🔗 The empire always falls

But companies destroy themselves and empires rot from within, and the people living inside these systems almost never see the collapse coming, because the system itself is the lens through which they view the world.

(A fish doesn’t think “it’s wet in here”)

Joan is mainly writing about AI - but just as important to a 2026 America.

🔗 Followup on the future of AI

Nobody knows anything.

@AndySylvester - coincidentally something i was chatting about just this morning. Our conclusion: If you know nothing - you will never be able to properly use AI.

BUT - as we all know - everybody does know something. In fact likely A LOT - about something - and that no matter how narrow the topic - the depth can be - is - always extraordinary.

Once you have your niche - you are in a position to ask the right questions and understand the answers.

It all fails when you don’t ask questions and don’t understand the answers.

🔗 A Random List of Silly Things I Hate - Tangible Life

Silly? I don’t think so. AND I suspect that @bradenslen and @MitchW would be in full agreement …. 🦯

🔗 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Signs New Clearview A.I. Deal

This is not facial recognition of criminals or even people suspected of wrongdoing. It is recognition of anyone who has a face that has been photographed and shared even semi-publicly.

ANYONE

🔗 Mark Bernstein: AI: New Frontiers

Today’s AI can make you better at doing things you do well. That is what AI is for.

A simple sentence to cut through the noise.

🔗 The Coming AI Cataclysm

we will discover that even if your job mostly consists of interacting with LLMs, doing so well will require people who remember what it was like to read and interpret a document or contrast two ideas without asking an LLM to do it for you.

There used to be a lot of people that used to be able to thatch roofs - and now there aren’t. But that isn’t quite the same IMHO.

🔗 Ring cancels partnership with law enforcement supplier Flock – FlowingData

This comes shortly after Ring’s Super Bowl commercial for dog-finding. Ring owners were already rumbling, but it seems cute dogs were not enough to calm things down. Trust is already lost

Even tech companies are drawing lines.

🔗 Meta planning facial recognition with glasses – FlowingData

Meta’s internal memo said the political tumult in the United States was good timing for the feature’s release.

🤯

🔗 Apple Repeats Release Date for New Version of Siri – Asymco

NB: I’m told repetition is necessary in order for others to understand. Sometimes you’re supposed to say the same thing twice. Sometimes even three times. But still, some fail to grasp the idea.

Tell ‘em what you are going to say.
Tell ‘em. Tell ‘em what you said.

…number one rule of any presentation.

Then again - there are so many comments made about Apple by people that clearly do not understand Apple that it is no surprise that this keeps slipping through.

🔗 The Top 5 Longreads of the Week

@manton - saw this and thought might be an interesting spin on your new Longreads feed on Micro Blog.

From the same post - love it. One day corporate decision makers will think before making decisions. (Or did some lowly dev make this decision all by themselves.)

🔗 ER, er, um. | Self Distract

Sky’s website let you search for shows but, for some unfathomable reason, at the time required you to type in at least three letters. I said this was a problem, since Sky’s most popular and so presumably most searched-for series then was ER.