What If There’s No AGI?
- Reddit.
:::
What If There’s No AGI?
The technological struggles are in some ways beside the point. The financial bet on artificial general intelligence is so big that failure could cause a depression.Bryan McMahon (The American Prospect)
House Votes to Advance a Mining Road Through the Alaskan Wilderness
The proposed 211-mile industrial road over pristine land would allow a mining company to reach a copper deposit. Critics say it would destroy a fragile environment.
reshared this
Norway says pump it up on oil and gas for now
Spain and Portugal wildfire weather made 40 times more likely by climate crisis, study finds | Wildfires were 30% more intense than would have been expected without global heating, scientists say
Spain and Portugal wildfire weather made 40 times more likely by climate crisis, study finds
Wildfires were 30% more intense than would have been expected without global heating, scientists sayAjit Niranjan (The Guardian)
À l’approche de la votation du 28 septembre sur l’identité électronique (e-ID), HTTPS-VD vous invite à une soirée d’information et de débat citoyen.
Programme :
- Présentation introductive par un expert externe : comprendre les bases de l’e-ID et les points principaux du projet de la confédération.
- Tour de table avec CH++ et HTTPS-VD : partage d’opinions, analyses et mise en perspective des enjeux démocratiques, techniques et légaux.
- Questions-réponses avec le public : un espace ouvert pour éclaircir les aspects pratiques et juridiques du projet.
- Apéro convivial pour poursuivre la discussion dans un cadre informel.
🔗 Infos & inscriptions : mobilisons.ch
Voir aussi: https://mobilisons.ch/events/017b7d50-034d-4b89-b368-8356ad5e6136 - La mise en œuvre technique de l’E-ID en Suisse - Conférence spécialisée par Société Numérique
Variations in Climate Change Belief Systems Across 110 Geographic Areas
Variations in Climate Change Belief Systems Across 110 Geographic Areas - Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
We are pleased to announce the publication of a new article, “Variations in Climate Change Belief Systems Across 110 Geographic Areas” in Nature Climate Change. Think of climate change beliefs like trees in a forest — no single tree stands […]Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
UK government trial of Microsoft's M365 Copilot finds no clear productivity boost
UK government trial of M365 Copilot finds no clear productivity boost
: AI tech shows promise writing emails or summarizing meetings. Don't bother with anything more complexPaul Kunert (The Register)
Clear likes this.
‘As more join, it gets less risky’: how Greta Thunberg’s lone strike turned into a movement | How Fridays for Future challenged climate inaction to reach a positive tipping point
‘As more join, it gets less risky’: how Greta Thunberg’s lone strike turned into a movement
In an extract from his new book, Tim Lenton explains how Fridays for Future challenged climate inaction to reach a positive tipping pointGuardian staff reporter (The Guardian)
like this
Netflix updates its Moments feature to give users greater control over scene clipping
Netflix is rolling out an update that lets you set both a starting point and an end point when saving a scene — so you can turn your favorites into full clips to save, relive, and share anytime.
Netflix Moments Lets You Save and Share Your Favorite Scenes
From 'Wednesday' to 'KPop Demon Hunters,' clip, save, and share the scenes you love.Tudum Staff (Netflix Tudum)
Technology Channel reshared this.
Estate 2025 in Liguria, più pioggia e meno caldo. Tornano le stagioni “di una volta”?
Sul fronte delle temperature, nonostante i passaggi perturbati, non sono mancati valori estremi a conferma che anche in un’estate meno calda della media recente, le fiammate africane restano un fenomeno costante.
Secondo Arpal: «La stagione è stata meno siccitosa rispetto agli ultimi anni, con valori più vicini alle medie storiche, anche se le temperature restano elevate. L’instabilità diffusa ha riportato un clima più variabile e dinamico rispetto alle estati caratterizzate da lunghi periodi di alta pressione».
👇🏻
genovaquotidiana.com/2025/09/0…
Estate 2025 in Liguria, più pioggia e meno caldo. Tornano le stagioni “di una volta”? - genovaquotidiana.com
Dati Arpal: frequenti giornate instabili, allerte temporali e precipitazioni sopra la media. Solo due le ondate di calore, con picchi oltre i 40 gradi nello SpezzinoGenovaQuotidiana (genovaquotidiana.com)
Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters Demand Google Fire Security Experts or Face Data Leak
Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters Demand Google Fire Security Experts or Face Data Leak
Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters threaten Google, demanding two security experts be fired or they will leak alleged data from ongoing investigations.Waqas (Hack Read)
Technology Channel reshared this.
Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 DNS Privacy Risked by Unauthorized Certificates
Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 DNS Privacy Risked by Unauthorized Certificates
A certificate authority issued TLS certificates containing the IP address 1.1.1.1, a globally used DNS resolver run by Cloudflare and APNIC.Alex Lekander (CyberInsider)
adhocfungus likes this.
Kowloon Walled City
like this
Kowloon Walled City (3D Map) 九龍城砦 3D地圖 V0.2 - 3D model by CommaMan (@commaguy)
請善用時間線來控制「平面圖」及「地圖指示」的出現。 未整完, 得閒會再更新, 如有錯誤或有建議, 歡迎留言呀 NoAI: This model may not be used in datasets for, in the development of, or as inputs to generative AI programs.Sketchfab
Roblox continues efforts for child safety by expanding age estimation to all users by end of the year
Honestly maybe this game should be shutdown:
hindustantimes.com/trending/us…
gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/…
eu.oklahoman.com/story/news/20…
rollingstone.com/culture/cultu…
thegamer.com/qatar-bans-roblox…
Roblox Banned In Qatar Due To “Potential Risks To Children And Teenagers”
It's not the first time a nation said nope to Roblox.Quinton O'Connor (TheGamer)
Pro doesn't like this.
Stop Ansia da Esame: Ecco le 2 Semplici Tecniche Che Funzionano Davvero
Ti è mai capitato di ritrovarti con la** testa fra le nuvole** dopo pochi minuti di** studio?** Oppure di sentire il panico che ti blocca un attimo prima di un'interrogazione, facendoti dimenticare tutto? Se la risposta è sì, non preoccuparti: non sei solo.
Spesso, i veri nemici della nostra concentrazione non sono le distrazioni, ma** l'ansia e lo stress**. La buona notizia è che non devi combatterli, ma semplicemente imparare a gestirli. In questo articolo, ti sveleremo due tecniche super efficaci e incredibilmente semplici per allenare la tua mente a concentrarsi e a ritrovare la calma quando ne hai più bisogno.
Al via nuovo anno scolastico: benessere tra i banchi-Guida per migliorare la concentrazione e battere l’ansia da prestazione (2)
newsmadeinitaly.itTi è mai capitato di sederti alla scrivania per studiare ma, neanche trascorsi cinque minuti, la tua testa è già da tutt'altra parte, persa nei ricordi delle spiagge o nei tuffi in acqua? Oppure, ti è mai successo che, nell'imminenza di un'interro…
Il modello del fashion retail è in frantumi: dalla crescita al collasso
Dalla boutique italiana Luisa Via Roma che chiede la protezione del tribunale, all’e-tailer canadese Ssense che presenta istanza di fallimento, emerge uno schema chiaro: il modello tradizionale dei fashion retail è in frantumi. Infatti, le stesse falle strutturali accomunano i retailer moda di tutto il mondo, sia fisici che digitali. Ma si tratta solo degli effetti di una crisi economica o è un modello di business ormai giunto alla fine?
Cosa è andato storto?
I retailer sono rimasti intrappolati in un circolo vizioso:
- Sovrapproduzione: Ordinano stock eccessivi per offrire assortimenti infiniti.
- Cultura dello sconto: Dipendono da promozioni perpetue per smaltire le scorte, erodendo il valore percepito e i margini.
Questo modello, sia online che fisico, non è più sostenibile. I consumatori sono diventati volatili e gli investimenti fatti durante la pandemia non hanno dato i ritorni attesi.
La domanda è:
Può un'industria che rifiuta di cambiare le sue fondamenta— basate su produzione di massa e brand sempre più privi di significato — sopravvivere cercando solo salvataggi finanziari, senza un vero ripensamento strutturale?
Se vuoi approfondire / If you want to know more:
🇮🇹 🔗 suite123.it/it/2025/09/01/fash…
🇬🇧 🔗 suite123.it/2025/09/01/fashion…
Fashion Retail – A broken model: From growth to collapse - suite123
Fashion retail: a broken model about to collapse. A global crisis exposes an industry unwilling to adapt. Can it survive its own excess?suite123
reshared this
Google told to pay $425m in privacy lawsuit
Google told to pay $425m in privacy lawsuit
Google says the decision misunderstands how its products work, and it will appeal the ruling.Peter Hoskins (BBC News)
In win for infectious diseases, Florida to end all school vaccine requirements
In win for infectious diseases, Florida to end all school vaccine requirements
Exposing vulnerable people to vaccine-preventable disease is just part of life, Ladapo said.Beth Mole (Ars Technica)
like this
A bipartisan bill to ban lawmakers from trading stocks is unveiled in the House
Magaziner, Roy Introduce New Bipartisan Bill to Ban Congressional Stock Trading
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Seth Magaziner (D-RI-02) and Chip Roy (R-TX-21) introduced a new comprehensive bipartisan bill to ban Members of Congress from trading stocks.Representative Magaziner
copymyjalopy likes this.
Quella "Pallina" che Ti Fa Paura: I Linfonodi Parlano, Impara ad Ascoltarli
Nel nostro nuovo articolo, scoprirai la verità su queste sentinelle del sistema immunitario: **quando il gonfiore** è una reazione normale a un'infezione e quando invece richiede l'attenzione di un medico. Impara a decifrare i segnali, a riconoscere le cause più comuni e, soprattutto, a capire quando stare tranquillo.
Linfonodi Gonfi: Allarme o Sentinelle del Corpo? La Verità Che Devi Conoscere
Il Messaggio dei Guardiani del Tuo Corpo Capita a molti di percepire un piccolo rigonfiamento sotto la pelle, magari sul collo, sotto le as...Giuliano (Blogger)
reshared this
[Recipe] Impeach Cobler
561 K vues · 32 K réactions | Impeach Cobbler. Recipe in the comments. #impeach #peachcobbler #whitepeach #democracy #easyrecipe | The Dad Briefs
Impeach Cobbler. Recipe in the comments. #impeach #peachcobbler #whitepeach #democracy #easyrecipe.www.facebook.com
Ji Fu likes this.
EFF Statement on ICE Use of Paragon Solutions Malware
EFF Statement on ICE Use of Paragon Solutions Malware
This statement can be attributed to EFF Senior Staff Technologist Cooper QuintinIt was recently reported by Jack Poulson on Substack that ICE has reactivated its 2 million dollar contract with Paragon Solutions, a cyber-mercenary and spyware manufact…Electronic Frontier Foundation
Google’s $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
Google’s $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
Google is in the middle of a six-month, $45 million contract to amplify propaganda with Netanyahu’s office. The contract describes Google as a “key entity” supporting the prime minister’s messaging.Jack Poulson (Drop Site News)
reshared this
Google’s $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
Google’s $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
Google is in the middle of a six-month, $45 million contract to amplify propaganda with Netanyahu’s office. The contract describes Google as a “key entity” supporting the prime minister’s messaging.Jack Poulson (Drop Site News)
reshared this
Google’s $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
Google’s $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
Google is in the middle of a six-month, $45 million contract to amplify propaganda with Netanyahu’s office. The contract describes Google as a “key entity” supporting the prime minister’s messaging.Jack Poulson (Drop Site News)
adhocfungus likes this.
reshared this
Google’s $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
Google’s $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
Google is in the middle of a six-month, $45 million contract to amplify propaganda with Netanyahu’s office. The contract describes Google as a “key entity” supporting the prime minister’s messaging.Jack Poulson (Drop Site News)
reshared this
Google’s $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
Google’s $45 Million Contract With Netanyahu's Office to Spread Israeli Propaganda
Google is in the middle of a six-month, $45 million contract to amplify propaganda with Netanyahu’s office. The contract describes Google as a “key entity” supporting the prime minister’s messaging.Jack Poulson (Drop Site News)
reshared this
The worst possible antitrust outcome
Republished under Creative Commons, Original article from Pluralistic.
Well, fuck.
Last year, Google lost an antitrust case to Biden's DoJ. The DoJ lawyers beat Google like a drum, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Google had deliberately sought to create and maintain a monopoly over search, and that they'd used that monopoly to make search materially worse, while locking competitors out of the market.
In other words, the company that controls 90% of search attained that control by illegal means, and, having thus illegitimately become the first port of call for the information-seeking world, had deliberately worsened its product to make more money:
pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/nam…
That Google lost that case was a minor miracle. First, because for 40 years, the richest, most terrible people in the world have been running a literal re-education camp for judges where they get luxe rooms and fancy meals and lectures about how monopolies are good, actually:
pluralistic.net/2021/08/13/pos…
But second, because Judge Amit Mehta decided that the Google case should be shrouded in mystery, suppressing the publication of key exhibits and banning phones, cameras and laptops from the courtroom, with the effect that virtually no one even noticed that the most important antitrust case in tech history, a genuine trial of the century, was underway:
promarket.org/2023/10/27/googl…
This is really important. The government doesn't have to win an antitrust trial in order to create competition. As the saying goes, "the process is the punishment." Bill Gates was so personally humiliated by his catastrophic performance at his deposition for the Microsoft antitrust trial that he elected not to force-choke the nascent Google, lest he be put back in the deposition chair:
pluralistic.net/2020/09/12/wha…
a
But Judge Mehta turned his courtroom into a Star Chamber, a black hole whence no embarrassing information about Google's wicked deeds could emerge. That meant that the only punishment Google would have to bear from this trial would come after the government won its case, when the judge decided on a punishment (the term of art is "remedy") for Google.
Yesterday, he handed down that remedy and it is as bad as it could be. In fact, it is likely the worst possible remedy for this case:
gizmodo.com/google-wont-have-t…
Let's start with what's not in this remedy. Google will not be forced to sell off any of its divisions – not Chrome, not Android. Despite the fact that the judge found that Google's vertical integration with the world's dominant mobile operating system and browser were a key factor in its monopolization, Mehta decided to leave the Google octopus with all its limbs intact:
pluralistic.net/2024/11/19/bre…
Google won't be forced to offer users a "choice screen" when they set up their Android accounts, to give browsers other than Chrome a fair shake:
pluralistic.net/2024/08/12/def…
Nor will Google be prevented from bribing competitors to stay out of the search market. One of the facts established in the verdict was that Google had been slipping Apple more than $20b/year in exchange for which, Apple forbore from making a competing search engine. This exposed every Safari and iOS user to Google surveillance, while insulating Google from the threat of an Apple competitor.
And then there's Google's data. Google is the world's most prolific surveiller, and the company boasts to investors about the advantage that its 24/7 spying confers on it in the search market, because Google knows so much about us and can therefore tailor our results. Even if this is true – a big if – it's nevertheless a fucking nightmare. Google has stolen every fact about our lives, in service to propping up a monopoly that lets it steal our money, too. Any remedy worth the name would have required Google to delete ("disgorge," in law-speak) all that data:
pluralistic.net/2024/08/07/rev…
Some people in the antitrust world didn't see it that way. Out of a misguided kind of privacy nihilism, they called for Google to be forced to share the data it stole from us, so that potential competitors could tune their search tools on the monopolist's population-scale privacy violations.
And that is what the court has ordered.
As punishment for being convinced of obtaining and maintaining a monopoly, Google will be forced to share sensitive data with lots of other search engines. This will not secure competition for search, but it will certainly democratize human rights violations at scale.
Doubtless there will be loopholes in this data-sharing order. Google will have the right to hold back some of its data (that is, our data) if it is deemed "sensitive." This isn't so much a loophole as is a loopchasm. I'll bet you a testicle⹋ that Google will slap a "sensitive" label on any data that might be the least bit useful to its competitors.
⹋not one of mine
This means that even if you like data-sharing as a remedy, you won't actually get the benefit you were hoping for. Instead, Google competitors will spend the next decade in court, fighting to get Google to comply with this order.
That's the main reason that we force monopolists to break up after they lose antitrust cases. We could put a bunch of conditions on how they operate, but figuring out whether they're adhering to those conditions and punishing them when they don't is expensive, labor-intensive and time consuming. This data-sharing wheeze is easy to do malicious compliance for, and hard to enforce. It is not an "administrable" policy:
locusmag.com/2022/03/cory-doct…
This is all downside. If Google complies with the order, it will constitute a privacy breach on a scale never before seen. If they don't comply with the order, it will starve competitors of the one tiny drop of hope that Judge Mehta squeezed out of his pen. It's a catastrophe. An utter, total catastrophe. It has zero redeeming qualities. Hope you like enshittification, folks, because Judge Mehta just handed Google an eternal licence to enshittify the entire fucking internet.
It's impossible to overstate how fucking terrible Mehta's reasoning in this decision is. The Economic Liberties project calls it "judicial cowardice" and compared the ruling to "finding someone guilty for bank robbery and then sentencing him to write a thank you note":
economicliberties.us/press-rel…
Matt Stoller says it's typical of today's "lawlessness, incoherence and deference to big business":
thebignewsletter.com/p/a-judge…
David Dayen's scorching analysis in The American Prospect calls it "embarassing":
prospect.org/justice/2025-09-0…
Dayen points out the many ways in which Mehta ignored his own findings, ignored the Supreme Court. Mehta wrote:
This court, however, need not decide this issue, because there are independent reasons that remedies designed to eliminate the defendant’s monopoly—i.e., structural remedies—are inappropriate in this case.
Which, as Dayen points out is literally a federal judge deciding to ignore the law "because reasons."
Dayen says that he doesn't see why Google would even bother appealing this ruling: "since it won on almost every point." But the DoJ could appeal. If MAGA's promises about holding Big Tech to account mean anything at all, the DoJ would appeal.
I'll bet you a testicle⹋ that the DoJ will not appeal. After all, Trump's DoJ now has a cash register at the reception desk, and if you write a check for a million bucks to some random MAGA influencer, they can make all charges disappear:
pluralistic.net/2025/09/02/act…
⹋again, not one of mine
And if you're waiting for Europe to jump in and act where America won't, don't hold your breath. EU Commission sources leaked to Reuters that the EU is going to drop its multi-billion euro fine against Google because they don't want to make Trump angry:
reuters.com/legal/litigation/g…
Sundar Pichai gave $1m to Donald Trump and got a seat on the dais at the inaguration. Trump just paid him back, 40,000 times over. Trump is a sadist, a facist, and a rapist – and he's also a remarkably cheap date.
Embarrassing Ruling Allows Google to Maintain Its Search Monopoly
Judge Amit Mehta found Google guilty of illegally monopolizing search, and then allowed the company to keep doing it.David Dayen (The American Prospect)
Cistite, Un Nemico Persistente: Ecco la Guida Completa per Capire e Prevenire le Ricorrenze
Cistite Addio! La Guida Naturale con Fitoterapia e Prevenzione Quotidiana
Cos'è la Cistite e Perché un Approccio Naturale? La cistite è un'infiammazione acuta o cronica della vescica urinaria, quasi sempr...Giuliano (Blogger)
reshared this
Meet the UN-backed 'green' investors’ group that invested in fossil fuels
Despite having pledged to reach net-zero emissions, major members of Net Zero Asset Managers hold billions of dollars’ worth of fossil-fuel stocks, including those in “carbon bomb” projects, while marketing their funds as green and sustainable.
Meet the UN-backed 'green' investors’ group that invested in fossil fuels - DeSmog
Despite having pledged to reach net-zero emissions, major members of Net Zero Asset Managers hold billions of dollars' worth of fossil-fuel stocks, including those in “carbon bomb” projects, while marketing their funds as green and sustainable.Stefano Valentino (DeSmog)
like this
Sondaggio libri Settembre-Ottobre 2025
Sondaggione per il libro di settembre e di conseguenza quello di ottobre
[poll type="regular" results="on_close" public="true" chartType="bar" close="2025-09-06T22:00:00.000Z" groups="BookClub"]
- Le Cosmicomiche - Italo Calvino (proposto da @levysoft)
- Le venti giornate di Torino - Giorgio De Maria (proposto da @yaku)
- Il grande ritratto - Dino Buzzati (proposto da @levysoft)
- I reietti dell’altro pianeta - Ursula K. Le Guin (proposto da @yaku)
[/poll]
Scadenza sondaggio il 07/09 alle 00:00 così lunedì si parte!
Sondaggio libri Settembre-Ottobre 2025
Sondaggione per il libro di settembre e di conseguenza quello di ottobre sondaggio Scadenza sondaggio il 07/09 alle 00:00 così lunedì si parte! 🙂Gatti Ninja
reshared this
La diabolica complessità del bombardiere che fu impiegato per condannare Hiroshima e Nagasaki - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
La diabolica complessità del bombardiere che fu impiegato per condannare Hiroshima e Nagasaki - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
L’anno zero giunse in modo repentino sulle ali di un gigante di metallo, capace di oltrepassare i 500 Km/h a quasi 10.000 metri d’altitudine, dove qualsiasi tentativo d’intercettazione sarebbe stato destinato a fallire.Jacopo (Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri)
@davew asks us to Think Different about WordPress, and reflects on the future of WordPress, and interfaces to interact with WordPress, whether it is to create or to consume content from a WordPress site. He talks about WordPress in comparison to social networks like Bluesky or Mastodon. It’s a compelling vision, and that comparison is very appropriate at a time where it’s easier than ever to turn a WordPress site into a Fediverse presence, thanks to the work of @pfefferle and @obenland on the ActivityPub plugin. My home on the web is my WordPress site, and I’m still very happy with that choice.
Dave has been working hard on a new way to interact with your WordPress site: an opinionated, minimalist editor built with writers in mind. As I watch WordLand grow, I can’t help but think about my beginnings with WordPress, more specifically with third-party WordPress editors.
Where did the all the third-party editors go?
15+ years ago, third-party editors weren’t just nice to have. They were essential. If you were a serious blogger, you probably used MarsEdit on your Mac, or Windows Live Writer on PC. Those 2 editors were probably the biggest third-party editors for WordPress at the time, and were built on top of WordPress’ XML-RPC API. It worked well, except when your hosting provider blocked XML-RPC altogether as a quick fix to avoid XML-RPC pingbacks being used to DDoS sites! That API is still around, and is a good testament for WordPress’ promise of backwards compatibility.
Not only did those editors work well, they were a great alternative to the default post editor in WordPress, which, frankly, sucked for writers using it every day. I remember using it almost exclusively with the “code” view to avoid the dreaded HTML adjustments in the visual editor.
Over the years, MarsEdit and Windows Live Writer slowly disappeared, and a few other options appeared. Here are a few that come to mind:
- Ulysses for Apple users.
- iAWriter for minimalist / focussed writers.
- The Google docs to WordPress browser extension
- StackEdit for Markdown fans.
- Zoho Writer
Fast-forward to today, I don’t think any of those options are that popular anymore. WordPress’ classic editor is still around, but there is a new(-ish) kid on the block with the Gutenberg editor. That editor is still very divisive, especially for folks used to editors of the past.
But if Gutenberg is so problematic, why haven’t third-party editors made a comeback? I have a few theories.
Maybe it’s just “good enough”?
Maybe, despite all its flaws, Gutenberg crossed a critical threshold. It’s not perfect, but it does the job, better than the classic editor did back when third-party editors were necessary, even if some still struggle to adopt the new editor.
Did Elementor and other page builders take over the third-party editor market?
Page builders like Elementor have become increasingly popular in the past 10 years. For many new WordPress users, they’re the default post editor interface, they’re the definition of “editing in WordPress” for many. They offer many more visual editing options that third-party editors just cannot offer.
Maybe the market for text-focused editors shrank because WordPress itself pivoted away from text?
Maybe, once again, “blogging is dead”?
While WordPress was largely viewed as a blogging platform 15 years ago, it’s no longer the case today. It powers online stores, small and large business sites, portfolios, and more.
For such site owners, there is no need for an external editor. In fact, there is often no need for posts at all.
Custom blocks can only be managed in the core editor
This may be my number 1 theory. 15 years ago, shortcodes were the most popular way to add custom content to your WordPress posts. This could be done from a third-party editor with no issues.
Nowadays, many plugins offer blocks that are useful for bloggers. Calls to Action, ads, newsletter popups, social media embeds, … They’re not just formatting tools, they’re useful every day, and they’re all available natively in the core editor. A third-party editor can’t replicate them without rebuilding half of WordPress.
Writers may choose the core editor because using anything else may mean losing traffic and revenue tools.
Copy/paste is just better than it was
Third-party editors focused on publishing to WordPress may have become obsolete because there are so many other editors out there, none of them publishing to WordPress. Folks can write in Obsidian, Notion, ChatGPT, … and then copy / paste the output into the core editor. The Gutenberg editor is now a lot more capable of picking up the right format on paste.
Editing consequently happens in custom tools not dedicated to publishing. WordPress is just the final step, the publishing pipeline.
Platforms now offer more than an editor
I think there is another force at play that directly challenges Dave’s vision: the rise of bundled publishing platforms like Substack.
Platforms like Substack don’t just offer an editor. They offer you an audience. Your posts can be promoted to Substack readers that are already logged in, can receive newsletters via email, are used to rely on Substack for their daily reading, and have payment methods saved and available in one click to pay you.
This goes against Dave’s ideas of interop and open standards like RSS, because as a creator you don’t have to think about any of that anymore. Instead of thinking about their content flowing freely between platforms with things like ActivityPub or RSS, folks can pick a walled garden where there is no friction. You don’t have to worry about an editor, plugins, you don’t have to know what RSS or ActivityPub is. You can just focus on publishing and trust the platform to do the rest.
“Trust” is the operative word here. You lose a lot of control over your content and your workflow. You lose ownership and data portability, but you may gain something that matters a lot more to you: the eyes of an audience through recommendation engines built by the platform to keep their readers there, and monetization tools to make money from your audience.
What This Means for WordLand
I think Dave’s WordLand faces a lot of those challenges, like the other third-party editors I mentioned above. It’s not just a technical challenge though ; it’s a challenge to build something with values that differ from some of the popular platforms out there, like Substack or Bluesky.
That’s not to say it cannot work. 🙂 There will always be a group of people who value content ownership and the open web. In my experience, that group of people actually blogs quite a bit!
I consider myself one of those people. The web still means something special to me.
Think Different about WordPress
Dave Winer, OG blogger, podcaster, developed first apps in many categories. Old enough to know better. It's even worse than it appears.Scripting News
reshared this
I recorded a podcast expanding on what I said in regard to what Jeremy wrote here.
shownotes.scripting.com/script…
I added a bit on my blog today.
scripting.com/2025/09/04.html#…
Scripting News: Thursday, September 4, 2025
Dave Winer, OG blogger, podcaster, developed first apps in many categories. Old enough to know better. It's even worse than it appears.Scripting News
OpenAI Boosts Secondary Share Sale to $10.3B, Presents Offer to Employees on Wednesday 9/3
OpenAI boosts size of secondary share sale to $10.3 billion
OpenAI is allowing current and former employees to sell more than $10 billion worth of stock in a secondary share sale.MacKenzie Sigalos (CNBC)
OpenAI Boosts Secondary Share Sale to $10.3B, Presents Offer to Employees on Wednesday 9/3
OpenAI boosts size of secondary share sale to $10.3 billion
OpenAI is allowing current and former employees to sell more than $10 billion worth of stock in a secondary share sale.MacKenzie Sigalos (CNBC)
adhocfungus likes this.
France fines Google, Shein record sums over cookie law violations
France's data protection authority on Wednesday issued record fines against search giant Google and fast-fashion platform Shein for failing to respect the law on internet cookies.The two groups, each with tens of millions of users in France, received two of the heaviest penalties ever imposed by the CNIL watchdog: 150 million euros ($175 million) for Shein and 325 million euros for Google.
Cookies are small files saved to browsers by websites that can collect data about users' online activity, making them essential to online advertising and the business models of many large platforms.
France fines Google, Shein record sums over cookie law violations
France’s data protection watchdog CNIL on Wednesday fined Google €325 million ($380 million) and fast-fashion retailer Shein €150 million ($175 million) for violating cookie rules.FRANCE 24
Is AI Slop Killing the Internet?
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
Clear likes this.
2025 DCI All-Age Championship Finals – Hawthorne Caballeros Photos
The Hawthorne Caballeros performing “On The Edge” during the 2025 DCI All-Age Championship Finals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
All of these photos are available under a Creative Commons license, free for you to use as long as you give me photography credit.
2025 DCI All-Age Championship Finals
Photo Credit: Kevin Gamin
You can find all of the edited photos from this and other events on my Flickr site.
2025 DCI All-Age Championship Finals
Photo Credit: Kevin Gamin
You can find all of my photos on my Smugmug site.
2025 DCI All-Age Championship Finals
Photo Credit: Kevin Gamin
BertramDitore
in reply to silence7 • • •I may be a bit oversensitive about this kind of thing, but I really dislike the dichotomy they set up: congressman introduces bill to exploit natural resources, critics “say” it “might” cause harm. When really, it’s huge numbers of local communities and climate experts who are explaining why it will cause harm.
I see this everywhere, the actual experts who understand and can explain why something will happen, are relegated to “saying” something “might” happen.