Salvatore D'Agostino (he/him)

IDmachines= consented surveillance, mobility and access; privacy+security standards, AIoT, years on a rubgy pitch, 8 minutes as professional wrestler

[Chris Matthieu @chrismatthieu]

I would love to build one of these devices using a 90FPS @RealSenseai stereo depth camera!

[Salvatore D'Agostino (he/him) @IDmachines]

Key Insights to Using OSDP Secure Channel (Webinar Recording) https://t.co/upxaL9CxD3 via @YouTube

[Archaeo - Histories @archeohistories]

In 1995 McArthur Wheeler robbed two banks with lemon juice on his face believing it would make him invisible to security cameras like invisible ink. He even smiled at the cameras and was caught within hours. His case inspired the research that led to the discovery of the Dunning Kruger effect.

In the spring of 1995, McArthur Wheeler walked into two banks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to carry out robberies. What made the case unusual wasn’t the crime itself but his belief in a bizarre “getaway tactic.” Wheeler had smeared lemon juice on his face, convinced it would render him invisible to security cameras. His reasoning came from the fact that lemon juice can be used as invisible ink, only becoming visible when exposed to heat. He mistakenly assumed the same principle applied to surveillance footage.

When police reviewed the tapes, Wheeler was easily identifiable, he even looked directly at the cameras and smiled, confident in his “invisibility.” Within hours, police arrested him. Shocked at being caught, Wheeler reportedly exclaimed: “But I wore the juice!”

The case caught the attention of psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger. They were fascinated not just by Wheeler’s flawed logic but by his absolute confidence in it. This became the foundation for their groundbreaking research into cognitive bias. In 1999, they published their study on what is now called the Dunning-Kruger effect: a psychological phenomenon where people with limited knowledge or skill greatly overestimate their competence.

Wheeler’s lemon-juice blunder has since become a textbook example of this effect. It demonstrates how ignorance isn’t simply the absence of knowledge, it can foster misplaced certainty. His case, though humorous in hindsight, underscores a universal human flaw: the less we know, the more likely we are to overestimate our abilities.

© History Pictures

#archaeohistories

[Andrej Karpathy @karpathy]

I was inspired by this so I wanted to see if Claude Code can get into my Lutron home automation system.

- it found my Lutron controllers on the local wifi network
- checked for open ports, connected, got some metadata and identified the devices and their firmware
- searched the internet, found the pdf for my system
- instructed me on what button to press to pair and get the certificates
- it connected to the system and found all the home devices (lights, shades, HVAC temperature control, motion sensors etc.)
- it turned on and off my kitchen lights to check that things are working (lol!)

I am now vibe coding the home automation master command center, the potential is 🔥.And I'm throwing away the crappy, janky, slow Lutron iOS app I've been using so far. Insanely fun :D :D

[Web Design Museum @WebDesignMuseum]

Happy 35th Birthday WorldWideWeb – the first browser!

On December 25, 1990, at CERN, a British physicist and internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee created the world's first web browser, called WorldWideWeb.

Try the browser emulator https://t.co/1ZxhMhVTFj

#InternetHistory

[Alex Veremeyenko @alex_verem]

OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google AI engineers use 10 internal prompting techniques that guarantee near-perfect accuracy…and nobody outside the labs is supposed to know them.

Here are 10 of them (Save this for later):

[Salvatore D'Agostino (he/him) @IDmachines]

@naomibrockwell Take a look at our Transparency Performance Indicators (TPIs) https://t.co/Ix1dkqaqOQ

[Bridget Brink @AmbBridgetBrink]

The Trump family has amassed a $4 billion fortune since his re-election.

During my time as Ambassador, I was accused of "focusing too intensely on the issue of corruption." There's no such thing.

We need leaders who serve the people — not themselves.
https://t.co/4CzSLLS5FK

[The Atlantic @TheAtlantic]

For 20 minutes, Americans watched Donald Trump address the nation, “drenched in pure panic as he tried to bully an entire nation into admitting he’s doing a great job,” @RadioFreeTom argues: https://t.co/bQqHezypMW

[The Associated Press @AP]

The AP has tracked more than 140 cases of sabotage and disruption that Western officials blame on Russia. They say Moscow wants to drain Europe's investigative resources.

[Biometric Update @BiometricUpdate]

Indonesia rolling out biometric SIM card registration in 2026

6 month pilot starts in January ahead of mandatory enforcement

#biometrics #identityverification

https://t.co/IEPqZ21sLs

[Rep. Joyce Beatty @RepBeatty]

For the record. This was not unanimous. I was muted on the call and not allowed to speak or voice my opposition to this  move. Also for the record, this was not on the agenda. This was not consensus. This is censorship.

[MIT CSAIL @MIT_CSAIL]

Born #otd in 1913: Sister Mary Kenneth Keller, who helped develop Basic. In 1965, she became the first woman to earn a PhD in computer science in the US: https://t.co/6srBMag7pU

[HustleBitch @HustleBitch_]

🚨 AN ATTORNEY PAID CASH AT WALMART WITH NO PHONE - AND THEY STILL KNEW EXACTLY WHAT HE BOUGHT

This man - a practicing attorney - walked into Walmart with no phone, no app, no Bluetooth, no smartwatch, no earbuds, nothing that could track him.
He paid cash for a USB cable and left like it was 1998.

Hours later… Walmart emails him asking him to rate the exact product he bought.
Same item. Same store. Same timestamp.
A purchase that should’ve been completely untraceable.

He didn’t use the app.
He didn’t log in.
He didn’t scan anything.
He didn’t bring ANY electronic device - he literally tried to pull out his phone to show the employee, realized he didn’t have it, and had to play charades to explain the cable he needed.

So how did Walmart tag that anonymous, cash-only purchase back to him?

Facial recognition at checkout?
AI purchase linking?
Database matching?
Or something they haven’t admitted publicly yet?

If even an attorney can’t make a “private” cash purchase… what chance does the rest of America have?

[Juliette Kayyem @juliettekayyem]

“The National Guard is stranded somewhere on this battlefield of partisan politics. They are not ready for this arena, and we should never have asked them to be. Politics is not a military mission.”

I wrote for @TheAtlantic.

https://t.co/Rpz5rRdRt4

[Salvatore D'Agostino (he/him) @IDmachines]

https://t.co/JuHcXVEu2W No Pat McInally?

[Salvatore D'Agostino (he/him) @IDmachines]

https://t.co/JuHcXVEu2W No @DanJiggetts ?

[Biometric Update @BiometricUpdate]

RealSense, TACC tackle ethics of face biometric access control

IDmachines joins for webinar on enterprise facial authentication

@RealSenseai @IDmachines #accesscontrol #biometrics #webinar

https://t.co/mVyJFJtHoY

[Chris Matthieu @chrismatthieu]

Mark your calendars. 📅

On September 30, #RealSense’s Mike Nielsen, The Access Control Collective’s Lee Odess, and @IDmachines Salvatore D’Agostino sit down to discuss the topic on everyone’s minds: Ethical #FacialAuthentication. 👓

It’s the technology redefining access control — and it’s never been more important to deploy it in a secure and responsible way.

🔐Secure your spot now and step towards the future with us: https://t.co/9vY6yc6wPT

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

We don’t yet know what motivated the person who shot and killed Charlie Kirk, but this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy. Michelle and I will be praying for Charlie’s family tonight, especially his wife Erika and their two young children.