History in jeopardy

Benj Edwards wrote a very good post at Vintage Computing and Gaming, which begins: For a while—in the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s—it felt like nerds were making the world a better place. Now, it feels like the most successful tech companies are making it worse. Among there, he notes: And there’s another problem. Very […]

Read More… from History in jeopardy



Quick numbers on Teslas and trade

I had the strangest dream a few nights ago of piloting a Tesla Model 3, and finding it quite horrid. I’ve not driven one in real life, and I can’t see myself doing so, as it’s the sort of thing you can’t bring yourself to do for fear of being seen, embarrassed, in one. Or […]

Read More… from Quick numbers on Teslas and trade



Fake news fuelling riots? The warnings were there as bots industrialize disinformation

For anyone who has followed my battles with bot-written and bot-based junk this year, this should come as no surprise:     The UK riots were fuelled by the same kind of website, with the same raison d’être. This one was in Pakistan, where, sadly, some of the disinformation sites about me have come from. […]

Read More… from Fake news fuelling riots? The warnings were there as bots industrialize disinformation



Tech misdeeds are now too numerous

You don’t need me keeping score: misdeeds in the tech industry, from Adobe using user content for its “AI” tools to Elon Musk being a Nazi, are a daily occurrence now, and plenty of others are writing about them. At the top end, it seems such a poisonous area to be in, especially with so […]

Read More… from Tech misdeeds are now too numerous



Do you really want a Nazi brand association?

Dan Gillmor wrote:     I share Dan’s view. Not only that, why would anyone want their brand—corporate or personal—to be tarnished by Musk and his simplified swastika? Yes, my account is still there, inactive (and locked), making sure no one takes the handle. That’s just prudent, because the one thing worse than having your […]

Read More… from Do you really want a Nazi brand association?



Twitter tries hard to collapse itself

Things at OnlyKlans are worse than I thought. Sheldon Chang posted the following on Mastodon:     If you can’t see his post, he writes: This is hilarious. It appears that Twitter is DDOSing itself. The Twitter home feed’s been down for most of this morning. Even though nothing loads, the Twitter website never stops […]

Read More… from Twitter tries hard to collapse itself



The sun sets even more on Twitter

Some folks don’t seem to be happy that Twitter is now a walled garden, where you have to be logged in to see Tweets. This is a good thing, isn’t it? Tweets will vanish from the search engines, and Elon Musk’s desire to build a right-wing disinformation network to further his own beliefs (and those […]

Read More… from The sun sets even more on Twitter



BMW iX takes Autocade to 4,700 models

We’ve hit 4,700 models on Autocade, and unfortunately the model that sees in the milestone is, to my eyes, visually challenging. Still, there’s a part of me that’s quite curious about the interior and how it drives. Goes to show that there’s no planning in making the BMW iX our 4,700th. I also want to […]

Read More… from BMW iX takes Autocade to 4,700 models



Nostalgia is not a business strategy

Paris Marx makes a very good case about Elon Musk wanting to relive the good ol’ days when he was doing start-ups at the beginning of the millennium. It’s why things at Twitter are as bad as they are: Musk’s nostalgia. It’s well worth a read if you’re interested in what’s going on at OnlyKlans, […]

Read More… from Nostalgia is not a business strategy



You can’t even mention Mastodon in Twitter private messaging

It was pretty unsurprising to see Mastodon links blocked on Twitter. If you consider that its owner is a petulant manchild, then everything makes sense. But I was surprised that this censorship extended to private messages. This from Tweetdeck as I advised a friend:     Note the links aren’t even live—they’re just text mentions. […]

Read More… from You can’t even mention Mastodon in Twitter private messaging