Hey, I actually wrote some things this week! The first was about politics, riffing off Amazon's plan to dump half a million workers thanks to "automation", and the second was a bit of a meditation on the division between tech, humans and nature. The themes in these pieces are ones that I have been mulling on for a while. I have another one brewing which masquerades as something that's about the movie Phase IV (which you should watch) but is actually on the connection between 1960s cybernetics and the online world we have constructed now. It still needs some work, but I should post it this week.
One thing I'm not sure about is whether I should send these out via email or just post them online (if you follow me on The Socials or Old School RSS you will, of course, see them). What do you think? Let me know in the comments or via email.
1. Amazon sneezes, the world catches a cold
You might have noticed half the internet falling down on its backside earlier in the week, thanks to an outage at Amazon Web Services which most of your digital life that's not made by Google or Microsoft uses. It was, of course, DNS (it's always DNS). As Wendy points out, this has added to the general call for more digital sovereignty -- if you imagine that the government's Digital ID idea (insert rolling eyes emoji here) might rely on services like this, it's probably a good idea that the UK owns its own tech stack.
I'm not an infrastructure expert, but I should note that I barely noticed the outage. I've been gradually moving away from services which are based in the US, including Amazon, mostly for reasons of privacy and lack of trust in the Trump administration. Proton (which I use for most of my email) runs its own servers, in Switzerland. Draw your own conclusions.
2. Once again, the Apple-centric US is behind Europe
In Europe, when a company sells you a laptop, phone, or anything in a few other electronic device categories, it has to give you the option of not including a power adapter. The aim is to cut e-waste and gently encourage common standards for charging, mostly around USB-C. It's part of the EU’s wider “right to repair” and sustainable electronics strategy, aimed at making devices longer-lasting, interoperable, and less wasteful to produce and sell.
How big a problem is e-waste from chargers? The European Commission (EC) estimates that unused chargers from small devices account for about 11,000 tonnes per year, and, if you include larger devices like laptops, that rises to around 35,000 tonnes per year. This is a small fraction of the amount of e-waste per year, but it's not trivial, especially given that it's really simple to avoid.
But here's John Gruber, who has never seen an EC directive that he didn't dislike on sight if it affects Apple:
Anyway, the reason this regulation is subject to ridicule was never that European MacBook buyers were, effectively, paying for a charger that was no longer included. It’s that this is a silly law, and likely causes more harm than good. If Apple thought it was a good idea to no longer include power adapters in the box with MacBooks, they’d just stop including chargers in the box, worldwide. That’s what Apple started doing with iPhones with the iPhone 12 lineup five years ago. That wasn’t because of a law. It was because Apple thought it was a good idea.
Remind me again why Apple uses USB-C on iPhones? Apple fought tooth and nail against this simple step which both reduced e-waste and actually ended up with a better experience for users. Oh, and remember when people were saying that the thickness of USB-C compared to Lightning would mean it would be hard to make thinner phones? Hello, the iPhone Air called!
Which is odd, because Apple claimed at the time that using USB-C would put the brakes on innovation:
“We remain concerned that strict regulation mandating just one type of connector stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, which in turn will harm consumers in Europe and around the world.”
Of course the obvious riposte to this is "yeah, but what could they do if they didn't have to accomodate USB-C?" And the answer is "not much, unless they develop new battery technologies."
I just bought a new Framework laptop. Like most vendors, you get the option not to include a power adapter, or to add one at extra cost. I didn't bother, and when I use it at home it gets plugged into chargers from Anker, Asus -- and of course, Apple. This is another example where European customers have already moved on, while the US lags behind.
3. Just how vast is Elon Musk's ego?
Yes, you read that right.
This is actually a return to classic pre-Twitter Musk, the guy who believes that it's going to end world poverty, take humanity to Mars, and enable everyone to get free medical treatment for everything. Of course all those things would also be possible if we just redistributed the world's resources from people like Musk to everyone else, but that particular solution to the world's ills never seems to cross his mind.
4. Goodbye Porsche, it was nice knowing you
Porsche's new CEO, Michael Leiters, is shifting focus back to petrol engines, citing that electric vehicles lack emotional appeal and depreciate faster. Despite significant investments in EVs, demand for Porsche versions has fallen short, leading to the shelving of a new electric SUV and job cuts. The company faces challenges in key markets like China and the US, with sales dropping and new tariffs impacting imports.
Of course one of the reasons that China isn't buying Porsche's is that they are buying cheaper and just as luxurious cars from the likes of BYD. The Chinese have invested in EVs to such a degree that it's going to be hard to compete in the next couple of decades, but if Leiters thinks the answer is to focus on more primitive technology then he's a fool.
5. Signal focuses on the threats of the future
Signal's engineering team has made significant advancements in post-quantum encryption, enhancing the Signal Protocol to ensure robust security against future threats based on quantum computing. The update introduces a third ratchet, the Sparse Post Quantum Ratchet (SPQR), which combines traditional and quantum-safe key generation methods, allowing for secure messaging even in asynchronous environments. No, I'm not totally sure what it means either. But it sounds good.
The point of course is to keep your messages away from the prying eyes of spooks and criminals not just now, but in the foreseeable future too. Signal isn't the only privacy-focused company doing this: Tuta, the German email company known for its relentless focus on keeping things private, launched their post-quantum system TutaCrypt system last year.
The biggest blocker with systems like Tuta and Signal, though, isn't the technology. It's persuading other people to use them. Oh, if you want to send me encrypted email, you can reach my Tuta account at ian@technovia.co.uk, and you can always send me messages to Signal (evilmole.100). If you want to send to my marginally (and I really do mean marginally) less secure Proton account too.
6. AI’s “survival drive” is a safety question, not a sci‑fi plot
The claims are splashy, but the useful takeaway is simpler: as models become more capable, ambiguous shutdown instructions and reward loops can generate stubborn behavior that looks like self‑preservation. The right response isn’t panic. It’s tighter evals, clearer operational constraints, and better interpretability. If we can’t reliably turn systems off, we don’t have control -- and that’s a governance and ownership problem before it’s a capabilities milestone.
7. Digital sovereignty starts with the right to leave
Europe often talks a big game about building a homegrown stack, then quietly keeps the locks on the doors. Anti‑circumvention rules make migration tools legally hazardous, which is exactly how incumbents like it.
If policymakers want competition and real sovereignty, they need to legalise exit: portability, interoperability, and the permission to build the crowbars that move users and data across walled gardens.
8. “Sovereign AI” with vendor logos isn’t sovereignty
Badging cloud contracts as national strategy doesn’t make them independent. Handing the keys to a single supplier — especially in jurisdictions allergic to scrutiny — creates a new kind of lock‑in with political window dressing. If countries want actual sovereignty, they need open standards, exit ramps, and a procurement model that prefers composable pieces over turnkey dependence.
9. Goodbye Windows 10
The end of free Windows 10 support could lead to 400 million computers becoming obsolete, contributing to significant e-waste and security risks. Many users, including businesses and schools, will end up purchasing new devices due to the lack of updates.
Activists are urging Microsoft to extend support, citing successful campaigns that influenced other companies, like Google's extension of Chromebook updates to ten years to prevent waste.
Or you could install Linux, of course.
10. A rare violation of Betteridge's Law
Is Sam Altman a psycho-CEO? You betcha!