The AI data gold rush meets its match: Cloudflare – imlefthanded.com
The absolute disappointment of turning on the Tour de France and discovering it’s a time trial day. 🚵♂️
A good day to no longer be under a Tory government 🙅♂️
Snacks taste 15% better if I browse their website whilst eating them.
Cloudflare is making it easier to stop AI crawlers scraping your site.
‘noplace, a mashup of Twitter and Myspace for Gen Z, hits No. 1 on the App Store’
It very much is MySpace the app – even has a wall. I tried it very briefly. It’s ugly as sin, but at least it’s being bold. Though it is a bit young for me. I’m a big fan of the ‘currently’ section on profiles.
🗳️ Voted. Labour.
What an odd headline in the Times: “No more koala cuddles at sanctuary visited by Putin and Taylor Swift”.
A hip church, a modern poet
I recently saw the poet Harry Baker. My girlfriend was the fan and wanted to go, though I had also enjoyed what little I had seen of him.
It was at Saint Saviours Church Hall, St Albans, which is the hippest church I’ve been to. There was kegs of beer, fairy lights and some sofas to the side of the nave. And the vicar had a shaved head, tattoos and wore cargo shorts.
I was a huge poetry nerd in my tormented teen years (14-17). But these days I don’t have much interest – and certainly not in modern poetry. So I wasn’t massively looking forward to a night of non-stop poems.
But the show was great. His poetry is perfect for the modern era. Funny, witty and with a great musicality. The way his voice delivers lines is wonderful. There’s an earnestness to the way he speaks that is enrapturing.
And he didn’t overstay his welcome. I was worried it would be 2 hours+ of non-stop poetry. But it was just the right length, with a break in between where you could buy a book and meet him.
When my girlfriend met him she decided to go down the more casual route. Rather than a “huge fan of your work, you’re my hero”, she went with a simple “hello, how are you?”. He didn’t appear to be expecting such an unassuming greeting and it led to 45 seconds of incredibly uncomfortable awkwardness. The stilted back-and-forth continued painfully as she hurriedly chose a book and he hurriedly got out the card reader. I couldn’t help but laugh.
SoundCloud doesn't let you fast forward without signing in
In the grand tradition of web hostility, SoundCloud has made a bold move.
They’ve decided that your time isn’t valuable. That your experience doesn’t matter.
Want to skip ahead 30 seconds in a podcast? Sorry, you’ll need to sign in for that privilege.
It’s essentially a throwback to the days of linear radio. No control. No choice. Just sit there and take it.
How many listeners will try to skip, hit the sign-in wall, and never return? It’s a textbook example of prioritising metrics over user experience.
I get it. They want more sign-ups. They’re chasing those “monthly active user” numbers.
But in the race for engagement they’ve forgotten the most important engagement of all – the one between the listener and the content they love.
If your sign-up growth strategy involves frustrating users, it’s time to rethink your strategy.