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Andy Toone

@lockfarm.bsky.social

Petabytes in my day job, kilobytes in my spare time. Maker of Beasts - https://feersumbeasts.com/ 8-bit Z80 kit Technologist, cynical optimist, occasional CTO, regular tinkerer. Rural hideout in UK

4634 Posts1577 Follower857 Folgt
Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · yesterday

Recently discovered a VERY long thread on a forum about someone I knew years ago, pulling apart the trail of exaggerations, self-mythologising and outright lies from their "industry leading" career. And yes, they are a fantasist who somehow convinces people who should know better to get involved 🧵

Martin Calladine@uglygame.bsky.social · last wk.

Two weeks ago, I reported that the CEO of SafeToNet, the government's favourite tech company, claimed that "God has created the safest phone in the world" and that only after finding God did SafeToNet become "fully funded" and the software properly work. This week, some FAQs have appeared... 1/

Q: Is SafeToNet linked to any religious or political movement, and if so, does that shape how the technology decides what counts as harmful? A: No. SafeToNet is not linked to any religious or political movement, and no religious or political position influences how HarmBlock decides what counts as harmful. The SafeToNet team is made up of people of all faiths and none, working together toward a single shared aim. Keeping children safe online is a moral mission, not a religious one, and it's one that people arrive at from a wide range of personal beliefs, experiences and backgrounds. What HarmBlock is built to detect and prevent is defined by child safety standards and by working with recognised child protection expertise
Martin Calladine@uglygame.bsky.social · 3w ago

🚨Exclusive🚨 Two ministers filmed a video for a child-protection software firm that lost £17m in three years, made just *£112* in the UK in 2024 and gets 90%+ of its income from overseas subsidiaries that haven't cooperated with auditors for three years. 1/ theuglygame.wordpress.com/2026/07/15/p...

Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · last wk.

I'm a complete dummy when it comes to stock markets, but do pay a little attention... ..it's going to take a LOT for SpaceX to drop below 100 and Tesla to drop below 300 because a lot of algorithms and traders see the magic numbers as a signal to "buy the dip".

Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · last wk.

Weirdest thing. Happened to see, and comment on a post by @nickharkaway.com Tonight we went to the Cambridge Arts Theatre play we had booked to see Ralf Little in (The Spy Who Came in From The Cold), opened the programme to see his name. Had no idea of the family connection.

Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · last wk.

Saw a post about AI being used to develop tools for blind and low vision users - a big win for democratic access! Except, doesn't it just reinforce that we killed the economic model for supporting blind and low vision users in the first place, who now have to resort to "free" AI kludges?

Jim Rossignol@rossignol.bsky.social · 2w ago

One thing I never did was a post-mortem of Sir. Perhaps this is as good a time and place as any to talk about some of that. It started in 2010 when Channel 4 had some money to spend on making educational games. For some reason they asked me. ->thread

Jim Rossignol@rossignol.bsky.social · 2w ago

In surprising computer game news: Sir, You Are Being Hunted finally made it to console, just fourteen years after release on PC. It's out now on Switch, PS5, and Xbox. (And Steam and GoG, of course.)

Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · 2w ago

Whilst the TSLA fanboys try to remind you how wonderful the dream was, let's not forget that there are now much better, cheaper cars out there, and you don't have to buy anything from Musk in order to save the planet.

Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · 2w ago

By the way, we should criminalise prediction markets as vectors of corruption and disguised gambling. ..by which I mean *bigger* vectors than most of the other vectors of corruption and disguised gambling.

Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · 3w ago

No apologies for sending this out a few times over the next week. Our son is looking for a year in industry/placement as part of his Software Engineering degree in Southampton. He's in line for a First, very capable and good at digging into problems. However roles are rare right now. Can you help?

Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · 3w ago

The AI Superintelligence thing truly is the Perpetual Motion Machine industry reinvented. There is no evidence that LLMs have any of the basic mechanisms of consciousness, but these people believe if you just wrap them in enough complications then physics-breaking stuff will happen.

Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · 3w ago

Good regulation is difficult, especially in an age of well funded corporate lawfare. However, the "debate" almost always falls either the maximalists who want complete control over an industry, or the anarchists who want to destroy all regulation. Neither of them actually benefit us as indivisuals.

Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · 3w ago

There is a great deal of amusement in watching "the establishment" - in the form of a range of po-faced vaguely right wing publications - lurch into action to protect Farage from the threat of Count Binface. Lots of articles and opinion pieces about how we shouldn't take Binface seriously.

Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · 4w ago

On the AI in academia issue, I know a lecturer in medicine who read the riot act to future Doctors when nearly 90% of the class turned in AI written coursework. These people will be trusted with patients' lives. The next assessment.. 90% turned in AI written answers.

Andy Toone@lockfarm.bsky.social · 4w ago

OK, hear me out. The government should provide everyone, free of charge, a permanent online 'space' (a store and 'server') that they can use to keep documents, share information and connect to communities.