Matthew Hughes
@matthewhughes.bsky.social
Journalist (ex The Register, The Next Web, HowToGeek). Writer. Software developer. Dog owner (x3). Scouser. I have a newsletter about how tech companies are ruining our lives. https://whatwelost.substack.com/
Google Docs has replaced its spell checker with a Temu version of Grammarly and so far, all it's done is frown at @edzitron.com for being a little too caustic with his language.
I cannot stress how much I loathe Sony as a company. Incidentally, Sony (or, rather, one of Sony's infosec people cosplaying as a lawyer) once threatened to sue me when I was at TNW. I wish I saved a copy of my response, as I was extremely rude and very funny.
Aftermath@aftermath.site · last mo.Sony will stop making video game discs aftermath.site/sony-discs-202...
If @edzitron.com's Friday premium newsletter contains highly specific anatomical details about gander, I take full responsibility. I do not, however, apologize. I'm just that committed to my job as a researcher/editor.
I'm from Liverpool. I fucking hate football.
John Moe@johnmoe.bsky.social · 2mo agoHere I invite you to be a micro-heretic. To bring small shame on your people. Tell me about a highly praised thing in your hometown/area that all locals LOVE except YOU. I’m from the Seattle area. Taco Time is nothing special. Bland. Not horrible but not worth going out of your way. Now you go!
It's so hot that my Internet went down. My router just... fell over. No problem. I'll just tether my laptop to my phone. Oh, wait. It's so hot my phone is now refusing to charge itself.
Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough! It isn't fit for humans now, There isn't grass to graze a cow. Swarm over, Death! www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Slough is like an experiment’: Europe’s largest datacentre hub leaves town sweltering
Emerging research suggests datacentres create a heat island effect, pushing up temperatures in the immediate vicinity by as much as 9C
theguardian.com
Remember, if you think you have a communications problem you have an actual problem
The AI backlash is only getting started
Here is how to deal with it
economist.com
As another UK prime minister bites the dust, a contradictory tech legacy remains
As another UK prime minister bites the dust, a contradictory tech legacy remains
Attempting to boost growth, efficiency, and sovereign tech proved too difficult. The next leader will face the same challenges... and temptations
theregister.com
UK peeps: How are we handling the heatwave? It's going to be 40 degrees in London later this week, I believe.
meant to write a piece about the end of Keir's premiership but sort of wrote about grief and the endurance of pointless hope instead: www.thenewworld.co.uk/marie-le-con...
A lot of people don't realise this but in the UK we have to replace our Prime Minister every two or three years or else the rights revert back to Marvel
My latest newsletter makes the case that the Online Safety Act was politically poisonous to Starmer and the Labour Party, and had an outsized effect on their respective unpopularity. www.whatwelo.st/p/everyone-h...
Everyone Hates Tech But Nobody Knows What To Do About It
It's hard to regulate big tech when you're unpopular
whatwelo.st
If I wrote a newsletter with the title of “I’d rather drink a colostomy bag like a Capri-Sun than use generative AI for my work,” would I be going too far?
Laura Keating@lorekeating.bsky.social · 4mo agoI keep seeing "all authors use AI, the real issue is they're being forced to be sneaky about it" headlines. Full stop No. This is a lie peddled for normalization. It's schoolyard-level pressure tactics "C'mon, all the cool kids are already doing it. We won't tell. It's fine. We're on your side."
I keep seeing "all authors use AI, the real issue is they're being forced to be sneaky about it" headlines. Full stop No. This is a lie peddled for normalization. It's schoolyard-level pressure tactics "C'mon, all the cool kids are already doing it. We won't tell. It's fine. We're on your side."
The most dangerous thing about AI is not that the machines might one day think. It is that we are being trained, by men with enormous financial gains riding on our acquiescence, to stop thinking for ourselves.
I will say: as someone who has been given shit for being Scouse all the time I’ve lived in the UK, the idea of a Liverpudlian prime minister is very, very fucking exciting.
New newsletter: Generative AI is becoming the new crypto and multi-level marketing scam, promising non-techies that they can vibe-code their way to prosperity, without being candid about the costs and risks. www.whatwelo.st/p/generative...
Generative AI Is Having Its Herbalife Moment
How predatory vibe coding startups are selling false hope to young people
whatwelo.st