It’s becoming very apparent that we failed to learn a key lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic: infectious diseases aren’t partisan; they will come for us all. While Traitor 47 and RFK Jr. play their little partisan games over the measles outbreak, the disease is spreading. Spinning conspiracy theories, falsely claimingContinue Reading
I must be getting old, because the concept around most IoT injections into otherwise perfectly usable home devices has me wanting to get all these smart-devices off of my lawn. Call me a luddite if you like, but I just don’t think my toothbrush needs to be connected to theContinue Reading
It’s been a bit tough to watch how Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has behaved regarding its beloved TTRPG Dungeons & Dragons the past couple of years. A game that was built from its inception on encouraging fans and creators to use the game to do new and interesting thingsContinue Reading
A theme going on many years here at Techdirt has been the idea that separating content and advertising, as was the traditional model, makes far less sense in the modern era. Audiences are no longer captive in the way they used to be, with many ways to skip advertising. EntertainmentContinue Reading
Well, as we previously discussed was going to occur, RFK Jr. gave his keynote speech and appearance at the Children’s Health Defense conference of anti-vaxxer conspiracy-mongers, and he was certainly firmly on brand. In fact, he did so much to make news during and around this appearance that we’re goingContinue Reading
Despite RFK Jr.’s assurances that he’s absolutely killing it combating this pesky measles thing that resurfaced after decades under his leadership, the only thing that is being killed are American citizens who contract measles. While we first eclipsed the measles case count of 2025 in mid-summer of 2026, there hasContinue Reading
There’s enshittification, and then there’s enshittification. Allow me to give you an example of each. For what we’ll call enshittification classic, there’s Xbox’s Game Pass service. A mere two years ago, Microsoft made all kinds of changes to Game Pass to coincide with a serious slowdown of subscriber adoption. ThoseContinue Reading
Pick your favorite zombie movie or television show and you’ll eventually be confronted with dialogue justifying the killing of the zombies with the idea that they are no longer human. “They aren’t people, Rick. They’re just bodies. We have to stop thinking of them as if they’re still alive.” –Continue Reading