Ben Werdmuller
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Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

A new Ani DiFranco album is something to celebrate

I’ve been following Ani DiFranco for decades. I’ve seen her play live around twenty times: she always brings a kind of joyful, progressive energy that leaves me motivated and buzzing. She has a new album out, and it feels like a return to visceral, honest form. It’s

17 May 2024

NotableLinks

Apple, SpaceX, Microsoft return-to-office mandates drove senior talent away

"Taken together, our findings imply that return to office mandates can imply significant human capital costs in terms of output, productivity, innovation, and competitiveness for the companies that implement them." There's no doubt that there's a lot of value in being in the same

17 May 2024

NotableLinks

Google’s broken link to the web

"A quarter-century into its existence, a company that once proudly served as an entry point to a web that it nourished with traffic and advertising revenue has begun to abstract that all away into an input for its large language models." This has the potential to be a

16 May 2024

NotableLinks

Mozilla Foundation Welcomes Nabiha Syed as Executive Director

This is great news for Mozilla, for everyone who uses the internet, and for everyone who cares about ethics, privacy, and human rights. We need a well-functioning Mozilla more than ever - and that much-needed presence has been absent for years. The spirit in the following quote gives me a

16 May 2024

NotableLinks

Former Far-Right Hard-Liner Says Billionaires Are Targeting Texas Public Education

"When Courtney Gore ran for a seat on her local school board in 2021, she warned about a movement to indoctrinate children with “leftist” ideology. After 2 1/2 years on the board, Gore said she believes a much different scheme is unfolding: an effort by wealthy conservative donors

15 May 2024

NotableLinks

Facebook news referrals: no sign of the slow-down stopping

"Aggregate Facebook traffic to a group of 792 news and media sites that have been tracked by Chartbeat since 2018 shows that referrals to the sites have plunged by 58%." I'll bang this drum forever: establish direct relationships with your audience. Do not trust social media

13 May 2024

NotableLinks

The 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 region." In other news, water is wet. There was a moment during the pandemic when it

13 May 2024

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 me: a pot-shot at the New York Times rather than an argument for why the Inquirer is great

13 May 2024

NotableLinks

British 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 Times reported on Sunday." Counterpoint: block the ads. The web is designed to be a flexible

12 May 2024

NotableLinks

Abortion 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 CNBC/Generation Lab finds." This stands to reason: why would you move to

12 May 2024

The 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.

11 May 2024

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 can’t make, so it’s a bit of a fake benefit to begin with, and their future

11 May 2024
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Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

Writing at the intersection of technology, journalism, and community.

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Ben Werdmuller explores the intersection of technology, democracy, and society. Always independently published, reader-supported, and free to read.