Notices by Ernie Smith (ernie@writing.exchange)

Essential piece on the U.K.’s invasive role in online free speech.

https://torrentfreak.com/uk-govt-finds-ideal-pirate-bay-poster-boy-to-sell-blocking-of-non-pirate-sites-250824/

Kind of impressed that nobody seems to be talking about the Subway sandwich thing over here. That may be the most insane viral video I’ve seen in quite some time.

@mattl @tedium The CEO of AOL on top of the SEO of AOL. Like it.

@mattl @tedium I still don’t know how the hell you did it

OK, I finally wrote about the story I accidentally helped expose to a large audience.

On AOL and dial-up, and what it means for it to go away.

https://tedium.co/2025/08/11/aol-dial-up-ending-retrospective/

new @tedium

https://writing.exchange/@ernie/114996043264907534

This is the coolest goddamn thing I’ve ever seen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBiFGhnXsh8

Shout out to @mattl for apparently breaking a story with the AOL thing.

It had apparently been noticed by just a couple of random Twitter users before last night.

Who's still rolling on POTS?

So apparently we are within the last 60 days of dial-up AOL being a thing.

https://help.aol.com/articles/dial-up-internet-to-be-discontinued

ht @mattl

Online ads. You hate them, they track you, yet they’re still with us. What’s their deal?

A new book out this week, targeted at Google’s dominant, monopolistic role in adtech, proves surprisingly revealing. My review:

https://tedium.co/2025/08/07/ari-paparo-yield-google-antitrust-review/

new @tedium

Wrote something on a notable leaker who Apple just sued. I’m not going to take Apple’s word alone for it, but the suit suggests questionable journalistic practices at best.

https://tedium.co/2025/07/18/apple-jon-prosser-ios-leaks-lawsuit/

a rare second @tedium in a day

I titled the piece “Prosser-Gate,” and rather than being annoying and just using it because, I actually compared the situation to Watergate.

https://tedium.co/2025/07/18/apple-jon-prosser-ios-leaks-lawsuit/

@mattl total, I'm basing it off of inventory totals in the shop.

Up to over 750 sales.

https://writing.exchange/@ernie/114840420377631103

Just learned there was a new Google udm code discovered. So you know what I had to do.

https://udm56.com/

Still kicking in on the DNS front, but it’s already up.

Edit: https://udm14.com still works too, this is just an alternative view.

@mattl Libre Gumroad

In honor of udm14.com celebrating its one-year anniversary, I wrote a little thing on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn🇱🇮activity:7331316159515926528/

The power of small experiments is that they can sometimes become big ideas.

@mattl Yeah. You still have that G4 I sent you a while ago?

@mattl I still have my G4 Mac Mini. I could easily set it up as a Photoshop machine if I’m desperate.

Tomorrow is an important day for me. It’s the day my Adobe subscription shuts off for good. If I need to bring them back for client work I will only do it on a one-time monthly basis.