Notices by Scalzi (scalzi@mastodon.social)

Oh no! Anyway

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/18/meta-horizon-worlds-metaverse-vr.html

I get asked to show up to book clubs, online and offline. Here is why from now on the answer is always "no." If you think this might have something to do with "AI" ruining yet another thing for everyone, you're absolutely 100% correct.

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/03/indefinite-book-club-hiatus/

It will now be called "The Dot"

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/neom-megacity-desert-saudi-arabia-mbs-b2907508.html

Oh no! Anyway

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/big-tech/openai-could-reportedly-run-out-of-cash-by-mid-2027-nyt-analyst-paints-grim-picture-after-examining-companys-finances

Cool stuff going into the public domain in 2026:

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2026/

Am I the only who feels like one day not too long ago every scientist woke up one morning, decided "no, birds ARE dinosaurs, actually," and made us all just... GO with it? I'm not saying birds AREN'T dinosaurs, I'm just saying it seemed really fucking sudden that we all decided that's the way it is now

In the last couple of days, on Windows only, using the Nord VPN app broke my access to editing functions on WordPress and images on Bluesky unless I turned off the feature that stripped out "tracking parameters used for marketing". Checking to see if anyone else has notices this or if this is a "me" problem, specific to my own computer. (It does not happen on Mac as far as I can see)

No, service that I access via my browser, I am not going to install an app for you on my desktop, we both know your "app" is just another instance of Chromium, and that's what my fucking browser is for

Good news, we have found the one thing Grok believes is better than Elon Musk

Elon Musk is genuinely the most insecure man on the planet

https://gizmodo.com/grok-says-elon-musk-is-smarter-than-einstein-and-more-fit-than-lebron-james-2000688999

Fun fact: you can salvage a surprisingly large number of smeary cell phone photos by making them monochrome and adding just a little film grain to them

Because my flight was cancelled and I really wanted to be home, yesterday I rented a car at the airport and drove 1,200 miles (1,930 km) in 19 hours, from Austin, Texas to Bradford, Ohio. I do not recommend this course of action for others. On the other hand I got home well before I would have gotten home on any rescheduled flight, so.

The Internet of Things isn't for your benefit

https://futurism.com/robots-and-machines/robot-vacuum-broadcasting

The consensus appears to be that it's pretty to look like but extremely light on plot, which, I mean, yeah, that's Tron, all right

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/tron-ares-first-reactions-jared-leto-tron-3-1236394641/

Some brief thoughts on the Anthropic settlement, and why I think most authors should claim their share of the settlement if they can, inadequate though I think it is:

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/10/02/authors-time-to-get-that-bag/

I understand quote posting is coming to Mastodon, and when the functionality arrives I will probably use it BUT I want to be clear to everyone that when I am quoting someone else's post I am not doing to dunk but simply because I want to make my comment more generally available. If I see people use my quote as an invitation to be shitty to the person I'm quoting, I'll likely block them for it. Please never be an asshole on my behalf. Thank you in advance for honoring my wishes.

Yeah, Musk will become a trillionaire if Tesla, whose stock price is currently 70% of its market peak and who has seen consistently dropping sales due its CEO being a ketamine-fueled fascist dingleberry, manages to get to a market cap eight times its current valuation, so, bold move, Cotton, let's see how it plays out

"Tesla proposes Elon Musk pay package that could make him the world’s first trillionaire"

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/business/elon-musk-tesla-new-pay-package

Which is to say, don't use it at all

https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/microsoft-launches-copilot-ai-function-in-excel-but-warns-not-to-use-it-in-any-task-requiring-accuracy-or-reproducibility/

What? The "AI" industry is in an unsustainable bubble that will result in billions and possibly trillions of dollars of damage to the global economy? That's unpossible!

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-08-20/say-farewell-to-the-ai-bubble-and-get-ready-for-the-crash

The September that finally ended

https://www.tomshardware.com/service-providers/network-providers/aol-will-end-dial-up-internet-service-in-september-34-years-after-its-debut-aol-shield-browser-and-aol-dialer-software-will-be-shuttered-on-the-same-day