Nashville Public Library.
People and blogs involved with and about the IndieWeb community, the fediverse, and/or the open web in general.
Private Social Media Doesn’t Need to Worry About Censorship
But what if I really want a faster horse? | exotext
Overall, consistency, user control, and actual UX innovation are in decline. Everything is converging on TikTok—which is basically TV with infinite channels. You don’t control anything except the channel switch. It’s like Carcinisation, a form of convergent evolution where unrelated crustaceans all evolve into something vaguely crab-shaped.
Ben Werdmuller
• Ben Werdmuller
Grumpy morning thoughts
I earn 5-10X what I did when I lived in the UK, but my quality of life is markedly worse. My whole thing boils down
Ben Werdmuller
• Ben Werdmuller
Grumpy morning thoughts
I earn 5-10X what I did when I lived in the UK, but my quality of life is markedly worse. My whole thing boils down to: how can America have the same standard of living I grew up with?
For a lot of people, the idea of prosperity boils down to, “I can buy what I want,” not, “...
April 23rd, 2025
Lots of websites and apps now provide fee-free booking for UK train tickets to any destination, featuring split-ticketing and better options for identifying the best value fares. Yet, many people I know still consider The Trainline to be the only option.
It's crazy to even think of moving Chrome from Google to OpenAI. The web needs to not be owned by anyone, esp not owned by the tech industry. What Google tried to do to the web is obscene. I love ChatGPT, but let's keep Chrome out of their owner's greedy little hands. Set it up so it stands alone.
AI web search
If you haven’t been following the latest AI models closely, you may have missed what is happening with integrating web search results into answers. It used to be that you had two options:
Use the model’s built-in knowledge, usually with a training cut-off of a year ago. Tha...
So much slopaganda on LinkedIn.
So much slopaganda on LinkedIn.
A Web Component UI library for people who love HTML | Go Make Things
gomakethings.com/a-web-component-ui-library-for-people-who-love-html/
I’m obviously biased, but I like the sound of what Chris is doing to create a library of HTML web components.
Micro.blog’s backend is running so much more smoothly now after I addressed some memory issues yesterday. I often assume I know where problems are, and it takes actually digging in to discover I was wrong, the problem is fixable in a different way than I expected.
I really like this post from Ashley Willis, about doubting yourself and the fear of what loud people on the internet might think of your writing:
I don’t know exactly when that changed. There wasn’t one big moment, just a slow fade. Something dimmed. I started second-guessing myself more.
Ben Werdmuller
• Ben Werdmuller
Building our "native-AI newsroom"
[Henry Blodget]
Henry Blodget, former founder of BI, has started a new, "AI-native" newsroom. It's not, in my opinion, a positive use of AI, but it does indicate how some people are thinking about using the technology.
This apparently includes harassing your...
If you're a young person contemplating a career in tech, great! It's fun, and you can help people doing this. But please don't listen to the VCs and entrepreneurs who say it's all about changing the world. Instead think of it this way -- you're going to create tools for peopl...
Many good points in yesterday’s unusual Olbermann podcast, but the one that stuck with me is that at some point Republican incumbents will figure they don’t have a future in what Trump is trying to create and thus have everything to lose if he prevails. He thinks senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) may already be there.
A video demo that shows how to set categories in WordLand, and I ramble through lots of philosophy and trivia. But the answer is right up front so you can skip all that michegas. ;-)
April 22nd, 2025
📣 New talk in the planning for 2025. Drop me a message if you'd like me to come speak at your event about the current state of digital accessibility, legislation, and effective strategies to improve accessibility culture within your team.
Nailed it. I’m too amused by wall outlets and light switches gone wrong, it’s surprisingly common. This one in the hotel stairway.
These are my drawings
Goodbye Dribbble.
I’ll be speaking at EFF-Austin next month! An updated talk about blogs, social networks, the fediverse, and where I think the open web is going.