Heat Death of the Internet - takahē »

You want to watch a TV show from your youth so you check a streaming service, but it is not there, so you check a second streaming service but it is not there, so you check a third streaming service and it is not there. You search for it on Blu-ray but it doesn’t exist, so you search for it on DVD but it is out of print. You find a seller on eBay who has it, but the listing reads ambiguous as to whether it is the real thing or a burnt copy. You message the seller and they reply with an automated response thanking you for your interest.

Seeing all these little papercuts laid out like this, I sometimes wonder what DFW would have made of life in 2024.

Open Source pioneer Perens says it's time to contemplate a Post-Open world »

Bruce Perens, speaking at the State of Open Con in London earlier this year:

Open source had taken over the business software world, he said, at least for a particular set of applications. But in many areas, and certainly outside of the business world, it is not nearly as successful.

Moreover, he said, “We have a great corporate welfare programme. Our users are the richest companies in the world. Indeed, we’ve enabled companies like Google to be created.”

Behind the Code: Designing Raz's Jump | Double Fine Productions »

A really great, in-depth article about the physics of the main character’s jump in Psychonauts 2. I love the idea of using a MIDI controller to quickly and visually tune parameters.

Towards a quieter, friendlier web • Cory Dransfeldt »

This is a great list of some principles that would make the internet more pleasant for everyone. This one, in particular, stood out as one I think about a lot:

You aren’t obligated to reply or participate in any discussion. Don’t feel bad about not engaging if it doesn’t serve you. Arguing on the internet is rarely healthy, dialogue and discussion certainly can be.

Don’t speak unless you can improve the silence. 100%.

Nimona - How Are You I'm Fine Thanks »

TIL Nimona (one of my daughter’s favourite movies from last year) started life as a sketch on Tumblr.

Pluralistic: How I got scammed (05 Feb 2024) »

If Cory Doctorow can fall victim to a phishing scam, what hope do the rest of us have?

Coincidentally, someone on the Irish Tech Community slack reported that they were the victim of an attempt where their “bank” read out the first 8 digits of their virtual card and was asking them to read out the last 8. Turns out that you can basically construct the first 8 digits of any card if you know the card type, the issuer and the issuing country.

Let’s be careful out there.

Zed Industries - Zed is now open source »

I’m a reluctant Visual Studio Code user. It’s got a lot of great design ideas but it’s so slowwwwww and I miss the speed of something like Sublime Text. Zed (from the makers of Atom) is an editor that prioritises speed but copies a lot from vscode. It’s just missing vscode’s massive extensibility, but now it’s been open sourced maybe that will change? One worth keeping an eye on.

Why Platformer is leaving Substack - by Casey Newton »

This is pretty huge - Casey Newton’s is taking his newsletter off of Substack because of its ridiculous policies on hate speech.

In 2023, we added more than 70,000 free subscribers. While I would love to credit that growth exclusively to our journalism and analysis, I believe we have seen firsthand how quickly and aggressively tools like <substack’s newsletter promotion features> can grow a publication.

And if Substack can grow a publication like ours that quickly, it can grow other kinds of publications, too.

All the Types of Science Fiction - McSweeney’s Internet Tendency »

I think I’ve read most of these books. My favourites are:

20. Basically Mein Kampf

21. Bomb Cock 2: Mutually Assured Destruction

and

42. The Turing Test, but sexy