Ben Werdmuller
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Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

Democracy

How to get good fried rice

[Mike Monteiro] Such a great piece about language, discrimination, and how we can avoid limiting our own thoughts. It's all delivered through the lens of the MSG scare in the 1970s, which turns out to have been pretty racist: "Monosodium Glutamate is a flavor enhancer. Like salt,

17 May 2025

Startups

Great Startups Run on Feedback

[Jen Dennard at Startup Soup] A culture of open, direct feedback is important for any organization to foster. Jen Dennard has some great tips here: "Like most things, the key to getting the value is to make it a habit. Set aside time during 1:1s or make a

16 May 2025
Corey Ford at Matter Seven demo day

The mentor who changed my career (and might help you too)

Corey Ford just launched his new consultancy, Point C, and I couldn’t be more excited. He’s changed my professional life — more than once — through a kind of empathy-driven coaching I’ve never found anywhere else. He didn’t ask me to write this post, but I feel compelled

15 May 2025

Technology

Microsoft shuts off Bing Search APIs and recommends switching to AI

[Tom Warren at The Verge] File under: beware proprietary APIs. "Microsoft is shutting off access to its Bing Search results for third-party developers. The software maker quietly announced the change earlier this week, noting that Bing Search APIs will be retired on August 11th and that “any existing instances

15 May 2025

Notable links

Trump State Dept. Leaned on African Nations to Help Musk’s Starlink

[Joshua Kaplan, Brett Murphy, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski at ProPublica] From my colleagues on the newsroom side at ProPublica, a story about how the State Department pressured Gambia on behalf of Elon Musk's starlink: "Starlink, Musk’s satellite internet company, had spent months trying to secure

15 May 2025

Science

The World Is Wooing U.S. Researchers Shunned by Trump

[Patricia Cohen in The New York Times] This was inevitable: "As President Trump cuts billions of federal dollars from science institutes and universities, restricts what can be studied and pushes out immigrants, rival nations are hoping to pick up talent that has been cast aside or become disenchanted."

14 May 2025

Notable links

Landmark Report Finds Major Flaws in the Cass Review

[Erin In The Morning] Unsurprisingly, there are major flaws with the Cass Report - and an expert report in Springer Nature's BMC Medical Research Methodology puts a fine point on it. "The BMC study reviewed seven different facets of the Cass Review, and found that all seven

13 May 2025

Fediverse

Flipboard Expands Publisher Federation with International Partners

[Flipboard Expands Publisher Federation with International Partners] Flipboard just launched 124 new publishers to the Fediverse - bringing the total number it hosts to 1,241. "We’re excited to announce that Flipboard is beginning to federate publisher accounts in France, Italy, and Spain, while also expanding federation in

13 May 2025

Notable links

No, Immigration Is Not An “Invasion”—And It Doesn’t Justify Suspending Habeas Corpus

[Mark Mansour] Stephen Miller, who the author rightly labels as the most dangerous person in America, has argued for removing a core constitutional right for millions of people on American soil. He wants to classify unauthorized immigration as an "invasion". It's insane, and is the precursor

11 May 2025

Technology

Why New Jersey Prisons’ Change from JPay to ViaPath Tablets Is Distressing

[Shakeil Price at The Marshall Project] The technology situation for incarcerated people in the United States is beyond bad: "Because prison telecom vendors tend to bundle their services, corrections systems often contract with a single provider, regardless of quality. And dozens of states make “commissions” from user fees. Within

11 May 2025

AI

AI Is Not Your Friend

[Mike Caulfield in The Atlantic] A smart analysis and suggestion about the current state of AI by Mike Caulfield: "I would propose a simple rule: no answers from nowhere. This rule is less convenient, and that’s the point. The chatbot should be a conduit for the information of

09 May 2025
If I started fresh

If I started fresh

What would I do if I was building an open social web platform from scratch?

08 May 2025
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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.