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Bas Grasmayer

@bas.bsky.social
109 followers 88 following 150 posts

Formerly at COLORS, IDAGIO, and founded the MUSIC x newsletter. Now: Calm & Fluffy newsletter. calmfluffy.cloud bas.grasmayer.com

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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
How well-informed am I after 6 weeks of not following the news? You be the judge. •‿• www.calmfluffy.cloud/p/i-didnt-fo...
calmfluffy.cloud
I didn't follow the news for 6 weeks: here's what reached me anyway
On stepping back without falling behind
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
I built a browser extension that turns your distractions into cleaner oceans. 🐳 mindfulblock.calmfluffy.cloud
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Don’t let them take away your ability to imagine a better future ☀️
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Allow me to sprinkle some hope into your feeds 🌿 www.calmfluffy.cloud/p/the-genera...
calmfluffy.cloud
The generation raised on smartphones is choosing phone-free dancefloors
A hopeful sign that the smartphone era is turning
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
It’s Thursday. Add some peace to your environment today by giving this fantastically soothing work by ambient pioneer Brian Eno a listen, titled “Thursday Afternoon”. If you’re feeling particularly mischievous, listen to it in the morning. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ6V...
youtube.com
Thursday Afternoon (2005 Digital Remaster)
YouTube video by Brian Eno - Topic
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
"I’m very much in favour of smaller, pragmatic systems that solve real problems, ideally running on renewable energy. I try to use my own brain first; only use AI when it genuinely helps; and when I do, choose smaller, more efficient models wherever possible." www.calmfluffy.cloud/p/james-mart...
calmfluffy.cloud
James Martin: We're using AI like a bazooka to swat flies
"The impact-to-benefit ratio is way off. And most people have no idea."
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
I spoke with the CEO and co-founder of soundscape generation app Endel — you’ve probably seen it featured in the App Store — about their new ambient label Sources, Brian Eno, functional audio, and giving birth. www.calmfluffy.cloud/p/oleg-stavi...
calmfluffy.cloud
Oleg Stavitsky: Building music that follows you like a bodily function
"You have this creator ego that says, this is how you're supposed to use it — and then real life happens."
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
“It’s supposed to hurt. That’s why we do it six times!” Love my ballet instructor 😂
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Hi Bluesky, from Grunewald forest, Berlin. I present to you, a blue sky. With birds to listen to.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Alright. 500 days done. Time to let this app go. Music learning has been fun with Duolingo, but after a few months, I’ve started to plateau. What better song to end it with than The Final Countdown?
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Sometimes it’s good to be reminded of music’s uses beyond the boundaries of the industry. And how not all is black-and-white when it comes to AI-generated music. www.calmfluffy.cloud/p/kate-berki...
calmfluffy.cloud
Kate Berkita: How AI‑generated music can support people with Parkinson’s
"Many people with Parkinson’s are not ready to accept they have it. And this is very hard to see, to be honest."
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
“Networks compress time and space, then quietly train us to live at their speed.” om.co/2026/01/21/v...
om.co
Velocity Is the New Authority. Here’s Why
Why does everyone feel overwhelmed by information? Why does it feel impossible to trust what passes through our streams? We tend to blame individual publications, specific platforms, or b…
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
"Both Google and Meta received a record number of subpoenas in the United States during the first half of 2025 as Trump’s second term began, with Google receiving 28,622, a 15 percent increase over the previous six months." newrepublic.com/post/206088/...
newrepublic.com
DHS Hunts Down 67-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Who Criticized Them in Email
The Department of Homeland Security is using a little-known tool to go after its critics.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
A decade before 'Moltbook', there was SubredditSimulator. www.reddit.com/r/SubredditS...
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Meta's Secret Weapon in the AI Race? All Your Personal Data www.cnet.com/tech/service...
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
People who have stopped using Google as their search engine: which do you use now and how happy are you with search results generally?
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Was looking up the lyrics to the Ghostbusters theme...
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Are EU leaders actually so naive as to believe that a greater European military presence in Greenland might appease Trump? It's not about normal geopolitical interests: Trump cares foremost about the billionaires who want the territory's resources. The US's defensive position is an excuse.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
This Saturday morning, I woke up early and finally snapped. I ditched Gmail for @proton.me... and boy, would I have made the switch earlier if I had known it would only take me minutes. (I'd seen the advertising claims. I was sceptical. I was wrong.) www.calmfluffy.cloud/p/i-put-off-...
calmfluffy.cloud
I put off switching from Google to Proton for years. It took minutes
The price of convenience when your life's turned into training data.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Yes, please. www.theregister.com/2026/01/11/e...
theregister.com
Brussels plots open source push to pry Europe off Big Tech
: Call for Evidence casts FOSS as a way to break US dependence
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Not all heroes wear capes… www.pcmag.com/news/hacker-...
pcmag.com
Hacker Dressed As Pink Power Ranger Dismantles Racist Websites Live on Stage
At the Chaos Communication Congress in Germany, it was morphin' time for hacker Martha Root, who took down several white supremacist websites during their presentation.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
This is your reminder to periodically delete all your data on AI platforms, because you can not know whose hands your chats will fall into. My recommendation is to completely delete your account, and, if in EU, to submit a specific GDPR data deletion request. arstechnica.com/ai/2026/01/n...
arstechnica.com
News orgs win fight to access 20M ChatGPT logs. Now they want more.
OpenAI's loss in privacy fight could lead to sharing even more deleted chats.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
There seems to be some confusion over record labels’ suing AI companies, only to turn around and partner with them. The lawsuits are part of the negotiation strategy. It’s a very common strategy in IP-heavy industries. (See also: UMG vs TikTok)
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
“participants were asked to listen to three tracks and determine whether or not they were fully AI-generated – 97% of the respondents failed” newsroom-deezer.com/2025/11/deez...
newsroom-deezer.com
Deezer/Ipsos survey: 97% of people can’t tell the difference between fully AI-generated and human made music – clear desire for transparency and fairness for artists - Deezer Newsroom
Deezer and Ipsos unveil a first-of-its-kind study exploring attitudes and perceptions around AI and music, conducted across 8 countries with 9000 people. The survey shows overwhelming support for labe...
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Reposted by Bas Grasmayer
Vox @vox.com · 03/11/2025
How you hear these two tones might depend on if you grew up in California or the United Kingdom. Noam Hassenfeld, host of the Unexplainable podcast, talks to researcher Diana Deutsch about why people from different countries hear tritones differently.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
“Enjoy the futuristic capabilities of these browsers by all means, but remember that even Opera's 10% success rate with one particular prompt injection attack means that you need to be lucky every time, while an attacker only needs to get lucky once.” www.xda-developers.com/please-stop-...
xda-developers.com
Please stop using AI browsers
Agentic AI browsers are dangerous, and even some of the biggest browser companies think so.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Innovation at major labels often looks like: 1 Startup has new tech they want to apply. 2 Get shown the door at the label. 3 Investors and founders take risk, develop tech, and launch without proper licenses. 4 Label sues. 5 Startup and label settle with licensing deal. Major label: INNOVATION!
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
2025 and German media still call female DJs “DJane”. 🤦‍♂️
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Reposted by Bas Grasmayer
Brodie Conley @brodieconley.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
I wrote about AI + why artists need ownership (incl. governance) or they’re up shit creek! A simple but important argument! And I messed w/ David Harvey’s “Paths of Capital Accumulation” diagram to make it 🤓FUN! + a Neil Young song 🧛🔵🏖️! musicx.substack.com/p/the-foreve...
musicx.substack.com
The “Forever” Stakes of Generative AI Ownership
On synthetic data and dead labour
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
There’s a generational changing of the guards happening. What tacky boomer memes on Facebook were for the previous generation of the internet.. Corny millennial AI slop is for this generation.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Stress response all over. busysimulator.com
busysimulator.com
Busy Simulator
Pretend you're busy by playing a bunch of app notification sounds. Made by Brian Moore.
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Reposted by Bas Grasmayer
Meredith Whittaker @meredithmeredith.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU. Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Earlier this year I left my phone at home for a month and was offline every time I went out. In October I'm inverting that: I'll go offline at home, every day at 8pm. You can join the adventure •‿• Read more here: calmfluffy.substack.com/p/why-im-spe...
calmfluffy.substack.com
Why I’m spending my October evenings offline
And how you can join me on this adventure for peace & health
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Every day I wake up to another reason to be happy not to have a job that requires me to travel to the US. With a background in both music and tech, industries highly oriented towards NYC & California, I’m actively making career choices to further avoid this.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Went nomadic after 15 years with Spotify. Tried Apple Music out for 3 months, but the way the app is designed is really clunky (still don't understand the difference between favourite & add to library). Now trying Tidal and it's seriously underrated.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
I am SO tired of ads for Shopify.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
One of my fav pieces I wrote in the last years is no longer behind a paywall. The article examines the history of Spotify's product design, highlighting the tension between its platform incentives and the interests of artists whose music it serves to its fans. www.waterandmusic.com/how-spotifys...
waterandmusic.com
How Spotify’s recommendations UX might be pushing down per-stream royalty rates — even if total payouts increase
Mapping the new music business.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Been thinking recently that simple licensing models don’t address the inequity introduced by AI. Data authors deserve more than pennies. They deserve equity. calmfluffy.substack.com/p/from-spoti...
calmfluffy.substack.com
From Spotify to ChatGPT: The case for distributed ownership of platforms built on human creativity
Our last chance for a fair internet may depend on who owns AI
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Don’t copy that sloppy.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Can’t believe even The Guardian is posting AI slop now. Can’t think of many things less interesting or urgent than reading someone else’s ChatGPT conversation. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
AI called Maya tells Guardian: ‘When I’m told I’m just code, I don’t feel insulted. I feel unseen’
Cofounder with Michael Samadi of AI rights campaign group Ufair says it should watch over the technology in case an AI becomes conscious
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Jammer dat de @nieuws.nos.nl hier niet opmerkt dat #JA21 hiermee het Amerikaanse DOGE na-aapt van de extreemrechtse Trump-regering. nos.nl/artikel/2579...
nos.nl
JA21 wil met minister voor Overheidsefficiëntie strijd aangaan op rechts
Verder zet de partij in op de klassieke rechtse thema's, zoals meer ruimte voor ondernemen.
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Reposted by Bas Grasmayer
Emily Hunt @emily.space · 15/08/2025
I really dislike how science has started calling almost any fancy computational technique AI. 🧪 The framing of this entire article makes it sound like a benevolent AI independently made these drugs. That is *pure fantasy*. Instead: a team of scientists made a machine learning model for a study.

Article on BBC news. 
Title: AI designs antibiotics for gonorrhoea and MRSA superbugs
Description: Two new potential drugs have been designed by AI to kill drug-resistant bacteria, in a major Massachusetts Institute of Technology study.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Threads is like Fight Club for millennials who are turning into the type of people that drove us off Facebook.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Now that's the type of AI chat personality I would actually trust. ChatGPT, on the other hand, is beyond creepy. Especially the recent 'humanized' voice chat. www.businessinsider.com/gemini-self-...
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
What is this timeline... Why would they? Afraid to get sued for anti-competitive behaviour due to their OpenAI investment? Or just 'platform neutrality' and wanting to "position itself as _the_ AI model hosting company"? s/o @theverge.com for a zinger headline here www.theverge.com/notepad-micr...
theverge.com
Microsoft is cautiously onboarding Grok 4 following Hitler concerns
Grok 4 is going into private preview, for now
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
People whose work is used to build LLMs should get shares rather than one-off licensing payments.
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Few things make me as sad as the world’s plastic crisis. I’d love recommendations for people to follow who do work that addresses this. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
World in $1.5tn ‘plastics crisis’ hitting health from infancy to old age, report warns
Plastic production has increased more than 200 times since 1950 and hits health at every stage from extraction to disposal, says review in the Lancet
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Bas Grasmayer @bas.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Still get questions about my phone-less month earlier this year. An offline month is not something most people can commit to... So I've jotted down 8 ways anyone can trade some online time in for that premium offline time. Treat yourself •‿• calmfluffy.substack.com/p/eight-easy...
calmfluffy.substack.com
Eight easy ways to spend more time offline
Number 8 is how I made this list... (◕‿◕✿)
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