Sr. Content Developer at Microsoft, working remotely in PA, TechBash conference organizer, former Microsoft MVP, Husband, Dad and Geek.
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Seeing MCP

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I am talking to a number of folks about documenting their MCP servers. Others about discovering them. Others about governing them. Generally, we are mostly talking about being able to just see the MCP wave of API expansion that has occurred across your average enterprises. This expansion phase isn’t much different than previous waves of REST, GraphQL, gRPC, Websockets, and Kafka expansions–it just happened faster and wider that most of those.

I published a prototype API docs that generates documentation for API, MCP, and Agent Skills side by side last week. I called the POC, “See”. I am a big fan of “seeing APIs” and “seeing integrations”. I’ve been doing about an hour of research a week into what is happening when it comes to MCP documentation, discovery, and other goings on with MCP at the core and the edges. There isn’t a lot of service or tooling for the seeing of MCP that is required for governance of APIs, and general attitudes seem to be that AI will do the seeing for us.

While I am not convinced that what has helped us find and see APIs historically will translate into helping us see the next generation of APIs, but I am also not convinced that AI will help us discover and see all of our APIs, and the skills, SDKs, and clients needed to engage with those APIs. I want to clarify here–MCP is an API. I see Microsoft, Google, and others going all in on their developer education being delivered via MCP, and I suspect more of the resources that occurs within developers will be shifted to be available via MCP, with as much of the activity as we can will be driven by skills.

I don’t think we will be able see what we need to see in an API-powered chat interface. And since agent’s don’t see, I know they won’t be able to see everything we need. They will help see a lot of what exists in the cracks and shadows that we couldn’t see historically with APIs, but there will be entirely new blind spots to wrestle with. I am finding some really interesting ways of seeing APIs and their properties at scale using machine-readable artifacts, which is enabled using Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. I will keep pushing forward automation to help discover and document APIs, as well as visualizations that help us see all of that. I am most interested in doing it in ephemeral and evolving ways, rather than the static or even dynamic ways we’ve done historically.

Seeing APIs is a massively unsolved problems. We just expanded that problem 1000x with AI and MCP. Just as we were beginning to get a hadle on the governance of HTTP APIs, we’ve expanded our API sprawl using GraphQL, Kafka, gRPC, and now MCP. There is so much more to see. There is so much more work to be done. With most people’s strategy that AI will sort it out for us. I hope y’all are right.



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alvinashcraft
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Celebrating Thirty Years of the Internet Archive with the ‘Class of 1996’

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Before feeds, before algorithms, there was the Class of 1996: websites & organizations founded (or expanded) in 1996, like the Internet Archive.

On the occasion of the Internet Archive’s 30th anniversary, we’re opening the internet’s yearbook to celebrate the sites, services & scrappy experiments that helped shape the web as we know it. From class leaders like Center for Democracy and Technology to cultural icons like The Onion to the archivists making sure none of it disappears, this is a reunion worth attending.

Some are still thriving. Some have changed beyond recognition. Some are already gone. All of them remind us: the early web wasn’t just built, it was lived in.

THE MORE YOU KNOW: Did you know that some publishers are blocking the Wayback Machine from archiving their sites, putting decades of reporting and cultural history at risk of disappearing from the public record? If the web’s past matters — and the Class of 1996 reminds us that it doesnow is the time to speak up. Add your name to the petition calling on publishers to stop blocking the Wayback Machine and help ensure the internet’s history remains accessible for future generations.


Class of 1996

Class President — Center for Democracy and Technology

The Center for Democracy and Technology didn’t just show up—they helped write the rules of the internet. And 30 years later, they’re still fighting to keep it open.

Class President

Go Wayback to 1996: https://web.archive.org/web/19961022174718/https://cdt.org/


Most Likely to Fix Your Computer — CNET

Before YouTube & TikTok tutorials, there was CNET, walking you through every crash, install & “have you tried turning it off and on again?”

Go Wayback to 1996: https://web.archive.org/web/19961221064020/http://www.cnet.com/


Best Dressed — eBay

eBay—Where the outfit and the backstory come with it. Vintage, rare, unforgettable…just like the early web.

Go Wayback to 1999: https://web.archive.org/web/19990117033159/http://pages.ebay.com/aw/index.html


Most Popular (Or Knows Who Is) — Alexa Internet

Before “trending,” there were rankings, and Alexa told us who ruled the web. (RIP to a real one.)

Go Wayback to 1997: https://web.archive.org/web/19970530104435/http://www.alexa.com/


Most Changed Since Freshman Year — Google

From a dorm room experiment to organizing the world’s information. Some people really did peak after high school.

Go Wayback to 1998: https://web.archive.org/web/19981111183552/http://google.stanford.edu/


Most Helpful — Ask Jeeves

Ask a question. Get an answer. Preferably in complete sentences. The internet had a butler once & he was awesome.

Go Wayback to 1996: https://web.archive.org/web/19961219064854/http://www.askjeeves.com/


Class Clown — The Onion

Making us laugh at the news online since 1996 & occasionally making it feel a little too real.

Go Wayback to 1996: https://web.archive.org/web/19961219015005/http://theonion.com/


Best Hair — Unofficial Spice Girls Fan Site

Before social media, fandom lived here: glitter text, tiled backgrounds & serious ‘Wannabe’ hair.

Go Wayback to 1996: https://web.archive.org/web/19961229144915/http://spicegirls.com/


Cutest Couple — World Wide Web Consortium & Cascading Style Sheets

Structure meets style. The web’s ultimate power couple & still going strong.

Go Wayback to 1996: https://web.archive.org/web/19961227091242/https://www.w3.org/


Most Athletic — 1996 Summer Olympics Website

One of the first times the whole world followed the games online. Faster, higher, more digital.

Go Wayback to 1996: https://web.archive.org/web/19961223003700/http://www.atlanta.olympic.org/


Most Talkative — ICQ & Hotmail

The beginning of being always reachable…for better or worse.

Go Wayback to 1997: https://web.archive.org/web/19971210072826/http://www.icq.com/

https://web.archive.org/web/19971210171246/http://hotmail.com


Most Likely to Save Everything — Internet Archive

Because the web isn’t forever, unless someone saves it.

Go Wayback to 1996: https://web.archive.org/web/19970126045828/http://www.archive.org/


Most Likely to LAN Party — Quake

Before Twitch streams there were cables, pizza & Quake. You had to be there (literally).

Go Wayback to 1996: https://web.archive.org/web/19961220085409/http://www.idsoftware.com/


Most Quotable — Salon

Smart, sharp & written to be shared.

Go Wayback to 1998: https://web.archive.org/web/19981212032509/http://www.salon1999.com/

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World Passkey Day: Advancing passwordless authentication

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World Passkey Day is a chance to reflect on progress toward a shared goal: reducing our reliance on passwords and other phishable authentication methods by accelerating passkey adoption. As cyberattacks become more automated and AI-powered, each account is only as secure as its weakest credential. Real progress requires more than adding stronger sign-in options—it requires removing phishable credentials and strengthening common attack paths like recovery flows. In partnership with the FIDO Alliance, Microsoft is committed to advancing passkey adoption through ongoing standards work, active participation in working groups, and other contributions to a passwordless future.

Passwords remain a major source of risk; they’re difficult to manage and easy to steal. Along with weaker forms of multifactor authentication, they’re also highly vulnerable to phishing: AI-powered campaigns drive click-through rates as high as 54%.1 In response, Microsoft is expanding passkey adoption across our ecosystem. We’re reducing reliance on legacy authentication and strengthening account recovery so it won’t become a backdoor for cyberattackers.

“Instead of vulnerable secrets or potentially identifiable personal information, a passkey uses a private key stored safely on the user’s device. It only works on the website or app for which the user created it, and only if that same user unlocks it with their biometrics or PIN. This means passkey users can’t be tricked into signing in to a malicious lookalike website, and a passkey is unusable unless the user is present and consenting. These are some qualities that make passkeys a ‘phishing-resistant’ form of authentication.”

From Microsoft Digital Defense Report.

Passkey adoption continues to grow industry wide

Passkey adoption is accelerating: FIDO Alliance estimates 5 billion passkeys already in use worldwide.2 Across Microsoft’s consumer services, including OneDrive, Xbox, and Copilot, hundreds of millions of users sign in with passkeys every day.

There are many reasons to choose passkeys as the standard authentication method over passwords. Sign-in success rates are significantly higher than with passwords, and exposure to credential-based attacks is significantly lower.3 Organizations and individual users alike prefer the simpler, more secure sign-in experience passkeys offer.4

Inside Microsoft, we’ve eliminated weaker authentication methods and rolled out phishing-resistant authentication, covering 99.6% of users and devices in our environment.5 It’s made signing in a lot simpler: no codes to enter, no extra prompts to manage, just a straightforward experience for everyone.

Product updates across sign-in and recovery

Across Microsoft, we’ve been steadily building passkey support into every layer of the identity experience from consumer accounts to enterprise access with Microsoft Entra, and from device-based authentication like Windows Hello to Microsoft’s password manager. This work ensures people can create and use passkeys wherever they sign in, with a consistent, phishing-resistant experience across devices, apps, and environments.

To make passkeys more accessible, we’re expanding where and how people can use them:

  • Synced passkeys and passkey profiles in Microsoft Entra ID make it easier to scale passwordless sign-in across diverse environments. We’re expanding flexibility in cloud passkey management, including support for larger and more complex policies, and transitioning tenants to a unified passkey profile model.
  • Entra passkeys on Windows make it simple for users to create and use device-bound passkeys directly on personal or unmanaged Windows devices using Windows Hello, and will be generally available in late May 2026.
  • Passkeys for Microsoft Entra External ID will be generally available late May 2026, so your customer-facing applications can offer a more seamless, consumer-grade sign-in experience.
  • Passkey-preferred authentication in Microsoft Entra ID (preview) detects registered methods and prompts the strongest one first. If a passkey is registered, that’s what the user sees—immediately. 
  • On the consumer side, with Microsoft Password Manager, users can now save and sync passkeys across devices signed in with their Microsoft account, with support for iOS and Android rolling out soon through Microsoft Edge. 

Account recovery also plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity of identity systems. Historically, it’s been vulnerable to cyberattackers who try to hijack the recovery process, for example by impersonating legitimate users and requesting new credentials.

Microsoft Entra ID account recovery, generally available today, strengthens security for recovery flows by enabling users to regain access to their accounts through a robust identity verification process. Users can regain access after losing all authentication methods by using government-issued ID and biometric face checks. At general availability, we are expanding our identity verification ecosystem with two new partners—1Kosmos and CLEAR1—joining our existing partners Au10tix, IDEMIA, and TrueCredential. 

Removing phishable credentials from user accounts

Strengthening authentication is important, but reducing risk means eliminating phishable credentials entirely. Microsoft is continuing to phase out legacy methods and move users toward phishing-resistant authentication. Starting in January 2027, security questions will be removed as a password reset option in Microsoft Entra ID due to their susceptibility to guessing and social engineering.

The rationale is straightforward: improving strong methods while removing weak ones shrinks the attack surface. This is increasingly urgent as AI agents act on behalf of users. If an identity is compromised, cyberattackers can leverage those agents to access systems, execute workflows, and operate within existing permissions. Organizations need to address this risk quickly.

A more secure and usable future

Last year, Microsoft joined dozens of organizations in taking the Passkey Pledge, a commitment to accelerating the adoption of phishing-resistant authentication and to moving beyond passwords. Since then, we’ve seen meaningful progress, from hundreds of millions of better-protected consumer accounts to large-scale deployments across organizations like our own.

What once felt like a long-term shift is finally gaining real momentum: authentication is becoming simpler, safer, and passwordless.

For a more in-depth perspective on how cyberattackers try to bypass authentication through fallback methods and recovery flows—and how to address those gaps—read our companion post.

Getting started

Organizations that want to strengthen their identity security posture can enable passkeys for their users and extend policy protections across both sign-in and recovery scenarios.

Get started with a phishing-resistant passwordless authentication deployment in Microsoft Entra ID.

Individuals can create and use passkeys for their personal accounts for better security and convenience.

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and X (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.


1Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2025.

2FIDO Alliance reports mainstream global usage on World Passkey Day. FIDO Alliance, 2026.

3Synced passkeys and high assurance account recovery, Microsoft Entra blog. December 16, 2025.

4FIDO Alliance Champions Widespread Passkey Adoption and a Passwordless Future on World Passkey Day 2025, FIDO News Center. May 1, 2025.

5Microsoft Security and Future Initiative (SFI) Progress Report—November 2025.

The post World Passkey Day: Advancing passwordless authentication appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

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alvinashcraft
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Azure Cosmos DB Conf 2026 Highlights

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From: Microsoft Developer
Duration: 1:31
Views: 17

If you're building with Azure Cosmos DB — or thinking about it — check out Cosmos Conf 2026 on demand content.
Real engineers shared what actually works in production: how they design for scale, control cost, and avoid the pitfalls that don’t show up in docs.

▶️ Complete Azure Cosmos DB Conf 2026 Playlist Includes all talks plus exclusive on demand only sessions -- https://aka.ms/CosmosConf26Playlist
👉 Try Azure Cosmos DB For Free -- https://aka.ms/try-cosmos-free-confplaylist-yt

A few of the moments in this recap:
• AI doesn't remove the need for reliability, security, and performance — it raises the bar
• Supporting vibe-coded apps that go viral overnight
• Using Copilot to review and improve your Azure Cosmos DB data model live
• Memory as an architectural decision, not a checkbox — driving cost, recall quality, and UX
• Built for AI: DiskANN vector search, hybrid + full-text, zero to millions of RU/s, zero bytes to petabytes
• Time-travel your data to reconstruct the past and replay new scenarios
• How one team rescued an AI system that was costing way too much money

The conversation doesn't end here. Explore the full on-demand library and we'll see you next year.

💼 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/azure-cosmos-db/

#CosmosConf #AzureCosmosDB #AI #VectorSearch #BuildWithAI

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Playwright for .NET apps - Meet Uno Platform's MCP Tools!

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From: UnoPlatform
Duration: 20:45
Views: 14

Building web apps? You likely love Playwright. 💜 But what about native Desktop/Mobile apps? ⁉️

Uno Platform brings the same automation. 💪
So, Playwright for .NET apps on web/desktop/mobile.
Power through MCP Servers. 🎉

☑️ Agentic workflows initialized & grounded in Docs
☑️ MCP Tools for app interactivity
☑️ Confidence with validated app runtime behaviors

No more guessing. Automate app testing. AI Agents work for you with the right tools.

Learn more:
Uno Platform: https://platform.uno/
Uno Platform Blogs: https://platform.uno/blog/
Uno Platform Docs: https://platform.uno/docs/articles/intro.html
Uno Platform Discord: https://discord.com/invite/XjsmQHdKfq

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145: BMW iX3 US Pricing & Range Impresses + Rivian R2 Truck Rumors Resurfacing!

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In this episode:

  • BMW official price and range figures for the iX3 revealed
  • Rivian R2 variants confirmed, pickup speculated
  • How the price of gas is or isn’t affecting EV sales in the US 




Download audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/audioboom.com/posts/8900618.mp3?modified=1778167974&sid=5141110&source=rss
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