The Programmer’s Fulcrum 7 August, 2026
This post originally appeared on The Fulcrum. Welcome to this week's The Programmer's Fulcrum. It's your weekly curation of the essential news in the Open Media Network and Open Social development communities with a focus on devastating big tech via Techno Anarchism. As usual, we aim to provide actionable content you can use to destroy...
his post originally appeared on The Fulcrum.
Welcome to this week’s The Programmer’s Fulcrum.
It’s your weekly curation of the essential news in the Open Media Network and Open Social development communities with a focus on devastating big tech via Techno Anarchism.
As usual, we aim to provide actionable content you can use to destroy Techno Feudalism each week. It has the additional benefit of weakening authoritarianism.
IMHO, the best way to do that is to use tools from the Techno Anarchist Manifesto to build your own site(s) to participate in the Open Media Network. Then you should share it (them) via Real Simple Syndication (RSS), Open Social, and possibly a newsletter or podcast. This approach is similar to what some call the IndieWeb and its POSSE philosophy.
The second best strategy is to have accounts on open social and use the hell out of them. And do the same with a RSS feed reader.
We publish TPF on Fridays so you can enjoy it over your weekend.
There’s good stuff in all of our categories, so please take the time to enjoy and bookmark the items most relevant to your goals. We hope you are inspired to create new ones.
Or you can scroll your favorite section.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And may involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck´em.
Featured Item(s)
We’re tooting our horn this week. In our latest article, I wrote:
In this article we will cover a simple, DIY strategy. In particular, it’s about what I call the 4Rs of web development. They are empowering, reduce frustration, and help you feel good about your work (and yourself).
And there’s the added benefit that this work strategy thwarts democracy and planet destroying tech bros, oligarchs, and autocrats.
Working with the 4Rs of Web Development
FYI, it also contains a spiky anti-AI rant.
On related note number 1, The Nerve reports:
Cory Doctorow: The people who tell you ‘AI is changing everything’ are lying
On related note number 2, The Guardian has a book review of Gil Durán’s:
The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy. The book’s central argument is that big tech is no longer our friend, as many of its billionaire owners have seized economic and political control and are steering the fate of the planet towards their own bizarre, apocalyptic visions.
Gil says (the question now), “is how we turn the momentum in our favour and against the billionaires. Because they have a plan to win. They think they’re going to succeed.”
This could be a radicalising moment: “In fighting against billionaire power, we find the key to all of our problems. Every moment is an important opportunity to wake people up and to start to fight back.”
If not, he says, we’ll find ourselves in a situation where “we don’t have democracy, we don’t have an economy and we don’t have a future. If that doesn’t radicalise people, then we deserve what we’re going to get.”
[‘If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future’: the journalist taking on the ‘tech fascists’ of Silicon Valley]()
This is what we have been covering for years. And literally the reason for suffering through a coding bootcamp in 2018 so I could better understand the programming side of this evil.
CMSs
Telex reports:
Protocols for Publishers interviews:
Mike Masnick on protocols for publishers
Simon Repp announces:
The fifth beta release for Faircamp 2.0 is now available
IndieWeb
Nothing to See Here explores:
Publishing websites on Freenet
I was “this week” years old when I learned about the peer to peer site builders Freenet and Delta.
So, I started The Fulcrum 3 on Delta to experiment (it just has our articles, so no posts). If you have Freenet installed and running, I think you can see it here. Or type EMWvaZfLnK in the Delta interface. Maybe. 😉
By the way, these P2P tools definitely use the 4Rs (after setup). Not that it would be simple for many people to find and read their creations. It’s definitely for private sites (used by tech-savvy individuals), which is probably a good thing. 😉
Brennan Kenneth Brown examines:
Ghost
Magic Pages asks:
I am sharing this as a reference for myself. 😉
BTW, I am going to go one more year with Ghost as the home for the main Fulcrum site here before deciding between it, WordPress, or something else as the permanent choice.
So Ghost, pick up your fucking ActivityPub integration game, if you want a long-term client. In particular, the reader and 3rd party Fediverse client compatibility suck. The same is not true for your competition.
Bear
Cats and Birds and Stuff explains:
Why I Left WordPress for BearBlog
Simple is better, as long as Herman never shuts down Bear.
Leaflet
Scraps shares:
Write.as / WriteFreely
Write.as asks:
Been a while since you logged into Write.as?
If you have a website, please use it. Share your unique insights frequently no matter how small or insignificant you think they are. They are literally revolutionary at this point.
Tools
Organic Maps announces:
I ran across this useful resource this week:
And I added it to our tools page.
Chat / Team Chat
It’s Going Down has:
P.E.T. apps are self-contained applications that permit Peer-to-peer and Encrypted messaging over Tor.
Browsers
Servo has this report:
June in Servo: real world compat, media queries, SharedWorker, and more!
And 9to5Linux has a:
First Look at Firefox’s Brand-New Design in Firefox Nightly
Remember to use Firefox forks like Waterfox, Librewolf, or Zen.
Writing
LibreOffice looks at:
The characteristics of a truly open document standard format
9to5Linux reports:
Calibre 9.13 E-Book Manager Improves PDF Output, Content Server, and More
Creative
And:
Shotcut 26.7 Video Editor Adds Graphics Adapter for Linux, Shake Video Filter
Linux / Open Android
And:
NVIDIA Joins Dell and HP in Supporting the Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS)
PostmarketOS announces:
Non-adaptive apps hidden in Phosh by default
Tuta shares:
DeGoogled phones, made in Europe: Fairphone, Volla, SHIFTphone, Punkt – a full review
You should own one.
Speaking of, e/OS announces:
On the last day of July, Purism shared its:
PureOS Development Report: June 2026
Ruben de Smet explores:
My Sailfish OS Journey: I have my Jolla Phone, what now?
F-Droid has:
Larvit Blog shares:
Three Test Jails on a 512 MB Free-Tier VPS
This week’s featured OMN tool
Chapril Toolbox
The site offers free and accessible online services that use alternatives to GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft) products.
Programming
W3C shares:
Further Aligning W3C’s Program of Technical Work with Human Rights
Nice thoughts, but actions are more important.
LibreOffice reports:
CISA Publishes Open Source Security Guidance: Verifiability Is the Difference
Git
Damien Mathieu says:
Moi, aussi.
Lalit Maganti opines:
GitHub has alternatives, but no replacement
Since it’s shit, I don’t know why you would want to replace it. If you need a enterprise solution, use Gitlab. If you are ethical, use Codeberg. And it you need social dopamine hits with your git, use Tangled.
HTML
Master.dev explores:
Something Nobody Told You About The Image Element (It Can Overflow!)
Unplanned Obsolescence explains:
The Difference Between a Button and a Link
You rarely need the first, but many people misuse them. Including the template we’re using on this site. 🙁
HTMX
Serge Zaitsev says:
Let’s make the worst htmx ever! 😉
Fafael demonstrates:
Building Progressively Enhanced Forms Using htmx
CSS
Master.dev looks at:
5 CSS Properties You Should Know for Better Text Designs
Some useful CSS.
Web Components
JavaScript
Piccallili explores:
This bedeviled me in full-stack bootcamp. ;(
Akido reports:
Keyv and friends compromised in active Shai-Hulud supply chain attack
JavaScript. Gotta love it. Not!
AI
The Guardian reports:
If you are a wage slave (even a well paid one), this is what you have to deal with.
Pivot to AI reports:
Copilot prompt injection goes viral in your documents
Not a WebDev language, but Inside Rust Blog reports:
rust-lang/rust is adopting an LLM policy
Every opensource project should as well.
Other
Open Project releases:
OpenProject 17.7: Resource management and better team organization
This week’s featured programming tool
Pears
Unleash the Power of P2P. Empower Developers, Disrupt the Norm!
ActivityPub
The Association for Progressive Communications has an interview:
DrFed on reducing complexity and enabling more people to shape the Fediverse
A fantastic interview with someone doing the best simplification work for disastrously complicated ActivityPub development.
Journey of the Wolf and Raven announces:
Activity-Relay Server v2.5.0 RC1 is now live
SocialHome announces:
Socialhome backend v0.24.0 released
ActivityPub.space shares some info:
ActivityPub Trust & Safety Taskforce Meeting 2026-08-05
Open Risk has a great thread:
Related to the 4Rs (reuse).
This week’s featured ActivityPub featured tool
Hacker’s Pub
East Asian-oriented Hackers’ Pub is an ActivityPub-enabled social network for software engineers to share their knowledge and experience with each other.
Permanent aside here (unfortunately)
This is a perpetual pet peeve because many people aren’t able to comprehend ⬇️:
- The Fediverse is for communities (private, semi-private, formal, informal, or otherwise)
- and the Atmosphere is for the masses (unwashed, washed, or otherwise).
- and Corporate social media is for naive fools and intentional cunts.
So, recognize their natures and don’t ask the two protocols to go against them. This is also why we have accounts on both platforms and use them differently.
Fediverse
Here’s a more in-depth explanation of the above from Federated Mind:
Account portability on the Fediverse vs. the ATmosphere
Sturmsucht’s Blog & Community shares:
I fancy myself a photographer so this tracks for me too.
Hamish Campbell says:
The Fediverse is fun and growing, but it seems to kinda be on autopilot at the moment
Bonfire
I have a sad announcement coming about our Manade project next week.
More
Thinking with Portals explores:
Increasing lot sizes of our digital homes
This is some good thinking. 😉
ATProto
Permadeath advocates for:
We’re in with this subversion tactic, though reading the post made my brain hurt a little. 😉
Scott’s Thoughts include one:
Thinking with Portals examines:
Decentralised Identity 🤝 Mesh Networking
Owais reports:
Bobbin is Tangled’s read-only AppView
Debbie’s Blatherings explains:
Why good non-techie user documentation is vital for a wider embrace of the ATmosphere
Yep. And on the Fediverse and everywhere else.
Atmosphere Community shares a presentation:
AtmosphereConf Interactive Transcripts using Hyperaudio by Mark Boas
Atmosphere
The Verge has a long, long interview:
Bluesky’s new CEO wants a big tent, not a bubble
BTW, they clickbait the headline and framing. And the boss man isn’t a clear communicator. And he seems more naive than villainous. Which is better than I expected.
Interlinked says:
This is a more interesting article about the future of the Atmosphere.
What’s Happening on my Feed? shares:
Community (Moderation) in Practice
Ewan Croft reports:
W Social Isn’t New. It Isn’t Truly European. It Isn’t Even Theirs.
Fuck W Social and the bamboozled fucks on it. It’s understandable for a company to be a box of cunts, and the general public to be clueless marks, but I hate tech-gullible, easily-bought politicians. They do almost as much harm as the techno fascists.
RSS
Sindre shares:
It’s FOSS reviews:
Escape the Algorithm: 10 RSS Feed Readers You Can Self Host in Your Homelab
Stefan Van Buren advises:
PSA: Include full article content in feeds
Oui.
XMPP
XMPP shares:
Consider attending their online summit.
Matrix
Matrix announces:
Matrix Community Workation Krems 2026
Democracy Tech
Decidim asks:
Would you like to propose a session at the next edition of Decidim Fest 2026?
CTAs
- That’s it for this week. Please share The Programmer’s Fulcrum.
- Follow us on Surf or at @thefulcrum@thefulcrum.dev on the Fediverse or at @thefulcrum.eurosky.social on the Atmosphere for daily coverage.
- Read, live, and share The Techno Anarchist Manifesto!
And please build something for a community! We’re painfully nurturing Manade. 😉
Blasts from the past
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