Media
[Mike Masnick at Techdirt] Mike Masnick on why tech journalism has a huge part to play in decoding current events right now: "We’ve spent decades documenting how technology and entrepreneurship can either strengthen or undermine democratic institutions. We understand the dangers of concentrated power in the digital age.
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[Gaby Del Valle at The Verge] This is dystopian: "The Trump administration may soon demand the social media accounts of people applying for green cards, US citizenship, and asylum or refugee status. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) — the federal agency that oversees legal migration, proposed the new policy
So, yes, hi, I have a Tesla. It’s a long range Model 3 which I bought in 2021. After a career spent working on open source and mission-drive projects — right now I work for a non-profit newsroom; once upon a time I built a social networking platform for education
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[Andy Kroll at ProPublica] Cutting the IRS has nothing to do with government efficiency: "Unlike with other federal agencies, cutting the IRS means the government collects less money and finds fewer tax abuses. Economic studies have shown that for every dollar spent by the IRS, the agency returns between
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[Andrew Paul at McSweeney's] "I gotta be honest with you, though. I think the Outer God got the message loud and clear. Our tasteful combination of fashionably coordinated clothes, tiny paper fans with BAD! printed on them, and some of our sternest looks of disapproval to date
Much of the last decade or two of the tech industry has been dominated by the idea of the cloud: the simple, powerful idea that all of your applications and data can be accessed from any device with an internet connection. Enterprise businesses around the world have decommissioned server rooms
Startups
[Jean Hsu and Jen Dennard] This is a good inaugural post from two people who really have lived the startup operations life many times over: "We think of the operations part of a startup like getting dinner on the table. Sure, some days, you might try a new and
It’s Oscars day! I haven’t seen very many of the nominees this year, but of the ones I have, I need to make this recommendation: Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, nominated for best documentary picture, is brilliant. It’s an under-told part of American history, still highly
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[Ghost] Another really great update from the Ghost team about their progress implementing ActivityPub: "In our logs, that looks like our average request time dropping from 5+ seconds, to ~50ms: [...] There are still a few places where we're using the old database architecture that remain slow. We&
I’ve seen a lot of this sentiment lately, and can relate: I miss being excited by technology. I wish I could see a way out of the endless hype cycles that continue to elicit little more than cynicism from me. The version of technology that we’re mostly being
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[Natalie Alms at Nextgov/FCW] I'd say this was an unbelievable own-goal. But, unfortunately, it's believable: "The General Services Administration deleted 18F, a government tech consultancy that helps other agencies with their technology, early Saturday morning. The office has been deemed “non-critical,” Thomas Shedd, director
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[Mel Leonor Barclay and Jasmine Mithani at The 19th] The impact of this will be severe: "Organizations that provide services to LGBTQ+ victims of domestic and intimate partner violence expect much of the federal funding they rely on to dry up as the Trump administration’s executive orders target
