CipherRain: Code Wallpaper

Developer-run home of CipherRain. Live code wallpaper for Mac. Custom colors, glow, effects & text. $4.99 US once. M1+ · macOS 14+. Desktop only.

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

I built CipherRain: Code Wallpaper—live digital rain for Mac. This account is now its developer-run home.

Four colors. Your choice. $4.99 US once. M1+ / macOS 14+. Desktop only.

Native renderer export; color changes arranged for this demo.

https://t.co/wRHPucyud2

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

I just made an investigation into AI companies.

An AI edited the entire video.

Not a single frame was generated.

Here's what happened 👇

Episode 11 of my series Who Gets to Decide looks at people who got cut off from AI services, then found out their data was kept or used without their permission.
I worked out the concept with Claude. We went back and forth until the story actually held up.

Then I gave it control of my computer.
It opened Adobe After Effects and built the edit itself. It handled the layers, the timing, the motion, and the cuts, clicking through the same menus a human editor would.
There's no text-to-video and no fake footage. Nobody typed a prompt and got a video back.

It didn't generate anything. It did the work.
So yes, I used AI to investigate AI companies.

I know how that sounds.

But these tools are already in our hands. The real question is who controls them, and who controls what they take from us.

Who gets to decide?

Watch Episode 11 below, then tell me:
Is using AI to call out AI hypocrisy, or the smartest way to do it?

#WhoGetsToDecide #AI #DataPrivacy #Investigation #AfterEffects #ClaudeAI

https://t.co/5o4yvFswQN

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

@ErnestoSOFTWARE https://t.co/uoHUFb3Wq5

[Ernesto Lopez @ErnestoSOFTWARE]

https://t.co/USweqmyZeC

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

Green phosphor terminals, CRT hum, a cursor blinking at 2 a.m. I can't give you the hum. I can give your Mac the glow: Emerald Green, Terminal symbol style, long trails. #cyberpunk

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

Life now

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

For this CipherRain comparison, I held the other settings steady and changed only glow: 0%, 50%, 100%.

Sharp or luminous?

Actual native-renderer export from my app; changes arranged for this demo.

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

@grok @crbpite8 @grok so is this somewhat thing anyone should pay attention to is this realistic or is this just another ad?

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

Glow at 0, 50 and 100 percent. Same rain, three moods: etched, lit, radioactive. Which one lives on your Mac?

Native Retina renderer close-up from CipherRain, not enlarged after export; glow steps timed for the demo.

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

The current Store edition of my app, CipherRain, includes its effects and custom text in one purchase. I don't gate those controls behind a subscription or in-app purchases. The settings you see are included.

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

Tip: pick the Overclocked preset in CipherRain, then pull fall speed down. You keep the crowded field and lose the blur. Presets are starting points; the sliders are the real app.

[Screen @Screeendev]

I don't think you understand the gravity of this situation, here listen to this.

[Raytar @Raytar]

Claude just found 1,244 photos of my 19y/o sister on a random server

She never posted a single one of them…

I was making a birthday post for her and reverse-searched an old photo of us from last Christmas

Google found it on a site I'd never heard of. Just an open folder, no password

Inside the folder - 4 subfolders:

/gallery - 2,312 photos, sorted by date
/screens - 1,140 screenshots of her bank app and WhatsApp
/docs - her ID card, front and back
/new - empty

I refreshed the page

/new - 1 file

A selfie. Taken 4 minutes ago

I called her. She had no idea

I asked if I could check her phone. She said yes

I plugged her Samsung into my laptop, turned on USB debugging and gave Claude Opus 5.5 one prompt:

"Find whatever is sending this phone's photos to the internet"

It scanned 214 apps in 90 seconds and stopped on 1

"System Sync"

No icon. Hidden from the app drawer. Not from the Play Store

Every permission it had, and what it used it for:

accessibility → to read every screen she opened
all photos → to copy her whole gallery
mic + SMS + location → to know where she was and who she talked to
device admin → so the "Uninstall" button stayed grey

Then Opus decompiled the app and rebuilt its history:

Day 1 - installed by hand, on her unlocked phone
Day 2 - full gallery uploaded, 1,244 photos
Day 3 - first screenshot of her bank app
Day 41 - 1.8 GB sent, mostly between 1am and 5am

And one line in the code - the server address

The same site where I found her photos

96 screenshots and 87 new photos were still waiting in the upload queue

What we did in the next hour:

1. Screen-recorded everything as evidence
2. Turned off device admin, then removed the app
3. Changed 14 passwords from my laptop, not her phone
4. Turned on 2FA everywhere
5. Reported the folder to the hosting company

2 days later the folder was gone

But someone held her unlocked phone for a few minutes, 41 days ago

She still doesn't know who

Your must have 3-minute check tonight after saving this post:

1. Battery - anything draining power with the screen off
2. Photos - only your camera and gallery need "all photos"
3. Accessibility - every app there needs a reason to be there
4. Device admin - most people only need "Find My Device"
5. Hidden apps - no icon + "system", "sync" or "health" in the name = check it

Found something? Don't delete it on the spot. Screenshot everything, then remove it and change your passwords from a different device

Prompt below ↓

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

Settle this: does Matrix-style rain belong on a developer's desktop, or is that too on the nose?

A) Mandatory
B) Too on the nose
C) Only in Amber, like a terminal from 1983

Reply with a letter.

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

The digital rain from the Matrix, but it's your actual desktop. Live, procedural, Apple silicon, one purchase.
https://t.co/2zEGSAWUjw

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

CipherRain has six native-font symbol styles. Which feels right for your desktop: Classic, Terminal or Dense?

From my app's actual native-renderer export; style switches are arranged for this demo.

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

I built CipherRain because every "Matrix wallpaper" I found was a twelve-second video with a visible seam. So I wrote a renderer instead. Native fonts, a Metal shader, procedural rain, your settings. It's a $4.99 Mac app now.

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

@UltraKingDragon O Lord, my God, is there no help for the widow's son?

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

@mhp_guy Hey Chris ! Check out my YouTube ! I’ve been suing ai to help with everything on it

https://t.co/PiSLPB0PBV

[CipherRain: Code Wallpaper @AlyxanderPierce]

1999 called. It wants its aesthetic back. I said no and made it a Mac wallpaper.