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Earlier, I wrote that there isn’t just one type of cloud; it ranges from renting out servers to fully managed office software as a service. One relevant type of cloud use is what’s informally called “cloud-native.” I wrote in that earlier page that a “cloud-native developer” does not work based on servers. If you rent out virtual servers and call yourself a cloud company, a cloud-native developer won’t understand you at all.

For the first time in decades, America has a chance to define its next political order. Trump offers fear, retribution, and scarcity. Liberals can stand for abundance.

If you're going to conquer the world, you can't let a broken CRT monitor stand in your way. (New version of an essay originally posted in March 2016. 3,200 words.)

Roadtripping across the bridges, highways, and parks of America’s most controversial urban planner. (New version of a photoessay originally posted in June 2014. 7,000 words, 100 photos.)

Chasing Chicago’s movable bridges. (New version of a photoessay originally posted in August 2014. 900 words, 50 photos.)

We’re excited to announce two new smartwatches that run open source PebbleOS and are compatible with thousands of your beloved Pebble apps…

Eerder schreef ik dat er niet één soort cloud is, het loopt van servers verhuren tot kant en klare kantoorsoftware as a service. Een relevant soort cloud is wat informeel wel ‘cloud native’ wordt genoemd. Ik schreef daarover dat een ‘cloud native programmeur’ niet werkt op basis van servers. Als je virtuele servers verhuurt en je noemt jezelf een cloudbedrijf, dan snapt die cloud native programmeur daar niets van. Die kan niet uit de voeten met computers, die heeft diensten nodig.

The very short version: It has now become clear that European governments can no longer rely on American clouds, and that we lack good and comprehensive alternatives. Market forces have failed to deliver a truly European cloud, and businesses won’t naturally buy as yet unproven cloud services, even when adorned with a beautiful European 🇪🇺 flag, so for now nothing will happen. This means it’s time for industrial policy, which requires politics to be proficient in “industry.

De hele korte versie: inmiddels is duidelijk dat Europa/Europese overheden niet meer kunnen bouwen op Amerikaanse clouds, en dat we hier geen goede en dekkende alternatieven hebben. Marktwerking heeft ons geen echte Europese cloud opgeleverd, en het bedrijfsleven gaat niet vanzelf spullen inkopen die nog in aanbouw zijn, hoe mooi die Europese vlag 🇪🇺 erop ook is. Dus is het tijd voor industriepolitiek, en daarvoor moet je goed zijn met “industrie”.

During Pebble v1, I learned how much harder it is to build a great smartwatch experience on iPhone than it is on Android. It sounds like…

Here’s Gordon Brander in an article titled “Don't fork the ecosystem”: Most of our software has been shaped by chance decisions made in haste by people who could not have predicted how the system would end up being used today. And if we could rebuild those systems today, k...

By multiple accounts, the web is losing pieces: every year a fraction of old web pages disappear, lost forever. We should regard the Internet Archive as one of the most valuable pieces of modern history; instead, many companies and entities make the chances of the Archive to ...

In my last post about hard drives that go bad over time, I hinted at having rescued a lost piece of obscure Apple software history from an old 160 MB Conner hard drive that had its head stuck in the parked position. This post is going to be all about it. It’s the tale of […]

We have extensive discussions about our enormous dependence on American clouds, but what exactly are we talking about? And is Europe equally dependent on all types of cloud? This article is aimed at policy makers, but it may also provide some clarity about the broader landscape to actual cloud users. There is also a Dutch version of this page. Cloud in Shapes and Sizes Public cloud, private cloud, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, IaC, CaaS – what do all these terms mean?

From creator privacy to phishing paradise: How a secret parameter could have exposed the private email addresses of monetized YouTube channels

What counts as a personal blog? I count a site as a personal blog if: the site contains written content (not just an app or a video) the site is authored by a single person A blog still counts as a personal blog even if the blogger is a professional journalist (e.g., Bri...

A PuTTY user asked about the history of its logo and icon collection. I discuss the design intentions and technical aspects.

The Deeper Problems with AI in Creative Work

“But AI will get better at writing stories, won’t it?” This response to my rant about AI-generated content misses the point entirely. Even if AI writing improved dramatically tomorrow, fundamental problems would remain that no algorithm refinement can fix.

The environmental cost alone should give us pause. Training even a small LLM produces carbon emissions equivalent to the output of several cars, over their entire lifetimes, and each query consumes significant energy. Game development already has a substantial carbon footprint—why increase it when human writers remain perfectly capable?

Fun little board game

Onze samenleving en overheid draaien inmiddels grotendeels op Amerikaanse big-tech platformen. Velen van ons willen dat dit minder wordt, of zelfs ophoudt. Iedereen in de tech scene hier in Europa is vol van goede wil er wat aan te doen, maar het gaat toch vaak mis. Van nature willen we leuke open en federated en standaardgebaseerde dingen bouwen. Maar dat is niet genoeg, dat is niet waar de wereld (direct) op zit te wachten.