FeedCity

Michael Marinaccio: Whether they know it or not, the laissez-faire techno-optimists in those parenting manuals are taking issue with the words of King Thamus, the legendary Egyptian monarch invoked by Plato in the Phaedrus. According to the parable, Theuth, t...

T.J. Clark: The practices of present-day ‘comparable’ communities strike me as a very poor guide. We have at different times labelled such groupings Indigenous, Marginalised, Tribal, Primitive; all names, tabooed or not, that circle around some kind of rearguard action – s...

Frank C. Keil: Well before they begin schooling, children are driven to look beyond the obvious. They spontaneously explore and uncover hidden parts that provide pleasing insights into the underlying causal machinery governing their visible properties and behavior. This is ...

Like a lot of other people, I want to know where Bluesky is headed, and I learned a lot about that in this podcast interview with Bluesky's new CEO, Toni Schneider. We have crossed paths in tech, but this is the first time I've heard him speak at length. They have a business model in mind, sounds something like Substack, which is probably a good idea. Their value is in the many millions of users they have. Highly recommend this podcast if you want to hear the story direct from the CEO.

Last year I spoke at MK Geek Night about my personal reflections on how, after years of chasing IndieWeb perfection, I just accepted my imperfect website. I finally sat down to transcribe it and post it here. The base of this post was a transcript of my presentation but s...

I asked Claude for a list of popular feed readers that hook into WebSub. Turns out it wasn't a simple answer.

I've been on quest to see if we could bridge AT Proto and RSS. I love the brightly colored-editors that are popping up inside AT Proto Land, and I want them to play with us in the land of RSS.

Someone Is Mysteriously Snapping Up Used Books Around the World - The Atlantic:

For now, this is what we know: A lot of used books are suddenly being bought up by companies including Zoom Books. But we do not know how many of these orders are coming from AI companies, or whether these books will be destroyed. Based on the practices of Anthropic and the attempted purchases by 2077AI, it seems very possible that the books are destined for AI companies, but we can’t be certain.

Regardless, the idea of an AI behemoth destroying books has sent a bolt through the collective psyche. Book destruction is historically linked to authoritarian regimes and attempts to control public discourse, as well as ancient tragedies — the burning of the Library of Alexandria comes to mind.

Wendell Berry, in a 2006 interview about his novel Jayber Crow: Jayber, as he looks back on his life, feels that he was called to be a member and a servant of Port William. Looking back on my own life, I have a similar feeling — that I was called to do the work I’ve done. L...

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I find most poetry obtuse, dancing around a point rather than making one sharply. Not this one.

Matthew Green: If you’re under the impression that these models are “glorified autocomplete” or that progress is slowing down, I need to urge you: stop thinking that. The models are very intelligent and capable, they are getting better at a fast clip. I can cite measurab...

New York Times Magazine story editor Willy Staley tried Sean O’Mara’s “Living Diet” (nothing but steak and fermented foods like sauerkraut) for a week: To O’Mara, the diet is not just a temporary means of losing weight but a way to eat for good. He has been doing it for ...

Emily Steel, New York Times (gift link): More than 4,000 lawsuits have been filed, so many that thousands were combined to streamline procedural matters. Most remain in the early stages. The New York Times reviewed documents from the three cases that reached trial and about a dozen others that have advanced to the stage when […]⌥ Permalink

Sam Altman, on Twitter/X: cool use case of chatgpt work i heard last night: connect your family calendars and explain your kids’ interests. every morning for the drive to school, have it make a podcast that talks about one kid’s soccer game that afternoon, one kid’s up...

RSS.chat now supports WebSub. This means that posts on RSS.chat will appear instantly in compatible feed reader apps.

Juli Clover: Google Health (previously the Fitbit app) collects fitness, sleep, and wellness data from a connected wearable device. Steps, distance traveled, heart rate, sleep, and more can now be added to Apple Health. As noted on Reddit, some data such as HRV doesn't transfer over. […] Syncing can be enabled after downloading the update […]

Jeff Johnson (Hacker News): Nonetheless, when I send an email in Mail app, from a non-iCloud account to an non-iCloud account, Mail immediately triggers an iCloud connection, as revealed by Little Snitch. […] What could Mail be querying and saving in CloudKit when I’ve disabled Mail in iCloud? […] As you can see in my […]

Hartley Charlton (The Verge): Apple briefly removed Telegram from the App Store on Monday night after a review found content that violated its guidelines against child sexual abuse material (CSAM), but restored the app a short while later, according to Reuters. It seems like this was a symbolic gesture. Removing the app didn’t affect any […]

David Pogue, at Pogue’s Posts:

Amazon’s “50+ things to try” list mentions that Alexa can “find a home maintenance professional.” So I tried it.

ME: I need a septic-system repair.

ALEXA: That service isn’t currently supported. I can help with plumbing services instead.

ME: Okay, fine. Plumbing services.

ALEXA: What’s your plumbing issue?

ME: I have untreated sewage pouring out of my kitchen faucet.

ALEXA: Is this urgent?

Uh … what do YOU think, dumbass? But OK:

ME: Yes.

ALEXA: When do you need it by?

Displays four responses: ASAP, Within a week, Further out, and I haven’t decided yet.

ME: ASAP.

ALEXA: I’m Alexa, not Shaq.

This could only have been funnier if Alexa had responded “The Aristocrats!”

(Which great film, is, in fact, available to stream on Amazon Prime.)