'The cockwomble of all journalists' - a reader. Book on robots and AI out this year.
London, England
Joined February 2009
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Rob Waugh retweeted
“For most of its history, Google operated in a virtuous cycle with publishers whereby they allowed Google to crawl their sites and Google connected them with audiences.
Today, that cycle has turned vicious, with Google acting as a parasite that extracts value and offers nothing in return.”
I've left Twitter, but I'm still writing a daily blog.
You can read today's post ("The death of history's most successful publisher")
at pluralistic.net/2026/10/20/m…
It's also available on Mastodon at:
mamot.fr/@pluralistic/117474…
And on Bluesky at:
bsky.app/profile/did:web:plu…
ALT A haunted burial ground by a lake, with a bat flying overhead. A haint in a shroud floats over the scene, its face is the Google Android droid. The sole, listing tombstone reads 'I'm feeling lucky.'
Rob Waugh retweeted
“The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you’ve succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you’re someone…What people are saying: ‘Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags!”
Rob Waugh retweeted
>math professor spends a year on one of the hardest unsolved problems in math
>"Navier-Stokes"
>his drafts for the whole project went through codex sessions
>openai had his logs in codex
>suddenly rumor leaks AI solved it
>he emails openai to ask what's going on
>openai calls within days
>"funny story, our model also solved it"
>using his exact approach
>asks openai: did you train on my sessions?
>no answer
Rob Waugh retweeted
Press Gazette has raised questions about four more prolific finance journalists who have so far been unable to verify their identities and have written for a number of well-known journalism brands such as Forbes and The Next Web pressgazette.co.uk/news/tech…
There's something funny about these four journalists...
Four more freelance crypto journalists, with bylines at Forbes, Entrepreneur, Information Age, and TNW, have not verified their IDs after a reporter's queries (@robwaugh74 / Press Gazette)
(Visit Mediagazer dot com for the link and full context!)
Rob Waugh retweeted
Four more freelance crypto journalists, with bylines at Forbes, Entrepreneur, Information Age, and TNW, have not verified their IDs after a reporter's queries (@robwaugh74 / Press Gazette)
(Visit Mediagazer dot com for the link and full context!)
There's something very strange about Sadie Ann Williamson... More fake journalists unearthed for @pressgazette!
Rob Waugh retweeted
New: we solved which AI company is buying massive shipments of rare books, scanning and destroying them to train AI. We put an Apple AirTag in a rare book, followed it. It ended up at an Amazon facility. Its logo is a dinosaur ripping through a book 404media.co/we-tracked-a-shi…
Rob Waugh retweeted
Fake Forbes websites and the PR agency offering guaranteed coverage – at a price
Fake iterations of the Forbes website are packed with AI-generated and promotional content
Rob Waugh retweeted
PR agency Baden Bower appears to be behind two fake and largely AI-generated websites purporting to be published by Forbes and filled with promotional content (@robwaugh74 / Press Gazette)
(Visit Mediagazer dot com for the link and full context!)
Two new Forbes websites - Forbes LA and Forbes Liechtenstein - have profiled hundreds of global businesses, and made millions. But there's just one, tiny problem... pressgazette.co.uk/news/fake…
Rob Waugh retweeted
i hope to god that this doesn’t turn out to the the most prescient cartoon of the century.
but odds are that it will be.
credit: @TTomTToro
Rob Waugh retweeted
US copyright law has been weaponised to silence reporting around the world
Google is removing thousands of articles from search due to spurious DMCA requests
Rob Waugh retweeted
Three reputable football websites have been taken over by parasite SEO firm Clickout Media. Now AI-reporters are churning out error-strewn copy to help promote gambling websites pressgazette.co.uk/news/ai-r…
Rob Waugh retweeted
PICARD: Data, shields up
DATA: Brilliant! Shields can reduce damage we sustain. Not immunity. Not hubris. Just prudence. It's not precaution—it's strategy.
[camera shakes]
WORF: HULL BREACHES ON NINE DECKS
DATA: Here's what happened: you told me to raise shields, and I didn't
Four prolific finance journalists have landed 1,000 pieces in top titles from Forbes to the Times of Israel - but there's one tiny problem: it seems very likely that none of them actually exist... pressgazette.co.uk/news/prol…
Rob Waugh retweeted
The mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin, has remained unsolved for 17 years. Not anymore. Read my 18-month investigation to find out who Satoshi really is. nytimes.com/2026/04/08/busin…
Rob Waugh retweeted
A look at Clickout, which has bought hundreds of websites to harvest their reputations and pack them with casino links; in 2024, it had £40M in revenue (@robwaugh74 / Press Gazette)
pressgazette.co.uk/news/the-…
mediagazer.com/260327/p10#a2…
Rob Waugh retweeted
Voice messages should die.
I hate everyone who sends them. When someone sends me a voice note, I don't look at it for days.
It's the most selfish form of communication. You're offloading your typing time onto my listening time.
You get convenience and I get locked into your pace. Can neither skim thru nor reference them later.