I Am An AI Hater ↗

The machine is disgusting and we should break it. The people who build it are vapid shit-eating cannibals glorifying ignorance. I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.

Doubting Your Favorite Web Search Engine ↗

To preserve the richness and diversity of the web, we must support alternatives that empower communities, foster independent content, and keep the small web alive; Not proprietary platforms that extract value from it to sell it for a monthly subscription.

The Crying Of Lot 55: The Unsolved Mysteries And Alternate Realities Of Andrew W.K. ↗

Who is Andrew W.K.? Is Andrew W.K. real? Who is the real Andrew W.K.?

Refusing to Choose Is a Choice ↗

It’s a choice in favor of the people who prey on others and who refuse to acknowledge the humanity of those they hate.

Zuckerberg's Huge AI Push Is Already Crumbling Into Chaos ↗

As the New York Times reports based on insider sources, Meta has announced internally that it will be splitting its AI division into four separate groups: one focused on research, one on so-called "superintelligence," one on products, and another on infrastructure.

The internet isn’t fun anymore, and it’s everyone's fault ↗

It’s incredible how, nowadays, the natural response to engaging with other people’s “content” online is to look for that sinister angle that must be there to create engagement, conversions, or sales. And I completely understand it, because that’s exactly the level to which we’ve ruined the internet, and it feels like there’s no way back.

The Thing | The story behind Drew Struzan’s iconic poster ↗

Arguably the most striking artwork Struzan created that year, though, doesn’t feature any actors at all. Depicting a human, parka-clad figure framed by an icy landscape, Struzan’s poster for John Carpenter’s The Thing is minimal, surreal, and filled with menace. Its brilliance is all the more surprising given that Struzan managed to paint it in a matter of hours rather than days.

Who's a blog for? ↗

A blog is for the person writing it. It's for the person who built it, who's hosting it, who's spending hours tweaking it until it looks just right (and spending countless more hours redoing the whole thing again and again).

IndieWeb is Metal ↗

I’m happy to announce you can now buy the unofficial IndieWeb heavy metal shirt or tote bag from CottonBureau.com. The sales of these print-on-demand products ($2 from each shirt and tote) will make their way to a donation to IndieWeb.org’s Open Collective.

Blueberry Hill ↗

I don’t think you get to have it both ways. That is, you don’t get to, as it were, borrow charisma from all the hype and then disavow every failure to live up to it as someone else’s naive mistake for believing the hype.

Google Gemini struggles to write code, calls itself “a disgrace to my species” ↗

"I am going to have a complete and total mental breakdown. I am going to be institutionalized. They are going to put me in a padded room and I am going to write... code on the walls with my own feces," it said.

Original Tesla Cofounder Roasts Cybertruck for Looking "Like a Dumpster" ↗

Martin Eberhard, one of the original cofounders of Tesla — who actually started the company and didn't retroactively bestow himself a title giving that impression, unlike a certain billionaire — isn't too pleased with his baby's newest crowning jewel: the Cybertruck.

People Are Becoming "Sloppers" Who Have to Ask AI Before They Do Anything ↗

"A friend of mine has coined the word 'Sloppers' for people who are using ChatGPT to do everything for them," TikTok user intrnetbf said in a recent video, which went viral on the platform. "That's incredible verbiage. Slopper? That's incredible verbiage."

Inside The Mass Call Campaign To Stop Video Game Censorship ↗

Following censorship of adult games on Steam and Itch, people are calling Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Stripe 'round the clock.

Itch Hides Almost All NSFW Content Following 'Scrutiny From Our Payment Processors' ↗

All of which sounds incredibly dystopian; the idea that faceless, unaccountable payment processors--which enjoy vast monopolies over the world's commerce, and by extension its marketplaces--can wield their power so swiftly, as they've increasingly been doing now for years, is downright terrifying.

The New York Times Will Never Learn ↗

This newspaper sucks, man. It doesn’t suck because it posted something dumb that betrays the paper’s poor commitment to video gaming’s wider place in our culture and artistic landscape. It sucks because it’s doing to games, and AI, what it seems to be doing to every other important beat of the 2020s: taking the worst people at face value.

I’ve had it with Microsoft ↗

I just want to be clear here: the price of my plan did not change. Instead, Microsoft moved me to a new plan that contained generative AI features I never asked for; a plan that cost a lot more than I was already paying. Then it lied to me, claiming my existing plan had increased in price and that there was no version of a plan without generative AI — until I tried to stop paying them altogether.

It matters. I care. ↗

Let me be clear: It fucking matters. Truth matters. Documentation matters. Fighting corruption matters. That accountability seems out of reach right now doesn’t change that. When we internalize the belief that nothing can change, we stop demanding change.

A day of LA anti-ICE protests in photos ↗

We talked to people about what brought them out to demonstrations against ICE and the arrest of David Huerta in Los Angeles.

Internet Phone Book ↗

It’s just a little yellow book! Of websites! And articles! With ads, even. Yet it was assembled and designed with such loving care that when I pick it up I reverently believe I am holding a work of art.

The Who Cares Era ↗

In a moment where machines churn out mediocrity, make something yourself. Make it imperfect. Make it rough. Just make it.

A Company Reminder for Everyone to Talk Nicely About the Giant Plagiarism Machine ↗

The way I see it, we’re family. It really does disappoint me that so many brilliant colleagues—whose genuine breakthroughs I’ve profited from for years—would be so quick to condemn this newer, stupider way that I and others like me can make money off your life’s work, through stealing.

The future of web development is AI. Get on or get left behind. ↗

Editor’s Note: previous titles for this article have been added here for posterity.

Breath of Fire IV Comes to PC via GOG Dreamlist ↗

Breath of Fire IV is back, as GOG worked with Capcom to bring it back to the PC as part of the Dreamlist program.

Yes to a diverse community ↗

As some companies dismantle their programs and walk back their commitments, we would like to state our stance clearly: Medium stands firm in our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Support Trans Equality ↗

It may not always be easy to know how to best show up as an ally, and you may often wonder if or wish that there was more you could do. Being open to learning and having a desire to create change are two of the most important components of your allyship.

People & Blogs: Keenan ↗

It makes me so happy to see what appears to be a resurgence in people making websites. I am filled with joy every time I go to someone's personal space and see how they choose to express themselves. I want to do everything I can to inspire more and more people to follow suit, and I am grateful for projects like this that continually introduce me to fascinating people, fascinating perspectives, fascinating expressions of their humanity.

America is Trapped in a Burning Tesla ↗

Imagine how a private business would react if it hired a supposed efficiency expert who quickly fired crucial employees while making grandiose claims about the money he’s saving, but kept releasing progress reports that were full of ludicrous errors. You wouldn’t keep him on; you’d have security escort him out of the building and immediately change all the locks.

1047 Games lays off developers, CEO says he's made 'many, many mistakes' ↗

The studio is also sunsetting the original 2017 game Splitgate in order to reduce server operation costs, which according to Proulx and Bagamian, cost the company "hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past couple years."

On using Apple products ↗

Tools are tools; they either do the job you need them to do or they don’t. And the sad reality of this world we live in is that most big companies out there are awful.

Why We Quit Spotify ↗

We understand no tech company is perfect, and that the problem is bigger than Spotify. But at the very least, Apple Music and Tidal—where we will be hosting our playlists moving forward—care about sound quality, have higher per-stream rates, and don’t seem to be daring music lovers to hate them every single week.

Poolsuite ↗

The ultra-summer internet radio station, playing an infinity pool of summer sounds 24/7. Swimwear optional.

The Dystopian Dream Team ↗

What we’re seeing right now is not innovation, we’re seeing people struggle to contend with the reality that it’s over. They’re coping with the fact that the innovation phase for computing devices has finished. They’re grasping for continued relevance.

What Will It Take To Get You Off Twitter ↗

I refuse to believe there is anything you are getting there, whether it be social or professional, that is worth the constant exposure to and indirect support of an outwardly fascist social media platform.

There’s No Reason To Keep Putting Up With Microsoft ↗

There’s just no reason to support Microsoft’s gaming endeavors at this point. It’s had plenty of time to get things right; it’s not going to. The company’s other endeavors aren’t looking great, either.

Has Xbox Considered Laying One Person Off Instead Of Thousands ↗

None of those people were responsible for calling it the Xbox Series X But Also Series S. The person answering phones at Arkane didn't bet the farm on Game Pass becoming the next Netflix then...not becoming the next Netflix. An artist paid to draw spaceships for a Halo game didn't decide that Xbox should mean an actual Xbox but also kinda mean an Oculus Quest 3 and some handhelds and cloud services but also not really.

50 Watts ↗

Illustration and book art with a literary bent. Focus on international illustrated books and Surrealism.

Make Fun Of Them ↗

They are not charming. They are not building anything. They have scooted along amassing billions of dollars promising the world and delivering you a hill of dirt. They deserve our derision — or, at the very least, our deep, unerring suspicion, if not for what they’ve done, but for what they’ve not done.

You win, Rent-A-Girlfriend. I Give Up ↗

I’ve watched this story loop around resolution like a broken record for years, clinging to the hope it might land somewhere bold. I’m not that teenager chasing trainwrecks anymore—I’ve got bills, better taste (in trashy anime), and better manga to read.

This past volume was the breaking point for me too. It's hard to come to any other conclusion than one where Miyajima is just milking the series for whatever it's worth.

Quality is a trap ↗

It is a proxy phrase, often born of an inability or unwillingness to articulate other concerns.

Tesla Stock in Tailspin After Error-Plagued Robotaxi Debut ↗

One of the most viral Robotaxi freakouts shows one of the not-exactly-self-driving cabs braking repeatedly when driving near police cars, blowing through an intersection, and swerving into oncoming traffic — all within the brief 20 minutes that the ride was filmed by its backseat passenger.

Federal agents denied entry to Dodger Stadium by team ↗

The Dodgers issued a statement saying the organization denied access to ICE. The team has postponed an announcement regarding their support for immigrant communities.

Beyond Bluesky: These are the apps building social experiences on the AT Protocol ↗

A list of AT Protocol-based, consumer-facing apps that are either built on top of Bluesky or its underlying protocol, allowing users to take back control over their social networking experiences and personal data.

Meta Invents New Way to Humiliate Users With Feed of People's Chats With AI ↗

While reporting on the company, it has been hard to imagine what rock bottom will be, because Meta keeps innovating bizarre and previously unimaginable ways to destroy confidence in social media, invade people’s privacy, and generally fuck up its platforms and the internet more broadly.

How Tesla Takedown got its start ↗

Musk’s interest in politics, which kicked into a new and more expensive gear when he went all in for Donald Trump during the 2024 election, was always going to invite more scrutiny for his business empire. But the grassroots movement, which began as a post on Bluesky, has become a boisterous, ragtag, and visible locus of, sorry to use the word, resistance against Musk and Trump.

Cowardly Dodgers remain silent as ICE raids terrorize their fans ↗

All because the Dodgers are afraid of offending the 32% of Los Angeles County voters who cast their ballots for Trump in the most recent presidential election, many of whom don’t expect ICE agents to ever show up at their workplace.

Inside the ‘Dragon Age’ Debacle That Gutted EA’s BioWare Studio ↗

The latest game in BioWare’s fantasy role-playing series went through ten years of development turmoil.

Meta's Platforms Have Become a Cesspool of Hatred Against Queer People ↗

A recent report found that Meta consistently under-moderates anti-LGBTQ posts while over-policing LGBTQ content.

Nice Hat, Loser ↗

Imagine getting up on stage for a presentation that would have cost in the ballpark of $500,000, all to promote your new video game, and instead of having people talk about it, they are instead talking about: a) Your stupid hat b) How your little speech sounded like a wizard breathed life into a downvoted Reddit comment.

How Twitch Emote Artists Are Tackling The Rise Of AI Art ↗

The proliferation of AI art is making business harder for some Twitch emote artists.

Video Game Consoles Are Dead ↗

While Nintendo still focuses on console exclusivity, the rest of the video game industry is changing.

Life without advertisements is a great life ↗

The problems with modern advertisement isn’t just the attention it takes from us but that it’s supported by an entire industry that threatens our privacy and democracy through tracking our every action and building profiles of us, even when we don’t actively interact with the platforms.

The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine ↗

If AI companies can take these handy, quasi-reliable text predictors and turn them into an economic revolution, fine. But that seems so far off in the future that Amodei’s warnings feel more like an ad than a PSA. It’s on them to show their work: Show us how AI could be so destructive and how Anthropic can fix it — rather than just shouting about the risks.

My website is ugly because I made it ↗

Soon it will become something else entirely. Because it’s my website and I’m perpetually becoming somebody else.

What Are People Still Doing on X? ↗

Imagine if your favorite neighborhood bar turned into a Nazi hangout.

Yen Press Picks Up Love Bullet and Fruits Basket Manga Box Set ↗

Yen Press will release the Love Bullet yuri manga in English, as well as create a Fruits Basket: The Complete Set manga collection.

Oh No, Anyway ↗

I think some dipshits fleeced some even bigger dipshits out of $22 million, failed to make enjoyable video games because they were never interested in making video games in the first place and now someone–anyone who owned any of these games’ now-worthless tokens–is left holding the bag.

Formless Star is a charming creature cataloguing game set on an ever-changing planet ↗

Formless Star puts you on a planet that will never look the same twice on a mission to catalogue all the animals that inhabit it.

With FBC: Firebreak, Remedy says it’s made a Control shooter ‘for Dads’ ↗

A phrase that kept coming up during my time at Remedy was “dad game”. This is a game that is deep enough to be fun to come back to over and over, but doesn’t require the time investment or dedication that simply isn’t offered to most parents.

Cybertruck Owner Brutally Mocked by Dozens of Kids After Breaking Down at Baseball Practice ↗

I was stuck with a $50 Uber bill, and 28 ten-year-old kids went from thinking the Cybertruck was the coolest vehicle to pointing and laughing as it was towed away on a flatbed truck.