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Here’s a deep dive on Wikipedia’s redesign from the person who led the project.

Alex Hollender wrote a detailed blog post about the process of updating Wikipedia’s design, which hadn’t changed significantly since 2004.


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“There are more Discords than you realize, and more lore pouring into them than anyone can truly comprehend.”

Discord is an information apocalypse waiting to happen — its servers host huge amounts of obscure expert knowledge with very few ways to preserve it if they shut down. I’ll let digital archivist Jason Scott explain why that’s so alarming.

I have no disputes as the popularity of the places, the things that happen there, and the unquestioned vivaciousness of being the party that never seems to end and everyone wants to join. I just happen to be the sort of person who notices there’s no decent fire exits and most of the structure is wood and there’s an… awful lot of pyrotechnics being set off.


Discord, or the Death of Lore

[ASCII by Jason Scott]

Twitter is working again, but Mastodon.social’s having problems today too.

Mastodon.social is one of the biggest Mastodon servers and a popular choice for Twitter exiles — particularly today, when Twitter links and images started breaking. But some people have had trouble using it too, and admin Eugen Rochko confirms a “massive” denial-of-service attack has impacted service. I’ve still been able to reach my feed, but some people might just have to take the day off from posting.


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Mozilla thinks Mastodon could be the next HTTP.

Here’s Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker on Decoder, talking about how she wants Mozilla to experiment with Mastodon as the next great consumer internet protocol.


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Hardcore content moderation.

No, Meta isn’t welcoming PornHub’s official account back onto Instagram. Although its page was reinstated over the weekend, it was quickly re-banned.

“This was done in error,” a Meta spokesperson tells Variety. “We permanently disabled this Instagram account for repeatedly violating our policies.” Violations include breaking Instagram’s rules about sexual solicitation.

PornHub’s Instagram account was first removed in early September. A permanent ban was confirmed later that month.


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Comcast told the FCC it offered 1.2Gbps internet to homes it doesn’t service.

And when one of the people who lived there tried to challenge the data to make the FCC’s broadband maps more accurate, the ISP reportedly disputed his claims. It’s worth reading Ars Technica’s writeup of how it eventually got corrected, but long story short neither the FCC nor Comcast end up looking good.


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Leave no button behind.

You have until 12/31/23 to save your Stadia Controller by converting it to a Bluetooth gamepad — and devs can rescue its more exotic buttons, too. Today, Google’s showing even web games can listen for the Capture and Assistant buttons using WebHID.

Fingers crossed Valve is adding the Stadia pad to Steam Input so we can configure it ourselves; that seems way better than hoping web devs do.


Microsoft thinks AI can beat Google at search — CEO Satya Nadella explains why

AI is coming for your browser, your social media, and your operating system, too.

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Ebay is the latest to announce layoffs.

The company reportedly told employees that it’d be cutting 500 positions, according to Reuters. It’s another entry for the sad yet informative big tech layoff tracker.


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Apple’s website is now much easier to navigate.

Apple.com now has new dropdowns on desktop that make it easier to jump to specific areas of the site. On mobile, the hamburger menu is now on the right and has similarly useful submenus. I think both changes are great.


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Sex, drugs, and emoji law.

I will never get tired of legal battles hinging on interpreting emoji. So it’s a treat watching acknowledged expert Eric Goldman hash out a case based on two of my other favorite topics: cops trying to interpret drug references and awkward sexts showing up in court.