elle's recent reading

Software Developers Say AI Is Rotting Their Brains

Thu, 14 May 2026 02:06:52 GMT

“It's making me dumber for sure.”

The Rise of the Bullshittery

Thu, 14 May 2026 02:02:07 GMT

A few thoughts on how the modern economy has stopped rewarding people who know what they are doing, and started rewarding people who know how to look like they do.

The Internet has no benches

Tue, 12 May 2026 02:23:48 GMT

on building free public infrastructure for enjoyment

Your AI Use Is Breaking My Brain

Tue, 12 May 2026 02:23:17 GMT

AI writing is impossible to avoid, is making everything sound the same, and is driving us crazy.

The Boring Internet

Thu, 07 May 2026 23:41:18 GMT

The internet you grew up on isn't dying. A commercial veneer glued on top of it is.

Do I belong in tech anymore?

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 03:34:01 GMT

On quitting, the spread of AI, and the loss of an ideal.

Oatmeal | In reply to: The output doesn't matter

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 15:24:39 GMT

Over on Lambda Create, Will writes that the output isn’t the part that matters. It has never been the part that matters for any Craftsman in the

Endgame for the Open Web

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 03:38:07 GMT

A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Stuckness

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 02:13:21 GMT

Ageless Linux — Software for Humans of Indeterminate Age

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:51:57 GMT

‘Another internet is possible’: Norway rails against ‘enshittification’

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:50:47 GMT

Absurdist video urges policymakers and users to resist deliberate deterioration of platforms and devices

The End of the Open Web

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 21:51:20 GMT

Do you remember the Open Web? Web rings, directories, quirky resources out in the open, without the need to sign in anywhere. But I fear we're seeing the beginning of the end of this wonderful shared platform.

“This Is Not The Computer For You”

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 21:46:51 GMT

Sam Henri Gold is a product design engineer building playful, useful software.

Have a Fucking Website

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 21:46:05 GMT

For fuck's sake

You don't have to if you don't want to.

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 04:59:22 GMT

"In the year 5555, your arms are hangin' limp at your sides, your legs got nothing to do, some machine doin' that for you." Zager and Evans sang these words in 1969. Now, thirty-five centuries ahead of schedule, it's never been easier to tell the world "I didn't care about this and I don't care about you."

Feed Readers Beat Doomscrolling

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 04:11:23 GMT

If you're dodging news media because the alternative is catastrophic doomscrolling... perhaps you ought to be using a feed reader? It's a much healthier way to keep up with the Web.

Weaning off GreedCorp™: Building a user-owned future for computing

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:38:40 GMT

Our computers are faster than ever. If you’re an Apple user, you know how incredibly efficient and powerful their M‑series devices are. Computers are more capable than ever; Framework’s laptops are as customizable as building a PC from scratch. Tinkerers with 3D printers and a penchant for

A Web Revival: the Internet didn't die, you're just not on it

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 23:34:51 GMT

This video is about making websites instead of scrolling reels.NOTE: The indie web, just like the Internet, can be unpredictable, and not all content on all ...

ASCII characters are not pixels: a deep dive into ASCII rendering

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 02:49:39 GMT

A look at how I used shape vectors to achieve sharp, high-quality ASCII rendering.

Phantom Obligation

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 02:49:17 GMT

Why RSS readers look like email clients, and what that's doing to us.

A Website To End All Websites | Henry From Online

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 23:44:19 GMT

How to win the war for the soul of the internet, and build the Web We Want.

My cyberspace

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 01:43:03 GMT

Slow Social and the CozyWeb

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 23:31:16 GMT

#SlowSocial digital practices and 'cozyweb' spaces point to a way out of addictive, algorithmic social media platforms. But our tech stacks - and their incentives - matter. Let's support connecting across movements from different fields that already exist to help 'Rewild the Internet'.

Welcome to the Post-Naive Internet Era

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 22:54:51 GMT

The grand idealism of the free and open internet might be over for now, but in its place falls a more practical mindset. Just like Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurs are entering their “Hard Tech” era, the people building web alternatives are also entering their Post-Naive Era. Here are the names to know.

Mamdani’s Win Shows That Believing In Something Beats Performative Hatred

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 01:53:50 GMT

Last week, I wrote about how the Trump administration has replaced any sort of concept of governance with governance-by-trolling—a government optimized purely for making a huge segment of the count…

Apple Has Two Problems

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 18:23:24 GMT

Crazy Mac lady. Mac author & developer. Lover of Apple computers and devices. Swift & SwiftUI enthusiast. Unofficial Mac app dev evangelist

AI at work is anti-labor by design

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:49:27 GMT

A quick note about ai and labor. It's about a 2 minute read.

Grokipedia Is the Antithesis of Everything That Makes Wikipedia Good, Useful, and Human

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 20:00:00 GMT

Grokipedia is not a 'Wikipedia competitor.' It is a fully robotic regurgitation machine designed to protect the ego of the world’s wealthiest man.

What Happened To Running What You Wanted On Your Own Machine?

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 01:28:59 GMT

When the microcomputer first landed in homes some forty years ago, it came with a simple freedom—you could run whatever software you could get your hands on. Floppy disk from a friend? Pop it in. S…

How Tim Cook sold out Steve Jobs

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 22:36:10 GMT

A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

alive internet theory

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 19:14:37 GMT

why the bots will never win and just hanging out online

Why I gave the world wide web away for free

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:10:35 GMT

My vision was based on sharing, not exploitation – and here’s why it’s still worth fighting for

This is Exactly Why I Love Having a Website

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 02:46:18 GMT

Ikigai

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 19:30:47 GMT

Benjamin Button Reviews macOS

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 03:35:53 GMT

AI Apologists and the Humanist Legacy of Steve Jobs

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 13:40:33 GMT

“The whole computer industry wants to forget about the humanist side and just focus on the technology.” Essay by Jared White.

Pluralistic: Wallet voting

Sat, 13 Sep 2025 19:33:41 GMT

my next big project??

Sat, 13 Sep 2025 19:20:28 GMT

i am plagued by concepts

We traded blogs for black boxes, now we're paying for it

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 02:46:59 GMT

Big Tech broke the internet, and this old man’s got a few things to say about it.

goodbye, computer.

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:28:56 GMT

goodbye, computer - april cluckslisten on ur machine:http://linktr.ee/aprilclucksit's sad to think about the layer in the crust of every landfill thats fille...

Why more and more people are tuning the news out

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 18:21:56 GMT

Emotional toll of constant negative news and unlimited access to ‘doomscrolling’ has led to record-high news avoidance

A notional design studio.

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 04:40:26 GMT

A design language, if you can keep it.

Pluralistic: The worst possible antitrust outcome

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 22:24:37 GMT

Be more authentic

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 21:34:00 GMT

In the age of AI, they say, that's the only way. Be more of your most real self. But what does that even mean? In the context of a medium that, more often than not, rewards conformity over originality. That houses a mob with wifi acting as the Gestapo over who is deemed real and who is fake. I have a love-hate relationship with social media. When I was in high school, Facebook was still a place where the feed was full of pictures shot at awkward angles during a house party the night before. Y...

I Am An AI Hater

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 22:40:24 GMT

I am an AI hater. This is considered rude, but I do not care, because I am a hater.

Why I love to read your blog

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 01:46:32 GMT

It's been a while since I was so invested in reading blog posts. It's such a delight and a relief. I mostly follow indieweb blogs, filled with people...

I’m not ignoring your message – I’m overwhelmed by the tyranny of being reachable

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 22:14:51 GMT

In today’s culture, responsiveness is a proxy for care. But being in constant rotation, always logging into another version of myself? I’m tired

The Hacker's Renaissance: A Manifesto Reborn

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:32:32 GMT

Phrack staff website.

🌞solarsocial - a quiet architecture for media and light

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 01:22:00 GMT

a dreamy architecture for solarsocial media.

Scientists Created an Entire Social Network Where Every User Is a Bot, and Something Wild Happened

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:24:33 GMT

Researchers simulated a social media platform that was populated entirely by AI to see if we can stop them from turning into echo chambers.