Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Adrian Weckler

Philip Boucher-Hayes @philipb-h.bsky.social · 11h

Q: Why was the person responsible for the Blackwater fish kill never found?

A: it wasn’t anybody’s job.

I talked to the heads of all the agencies involved in the investigation, about why the biggest pollution event in Irish history fell between the cracks.

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

CountryWide - RTÉ Radio 1

The CountryWide team feature the events, people and happenings that bring colour and life to communities, towns and villages across the country.

www.rte.ie

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 1d

MIT to Trump: ‘no thanks, keep your funding and we’ll remain elite’

MIT became the first university to reject a sweeping proposal from the Trump administration offering colleges funding advantages in exchange for far-reaching campus reforms

www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

MIT Rejects Trump’s Sweeping ‘Compact’ Offering Colleges Funding Advantages

The school became the first university to reject the terms, saying they would undermine independence.

www.wsj.com

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 1d

Actually curious as to who in ESB thought this was a good ad. It’s like a weak AI prompt, maybe even with faintly creepy overtones for some

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 1d

ESB’s mildly dystopian future

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 1d

Not the first time Collison has raised this. In this 2022 interview (with us), he points out that even when someone gets the green light to build stuff, we often find ways to criticise or object.

www.independent.ie/business/iri...

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 1d

Yesterday, Stripe’s John Collison (gently) challenged Taoiseach Micheál Martin on housing.

He used the example of an apartment block in Donnybrook being blocked because the tennis club didn’t like being “overlooked”.

It was part of an interesting, frank exchange

www.independent.ie/business/tec...

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 2d

Just a point of clarity — you *can* read the whole story :)

Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 2d

A frank discussion between Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Stripe’s John Collison just now.

- T says Trump has “awoken” Europe on defence
- T criticised planners for holding things up
- T said we can’t fulfill all climate goals cos it polarises society

www.independent.ie/business/tec...

Taoiseach tells Stripe’s John Collison that Donald Trump has “awoken Europe” on defence and trade

Taoiseach Micheal Martin says Donald Trump has “woken Europe up” and that increased defence and security spending is a “positive” result of the US president’s behaviour.

www.independent.ie

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 2d

From now on, some apps will work fully inside ChatGPT. The first batch includes Spotify, Booking, Expedia and Canva. The next wave includes Opentable, Uber and Doordash.
So people won’t have to leave ChatGPT to listen to music, book a restaurant, order a takeaway etc.
= Phone takeover

Booking.com

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 2d

Is OpenAI wrecking the tech economy or becoming the industry’s most important company?
This week, Sam Altman’s AI giant announced ambitious plans to take over our daily smartphone usage. But it’s creating a trillion-dollar circular tech bubble to fuel it.
m.independent.ie/business/tec...

Sam Altman's OpenAI is making a trillion dollar gamble that could wreck the tech economy

Is OpenAI wrecking the tech economy or becoming the industry’s most important company?

m.independent.ie

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 3d

I think the picture will become a lot, lot clearer in the next year or so. Either this is all bullshit or people are using it. Won’t be much room for middle ground.

Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 3d

The ‘numbers’ are (as you’d guess!) pretty porous and subjective (not to mention self-serving!) but there are some signals.

The theory that hardly anyone is using AI apps and that it’s all smoke and mirrors seems increasingly less likely.

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 3d

Disagree with that. Opening the ChatGPT app can’t be mistaken for anything else and there at least hundreds of millions who are doing that, at least semi-regularly

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 3d

I’ve picked out some steep discounts in Amazon’s two-day sale.

Stuff you might have been buying anyway at full price.

eg MacBook Air M4 (world’s most popular laptop, rarely on sale) = €270 cheaper. Also iPads, Pixel phones, Sony NC headphones.

www.independent.ie/business/tec...

MacBooks, phones, TVs — five online tech bargains to beat the Budget

For the ‘squeezed middle’ who feel let down by Ireland’s Budget, finding savings on stuff suddenly seems to be a little more important. Amazon’s two-day ‘big deal’ sale has some decent bargains on tec...

www.independent.ie

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 3d

Yes, it’s a crude comparison. But ‘people’ are using genAI (to a significant degree) no matter how much we’d wish to say otherwise

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 3d

ChatGPT adoption vs Internet adoption (via FT)

May be a $ bubble, but people are also really using AI

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 3d

Bubble?

Harvard economist Jason Furman says investments in data centres and software was 92% of US GDP growth in H1 2025.

Without it, US GDP growth was just 0.1%

fortune.com/2025/10/07/d...

Without data centers, GDP growth was 0.1% in the first half of 2025, Harvard economist says | Fortune

Is a U.S. without data centers a country without GDP growth?

fortune.com

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 5d

“Littered with errors including three nonexistent academic references and a made-up quote from a Federal Court judgement.”

Deloitte issues refund to (Aus) government for using AI in $440k report

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 8d

Garretstown #StormAmy

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 8d

Kinsale #StormAmy

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 12d

Visiting Dublin, Meta’s safety boss emphasises that it’s parents who should probably be the main guardians for what their kids/teens see on Insta/FB/social.

I put it to her that Meta may now be optimising for ‘free speech’ over ‘kid safety’?
She said no.
m.independent.ie/business/tec...

Meta boss says Irish parents should take charge of kids’ Instagram and Facebook usage more

Meta's global head of safety, Antigone Davis, says Irish parents should increasingly be the ones to keep young teenagers from seeing harmful things online.

m.independent.ie

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 14d

Interesting, I don’t know. It showed a bit of independence on the Azure backtracking issue this week. Worth reading Brad Smth’s blogpost on it.

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 14d

Trump requests that Microsoft fire its newly-appointed president of global affairs because she worked for Biden.
Another test run — will Microsoft cave?

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 15d

Microsoft blocks Israeli military from some AI and cloud services over use in targeting of Gazans www.independent.ie/world-news/m...

Microsoft blocks Israeli military from some AI and cloud services over use in targeting of Gazans

Microsoft disabled some use of its software by the Israeli military after an investigation spurred by news reports that the company's products were involved in the mass surveillance of civilians.

www.independent.ie

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Adrian Weckler @adrianweckler.bsky.social · 16d

Apple suggests European Commission is politically influenced when regulating tech firms and imposing fines — and calls for EU’s anchor DMA regulation to be scrapped

m.independent.ie/business/tec...

Apple slams European Commission tech fines as ‘political’ and calls for repeal of EU Digital Markets Act

Apple has called for the repeal of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), claiming that the regulation is preventing it from launching new features in Europe.

m.independent.ie

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