blogging
When text wins over video
I know the future, and present, of online consumption is video. Audio falls in and out of favor. Text seems like a dinosaur. When does text still win over video? John Gruber thinks he knows and I find it encouraging – especially for email newsletter publishers. He recently released a podcast
Revenge of the Essayists
I was wrong. In my last post, I explained where the biggest companies were going with AI, on the backs of creators. But I assumed the biggest corporations in the world had legal teams that understood the basics of creators’ rights under the law. But Microsoft proved me wrong this
What’s with the hostility towards personal publishing?
It's about money, of course. Google may have a problem with us. A few weeks ago, Google had a big leak. While details are still lacking, it seems like there’s a bias against personal sites when it comes to search results. From Mike King: “Google may be
Embrace the carnage.
The web is back. Or, is it on its back? Google and OpenAI have been racing to see who can replace the web for you. Google isn’t even hiding it anymore. From Platformer via Daring Fireball: “This new approach is captured elegantly in a slogan that appeared several times
Indie Hope and Bankers Boxes
Welcome to the best season. I’m feeling a bit silly — optimistic in a very contrarian way. I see nothing but pessimism in the press right now, and nothing but opportunity for creators with an indie spirit. That’s the tone for this issue’s set of truly odd links.
Solitude Deprivation
Since I’m doing some editing and cleaning on my site, I figured it might be fun to do another link love issue. Enjoy! — CJ 1 Author Cal Newport explains the collected research on whether smartphones are bad for kids or just another moral panic. This was more even-handed than
Are you useful?
I preach about the miracle of constraints and their ability to boost creativity in anyone. But I see un-useful constraints being used all the time by creators, so I wanted to make a small list of examples to clarify what a useful constraint looks like. There’s only two real
The C Word
“Curation” shouldn’t be a dirty word, but it is. In the last decade, it has come to mean slapped-together-links, or outright-stolen content, used to fill space and capture just enough attention to convert free onlookers into consumers. There’s a lot of truth behind that association. In fact, I’
Your Smartest Dumb Tech
If the resurgence of blogging and newsletters wants to remain sane, it should really be a resurgence of RSS. Email has new problem. For the longest time, I’ve advocated for publishing by email as the most independent, universal, and effective form of getting the word out about anything. That’
Just putting it out there
Publish your weird ideas in public. You never know who’s listening. Back in May 2021, I posted this idea about a guitar design to Twitter, tagging EVH guitars: I asked EVH for a Nuno-style version of the guitar (which is a natural-finish ash or swamp ash guitar body with