Richard MacManus

Technology Analyst, Web & AI · Internet Historian @ https://cybercultural.com · Founded ReadWriteWeb (2003–2012) · 🥝 in 🇬🇧

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Last Notes

2026-07-14 23:59:45 CEST

Simon Reynolds, one of my favourite authors, on blogging in the 2000s. He still blogs to this day, unusually running multiple Blogspot sites, one for each book and/or genre he writes about. I subscribe to all of them in my Feedbin / NetNewsWire setup, and dip in from time to time. Also some other music bloggers, especially of the esoteric variety. Alas, tech bloggers aren’t as active these days…or as interesting, tbh. I like that early 2000s energy of the mp3 bloggers.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/920/574/487/290/481/original/9dcc6fa05b6f65c2.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/920/574/565/103/500/original/c6727f6dea0e0654.jpeg

2026-04-29 20:53:52 CEST

YES!!! In all honesty, I have struggled to post to Mastodon ever since I started my professional focus on the agentic web (after losing my journalism job in Feb, I am trying to get a one-man consulting biz off the ground, focused on Web x AI). I think there is a very healthy debate to be had here about how the open web can benefit from agentic tech…and tbh, can actually take the lead on this if folks get behind it. Controversial, I know. Glad #FediForum is discussing it. https://www.timothychambers.net/2026/04/29/a-conversation-spinning-out-of.html

2026-04-28 13:14:22 CEST

As part of my ongoing effort to bootstrap a one-man consulting business, I'm publishing more regularly on my personal website. Here's my latest -> Agentic web patterns: what Web 2.0 taught me
It connects a personal story from my early Web 2.0 days — when I was working on "design patterns for Web 2.0" — with the emerging patterns I’m now seeing for AI on websites. Hope you check it out, even if you're an AI skeptic.
https://ricmac.org/2026/04/28/agentic-web-patterns-what-web-2-0-taught-me/

2026-04-12 18:59:17 CEST

This weekend I began #blogging again like it was 2003. Leaflet, which is an AT Protocol product, reminds me a lot of Radio Userland in 2003 (when I started ReadWriteWeb). It has an informal quality and it encourages community inter-linking. I also like that it's integrated with Bluesky, so comments and even trackbacks are potentially much easier than e.g. using Webmentions with Mastodon. I want ActivityPub to go this direction, too. I expand on all this in my Leaflet: https://ricmac.leaflet.pub/3mjcsrphlnc25

2026-04-07 13:29:56 CEST

Most people think AI will reduce the importance of websites. I think the opposite is happening — but in a very different way. Here's how I'm looking at the emerging Agentic Web, including its opportunities for web publishers and developers...and the very real threats, too. https://ricmac.org/2026/04/07/the-agentic-web/

2026-03-22 20:22:21 CET

Apparently it’s 20 years since Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet. On that same day, 21 March 2006, I was blathering on about “microcontent design” on ReadWriteWeb. This was the feeds world that web geeks like me wanted to become a reality: i.e. web standards-based feeds, using RSS/Atom, structured blogging, microformats, etc. Little did we know that Twitter would introduce the concept of proprietary feeds to the internet…and that would win out over web standards. https://web.archive.org/web/20060508071004/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/microcontent_de.php

2026-03-02 20:48:15 CET

I really enjoyed this video… HyperCard was so good, I remember using it in the early 90s, before the Web emerged. https://sigmoid.social/@Dreamwieber/116158184946426071

2026-03-02 20:14:28 CET

Awesome! https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/03/a-new-share-button/

2026-02-10 17:35:10 CET

In the latest post in my history of web design, we enter 1994 — when the Web shifts into a publishing medium. As site authors seek control over formatting and design, the WWW-Talk mailing list hosts an early debate over style sheets and presentation. Also, I look at typical web design elements of websites in 1994. https://cybercultural.com/p/1994-web-design/ #WebDesign #InternetHistory

2026-01-15 13:25:44 CET

If you're also a journalist on Mastodon, please help @nprofile…wgvm out and fill in this questionaire. I just did it and only took 5 or so minutes. I'm looking forward to seeing the results. #journalism
#nevent1q…3pfa

2026-01-13 15:44:41 CET

Today I'm launching season 5 of Cybercultural: the history of web design from 1993 till 2012. It will be a celebration of the peak years of personal websites and blogs! My intro post explains the structure and a few of the main themes I'll be exploring (e.g. personal web design vs platform peer pressure). I invite you to subscribe now for weekly updates via email or RSS. https://cybercultural.com/p/history-of-web-design/ #WebDesignHistory

2025-12-17 16:53:22 CET

How my independent website, Cybercultural, has fared during 2025 — a year when AI summaries whittled away search referral traffic and social media continued its war against hyperlinks. Also, I reflect on the state of the open web from a publishing pov, and the role of the fediverse within it. https://cybercultural.com/p/indie-web-report-2025/ #IndieWeb

2025-11-18 17:07:09 CET

This week on Cybercultural, more early-2000s Apple 🍎, including why Steve Jobs didn't want online music to go the streaming route (which of course it eventually did). https://cybercultural.com/p/ipod-2002/ #InternetHistory

2025-11-16 14:05:48 CET

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@nprofile…sxvw Yes, there is absolutely a disconnect here between the “copyleft” crowd and AI. I think the copyleft proponents, which btw is a massive and powerful faction on both Mastodon and Bluesky, tend to argue against AI on the grounds that it is slop. They ignore the potential value in AI. Whereas I am much more aligned with Ishiguro’s stance that creators of all kind have a right to own their content and seek some kind of permission and compensation structure from AI companies.

2025-10-29 16:05:45 CET

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I want to shout out the 2001 bloggers I mentioned in this post, some of whom are on Mastodon (albeit haven't necessarily visited for a while...come back to the open social web!): @nprofile…ns9h, @nprofile…hp04, @nprofile…kzty, @nprofile…pezm, @nprofile…xf8g, @nprofile…a0ng, @nprofile…jgwn, @nprofile…mmlq, @nprofile…azsk, @nprofile…5vrz, @nprofile…2ype, @nprofile…tyr9

2025-10-29 15:42:53 CET

Continuing my history of blogging and RSS series, I look at 2001: the year of warblogs, Movable Type and Blogdex. I see '01 as a transition year for blogging, in which it shifts from personal journaling to a more journalistic approach (although many personal bloggers resented the influx of warbloggers). There are lots of great 2001 screenshots in this post, so I hope you enjoy it. https://cybercultural.com/p/blogs-rss-2001/ #InternetHistory #Blogging

2025-10-10 16:11:40 CEST

The latest issue of Web Technology News (WTN) has just been published. This week I focus on the web-based ChatGPT Apps platform, but there's also #FediForum action, other open social web news, and web platform opportunities. https://webtechnology.news/openai-turns-chatgpt-into-a-web-app-platform/
Fedi folks mentioned: @nprofile…vugp, @nprofile…mpj6, @nprofile…fflq, @nprofile…4heg, @nprofile…r9xg, @nprofile…0thl
Subscribe to WTN via email or RSS, or on the fediverse @nprofile…wtgw

2025-10-09 20:51:58 CEST

Here’s my writeup of #FediForum (the openings at least). Loved the message of @nprofile…mpj6’s keynote — everything big starts small — and I was impressed by the fedi products showcased: @nprofile…803y ( @nprofile…perq), Bounce ( @nprofile…hx87, @nprofile…ny03), Frequency ( @nprofile…z8ge), CrowdBucks ( @nprofile…vwu2) & more. Let’s keep this energy going! Thanks @nprofile…vmmn & @nprofile…avtr for the great event again. https://thenewstack.io/everything-big-starts-small-building-open-social-web-apps/

2025-10-08 13:13:19 CEST

Let's take a trip back to the year 2000, 25 long internet years ago. A year in which Flash websites proliferate, blogging expands, social news sites like Slashdot gain influence — all of this while the dot-com bubble slowly deflates and Napster dominates headlines. https://cybercultural.com/p/internet-2000/ #InternetHistory
(special thanks to @nprofile…mxa4 & @nprofile…ts44 for suggesting Homestar Runner, the perfect Flash website suggestion for that year!)

2025-10-07 16:33:48 CEST

Starter packs coming to Mastodon 👀 https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/10/our-ideas-about-packs/

2025-10-03 20:18:13 CEST

The personal abuse being directed at Bluesky’s CEO is deeply uncomfortable to read. Call me old fashioned, but it is never acceptable. I especially hate seeing that stuff from anonymous accounts that have cartoon avatars. It’s ok to debate the technical merits or otherwise of moderation, but not ok to throw personal insults around. I always block that kind of thing, in part because I think personal insults are cowardly.

2025-10-03 09:04:04 CEST

I'm currently working on my next "What the Internet Was Like in..." post for Cybercultural, this time for the year 2000. Wondering if anyone has specific memories about Flash websites that year? Or blogging, or social news sites like MetaFilter and Kuro5hin. Do let me know what comes to mind for you re the web in 2000...

2025-10-02 12:08:20 CEST

Old articles and blog posts too often get removed from the web or neglected, left to rot on broken pages. Replanting lets you migrate legacy content to your current site so it can thrive again. Here's how I'm doing it... https://cybercultural.com/p/replanting/ #replanting #savetheweb

2025-10-01 17:58:23 CEST

I'm curious what the W3C means by "re-engage" and "new audiences" here: "We have refreshed our logo to reflect the new type of organization we have become — an organization that wants to re-engage with our community, and reach new audiences."
I *hope* they mean engage on truly open, web-loving platforms — like Mastodon and Bluesky. And of course audiences that may not be well-served by internet access right now (i.e. out in the real world).
ref: https://www.w3.org/press-releases/2025/new-logo/

2025-10-01 15:57:23 CEST

This week on Cybercultural, let's re-live the Year of Napster: Shawn Fanning wearing a Metallica shirt to the 2000 MTV Awards, Lars Ulrich testifying to Senate and whining to the media (but in retrospect, was he right after all?!), Judge Patel calling Napster a monster, the media dreaming of a "heavenly jukebox", and — amid it all — a new legal alternative quietly emerges: SoundJam (soon to be known as iTunes). https://cybercultural.com/p/napster-itunes-2000/ #InternetHistory #Napster #iTunes

2025-09-11 23:40:22 CEST

I’ve been re-watching this last couple of nights. Triumph of the Nerds, tv show from 1996 by Robert X Cringley. I also loved his book, Accidental Empires, on which the tv series is based. Such good production and he speaks to all the main players (Gates, Jobs, Woz, et al). I also discovered recently (via Wikipedia) that Cringely was a stage name, which I hadn’t realized before. I’m not sure what he is doing now…70-ish and maybe struggling, house burned down, etc. https://youtu.be/ACt6xsMt5Uk?si=ClVjptyEoWvwg7rr

2025-09-11 14:18:12 CEST

Another classic Web 2.0 company gets bought by Bending Spoons, which also owns Evernote, MeetUp and WeTransfer. Vimeo used to be *the* place to post high quality videos; e.g. pop stars used to prefer Vimeo to YouTube. https://www.theverge.com/news/775701/vimeo-bending-spoons-acquisition

2025-09-04 13:43:47 CEST

I just checked my latest Google Search Console report for Cybercultural. Couple of notable trends, that I think apply to other indie websites too:
1. Google has totally turned off Google Discover traffic for my site over the past 3 months. I never got big traffic from it, but at least my posts had a chance before. I suspect Google's algo has pivoted Discover traffic to larger sites, to keep them quiet.
2. Clicks per impression 0.50% (was 2.25% at peak). This is AI Overviews/Mode at play #SEO

2025-08-22 16:52:05 CEST

Latest issue of Web Technology News has just gone out: https://webtechnology.news/wtn-3-xslt-heat-cool-fedi-apps-web-uis-in-agents/
This is my weekly newsletter of curated links to news across 3 categories: web platform, open social web, Web + AI. Basically, things that catch my eye and I think might interest fellow webheads. Check it out and subscribe if you like it.

2025-08-21 12:02:33 CEST

Ghost or Substack? Eleventy or WordPress? Newsletter or blog...or online magazine? There are a lot of choices these days in online publishing, so I've detailed my own recent experiences in this post.
I discuss how I've found Ghost's fediverse integration so far (there are issues, but I'm fully supportive), why you *shouldn't* choose Substack, why I find @nprofile…ku4a such a joy, and why #WordPress is in desperate need of modernization. https://ricmac.org/2025/08/21/ghost-substack-eleventy-wordpress/

2025-08-19 19:09:44 CEST

I admit, I am fascinated by how X users see the internet. I think some of them genuinely don’t know what websites are.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/056/534/054/725/202/original/fde4d0f6654d6314.jpeg

2025-08-13 18:40:45 CEST

So much for the "put your link in the comments" hack that LinkedIn perpetuates. I'm not sure what's worse: the throttled distribution (277 views, yet I have >500 connections and supposedly 3,300 followers); OR the pitiful 24 views on the 'link in comments'.
Moral of the story yet again: algorithmic social media sucks.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/115/022/446/172/952/271/original/ff0199d6bdc23e12.png

2025-08-12 18:12:30 CEST

When Perplexity buys Chrome, browsing will henceforth be called "hoovering" https://www.wsj.com/tech/perplexity-ai-google-chrome-offer-5ddb7a22?st=7gNiSR

2025-08-11 14:28:51 CEST

Gary Marcus is not impressed. https://open.substack.com/pub/garymarcus/p/gpt-5-overdue-overhyped-and-underwhelming?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

2025-08-11 11:35:17 CEST

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@nprofile…fv4z According to X users, the web is the "old world." https://thenewstack.io/mcp-ui-aims-to-replace-old-world-websites-with-ai-agent-uis/

2025-08-09 20:49:06 CEST

I disagree with the whole premise of this article (which btw is far too long — it’s clearly been written for machines). “But the web isn’t human-first anymore,” he writes. WRONG. That’s what big tech wants you to believe. My websites are written for humans. Ok, I accept I need to figure out how to make a living from that in this AI era…but the Web is human-first for me, and always will be. That’s non-negotiable.
Ref: The web isn’t URL-shaped anymore - Jono Alderson https://www.jonoalderson.com/conjecture/url-shaped-web/

2025-08-08 20:07:00 CEST

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@nprofile…4tpe This is literally me (my home office is above the garage) :)

2025-08-07 00:11:02 CEST

Tim Berners-Lee on 6 August 1991:
“The WWW project was started to allow high energy physicists to share data, news, and documentation. We are very interested in spreading the web to other areas, and having gateway servers for other data. Collaborators welcome!”
https://cybercultural.com/p/1991-tim-berners-lee-trys-to-convert-the-hypertext-faithful/
Notice he said collaborators and not parasites (yes, I mean AI, but also human SEO parasites). With the open social web, we have a chance for human collaboration again.

2025-08-06 17:11:59 CEST

I decided to start a Ghost blog after its 6.0 upgrade and what seems like full integration with the fediverse (ref @nprofile…wj47). My new site: https://webtechnology.news.
You can also follow it on Mastodon here: @nprofile…wtgw
As it says on the tin, it will be a newsletter about web technology news (for once, I am using a straight-forward name, rather than mouthfuls like ReadWriteWeb or Cybercultural)
I just started this today, but what I'm thinking is it'll be a weekly linkblog with commentary, for now.

2025-08-05 11:57:41 CEST

It appears I have a new catchphrase: "don't POSSE to X"
I discovered this today when I just happened to browse to the IndieWeb page for POSSE: https://indieweb.org/POSSE
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/975/559/390/463/432/original/22f62e9a3bae08bf.png

2025-08-04 14:40:14 CEST

If by “hard tech” they mean “hard to stomach”, that would be more accurate. I do agree this is absolutely the next big era after Web 2.0, and I find AI tools to be generally useful, but the hype (exemplified by X users), callousness of big cos (massive job losses, and also what Google is doing to publishers) and the dehumanization around this tech is all very worrying. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/technology/ai-silicon-valley-hard-tech.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bk8.t0w-.jiIF3FBqqrfO&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

2025-07-31 20:15:03 CEST

As usual, @nprofile…eznj explains things so well. It made me think about whether I am happy with my RSS Reader. I currently use Feedly, which I have used basically since Google Reader’s demise. I’ve always loved web-based readers (nothing will ever replace my beloved Bloglines, RIP), but I also have great respect for NetNewsWire and some other apps. So let’s have it, a big conversation about what is THE BEST RSS Reader in 2025. Pls comment with your personal fave (and why). https://www.citationneeded.news/curate-with-rss/

2025-07-30 23:55:11 CEST

The Web is made of people…who increasingly get tricked into viewing slop by AI. https://mastodon.social/@Sarahp/114944354954013310

2025-07-30 15:37:26 CEST

I take a look at how Online Identity has evolved through the years, from the fluid identities of BowieWorld to the neutered identity culture that Facebook introduced in the 2000s. David Bowie himself played with virtual personas (how could he not?!) and I also look at a 1999 book by US sociologist Sherry Turkle. https://cybercultural.com/p/online-identity-bowieworld-1999/ #InternetHistory #OnlineIdentity

2025-07-30 11:07:23 CEST

"Sure, we still write and publish blog posts, but back then, the blogs were the network. The global network of blogs were a self-sustaining matrix of content. Now, social media is where the relational and conversational world is, and websites are just content."
Thanks @nprofile…zsav for the fab review of my book 'Bubble Blog'. You really nailed what I wanted to achieve with the book: give a history of Web 2.0 and why blogs were such a key part of it (hence the book title).
https://deanebarker.net/library/titles/bubble-blog/

2025-07-30 00:02:01 CEST

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@nprofile…q54u I’m about 75% of my way through this book and it is very good…and challenging! I will say it’s pretty obvious why it hasn’t got much reception: he absolutely pillories some of the most influential voices on Bluesky and Mastodon. He was a contrary thinker who cut against the grain of accepted internet wisdom. I’m still forming my opinions on this, but I admire his independent thinking.

2025-07-28 13:03:00 CEST

"AI summarization is rapidly tearing down a business model that has worked for decades. Unless there is an agreed upon business model that is accessible to all players including small publishers and long-tail AI startups, we may lose the diversity of opinions and perspectives that have given us the open web we currently enjoy." @nprofile…urwu https://everwas.com/2025/07/publishing-in-an-agentic-ai-world/

2025-07-22 18:38:39 CEST

I spoke to Gent Hito, CEO of /n software, and @nprofile…8u2y about XMLUI, a new components builder that takes its inspiration from Visual Basic in the 1990s, except it's for React components and modern CSS.
Find out why React, why XML and not JSON, and why Gent hates the term "low-code".
https://thenewstack.io/make-react-components-with-xmlui-a-visual-basic-for-the-ai-era/

2025-07-19 21:00:47 CEST

Out of sheer boredom on a Saturday post-dinner, I opened up Threads (I no longer post there) and saw this cry for help. Poor bastards… #MetaWorld #AOLvibes
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/881/439/154/776/107/original/ef6c4be74e7e152e.jpeg

2025-07-18 18:59:42 CEST

I wrote up how I'm now thinking about the structure of my website, Cybercultural. Basically, I've borrowed the 'seasons' concept from podcasting (and tv). Remember how blogging was — and still is — defined by reverse-chronological? Well I think websites / newsletters / blogs in this era need something more akin to digital gardens. I reckon seasons is a good way to structure it, but let me know your thoughts. https://cybercultural.com/p/seasons/

2025-07-18 15:28:52 CEST

Some feel-good vibes from this blog post (the web dev world does indeed have some awesome people in it, if you look outside of X), but also thanks Alex for the OPML file — added that to my RSS Reader just now!
https://toot.cafe/@slightlyoff/114865458222259003

2025-07-18 14:29:10 CEST

“For now, many of us still approach A.I. as outsiders — nonnative users, shaped by analog habits, capable of seeing the difference between now and then. But the generation growing up with A.I. will learn to think and write in its shadow. For them, the chatbot won’t be a tool to discover — as Netscape was for me — but part of the operating system itself. And that shift, from novelty to norm, is the profound transformation we’re only beginning to grapple with.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/opinion/ai-chatgpt-school.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XU8.me9q.tCp-b3-fCcmC&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

2025-07-15 15:46:11 CEST

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@nprofile…8hjr thanks, but how many of these are old sites? Cool list though :)

2025-07-15 15:32:06 CEST

Like a greedy LLM, I'm looking for new blogrolls to hoover up for my @nprofile…uy2j algorithm. Any suggestions for classic sites or blogs that had links aplenty to feast on?
https://indieweb.social/@classicweb/114857478318456201

2025-07-12 12:42:44 CEST

“Does 'here to stay' mean we bet our future society on a technology that is 99% owned by a handful of private corporations? 'Here to stay' can't be a gloss for giving up.” https://mastodon.social/@mtrc/114752228042345798

2025-07-10 16:25:04 CEST

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Yet another reason, btw, not to trust #Threads.

2025-07-10 16:13:01 CEST

Oh no…now Meta is automatically sharing our private messages to its AI. As far as I can tell, you can only turn it off for each message thread, one at a time (and there seems to be no option to turn it off *at all* for group threads!). Yet another privacy disaster from Facebook.
I use Messenger btw for family and non-tech friends, so don’t (ahem) shoot the messenger.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/829/346/673/333/671/original/27f7a5054f266e9d.jpeg
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/829/346/768/141/579/original/c47ae4aae9af8c8c.jpeg

2025-07-10 15:51:02 CEST

One of the ways to get Mastodon more visibility across the normieverse is to add your link to @nprofile…kq0m. e.g. I requested that one of my Mastodon posts about the OpenAI browser news be added (I thought it added good context) and within a minute or two it was up there. It's a small way to promote the fediverse, but it helps when people see more Mastodon (or indeed indie blog) links on Techmeme. Note: the button, on the bottom-right, only displays on the desktop version of Techmeme (not mobile).
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/829/259/936/375/863/original/4dff3a8a3b984240.png

2025-07-09 13:16:50 CEST

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Came across this video today of how search worked in Internet Explorer 4 in 1998; it was a big ol' button that you pressed and it opened up in a frame on the left. You can see AltaVista in action here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaHR2mbnIjA (via Computer Chronicles, link on the YouTube page)

2025-07-09 00:22:32 CEST

Don’t fall for this again, hundreds of millions of people. https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/07/threads-is-nearing-xs-daily-app-users-new-data-shows/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/819/946/796/584/057/original/9d13bc70bfa497eb.mp4

2025-07-06 00:15:19 CEST

Started reading this tonight. An intriguing book…and challenging to some of my own beliefs about digital technology. He also is very critical of some well-known left-wing media figures prominent in the fediverse and Bluesky (I won’t name names, but you can guess). Too early to say whether I will subscribe to his theories, but I admire his contrarian take on tech. He died in 2023.
Also, this in Dec 2022: “Generative AI Is Built on Nihilism. Its Real Product Is Despair.” https://archive.fo/Ruyam
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/802/931/743/317/992/original/53550731da6513aa.jpeg

2025-07-05 20:42:15 CEST

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@nprofile…ee4l Loved the NYT satire. May I ask how you did this? If it isn’t already, would make a great little app (NYTify This).

2025-07-04 20:12:45 CEST

Love this guy’s expression. “What are *you* looking at, buster?!” #BirdBuddy #BirdsOfMastodon
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/796/315/588/550/786/original/a4dfc28fdaebfde8.jpeg

2025-07-04 14:35:13 CEST

I think we’re starting to see a breakdown of trust in some of the larger players in the open social web. Many of you didn’t trust Meta from the start about Threads; I gave them the benefit of the doubt, but it’s 100% clear to me now that Meta is not serious about federation. Likewise we see Automattic now backtracking on its promise to federate Tumblr. Perhaps this is all a sign that we need new products and new open source leaders, to add to e.g. Mastodon & Pixelfed. And new business models!

2025-07-04 07:36:16 CEST

This is the kind of stuff that finally made me quit Threads, just as I have X. Also see my recent post about the various ways Threads fails to federate at even the most basic level: https://mastodon.social/@ricmac/114744386097094353
https://mastodon.social/@toddalstrom/114783119075435828

2025-07-04 00:07:30 CEST

Another one bites the dust… #XThreads
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/791/576/379/152/983/original/2fa6e22a691f700b.jpeg

2025-07-03 13:32:57 CEST

I like Ottessa Moshfegh and her books, so I don't want to shade her at all. But this headline by Vulture really makes me sick. Please don't assign the "weird" brand to Substack. Nowadays weird is creating your own website or using an indie web service like Neocities or Buttondown. Weird is not a VC-funded walled garden. https://www.vulture.com/article/substack-writers-george-saunders-ottessa-moshfegh-interview.html

2025-07-01 19:59:13 CEST

“Mr. Prince said he was “deeply concerned that the incentives for content creation are dead.””
This definitely resonates with me. Sometimes I wonder why I bother spending so much of my time writing articles that fewer and fewer people read. Yes, AI is to blame, altho I also put a lot of blame on ‘traffic-throttling’ social media like X, LinkedIn, Facebook/Threads. The open web is, sadly, almost devoid of incentives for creators. This is a challenge for fediverse too.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/technology/cloudflare-ai-data.html?unlocked_article_code=1.TE8.6JAh.CFClZ2CqkmoO&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

2025-07-01 19:04:45 CEST

“We need big global servers for the people who want them, and we need local servers for people who want them, and we need language-specific servers for people who want them. None of these are mutually exclusive.” https://toot.wales/@jaz/114779003033073652

2025-06-29 10:12:40 CEST

“I think the new web aesthetic is about getting active again. Platforms encourage passivity. They want us to stay still and scrolling, looking at what the algo wants to show us. Like, swipe, repeat. But the new web aesthetic is non-linear. It encourages you to move from one site to another, to dive down rabbit holes, and crucially, to continue sharing what you find.”
toward a new aesthetic, @nprofile…laxd https://newsletter.sachajudd.com/archive/toward-a-new-aesthetic/

2025-06-28 16:51:34 CEST

Question for @nprofile…jpw4 users: is anyone syndicating their site to the fediverse using #ActivityPub, similar to what Ghost is doing (eg @nprofile…wj47); and if so, how are you doing this? i.e. making your site a first-class citizen of the fediverse. I know there was this project a few years ago by @nprofile…gzls, but not sure if it’s currently being used: https://github.com/LewisDaleUK/eleventy-plugin-activity-pub
Reason I ask is I’d like to have a posts feed for Cybercultural, that people can eg subscribe to in Mastodon.

2025-06-25 19:37:48 CEST

#Threads #QuasiFederation https://henshaw.social/@jon/114745170107201068

2025-06-25 19:05:57 CEST

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6. You can’t repost.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/745/092/133/559/991/original/233c613d05a57df1.png

2025-06-25 18:01:36 CEST

It took me ages to find screenshots of BowieNet as it looked on launch in September 1998, but I finally found some beauties. Oh, and I explain how BowieNet not only became the default online community for David Bowie fans, it also anticipated the social networks that would emerge in the 2000s, like Facebook and Reddit. https://cybercultural.com/p/bowienet-launch-1998/ #InternetHistory #BowieForever

2025-06-25 16:06:23 CEST

Threads is allegedly part of the fediverse, yet I'm nowhere near the point of being able to ask Threads users to follow my Mastodon profile. Attached is how my Mastodon profile looks over there. Some of the issues:
1. Threads users can follow Mastodon Me *only if* they themselves have turned on fediverse sharing (an arbitrary hurdle).
2. They have to exactly type my Mastodon handle.
3. You can like but not reply.
4. "Some posts may not be visible" (why?!)
5. There's no bio!
Any other hurdles?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/744/385/973/328/016/original/4d8c1c03e6cfdd25.png

2025-06-24 18:26:08 CEST

Headless browsers like Browserbase and Playwright have a huge role to play in AI agent technology. Whether we like it or not, it's increasingly going to be agents that browse our websites moving forward. So Browserbase, I think, is mining a very profitable part of the AI dev stack here. https://thenewstack.io/why-headless-browsers-are-a-key-technology-for-ai-agents/

2025-06-23 14:15:51 CEST

The web is not thriving for indie publishers. We can only hope Google doesn’t lose sight of small indie websites, and how *they* can earn a living in the AI era. That was the beauty of the Web 2.0 era — there were opportunities for *everyone* to thrive. I see Google, AI companies and big publishers like Reddit thriving in this era…but surely Google knows that isn’t enough for the broader web ecosystem to thrive.
Ref: Google’s “from our point of view the web is thriving." https://c.im/@rustybrick/114732529149457285

2025-06-21 16:28:09 CEST

I actually like that cultural folks (musicians, magazines, writers, music bloggers, artists, etc) are starting to show up on Bluesky now. I remember checking last year if Electronic Sound magazine was on open social, but at the time they were just on X. So this is progress. I don’t expect them to ever be on Mastodon, but that’s ok…different open social media platforms can have different vibes; indeed I think that’s better. I kind of go to Bluesky for the culture stuff. https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ev4fhapxcvyjk2ldlwvcfzoq/post/3ls4qmfa3zc2i

2025-06-20 21:17:25 CEST

LOL, this would be peak Web 2.0 apocalypse if it happens. https://indieweb.social/@jbz/114717058520886865

2025-06-18 19:43:03 CEST

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@nprofile…3wy7 @nprofile…zezf @nprofile…fflq @nprofile…007f @nprofile…jpfa @nprofile…qtlf @nprofile…9ync Great stuff, Tim! I know progress is being made eg on search, but I like when the community’s leaders (like yourself) give these issues some air and tough love.

2025-06-18 17:35:45 CEST

Looks like Threads has been hacked…
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/705/101/254/569/611/original/0bb0e88d66301609.png

2025-06-18 17:23:49 CEST

This week's Cybercultural article looks back on 1998, the year of the portal: Excite, Netscape Netcenter, Yahoo, AOL, MSN and others all competing for eyeballs and trying to be sticky. But with so many portals, some inevitably failed. https://cybercultural.com/p/portals-1998/ #InternetHistory

2025-06-17 19:29:18 CEST

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@nprofile…hyrk I currently can’t even find this special freaking feed in their app…

2025-06-17 19:18:37 CEST

We are aliens from another planet. “This is certainly the most visible fediverse content has ever been inside of Threads, but the world of ActivityPub is still not a first-class citizen inside of Threads. You still have to opt-in to sharing your posts, you still have to have a separate account to connect to, and you’ll still have to go to the dedicated feed to see what’s new. (If you post something and get fediverse replies, those are still separate too.)” https://mastodon.social/@verge/114699692468491981

2025-06-17 12:14:16 CEST

This poll has gotten traction, with nearly 3/4 of people so far preferring "personal website". But if you are old school and still call it a home page, or you identify as a blogger, or if you've got actual design talent and call it a digital garden, there's still time to have your say. Final results later tonight my time :)
https://mastodon.social/@ricmac/114694609195949672

2025-06-15 11:11:47 CEST

This is a great point, and something I do think about at the same time as I find many great uses for AI tools: “…journalism’s first role is to report honestly, rigorously and relentlessly on the emergence of the AI companies and what they actually mean for society. We *completely* fumbled this with social media, 18 years ago.”
I actually didn’t find social media to be that useful in 2007, as I always preferred blogging. But society thought otherwise, and here we are now. https://masto.onemanandhisblog.com/@adders/114676718671595788

2025-06-13 23:40:34 CEST

Updated my Tumblr (velvetsfan.com) for the first time in months…was listening to some music and wanted to post about it somewhere. I miss soup.io, which was a smaller, quirkier version of Tumblr, and where I used to post artsy-fartsy stuff that didn’t fit into my tech blogging world. Tumblr was the one that survived, but now it’s owned by one of the self-important crazy Tech Lords and so I am not so keen on using it. Is there a fedi version of Tumblr with some traction? #AskingForAFriend

2025-06-12 21:03:48 CEST

This month marks the 30th anniversary of PHP being released to the world. To find out how PHP has evolved over the years, its technical improvements over the past decade, and the importance of PHP frameworks like Laravel and Symfony (and cool new tools like FrankenPHP), I spoke to PHP core developer Derick Rethans. https://thenewstack.io/the-herd-is-strong-php-and-its-developer-ecosystem-at-30/ #PHP

2025-06-11 22:56:08 CEST

So is there any update on Threads users being able to follow Mastodon users? Feels like it’s been months since an update. I am feeling like I want to stop posting on Threads, as I think I am effectively shadow-banned (i.e. the algo doesn’t show my posts to my followers). So I may as well ask any Threads users interested in my updates to just follow my Mastodon a/c. But of course that will never happen… #FakeFediverse

2025-06-11 20:44:07 CEST

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@nprofile…7nxw No :( There are bit parts for women, but they are girlfriends, assistants, and one brief scene with a Sheryl Sandberg-like character. But it’s very much a sausage party…again, like the All-In Podcast.

2025-06-11 20:25:01 CEST

I watched Mountainhead over the past 2 nights (couldn’t get through it in one night, it made me too anxious!). It was ok entertainment in the end, but a bit too over-the-top for my liking. Of course you recognize the All-In Podcast crew, Musk, Altman and the rest of that lot in the 4 main characters. Maybe too close to the bone for many of us who work in tech? I enjoyed Succession a lot more, because it didn’t try so hard to be a parody. It kind of felt like sitting thru an All-In episode.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/666/130/649/803/535/original/72e245be0cec2481.jpeg

2025-06-11 16:42:12 CEST

In 1997, the first browser war began amid new internet trends like 'push' and DHTML. Meanwhile, instant messaging apps like ICQ and AIM became popular and GeoCities achieved 1 million users. https://cybercultural.com/p/internet-1997/ #InternetHistory

2025-06-10 16:54:37 CEST

Here's my writeup of #FediForum, in which I ask the question: is the fediverse making meaningful progress vs. centralized platforms? The post includes @nprofile…74c4's excellent video and has discussion of @nprofile…zwgs's presentation, Bounce (by @nprofile…hx87 & @nprofile…ny03), Surf (by @nprofile…w8ra & @nprofile…wz37), Channels.org (by @nprofile…t5gc & @nprofile…gs0x team), & Bandwagon (by @nprofile…kzgj). Thx also @nprofile…vmmn & @nprofile…avtr for FediForum. The headline is via Christine: "we can’t succeed without joy." https://thenewstack.io/bringing-joy-back-to-the-web-fediverse-vs-centralized-apps/

2025-06-08 19:19:30 CEST

Happy 30th birthday to #PHP. I wrote a history of it several years ago: “If CGI scripts were the start of interactive programming on the web, then PHP was the natural next step — at least on the server-side. Just a month after Brendan Eich created the JavaScript scripting language at Netscape, an independent developer from Canada named Rasmus Lerdorf released the first version of a toolset he called Personal Home Page Tools (PHP Tools).” https://cybercultural.com/p/1995-php-quietly-launches-as-a-cgi-scripts-toolset/

2025-06-07 19:28:28 CEST

I’m sure we will hear a lot about Bill Atkinson (RIP) over the next few days, but I want to point out the huge influence of #HyperCard on the Web. @nprofile…rst7 himself mentioned it in his original WWW proposal (https://cybercultural.com/p/1990-programming-the-world-wide-web/), early web browsers like ViolaWWW were modeled on HyperCard (https://cybercultural.com/p/1992-web-vs-gopher/), and even JavaScript owed a debt to it (HyperCard included an object oriented scripting language called HyperTalk; https://cybercultural.com/p/1995-the-birth-of-javascript/).

2025-06-06 19:15:06 CEST

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@nprofile…xt5t That’d be great, thanks. We have loads of birds on our bird feeder currently, including fledglings.

2025-06-06 19:05:11 CEST

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@nprofile…xt5t Is this the product you have, Andy? https://mybirdbuddy.eu/shop/

2025-06-06 18:42:35 CEST

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@nprofile…zwgs the joy message was spot on! It seems so simple, and yet it's so rare to find joy on any social media these days (and yes, that includes the fediverse). You're so right that it's how Twitter became popular back in Web 2.0, so *that* part of Twitter we need back. Looking forward to checking out Spritely and thanks again for the presentation at FediForum.

2025-06-05 18:37:09 CEST

If anyone has other ideas for #ClassicFedi screenshots, let me know! I figure it'd be good to show some of the history that eventually led to the #Fediverse and the #FediForum event this week.
https://indieweb.social/@classicweb/114631692107973241

2025-06-04 21:16:23 CEST

I’ve read through Paul’s posts and highly recommend them if you’re interested in the future of the Web in the AI era. Given his background in Google’s Chrome team, lots of food for thought here. https://status.kinlan.me/@paul/114626391155841925