Reading List 354
This reading list is courtesy of Vivaldi browser, who pay me decent money to fight for a better web and don’t moan at me for reading all this stuff. We’ve just released Vivaldi 7.8 for mobile, with even more personalistion and zero “A.I.”, because it’s cream of the crop, not a stream of the Slop.
- Interop 2026 Focus Areas Announced – plenty of HTML, CSS, JS goodies. I’m most excited for cross-document View Transitions
- App certainty and interoperability: Apple’s pinky promises to CMA by Yrs Trly
- France to ditch US platforms Microsoft Teams, Zoom for ‘sovereign platform’ amid security concerns – It’s called Visio, based on LiveKit, MIT licensed)
- The Power of ‘No’ in Internet Standards by Mark Nottingham, who’s being Doing Standards for so long he used to travel to work by stegosaurus
- The Tech Elites in the Epstein Files – I’d definitely trust any of these fine upstanding citizens with all my personal data. Wouldn’t you?
- European Publishers Council files formal antitrust complaint against Google over AI Overviews and AI Mode – EPC alleges Google trains its AI on publishers’ content, with no opt-out, and has turned itself from a Search to “Answer engine” with AI overviews and chatbots, depriving publishers of click-throughs and thus revenue.
- Commission opens proceedings to assist Google in complying with interoperability and online search data sharing obligations under the Digital Markets Act
- Addicted to the algorithm: how Big Tech lobbies to keep us hooked on social media “As the EU prepares the Digital Fairness Act (DFA) to tackle the addictive nature of social media design, big tech companies are coming together to aggressively protect their business models. With Trumpists and far-right allies likely to join the chorus against the DFA, the Commission’s own drive for deregulation at all costs is not helping the chances of strong legislation.”
- EU says TikTok must disable ‘addictive’ features like infinite scroll, fix its recommendation engine
- TikTok settles just before social media addiction trial to begin – “The defendants now include Meta – which owns Instagram and Facebook and YouTube parent Google. Snapchat settled with the plaintiff last week.”
- EU Parliament Debates Digital Fairness Act Consultation – MEPs press the Commission on timelines, child protection, and closing loopholes on dark patterns and design.
- Dozens of nudify apps found on Google and Apple’s app stores – Thank goodness that the Gatekeepers so carefully curate for our comfort and security, and barely charge a penny for their diligence and benevolence.
Buy "Calling For The Moon", my debut album of songs I wrote while living in Thailand, India, Turkey. (Only £2, on Bandcamp.)
Absolutely loved this reading list, Bruce! Your recommendations are spot on—just what I needed for my next adventure. Cheers!