Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: bunnie's piggyback hack; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/09/quantity-break/
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@pluralistic Xous talk is also published at https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-xous-a-pure-rust-rethink-of-the-embedded-operating-system at least for the 39C3 picks we do not need youtube and google ;-)
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@yrrsinn Problem is I can't embed media.ccc.de streams (I work from a unified sourcefile that spits out versions for other platforms where the YT link automagically turns into an embedded stream)
@pluralistic Excellent read! Thanks Cory!
I'm coming to Colorado! Catch me in #Denver on Jan 22 at The Tattered Cover:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-live-at-tattered-cover-colfax-tickets-1976644174937
And in #ColoradoSprings from Jan 23-25, where I'm the Guest of Honor at COSine:
https://www.firstfridayfandom.org/cosine/
Then I'll be in #Ottawa on Jan 28 at Perfect Books:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DS2nGiHiNUh/
And in #Toronto with Tim Wu on Jan 30:
https://nowtoronto.com/event/cory-doctorow-and-tim-wu-enshittification-and-extraction/
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@pluralistic Seems like only a short distance between piggybacking and crippleware - both are putting more functionality into a product than the customer can access, as a way to reduce the price to both types of customer, but without letting those customers benefit from both.
bunnie's piggyback hack: An actual "one weird trick" that's pretty fucking spectacular.
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115865739107300083
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Hey look at this
* Everyone Inside America’s Most Flailing Destination City Has a Theory for What’s Wrong. Now I Have My Own. https://slate.com/business/2025/11/las-vegas-travel-sphere-hotel-donald-trump.html?ueid=a69738b260bf904beab2a2750631d714 (h/t Mitch Wagner)
* MoviePass Changed Some Passwords https://archive.is/bHsJV
* How Markdown took over the world https://www.anildash.com/2026/01/09/how-markdown-took-over-the-world/
* Logical steps and “eldering” https://bookmaniac.org/2026/01/07/logical-steps-and-eldering/
* The Worst Devices of CES 2026 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxZgILm95BU
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The Worst Devices of CES 2026
YouTube
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#20yrsago John McDaid’s brilliant sf story Keyboard Practice free online https://web.archive.org/web/20060112044109/https://www.sfsite.com/fsf/fiction/jm01.htm
#20yrsago Pledge to boycott DRM CDs https://web.archive.org/web/20060112061657/http://www.pledgebank.com/boycottdrm
#20yrsago Hollywood’s Canadian MP claims she’s no dirtier than the rest https://memex.craphound.com/2006/01/08/hollywoods-canadian-mp-claims-shes-no-dirtier-than-the-rest/
#10yrsago Gene Luen Yang’s inaugural speech as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature https://memex.craphound.com/2016/01/08/gene-luen-yangs-inaugural-speech-as-national-ambassador-for-young-peoples-literature/
#10yrsago Menstruation is the mother of invention https://lastwordonnothing.com/2016/01/07/the-wonderful-world-of-period-patents/
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#10yrsago Juniper’s products are still insecure; more evidence that the company was complicit https://www.wired.com/2016/01/new-discovery-around-juniper-backdoor-raises-more-questions-about-the-company/
#10yrsago Red-baiting water speculator plans to drain the Mojave of its ancient water https://www.wired.com/2016/01/the-2-4-billion-plan-to-water-la-by-draining-the-mojave/?mbid=social_alleniverson
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My latest novel is "Picks and Shovels," a historical technothriller set in the Weird Era of the PC, about Ponzi schemes, techbros, and the dawn of enshittification:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels
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My latest nonfiction book is the internationally bestselling "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," from MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/
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My ebooks and audiobooks (from FSGxMCD, Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."
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