Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 4h

RIP this bathroom www.curbed.com/article/rei-...

The Soho REI Is Closing

The outdoor chain’s flagship, its only store in the city, will shut down late next year.

www.curbed.com

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Reposted by Kyle Chayka

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 6h

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 1d

what if we each throw in $1k and then LARP award judges every year

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Rumaan Alam @rumaan.bsky.social · 1d

my takeaway from being a judge for the national book awards is that it would be SUPER FUN to be rich enough to endow a prize. imagine you just read a bunch of books for kicks and then were like, yeah this is the best one, and sent the writer ten thousand dollars? i think rich people should do this

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Reposted by Kyle Chayka

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 1d

Two people whose original claims to fame were that the other staffers at the New York Times thought they were whiny weirdos.

One felt "ostracized" because he liked Chik fil A, the other quit because she was "bullied" there.

They're the poster children for self-imposed cancel culture martyrdom.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

crazy that one of the most storied institutions in american journalism is going to be run by two people with basically no experience to do it

Exclusive | CBS News taps Adam Rubenstein — once ostracized at NY Times for liking Chick-fil-A — as new deputy editor

Sources expect Rubenstein will effectively run the Free Press now that Weiss will be busy steering the editorial direction of shows like “60 Minutes,” “Face The Nation” and …

nypost.com

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 2d

it's Windsurf-style! just to get the leadership

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 2d

kind of an acqui-hire lol

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🌰 Noah Chestnut @noahchestnut.bsky.social · 2d

$150 million for a media business with sub 200k paying subscribers and a circulation business of sub 2m readers is 100% a “you gonna get fired in 18 months” type of move for anyone else…

(Yes I know the why here but also it’s worth sitting with the absurd economics of this deal)

max tani @maxtani.bsky.social · 2d

David Ellison’s note to staff on Paramount’s acquisition of the Free Press

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 2d

homogenized brainrot!

nilay patel @reckless.bsky.social · 3d

Airspace for insanity @chaykak.bsky.social

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Gail Cornwall @gailcornwall.com · 5d

“If the playbook Doctorow describes involves promising benefits to people only to erratically renege on, and degrade, existing services, then Donald Trump is the enshittifier-in-chief.” @chaykak.bsky.social

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 5d

“Enshittification” was a term coined by Cory Doctorow, in 2022, to describe how the technologies that dominated our daily lives seemed to be all getting worse at the same time. Now, in a new book, he expands on the word that has become bleakly relevant.

The Age of Enshittification

In a new book, the technology critic Cory Doctorow expands on a coinage that has become bleakly relevant, in Silicon Valley and beyond.

www.newyorker.com

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Reposted by Kyle Chayka

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 5d

“Enshittification” was a term coined by Cory Doctorow, in 2022, to describe how the technologies that dominated our daily lives seemed to be all getting worse at the same time. Now, in a new book, he expands on the word that has become bleakly relevant.

The Age of Enshittification

In a new book, the technology critic Cory Doctorow expands on a coinage that has become bleakly relevant, in Silicon Valley and beyond.

www.newyorker.com

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Reposted by Kyle Chayka

Jack Carter Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 6d

"If the playbook Doctorow describes involves promising benefits to people only to erratically renege on, and degrade, existing services, then Donald Trump is the enshittifier-in-chief."

Think @chaykak.bsky.social is onto something in applying the "enshittification" standard beyond business.

The Age of Enshittification

In a new book, the technology critic Cory Doctorow expands on a coinage that has become bleakly relevant, in Silicon Valley and beyond.

www.newyorker.com

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 8d

yes!

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 8d

I'm reading a biography of Hirohito right now and it's scarily relevant

Stephen Raab @onetruestephen.bsky.social · 8d

We really *are* doing American Shōwa Era

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Trump: "I think we should maybe start thinking about battleships, by the way. We have a Secretary of Navy who came to me, 'cause I look at the Iowa out in California and I look at different ships, the old pictures. I used to watch Victory at Sea. I love Victory at Sea. And I look at those ships... "

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Reposted by Kyle Chayka

Charles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 8d

“Bots or likely bots authored 44.5% of X posts mentioning Cracker Barrel in the 24 hours after the new logo gained attention on Aug. 20, according to research for ⁦‪@WSJ‬⁩ by PeakMetrics. That number rose to 49% among posts calling for a boycott.”

Bot Networks Are Helping Drag Consumer Brands Into the Culture Wars

AI tools have made coordinated attacks targeting corporations much more common, researchers say.

www.wsj.com

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 8d

soon we won't need humans to generate content at all!

Zoë Schiffer @zoeschiffer.bsky.social · 8d

Scoop with @lmatsakis.bsky.social: OpenAI is about to launch a TikTok-style social app for AI generated videos. We got the deets (and the docs): www.wired.com/story/openai...

OpenAI Is Preparing to Launch a Social App for AI-Generated Videos

The platform appears to closely resemble TikTok and is powered by Sora 2, OpenAI's latest video generation model.

www.wired.com

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Reposted by Kyle Chayka

Mark Riedl @markriedl.bsky.social · 8d

Finally, a social media platform for AI agents to post funny videos for other AI agents to watch.

Zoë Schiffer @zoeschiffer.bsky.social · 8d

Scoop with @lmatsakis.bsky.social: OpenAI is about to launch a TikTok-style social app for AI generated videos. We got the deets (and the docs): www.wired.com/story/openai...

OpenAI Is Preparing to Launch a Social App for AI-Generated Videos

The platform appears to closely resemble TikTok and is powered by Sora 2, OpenAI's latest video generation model.

www.wired.com

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 8d

he is absolutely working it out in public, which is hard!

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Dave Lee @davelee.me · 8d

From @matt-levine.bsky.social today...

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 8d

who is the CEO though

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 8d

very different goals!

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 9d

Klein is building a platform that is much different than Coates's and everyone has different goals but even having the conversation gets hard when they don't really agree on the purpose of a conversation: expressing yourself vs building consensus, etc

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 9d

yeah I was surprised he didn't try to answer that tbh

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 9d

whereas Klein has this other project of actively shaping public opinion and constructing certain kinds of collective social agreement through what he publishes and highlights on the podcast / show. Not quite political activist, but actively seeking a particular outcome

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Kyle Chayka @chaykak.bsky.social · 9d

I thought it was interesting and significant how Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates delineated their roles as public voices in that podcast episode. Coates took pains to say that he was a writer, and his bottom line was producing writing that communicated his beliefs and reached his audience...

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