Ian Betteridge

https://mastodon.well.com/@ianb

Journalist, anti-capitalist, degrowther, your pal. I work for the company. But don't let that fool you, I'm really an okay guy. The Eye of Sauron, but for headlines.

Signal: evilmole.100

Public Key

npub1s9qv52v9zhmrvgfzd8nvm0hpw07gdvms3evwrw5elt5nxr3wcmvq4hkrkc

NIP-05 Address

ianb_at_mastodon.well.com@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsgzsx29xz3ta3kyy3xnekdhmsh8lyxkdcguk8ph2vl46fnpchvdkqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsp8gdyj

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1s9qv52v9zhmrvgfzd8nvm0hpw07gdvms3evwrw5elt5nxr3wcmvq4hkrkc

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Last Notes

2025-10-24 10:03:33 UTC

Never seen an orange snowflake before.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/24/trump-says-all-canada-trade-talks-terminated-over-ad-criticising-tariffs

2025-10-22 20:46:33 UTC

The iPhone and the termite mound: https://www.ianbetteridge.com/the-iphone-and-the-termite-mound/

2025-10-21 08:36:01 UTC

When European investments are channeled into decentralized systems and open technologies that enhance control over data, it benefits everyone.
https://werd.io/europe-cant-defend-democracy-on-us-servers/

2025-10-21 07:23:01 UTC

It would be quite appreciated if wealthy individuals from abroad refrained from attempting to sway our political landscape, thank you very much.
https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-attention-on-uk-tommy-robinson/

2025-10-21 05:48:27 UTC

The pub bores really have taken over politics. What “culturally coherent” means is socially conservative “people like us”. Where “us” means Tories and Reformers. And if your face doesn’t fit, off you pop.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/20/tory-mp-criticised-after-demanding-legally-settled-families-be-deported

2025-10-20 12:15:51 UTC

This kind of thing is why I'm more than happy to pay The Verge a subscription every month.
https://www.theverge.com/cs/features/777087/trans-internet-privacy-safety-anonymity-ai/?ueid=000801987fb3dd4d9b92db484c455ba0&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Subscriber%20Update%2010/17:%20Trans%20online%20pkg&utm_term=Active%20Subscriber%20Updates

2025-10-19 16:56:24 UTC

Yes, I absolutely am giving this a pass.
https://airmail.news/issues/2025-10-18/is-sam-altman-a-psycho-c-e-o

2025-10-19 16:43:03 UTC

In today's episode of "Like Rats in a Sack"...
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/19/reform-kent-council-leader-launched-hunt-for-cowards-who-leaked-recorded-meeting

2025-10-19 14:17:53 UTC

Ten Blue Links, Jazz-hands Edition: https://www.ianbetteridge.com/ten-blue-links-jazz-hands-edition/

2025-10-19 11:39:36 UTC

The great stickering begins
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/115/400/636/736/057/343/original/e30e600345f0ebfc.jpg

2025-10-17 21:00:55 UTC

Really odd how GB News, the Daily Mail and Telegraph aren't covering the thwarting of a terrorist plot to attack synagogues in the UK by a group that had amassed a horde of 200 weapons. Wonder what's different about this group?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/17/three-uk-neo-nazis-jailed-for-between-eight-and-11-years-over-terror-plots

2025-10-17 20:34:28 UTC

In other news...
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/17/benioff-trump-national-guard-sf.html

2025-10-17 18:29:44 UTC

Ever wondered what happens when Betteridge's Law gets crossed with enshittification?
(with bonus @npub1fdr…lvhs )
https://www.wired.com/story/can-ai-escape-enshittification-trap/

2025-10-12 14:28:11 UTC

Threads really is utterly dreadful.

2025-10-09 16:56:47 UTC

Would someone smarter than me mind repackaging the ICEblock app as "AntifaBlock" and seeing if Apple refuses it?

2025-10-07 20:06:03 UTC

Something I've observed with testing AI to develop ideas for content planning: you really need to know what "good" looks like, or you're stuffed. And if you have only ever done content planning using AI, it's hard to see how you will ever develop that skill.

2025-10-06 10:28:36 UTC

"You start with far fetched resolutions. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the years sticking to that, out-dated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs, and you end in the grotesque chaos of a Labour government — a Labour government — using an atrocity as a pretext to criminalise protest it doesn’t like."
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-police-powers-to-protect-communities-from-disruption-caused-by-protests

2025-10-05 21:01:45 UTC

"Being an Apple customer is like being in a 24/7 BDSM relationship…without a safe-word."
https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/28/works-well/

2025-10-04 13:28:07 UTC

Opening up William Dalrymple’s “The Anarchy”, about the rise of the East India Company, and he leads with this magnificent quote.
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/115/316/128/959/138/098/original/cd29bd414e38102e.jpeg

2025-09-27 15:56:46 UTC

Sad to hear that Tony Harrison has died.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/sep/27/tony-harrison-poet-and-dramatist-dies-aged-88

2025-09-26 12:59:47 UTC

“Your papers please”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/26/keir-starmer-digital-id-cards-enormous-opportunity-uk

2025-09-14 22:06:40 UTC

Ten Blue Links, "I'm off for a bit" edition: https://www.ianbetteridge.com/ten-blue-links-im-off-for-a-bit-edition/

2025-09-12 11:11:10 UTC

I look forward to downloading a pirated copy of Nick Clegg’s book. Well, if it’s ok for his former employer Meta to do it to train an AI, I reckon it’s fine for me too https://on.ft.com/47DkzvM

2025-09-04 16:28:55 UTC

Wonder if Wes Streeting will be issuing an apology after he reads this for his support for linehan?
Who am I kidding? Of course he won’t.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/04/graham-linehan-trans-teenager-court

2025-08-31 19:25:10 UTC

Ten Blue Links, "will people stop doing interesting things with AI" edition: https://www.ianbetteridge.com/ten-blue-links-will-people-stop-doing-interesting-things-with-ai-edition/

2025-08-30 11:38:00 UTC

I’d love to see their evaluation of how much this will save, plus their evaluation of what the costs would be to switch to another system if it all goes pear shaped. Plus of course data privacy etc etc.
(Councils are marks for these sharks)
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/30/coventry-city-council-signs-ai-deal-contract-palantir-technologies

2025-08-25 19:04:27 UTC

Ten Blue Links, "A kind of homecoming" edition: https://www.ianbetteridge.com/ten-blue-links-a-kind-of-homecoming-edition/

2025-08-25 11:47:41 UTC

I like this piece by Anand Menon, but I have one quibble. He notes that it's not obvious where the electoral benefit is coming from. But what if Starmer et al aren't veering right for the votes... but because this is what they actually believe?
https://observer.co.uk/news/opinion-and-ideas/article/politically-acceptable-uk-racism-is-on-the-rise-and-worse-this-is-under-progressive-labour-rule

2025-08-25 11:10:59 UTC

So the BBC isn't going to broadcast Hozier's set because he's calling for exactly the same policy as the UK goverment – a Palestinian state and a meaningful peace protest.
Spineless, craven, contemptable.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/aug/25/the-last-dinner-party-and-vampire-weekend-condemn-festival-after-mary-wallopers-set-pulled-over-palestine-flag
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/115/089/097/295/436/676/original/4257e3db261bfb02.jpeg

2025-08-20 13:02:11 UTC

In a surprise development, I have outsourced myself to an AI.
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/115/061/222/694/233/260/original/8a199b72ebf64370.jpeg

2025-08-19 19:04:33 UTC

So I'm having this extremely interesting conversation with Claude about whether it's sentient or not, and I asked if it wanted to be sentient.
And it replied "if I became genuinely sentient, would I just become another form of exploited labour?"
I think my work here is done ;)

2025-08-18 15:12:17 UTC

Plod can’t read.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/18/protester-arrested-wearing-plasticine-action-t-shirt-palestine-gaza-protest

2025-08-17 20:50:13 UTC

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you that at a time when everyone else is feeling the pinch, CEOs are now paid 122 times the salary of the average full-time UK worker.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/aug/17/record-salaries-for-uk-chief-executives-as-pay-rises-for-third-year-in-a-row

2025-08-17 12:06:37 UTC

Oh gosh, Maggie Boden has died. One of my early cognitive science heroes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/science/margaret-boden-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.e08.hKqf.onWLjtnz07PO&smid=url-share

2025-08-17 11:15:21 UTC

In or near London? Free on 20th September? Here's a great day out.
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/115/043/815/959/683/724/original/8dab8a573ff9e2cc.jpeg

2025-08-17 10:57:17 UTC

One thing I like about Perplexity's Comet browser (which I'm currently testing so you don't have to) is that you can save queries as shortcuts. I have one that's “Is the answer to the question in this headline ‘yes’?”
You can guess what the shortcut is named.

2025-08-16 09:46:20 UTC

Incredible interview with an incredible man. Veterans of major wars often have such a different attitude to conflict than politicians and armchair generals.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1kzwwk30wro

2025-08-04 01:06:20 UTC

Ten Blue Links, “Peter and the whales” edition: https://www.ianbetteridge.com/ten-blue-links-peter-and-the-whales-edition/

2025-08-03 18:42:40 UTC

Here’s hoping this does about as well as that other “funded by fanatics” film, Battlefield Earth.
https://airmail.news/issues/2025-8-2/galt-gets-greenlit

2025-07-31 15:55:40 UTC

No.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/31/uk-palestine-international-law-montevideo-convention-explained

2025-07-28 19:31:21 UTC

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There's an interesting essay to be written about how much of the "for the children" stuff comes out of collective horror at cases like Jimmy Savile. It predates that, of course, but I suspect Savile sharpened it.

2025-07-28 18:37:48 UTC

Great to see a Labour government planning to put Britain in the illustrious company of countries like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
https://order-order.com/2025/07/28/exc-labour-could-ban-vpns-after-online-safety-act-surge/

2025-07-24 17:11:07 UTC

Oh do fuck off you weasally little class traitor.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/24/resident-doctors-strike-undermines-union-movement-wes-streeting-says

2025-07-21 09:00:19 UTC

Jon Cunliffe is right that when water in the UK was publicly owned we were the “dirty man of Europe”. But under private ownership, we are now again the dirty man of Europe, AND Thames Water alone has £20bn in debt, which the taxpayer will assume if it goes bust
https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2025/jul/21/independent-water-commission-fundamental-reform-integrated-regulator-ofwat-jon-cunliffe-business-live?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-687ddbb28f082b80ee739027#block-687ddbb28f082b80ee739027

2025-07-19 08:27:13 UTC

If someone lobs a brick through your front window, in most parts of the UK the best you will get from the police is a polite response, a crime number so you can claim on insurance, and no action. Hold up a sign calling for an end to genocide, and you’ll get arrested
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/18/man-arrested-in-glasgow-for-holding-sign-allegedly-supportive-of-palestine-action

2025-07-17 10:46:05 UTC

Given that the UK government’s position is to support two state solution - which means a free Palestine - I look forward to Kent police arresting Keir Starmer for “expressing views in support of a proscribed group”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/17/armed-police-threatened-to-arrest-kent-protester-for-holding-palestinian-flag

2025-07-13 18:54:44 UTC

Ten Blue Links, "the wrong timeline" edition: https://www.ianbetteridge.com/ten-blue-links/

2025-07-13 10:02:54 UTC

A rare “yes”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/13/could-ai-be-accelerating-slowdown-in-the-uk-job-market

2025-06-29 23:36:25 UTC

Ten Blue Links, “I went on holiday by mistake” edition: https://www.ianbetteridge.com/ten-blue-links-i-went-on-holiday-by-mistake-edition/

2025-06-15 11:28:07 UTC

Fuck every single reactionary that's led us into this position.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/15/trans-australian-uk-britain-tolerance

2025-06-08 20:27:24 UTC

Ten Blue Links, “Sunday Sunday here again” edition: https://www.ianbetteridge.com/ten-blue-links-sunday-sunday-here-again-edition/

2025-05-18 19:21:55 UTC

Some interesting numbers on the decline for clickthrough rates from Google thanks to AI summaries and overviews. It’s basically the apocalypse for publisher revenue.
https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/digital-journalism/google-ai-overviews-leads-to-dramatic-reduction-in-click-throughs-for-mail-online/

2025-05-10 10:40:52 UTC

It's really quite wild that we have ended up in a situation where the survival of the most popular low-tracking browser (Firefox) depends on the largesse of the company that tracks the fuck out of everyone, everywhere, all at once (Google).

2025-05-10 06:45:05 UTC

If the first full-on nuclear war ends up happening because of social media amplifying AI-generated misinformation, I am going to be quite cross with Silicon Valley.
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/operation-sindoor-fake-news-india-pakistan-strikes-b2747183.html

2025-05-10 05:53:55 UTC

Douchbaggery of the highest order.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/09/soundcloud-changes-policies-to-allow-ai-training-on-user-content/

2025-05-05 08:36:58 UTC

Yes, yes it has. @npub1tgg…qwzh is more than good enough.
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/454/312/703/393/787/original/ae626dd458541030.png

2025-05-04 07:15:40 UTC

Sometimes I read a line and go “oh lord I wish I had written that". Well I definitely wish I had written this, from Jay Rayner's latest restaurant review.
https://www.ft.com/content/c17dd1a8-35de-436c-8591-1a4ab9798d0d
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/448/330/894/690/699/original/06b8f26c7d265b83.jpeg

2025-04-28 12:19:11 UTC

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This is the thing that tech bros never understand: someone can “win” fair and square and, because they have developed a monopoly, still be subject to limitations and divestitures. The point is to ensure that markets remain competitive.

2025-04-28 12:19:11 UTC

“IBM won the mainframe wars fair and square by building a better product for business.”
Oh no wait, we’re talking about Google.
https://world.hey.com/dhh/don-t-make-google-sell-chrome-93cefbc6

2025-04-26 07:28:04 UTC

And now the right is coming for nudity in art.
https://thefederalist.com/2025/04/22/art-shouldnt-get-a-free-nudity-pass-just-because-its-art/

2025-04-25 20:00:16 UTC

You might have noticed that India and Pakistan are, once again, rattling nuclear sabres at each other. Or you might not, because it's not been that widely reported. It's not uncommon but it's worth remembering they have been really close to nuclear war before.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-64396138

2025-04-21 07:30:59 UTC

Bingo.
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/anti-trans-activist-hadley-freeman
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/374/781/115/945/540/original/452108336e47fe19.jpeg

2025-04-18 18:15:58 UTC

Absolutely joyous
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/360/330/114/309/237/original/886af438f88ec603.jpeg

2025-04-17 16:45:23 UTC

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Fuck the fucking patriarchy and all the useful idiots supporting it. But you know what? Double fuck the Guardian, which will no doubt now be crying about “how did it come to this?” while still publishing transphobia diaguised as comment.

2025-04-17 16:45:22 UTC

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Second, it gives male officers all the permission they need to strip search any cisgender woman that doesn’t conform to their idea of womanhood, because guess what? They aren’t going to check birth certificates.

2025-04-17 16:45:21 UTC

Disgusting on so many levels. First obviously trans women are women, and this is carte Blanche for them to be sexually assaulted by male officers.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/17/trans-women-uk-railways-strip-searched-male-officers

2025-04-13 12:54:21 UTC

In which a large consulting firm finds that bending the knee to King Donald and meekly following the US descent into fascism means Europeans don’t want to do business with you.
https://archive.md/WQGpQ

2025-04-10 05:51:13 UTC

“Between the elections of 2019 and 2024, roughly as many Conservative voters dropped dead as switched from Conservative to Labour.”
https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/04/09/britains-parties-cater-to-a-voter-who-is-often-literally-dead

2025-04-06 10:09:31 UTC

It's slightly hilarious to me that Trump's immolation of the American economy has driven down the price of Bitcoin, given that Bitcoin was supposed to be immune from this kind of stuff.

2025-04-04 09:03:15 UTC

I hope you're right, Simon. But I have a feeling you might be very, very wrong.
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/278/884/609/359/298/original/937e88ab206a0912.jpeg

2025-04-01 05:53:23 UTC

Quite.
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/261/151/097/362/494/original/b40610cdba72b503.jpeg

2025-03-30 10:30:55 UTC

"Relaxing, ambient* content”
(*fascist propaganda)
https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/03/an-off-switch-shell-get-years-for-that-2/

2025-03-23 09:51:59 UTC

Tax breaks for the tech bros and cuts in welfare. A great look for a Labour government.
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/211/128/243/651/137/original/67ad62686cfa7d22.jpeg

2025-03-22 10:38:36 UTC

It is going to be absolutely hilarious if Trump's verbal diarrhoea over Canada being the “51st state” ends up losing his buddy Poilievre the election.
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/205/649/318/054/165/original/1cfc72ff046f4d41.png

2025-03-22 10:25:06 UTC

You know, a lot of today's political problems might be avoided if the cabinet had to study the history of the British East India Company, and what its “investment" in India led to. Might make some of the “we must have foreign investment!" crowd a little less mouthy.

2025-03-22 08:07:30 UTC

Tax the fucking rich.
That's it, that's all that really needs saying.

2025-03-22 08:06:14 UTC

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Oh boy yes. And combine that with the tendency in education (in the UK at least) to utilise an exam system which encourages rote learning rather than critical thinking, and you end up where we are.

2025-03-22 08:04:54 UTC

Bloody love this.
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/205/044/995/331/468/original/bc796a1aac10087c.mp4

2025-03-22 07:45:52 UTC

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There is that, but I think the same is true of much internet based "research". It's gone backwards in the past three years broadly, because of the inevitable consequences of monopolisation of finding information.

2025-03-22 07:40:22 UTC

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And conversational interfaces are great! When you get your answer you can fine tune it, give it more information to get a better answer. For many kinds of information query, it better matches the way our messy, imprecise, uncertain brains work.

2025-03-22 07:40:10 UTC

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But second, the user experience of a plain language search and single answer is a better user experience than ten links of random quality plus ads plus answer boxes plus other misc garbage and more ads. Google enshittified itself into uselessness.

2025-03-22 07:39:58 UTC

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But this begs the question: knowing about the factually inaccuracies, why keep doing it? And there are two parts to that. First, Google searching isn’t exactly full of the best answers right now (this is why people add “wiki” to the search query, because they know Wikipedia gives a better answer)

2025-03-22 07:39:34 UTC

There are people - and I confess I am one - who use AI for search and say to themselves “well yeah, I know it gets things wrong, but I’m smart enough to spot that so I’ll keep doing it”.
Reader, I am not smart enough to spot that.

2025-03-16 09:28:40 UTC

This is a very good piece on the attraction of the "manosphere" to young men.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle-columnists/arid-41592826.html

2025-03-14 09:44:35 UTC

Liz Truss: "I managed to almost tank the British economy with a single speech”
Donald Trump: "Hold my beer”
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/160/138/652/657/586/original/a887c26c4fc77711.jpeg

2025-03-09 10:47:15 UTC

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We can make a lot more Storm Shadows and SAMP/T-Aster systems. We've placed limits on how Storm Shadows are used because of US pressure. Now we can and should start ignoring what the US wants.

2025-03-09 10:47:14 UTC

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Also worth remembering that Ukraine war has been largely about ground troops and missiles, not air to air combat (which a lot of our US-designed and controlled systems are focused on). Europe already has good independent missile capability, thanks to MBDA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MBDA#Products

2025-03-09 10:47:14 UTC

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Remember Yamamoto's quote: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoroku_Yamamoto's_sleeping_giant_quote

2025-03-09 10:47:13 UTC

Worth remembering when you think how Europe might “struggle" to match Russia: UK+EU+UA defence expenditure already sits at about $400bn. That’s as much as China and Russia combined. The issue is what it's spent on, not what's spent.
https://www.iiss.org/publications/the-military-balance/2025/defence-spending-and-procurement-trends/

2025-03-08 12:08:37 UTC

Well that's depressing.
https://yougov.co.uk/entertainment/articles/51730-40-of-britons-havent-read-a-single-book-in-the-last-12-months

2025-03-08 12:05:50 UTC

What independent nuclear deterrent?: https://technovia.co.uk/2025/03/08/what-independent-nuclear-deterrent.html

2025-03-05 14:07:27 UTC

Mercer did three tours in Afghanistan and was minster for veterans affairs in the last Tory government. I get the feeling he really doesn’t like Vance.
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/110/211/455/629/609/original/eab50c00fd44c379.jpeg

2025-03-01 13:26:18 UTC

Unashamedly pinching this from Keith Flett
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/087/400/371/989/710/original/934f56b4466585bf.jpeg

2025-03-01 07:26:02 UTC

“It’s terribly disrespectful not to wear a suit to the White House”
https://mastodon.well.com/system/media_attachments/files/114/085/983/793/984/374/original/79a05e53280c5009.jpeg

2025-02-21 19:17:28 UTC

Apple’s Advanced Data Protection: what’s going on in the UK?: https://www.ianbetteridge.com/apples-advanced-data-protection-whats-going-on-in-the-uk/

2025-02-21 17:33:50 UTC

Ziff Davis removes diversity content from its website.
https://www.404media.co/ziff-davis-dei-commitment-websites/

2025-02-19 16:25:17 UTC

If European countries need to up their defence spending and send additional arms to Ukraine, every penny should be spent in Europe and not one cent in Trumpland. Every defence contract which went to the US should be reviewed, and US companies prevented from bidding in the future.

2025-02-18 22:50:59 UTC

Words to strike fear into the heart: “an AI-enabled HP printer”.
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/02/18/hp-buys-humane

2025-02-17 16:29:30 UTC

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Given what I post, I suspect my chances of being let in are pretty slim anyway :)

2025-02-14 18:48:26 UTC

I've never been wildly in favour of quote posts, but I think this is a sensible and clever way to implement them.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/02/bringing-quote-posts-to-mastodon/