Click “I agree” to continue. You didn’t click it, though. Or maybe you did? I don’t know, it doesn’t matter. The concept of consent doesn’t exist on the mo...

Email's been here for years. But the reason Substack wants you to call your creative work by their brand name is because they control your audience and dis...

I keep having a conversation with people around the tech world about how the industry’s current state of change — especially the potential disruption of incumb...

Amongst the many new publications that's popped up in the current newsletter boom, I've been enjoying Kate Lindsay and Nick Catucci's "Embedded". One...

Twenty five years ago today, Microsoft released Windows 95. It was undoubtedly a technical leap forward, but its biggest, most lasting impacts are about how it...

Every day, millions of people rely on independent websites that are mostly created by regular people, weren't designed as mobile apps, connect deeply to cultur...

It’s always great to reconnect with old friends, and that especially holds true for old Internet friends. That must be why it was such a delight to spend some...

In the past, popular movements have forced major industries to confront their need for ethical reform. But today‘s media, policymakers and activists don’t yet...

I’m not prone to making grand New Year’s resolutions, but my friend Jessamyn West asked me to think a bit about what changes I’d make to my online activity, an...

In my years working in technology, I have learned a few things. These lessons have become oft-repeated refrains when speaking to people, so I thought I’d colle...

The era of User Generated Discontent began about a decade ago, when a critical mass of people started using social apps on the web often enough that they felt...

Chris Poole is founder of two of the Internet’s most creative communities, the notorious 4chan, and Canvas, its playful image remixing cousin. The Details...

I know I usually try to be a thoughtful tech writer, but sometimes, holy shit you guys. Twitter, because of their API, actually was a real-time protocol to...

This week, many of the web’s most popular sites shuttered their doors in protest of SOPA and PIPA, the pair of bills that had been winding their way through co...

A few nice conversations around the web, either in response to or inspired by what I’ve been talking about here: My favorite TechCrunch post in a long time...

I love the Internet. I love lots of things that are on the Internet. I have less love for things that want to undermine the Internet. Tim O’Reilly, The War...

I’ve really been enjoying the response to my recent blog posts — here are some more thoughtful replies. Rafe Colburn, one of my favorite bloggers for a decad...

I was away traveling for the past few weeks, and upon my return, I asked my Twitter followers a simple question : "I’ve been completely offline for a...

I started blogging when I was 25, and it was a much smaller blogosphere back in 2000. I was able to make my mistakes in oversharing, overexposure, and unmiti...

Having been blogging for a few years, I’ve developed a few annual traditions. This one’s a favorite: Warning you off of lame April Fool’s jokes on the web. Eve...

From lolcats to goatse to the Zidane headbutt , I’ve been at least tenuously linked to some of the web’s most notable and notorious memes. Naturally, when...

From eWeek’s “Upcoming” section, which I’d praised a few weeks ago , comes this interview with Java creator James Gosling . The key quote, for me: Of Goo...

What makes lolcats appealing is that it’s simultaneously obscure and accessible. It’s an inside joke told in an online lingua franca, but with a bit of effor...

If you’ve been on the Internet at all in the past, oh, ten years, you’ll have seen the ad for Classmates.com that features an improbable matrimonial matchu...

Since everyone’s sending it to me, I’ll post the prescient Onion video from last week. The highlight, for me, is two minutes into the clip. Breaking News: A...

Formidable geeks Aaron Swartz and Brewster Kahle have led a team of nerds to create Open Library , which purports to be the start of a library of every book i...

Corey Spring has broken the details of a story that no one in traditional journalism had figured out yet. Wrestler Chris Benoit’s murder-suicide seemed to ha...

Following up on the conversation about accountability, january one discusses the dark side of blogging from the perspective of the knitting blog community....

The folks at Cranky Geeks have just put up a new episode of the show , though it was actually taped a while ago and was the first episode I ever participated...

Background: I once wore a funny t-shirt for a photo that appeared in the New York Times, and a bunch of people thought it was kind of amusing, albeit juv...

Ned Lamont was undoubtedly helped by his supporters’ web efforts in his defeat of Joe Lieberman in yesterday’s primary. Lieberman’s team was especially incompe...

One of my recurrent sources of frustration with my fellow geeks is that most are just plain lousy at convincing others to try technologies. It’s only because...

Last week, I was contributing to Jason Kottke’s Remaindered Links, unleashing some of my now-rusty Daily Links skills on Jason’s unsuspecting audience. As Jas...

Other than amusing animations, the web was given to us that we might post cat pictures. (I picture Tim Berners Lee getting his liver plucked out by an eagle da...

We might not have flying cars or talking robots, but at least it’s possible to order custom built clothes using a global electronic network of interconnected...

Google’s definitely not making a browser, according to what their executives have said publicly. That’s interesting ....

My friend Jason Kottke runs one of the smartest blogs on the web. Yet today, when he clearly had outlined a conversation about political ads on his blog, the s...

My friends, let us all come together on the one day of the year that unites us all, regardless of color, creed, or nationality, and join voices in harmony to s...

So, Google’s own CEO has stated that Google is a media company , maybe it’s worth observing whether the world’s most successful Internet companies are media c...

It’s a bit of a silly thing to rail against, but the headline of this BBC story makes me livid: "Student died after buying web drugs". What the h...

This is stupid. A while back, it was discovered that the U.S. government’s registration site for .mil domain names was wide open , making it possible for anyo...

You know, Bill Gates had a public appearance next to a giant inflated condom more than 24 hours ago, presumably with a dot on his forehead as he’s been wearing...

Microcontent is information published in short form, with its length dictated by the constraint of a single main topic and by the physical and technical limita...

Hey, everyone, it’s my last post on all this foolishness . I’d like to get back to the fun stuff. First, a tremendous thank you to everyone who’s emailed, lin...

Dear Danger HipTop T-Mobile Sidekick brand mobile internet access device: You suck. I know, I know, I’m your target demographic. A super geek who’s looking f...

Netscan is an experimental software package designed to aid in the sociological study of the Internet being developed by Marc Smith , a research sociologist...

There are people doing the work of science, manufacturing knowledge for the rest of us. I like to read about what they do, and maybe you will too. Go lookit G...

Critical IP sucks....

There is some amusing human nature conclusion that I’m sure can be drawn from the number of emails, phone calls, and instant messages I’ve gotten about my anti...

There’s this theory that’s been tumbling around half-formed in my brain for the past few days. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it basically has to do wi...

To all who emailed, thanks for the kind words and commisseration in regards to " Pardon Me… " In reply to the most asked question, you can feel free...

Damn Internet anonymity! Who was the kind soul who sent me the Strunk & White book? I hate not knowing who sends me a gift! But thank you, thank you, tha...

From the realm of old-school web novelty stuff, here’s a link that you really won’t enjoy. Do not click this link ! No, I’m not kidding....

It popped up in conversation with Matt , but I think a truly apt term for the Internet that we’re mourning the death of is the Unreasonable Web. If you’ve...

I forgot. Sometime about 50 years ago or so, a bunch of Internet companies made a site called GetNetWise . Under the auspices of the non-profit Internet...

Now back to the reason the Good Lord gave us the Internet: Create-A-Fart ....

The sublime joy of thread hijacking ....

Canadians are evil. Why, they’re practically French. And besides, look at Heather , who is clearly trying to put me in the poorhouse by pointing out the exi...

So when I finished the Internet the other day, I found myself wondering what to do next. Sure, I could catch up on Usenet and see what new stuff had come up si...

Peter mentions "[I]t’s clear that there’s actual value in clicks-and-mortar, unlike the pure plays we’ve been seeing cluttering up the obituaries."...

First, I lost broadband at home. Next, I’ve almost totally lost computer access at home. Now our broadband at work (!) has died. I am so unplugged. And is...

Forgot to mention I’m Internet Worlding all week, so if any of you are in town for the shindig, email me and we’ll get together, okey dokey?...

Too bad no AOL users forwarded this to me ....

Despite his rhetoric, I betcha the Internet outlasts Bronfman ....

Man, this is too scary. It got my age… exactly ....

Scary, but cool…. Having trouble keeping track of which Internet companies are partnered ? Well, then just check out the Interactive Map of Strategic Allianc...

Hmmm… Now we know what Lane and Courtney, et al. have been up to . Might as well go and register, you know you want to....

Why was the Internet invented ? So that we could have Fabrice Morvan’s homepage . Fab, of course is the more talented (and still living) half of Rob & Fa...

Maybe I’m just making assumptions, but my first thought was that this boy was part of the ICQ team. Does anyone know? My condolences, regardless....

Ask.com ponders the unanswerables. Since being renamed from Ask Jeeves , one of my favorite search sites, ask.com, has taken on what I feel could be an ov...

I updated my Quick Links up above today, removing the Silicon Valley weblog from the Merc and adding in DaveNet , which is one of those ancient Intern...

The new Dumb Picture added today is courtesy of The Tacky Postcard Archive , which Helen had discovered for me a while ago. They’ve got all kinds of insp...