mary.codes

Five-ish things that I loved this week.

Who makes money when AI reads the internet for us? (article)

I've heard a lot of buzz about the Arc browser this week. As a Linux user, I've mostly ignored it as the Arc browser is currently only available on Apple devices with no roadmap for Linux support. However, as a blogger, this article caught my attention. I didn't realize that one of Arc browser's major features is an AI feature that digests and summarizes pages.

Personally, I don't monetize my site because I find it to be a hassle for everyone involved. I write to improve my writing skills. Before I started working as a programmer, I was a copywriter and editor, and I'd prefer to keep those skills sharp. I also write because I enjoy it. However, I do understand that many bloggers rely on various monetization strategies to provide income.

This article questions how creators are expected to continue creating when the Arc browser not only blocks ads, but also circumvents visiting the source sites altogether by summarizing pages.

“Web creators are trying to share their knowledge and get supported while doing so”, tweeted Ben Goodger, a software engineer who helped create both Firefox and Chrome. “I get how this helps users. How does it help creators? Without them there is no web…” After all, if a web browser sucked out all information from web pages without users needing to actually visit them, why would anyone bother making websites in the first place?

Michael Johannsson's perfectly stacked art

There's something about these artworks that makes me feel calm. This artist also has a great website and gallery at https://www.michaeljohansson.com/.

Union, intersection, difference, and more are coming to JavaScript Sets (article)

I've been using JavaScript sets more often lately. Not only do they guarantee unique values, but they offer speed improvements, too. Now, sets are becoming more powerful as they begin implementing Boolean functions. These functions perform like SQL joins, which I'm used to using, and are very powerful. They're only available in a couple of browsers right now, but I can already think of at least one project that can benefit from these new methods.

Sorting Git branches (article)

I was recently looking for a solution for this problem. I wanted to sort my blog's git branches by date, since I tend to give them really random names (maybe I should use a ticketing system... nah). This short article explains the different sorting options available for git branches.

WebGL image transitions + web components

Demo: https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/webgl-transition/

I think this demo is so cool. The WebGL image effects are amazing. I look forward to exploring more of the projects on https://thi.ng/.