I’ve had fun building Scrapwire. Lately I’ve had fun playing with OpenClaw, too. I didn’t like its communication channel options, though. Signal is great but the integration is a little flaky. Same with iMessage, and that could be a privacy risk. WhatApp? LOL no. So I made a Scrapwire channel for OpenClaw, and now I’m talking to my little AI cat via Scrapwire, Veilid, and cypherspace.

There’s no central server to spy on me or gather metadata, no direct connection requirements that expose my OpenClaw to the Internet, and all of Veilid’s privacy and encryption goodness. I’m happy with how it turned out.

I’ve released a new version of Scrapwire, my Veilid-based TUI chat app. v0.2.1 fixes some Markdown formatting glitches.

I’ve been helping on a fun project with some incredibly brilliant friends. I found myself talking about it to a reporter at The Washington Post. The story just came out. My part was crucial, insightful, and far, far down the page:

Once known for distributing hacking tools and shaming software companies into improving their security, a famed group of technology activists is now working to develop a system that will allow the creation of messaging and social networking apps that won’t keep hold of users’ personal data. […] “It’s a new way of combining [technologies] to work together,” said Strauser, who is the lead security architect at a digital health company.

You bet I’m letting this go to my head.

At work: “Kirk, I think you’re wrong.” “Well, one of us was featured in WaPo, so we’ll just admit that I’m the expert here.”

At home: “Honey, can you take the trash out?” “People in The Washington Post can’t be expected to just…” “Take this out, ‘please’.”

But really, Veilid is incredibly neat and I’m awed by the people I’ve been lucky to work with. Check it out after the launch next week at DEF CON 31.