Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith

@ernie.tedium.co

Editor of Tedium (https://tedium.co), freelance writer, accidental search engine maven. Just launched Boxed News. See my writing: https://erniesmith.net/ “Life is too short to not say exactly what you mean all the time.” — Jesse Welles

22.1K followers1.3K following22.3K posts

Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

The political ads are so gross that I think if you just wanted to turn off your TV this week you would be validated for that choice

Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

Promising

Reuters@reuters.com

BREAKING: A hacker is attempting to breach the US Federal Election Commission's systems and that agency has had to 'temporarily shut down' its web-facing services as a result, according to an email seen by Reuters reut.rs/4zY7fwQ

Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

Starting now!

gravesitemedia.bsky.social@gravesitemedia.bsky.social

Join us TODAY at 2 p.m. ET for episode 4 of HellFireside Chat🔥. This time, we're talking with @ernie.tedium.co and Mike De Socio on what a digital executor does and how to keep your corner of the internet from going dark. Register here buff.ly/yApDR8V, and see you there 🖤. #deathpositive

buff.lyHellFireside Chat Episode 4: Digital DeathJoin us 10/27 @ 2p ET: Your website can vanish after one failed credit card payment. In our next episode of HellFireside Chat, Mike De Socio and Ernie Smith explain how to plan your digital afterlife.
Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

Just an hour away! See you there!

gravesitemedia.bsky.social@gravesitemedia.bsky.social

Join us TODAY at 2 p.m. ET for episode 4 of HellFireside Chat🔥. This time, we're talking with @ernie.tedium.co and Mike De Socio on what a digital executor does and how to keep your corner of the internet from going dark. Register here buff.ly/yApDR8V, and see you there 🖤. #deathpositive

buff.lyHellFireside Chat Episode 4: Digital DeathJoin us 10/27 @ 2p ET: Your website can vanish after one failed credit card payment. In our next episode of HellFireside Chat, Mike De Socio and Ernie Smith explain how to plan your digital afterlife.

Ernie Smith reposted

Greg Greene (he/him/his)
@greene.haus

The DOJ putting in work to turn make "GOTV season" stand for 'get out the voir dire season,' I see.

Ernie Smith@ernie.tedium.co

The FBI sure loves raiding people just before an election www.cnn.com/2026/10/27/p...

cnn.comFBI searches Beverly Hills mansion tied to former Rep. Eric Swalwell | CNN PoliticsThe FBI searched a Beverly Hills mansion in connection to an investigation into former Rep. Eric Swalwell, according to two people familiar with the probe. The home is owned by a Swalwell donor, one o...
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Ernie Smith reposted

Faine Greenwood
@faineg.com

Keep me posted if you see anything relevant - especially related to tech policy and strategy work around civilian drones, aid, investigating war crimes, and remote sensing. (I’m more of a policy/research wonk than anything else, but I can wear many hats and have a lot of technical experience).

Faine Greenwood@faineg.com

Related: I’m still looking for leads and help on jobs, fellowships, and freelance contracts on drones, GIS, aid, disaster, OSINT, tech ethics, and journalism. I simply will not work for evil people and/or weapons manufacturers, which is also why I haven’t had paying work since Trump 2.0 began.

Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

Hey all, in case you haven’t signed up, be sure to stop by this afternoon. Can’t wait!

gravesitemedia.bsky.social@gravesitemedia.bsky.social

Join us TODAY at 2 p.m. ET for episode 4 of HellFireside Chat🔥. This time, we're talking with @ernie.tedium.co and Mike De Socio on what a digital executor does and how to keep your corner of the internet from going dark. Register here buff.ly/yApDR8V, and see you there 🖤. #deathpositive

buff.lyHellFireside Chat Episode 4: Digital DeathJoin us 10/27 @ 2p ET: Your website can vanish after one failed credit card payment. In our next episode of HellFireside Chat, Mike De Socio and Ernie Smith explain how to plan your digital afterlife.

Ernie Smith reposted

gravesitemedia.bsky.social
@gravesitemedia.bsky.social

Join us TODAY at 2 p.m. ET for episode 4 of HellFireside Chat🔥. This time, we're talking with @ernie.tedium.co and Mike De Socio on what a digital executor does and how to keep your corner of the internet from going dark. Register here buff.ly/yApDR8V, and see you there 🖤. #deathpositive

buff.lyHellFireside Chat Episode 4: Digital DeathJoin us 10/27 @ 2p ET: Your website can vanish after one failed credit card payment. In our next episode of HellFireside Chat, Mike De Socio and Ernie Smith explain how to plan your digital afterlife.
Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

I just checked in on the dude who banned AI on r/opensource and he appears to be close to a crashout, because he has been accused of being racist for banning non-English speakers. Masterclass in bad modding.

Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

Apparently not the user's first time in the middle of a drama storm. The user more than a decade ago killed a popular Minecraft tool he contributed to by filing a DMCA complaint after it was made clear Mojang had secretly bought the product. jwheel.org/blog/2020/04...

jwheel.orgThe day open source died: a story about Minecraft, Bukkit, and the GPLOnce upon a time, I volunteered in the Minecraft open source community with Bukkit and Spigot. This is a story about FOSS and young folks.
Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

I presumably am the only person who cares about home theater computing, but this interface is kinda blowing my mind.

Ernie Smith@ernie.tedium.co

Built a TV interface for Niri/Dank Material Shell over the weekend. Unlike GNOME, which I was using previously, I can control the whole thing from my Steam Controller.

Ernie Smith reposted

404 Media
@404media.co

NEW: Garrett Langley, the CEO of Flock, told an audience of police chiefs at a private police conference Sunday that anti-Flock protests around the country are not real, according to leaked audio obtained by 404 Media. “It’s anonymous bots, and so it is not real,” he continued.

404media.coIn Leaked Audio, Flock CEO Tells Cops Backlash to the Company Isn’t RealIn comments at a private police conference, Garrett Langley also said his wife advised him to never apologize.
Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

If someone comes knocking on your door with a check for half a billion dollars in their hand, the right answer is yes.

Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

“streisand effect” about to be renamed “3-year-old too good at soccer effect”

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social

I spoke to the mom of the 3-year-old soccer star who was left "thinking he did something wrong" after a league official called police "due to a disturbance between parents" The youth sports league said they launched a review and reached out to the family

huffpost.comViral 3-Year-Old Soccer Star ‘Traumatized’ After Police Were Called In The Middle Of The Game“They called the police on a 3-year-old because he’s too good,” Nevada’s father, Don, can be heard saying in the video.
Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

Maybe this is Apple’s way of making everyone feel like Jerry Rig Everything for a day. Beats handing out a bunch of Mohs hardness testing kits

Mark Gurman@markgurman.bsky.social

NEW: The iPhone Duo screen-cracking issue is real. Apple hasn’t given stores or customer service representatives guidance but the company is investigating it. Several have personally sent me their images and stories of their new $2000 device breaking within hours. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

bloomberg.comApple’s Foldable iPhone Duo Draws Early Complaints of the Screen CrackingThe iPhone Duo, one of Apple Inc.’s biggest new products in years, is drawing a growing number of complaints from customers who say the foldable display cracked after just hours or days of use.
Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

RIP legend. 🖖

George Takei@georgetakei.bsky.social

My heart is heavy. Walter Koenig, our Ensign Pavel Chekov, passed away early today. Walter and I met on the bridge of the Enterprise in the 1960s, and we stayed friends for nearly six decades. When Brad and I married in 2008, Walter stood beside us as our best man.

Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

The good news is that I was removed from this service after I made clear I did not consent to this. The bad news is that they didn’t send an email acknowledging that they did wrong, or set up a way to delete a tool from a service without emailing them. I think the way forward is angry letters. :(

Ernie Smith@ernie.tedium.co

God this is so gross. I just want to blog about what interests me, not get inundated by AI projects.

Ernie Smith reposted

gravesitemedia.bsky.social
@gravesitemedia.bsky.social

We'd love it, too! The conversation's going to be very interesting and useful if you're a creative 🖤

Ernie Smith@ernie.tedium.co

I also have another motive here: I wanted to highlight the live chat I’ll be taking part in with @gravesitemedia.bsky.social next week. Would love to see ya stop by! gravesite.media/products/hel...

gravesite.mediaHellFireside Chat Episode 4: Digital DeathYour website can vanish after one failed credit card payment. In the latest episode of HellFireside Chat, Mike De Socio and Ernie Smith explain how to plan your digital afterlife.

Ernie Smith reposted

Amyville Hoyrror
@amyhoy.bsky.social

look the marissa meyer thing is pure marketing yes it is! she doesn’t care about making herself look terrible. if she cared about her reputation, she never would’ve gone to then wrecked yahoo. yall are doing her marketing for her prior to this, nobody ever heard of that service stop it

Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

Man @frame.work really screwed this one up. IMHO if you pay for a product with a set amount of RAM, the company should not be able to downgrade it after the fact, even with constraints. wccftech.com/user-paid-80...

wccftech.comUser Paid $800 Extra After Framework Downgrades Original RAM Capacity, Only To Receive A Faulty Laptop With "No RAM Installed" ErrorFramework faces backlash after shipping faulty Laptop 13 Pro, with users paying $800 for RAM upgrade after delays and facing further support issues

Ernie Smith reposted

Josh Sternberg
@joshsternberg.com

The chief economist of Apollo, the asset management firm w/almost $900 million of assets: "Despite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech." www.apollo.com/wealth/insig...

apollo.comNo Signs of AI Payoff Outside the Tech Sector | The Daily SparkDespite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech. Subscribe for daily updates.
Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

Built a TV interface for Niri/Dank Material Shell over the weekend. Unlike GNOME, which I was using previously, I can control the whole thing from my Steam Controller.

Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

The one quirk of this is that it obviously competes with Steam. My solution is to hide the Steam Controller from Steam and give it a virtual Xbox controller instead, and in cases where I want Steam Input (say for a game that needs the trackpads) I launch a separate version of Steam.

Ernie Smith
@ernie.tedium.co

I'm convinced this is a made-up story designed to promote a product. The important part here isn't that she wasn't able to figure this out on her own, it's that her app was involved.

David Gura@davidgura.bsky.social

cool, cool