1. Naughty Guardian, Naughty

Why are people often anti-AI? Because of things like this. Honestly, please don't use AI to try to break strikes, especially if you're a so-called liberal newspaper.

2. What, you think you OWN that machine?

The market for devices used in medicine is huge, and the prices for devices which, after all, are involved in saving people's lives are high. The Advanced Perfusion System 1 Heart Lung Machine by Terumo Cardiovascular, for example, costs in six figures for every machine and hospitals might have millions of dollars worth at every facility.

Imagine their surprise, then, when they were informed by Terumo that they were no longer allowed to service the machines they owned, and would now need to buy a service plan — at a huge annual cost.

This is prime enshittification territory. The company is using the leverage it has to prevent repair and extort — and I am happy using that word — more money from its customers. Capitalism, eh?

3. Yes Mr Trump, of course Mr Trump

You thought that Mark Zuckerberg's desire to get into the good books of Trump and all the weirdos and Nazis around him would begin and end at his changes in moderation policy and getting rid of a few pro-LGTBQ pieces of marketing? Oh you sweet summer child!

Instagram is now censoring content from abortion providers, and hiding their profiles from search. Let that sink in a little.

Far from Zuckerberg's policies being to “get to our roots” and raising the threshold for removing content, he is determined to curry favour with the administration by censoring things they don't like. Free speech? My ass. This is Trumpworld now.

4. The heavy stench of imperialism

This is just a wonderful essay on how much Trump and the current tech oligarchs are taking from imperialism. Long, but a highly recommended read.

5. Space is not the final frontier

Hang around in space nerd circles, and you may come across the idea that having a frontier — a place where people can build their own lives away from the choking hand of government — has a positive effect not only on them, but on society more broadly. This is the Turner thesis, based on the work of a 19th century historian called Frederick Jackson Turner.

This article is a GREAT history of Turnerism and its influence on space frontier fanatics like Elon Musk. In short, Turnerism predictably ignored (or worse) the experience of women, black people and Native Americans, and also got a lot wrong about both the experience of pioneers and the degree to which they were supported by (and interacted with) the government.

This is similar to how we see companies like SpaceX and Tesla, both of which have benefited from enormous levels of government support — and will now loot the taxpayers even more.

6. And speaking of techbros looting things

The Verge has a great look at the era of gangster tech regulation that we are moving into, where, having bought a government, big tech companies will expect their rewards. Expect fat government contracts, no antitrust regulation to them monopolistic behaviour, using the threat of tariffs ensures American companies get what they want, and lots, lots more.

By the way, now is an excellent time to read Karen Dawisha's Putin's Kleptocracy if you haven't already. That is, if you want a vision of how bad things could get in America. In particular:

From the beginning Putin and his circle sought to create an authoritarian regime ruled by a close-knit cabal... who used democracy for decoration rather than direction.

Sound like anyone you know?

7. How Windows crawled to version 3

There is an old saying that Microsoft software sucks badly until the third version, and I think that this dates back to Windows. Windows 1 was… well, lacking. Windows 2 wasn't much better. But with Windows 3, Microsoft finally got a GUI that was close enough to the Mac to be usable.

Liam Proven has written up a summary of a very, very long piece which looks at the history of Windows 3, and the lessons Microsoft learned along the way. It's a great read for nerds of a certain age (like me, basically).

8. The sad tale of Power Computing

Most Mac users of a certain age remember Power Computing, the Mac cloner that undercut Apple with better machines back in the mid-90s. Apple ended up buying Power Computing out and putting an end to the clone market. Well, if you can’t compete, use your financial muscle.

It’s often said that Apple bought the company – but it didn’t. Even Wikipedia gets this wrong, claiming that Power was an Apple subsidiary. In fact, what Apple bought was the Mac-related assets of Power, including the licence to make Mac clones. Apple did not acquire the company.

And, in fact, Power had a brief life post-Apple acquisition. It attempted to launch an Intel-based Windows laptop, the PowerTrip. However, it seems to have run out of money before it could launch – at least I can’t find any references to anyone ever getting their hands on the PowerTrip – and it got sued by its suppliers.

By the end of January 1998, Power was gone. Ironically, if the company had survived for longer, the $100m in Apple stock would have been worth a lot, lot more than Power itself ever was or could have been.

I’m sure that somewhere in a box, I still have some of their stickers.

9. And now for something completely different

Look, not everything about tech is about oligarchs, right? Apparently Microsoft is going to launch a smaller Surface Pro, and I, who love dinky little computers, am already looking for an excuse to have one.

10. Grim times still have hope

When I left school in 1984, I knew two things with absolute certainty: I would never have a job, and I would most likely die young in a nuclear war.

It wasn't just me. This was the year of mass unemployment in the UK, as Thatcher broke British manufacturing into pieces suitable to be sold off to “foreign investors” while also breaking the power of the unions. And it was the time of the Cold War, which could — and nearly did — turn hot.

We're now back to grim times, but even in these moments there is hope. Kameron Hurley has written a lovely piece, reminding us of something that is easily forgotten: there have always been times like these. As she puts it:

Each generation has its moment to discover who it really is, and these times will test us to the utmost. We will find out who are friends and colleagues are at their very core, and it will shake us. But, as with every story of war and suffering and hope and despair, we will also discover who the heroes are.