FeedCity

A quick aside:I now believe it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better (if it gets better). I’m not going to enumerate

In case getting updates about ooh.directory via RSS feed, email, or on Mastodon isn't enough, you can now also get them from the site's new Bluesky account.

Just Put It On Your BlogIf you’ve got something to say, something to share, something that others might be interested in—why not just put it on your blog?Also posted on IndieNews

Another big update to Micro Social:

Release version on V1.7 pushed to TestFlight.

• Support for drafts
• Redesigned posting & editing screen
• Support for cross posting options
• Option to open links in external browser
• Location default map provider and opening app

Micro Social https://microsocial.micro.blog/2025/04/16/release-version-on-v-pushed.html

Worked a little on archiving all the Core Intuition episodes in one place. We’ve used a few hosts over the years — DreamHost, S3, Libsyn — and things are bound to break eventually if all 600+ episodes aren’t together.

Gutter.

Looking for help from people who know how to create WordPress themes. The goal is to create a default theme that works well for WordLand-authored sites. It was suggested I try the Retrospect theme, and it does look quite nice when I switched over the daveverse site to use it. Is it possible to fork a WordPress theme? If so, here's a list of changes I'd like in a new theme.

Upcoming video social app Neptune will allow hiding follower and like counts:

A key distinguishing feature of Neptune is that it lets creators hide their total followers and likes. This “ghost metrics” feature is optional, however, and is designed to help users avoid the pressures associated with follower count, yet still caters to creators who may want to showcase their metrics.

Good. Might as well go all the way and hide counts by default.

TechCrunch: OpenAI ships GPT-4.1 without a safety report. I don’t want to overreact to this, but as an OpenAI customer it is a little concerning. System cards are fascinating and even if they don’t paint a perfect picture, the transparency is good.

OpenAI working on a social app? From The Verge:

Entering the social media market also puts OpenAI on more of a collision course with Meta, which we’re told is planning to add a social feed to its coming standalone app for its AI assistant. When reports of Meta building a rival to the ChatGPT app first surfaced a couple of months ago, Altman shot back on X again by saying, “ok fine maybe we’ll do a social app.”

Stay in your lane, OpenAI! 🤪 But I think OpenAI and Sam Altman work on a lot of different things, so who knows whether a social app would actually ship.

Here’s a fun account of the early days of the ARPANET.

adactio.com/links/21851

Meta is a problematic business and more people should move to open platforms, but I have to agree with Ben Thompson’s take on the trial. It’s too late and too complicated to try to unwind the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions:

…both of those businesses were what they were in 2020 because of the investments that Facebook made in the intervening years; I think it is just fundamentally wrong to be re-litigating regulatory decisions of this nature years after the fact — and that certainly applies to 2025.

My last post to Instagram was 2017. My photos are now on my own blog where they belong.

I like the attempt at transparency in this statement on AI from Revenant, an animation and effects studio in Scotland, via Cartoon Brew. They’ll use AI for rapid prototypes and streamlining workflows, but:

…we’re also clear on what we don’t use it for — we don’t use AI to shortcut the creative process, we don’t lift style or work unethically, and we always put human creativity first

Quick demo of the Timeline in v0.5.4.

You won’t be able to unsee this. It’s like the FedEx logo …if the arrow was an anus.

1. Circular shape (often with a gradient)
2. Central opening or focal point
3. Radiating elements from the center
4. Soft, organic curves

Sound familiar? It should, because it’s also an apt description of… well, you know.

adactio.com/links/21850

A few days ago I wrote: ChatGPT is to Google what Google was to library card catalogs. The great thing about Google when it was first out was that unlike previous search products, they searched everything, including our blogs, and that opened up knowledge to us that had been previously, for all of our history as a species, not accessible. And LLMs are similarly revolutionary. I'm doing much better, deeper work, with great results for my users, than I could have accomplished with the network defined by Google.

WordLand 0.5.4. New feature, the Timeline.

A few days ago I wrote: ChatGPT is to Google what Google was to library card catalogs.

I got a chance to explain.

The great thing about Google when it was first out was that unlike previous search products, they searched everything, including our blogs, and that opened up knowledge to us that had been previously, for all of our history as a species, not accessible.

And LLMs are similarly revolutionary. I'm doing much better, deeper work, with great results for my users, than I could ever have accomplished with the system defined by Google. and for crying out loud it's not natural language search, all that tells me is you haven't bothered to use the freaking products before having a cynical opinion about them.

Ruben invited me to participate in a blog questions challenge, noting: I suspect James would find one of these viral blog series easier if it were about books and/or coffee, but I’m tagging him here! He may do with this as he wishes. This inspired me to think of what a “cof...