However, this project existed just the same. As far as I can tell, the Twitter and blog for the project have not been active since late October and I'm not sure if there's any life to it anymore.
https://github.com/bluesky-social/atproto/issues/255#issueco...
This I strongly agree.
Double @ just look so ugly.
Sure why not? Make ActivityPub work over SMTP doesn't sounds like a bad idea.
BlueSky is closer to decentralized SNS, where as AP is actively seeking to become a federated SNS. BlueSky uses DID and independent data repositories, which allows freely migrating b/w instances. AP simply does federation b/w rather classical blog hosting apps.
DID is Decentralized IDentifier. It's a design for decentralized identity registries, independent of central ID providers and authorities. Anyone can verify identity without going through the issuer. This is generally considered as a blockchain tech, though the spec is written in a generic way.