Posts in "Link"

Substack just killed the creator economy

Last week, they announced that all writers would be required to offer Apple’s in-app purchase (IAP) payment option. That means that Apple will be collecting a 30% fee for all subscriptions purchased on Substack via IAP.

This is one of many reasons it sucks writing on someone else’s website. I know not everyone can self host, and not everyone wants to. But if I was on Substack, something like Ghost would be looking pretty appealing to me right now.

PBS, NPR stations struggle with US government funding cuts

Pleas for donations exceed expectations in many parts of country

I’ve never donated to PBS in my life until this past month. I set up a monthly donation to our local station, WOSU Public Media. It’s not much, but I’m hoping there are a lot more people like me; people who might not have felt a need to donate in the past, but realize a really great thing is in jeopardy and give PBS/NPR or their local channels what they can afford.

Just listened to the latest episode of Cory Doctorow’s podcast where he reads an hour of his upcoming book Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It

I hope that listening to this long sample will convince you to pre-order your copy!

That’s exactly what it did! 🤪 Just pre-ordered the hardcover copy and audiobook from Kickstarter.

It’s so fucking good! I wanna keep going but it’s not out yet. I don’t know if it’s the most important book of the year, but it’s definitely the most relevant.

Mass shooters are not disproportionately transgender, contrary to claims

There were 195 mass shootings committed by 200 people between 1966 and 2024 that met the VPP’s definition. Of those 200 mass shooters, VPP only listed one perpetrator as transgender: the 2023 Nashville shooter. That’s 0.50% of all the shooters.

So there have been a total of two trans people involved in mass shootings since 1966. In reality, almost every mass shooter has been a white male. And that’s based on actual data, not a cocaine fueled tweet storm from Don Jr.

Republicans investigate Wikipedia over allegations of organized bias

Wikipedia has long faced accusations of its entries having a political bias, with the right-leaning Manhattan Institute releasing a report in 2024 that found Wikipedia entries are more likely to attach a negative sentiment to right-leaning terms.

The problem isn’t bias, it’s that the right is increasingly cruel and authoritarian. I’m biased against anyone whose goal is to make life harder for anyone they don’t like.

Google’s AI Is Committing a Unique Evil: Giving Gamers Tips That Are Actually False

It’s been a long time since people were playing Pokemon Yellow and Final Fantasy for the first time, however, and AI has apparently taken over the role that used to be filled by your idiot brother.

I feel dumb for admitting this, but I’ve gone on wild goose chases for half a day trying to use ChatGPT as a walkthrough. Even on old games with tons of information online, it still conflates different versions across different consoles, sometimes from different decades. It’s just so bad.

Vivaldi browser capo doubles down on generative AI ban

“If people want to use AI as those services, it’s easily accessible to them without building it into the browser. But I think the concept of building it into the browser is typically for the sake of collecting information. And that’s not what we are about as a company, and we don’t think that’s what the web should be about.”

Vivaldi has always been such a sane alternative.

I’m on Firefox ESR so I haven’t gotten any of the AI stuff yet, but it’s nice to know Vivaldi is there if/when enshittification ensues.

Radiohead’s “Let Down” Charts on Billboard Hot 100 After Going Viral on TikTok

“Let Down,” a song from their seminal 1997 LP OK Computer, has charted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #91 after recently going viral on TikTok.

I love how 90s Gen Z is. They’re wearing baggy clothes and listening to the stuff us millennials and Gen Xers grew up on.

I think I’m beginning to understand how my dad felt when I started wearing tight jeans and a black t-shirt, and listening to Pink Floyd back in high school.