If I ran NPR and PBS
Building community-driven public media for the post-federal funding era.
Latest
Trump and the Energy Industry Are Eager to Power AI With Fossil Fuels
The Trump administration is using AI as a way to shill fossil fuels. But even for tech companies that don't care about climate change, renewables are a far better option.
OpenAI’s gold medal performance on the International Math Olympiad
OpenAI claims a significant result: gold-level performance International Mathematical Olympiad. But they're scant on details and it needs to be independently verified.
Microsoft can't protect French data from US government access
When vendor promises meet government warrants, the warrants win every time. Microsoft's Senate testimony shows why "trust us" isn't a data protection strategy.
Senate Votes to Strip $1.1 Billion From Public Broadcasting in Blow to PBS and NPR
Without public media funding, local stations will close, creating news deserts and allowing political corruption to thrive.
Why Big Tech is threatened by a global push for data sovereignty
Global Majority nations are building ways to store their citizens' data locally. But will they own the datacenters themselves?
Fell in a hole, got out.
Tony Stubblebine's account of saving Medium is remarkable in its transparency - and in its execution.
If I ran X
How to transform the internet's most toxic platform into essential infrastructure.
The Future of Forums is Lies, I Guess
"I do not have the time or emotional energy to screen out regular attacks by Large Language Models, with the knowledge that making the wrong decision costs a real human being their connection to a niche community."
Threads is nearing X's daily app users, new data shows
It's wild to me how many people are still engaging with X.
‘Improved’ Grok criticizes Democrats and Hollywood’s ‘Jewish executives’
As more people look to AI to learn about the world, the people who control how it's trained and how it responds will control our prevailing narratives. That's wildly dangerous.
Family zoning actually means something cool
Forget San Francisco - I wish every single US city would do this. We're too car-dependent, too isolated, too unhealthy. (Honestly, European mixed-use development should be the model.)
Democracy
America is a myth
We have to decide which story we believe in.
Democracy
What are we actually for? The Mamdani case for positive resistance
Why effective opposition requires more than just saying no
Notable Links
Republican Budget Bill Signals New Era in Federal Surveillance
"The looming rapid expansion of federal surveillance may signal a step change on a trajectory set in motion after September 11, 2001, with broad implications for the rights and privacy of all Americans."
Technology
Grammarly to acquire email startup Superhuman in AI platform push
"Grammarly has signed a deal to acquire email efficiency tool Superhuman as part of the company's push to build an artificial intelligence-powered productivity suite." I did not see this coming.
Democracy
Schools serving undocumented kids go underground
"Some schools have asked staff to use secure messaging systems like Signal instead of text and email to keep sensitive conversations from public reach." They, like many others, need more private, self-hosted software.
Democracy
Self-censorship and the ‘spiral of silence’: Why Americans are less likely to publicly voice their opinions on political issues
"I’m a political scientist, and I found that Americans were far less likely to publicly voice their opinions than even during the height of the McCarthy-era Red Scare."
AI
AI won't live on publisher sites
The case for moving AI down the stack
Democracy
Stephen Miller’s Financial Stake in ICE Contractor Palantir
Stephen Miller and at least a dozen other Trump appointees own stock in Palantir, the company that provides "mission critical" services to ICE.
AI
Anthropic wins key US ruling on AI training in authors' copyright lawsuit
A federal court agreed that using copyrighted works to train AI is fair use - but that pirating them to do so infringes creator rights.
Media
Substack's Secret
"Substack's One Weird Marketing Trick was leveraging the economic interests of traditional media employees against their publishers to get positive "earned media"."
Democracy
The High Stakes of Biometric Surveillance
"There are clear indications from oppressive governments around the world that biometrics will be used to harm human rights, regardless of their accuracy or fairness."
Democracy
The New Surveillance State: Why Data Privacy Is Now Essential to Democracy
"When the government can track where you go, whom you associate with, and what you spend your money on, it [...] chills freedom of expression, undermines your freedom to travel, and destroys the fundamental privacy right that underlies American liberty."