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Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

My most controversial opinion is that they should reboot Red Dwarf

Okay, I know, but hear me out. If you haven’t encountered it, Red Dwarf was an 80s / 90s science fiction comedy that has definitely aged interestingly, but still has a solid fanbase. Lister, a low-ranking engineer on the mining spaceship Red Dwarf is put into stasis as punishment for

11 Dec 2024

Culture

The “Bird and Baby” grows up: inside the new Eagle & Child

[The Oxford Clarion] I grew up in Oxford, and the Eagle and Child is one of my favorite pubs from back home. I'm also a longtime critic of certain big companies, Larry Ellison's Oracle among them. So imagine my dismay when I heard this: "The

08 Dec 2024

Technology

Reclaim the internet: Mozilla’s rebrand for the next era of tech

[Lindsey Lionheart O'Brien at Mozilla Distilled] This is a rebrand and reorientation for Mozilla: "Mozilla isn’t just another tech company — we’re a global crew of activists, technologists and builders, all working to keep the internet free, open and accessible. For over 25 years, we’ve

08 Dec 2024

Media

The publisher is always right

[Gabe Schneider in Nieman Lab's Predictions for Journalism, 2025] This is important: "It’s not so much a prediction as a necessity: We must abandon publications and platforms that fail to center our values in favor of newsrooms that actually care for us, our families, our neighbors,

06 Dec 2024

Technology

Australia's ban on social media for teens is a mistake

[Mathew Ingram] As Mathew Ingram points out, Australia's new social media law is a well-intentioned error. He quotes an Australian human rights commission dissent which points out that: "For children in marginalised, remote, or vulnerable situations, social media offers a lifeline. It connects children with disability to

05 Dec 2024

Society

The War on Poverty Is Over. Rich People Won.

[Annie Lowrey at The Atlantic] This older interview with Matthew Desmond is doing the rounds again, and I discovered it for the first time. If you haven't read his books Evicted, and Poverty, by America, you owe it to yourself to do that. They're revealing, important

05 Dec 2024

Fediverse

Threads takes an important baby step toward true fediverse integration

[Wes Davis at The Verge] Threads added a little more fediverse support: "While fediverse posts won’t show in feeds, Instagram head Adam Mosseri says their profile and posts do appear on Threads, and you have the option to get notifications when they publish. That’s something, at least.

05 Dec 2024

Technology

FTC Bans Location Data Company That Powers the Surveillance Ecosystem

[Joseph Cox at 404 Media] This is good to see: "The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced sweeping action against some of the most important companies in the location data industry on Tuesday, including those that power surveillance tools used by a wide spread of U.S. law enforcement agencies

03 Dec 2024

Technology

These Tech Firms Won’t Tell Us If They Will Help Trump Deport Immigrants

[Sam Biddle at The Intercept] In the face of Trump's promise to conduct mass deportations, The Intercept set out to find out who in tech would be collaborators: "To see whether corporate America will support Trump’s promised anti-immigrant operation, The Intercept reached out to data and

03 Dec 2024

My OKRs for 2025

It’s December, somehow; the tail end of a stressful year, but also the precursor to another one that (and I’m sorry this isn’t the cheeriest prediction) somehow promises to be worse. Good times. How do we propose to survive it? Although I’m not a big resolutions

01 Dec 2024

Technology

Fourteen years

[Joel Gascoigne] I always appreciate Joel's updates. "Early on, my dream was just to create a tool that made it easy to Tweet consistently, build it for myself and others, and make enough money to cover my living expenses and go full-time on it. The number for

01 Dec 2024

Notable Links

The Twitter Board made a historic mistake and the World will pay the price.

[Ricardo Mendes] Ricardo argues that Twitter's sale to Elon Musk was one major factor that led to the rise of extremism worldwide, and that it should never have been allowed: The sale of Twitter to Musk should never have been allowed to proceed without serious scrutiny, oversight, or

30 Nov 2024
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Werd I/O explores the intersection of technology, democracy, and society. It's independently published by Ben Werdmuller, reader-supported, and always free to read.