My employer won a Pulitzer
ProPublica, the newsroom I work for as Senior Director of Technology, won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service journalism for its work on Supreme Court justices’ beneficial relationships with...
View ArticleNovel attack against virtually all VPN apps neuters their entire purpose
"Researchers have devised an attack against nearly all virtual private network applications that forces them to send and receive some or all traffic outside of the encrypted tunnel designed to protect...
View ArticleBrowsers imply noopener for links in new tab
A small web development thing I’d missed until yesterday:When you want a link to open a page in a new tab, you’ve long been able to add the attribute target="_blank" to the tag. The problem was, that...
View ArticleOptions are a lottery ticket
Update: I wrote a longer post that explains this argument less flippantly and in more detail.This post is anecdotal and should not be considered to be investment advice.A company I used to be...
View Article40 years later, a game for the ZX Spectrum will be once again broadcast over...
"There were times when Sinclair ZX Spectrum games were copied over the radio waves across Slovenia. Radio Študent broadcast screeching, beeping and whining, which we recorded on tape and played a game...
View ArticleBookending
"Here’s a small trick that worked for me over the dozen years I led remote teams: at the end of your working day, shut down every app on your machine. Yes, all of them. Stash your tabs somewhere if...
View ArticleMeet AdVon, the AI-Powered Content Monster Infecting the Media Industry
"We found the company's phony authors and their work everywhere from celebrity gossip outlets like Hollywood Life and Us Weekly to venerable newspapers like the Los Angeles Times, the latter of which...
View ArticleStack Overflow bans users en masse for rebelling against OpenAI partnership —...
"Users who disagree with having their content scraped by ChatGPT are particularly outraged by Stack Overflow's rapid flip-flop on its policy concerning generative AI. For years, the site had a...
View ArticlePalantir's earnings call rhetoric is terrifying
Mark Nottingham highlighted this alarming quote by CEO Alex Karp from the latest Palantir earnings call:I think the central risk to Palantir and America and the world is a regressive way of thinking...
View ArticleA letter to Russell T Davies
Here’s what I would say to Russell T Davies if I could:One of my very first television memories is sitting watching Peter Davison’s Doctor (and reruns of Tom Baker’s) on a tiny 12” TV set, my face...
View ArticleSlop is the new name for unwanted AI-generated content
Simon Willison has a perfect name for unreviewed content that is shared with other people: "slop". He goes on: "I’m happy to use LLMs for all sorts of purposes, but I’m not going to use them to...
View ArticleAn Interview With Jack Dorsey
This interview is as interesting for what it doesn't mention - fediverse, for example - as for what it does.This helps explain why he distanced himself from Bluesky after he'd previously established...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Some ShareOpenly updates
It’s been a little over a month since I launched ShareOpenly, my simple tool that lets you add a “share to social media” button to your website which is compatible with the fediverse, Bluesky,...
View ArticleMonetizing ShareOpenly
I was asked if I’m planning to monetize ShareOpenly.Short answer: I have no plans to do so. This is a personal project.If it’s wildly successful and the infrastructure costs skyrocket, I may look for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Think twice before exercising your stock options
I recently wrote a short aside about stock options:But in general, for regular employees, I think options are rarely worth it. They typically require an up-front investment that many employees simply...
View ArticleThe itch
I’m really itching to build something new again.Not a new widget or open source project, but a new service. Something that makes peoples’ lives better.I love startups. And the ideas are brewing.
View ArticleAbortion bans drive away young talent: New CNBC/Generation Lab survey
"The youngest generation of American workers is prepared to move away from states that pass abortion bans and to turn down job offers in states where bans are already in place, a new survey from...
View ArticleBritish newspaper groups warn Apple over ad-blocking plans, FT reports
"British newspaper groups have warned Apple that any move to impose a so-called "web eraser" tool to block advertisements would put the financial sustainability of journalism at risk, the Financial...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Philadelphia Inquirer is here to fight
SEPTA - the South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority — trains are covered with these ads for the Philadelphia Inquirer:I’m curious to know if they actually work. They feel very negative to...
View ArticleThe SF Bay Area Has Become The Undisputed Leader In AI Tech And Funding Dollars
"Last year, more than 50% of all global venture funding for AI-related startups went to companies headquartered in the Bay Area, Crunchbase data shows, as a cluster of talent congregates in the...
View Article