Rob Pegoraro
@robpegoraro.com
D.C.-based freelance technology journalist covering, and often vexed by, computers, gadgets, and other things that beep. May or may not be notable. He/him. Read: PCMag, Fast Company, etc. Write: [email protected]
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Rob Pegoraro
@robpegoraro.com
· Jan 16
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🔎 disclosures: robpegoraro.com/disclosures
📷 photos: flickr.com/robpegoraro
🤳 less-edited photos: instagram.com/robpegoraro
🧾 resume: linkedin.com/in/robpegoraro
➕ B-sides, outtakes, other extras: patreon.com/robpegoraro
I had not had the chance to hear Nate Soares, author of the we-must-stop-AI book “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies,” speak on a panel until now. Reader, it was not an illuminating talk and not just because this discussion about the global risk of AI somehow did not feature the word "China."
November 19, 2025 at 10:59 PM
I had not had the chance to hear Nate Soares, author of the we-must-stop-AI book “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies,” speak on a panel until now. Reader, it was not an illuminating talk and not just because this discussion about the global risk of AI somehow did not feature the word "China."
Reading the judge's ruling that rejected the Federal Trade Commission's bid to break up Meta, the glum, almost Doctorow-esque picture it paints of Facebook today is really something: "What has replaced content from friends? For the most part, short videos posted by strangers and recommended by AI."
Court Rejects FTC's Bid to Break Up Meta, Finds It's Not a Social Media Monopoly
Judge James E. Boasberg's opinion is hard to read as complimentary of what's become of the Facebook and Instagram experience. But it's a win for Meta nonetheless.
www.pcmag.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reading the judge's ruling that rejected the Federal Trade Commission's bid to break up Meta, the glum, almost Doctorow-esque picture it paints of Facebook today is really something: "What has replaced content from friends? For the most part, short videos posted by strangers and recommended by AI."
It's weird being in Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg Center--the Newseum's former space--for a @fastcompany.com conference. I don't feel lost in some meeting rooms, do feel lost in the lobby... and resent the loss of the old bathroom decor, reproductions of newspaper headline and caption flubs.
Schedule
events.fastcompany.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:38 PM
It's weird being in Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg Center--the Newseum's former space--for a @fastcompany.com conference. I don't feel lost in some meeting rooms, do feel lost in the lobby... and resent the loss of the old bathroom decor, reproductions of newspaper headline and caption flubs.
Two interesting details from this post about @wmata.com welcoming tap-to-pay via phone and card on buses, including free transfers to/from trains:
• People used this for some 8% of rail trips in September
• Metro is exploring "possible discounts for taking the system to sporting events"
(gift link)
• People used this for some 8% of rail trips in September
• Metro is exploring "possible discounts for taking the system to sporting events"
(gift link)
You can now pay for D.C. Metro buses with a credit card
The change, already rolled out on the rail system, comes amid a push by Metro to crack down on fare evasion.
wapo.st
November 19, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Two interesting details from this post about @wmata.com welcoming tap-to-pay via phone and card on buses, including free transfers to/from trains:
• People used this for some 8% of rail trips in September
• Metro is exploring "possible discounts for taking the system to sporting events"
(gift link)
• People used this for some 8% of rail trips in September
• Metro is exploring "possible discounts for taking the system to sporting events"
(gift link)
Good interview at Aspen Cyber Summit of former Cyber Command director Gen. (ret.) Paul Nakasone by Fox News national-security correspondent Jennifer Griffin. She asked him if he thinks Chinese hackers are still resident in U.S. telecom networks; he replied "We should assume that they are still."
November 18, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Good interview at Aspen Cyber Summit of former Cyber Command director Gen. (ret.) Paul Nakasone by Fox News national-security correspondent Jennifer Griffin. She asked him if he thinks Chinese hackers are still resident in U.S. telecom networks; he replied "We should assume that they are still."
Once again, could really use a filter for "story links to court filing or includes PDF of it" in Google News searches. Why we unhave?
November 18, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Once again, could really use a filter for "story links to court filing or includes PDF of it" in Google News searches. Why we unhave?
"We are seeing a renaissance of nuclear, driven by computing," Darío Gil, under secretary for science at the Department of Energy, tells Politico's Steven Overly in an Aspen Cyber Summit panel. Me: Sure, if by that you mean PowerPoints of new fission power plants.
November 18, 2025 at 4:51 PM
"We are seeing a renaissance of nuclear, driven by computing," Darío Gil, under secretary for science at the Department of Energy, tells Politico's Steven Overly in an Aspen Cyber Summit panel. Me: Sure, if by that you mean PowerPoints of new fission power plants.
I don't recall CES registration for freelancers requiring an assignment letter from an editor last year, but that's what the site is asking this time around. Which makes me grumpy, because I've been covering CES for longer than some of CTA's younger staffers have been alive. #getoffmylawn
November 18, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I don't recall CES registration for freelancers requiring an assignment letter from an editor last year, but that's what the site is asking this time around. Which makes me grumpy, because I've been covering CES for longer than some of CTA's younger staffers have been alive. #getoffmylawn
Good morning from @aspendigital.bsky.social's Aspen Cyber Summit in D.C. The opening panel had Sean Cairncross, White House national cyber director, listing "shaping adversary behavior" as a top objective--as in, ensuring attackers know their actions are "not consequence-free" and will have costs.
2025 Agenda | Aspen Cyber Summit
The 2025 Aspen Cyber Summit Agenda will feature a keynote from the White House National Cyber Director, a bipartisan congressional update, and more.
www.aspencybersummit.org
November 18, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Good morning from @aspendigital.bsky.social's Aspen Cyber Summit in D.C. The opening panel had Sean Cairncross, White House national cyber director, listing "shaping adversary behavior" as a top objective--as in, ensuring attackers know their actions are "not consequence-free" and will have costs.
Secrecy about accidents is the enemy of transportation safety, because it stops other people from learning from what went wrong. Tesla acts otherwise: "The automaker redacts the 'narrative' for each reported crash, preventing the public from knowing how the crashes happened and who is responsible."
November 18, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Secrecy about accidents is the enemy of transportation safety, because it stops other people from learning from what went wrong. Tesla acts otherwise: "The automaker redacts the 'narrative' for each reported crash, preventing the public from knowing how the crashes happened and who is responsible."
I don't care how many excerpts you all post of Olivia Nuzzi's execrable prose, I am still not reading that excerpt of the upcoming book that I also not reading, much less spending any money on.
November 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I don't care how many excerpts you all post of Olivia Nuzzi's execrable prose, I am still not reading that excerpt of the upcoming book that I also not reading, much less spending any money on.
Metro renouncing its long history of Not Invented Here behavior has been something wonderful to see. A lot of other rail transit systems in the U.S. could learn from our example.
Major announcement in just-posted board documents: DC's Metro is moving fast toward automation.
Over 15 years, Metro plans full automation & platform screen doors, which the agency says will improve safety, reliability, & travel times—at reduced costs.
www.wmata.com/about/board/...
Over 15 years, Metro plans full automation & platform screen doors, which the agency says will improve safety, reliability, & travel times—at reduced costs.
www.wmata.com/about/board/...
November 17, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Metro renouncing its long history of Not Invented Here behavior has been something wonderful to see. A lot of other rail transit systems in the U.S. could learn from our example.
If you were about to ask if people are quote-posting this or replying to it with "Some Pigs"; yes, they are.
When DHS dared to call its anti-immigrant racial profiling weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina, “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” I knew I was going to have to write about it.
Tonight, at Law Dork, here it is: www.lawdork.com/p/gregory-bo...
Tonight, at Law Dork, here it is: www.lawdork.com/p/gregory-bo...
November 17, 2025 at 2:17 PM
If you were about to ask if people are quote-posting this or replying to it with "Some Pigs"; yes, they are.
"Somehow, at this moment in time, we are trying to whitewash this history," Rep. @beyer.house.gov (D-VA) says at an unveiling of stumbling stones in Arlington telling that history--two enslaved men forced to work here. A 3rd-generation Virginian, Beyer notes how he was taught to honor Robert E. Lee.
November 15, 2025 at 3:45 PM
"Somehow, at this moment in time, we are trying to whitewash this history," Rep. @beyer.house.gov (D-VA) says at an unveiling of stumbling stones in Arlington telling that history--two enslaved men forced to work here. A 3rd-generation Virginian, Beyer notes how he was taught to honor Robert E. Lee.
I'm not going to say this inflight WiFi is unusable (cc: every editor expecting copy from me today), but I will say that it's giving me unusual insight into sites' support for text-only navigation.
November 14, 2025 at 4:09 PM
I'm not going to say this inflight WiFi is unusable (cc: every editor expecting copy from me today), but I will say that it's giving me unusual insight into sites' support for text-only navigation.
As a deeply-rooted cosmopolitan, I love travel but I love coming home even more. Thanks, Web Summit; obrigado, Lisboa.
🇵🇹 ✈️ 🇺🇸
🇵🇹 ✈️ 🇺🇸
November 14, 2025 at 9:52 AM
As a deeply-rooted cosmopolitan, I love travel but I love coming home even more. Thanks, Web Summit; obrigado, Lisboa.
🇵🇹 ✈️ 🇺🇸
🇵🇹 ✈️ 🇺🇸
Blue Origin landed New Glenn's booster on this rocket's second launch ever. That's damned impressive.
November 13, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Blue Origin landed New Glenn's booster on this rocket's second launch ever. That's damned impressive.
This is quality advice. Days with multiple boldface items on the @techmeme.com events calendar are more likely to present this risk: www.techmeme.com/events
Note to tipsters/sources. When you contact a journo about something you want them to write about, consider timing and what you say. Certain times of year are busier for news than others, and big stories in cyber are often unfolding. These can cause your pitch about something else to get overlooked
November 13, 2025 at 5:06 PM
This is quality advice. Days with multiple boldface items on the @techmeme.com events calendar are more likely to present this risk: www.techmeme.com/events
I had a wonky problem with my flight home where United's app and site wouldn't let me check in... and the rep I reached via chat on the airline's site fixed it without asking me to redo the check-in attempt 2x, reboot my computer or whatever. (In case you were thinking such a thing was impossible.)
November 13, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I had a wonky problem with my flight home where United's app and site wouldn't let me check in... and the rep I reached via chat on the airline's site fixed it without asking me to redo the check-in attempt 2x, reboot my computer or whatever. (In case you were thinking such a thing was impossible.)
Panel clock management in a 20-minute timeslot gets a little harder when the person you're interviewing gives a 4+ minute answer to your first question.
November 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Panel clock management in a 20-minute timeslot gets a little harder when the person you're interviewing gives a 4+ minute answer to your first question.
Gotta respect the hustle of the #WebSummit startup exhibitor who spotted PCMag on my badge as I was standing on a subway platform and got in his elevator pitch + LinkedIn invite in under 90 seconds.
About that crowded train: What's the Portuguese version of the American transit idiom "crush load"?
About that crowded train: What's the Portuguese version of the American transit idiom "crush load"?
November 12, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Gotta respect the hustle of the #WebSummit startup exhibitor who spotted PCMag on my badge as I was standing on a subway platform and got in his elevator pitch + LinkedIn invite in under 90 seconds.
About that crowded train: What's the Portuguese version of the American transit idiom "crush load"?
About that crowded train: What's the Portuguese version of the American transit idiom "crush load"?
"We created an enshittogenic policy environment": Cory Doctorow, explaining in a Web Summit panel how anti-circumvention laws prevent people from developing and employing tools to fix the defects in the digital apps and services they use--and introducing me to a new word.
November 12, 2025 at 10:56 AM
"We created an enshittogenic policy environment": Cory Doctorow, explaining in a Web Summit panel how anti-circumvention laws prevent people from developing and employing tools to fix the defects in the digital apps and services they use--and introducing me to a new word.
Good point by Bluesky COO @rose.bsky.team about the social-media cast of characters on a #WebSummit panel: "I think it's important that we have more roles for people online than lurker and poster." She didn't mention starter packs, but I will--they are a thoughtful addition to the toolkit.
November 11, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Good point by Bluesky COO @rose.bsky.team about the social-media cast of characters on a #WebSummit panel: "I think it's important that we have more roles for people online than lurker and poster." She didn't mention starter packs, but I will--they are a thoughtful addition to the toolkit.
Contradictory words from NYT publisher A.G. Sulzberger to NPR CEO Katherine Maher in a #WebSummit panel when she asked about Trump's war on the media--including a whiny $15b libel suit v. the NYT:
• "Your rights only hold if you fight for them."
• "We cannot be baited into becoming the opposition."
• "Your rights only hold if you fight for them."
• "We cannot be baited into becoming the opposition."
November 11, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Contradictory words from NYT publisher A.G. Sulzberger to NPR CEO Katherine Maher in a #WebSummit panel when she asked about Trump's war on the media--including a whiny $15b libel suit v. the NYT:
• "Your rights only hold if you fight for them."
• "We cannot be baited into becoming the opposition."
• "Your rights only hold if you fight for them."
• "We cannot be baited into becoming the opposition."
The reason to take one of the #WebSummit shuttle vans to this conference's sprawling venue is not that they're free (the Lisbon Metro is only €1.66 a ride) or that it's faster than the subway (not really) but for the insightful banter with fellow conference humans that happens during these rides.
November 11, 2025 at 10:45 AM
The reason to take one of the #WebSummit shuttle vans to this conference's sprawling venue is not that they're free (the Lisbon Metro is only €1.66 a ride) or that it's faster than the subway (not really) but for the insightful banter with fellow conference humans that happens during these rides.