Ethan Marcotte

https://follow.ethanmarcotte.com/@beep

Designer. Started that responsive design thing. Writes a bit, or tries to. Spends a normal amount of time thinking about The Locked Tomb series.

*A perfectly normal amount of time.*

My latest book is YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION! You can purchase it from my bio, or just about anywhere books are sold.

(📸 Profile pic by https://www.elainanatario.com)

pronouns: he/him
website: https://ethanmarcotte.com
portfolio: https://ethanmarcotte.com/work/
my latest book: https://youdeserveatechunion.com

Public Key

npub1qggnytqrld8cv730hs6m2ppwnf47nlyn6989adrd2pelgx9z5ums000ptl

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsqyyfj9splknux0ghmcdd4qshf56lfljfaznj7k3k4qul5rz32wdcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsrvp5w3

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1qggnytqrld8cv730hs6m2ppwnf47nlyn6989adrd2pelgx9z5ums000ptl

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Last Notes

2026-05-14 20:44:03 GMT

“The story is that a specific kind of executive, the one who needs a progressive headline every quarter, has been running an uncontrolled experiment on your workforce. The data on that experiment is now in, and it is not flattering.”
This is good: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2026/05/14/the-ai-layoff-bill-is-coming-due-and-ctos-are-going-to-pay-it-twice/

2026-04-16 16:18:47 GMT

Over at Unbreaking, we’re starting to write about the design and technical work that goes into the project. And I loved @npub17zl…mwlk’s writeup of how and why we introduced sidenotes to our issue pages: https://unbreaking.org/blog/tech-note-sidenotes/
The events we’re chronicling are overwhelming, but the reading experience shouldn’t be.

2026-03-30 19:04:39 GMT

someone recently noted that twitter launched twenty years ago this month, in case you’re wondering why i’ve been staring into the middle distance for the last several days

2026-03-13 16:00:38 GMT

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come on 2026 i medically need to hear this
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/116/222/698/210/670/313/original/16106231e8e9d5ac.jpeg

2026-03-13 15:57:50 GMT

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you just know he’d somehow turn timothee chalomet into the purest thirteen syllables you’d ever heard
like a fucked-up sound bath that instantly heals everything that’s wrong with you

2026-03-13 15:56:26 GMT

look if matt berry doesn’t Laszlo-ify every single name he announces at the oscars, we riot

2026-02-25 14:42:05 GMT

my password manager has started autofilling my name with my middle initial, and this is the first time any software’s ever made me sound like an ol’ country lawyer

2026-02-09 18:20:18 GMT

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i think that i shall cause problems* on purpose**
* post this on linkedin
** on purpose

2026-01-07 16:01:13 GMT

“npm install our project dependencies. Download this 5GB file onto your five year-old laptop. Install docker. Build and start the containe—”
You bolt awake in the mountains of Carthage. You are not online. It is 217 BC. You are the general Hannibal, and you have changed your mind. The future cannot come to pass. Rome must burn.

2025-12-31 20:05:44 GMT

🦊
I don’t know how to write about a year like this one; whenever I tried, I kept thinking about flowers.
So I thought I’d start with flowers. https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/our-frail-thoughts/

2025-12-24 14:48:25 GMT

I wish I had the words to describe just how valuable @npub1sac…kcpe’s latest essay feels to me: https://www.wrecka.ge/landslide-a-ghost-story/

2025-12-12 15:53:31 GMT

id Software just unionized, we LOVE to SEE IT https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/id-software-devs-form-wall-to-wall-union-with-165-workers-at-doom-studio-the-latest-to-vote-in-favour

2025-12-05 19:44:58 GMT

It is that time of year, so I thought I’d mention that my book YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION is very much a thing you can buy for any tech workers in your life. Or yourself!
You can buy it just about anywhere books are sold, or ask your library to grab a copy! https://ethanmarcotte.com/books/you-deserve-a-tech-union/
#books #bookstodon #1u #YDATUbook
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/115/668/673/700/526/336/original/9f1e7b9c4cb3734d.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/115/668/673/826/730/047/original/89e76f65757211d9.png
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/115/668/673/912/054/293/original/97108564bfe2850d.png

2025-12-04 17:11:57 GMT

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realizing i just did the css version of
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/115/662/409/919/390/131/original/4f89c0c4d3f6c592.jpeg

2025-12-04 16:19:16 GMT

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just got a call from the international space station, the astronauts love my new homepage

2025-12-04 15:58:58 GMT

turns out `font-size: 105rem` produces a dramatically different effect from `font-size: 1.05rem`
you know. in case you were wondering

2025-12-01 13:43:39 GMT

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“Three years into the generative-ai wave, demand for the technology looks surprisingly flimsy.”
Well. Yes.
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/11/26/investors-expect-ai-use-to-soar-thats-not-happening

2025-11-30 15:02:07 GMT

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Oh, this is tremendous — thank you so much for writing it. I love Obsidian, but sometimes struggle with not feeling like I’m organized enough with it, or “using it correctly.” That idea of a second subconscious is really lovely, and helpful.
Thank you again.

2025-11-29 16:12:27 GMT

slapping `reddit -ai` to the end of everything i type into the world’s most popular search engine, the tech industry is fine and cannot possibly be improved

2025-11-21 15:05:31 GMT

🦊
“Artificial intelligence isn’t going anywhere. It’s the future.”
I hear that line a lot. The thing is, futures are tricky.
https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/the-line-and-the-stream/

2025-11-19 18:28:58 GMT

This interview feels like a tremendous missed opportunity: it reads like an airing of talking points, rather than properly interrogating a billionaire donor who’s comfortable slapping some nice fonts on openly fascist policies: https://www.dezeen.com/2025/11/18/america-first-chief-design-officer-joe-gebbia-interview/
#uspol

2025-11-18 02:42:55 GMT

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No idea, man. I haven’t even upgraded to iOS / macOS 26, and all the apps that have updated their icons look like they’ve been hit with the Gaussian blur stick

2025-11-13 21:16:48 GMT

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Oh this is just TERRIBLE, I’m so sorry. Hope things quiet down a bit after NYC. (And/or that you have decent noise-canceling headphones.)

2025-11-13 20:39:38 GMT

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this is…deeply relatable. https://follow.ethanmarcotte.com/@beep/115515383402064344
it’s gotten so bad, i honestly wonder if folks don’t look at the car they’re booking

2025-11-03 13:03:35 GMT

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i’m so sorry you had an upgrade forced on you!
haven’t taken the plunge yet because i KNOW this would turn me into the joker

2025-10-20 14:47:10 GMT

that’s a nice decentralized network you’ve got there, be a real shame if capitalism happened to it

2025-10-12 13:12:03 GMT

logging on
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/115/361/364/193/819/938/original/cb2023354798c1c1.jpeg

2025-10-07 20:30:53 GMT

🦊
IN WHICH ONE AUTHOR tried to file a claim in the Anthropic copyright case, failed, got frustrated, then blogged about it while still pretty hot under the collar.
(it’s me; i’m author)
https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/a-right-to-copy/

2025-10-01 14:20:11 GMT

CWA just shared their research into the lives of the US-based data workers responsible for training and maintaining modern “AI” platforms. The findings are, in a word, grim: https://cwa-union.org/ghost-workers-ai-machine

2025-09-27 00:11:59 GMT

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oh no it’s perfect

2025-09-19 11:42:22 GMT

🦊
I’ve decided it’s past time I start describing “artificial intelligence” as a failed technology, and I’d like you to join me.
https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/against-stocking-frames/

2025-09-15 16:51:21 GMT

me: hey Video Call Software, could you please remember the audio settings i use literally every time i use you?
software: no :)
me: why not
software: do u like my ai button :)))))))
me: what
software: :))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

2025-09-10 14:14:58 GMT

Oh my goodness: my old friend Rob Weychert’s just redesigned his website, and turned it into a *tremendous* personal archive for (nearly) everything he’s ever written.
It is also: PRETTY AS HELL. The layout! The typography! The colors! The site architecture! Rob’s been working on this redesign for literal years, and it really, really shows. https://v7.robweychert.com/blog/2025/09/v7-launch-day/
yay websites yay friends
just: yay

2025-08-31 20:15:07 GMT

“…National Nurses United, the nation’s largest nurses union and professional organization, today called for […] the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to be fired […] or to resign.”
good afternoon ONLY to organized labor
https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/nations-largest-rn-union-time-for-dhs-secretary-rfk-jr-to-go

2025-08-28 00:33:00 GMT

“I am here to be rude, because [AI] is a rude technology, and it deserves a rude response.”
Gosh, this is good. https://anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/haterdom/2025/08/26/i-am-an-ai-hater.html

2025-08-27 16:31:18 GMT

🦊
I wrote about the administration’s “national design studio,” and how its shoddy construction isn’t a mistake. It’s a clear signal of priorities, and ones we need to actively, urgently rebuke. https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/a-notional-design-studio/
#uspol

2025-08-24 21:17:01 GMT

what an absolute and utter shambles this is, in just about every way https://americabydesign.gov

2025-08-20 00:29:44 GMT

Here’s the Authors Guild on the class action lawsuit against Anthropic, along with a link to contact the law firm representing the affected parties. https://authorsguild.org/news/anthropic-ai-class-action-important-information-for-authors/

2025-08-16 16:26:30 GMT

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“ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DOWNGRADE? you’ll no longer be able to ask questions of The Faceless Gremlin That Always Lies”
well, if needs must

2025-08-16 16:22:41 GMT

a client project just wrapped, so i’m downgrading some software we’d been using down to a free account
confidential notice to All Product Companies: warning me i’ll lose access to “AI Features” is not the deterrent you think it is

2025-08-06 17:01:42 GMT

man anxiously, desperately trying to sell snake oil insists that the people who refuse to drink snake oil are the real weirdos https://www.businessinsider.com/github-ceo-developers-embrace-ai-or-get-out-2025-8

2025-08-01 19:45:44 GMT

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Dan this place looks INCREDIBLE, I applaud your ability to leave 😍 Thank you for sharing it!!

2025-07-30 15:42:18 GMT

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omg jessamyn
LITERALLY US SINCE WE BOUGHT A NEW FRIDGE LAST YEAR

2025-07-30 14:31:47 GMT

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YES. we’re out here with websites that can’t take a “remember this device” checkbox seriously, and the automation boys get handed another billion dollars to invent What If Liza, But Worse

2025-07-30 14:22:32 GMT

billions of dollars poured into data centers doing unspeakable things to our planet, and all modern recommendation algorithms still basically amount to
> YOU ENGAGED WITH PICTURE OF: CAT
> HERE IS FOUR MILLION MORE PICTURE OF: CAT

2025-07-16 18:14:42 GMT

“Today, the workers of Snopes.com won voluntary recognition of their union, the Snopes Guild.”
WONDERFUL NEWS https://newsguild.org/workers-at-snopes-com-win-voluntary-union-recognition/

2025-07-10 20:57:39 GMT

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KAROLINA
WHAT IF WE WROTE A JOINT BLOG POST

2025-07-10 20:20:52 GMT

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omg karolina YES, also boy do i have thoughts on how the last decade’s tooling has impacted our design practices

2025-07-10 16:56:46 GMT

percentage-based figma variables for line height when

2025-06-19 20:06:29 GMT

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fuck it; minimum viable link blog https://ethanmarcotte.com/stream/

2025-06-16 13:34:12 GMT

https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/114/693/298/533/604/138/original/a697bb8fe7ed62bf.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/114/693/298/645/185/490/original/607747ba88de5540.jpeg

2025-06-11 19:01:44 GMT

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an overton window makes such a distinct sound when it shifts

2025-05-29 23:15:29 GMT

hey #BostonMA folk, and those adjacent: if you’re not already aware, @npub16vf…2n9f pulls together a thread of interesting events in the area every single weekend, and it’s legit an act of public service. new cool stuff every week! just the best. https://toot.boston/@knizer/114593486117383417

2025-05-25 21:11:07 GMT

🦊
Responsive design turns fifteen today! WHAT IS TIME https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/responsive-design-at-15/

2025-05-21 13:00:48 GMT

hello!
if you use a static site generator for your blog, like #Eleventy or #jekyll, AND
if your blog has a links section,
could you share how you’ve structured your link posts? i’m adding bookmarks to my website, and i think i could use a little inspiration

2025-05-10 00:11:43 GMT

oh fine, just in my kitchen on a friday night crying tears of relief, hbu https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/bail-hearing-tufts-student-rumeysa-ozturk-detained-in-louisiana/3708999/

2025-05-07 19:00:32 GMT

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(ha, thank you. just doing a silly post, for my sins <3)

2025-05-07 18:16:36 GMT

our microwave: your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cold. your food’s still cyour bowl of napalm is now ready.

2025-05-02 00:42:01 GMT

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can’t WAIT

2025-05-01 13:30:59 GMT

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As usual, @npub16sj…va89 has it right: much like the “return to office” push that preceded them, these “AI-first” corporate policies are performances for investors, and for other tech CEOs. A more sensible policy would empower workers to explore a technology’s benefits, not simply mandate usage. https://www.anildash.com//2025/04/19/ai-first-is-the-new-return-to-office/

2025-04-29 17:52:56 GMT

okay, yes, this entire approach to “ai” in the workforce is yet another instance of a tech CEO beclowning himself
at the same time: when a leader says human workers are a source of “bottlenecks”, and that automation is the source of “solutions”, pay very, very, very close attention
(and if you haven’t already, start getting organized with your coworkers)
https://www.theverge.com/news/657594/duolingo-ai-first-replace-contract-workers

2025-04-16 14:37:48 GMT

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Hi Eric, how’s it going?

2025-04-07 16:20:04 GMT

Today marks twenty-five years of @npub13wv…wezp’s “A Dao of Web Design.” It rewired the way I thought about designing for the web; it started me on a ~decade-long journey to eventually landing on responsive web design.
Still holds up, too. https://alistapart.com/article/dao/

2025-03-31 17:40:11 GMT

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oh no is this sam altman’s origin story
oh no

2025-03-30 18:52:18 GMT

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oh my goodness, what a busy thoroughfare!

2025-03-29 01:03:09 GMT

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Ordered a hoodie back in January. It just showed up today.
💜
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/114/243/022/840/049/637/original/527300b3a3db6314.jpeg

2025-03-19 22:16:49 GMT

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Without dismissing the gross privacy concerns in any way
I feel like recently I am doing a Windows XP-level of dialog dismissal just to use my danged computers, I do not care for it

2025-03-17 14:00:04 GMT

🦊
I am downright delighted to announce that my latest book, YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION, has a brand new look. I really love it, and I hope you do too.
Here’s a look at what’s changed and—maybe more importantly—what’s stayed the same:
https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/refresh-a-new-look-for-you-deserve-a-tech-union/
#YDATUbook #books #bookstodon #blogging #labor #TechLabor #unions #TechUnions #1u

2025-03-13 20:39:40 GMT

openai: we believe we will eventually create a system capable of solving human-level problems
also openai: let us turbo-photocopy All Copyrighted Materials or something something china something nationalism https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/03/openai-urges-trump-either-settle-ai-copyright-debate-or-lose-ai-race-to-china/

2025-03-13 20:34:48 GMT

welcome to the screenshots website, where we talk about screenshots we’ve posted from the other screenshots websites

2025-03-13 02:13:31 GMT

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another iOS point update, another visit to this settings screen to re-disable the feature I’d *already* turned off
love this future for me, for all of us
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/114/152/702/604/919/032/original/1505a88d733358f7.jpeg

2025-03-09 20:42:00 GMT

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Oh these are stunning, Gretchen

2025-03-08 13:01:02 GMT

“[The] so-called Department of Government Efficiency has deployed a proprietary chatbot called GSAi to 1,500 federal workers at the General Services Administration, WIRED has confirmed.” — https://www.wired.com/story/gsai-chatbot-1500-federal-workers/
This will end horribly, and not just because it’s a horrible product. Like all “AI” platforms, this is a vector for surveillance and deskilling in the workplace, and will be used to justify continuing to hollow out the federal workforce.

2025-03-05 21:21:16 GMT

“This is to take a moment to look up from the ground, to peer out at that little bit of horizon you can just make out between buildings, to think about where you want your next steps to take you.”
Every week is a good week to be reading @npub1vud…pqdp, and this one is no exception. https://everythingchanges.us/blog/what-is-your-work-now/

2025-03-05 13:19:39 GMT

https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/114/110/023/277/994/882/original/c44f445615cada74.png
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/114/110/023/410/688/618/original/21a1fdaea34cca2f.png

2025-02-28 17:40:32 GMT

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Thanks, Thomas! I’m slow as heck, but running along the river is one of my very favorite things to do <3

2025-02-28 15:32:03 GMT

Said hello to a river today. 💜
#running #BostonMA
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/114/082/231/975/265/229/original/94859850660b062d.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/114/082/232/150/009/153/original/9026e01e668d063f.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/114/082/232/373/116/056/original/0dacfa630609ffc6.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/114/082/232/528/409/968/original/a44e4dda7e2af286.jpeg

2025-02-24 01:19:50 GMT

”I lost all but a few loyal friends, my devoted family, and all but lost my newspaper but thank god I retained the pearl of great price—my self respect.”
Here’s @npub1typ…jqpl with a reminder that fascism always, always falls: https://dansinker.com/posts/2025-02-23-dale/
Needed to read this tonight; maybe you did too.

2025-02-23 22:52:49 GMT

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was it saltburn, by any chance?

2025-02-18 18:19:09 GMT

🦊
Friday was my last day working at 18F. It was a wonderful place to work, filled with extraordinary people, but a few things happened that made me realize I had to leave.
Everything happens so much these days, so I thought I’d write down for myself what happened, and how I made my decision:
https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/leaving-18f/
(FYI, this post gets into recent #uspol events. If that’s a stressor, or not interesting to you, I’d suggest skipping.)

2025-02-16 16:32:41 GMT

You absolutely owe it to yourself to read @npub1szd…5a79’s post on “artificial intelligence”, eugenics, and the tech industry’s push to ally itself to an explicitly fascist project: https://www.miriamsuzanne.com/2025/02/12/tech-ai-wtf/

2025-02-06 19:54:13 GMT

exactly which part of the zodiac do i have to fistfight in order to fix everything

2025-02-06 00:04:57 GMT

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god, jessamyn — i LOVE that “friend radio” visual, thank you <3 <3 and thanks for reading!
(and i hadn’t seen the questions morph that much, i’ll have to look around! i *have* seen the title change quite a bit, that’s definitely been fun to watch)

2025-01-30 02:47:14 GMT

Today was a really, really hard day.
But someone came sprinting when she heard me walk in the door, so that counts for something.
💜
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/113/915/018/144/327/313/original/bc0692ad58d9009c.jpeg

2025-01-29 13:32:53 GMT

“hey, your plagiarism machine stole from MY plagiarism machine” — tech ceos in 2025, apparently https://www.theverge.com/news/601195/openai-evidence-deepseek-distillation-ai-data

2025-01-28 21:49:11 GMT

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tech companies in 1980: computers are like bicycles for the mind
tech companies in 2025: please,,,,, my thunderingly expensive SLA with openai,,,, is very sick,,,,,,,,

2025-01-28 21:48:34 GMT

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forcibly opting all of your users into a feature nobody was using certainly speaks volumes as to the quality of said feature

2025-01-28 21:44:58 GMT

Hey, Apple users: if you install the latest iOS, iPadOS, or macOS updates, you’ll be automatically opted into “Apple Intelligence”. If you don’t want that running on your computer, you’ll need to go into Settings to disable it.
(this is far from the most pressing thing happening today, but just a heads-up)

2025-01-27 14:24:29 GMT

🦊
Heck yeah, I love a good blogging challenge! Thanks so much to @npub10gp…t9wk and @npub1r9m…eqjq for sending it my way! https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/blog-questions-challenge/
#blogging

2025-01-20 14:13:29 GMT

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oh my goodness, look at those little shuffle trails 🥹💜

2025-01-18 17:38:58 GMT

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Well, that’d probably be what gets me to ditch the whole atheism thing

2025-01-14 17:10:29 GMT

me in my twenties: oh neat, a free program
me in my forties: oh neat, a free program, what horrors are concealed within

2025-01-13 16:24:52 GMT

https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/113/821/973/897/662/591/original/380126053b9e5b2d.jpeg

2025-01-10 22:54:37 GMT

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ps. erin thank you for the incredible essay however i am very cross with you for making me read whatever the tap-dancing [redacted] this is https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence

2025-01-10 22:52:27 GMT

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“So sure: Protocols over platforms. Then we have to actually do the inelegant, un-heroic, expensive work of rebuilding the essential structures of human civilization on top of the protocols, because it turns out we just have the one world, online or off, no way out.” — [@kissane](https://mas.to/@kissane ), https://www.wrecka.ge/bad-shape/

2025-01-10 22:51:29 GMT

if you haven’t read [@kissane](https://mas.to/@kissane )’s latest, this is an especially good time to do so https://www.wrecka.ge/bad-shape/

2025-01-06 16:36:29 GMT

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Congratulations, Tim! I can’t WAIT to read this.

2024-12-29 16:01:14 GMT

“Today, Alphabet Workers Union-CWA members on the Google Help team secured a first collective contract with Google vendor Accenture, becoming the first group of AWU-CWA represented workers to bargain a collective contract and only the second group of Google office workers ever to do so.”
WONDERFUL NEWS https://www.alphabetworkersunion.org/press/google-help-workers-ratify-collective-contract-with-accenture-first-in-alphabet-workers-union-cwa-history
#1u #TechUnions #TechLabor

2024-12-28 13:45:38 GMT

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also — and this is extremely not the point — is “bespokeness” even a word

2024-12-28 13:45:21 GMT

my “our slot machine for stolen text and images is going to be massively profitable soon, honest” t-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/27/openai-needs-more-capital-than-wed-imagined-moves-to-for-profit.html