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February 28, 2025

Lattepunk Phone Home

Lattepunk

This seems a bit more than needed

I recently managed to successfully set up a pi-hole at my home. It took a while to understand router settings but I got it working. What sucks is now I have to update it cause a new version came out, just my luck. I’ve finally gotten around to looking into it…our devices are being connected by so many different places. It’s wild. Look at this:

Interface showing the connections occurring on devices connected to my router
Pi-Hole Interface

Notice how all the connections don’t just happen in the same minute, they happen damn near the same second! That’s all my devices connected to my home router. Here’s just my iPhone:

AdGuard stats showing 15.4K requests within the last 24 hours by 275 companies on my iPhone
AdGuard DNS Stats

15.4 THOUSAND requests in the last 24 hours. I wasn’t awake the full 24 hours either. 275 companies! I seriously don’t think I could name that many companies if I tried. All of it collecting data on little ol’ me. What are they collecting on your devices? Your kid’s devices?

In theory I could sit here and block each and every one until something stops working. That’s a lot of work and I truly don’t have the patience to do all that. There’s got to be a better way.


got to fight ‘em all

Little side tangent: about 11ish years ago I entered a video game tournament (placed top 8, no big deal), but since I was already there I entered a Pokemon side tournament. I had just gotten into playing Pokémon X after not having played a Pokémon game since Silver (that’s 14 years if you aren’t on that Pokemon wave). I’ll spare you the details but I got my ass handed to me in so many ways, it was actually impressive. That awoken the competitive human in me.

I proceeded to lose my life in competitive Pokémon and ended up destroying my friends. It actually ruined casual Pokemon gaming for me. I never did get a chance to enter another tournament to test my skills. But…the Pokemon company did announce this:

Let’s hope my life is in shambles whenever this comes out. If not, I fear what may happen to me when I start playing this game.


things i read

The Rich, Lonely Life of a Top-Tier Male OnlyFans Creator | P.E. Moskowitz for GQ

The women who made America’s microchips and the children who paid for it | Justine Calma for The Verge

Your Next Pet Could Be a Glowing Rabbit | Emily Mullin for WIRED

Thanks to HBO, everyone wants a White Lotus getaway. Can Thailand handle it? | Sarah Stodola for Grist

How One AI Startup Founder Cornered Microsoft Into Finally Taking Down Explicit Videos of Her | Paresh Dave and Matt Burgess for WIRED

Game Developers Fear Anti-Trans Measures Could Hit Their Industry Next | Megan Farokhmanesh for WIRED

The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians | Evan Ratliff for WIRED

Teenage Carjacking Gangs Play a Real-Life Game of ‘Grand Theft Auto’ | Jonathan Franklin for Bloomberg

The Anonymous YouTubers Street-Racing Through New York | Jessica Lucas for WIRED

Inside the Telegram Groups Doxing Women for Their Facebook Posts | Anna Wolfe and Sarah Cammarata for WIRED

When School Counselors Aren’t Available, a Human-AI Chatbot Answers | Julie Jargon for WSJ

The New York City Subway Is Using Google Pixels to Listen for Track Defects | Aarian Marshall for WIRED

Elon Musk’s Starlink Is Keeping Modern Slavery Compounds Online | Matt Burgess for WIRED

Alibaba Releases Advanced Open Video Model, Immediately Becomes AI Porn Machine | Emanuel Maiberg for 404 Media

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