And I’m back! Thanks to a combination of busyness at work and personal time off, I had a bit of a break from sending this out. Normal service has now been resumed.
On to the links.
1. It’s the end of the world (of publishing) as we know it (and I don’t feel fine)
A lot of the time when I think about how publishers adapted to the early internet era I end up saying something to myself: “what were we thinking?” The companies that moved slowly got nowhere. The companies that moved quickly ended up in thrall to traffic from Google and Facebook. Big publishers have vanished or become shadows of their former selves. Newspapers have struggled to avoid become “me too” trash that jumps on stories which are trending with no regard to their audiences.
But there is, I think, a kernel of hope. Companies like Perplexity and features like Google’s AI answers are driven by supplying information, answers to questions. And as I’ve written before, they’re actually pretty good at that. What they’re not good at is human judgment, human emotion, human empathy. That is where the future of human-made content lies. Knowing there is another human being on the other side of the screen, sharing something about themselves, something that goes beyond information.
2. The answer is not Substack
Whatever the future of publishing, though, I doubt that Substack will be a part of it. As Ana Marie Cox works through, the company might be dominating the minds of journalists and writers desperate to have an independent income, but it’s also just not making money. And it’s difficult to see how its economics can ever add up without enshittifying the service it provides, first to users and then authors.
We have been here before of course. Medium was intended to be a platform which helped writers and publishers monetise their work, and like Substack it paid some pretty big writers to climb on board. That lasted a few years, and then the logic of economics took hold and the feast turned into famine.
So what does the future hold for writers and publishers? I don’t know, and at this point anyone who claims to know is really guessing. But I know that people will still want stories. They might just have to work a little bit harder to find the really good stuff.
3. And it’s not this either
Google, a company that knows the value of making nice noises while shanking entire industries, thinks it has the answer to all the publishing industry’s prayers. Or at least it would like you to think that it’s trying to help, which undermining the flow of traffic which keeps publishers afloat.
The answer, maybe, is Offerwall, which lets publishers add micropayments, surveys and signups to their sites – all methods of raising revenue which have been tried in the past and largely found to be wanting.
4. Cheats never prosper. They just get millions from vulture capitalists
I don’t think I have read any technology story more depressing than that of Cluely, a startup which wants to help you cheat. What on? Everything. Job interviews, exams, you name it – Cluely will help you not do the work. And of course, Andreessen Horowitz wants in, to the tune of $15m or so. No doubt it will be worth billions.
5. The impact of AI on jobs
This is a long and depressing read. But it’s worth reading till the very end, for the reminder that workers don’t have to blandly go along with this shit. Throw more tomatoes, even if they are virtual ones.
6. The necessity of a European tech stack, part 778
I don’t think there are many people on this side of the Atlantic who don’t see the need for Europe to build its own tech stack that’s independent of the US. Even US companies recognise this, as this long article about how Microsoft was forced to cut off the email of the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court shows.
Against this background it’s been interesting reading Patrick McGee’s Apple in China, which I have just finished and highly recommend. I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to say that China’s model – deliberately developing its own independent technology capabilities – is one that Europe needs to follow. Whether there is the economic or political will, or even the understand that this is necessary, is another matter.
7. Contactless payments on Graphene
I’m a big fan of Graphene, the de-Google’d and more secure version of Android which anyone who isn’t using an iPhone should be considering. But there’s been one problem with it: contactless payments from almost every bank don’t work. Google Wallet… well of course that doesn’t work.
But Terence Eden has found a way, using the Curve app. Curve lets you add your bank cards to its wallet, and it works with Graphene, including using NFC. Neat.
8. OK this is the most depressing thing I’ve read this week
Because what the world needs is internet-connected beehives powered by AI. Presumably there’s some kind of subscription too, service being where companies like this make their money. Good luck when the business goes bust.
9. What the heck are “ambition-based emissions”?
Google’s carbon emissions are up, again, and of course it’s largely AI that’s driving them. The company’s sustainability report, though, claims this is outside it’s control, which is bizarre given it does, you know, have a choice.
But it’s OK, we’ll still be able to generate AI videos while the sea rises and crops fail.
10. And finally, some art
William Kentridge. You’re welcome.