Lots has been written about whether Elon Musk can sustain Twitter based on the amount he’s saddled it with.
In the New York Times:
The $44 billion acquisition was the largest leveraged buyout of a technology company in history. To do the deal, Mr. Musk, the world’s richest man, loaded about $13 ...
October 31, 2022
I’m really heartened to see old-school blogging have a mini-resurgence. I’ve got no idea if it’ll stick, but for now, my feed reader is aglow with posts that run the gamut from quick thoughts to long-form essays, often illustrated with personal photographs. More of this, please. Much more of this.
My ...
October 31, 2022
Two approaches to online writing communities. ...
October 30, 2022
I’m having trouble shaking today from my bones, so consider this post an attempted exorcism.
As I sit down to write, this was a day when a man broke into the Speaker of the House’s home in San Francisco, armed with a hammer, with the apparent intent of attacking her. When ...
October 29, 2022
I get multiple emails a day asking to pay to place a post on my website.
As of today, here’s the message I’m replying with:
Thanks for reaching out.
I don't accept paid posts on my website as such. I'm considering adding a monthly sponsor, which would give you an ad in the ...
October 28, 2022
I made a website that only works if you’re smiling at it.
(Caveat: it doesn’t seem to work on iPhone very well, and I’m not sure about Android, but I’ve tested it across browsers on desktop and iPad.)
Behind the scenes it uses face-api.js to identify your emotion from your webcam, and ...
October 28, 2022
Over the last week I’ve found myself, many times, wanting to phone my mother. “I should tell Ma,” I’ll think, and it’ll take me a beat to remember. I can’t tell Ma. Ma’s gone.
In the little library nook that sat in the corner of my primary school classroom, 35 years ...
October 27, 2022
Regardless of what happens after the Elon Musk acquisition (if it even still goes through!), I’ve been thinking a lot about the effect social media - and particular, Twitter - has had on me, and how to change my relationship to it.
Alongside the sentiments of a lot of power users, ...
October 26, 2022
I’ve been thinking about how I use my computer, and why I’m so dissatisfied with the experience. Here’s what I think, in a nutshell:
My computer, as currently set up, is application-centric (or, if I wanted to be really uncharitable, brand-centric). If I want to save a note, I’ve got to ...
October 26, 2022
A lot of people ask me how to get started blogging. I figure a lot more are going to want to know how as the major social media sites start to fade. So I made you a guide!
Get Blogging! is your easy-to-use guide to starting to blog. It covers picking ...
October 24, 2022
Elon Musk needs to complete his acquisition of Twitter by October 28 if he wants to avoid the company’s lawsuit against him. That’s really soon - a week from today as I write this post.
The network has been a part of my life more or less since it launched. I’ve ...
October 21, 2022
Every single day, I receive at least one email asking if I’ll accept cash for adding a link to someone’s website in an old post.
I won’t. Not ever. Please stop asking.
I can imagine a world where, if my website and newsletter became more of a full-time endeavor, I’d accept patronage. ...
October 21, 2022
Over in Platformer, Casey Newton reports that MailChimp’s CEO Ben Chestnut left after writing an ill-advised email about sharing personal pronouns during onboarding:
“Now, everything is incredibly politicized,” he said in the email. “I am finding that peeps are no longer motivated by meaningful work – they are motivated to make ...
October 21, 2022
We’re hosting a conversation about the future of the workforce, in-person in Austin, Texas, and streaming online everywhere. It’s free to register and attend.
Here’s more about the event:
From the Great Resignation to the Great Reshuffle, our working lives have transformed during the pandemic — especially in terms of the economic ...
October 19, 2022
I tend to get my links from three sources: my feed subscriptions, links I find on social media (particularly using Twitter Blue’s excellent “top articles from people you follow” feature), and stuff that people send me directly.
If I read something and find it particularly interesting, I’ll save it to a ...
October 18, 2022
At The 19th, we’re running our annual community survey. If you’ve read a story on The 19th, or if you’re a woman or LGBTQ+ person, or are interested in policy and democracy news that affects women and LGBTQ+ people, we’d love to hear from you.
Complete our annual survey and you’ll ...
October 17, 2022
Last week, I asked you about your fiction-reading habits as part of my research for a personal project I’m working on.
I also ran a separate survey on Google Surveys - getting in just before that service shuts down next month - to get a sense of what the average web ...
October 17, 2022
JP Morgan cancelled Kanye West’s bank accounts following his anti-semitic remarks today.
Over the last few years, a raft of “free speech” social networks have emerged as an alternative to the content policies enacted by companies like Twitter. They take very public anti “cancel culture” stances. But what does that really ...
October 13, 2022
For a new project, I’d love to understand how you read fiction. In particular, I’d love to know what your favorite topics are, which books you particularly love, and how you discover new books to read.
So I put together a short, anonymous survey. It shouldn’t take more than a few ...
October 11, 2022
I’ll follow Doctor Who anywhere - I’ve been a fan since I was five years old - but the trailer for the BBC Centennial episode left me cold, even despite the welcomed presence of Ace and Tegan.
It’s had some criticism, and there were some clunkers (hello, Kerblam), but I’ve broadly ...
October 9, 2022
Towards the electric car as an open platform. ...
October 9, 2022
Two website updates:
Inspired by Dave Winer’s FeedLand, I now publish a live view of my sources at sources.werd.io. I start every day with my feeds, and this page is powered by those exact same subscriptions. So as I curate my list, the page at sources.werd.io will update automatically, and you ...
October 5, 2022
Notable links, websites, and apps for September ...
October 1, 2022