Development

Development, Machine Learning

Open Source, not OpenAI

The open source movement gives me hope. It’s how I’m able to run multiple different interfaces to local language models that can be fine-tuned on my computers with my own data, and know that it’s not leaving my own environment. It’s how I can build the Firefox web browser locally, and add custom patches so that I can run experiments with my browsing history safely. It’s how I can picture re-imagined fair value exchange systems working.

The commercial software stack is collapsing, locking users into increasingly tightly controlled environments where customization is locked away, abstracted because of its complexity. This is not the way.

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by Liv Erickson6 Min Reading
Development, Machine Learning

TIL: How to Build Firefox from Source

Today, I learned how to build Firefox from source. I’ve been a Mozillian since 2019, but this is the first time that I built the browser on my own machine. My sophomore year of college, I used Visual Studio and en embedded iexplore.exe window to make a simplified browser that had bookmarks permanently placed as UI buttons. I can’t even remember if it had an address bar, but I remember feeling accomplished that my portal to the internet was uniquely mine.

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by Liv Erickson3 Min Reading
Development, Machine Learning, Spatial Computing

In the Era of Multi-Dimensional Computing, XR is the Future of Front-End; AI is the Future of Back-End

My work over the past ten+ (wtf?) years has focused on emerging technologies, primarily spatial computing and machine learning – so this moment is pretty spectacular to see. We’re entering a new age where generative AI can create infinite worlds of content as a tool to aid and augment human creativity and understanding, and with today’s announcement, we’re creeping ever-closer to advancements in spatial computing hardware that allows us to experience technology in ways that allow us to use our natural cognition to better facilitate our relationship to information.

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by Liv Erickson3 Min Reading
Development, Machine Learning, neurodivergence

SelfOS: Visions of a Personal Agent

As we begin crossing a new productivity frontier with the availability of large language models and advances in artificial intelligence algorithms, I’ve been thinking a lot about the use of these tools in helping us introspect and communicate. Enter the idea of SelfOS. My long-term vision for SelfOS is ambitious – a personal operating system for anyone. In practice, there will be infinite ways of building a SelfOS. It’s not a single technology stack, but instead a series of principles grounded in the belief that technology should be used as a tool to empower individuals, rather than as systems of oppression.

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by Liv Erickson6 Min Reading
Development, Machine Learning, Mozilla Hubs, Spatial Computing

Authoring Immersive Environments with glTF for Multi-User Mixed Reality Web Applications

I was invited to give a lightning talk at the W3C Inclusive Design for Immersive Technology workshop about what we’re doing with scene authoring through Spoke for Hubs. As with many of my talks, I think they make better blog posts, and I’m excited to share this one with you today. About Hubs & Spoke For those of you who aren’t familiar with the work we’re doing a Mozilla on social mixed reality, Hubs is

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by Liv Erickson5 Min Reading
Development, Machine Learning, Spatial Computing

Captioning Three.js WebGL Canvas Elements with Machine Learning

I just skimmed back into an earlier blog post and realized that while I posted about leaving High Fidelity, I never actually updated with where I was headed. I didn’t post it here, though I did an announcement on Twitter with the news: I joined Mozilla back in March to work on their Mixed Reality initiatives, and finally have been able to go full-time into open source, web-based, asymmetric social 3D / VR spaces. Working

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by Liv Erickson9 Min Reading
Development

Create your own Color Theme for Visual Studio Code

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to get a new blog post up – I’ve been working my way slowly but surely through my list of 27 goals for the year, and I finally got around to one that I’ve been hoping to do for a while – creating my own Visual Studio Code editor theme! I wanted a dark color theme with simple syntax highlighting for writing JavaScript code, and I

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by Liv Erickson7 Min Reading
Development, Spatial Computing

Getting Started with Open Source Contributions for VR & AR

A couple of weeks back, I saw a request on Twitter for information about how to go about starting or contributing to open source software and projects, and I wanted to share what my experience with OSS has been, and my recommendations for anyone looking to get more involved with it (especially focusing on virtual reality). Firstly, some background on my experience with open source: I started developing virtual reality applications and prototypes using the

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by Liv Erickson8 Min Reading
Development, Spatial Computing

Writing a talk about WebVR, Using WebVR

This past Thursday, I had the privilege of speaking about the VR Web, a topic near and dear to my heart, at Coldfront, a front-end focused, single-track conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Despite battling off the remnants of a particularly nasty cold, my talk at Coldfront was one of my favorites that I’ve ever given. Why? The audience was great, the organizers were wonderful – but what really excited me about giving this talk was that

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by Liv Erickson8 Min Reading