For more than a year now, instead of Google search, I have been using DuckDuckGo and Perplexity AI. Key takeaways from the video: DuckDuckGo origins: Founded in 2008 by Gabriel Weinberg in his living room with $10k after Google search quality declined due to spam; core promise is “we store nothing” — no IP logging, … Read more
Here are the key takeaways from the video: Meta’s open AI strategy, which looked like a competitive edge, became a liability as competitors and open models improved, and as transparency concerns around benchmarks and training data surfaced. This pushed Meta to pivot toward a more closed approach with Muse Spark. The release of Llama under … Read more
In nine episodes (you can find them here), I have focused on some characteristics of the current academic life that is killing the university system -not any more- slowly: Nine episodes of administrative bloat, ranking obsessions, funding regimes that reward the wrong things, accreditation rituals nobody quite believes in, a journal hierarchy that has turned … Read more
1. The Industry-Wide Dating App Fatigue Bumble’s massive 95% stock crash isn’t happening in isolation — the entire dating app ecosystem is shrinking. By 2023, global dating app downloads had fallen by 17% over three years [06:35]. The core issue is demographic burnout: Millennials who popularized these apps are aging out of them, while … Read more
Here are the key takeaways: Lorem ipsum is not original, coherent Latin filler created for typesetting; it’s a scrambled excerpt derived from Cicero’s De Finibus. The common belief that it was invented by an anonymous 1500s typesetter is widespread but likely inaccurate; the text’s lineage predates modern digital typesetting. The earliest identifiable trace of similar … Read more
Key takeaways: 1) Context and origin – The Amodei siblings, Dario and Daniela, co-founded Anthropic after their experiences at OpenAI and related research efforts. – The conversation centers on why Anthropic exists: to pursue powerful AI capabilities with a stronger emphasis on safety, governance, and alignment with human values. – The founders reflect on the … Read more
Key Insights by Merlin AI The Shift from Adobe to DaVinci Resolve Market Dominance and Subscription Model Adobe had long dominated video editing with products like Premiere Pro, relying on a subscription-only model costing $69/month. Users faced hefty cancellation fees, leading to dissatisfaction and prompting many to seek alternatives. DaVinci Resolve offers a one-time purchase … Read more
Celebrating Thirty Years of Internet Archive Founded in 1996, the Internet Archive is celebrating its 30th anniversary! This milestone comes alongside many pivotal websites & organizations founded in 1996. To commemorate this occasion, we’ve spent the month opening the internet’s yearbook to celebrate the sites, services & scrappy experiments that helped shape the web as we … Read more
I have been in Ljubljana to attend the COST GRADE project meeting. This project is one of the most focused and well-managed COST projects I have participated in. You can find the program at the link above. One of the project’s outputs is an exhibition at the Museum of Computer History here in Ljubljana, Slovenia. … Read more
Key Insights Merlin AI The Rise and Fall of Torrenting Origins of Torrenting Developed by Bram Cohen in 2001, BitTorrent allowed users to share files without relying on a single server, making downloads faster as more users participated. The Pirate Bay, launched in 2003, capitalized on this decentralized model, becoming a major hub for peer-to-peer … Read more
Last week, I was invited to a conversation by Ziya Taşkent, who organizes monthly talks on “culture.” The talk is in Turkish, but I present a summary of this talk in English: Digital Culture and Everyday Life Digital culture is deeply intertwined with popular culture; both are undergoing transformation in the realms of communication and … Read more
Key Insights by Merlin AI AI Implementation in Fast Food In 2023, Taco Bell deployed AI across over 500 locations in the U.S. with the goal of reducing order errors and speeding up service. Initial feedback revealed that AI sometimes exacerbated issues, as evidenced by a customer receiving incorrect drink prompts. McDonald’s also tested AI … Read more
Today, Tor is launching a crowdfunding campaign for 10 internet freedom projects. Because without increased support, we’re at risk of losing an ecosystem of privacy and anti-censorship tech. Internet freedom tools are facing a crisis. As of 2025, internet freedom has declined for 15 consecutive years. And yet as censorship and surveillance become increasingly sophisticated … Read more
AI Tools for Journalists Workshop in Adana On Saturday, May 16, 2026, I took part in the “AI Tools for Journalists” workshop organized by TGS Academy in Adana. The workshop focused on how journalists can use basic AI tools in their everyday professional routines. We discussed practical uses of AI in news research, text production, … Read more
Türkiye, following Australia, recently banned social media for children under 15. Just a few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine such a ban, but things change fast. I have curated some information on these bans and related restrictions in other countries using Perplexity. Here it is: Turkey and Australia have both adopted … Read more