FeedCity: Daring Fireball

Daring Fireball
18 May 17:06 • John Gruber

Existing Stakeholders Have a Say in the Future

daringfireball.net/2026/05/ai_is_technology_not_a_product

A follow-up point on my “AI Is Technology, Not a Product” column over the weekend. Here’s a repeat of Steven Levy’s argument that John Ternus must direct Apple towards building “a killer AI product”: By the end of this decade, it’s unlikely that people will swipe on thei...

Daring Fireball
18 May 16:36 • John Gruber

‘AI, “Humanity”, and Dr. Manhattan Syndrome’

personfamiliar.com/p/ai-humanity-and-dr-manhattan-syndrome

Jim Prosser, back in February: Let me be clear about causation, because the AI parallel only works if we’re honest about it. The communications failures didn’t kill nuclear power. The disasters did. But two decades of talking over the public meant the industry had built ...

Daring Fireball
18 May 15:45 • John Gruber

The Alaska Permanent Fund as Loose Precedent for AI Data Center ‘UBI’ Payments

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund

Wikipedia: The Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) is a constitutionally established permanent fund and sovereign wealth fund managed by a state-owned corporation, the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC). It was established in Alaska in 1976 by Article 9, Section 15 of the ...

Daring Fireball
18 May 15:12 • John Gruber

AI Data Centers Are Deeply Unpopular, Across the Political Spectrum

news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx

Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup: Seven in 10 Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area, including nearly half, 48%, who are strongly opposed. Barely a quarter favor these projects, with 7% strongly in favor. [...] The data cente...

Daring Fireball
17 May 18:06 • John Gruber

Drata

drata.com/daring

My thanks to Drata for sponsoring last week at DF. Their message is short and sweet: Leverage autonomous AI agents to automate compliance, manage internal and third-party risk, and continuously prove your security posture.

Link: drata.com/daring

Daring Fireball
16 May 21:27 • John Gruber

Reddit Is Blocking Some Users From Accessing Its Website From Mobile Devices

arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/05/why-reddit-blocked-my-daily-visit-to-its-mobile-website/

Nate Anderson, writing at Ars Technica: But I was surprised this weekend to suddenly find myself cut off; Reddit simply would not let me visit the site on my mobile phone. Instead, a new overlay popped up, saying, “Get the app to keep using Reddit.” There was no way to ...

Daring Fireball
16 May 21:27 • John Gruber

Santa Clara County Sues Meta Over Alleged Scam Ads

sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-county-sues-meta-over-alleged-scam-ads/

Brandon Pho, reporting for San Jose Spotlight: The lawsuit filed Monday alleges that instead of cracking down on deceptive ads designed to trick users out of their money, Meta has hamstrung its own fraud prevention teams and helped fake companies bypass its filters to en...

Daring Fireball
16 May 20:42 • John Gruber

★ AI Is Technology, Not a Product

Steven Levy, writing for Wired last month after Apple’s CEO transition was announced, under the provocative headline “Apple’s Next CEO Needs to Launch a Killer AI Product” (News+ link to get around Wired’s miserly paywall): Much more recently, I quizzed Ternus and global...

Daring Fireball
16 May 19:51 • John Gruber

ArXiv to Ban Researchers for a Year if They Submit AI Slop

404media.co/new-arxiv-rules-ai-generated-papers-ban/

Samantha Cole, writing for 404 Media: Late Thursday evening, Thomas Dietterich, chair of the computer science section of ArXiv, wrote on X: “If generative AI tools generate inappropriate language, plagiarized content, biased content, errors, mistakes, incorrect reference...

Daring Fireball
16 May 01:48 • John Gruber

Greg Brockman Officially Takes Control of Products at OpenAI, a Very Stable Well-Run Company

wired.com/story/openai-reorg-greg-brockman-product/

Maxwell Zeff, reporting for Wired (News+ link): OpenAI told staff on Friday that it would reorganize the company as part of an ongoing effort to unify its product offerings, Wired has learned. OpenAI cofounder and president Greg Brockman will now lead the company’s produ...

Daring Fireball
16 May 01:18 • John Gruber

The Talk Show: ‘A Sociopathic Father’

daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2026/05/15/ep-447

Adam Lisagor returns to the show to talk about Hovercraft, his new virtual presentation camera app for Mac, and how he’s developing it with AI coding tools. Also, delicious Japanese spite sandwich cookies.

Sponsored by:

Parcel: Track your packages in one place, with native apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.
Scribe: Instantly capture and optimize workflows so your teams and AI agents do their best work.
Squarespace: Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code TALKSHOW.

Link: daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2026/05/15/ep-447

Daring Fireball
15 May 20:18 • John Gruber

Wanton Destruction of CBS Property

youtube.com/watch?v=eBKWKu2Rqxc

“Good night and good luck, motherfuckers.”

Link: youtube.com/watch?v=eBKWKu2Rqxc

Daring Fireball
15 May 19:30 • John Gruber

Dropover, a Mac Shelf Utility That Makes Clever Use of Mouse Shaking

dropoverapp.com/

Yesterday, regarding the “Magic Cursor” feature Google teased for its upcoming Googlebook/Aluminium OS platform, I wrote: Shaking your cursor over something is an interesting gesture. The only feature I’m aware of that uses that gesture is MacOS’s feature that makes your...

Daring Fireball
15 May 18:39 • John Gruber

Aluminium OS: Google’s ‘Android for PC’ OS for Googlebooks

aluminium-os.com/

Update: I originally posted this item thinking the aluminium-os.com website was official. It’s not. And the fact that it’s not is only mentioned in small print in the page footer. My bad, and my apologies for not noticing. No wonder I thought the descriptions were so un-Goog...

Daring Fireball
15 May 01:03 • John Gruber

‘Musk v. Altman’ Closing Arguments

theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/931006/musk-v-altman-closing-arguments-analysis?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6ImhxZzBnTXFpSk8iLCJwIjoiL2FpLWFydGlmaWNpYWwtaW50ZWxsaWdlbmNlLzkzMTAwNi9tdXNrLXYtYWx0bWFuLWNsb3NpbmctYXJndW1lbnRzLWFuYWx5c2lzIiwiZXhwIjoxNzc5MjM2OTUwLCJpYXQiOjE3Nzg4MDQ5NTB9.TXQtcV9vkuuKyqcrMaKtSqqoL9_wGWeSYgUyO6ZzK-Y

Elizabeth Lopatto, reporting for The Verge (gift link): Today was closing arguments in the Musk v. Altman trial, and I almost feel bad writing about the unbelievable demolition derby I just witnessed. Steven Molo, Musk’s lawyer, stumbled over his words. He at one point c...

Daring Fireball
15 May 01:03 • John Gruber

Let’s Run a Neologism Poll

mastodon.social/@gruber/116575825801893849

After posting the previous item referencing dickpanels, a term I’ve been using since 2022, it occurred to me that they could also be called dickovers (like popovers, but dickheaded). The latter sounds more clever, but I worry it’s less clear. I’m seldom so indecisive, so I’m running a Mastodon poll.

Link: mastodon.social/@gruber/116575825801893849

Daring Fireball
15 May 00:15 • John Gruber

The Youth AI Safety Institute Has Margrethe Vestager’s Backing

euronews.com/next/2026/05/12/margrethe-vestager-backs-new-ai-safety-institute-for-children-after-decade-regulating-big-

Una Hajdari, reporting for Euronews: A new independent institute dedicated to making artificial intelligence safer for children will beformally [sic] presented at the Danish Parliament on Tuesday, with former European Commission executive vice-president Margrethe Vestage...

Daring Fireball
14 May 23:57 • John Gruber

Aided by Mythos Preview, Researchers Announce MacOS Kernel Exploit Circumventing M5 Memory Integrity Enforcement

blog.calif.io/p/first-public-kernel-memory-corruption

Calif, a security research team, on their blog: Many security experts consider Apple devices to be the most secure consumer platform. The latest flagship example is MIE (Memory Integrity Enforcement), Apple’s hardware-assisted memory safety system built around ARM’s MTE ...

Daring Fireball
14 May 22:54 • John Gruber

Wired on the Dark Mood Inside Meta

wired.com/story/meta-layoffs-bad-vibes-mark-zuckerberg-ai/

Paresh Dave, Lauren Goode, Steven Levy, and Zoë Schiffer, reporting for Wired (News+ link): As Meta employees brace for layoffs next Wednesday, May 20, many say the vibes are horrifically, historically low. “Everyone is unhappy; the only people who are not unhappy are, l...

Daring Fireball
14 May 20:54 • John Gruber

Geoffrey Fowler and the Launch of the Youth AI Safety Institute

geoffreyfowler.substack.com/p/what-is-ai-doing-to-our-kids-im-going

Geoffrey Fowler, on his blog, which, alas, he calls “a Substack”: I’m joining the Youth AI Safety Institute as its first new employee. It’s a research and testing organization launching today under the umbrella of children’s nonprofit Common Sense Media. Backed by a $20 ...

Daring Fireball
14 May 19:42 • John Gruber

Tim Cook Is in Trump’s Executive Entourage for China Summit

the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-tim-cook-trump-china-tech-ceo-b2975568.html

Owen Scott, reporting for The Independent:

The list of tech and financial industry titans joining the commander-in-chief during his summit with China’s president Xi Jinping includes Elon Musk, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, and Apple CEO Tim Cook. [...]

Trump earlier confirmed a number of high-profile attendees in a lengthy post on Truth Social, albeit referring to Cook as “Tim Apple” in the process.

While he’s in such a jocular nickname-y mood, he should drop a reference to Winnie the Pooh into some of these posts on his blog.

Link: the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon…

Daring Fireball
14 May 19:06 • John Gruber

Google Announces Its Chromebook Successor: The Googlebook

theverge.com/tech/928479/google-googlebook-laptops-android-tease-aluminium-chromebook?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6IjNVSjlWdlZESmgiLCJwIjoiL3RlY2gvOTI4NDc5L2dvb2dsZS1nb29nbGVib29rLWxhcHRvcHMtYW5kcm9pZC10ZWFzZS1hbHVtaW5pdW0tY2hyb21lYm9vayIsImV4cCI6MTc3OTIxNjg2NiwiaWF0IjoxNzc4Nzg0ODY2fQ.a74WT34THV0Ih1pGO7NH4daq39ytQXdhO4EAgE6HCeI

Antonio G. Di Benedetto, reporting for The Verge (gift link): Google is announcing a new line of laptops coming in the fall called Googlebooks. Details are sparse for now, as the tease is just a small part of various Android announcements during Google’s Android Show. Bu...

Daring Fireball
14 May 18:45 • John Gruber

Gurman Reports that OpenAI Is Unhappy With Apple Deal

bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-14/openai-apple-partnership-frays-setting-up-possible-legal-fight?srnd=undefined&embedded-checkout=true

Mark Gurman, reporting for Bloomberg under the headline, “Apple-OpenAI Alliance Frays, Setting Up Possible Legal Fight”: OpenAI lawyers are actively working with an outside legal firm on a range of options that could be formally executed in the near future, said the peop...

Daring Fireball
14 May 18:00 • John Gruber

The Trump T1 Phone Starts Shipping This Week, Supposedly

theverge.com/gadgets/929471/trump-mobile-t1-phone-shipping-this-week

Dominic Preston, at The Verge: Trump Mobile CEO Pat O’Brien first confirmed the release plans to USA Today, telling the outlet that all preorders will be fulfilled within the next few weeks. The company later confirmed the news on its social media accounts, using a very ...

Daring Fireball
14 May 17:45 • John Gruber

Klack

tryklack.com/

Well, this is ridiculous. Klack is a $5 Mac utility by Henrik Ruscon that simulates mechanical keyboard clacking while you type. Absurd. My keyboard makes its own beautiful sounds as I type.

So of course I went to buy a copy immediately, because I love an absurd utility, that serves no purpose other than fun, crafted with exquisite attention to detail. But when I did, the Mac App Store informed me that a member of my family sharing group had already purchased it. (I presume that was my son, not my wife.)

Update: From a DF reader who shall remain nameless:

I bought Klack out of spite. One of my colleagues brought a mechanical keyboard to use in an open office space and I figured it’d be funny to troll him by setting my Mac system volume to 10 and letting it rip.

Link: tryklack.com/

Daring Fireball
14 May 16:48 • John Gruber

New Driver for the Old Griffin PowerMate

github.com/jameslockman/Griffin-PowerMate-Driver

James Lockman: This small driver enables the Griffin PowerMate, a nifty little device from days gone by. What does the PowerMate do? It is a knob that you can twist or that you can press. That’s it. It also has a blue LED in the base that can change intensity based on wh...

Daring Fireball
13 May 02:24 • John Gruber

★ Nextpad++

Windows Notepad is, more or less, the Windows peer to MacOS’s TextEdit — the built-in system text editor. For years, it was really basic — so much more basic than TextEdit that it engendered no affection. You don’t see paeans to Notepad in The New Yorker. Recently though, Mi...

Daring Fireball
13 May 01:42 • John Gruber

Nextpad++

notepad-plus-plus.org/news/npp-trademark-infringement/

Windows Notepad is, more or less, the Windows peer to MacOS’s TextEdit — the built-in system text editor. For years, it was really basic — more basic than TextEdit. Recently Microsoft has started beefing it up, though, culminating last year when they added fucking Markdown s...

Daring Fireball
12 May 21:09 • John Gruber

Kagi Snaps

help.kagi.com/kagi/features/snaps.html

Kagi’s documentation: Typing @r headphones will search for “headphones” but limit the results to reddit.com (r is the short code for Reddit). This allows you to quickly find relevant content on a specific site using Kagi’s powerful index. It is effectively the same as do...

Daring Fireball
12 May 20:36 • John Gruber

Seriously, Give Kagi a Try

daringfireball.net/2025/04/try_switching_to_kagi

Quoting from a post I wrote a year ago: Like, even if I use the magic &udm=14 parameter with Google search, to get “disenshittified” results from Google, I find I get better results from Kagi. When I know there’s one right answer (say, a specific article I remember r...