster cutters, 3D printers, Vinyl cutters, all for nearly free. It also has "video game rooms", general meeting rooms, 2 cafes and a restaurant! It's astounding what you can have if you fund public works.

• Post #3331972

  Personal Information access is the achilles heel of LLMs. They can do amazing things if you feed them all your stuff. (This is why Local LLMs are so promising, your data stays put) The problem? It's nearly impossible to get! It's locked behind proprietary silos.This is why every foundational model is making such a big deal out of "memory": it allows it to have so much more context to do things. This, of course, also locks you in as the memory isn't exportable. It's a...

• Post #2571763

  RE: https://mastodon.social/@bruces/116568165933664229 This was so funny and spot on. Being "Balanced" about AI gets you nowhere. The Techbros think you have no vision and the "burn it with fire" people think you're a Techbro.

• Post #2499897

  RE: https://stefanbohacek.online/@stefan/116563099730866203 I've heard so many stories from the "Great migration of 2022" that people were literally chased off of the Fediverse for these very reasons. I get it, CWs and ALT text are very helpful and I sincerely hope people do use them. But if they don't, then don't follow them. It's really that simple. Anything else has proven to be a net negative.

• Post #2154485

  My post asking you all for volunteer resources to keep me busy in my retirement was a great success. LOTS of suggestions, Thank you! Due to a lovely prod from @bnut I've summarized them into a github repos: https://github.com/scottjenson/Tech-Volunteering/blob/main/README.md There is a mountain of people in the tech space that want to help and having a resource like this could be helpful. Any suggestions/improvements are welcome!

• Post #2154481

  I am so tired of Tech Solutionism that sees every social issue as something to be fixed with software. I support Timnit's plea here. People claiming keyword filters or blocking is all you need to fix this issue is worse than naive, it's dangerous as it places the burden on the person being attacked. As a privileged old white man, I face none of this. But I can at least support those being attacked and call out this bankrupt and lazy ass thinking. https://dair-community.social/@ti...

• Post #2154469

  Dear #OpenSource folks, I'd like to offer #UX help to your teams. I've tried "making a small PR" on projects and it turns out that's TERRIBLE advice for a UX designer. The PR is usually misunderstood or ignored. I don't fault the teams for this! It's just the wrong tool for the job. So I'm trying something different. I'm offering free consulting time to any project that wants it. Sign up here: https://cal.com/scottjenson/...

• Post #2154467

  In Google Slides I wanted a basic 2x2 matrix to make my point. "Gemini should be able to something as basic as this right?" Here is my prompt: "Create a slide with a 2x2 matrix with Level of VC funding on one axis and Level of Social Media on the other" This is anti-productivity. Not only can I never get this time back. It was so shockingly not helpful that I felt compelled to tell you about it.

• Post #2093846

  Good example of the particle-wave aspect of LLMs: These tools appear to do amazing things quickly, but they are often the wrong things. Something is still missing. https://annaecook.com/writing/2026/ai-prototyping-harder-worser-faster-wronger

• Post #2082646

  RE: https://mastodon.social/@imanijoy/116522945799121750 It's critical for Mastodon's future to understand and help all users. Please forward this to people you know that aren't as technical but still on the Fediverse. We need to hear from them too!

• Post #1922029

  And now for something completely nostalgic: a 'landline for kids' concept that is gaining traction: https://tincan.kids/ I'm not endorsing this, just pointing out that this "analog trend" is certainly gaining momentum.

• Post #1894643

  RE: https://floss.social/@gnome/116238977083070510 This is an excellent example of what OpenSource can do, doing work funded by groups that care. I hope we can bring more money into OpenSource to tackle even more issues like this.

• Post #1792031

  RE: https://social.wildeboer.net/@jwildeboer/116476861264305122 I really wish "Less than 1 year" was a higher number

• Post #1339388

  Sure, this is funny but what bothers me the most is that we don't even have a good way of talking about this. This is a foundational error state and likely implies other problems in how it works. There is something very boring and yet important about this and we can't discuss it easily. /ht @andrewhinton@jawns.club

• Post #1199702

  OMG this is BRILLIANT, Bernie Sanders using Claude to make his points for him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3AtWdeu_G0

• Post #1174511

  My latest blog post about "Ma" and how it affects our understanding of AI flows. We’ve been looking at this problem entirely from the technology’s point of view. The LLM is driving us, pushing a specific interaction model and veering us towards making mistakes. We are not computers; going fast isn’t our superpower. Ma is what makes us human; it’s what allows us to think like humans, not machines. https://jenson.org/ma #UX #LLM #AI

• Post #1021840

  Is #mastodon becoming an echo chamber? This post from @carnage4life has me questioning our community. The Mastodon team is finally getting some traction, the product improvements are increasing, The #UX is improving, yet people posting on multiple platforms are making comments like this. It's confusing. I *know* people here don't want this to be a classic social media-clone but we'd *like* journalists to be here right? They aren't coming with examples like this!