Reading list
Shortform reading
This is an incomplete list of the shortform reading (and listening and watching) I’ve been doing lately.
Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)
We’re going to keep covering this story because, frankly, it’s the only story that matters right now, and one that not everyone manages to see clearly. The political press may not understand what’s happening (or may be too afraid to say it out loud), but those of us who’ve spent decades studying how technology and power interact? We see it and we can’t look away.
So, here’s the bottom line: when WaPo’s opinion pages are being gutted and tech CEOs are seeking pre-approval from authoritarians, the line between “tech coverage” and “saving democracy” has basically disappeared. It’s all the same thing.
We’re going to keep doing this work because someone has to. Because understanding how technology and power interact isn’t just an academic exercise anymore — it’s about whether we’ll have an innovation economy left when this is all over.
#independent-media · #journalism · #technology · #us-politics
Yet my — and I'd imagine your — frustration isn't borne of a hatred of technology, or a dislike of the internet, or a lack of appreciation of what it can do, but the sense that all of this was once better, and that these companies have turned impeding our use of the computer into an incredibly profitable business.
#better-web · #enshittification · #tech-industry · #technology
I worry our Copilot is leaving some passengers behind
But if we’re giving one of the world’s major corporations our money, in exchange for this tool that’s supposed to make us better…shouldn’t it be held to some standard of quality? ... Copilot is now responsible for a large and ever-increasing percentage of the code being run on devices all across the planet. How can we possibly find it acceptable that this tool is unreliable at best, and actively harmful at worst?
"Wherever you get your podcasts" is a radical statement
But here's the thing: being able to say, "wherever you get your podcasts" is a radical statement. Because what it represents is the triumph of exactly the kind of technology that's supposed to be impossible: open, empowering tech that's not owned by any one company, that can't be controlled by any one company, and that allows people to have ownership over their work and their relationship with their audience.
#indieweb · #journalism · #media · #tech-industry · #technology
Error 402: Where's The Crowd To Fund This?
As our Error 402 series continues, I swear that eventually we're going to get to some of the more promising models and stuff that actually has been working in some cases shortly, but we're still co…
Why isn't Bluesky a peer-to-peer network?
Today in "our novel form of NIH," why did Bluesky choose not to use a peer-to-peer network when designing the AT Protocol?