mastodon
4.6.0-nightly.2026-03-16
I enjoy pie.
It annoys me how good Apple's marketing is, it makes me want to get a Mac Neo when I have absolutely no fucking use case for one, and even already have a M4 Mac Air. Get out of my head, Apple
I get asked to show up to book clubs, online and offline. Here is why from now on the answer is always "no." If you think this might have something to do with "AI" ruining yet another thing for everyone, you're absolutely 100% correct.
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/03/indefinite-book-club-hiatus/
Krissy has been using her iPod Nano when she exercises for fifteen years at least, I'm vaguely surprised it still holds a charge. The music on it has not been updated since 2010 at least. She does not mind.
"Bring On Defunct: The iPod Enthralls Young Music Listeners"
(gift link)
Been away, sorry. Here are some cat pictures to make up for it. Very old cats, mind you
Look, I don't want to brag, but I just updated the PHP settings on all my domains. That's right, look who's rocking PHP 8.4 over here, suck it, all you PHP 8.1 losers
It's February, again, and look! The groundhog brought a bunch of books with him! What here would you like to keep with you during the coldest part of the year?
Well, for anyone who does electronic music of any sort, this potentially sucks real hard
https://www.musicradar.com/music-tech/native-instruments-has-been-placed-in-preliminary-insolvency
How many ways do I want the government to be able to track my every move? At least one less than this
I wrote up a longer piece about scammers pretending to be me, how you can tell it's not me, and why neither I nor any other "big name" author is likely to be emailing you at all, and certainly not with obviously "AI"-generated verbiage. Please feel free to share.
Seriously considering this
https://www.wallpaper.com/design-interiors/lighting/bic-pen-light-seletti
Just for fun I specc'd out the same desktop computer I bought 3 years ago with all the same components, no upgrades, and thanks to the memory crunch it would cost more to build it now than it did in late 2022, we live in wild, expensive times
(i9-13900k, 4090 24GB, 64GB DDR5, 8TB storage)
Oh, nothing, I just found out that there's now an actual minor planet with my name on it, and I am (literally!) over the moon about that fact:
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/12/a-minor-planet-a-major-thrill/
Made even more difficult because computers no longer have a slot for one's floppy
Consumers know bloatware when they see it
https://www.zdnet.com/article/ai-pcs-arent-selling-and-microsofts-pc-partners-are-scrambling/
Cool, the browser I only ever use to download a different browser is getting even less useful
https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-reportedly-turning-edge-browser-copilot-app/
It's that time of year when I tell you I have things that are eligible for award consideration: two novels, one series, one novelette and two television episodes, to be exact. If you're an award nominator, please check out the post for further details!
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/01/02/what-i-have-available-for-award-consideration-2026-edition/
It’s the final collection of new books and ARCs for 2025, and this one is a double decker! What here is something you would want to take with you into the new year?
Someone might have forgotten to get mailable Christmas cards this year, realized it was Christmas Eve and then in 20 minutes slapped together something in Photoshop with stock art BUT THIS DOES NOT MEAN that the holiday sentiments expressed here are not in fact genuine and sincere