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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker
@stokel.bsky.social
13K followers 950 following 950 posts
Tech journalist and author, who increasingly also talks on TV and radio. Interested in the sparks that happen when the online and offline worlds collide @stokel on the other place. Buy my book: How AI Ate the World!
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Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
thenerve.news
The Nerve @thenerve.news · 6h
Bernard Manning rides again: how TikTok and Instagram are promoting racist “jokes” to teens

Sketches from the 70s & 80s featuring slurs including the N word are going viral on social media, shared by millions and boosted by algorithms

@stokel.bsky.social reports

www.thenerve.news/p/bernard-ma...
Composite of Bernard Manning clips on social media with the title: Bernard Manning rides again: how TikTok and Instagram are promoting racist “jokes” to teens
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 7h
Bernard Manning was perhaps the most distasteful comedian of his time. TikTok and Instagram have hosted videos, seen by millions, calling people "P***" and "N*****". For @thenerve.news, I asked both why they were still hosted. They disappeared soon after. www.thenerve.news/p/bernard-ma...
Bernard Manning rides again: how TikTok and Instagram are promoting racist “jokes” to teens
Social media algorithms boosting N-word and P*k* jokes have been propelling racist comments into users’ feeds. One platform has deleted the videos after being approached by The Nerve
www.thenerve.news
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 1d
@stevenjcbuckley.bsky.social Hello - have DMd you!
Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
jjaron.bsky.social
Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 4d
Some cheerful news on a Friday afternoon www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 2d
The folks at @backmarketofficial.bsky.social asked me to look into which of the latest iPhones might be worth your money (and which aren't). Read my review here www.backmarket.co.uk/en-gb/c/ipho...
iPhone 17 Review – innovative or a let down? | Back Market
The highly anticipated new iPhone 17 generation from Apple has had plenty of hype—but is it really worth yet another upgrade?
www.backmarket.co.uk
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 4d
The widely held belief that happiness in life is shaped like a U-curve may be wrong, a new study I wrote up for @newscientist.com finds. Come for the info, stay for the slightly messy academic arguments www.newscientist.com/article/2498...
Your happiness in life may not be U-shaped - here's how it could vary
We thought happiness peaked at the beginning and end of life, but a study from Germany suggests a more pessimistic outlook for our later years
www.newscientist.com
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Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 5d
We need to stop Sora and Meta Vibes before we're submerged in AI slop. My latest for @fastcompany.com featuring a clutch of experts www.fastcompany.com/91414236/ope...
We need to stop the slop of OpenAI's Sora and Meta's Vibes AI video apps before it's too late
The new slop that just dropped risks drowning us all in a sea of vibes-based garbage where 'the feeling behind the image is what's true.'
www.fastcompany.com
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 5d
This highlights the challenge of trying to surface interesting preprints as a journalist. If you're a researcher who does the sort of work I'd cover for New Scientist etc, please do email me your ideas. Otherwise I might not see them - even as I use an LLM to filter up interesting papers for me
sungkim.bsky.social
Sung Kim @sungkim.bsky.social · 5d
I know people are submitting AI-generated papers and some are AI-assisted, but…

There were 26,646 new submissions to arXiv in September 2025.
stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 5d
We need to stop Sora and Meta Vibes before we're submerged in AI slop. My latest for @fastcompany.com featuring a clutch of experts www.fastcompany.com/91414236/ope...
We need to stop the slop of OpenAI's Sora and Meta's Vibes AI video apps before it's too late
The new slop that just dropped risks drowning us all in a sea of vibes-based garbage where 'the feeling behind the image is what's true.'
www.fastcompany.com
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Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 11d
My latest for @inc.com looks at startups working to repurpose the waste heat from data centres www.inc.com/chris-stokel...
How Companies Are Repurposing Surplus Heat From Data Centers
Data centers generate a lot of heat, which usually goes to waste. These companies see that as an opportunity. But can they scale?
www.inc.com
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Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 7d
For @nikkei.com Digital Governance, my report on the ground in Estonia about how the country's tech sector is responding to the threat of Russian incursions www.nikkei.com/prime/digita...
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Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 7d
One of the downstream effects of ten-figure sums being spent on data centres by big tech companies could well be that the advertisers who buy ads through their platforms end up footing the bill. My latest for The Current on the ad industry's fears www.thecurrent.com/marketing-st...
10-figure bills for data centers ultimately leave advertisers on the hook | The Current
Ad market experts worry walled gardens may pass on costs in an ad market already lacking full transparency.
www.thecurrent.com
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Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 6d
Earlier this year my grandad died after spending three months in hospital. He was there because he contracted delirium, an alarmingly common and worrying fatal disease (as bad as heart attacks). So for the @bmj.com I asked: why don't we talk about it? www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Why can’t we do anything about delirium?
Tens of thousands of NHS patients will develop delirium—and an alarming proportion die after the illness. Yet few people talk about it. Chris Stokel-Walker explores why My grandad had always said he ...
www.bmj.com
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 6d
Earlier this year my grandad died after spending three months in hospital. He was there because he contracted delirium, an alarmingly common and worrying fatal disease (as bad as heart attacks). So for the @bmj.com I asked: why don't we talk about it? www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Why can’t we do anything about delirium?
Tens of thousands of NHS patients will develop delirium—and an alarming proportion die after the illness. Yet few people talk about it. Chris Stokel-Walker explores why My grandad had always said he ...
www.bmj.com
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 7d
One of the downstream effects of ten-figure sums being spent on data centres by big tech companies could well be that the advertisers who buy ads through their platforms end up footing the bill. My latest for The Current on the ad industry's fears www.thecurrent.com/marketing-st...
10-figure bills for data centers ultimately leave advertisers on the hook | The Current
Ad market experts worry walled gardens may pass on costs in an ad market already lacking full transparency.
www.thecurrent.com
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 7d
For @nikkei.com Digital Governance, my report on the ground in Estonia about how the country's tech sector is responding to the threat of Russian incursions www.nikkei.com/prime/digita...
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 8d
Hi Philip, hope you're well - could I get a quick DM when you see this please? Writing about it for New Scientist and would love to include your thoughts. Thanks!
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 11d
My latest for @inc.com looks at startups working to repurpose the waste heat from data centres www.inc.com/chris-stokel...
How Companies Are Repurposing Surplus Heat From Data Centers
Data centers generate a lot of heat, which usually goes to waste. These companies see that as an opportunity. But can they scale?
www.inc.com
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 12d
What does the Intel-Nvidia deal mean for Intel, and can it reverse their downward trajectory and travails? My latest for @tomshardware.com digs in www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...
The state of Intel: What the company's $5 billion deal with Nvidia could mean for the floundering chipmaker — Investments, capex, and the beating heart of x86
An eye-watering and mind-boggling deal saw computer chips’ new king supplant what used to be the old name in town – but what does it all mean for Intel?
www.tomshardware.com
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 12d
I co-bylined @theipaper.com's Big Read online today and in the paper tomorrow on the tension and defiance in the Baltics, including coverage from me on the ground in Tallinn inews.co.uk/news/world/f...
'Russia doesn't give a s**t': Fear and defiance in the Baltics as they face Putin
Putin is testing Nato’s eastern flank, raising fears of what comes next
inews.co.uk
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 12d
My main takeaway on digital ID cards is that Estonia has only just now, 23 years after introducing their digital government system, managed to make it so everything can be done digitally. Oh and also we're shit at large IT projects, and public trust in government is 10 percentage points lower here
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stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 12d
Self-driving cars could have a massive change on our transport system. But to really unlock change, the batteries that drive them will have to change too. My latest for IMechE www.imeche.org/news/news-ar...
What will powertrains look like in a driverless future?
www.imeche.org
Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 14d
Donald Trump's H-1B changes will make a material difference to US tech hiring, but Europe is waiting in the wings. “It’s a massive net positive,” Markus Villig from Bolt, the Estonian unicorn, told me in his Tallinn offices. My latest for @leaddev.com leaddev.com/hiring/break...
Breaking down Trump’s massive H-1B visa changes
Another seismic blow to the US tech hiring landscape as Trump cracks down on the H-1B visa
leaddev.com
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Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
stokel.bsky.social
Chris Stokel-Walker @stokel.bsky.social · 13d
NATO's chief of staff at its cyber defence centre believes NATO is already at war with Russia, and countries in the bloc can covertly carry out pre-emptive cyberattacks. My reporting from Estonia fed into this story for @thetimes.com
www.thetimes.com/world/europe...
The Nato dilemma: when is it right to shoot down a Russian drone?
As aircraft encroach into allied airspace, frontline states call for tougher action while others fear that one wrong move could trigger World War Three
www.thetimes.com
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Reposted by Chris Stokel-Walker
alexparsons.bsky.social
Alex Parsons @alexparsons.bsky.social · 13d
Cannot stress enough how it is already possible to report potholes www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
Public backs ‘super ID card’ which could be used to report potholes
Ministers have recently said they are considering introducing a form of digital ID for adults in Britain
www.independent.co.uk
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