Martin SFP Bryant
@martinsfp.bsky.social
Uncovering early stage startups at PreSeed Now, working on Geekout, helping the tech world communicate better with Big Revolution… always doing something.
The Office of Budget Communications Irresponsibilty
Leak comes as OBR accidentally uploaded their forecasts early (not HMT's fault!)
But surely huge consequences for OBR - blind fury about this in government
But surely huge consequences for OBR - blind fury about this in government
BREAKING The entire Budget has leaked early
- £22BN of headroom
- £26bn tax rises
- Freeze on tax thresholds
- Pay per mileage confirmed
- Changes to capital gains
- £22BN of headroom
- £26bn tax rises
- Freeze on tax thresholds
- Pay per mileage confirmed
- Changes to capital gains
November 26, 2025 at 12:16 PM
The Office of Budget Communications Irresponsibilty
David Sacks tried to kill state AI laws — and it blew up in his face: A leaked executive order draft reveals the tech billionaire making a power play to become America’s AI policy gatekeeper.
David Sacks tried to kill state AI laws — and it blew up in his face
A leaked executive order reveals that the tech billionaire would have become America’s AI policy gatekeeper.
www.theverge.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:17 AM
David Sacks tried to kill state AI laws — and it blew up in his face: A leaked executive order draft reveals the tech billionaire making a power play to become America’s AI policy gatekeeper.
Reposted by Martin SFP Bryant
new favourite New York Times term for a British thing just dropped
November 26, 2025 at 10:05 AM
new favourite New York Times term for a British thing just dropped
I shared this on Threads too, and most of the replies are ‘the general public is stupid so I’d prefer judges to decide cases by themselves’ 🤨
Er, this seems very bad if true.
“Juries will decide only murder, rape or manslaughter cases under a shake-up of the legal system which could signal the beginning of the end for trial by jury.”
“Juries will decide only murder, rape or manslaughter cases under a shake-up of the legal system which could signal the beginning of the end for trial by jury.”
Jury trials to be scrapped except for alleged rapists and killers
David Lammy is proposing that judges hear cases alone for crimes that could result in a sentence of up to five years to tackle court backlog
www.thetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:53 PM
I shared this on Threads too, and most of the replies are ‘the general public is stupid so I’d prefer judges to decide cases by themselves’ 🤨
Reposted by Martin SFP Bryant
As David Lammy put it in 2020 👇🏻. Sadly he seems to have literally eaten his words. Disappointing indeed.
November 25, 2025 at 3:55 PM
As David Lammy put it in 2020 👇🏻. Sadly he seems to have literally eaten his words. Disappointing indeed.
Reposted by Martin SFP Bryant
If anybody has any idea why my Twitter account is Japanese, let me know!!
"The X account of Hank Green, a popular YouTuber, says his account is based in Japan; Green told me Sunday that he’d never been to Japan"
A little reminder that all of you trust Elon Musk's website way too much.
A little reminder that all of you trust Elon Musk's website way too much.
Elon Musk’s Worthless, Poisoned Hall of Mirrors
How X blew up its own platform with a new location feature
www.theatlantic.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
If anybody has any idea why my Twitter account is Japanese, let me know!!
Er, this seems very bad if true.
“Juries will decide only murder, rape or manslaughter cases under a shake-up of the legal system which could signal the beginning of the end for trial by jury.”
“Juries will decide only murder, rape or manslaughter cases under a shake-up of the legal system which could signal the beginning of the end for trial by jury.”
Jury trials to be scrapped except for alleged rapists and killers
David Lammy is proposing that judges hear cases alone for crimes that could result in a sentence of up to five years to tackle court backlog
www.thetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Er, this seems very bad if true.
“Juries will decide only murder, rape or manslaughter cases under a shake-up of the legal system which could signal the beginning of the end for trial by jury.”
“Juries will decide only murder, rape or manslaughter cases under a shake-up of the legal system which could signal the beginning of the end for trial by jury.”
Just chaired a panel on the UK creative industries and AI at the Beyond conference in Salford. I think the audience moved slightly from favouring “opt-in only” licensing to a more nuanced “it depends” view. No-one wanted blanket permission for AI companies with an opt-out though. Sorry, Sam Altman.
November 25, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Just chaired a panel on the UK creative industries and AI at the Beyond conference in Salford. I think the audience moved slightly from favouring “opt-in only” licensing to a more nuanced “it depends” view. No-one wanted blanket permission for AI companies with an opt-out though. Sorry, Sam Altman.
This is a really interesting startup...
Mining... without the mine?
Thunderstone wants to shake up the mining industry with electricity.
Mining... without the mine?
Thunderstone wants to shake up the mining industry with electricity.
Thunderstone: Mining... without the mine
Thunderstone wants to shake up the mining industry with electricity
preseednow.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:26 AM
This is a really interesting startup...
Mining... without the mine?
Thunderstone wants to shake up the mining industry with electricity.
Mining... without the mine?
Thunderstone wants to shake up the mining industry with electricity.
Reposted by Martin SFP Bryant
Yup. A lot of publishers made a great deal of money from affiliate ecommerce revenue. How much? Well, in 2024 Future made over £303m, 38% of total revenue. That easily eclipsed advertising (£225m).
Fuck me, RIP to Future's business model, I guess
OpenAI unveils a free shopping research feature in ChatGPT that delivers a personalized buyer's guide, powered by a custom version of GPT-5 mini (Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
November 24, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Yup. A lot of publishers made a great deal of money from affiliate ecommerce revenue. How much? Well, in 2024 Future made over £303m, 38% of total revenue. That easily eclipsed advertising (£225m).
I got this message this morning. I don't remember opting in to WhatsApp specifically as a marketing channel, and while they might have it covered with SMS consent, it just comes across as instrusive.
November 24, 2025 at 4:02 PM
I got this message this morning. I don't remember opting in to WhatsApp specifically as a marketing channel, and while they might have it covered with SMS consent, it just comes across as instrusive.
Wow, Spotify has acquired WhoSampled. I’m pretty sure I was the first journalist to write about it back in 2009. Such a useful resource.
Spotify's acquisition of WhoSampled sparks fears of "sample snitching"
The streaming giant acquired the community-driven database platform as part of its new SongDNA feature
mixmag.net
November 23, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Wow, Spotify has acquired WhoSampled. I’m pretty sure I was the first journalist to write about it back in 2009. Such a useful resource.
How many foreign influence accounts does Musk interact with regularly?
A new feature on Elon Musk’s X has given surprising new insight into the online “America First” movement.
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
A new feature on Elon Musk’s X has given deeper insight into the online “America First” movement.
trib.al
November 23, 2025 at 9:54 AM
How many foreign influence accounts does Musk interact with regularly?
Reposted by Martin SFP Bryant
I saw a lot of people send the original article my way, which i did not share because it seemed like obvious bullshit. Now that has been shown to be true. I know people are worried about AI stuff, but try to be a bit more careful about what's real and what's not.
If you have been sharing that Malwarebytes article on the Gmail thing, you should note the giant correction up top.
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
November 22, 2025 at 10:46 PM
I saw a lot of people send the original article my way, which i did not share because it seemed like obvious bullshit. Now that has been shown to be true. I know people are worried about AI stuff, but try to be a bit more careful about what's real and what's not.
Reposted by Martin SFP Bryant
Daily Mail owner DMGT has just signed a deal to buy the Telegraph, which would unite the UK’s two strongest right-wing papers under one owner.
It will almost certainly trigger a competition probe. Another major moment coming for Lisa Nandy as culture secretary.
It will almost certainly trigger a competition probe. Another major moment coming for Lisa Nandy as culture secretary.
Daily Mail owner strikes £500mn deal for Telegraph on.ft.com/3JSdIFj
Daily Mail owner strikes £500mn deal for Telegraph
Tie-up would create one of the most powerful right-leaning media groups in Britain
on.ft.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Daily Mail owner DMGT has just signed a deal to buy the Telegraph, which would unite the UK’s two strongest right-wing papers under one owner.
It will almost certainly trigger a competition probe. Another major moment coming for Lisa Nandy as culture secretary.
It will almost certainly trigger a competition probe. Another major moment coming for Lisa Nandy as culture secretary.
The Manchester branch of the ‘Church’ of Scientology has Christmas decorations up, which makes me wonder if Jesus took a free personality test. Did he have a problem with Body Thetans?
November 22, 2025 at 9:55 AM
The Manchester branch of the ‘Church’ of Scientology has Christmas decorations up, which makes me wonder if Jesus took a free personality test. Did he have a problem with Body Thetans?
Reposted by Martin SFP Bryant
I think this clip is the key to understanding why Trump acted the way he did with Mamdani. His world revolves around TV ratings.
"I tell you, the press has eaten this thing up."
"I tell you, the press has eaten this thing up."
November 21, 2025 at 10:10 PM
I think this clip is the key to understanding why Trump acted the way he did with Mamdani. His world revolves around TV ratings.
"I tell you, the press has eaten this thing up."
"I tell you, the press has eaten this thing up."
This reminds me of Travis Kalanick claiming he had got close to breakthroughs in quantum physics by talking to Grok 🙃
I am by no means a prominent public intellectual, but my inbox is increasingly filled with messages from people who have been convinced by sycophantic chatbots that they have discovered revolutionary theories that entirely upend our scientific understanding of the universe.
November 21, 2025 at 8:19 PM
This reminds me of Travis Kalanick claiming he had got close to breakthroughs in quantum physics by talking to Grok 🙃
True artificial intelligence will be able to come up with a better business model
Google starts rolling out ads in AI mode; the ads look similar to the citations in AI answers but with a "sponsored" label (Mayank Parmar/BleepingComputer)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
November 21, 2025 at 4:45 PM
True artificial intelligence will be able to come up with a better business model
Really sad to hear about Mani. I never met him but everyone said he was lovely. From my Facebook and Instagram feeds, Manchester really is in mourning.
November 20, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Really sad to hear about Mani. I never met him but everyone said he was lovely. From my Facebook and Instagram feeds, Manchester really is in mourning.
Making life simple for a huge, complicated sector: FRAI Global has a solution for complex inefficiency in freight forwarding
FRAI Global wants to make life simple for a huge, complicated sector
FRAI Global has a solution for complex inefficiency in freight forwarding. And they might even persuade the tech-averse sector to modernise.
preseednow.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Making life simple for a huge, complicated sector: FRAI Global has a solution for complex inefficiency in freight forwarding
If @manchestermill.bsky.social gets 1,000 new pay-what-you-want subscribers in "the next few weeks" it will make good on a bunch of pledges, the first of which is "teach fact-checking in schools" 👍
The moment has come! Our campaign is under way. Can you help?
Tell your friends about The Mill and help us fulfil six pledges to help the city
manchestermill.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 9:47 AM
If @manchestermill.bsky.social gets 1,000 new pay-what-you-want subscribers in "the next few weeks" it will make good on a bunch of pledges, the first of which is "teach fact-checking in schools" 👍
*Fairytale of New York playing in coffee shop klaxon*
It begins!
It begins!
November 19, 2025 at 3:09 PM
*Fairytale of New York playing in coffee shop klaxon*
It begins!
It begins!
School bully behaviour. "Russian sailors started directing lasers at British military pilots who were monitoring them"
Russian spy ship enters British waters and shines lasers at military pilots
Defence secretary reveals details of recent incursions as he warns UK is facing ‘new era of threat’ from hostile countries
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:19 PM
School bully behaviour. "Russian sailors started directing lasers at British military pilots who were monitoring them"
Space lasers, nanoparticles, and fact-checking AI... plus much more.
What I saw at the Conception X Demo Day 2025
What I saw at the Conception X Demo Day 2025
Space lasers, nanoparticles, and more at Conception X's Demo Day
What we saw at the Conception X Demo Day 2025: a roundup for the 12 deep tech startup teams that pitched in front of a packed room in London.
preseednow.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Space lasers, nanoparticles, and fact-checking AI... plus much more.
What I saw at the Conception X Demo Day 2025
What I saw at the Conception X Demo Day 2025