Hello, Social Web 👋🏼
[A New Social]I'm psyched about this announcement:"We're A New Social, a new non-profit organization focused on building cross-protocol tools and services for the open social web.[...] The first...
View ArticleCompanies issuing RTO mandates “lose their best talent”: Study
[Scharon Harding at Ars Technica]From the "gee, you don't say" department:"Return-to-office (RTO) mandates have caused companies to lose some of their best workers, a study tracking over 3 million...
View ArticleMeta Contributes to 178K EUR to OpenStreetMap
[OpenStreetMap]Meta has contributed 178,710 Euros (an oddly specific number!) to OpenStreetMap.On one level: hooray for people contributing to open source.On another: Meta has a $1.5 Trillion market...
View ArticleBiden Commutes 37 Death Sentences Ahead of Trump’s Plan to Resume Federal...
[Aishvarya Kavi]President Biden commuted the sentences of all but three prisoners on federal death row. (He doesn't have the power to pardon or commute the sentences of people held on state...
View ArticleProPublica’s Most-Read Stories of 2024
[ProPublica]While the website I work for is not the cheeriest place on the internet, its deeply-reported stories are some of the most vital and impactful. These are the most-read ProPublica stories of...
View ArticleWhy OpenAI’s Structure Must Evolve To Advance Our Mission
[OpenAI]OpenAI's for-profit arm is becoming a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation:"Our plan is to transform our existing for-profit into a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation(opens in a new window)...
View ArticleI’m Tired of Pretending Physical Media Isn’t Still Better Than Streaming Digital
[Sabrina Graves at Gizmodo]I agree with every word Sabrina Graves writes here. Streaming services are far worse. Physical media is better quality, comes with unrestricted access - and may actually...
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Creating a framework for living well
As part of a coaching exercise, I’ve been trying to describe what I want my life to look like. The idea is that if I’m armed a better understanding of what I’m aiming for, I’ll be able to make more...
View ArticleTerrifying thing I learned once: if you ...
Terrifying thing I learned once: if you donate your body to science it turns out they can also often use it for art.
View ArticleSecret Service Admits It Didn’t Check if People Really Consented to Being...
[Joseph Cox at 404 Media]The contracts and relationships that seemingly allow law enforcement and federal agencies to use private services and data brokers to monitor the activities of American...
View ArticleIf You Don’t Like Sales, Don’t Start a Company
[Hunter Walk]As Hunter points out, it's impossible to start a company without tackling sales, and you aren't absolved from it no matter which route you take:"If you avoid sales or are poor at it, you...
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Stuff I loved in 2024
For many of us, myself included, it’s been .. a year. Rather than rehash all of that again, I thought I’d mark the end of the year by just listing some things I’ve loved. Here you go.BooksJulia, by...
View ArticleMassive VW Data Leak Exposed 800,000 EV Owners’ Movements, From Homes To...
[Thanos Pappas at CarScoops]There are a few different levels to this story about the VW Group's terrible cybersecurity:"According to a new report from Germany, the VW Group stored sensitive...
View ArticleTech pace layers
[Ryan Barrett]Ryan Barrett takes Stewart Brand's Pace Layering and adapts it to model technology progress:"I’ve been a fan of Stewart Brand‘s Pace Layering for decades now. Really great framework for...
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Predictions for tech, 2025
You know what they say: predictions are like resurgent nationalist movements. Everyone’s got one.I missed the deadline for Nieman Lab’s always-excellent Predictions for Journalism this year, so I...
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Tintin and the fascists
As a child, I freaking adored Tintin, the Belgian comic strip about a boy detective and his little white dog, Snowy. There was something intoxicating about the mix: international adventures, a growing...
View ArticleTwenty twenty five
Hey, it’s 2025! Happy New Year. May it be better than we hope and fear.Here are my technology predictions for the year.Here are my resolutions / OKRs.Ready or not, here we go!
View ArticleHow a Mole Infiltrated the Highest Ranks of American Militias
[Joshua Kaplan at ProPublica]This ought to be a movie:"Posing as an ideological compatriot, Williams had penetrated the top ranks of two of the most prominent right-wing militias in the country. He’d...
View ArticleThings we learned about LLMs in 2024
[Things we learned about LLMs in 2024]Simon's overview of what happened in the LLM space during 2024 is genuinely excellent. For example, on the environmental impact:"Companies like Google, Meta,...
View ArticleBeing More Like Republicans
[A.R. Moxon at The Reframe]An interesting election mortem and post-mortem, from an arguably refreshing perspective:"Here's what I think is going on: Our system is foundationally built to devour human...
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