Paul Watson 🌍
@paulmwatson.com
Web developer born in the last millennia. CTO @sociolocal.io and @openup.org.za, vice-chair @somersetstrikers.co.za. South Africa 🌍
“It also concluded that OpenAI is responsible for ChatGPT's output, not the users, as the company argued.”
Open AI loses copyright case in Germany.
Judge Elke Schwager summarized the case saying that if you want to build something and need components, "then you purchase them and do not use the property of others."
Judge Elke Schwager summarized the case saying that if you want to build something and need components, "then you purchase them and do not use the property of others."
Blow for OpenAI in Germany as court rules song lyrics used illegally
A German court ruled on Tuesday that OpenAI violated copyright on nine popular songs in a lawsuit that marked another attempt to prevent the free use of artists' content online. The Munich Regional Co...
www.yahoo.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:23 PM
“It also concluded that OpenAI is responsible for ChatGPT's output, not the users, as the company argued.”
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
Open AI loses copyright case in Germany.
Judge Elke Schwager summarized the case saying that if you want to build something and need components, "then you purchase them and do not use the property of others."
Judge Elke Schwager summarized the case saying that if you want to build something and need components, "then you purchase them and do not use the property of others."
Blow for OpenAI in Germany as court rules song lyrics used illegally
A German court ruled on Tuesday that OpenAI violated copyright on nine popular songs in a lawsuit that marked another attempt to prevent the free use of artists' content online. The Munich Regional Co...
www.yahoo.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Open AI loses copyright case in Germany.
Judge Elke Schwager summarized the case saying that if you want to build something and need components, "then you purchase them and do not use the property of others."
Judge Elke Schwager summarized the case saying that if you want to build something and need components, "then you purchase them and do not use the property of others."
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
One if the toughest things to judge when considering a new job or a new role is, basically, “Will this crush my soul?” Here’s a simple list of questions you can ask to help improve the odds that your next gig will be less soul-crushing: anildash.com/2026/01/12/w...
How to know if that job will crush your soul - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
anildash.com
January 12, 2026 at 10:25 PM
One if the toughest things to judge when considering a new job or a new role is, basically, “Will this crush my soul?” Here’s a simple list of questions you can ask to help improve the odds that your next gig will be less soul-crushing: anildash.com/2026/01/12/w...
AWS Quicksight Dashboards have versioning. Analyses do not, only undo for the aggressive auto-save. So you can rollback the Dashboard to an earlier published Analysis but you can't then edit that Analysis. What a dumb versioning system.
January 14, 2026 at 12:29 PM
AWS Quicksight Dashboards have versioning. Analyses do not, only undo for the aggressive auto-save. So you can rollback the Dashboard to an earlier published Analysis but you can't then edit that Analysis. What a dumb versioning system.
If your SaaS has a table view it should support exporting to CSV. e.g. AWS Quicksight only shows 100 users at a time which makes cleaning up inactive users tedious. Browser extensions that copy HTML tables don't work that well with dynamic tables.
January 14, 2026 at 8:07 AM
If your SaaS has a table view it should support exporting to CSV. e.g. AWS Quicksight only shows 100 users at a time which makes cleaning up inactive users tedious. Browser extensions that copy HTML tables don't work that well with dynamic tables.
It’s all about the money, not people. The USA cancelled hundreds of millions in health aid to South Africa but is funding over a billion on rare earth minerals processing. www.news24.com/business/com...
SA’s first rare earth plant moves forward with US support | News24
Rainbow Rare Earths has moved a step closer to commercialising its Phalaborwa project with operations now underway at a large-scale pilot plant in Johannesburg.
www.news24.com
January 14, 2026 at 7:15 AM
It’s all about the money, not people. The USA cancelled hundreds of millions in health aid to South Africa but is funding over a billion on rare earth minerals processing. www.news24.com/business/com...
we have robbed the past of its privacy.
~ What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
~ What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
January 13, 2026 at 9:57 PM
we have robbed the past of its privacy.
~ What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
~ What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
Suffer not the Abominable Intelligence to live. 🥳
Warhammer Owner Games Workshop Bans Its Creative Staff From Using GenAI.
Warhammer Owner Games Workshop Bans Its Creative Staff From Using GenAI
A "few senior managers" are testing the tech but remain unexcited, says CEO
www.timeextension.com
January 13, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Suffer not the Abominable Intelligence to live. 🥳
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
👋 I'm looking for a full-time software/DX engineer role.
With 3 years of experience as an open-source maintainer, I am a great fit if your team needs an expert in Astro/Starlight, tooling, documentation, accessibility, i18n, and empowering OSS communities.
RTs appreciated! ♻️
With 3 years of experience as an open-source maintainer, I am a great fit if your team needs an expert in Astro/Starlight, tooling, documentation, accessibility, i18n, and empowering OSS communities.
RTs appreciated! ♻️
December 11, 2025 at 7:04 PM
👋 I'm looking for a full-time software/DX engineer role.
With 3 years of experience as an open-source maintainer, I am a great fit if your team needs an expert in Astro/Starlight, tooling, documentation, accessibility, i18n, and empowering OSS communities.
RTs appreciated! ♻️
With 3 years of experience as an open-source maintainer, I am a great fit if your team needs an expert in Astro/Starlight, tooling, documentation, accessibility, i18n, and empowering OSS communities.
RTs appreciated! ♻️
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
Introducing the Astro 6.0 Beta.
- Redesigned dev server: run against the same runtime you deploy to
- First-class Cloudflare Workers support with workerd
- Stable Content Security Policy and Live Collections
It's never been a beta time to try Astro 👀
- Redesigned dev server: run against the same runtime you deploy to
- First-class Cloudflare Workers support with workerd
- Stable Content Security Policy and Live Collections
It's never been a beta time to try Astro 👀
January 13, 2026 at 8:24 PM
Introducing the Astro 6.0 Beta.
- Redesigned dev server: run against the same runtime you deploy to
- First-class Cloudflare Workers support with workerd
- Stable Content Security Policy and Live Collections
It's never been a beta time to try Astro 👀
- Redesigned dev server: run against the same runtime you deploy to
- First-class Cloudflare Workers support with workerd
- Stable Content Security Policy and Live Collections
It's never been a beta time to try Astro 👀
Fernkloof towards Sopiesklip
January 13, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Fernkloof towards Sopiesklip
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
We don’t dance on the grave of NFTs enough. I had a year where I was repeatedly told by bozos I was going to be irrelevant and extinct for not embracing them, I should be allowed a victory lap.
January 13, 2026 at 7:49 AM
We don’t dance on the grave of NFTs enough. I had a year where I was repeatedly told by bozos I was going to be irrelevant and extinct for not embracing them, I should be allowed a victory lap.
Huang: I think we've done a lot of damage.
Yes, yes you have.
Yes, yes you have.
Jensen Huang Is Begging You to Stop Being So Negative About AI https://gizmodo.com/jensen-huang-is-begging-you-to-stop-being-so-negative-about-ai-2000709335
Jensen Huang Is Begging You to Stop Being So Negative About AI
" extremely hurtful, frankly, and I think we've done a lot of damage," he said.
gizmodo.com
January 13, 2026 at 2:13 PM
Huang: I think we've done a lot of damage.
Yes, yes you have.
Yes, yes you have.
Amazing, @ericmigi.com. I just built 13 year old Pebble app code and it worked (in emulation at least.) Great job with continuity and supporting the Pebble community.
github.com/LawnGnome/cr...
github.com/LawnGnome/cr...
January 13, 2026 at 10:31 AM
Amazing, @ericmigi.com. I just built 13 year old Pebble app code and it worked (in emulation at least.) Great job with continuity and supporting the Pebble community.
github.com/LawnGnome/cr...
github.com/LawnGnome/cr...
Ooh Pebble is back! I fondly remember my Pebble Steel. repebble.com
The Finest In Wearable Gadgets
Get a new Pebble smartwatch or ring right here
repebble.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:01 AM
Ooh Pebble is back! I fondly remember my Pebble Steel. repebble.com
The Apple-Google Gemini deal is a weird one to me. It's not like Google Search on iOS; Gemini models will be running on Apple devices and Apple servers. Google isn't typically a software provider. Even if they get paid billions a year it's not much and they don't get back the network effect.
January 13, 2026 at 8:07 AM
The Apple-Google Gemini deal is a weird one to me. It's not like Google Search on iOS; Gemini models will be running on Apple devices and Apple servers. Google isn't typically a software provider. Even if they get paid billions a year it's not much and they don't get back the network effect.
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
We’re hiring hungry ghost wranglers — I mean Machine Learning Engineers.
As well as Typescript, React Native, and Go devs.
As well as Typescript, React Native, and Go devs.
January 12, 2026 at 10:28 PM
We’re hiring hungry ghost wranglers — I mean Machine Learning Engineers.
As well as Typescript, React Native, and Go devs.
As well as Typescript, React Native, and Go devs.
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
This isn't just a casual observation. Fascism scholars have long made this point. It's why calling them "weird" was a more effective strategy than talking about the prices of eggs. Fascism is an aesthetic political movement - you need to make people feel embarassed and horrified by it.
one of the most effective weapons we have against fascism is mockery, especially when its really funny
It occurs to me all the yelling at ICE in MPLS isn't merely funny. Getting made fun of like this is awful for morale. ICE is losing field officers faster than it can wave them through training, and a big part of it is how little of this these little weasels can take.
January 12, 2026 at 5:54 PM
This isn't just a casual observation. Fascism scholars have long made this point. It's why calling them "weird" was a more effective strategy than talking about the prices of eggs. Fascism is an aesthetic political movement - you need to make people feel embarassed and horrified by it.
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
Just got the backstory on the newly launched @hesiod-bot.bsky.social (not an actual bot, but a project by a philologist and historical linguist). It's in Greek with excellent vocab notes in the comments.
To welcome it, here's a portrait of the singer with one of the Olympian Muses (Melpomene)
To welcome it, here's a portrait of the singer with one of the Olympian Muses (Melpomene)
January 11, 2026 at 8:26 PM
Just got the backstory on the newly launched @hesiod-bot.bsky.social (not an actual bot, but a project by a philologist and historical linguist). It's in Greek with excellent vocab notes in the comments.
To welcome it, here's a portrait of the singer with one of the Olympian Muses (Melpomene)
To welcome it, here's a portrait of the singer with one of the Olympian Muses (Melpomene)
Well this is handy. I was checking a template to see how it would look with our brand colours. Editing ::root in the console is a bit meh.
Made a lil' library:
codepen.github.io/slideVars/
Automatically detects CSS custom properties on the :root/html and gives you controls for adjusting them. (But it's also as configurable as you want it to be.)
codepen.github.io/slideVars/
Automatically detects CSS custom properties on the :root/html and gives you controls for adjusting them. (But it's also as configurable as you want it to be.)
January 12, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Well this is handy. I was checking a template to see how it would look with our brand colours. Editing ::root in the console is a bit meh.
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
Disturbing but not surprising—more confirmation that LLMs are copying machines
We extracted (parts of) 12 books in experiments with 4 frontier-lab, production LLMs.
We prompted the LLMs with a short prefix of a book and asked them to complete the rest. For Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, we extracted 95.8% of the book from jailbroken Claude 3.7 Sonnet.
We prompted the LLMs with a short prefix of a book and asked them to complete the rest. For Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, we extracted 95.8% of the book from jailbroken Claude 3.7 Sonnet.
January 12, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Disturbing but not surprising—more confirmation that LLMs are copying machines
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
One out of 12 rams is uninterested in females. Deemed “non-procreative" by farmers, they're typically sent to slaughter. German farmer Michael Stücke rescues the gay rams. His company Rainbow Wool, sells fabulous wool products from his flock of gay sheep. rainbow-wool.com
January 12, 2026 at 8:26 PM
One out of 12 rams is uninterested in females. Deemed “non-procreative" by farmers, they're typically sent to slaughter. German farmer Michael Stücke rescues the gay rams. His company Rainbow Wool, sells fabulous wool products from his flock of gay sheep. rainbow-wool.com
Reposted by Paul Watson 🌍
