anildash

anildash, 4 months ago to random

Hey, this newsletter that’s bigger than yours left Substack and is now making more money, even though some parts of the migration are tricky. There’s even starting to be a cohort of other writers you can talk to for tips, so make the leap! https://www.todayintabs.com/p/migration-report

anildash, 4 months ago to random

Two key questions I always advise people to reflect on when they’re making new tech tools or platforms:

1. What happens if this succeeds? Does it make the internet better? The world better?
2. Who is harmed by the changes this causes? What would you choose to do if you loved them?

Every single choice gets easier if you know those answers.

anildash, 4 months ago to random

After a closer look at the Apple Vision Pro reviews & talking to people who’ve used it, my prediction of the most likely path is that its evolution resembles the Apple Watch, which went from big, vague promises to a simple health & notifications device. So, a future Vision Air (or whatever) will ditch external eye displays & complexity and mostly be a very large smart display. You can tell any Mac, iPhone, iPad or Apple TV (maybe HomePod!) to extend to this display. That’s the big, basic deal.

anildash, 4 months ago to random

I wrote a little bit about the rise or AI-powered disintermediation of news and the threat to both accuracy and business models. Seven years ago, self-driving news. https://anildash.com/2017/03/01/tech_and_the_fake_market_tactic/

anildash, 4 months ago to random

I’ve gotten totally woodpilled, as I’m now sad I haven’t had a chance to mess around in my wood shop for a few weeks. Feels as satisfying as making stuff on the internet used to.

anildash, 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago) to random

The NY Times has now been refusing to cover the neo-secessionist uprising in Texas, until their editorial direction is approved by the Christian nationalists who dictate which events get live coverage.

anildash, 4 months ago to random

Here's something I haven't seen in nearly a generation: a news cycle about a new technology that is primarily focused around an open standard — and the definitive insights into that news were broken on the personal blogs of people who were in the room. https://www.anildash.com/2024/01/19/personal-blogs-tech-news/

anildash, 4 months ago to random

i don't mean to brag, but

anildash, 5 months ago to random

Trying to figure out why the Rabbit launch demo thing bugs me even though I love Teenage Engineering gear. I think it’s just aggressively boring and obvious, all the most check-the-box stuff you’d expect anyone to do right now if they were following SV tech trends. Would love to have the little device to hack on separately though, like a Playdate Plus.

anildash, 5 months ago to random

Really pleased to see this post outlining how @devs helps deliver more of the fediverse than any other platform. And the majority of that is done for free, as part of our Fast Forward program for supporting open source and the open web. Best of all, there are lots of different platforms doing this work, exactly as you'd hope — the open web is more competitive and enables lots of different options. https://blog.benjojo.co.uk/post/who-hosts-the-fediverse-instances

anildash, 5 months ago to random

This post by @cassidoo is dead on — the thing the human web really needs these days is discovery and curation. Let's find the magical things. https://blog.cassidoo.co/post/human-curation/

anildash, 5 months ago to random

Two years ago, the stupid tech/content culture cycle. https://anildash.com/2022/02/09/the-stupid-tech-content-culture-cycle/

anildash, 5 months ago to random

This is an incredible video about Architectural Digest celebrity home tour videos, using data to show how it’s all just laundering house flipping by b-list celebs. https://youtu.be/9X8M7ENDlJ8 (As a purist, I only recognize MTV Cribs, specifically the Redman episode.) Anyway, end housing as an investment.

anildash, 5 months ago to random

me. when I retoot my earlier post

video/mp4

anildash, 5 months ago to random

Hearing boygenius cover "Still The One" is wonderful, and also makes me wish the Prince estate would release his cover of the song. It's at the opposite end of the emotional range, but would be a great substitute for the album he & Shania never got to make together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01NExGVZHbc

anildash, 5 months ago to random

where do you find a website

anildash, 5 months ago to random

https://www.anildash.com/2024/01/03/human-web-renaissance/

anildash, 5 months ago to random

Hey look, it’s my first piece for Rolling Stone! (Thanks @noahshachtman) And I meant every word — I believe we’re seeing the renaissance of the weird, human internet. It couldn’t come a moment too soon. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-commentary/internet-future-about-to-get-weird-1234938403/

anildash, 5 months ago to random

“Restorative justice is the solution.” This focus on caring for the most vulnerable — prisoners being left to die — is what flipped the county I was born in. It’s the first time since the Civil War that leadership has changed parties. https://boltsmag.org/dauphin-county-commissioners-jail-deaths/ A key point: the catalyst here is when he showed love in a way that Christian churches won’t allow — actual love towards all. It’s going to take more courage like that, from many more, to change things.

anildash, 5 months ago to random

So grateful to work with smart, thoughtful folks like @haubles & @seanleach, who make it possible for us at @devs to help worthy initiatives like arXiv: https://blog.arxiv.org/2023/12/18/faster-arxiv-with-fastly/

anildash, 6 months ago to random

The folks who said they endorse colonialism and who fund platforms where they target trans people and want to destroy accountability media finally admit that they have an explicit political agenda. Billionaires who love fascists are an existential threat to America. https://a16z.com/politics-and-the-future/

anildash, 6 months ago to random

Reposting this from Threads, as people there were asking why some mastodon admins were defederating, and many there found it inexplicable, or even petulant: The fediverse (and all open systems) are about giving people choices, and giving communities power. Being able to block Facebook/Meta from connecting is a demonstration of that power …

anildash, 6 months ago to random

Meta just said they’re starting to test federation on Threads. This is a win for the movement to re-open the social web, where even the most powerful social platform knows that the threat of regulation and the ascendancy of open innovation mean that they have to go with the momentum that’s pushing for open standards.

anildash, 6 months ago to random

The most powerful and visible venture capital firm in the industry is shifting their strategy to requiring that founders comply with their extensive political agenda in order to get funding. This from the guy who hands out in the “how to destroy the NYT” chat and explicitly endorses colonialism. https://www.theinformation.com/articles/andreessen-horowitz-plots-infrastructure-american-dynamism-funds

anildash, 6 months ago to random

The app stores are cracking open, walls between social media platforms are coming down as the old networks fail, the headlong rush to AI is making all the search engines worse, and the open web is more powerful than ever — we are about to see the biggest reshuffling of power on the internet in 20 years. Most users have never seen this kind of change.