Let’s go for my web review for the week 2026-12.The “small web” is bigger than you might thinkTags: tech, web, self-hosting, blogAlso, it’s likely a pessimistic estimate… Indeed, it’s mostly based on a list from Kagi, which likely doesn’t list many sites which would qualify.https://kevinboone.me/small_web_is_big.htmlHave a Fucking WebsiteTags: tech, web, social-media, self-hostingSo much this… I’m sick of all those little businesses having only an Instagram or Facebook account or whatever. I wish we’d have proper websites for all of those instead.https://www.otherstrangeness.com/2026/03/14/have-a-fucking-website/RIP Metaverse, an $80 Billion Dumpster Fire Nobody WantedTags: tech, facebook, vr, hypeThis was stupid hype… Why do we have regularly this kind of fever in our industry?https://www.404media.co/rip-metaverse-an-80-billion-dumpster-fire-nobody-wanted/Bluesky announces $100M Series B after CEO transitionTags: tech, social-media, bluesky, businessThe writing is on the wall I think… the real question is not if but when will the enshittification begins? It’s been data harvesting for a while now.https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/19/bluesky-announces-100m-series-b-after-ceo-transition/Open Source Gave Me Everything Until I Had Nothing Left to GiveTags: tech, foss, psychology, productivity, lifeThis is an account of how dark things can become when you align your identity with your contributions. Stay healthy, stay safe!https://kennethreitz.org/essays/2026-03-18-open_source_gave_me_everything_until_i_had_nothing_left_to_giveHow Can Governments Pay Open Source Maintainers?Tags: tech, foss, business, fundraisingLet’s help them help us. There are a few things to have in place for governments to be able to pay maintainers.https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/03/how-can-governments-pay-open-source-maintainers/The price of accountability: corruption erodes social trust more in democracies than in autocraciesTags: politics, democracyThis is definitely a disturbing result. It indeed makes democracies more fragile, all the more reason to build more democratic resilience.https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/articles/10.3389/fpos.2026.1779810/fullAge Verification Lobbying: Dark Money, Model Legislation & Institutional CaptureTags: tech, gafam, facebook, law, lobbying, surveillanceIt looks more and more likely that the current age verification fever has dark origins…https://tboteproject.com/Rep. Finke Was Right: Age-Gating Isn’t About Kids, It’s About ControlTags: tech, politics, law, surveillanceThe commentaries and analysis of those unjust laws continues. The motives behind the people pushing for them are getting clearer and it isn’t pretty.https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/03/rep-finke-was-right-age-gating-isnt-about-kids-its-about-controlAgeless Linux — Software for Humans of Indeterminate AgeTags: tech, law, surveillanceGood initiative to push these unjust laws to their limits. Hopefully it’ll show how absurd they are.https://agelesslinux.org/Lotus NotesTags: tech, history, emailOn the little known history of Lotus Notes. Crossed its path as a teenager during an internship at a bank. Can’t say I remember it fondly though.https://computer.rip/2026-03-14-lotusnotes.htmlThe Most Important Software InnovationsTags: tech, innovation, historyInteresting list and way to frame the problem. It’s important to maintain this resource, an update is likely needed.https://dwheeler.com/innovation/innovation.htmlWayland has good reasons to put the window manager in the display serverTags: tech, wayland, x11, history, complexity, inputLet’s not forget where we’re coming from and why window managers tend to be merged with display server. It removes some complexity and some latency.https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/unix/WaylandAndBuiltinWindowManagersContainers Are Not Automatically SecureTags: tech, containers, securityKind of obvious I think, but this likely bears repeating. Containers are not a magical recipe for security. There are many attack vectors to keep in mind and evaluate.https://www.lucavall.in/blog/containers-are-not-a-security-boundaryWhy WebAssembly componentsTags: tech, webassembly, rustGood explanation of where WebAssembly is going and why the current initiatives are important to its success.https://blog.yoshuawuyts.com/why-webassembly-components/How many branches can your CPU predict?Tags: tech, cpu, hardware, performanceNot all CPUs are born equal in term of branch prediction. Interesting little benchmark.https://lemire.me/blog/2026/03/18/how-many-branches-can-your-cpu-predict/C++26: Span improvementsTags: tech, c++, standardNice little quality of life improvements coming to std::span in C++26.https://www.sandordargo.com/blog/2026/03/18/cpp26-span-improvementsMore Speed & Simplicity: Practical Data-Oriented Design in C++Tags: tech, data-oriented, object-oriented, design, architecture, c++, performanceA very good talk which walks you through how to move from object-oriented design to data-oriented design. Shows quite well how you must shift your thinking and the difficulties you might encounter with data-oriented designs. I appreciate a lot that it’s not just throwing object-oriented design out of the window, indeed you have to pick and choose depending on the problem space. Also it’s interesting to see how C++26 reflection might make some of this easier.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzjJfKHygaQMinecraft Source Code is Interesting!Tags: tech, 3d, graphics, game, portability, refactoringLots of interesting tricks in this code base. Gives also a good idea of the shape and tradeoffs of such ports.https://www.karanjanthe.me/posts/minecraft-source/Oxyde ORMTags: tech, python, rust, ormLooks like an interesting ORM which brings advantages of the Django one without all the bagage. It’s still young, let’s see how it evolves.https://oxyde.fatalyst.dev/latest/Python 3.15’s JIT is now back on trackTags: tech, python, performance, jitInteresting read on how the CPython JIT effort has been saved.https://fidget-spinner.github.io/posts/jit-on-track.htmlThe Optimization LadderTags: tech, python, performance, optimisationHere are the main levers to make Python code faster. Tries also to distinguish the effort level of each approach.https://cemrehancavdar.com/2026/03/10/optimization-ladder/XML is a Cheap DSLTags: tech, data, declarative, xml, portabilityInteresting lesson here. It looks like XML still has its place in our modern tool belts. We should stop dismissing it too quickly.https://unplannedobsolescence.com/blog/xml-cheap-dsl/JPEG compressionTags: tech, graphics, compressionWondering how JPEG works? Here is a primer.https://www.sophielwang.com/blog/jpegA Decade of SlugTags: tech, graphics, fonts, shader, patentsNice algorithm for rendering fonts. Turns out it’s not patent encumbered anymore, this is good news.https://terathon.com/blog/decade-slug.htmlVideo Encoding and Decoding with Vulkan Compute Shaders in FFmpegTags: tech, video, codec, vulkan, computationVulkan compute shaders are very much capable nowadays. Exemplified by its use in FFmpeg.https://www.khronos.org/blog/video-encoding-and-decoding-with-vulkan-compute-shaders-in-ffmpegThe Best Darn Grid Shader (Yet)Tags: tech, 3d, graphics, shader, mathematicsGood exploration on how to make grid shaders. It’s definitely not a simple problem.https://bgolus.medium.com/the-best-darn-grid-shader-yet-727f9278b9d8A sufficiently detailed spec is codeTags: tech, ai, machine-learning, copilotOr why this latest trend in genAI hype is a fool’s errand.https://haskellforall.com/2026/03/a-sufficiently-detailed-spec-is-codeRob Pike’s 5 Rules of ProgrammingTags: tech, programming, optimisation, performance, complexityThese are good rules. Take inspiration from them.https://www.cs.unc.edu/~stotts/COMP590-059-f24/robsrules.htmlInvest Your Political CapitalTags: tech, architecture, organisation, politicsInteresting model for bringing architectural and organisational changes. This is indeed at least in part political games… so you need some political capital to spend.https://architectelevator.com/transformation/political-capital/Bye for now!