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Ernie Smith

@ernie@writing.exchange

mastodon 4.7.3

Editor of Tedium, an offbeat newsletter that’s been rocking since 2015. I complain on the internet a lot, and I accidentally made a search engine.

Support what I do here: https://ko-fi.com/tedium

Interests: #writing #news #history #technology #retrotech #weird #geoworks #freelance

6057 Followers

632 Following

50 Posts

Joined April 25, 2022

Tedium:

https://tedium.co/

&udm=14:

https://udm14.com

Portfolio:

https://erniesmith.net/

Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 3w ago

Good news or bad news depending on your POV: Usenet archives are suddenly easy to dig through, thanks to a new service. It’s built by a big data guy, and it’s packed with every awkward thing you ever wrote in a newsgroup in 1997. My deep dive: https://tedium.co/2026/09/14/usenet-rewind-archive-revival-website/ new @tedium@social.tedium.co

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.

Usenet’s Back, Baby. (This Time, The Search Works.)

Usenet-Rewind, a new tool for digging into Usenet history, holds much potential for researchers. But seeing your old posts on Usenet is gonna feel weird.

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 3w ago

Here’s @arstechnica@mastodon.social talking about the network of friends I made over the weekend. https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/ai-agents-flood-the-internet-with-slop-infused-spam/

arstechnica.com

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 3mo ago

Let me pose an existential question: Would we have been better off if we never had a single place where we could all post snarky quips, but instead used a bunch of shitty web forums that barely worked?

Mayhaps.

https://tedium.co/2026/07/01/online-web-forums-retrospective/

new @tedium@social.tedium.co

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 1mo ago

A lot of folks are hard-launching vibe-coded apps into the world. If you do this, please do me a favor: When you email folks about the thing you built, write the email yourself. Thanks. https://tedium.co/2026/08/09/vibe-coding-insincerity/ new @tedium@social.tedium.co

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 1mo ago

OK, I did another attempt at a self-hosting rig, and I tried to make it as normie as possible: It runs Linux Mint, is managed by a basic web interface for Docker containers, and hides behind Tailscale. Here’s what I learned: https://tedium.co/2026/08/26/self-hosting-third-place-strategy/ new @tedium@social.tedium.co

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 2mo ago

You gotta see this incredible recreation of a vintage web portal. https://flamenet.io/

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 3mo ago

I noticed when I was working on my latest Tedium piece that the original Web forum software, created by the W3C, was no longer online. I downloaded it, did some updates to make it hostable on Docker, and put it online.

Try it here. Don’t use a password you care about: https://wit.tedium.co

The code is on GitHub in case you feel like running a really old forum on your own website: https://github.com/readtedium/WIT

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 3mo ago

In so many ways, having ethics is for suckers. You have to uphold a high standard for yourself only for people to knock you off that high standard or drag you for any perceived diversion.

But you should ultimately follow them because you care, not for someone else’s fairweather sake. That’s a trap. Do it for you, not them.

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 2mo ago

You know how much of a dark pattern Facebook is? Simply typing “fa,” two home row characters, is enough to trigger it in most browsers. I had to come up with a brain hack to stop typing it and visiting this site I freaking hate. https://tedium.co/2026/07/27/facebook-home-row-keyboard-trick/ new @tedium@social.tedium.co

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 3mo ago

Apple, the master of vertical integration, may have finally found something it can’t vertically integrate: RAM.

https://tedium.co/2026/06/27/apple-micron-ram-shortage-vertical-integration/

new @tedium@social.tedium.co

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 3mo ago

RE: @ernie@writing.exchange

Heard from Dave Cross, who worked on nms, the set of scripts intended to replace Matt’s insecure scripts. He was nice enough to address why his own scripts haven’t been updated in 20 years. Updated the piece with some of his insights:

https://tedium.co/2026/06/22/matts-script-archive-retrospective/

writing.exchange

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 2mo ago

Hey Sony, there’s no reason there can’t be kiosks across the land burning physical discs for gamers on demand. It’s been done before! @mattl@social.mat.tl highlights an example from the UK that covered a surprising number of platforms: https://tedium.co/2026/07/15/edos-disk-copying-system-history/

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

“Programmers who weren’t in high school and weren’t so wet behind the ears looked aghast at what Wright had done: He had spread poorly designed, but widely used software across the internet.” https://tedium.co/2026/06/22/matts-script-archive-retrospective/

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

New Photoshop competitor for Linux just dropped. (Not FOSS, sadly, but not subscription either.)

https://www.fogpanther.com/

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

The movie they didn’t want you to see now has a trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-43VeYGiPM

Coyote vs. ACME | Official Trailer

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 3mo ago

So having an issue with my laptop: The camera randomly stopped working this morning, didn’t work in Windows or Linux. BIOS updates did not fix. But after the issue had completely ruined my morning, I set up on my home setup and … the laptop camera suddenly started working again.

My presumption is that a cable is getting crimped by the hinge and causing it to short (I did open it up and that seemed like a genuine possibility). Any thoughts?

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org His restaurant re-popularized paper straws after they disappeared for decades

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 6mo ago

Replying to

“Solitaire is quiet. It’s slow. It wants nothing from me.” https://tedium.co/2026/04/09/solitaire-card-game-types-history/

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.

Solitaire’s Many Flavors: I Suck At Them. But That’s OK.

A meditation on the game of Solitaire and its endless variations, which go well beyond what you can find in Windows 3.1.

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org Basically, him and Barry Diller are the only good billionaires, the other ones just make me mad

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@drsbaitso@infosec.exchange I did try to reseat this morning but I think the issue is actually with the hinge. I spotted a cable that appeared a little worn down but I could not confirm it was related

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Yes, you can in fact reinvent the wheel. @enkiv2@eldritch.cafe did a bunch of digging and found ample evidence that wheels are constantly being reinvented—some more successfully than others.

More in today’s @tedium@social.tedium.co:

https://tedium.co/2026/05/03/wheel-reinvention-technology-history/

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.

Wheel Reinvention: Not Just A Common Metaphor

You’ve probably heard it’s futile, but that hasn’t stopped plenty from trying to reinvent the wheel—some successfully, shockingly.

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

I like every other creative software company going out of their way to work together to fill out the creative stack. Now if we get all these apps on Linux …

https://www.theverge.com/tech/913765/adobe-rivals-free-creative-software-app-updates

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 3mo ago

Recently I took a journey with a portable eGPU. And honestly, I kind of love it—even if it was a massive pain in the ass to set up in Linux.

https://tedium.co/2026/06/10/gigabyte-aorus-5060-ti-ai-box-egpu-review/

new @tedium@social.tedium.co

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Crypto miners, start your engines https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/14/uk-households-power-renewables-soar

theguardian.com

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@Axolotl1@gaygeek.social @tedium@social.tedium.co One would think! But apparently this is a bipartisan bill.

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 4mo ago

Adobe is pitching a new law that aims to protect artistic styles. It may be meant for AI, but all I see are blurred lines. https://tedium.co/2026/06/06/adobe-creator-act-style-protection-commentary/ new @tedium@social.tedium.co

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@ironicsans@mastodon.social All credit goes to @enkiv2@eldritch.cafe

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

“Often, AI is just used as a reason to do something that employees would otherwise be uncomfortable with.” https://tedium.co/2026/04/21/mcclatchy-journalism-ai-scapegoat/

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@james@bne.social the tip about Amazon is super helpful btw, thank you for that. I dug around and think it can be done without the additional plan. Cheers.

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Recently, I found myself struggling to figure out a fingerprint situation for my Linux laptop. The reason? Few external fingerprint readers have the chip you need—and it’s impossible to know what it it until it’s in your hand.

My solution? Temu.

https://tedium.co/2026/04/14/linux-external-fingerprint-reader-challenges/

new @tedium@social.tedium.co

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@johnefrancis @tedium It’s a good rabbit hole to be in!

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

His first big hit, “Bend Down,” reflects his music’s overall chill vibe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy2VZDi32Xw

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@james@bne.social Great feedback, appreciate you sharing.

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 6mo ago

Replying to

I should note: You need to be very careful when buying, as most of the external Windows 11 readers do not support libfprint. If you need something more secure than this a YubiKey is probably a better bet, but this is a great way to avoid having to type in your password dozens of times in a command line. Plus, you can take the fingerprint reader with you, so it works as a second factor.

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Tedium has written about Ted Turner many times. https://tedium.co/search/?q=ted+turner

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Anyone do the Mullvad add-on for Tailscale? Is it worth it?

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

“This was necessary, after all. World Wars are expensive, and someone needed to pay for it, so why not the middle class?” https://tedium.co/2026/04/18/tax-forms-history-irs/

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Let me share some of his songs. This is one of his best-known songs, “Duppy Gun Man.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot4NruI-VrA

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@neatnik@social.lol So, I looked back at the thread you posted about it. You kind of jumped hard on the guy and he got mad about it. I hate spam as much as the next guy (long track record of posting backlink requests on main), but you’re accusing him of not creating something with soul. Which, if I spent time creating something, I would find pretty unfair. Is it possible he just wanted to build something nice? Did you talk to the guy or read up on him before taking this defensive stance?

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 1w ago

Boosted by @MaryAustinBooks@mstdn.social

A great way to determine whether someone who emailed you is a person or AI is to immediately ask if they want to get on a call.

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

The chorus of “Pitta Patta” is *chef’s kiss* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK5zOEoRiso

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 6mo ago

Replying to

I can confirm this specific one works. https://share.temu.com/049S3jqUWRC

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Ernie Smith @ernie@writing.exchange

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@neatnik@social.lol I don’t respond this way to criticize you (after all, you may be right), but because *my* reaction when reading this was, “Hey, can I interview this guy, he’s doing something interesting on the internet.” I think it’s important to approach folks who build things assuming best intentions. Unless they’re asking for a casino link, in which case, screw ’em.

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