Stuff that doesn't really fit in this site's "technology, media, and democracy" remit but is here anyway.
If I was a nefarious software company, here’s how I might be thinking: AI functionality tends to require that data is sent to a centralized service for processing. This is often data that is not being shared online in any other way that is easily available for analysis: existential
I adore the way ShareOpenly has been added to Tedium: You can see it for yourself on all its posts, including this great one about the decline of the ball mouse. Its founder, Ernie Smith, told me: “figured I had to have fun with it”.
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
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
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.
I was asked if I’m planning to monetize ShareOpenly. Short answer: I have no plans to do so. This is a personal project. If it’s wildly successful and the infrastructure costs skyrocket, I may look for donations or sponsorship of some kind in order to cover those costs.
Here’s what I would say to Russell T Davies if I could: One of my very first television memories is sitting watching Peter Davison’s Doctor (and reruns of Tom Baker’s) on a tiny 12” TV set, my face probably too close to the screen. My imagination ran
Mark Nottingham highlighted this alarming quote by CEO Alex Karp from the latest Palantir earnings call: I think the central risk to Palantir and America and the world is a regressive way of thinking that is corrupting and corroding our institutions that calls itself progressive, but actually -- and is
The biggest thing to be concerned about in all these student protests is not the students, but the severity and strength with which the police are entering the fray. A police officer fired a gun on the Columbia campus. Tear gas is being used on multiple campuses. In multiple cases
I’ve been pretty sick for over a week now. Daycare is a Petri dish of germs and viruses, but most have them have passed me by; this one, in contrast, hit me like a ton of bricks. I’ve been the sickest I’ve felt in years: a really
I like mail-in ballots because I can do my research as I go, on my own time, in my own environment. To me, it feels a lot closer to giving the process the time and attention it deserves. I filled in my Pennsylvania primary ballot this morning. I’d never
So much of what we build on the web is about connecting people. It is impossible to connect people effectively without paying attention to social justice and equity. Otherwise we’re just connecting the privileged with the privileged, creating ever smaller networks of influence, and learning nothing new.