Embedded »

I love reading about how other people work. It’s a great way of finding new tools, new sites, new people to follow. Workspaces is a good example of this. Uses This is a great example of this. And along comes embedded, a newsletter about being Very Online. It’s got a great recurring feature called “My Internet” all about how famous internet-people use the internet, asking everyone the same questions like “what podcasts do you listen to” and “what are you willing to pay for online”, and it’s always really revealing and helpful.

For example, here’s some advice from Folu Akinkuotu

What’s one thing you recommend for maintaining a healthy relationship with the internet?
React in the group chat, not on the timeline.

(Via Anil Dash)

Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 finally gets USB audio support a decade after it was released - The Verge »

I can’t think of many 10 year old devices that are still getting major features through firmware. Fair play, Teenage Engineering.

Back to the Future with RSS! »

Nicky Case has a genuine gift for being able to explain technical things really well. In this case, they’re explaining RSS, the glue that holds the internet together. The only thing I’d add to what they say here is that you don’t need a subscription service to start enjoying RSS! Modern apps like Reeder and NetNewsWire allow you to scrape feeds from your own computer!

100 Visions of Fatherhood »

I challenge you not to cry at some of these.

Web Conversations With the Year 2000 »

A little too real.

Laura Hudson live-tweets her readthrough of Ready Player Two »

A hilarious thread from someone who hated the first book as much as I did. But what’s with the random, selective takedowns of pictures of her highlighted passages from the book? Who is the copyright holder in cases where it’s a photo of a book that only contains whole passages from other, better things?

Booting from a vinyl record – BOGIN, JR. »

Oh, your OS boots from a floppy disk? That’s cute too, I guess.

mom friend™ on Twitter: 'This thread is evidence of the way TikTok’s duet feature can result in the most hilarious and creative collaborations.' »

I know I’m not exactly the target market for this stuff, but I think TikTok is just about the last great thing on the internet right now.

Orthographic media »

Robin Sloan:

Browsing Twitter the other day, I once again found myself sucked into a far-off event that truly does not matter, and it occurred to me that social media is an orthographic camera.

This has been stuck in my brain since Robin mentioned it because I think he’s hit the nail right on the head. I look at my Twitter timeline and see jokes and breakfast updates and outrage given the same space and importance as world-changing news events. No wonder we’re all so exhausted.

An AI generated blog made it to the top of Hacker News »

My (least?) favourite part of this story is that some people noticed it might have been written by an AI because there was nothing substantial being said and it was pure regurgitation and these people got downvoted for being rude.

A perfect encapsulation of the Internet in 2020.