Sign in

colinhoad.com

@colinhoad.com
1 followers 0 following 358 posts
PostsRepliesMedia
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 3h
Microsoft Authenticator must surely rank as the single worst piece of software ever developed. It is so, so, so bad. Worse, even than Teams.
370
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 29/09/2026
I am sick and tired of this kind of reporting. Journalist, please, I am begging you, stop taking the press releases from these ghouls as literal fact and DO SOME ACTUAL ANALYSIS. Nothing has escaped, the people running these AI experiments are simply being grossly negiligent.
2123
Reposted by Colin Hoad
dr. rich traditions, JD @helldude.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
we have control mechanisms for this. it's called The Law. these guys should be held personally liable for these harms. the suicides, the thefts, the intrusions into computer systems. they should be sued and prosecuted as appropriate. problem immediately solved
12971061687
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 29/09/2026
Nobody has ever been helped by the suggestion "why not use AI?"
150
Reposted by Colin Hoad
Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/09/2026
Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc
nyti.ms
Did Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)
An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work.
892110859
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 28/09/2026
I saw a humble bundle deal on C++ programming books advertised on Facebook this morning, and there were several comments underneath saying "why bother, just use AI" and "who needs books for coding, we have Claude" etc. and I must admit it was gut wrenching.
5161
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 28/09/2026
*idly fiddles around with retirement age online calculator* *gasps* *increases monthly pension contribution*
190
Reposted by Colin Hoad
Grady Booch @booch.com · 28/09/2026
To assert that any contemporary AI can think or is conscious represents a particularly emaciated meaning of those words, and suggests that any author of such assertions has a profound misunderstanding of the exquisite nature of what it means to be human.
15310
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 24/09/2026
My 9 games #My9Games my9games.net/en/share/be3...
Imogen (BBC Micro), Palace of Magic (BBC Micro), Final Fantasy VIII (PS1), Doom II (DOS), Civilization II (Windows 98), Super Mario Land 2 (Gameboy), Minesweeper (Windows 3.1), Lemmings (DOS), Half-Life (Windows 98)
4131
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 23/09/2026
Simpsons meme of Barney being thrown out by Moe, but Barney is WEBP and Moe is opening the image in a new tab
1459
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 22/09/2026
At the risk of excommunication from the Church of Nerd, I thought "Tron Ares" was... quite good? The NIN soundtrack is obviously awesome, but I also felt the plot was a nice twist on the Tron theme, and the visuals when Ares goes into the 80s server were excellent. There, I said it!
450
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 22/09/2026
I rarely visit the ebay home page as I mainly interact with ebay via notifications and saved searches, but having just gone there now... what, in the name of all that is holy, is this slopfest? "ebay live"?!
A cavalcade of sloptastic horrors on the ebay website home page
480
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 21/09/2026
Masterclass in 8-bit mathematics from @markmoxon.bsky.social at this evening's @rougol.bsky.social meeting, explaining the guts of how his Two-Player Elite works. Fascinating what the little 6502 can do!
2243
Reposted by Colin Hoad
joe a wilkins @joeonhere.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
10 mins apart lol
8541199
Reposted by Colin Hoad
PoliticsJOE @politicsjoe.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
"Your boss is a credulous dolt who will give your job to an AI that can't do it." The truth about AI is dumber than you think, according to Cory Doctorow. @doctorow.pluralistic.net
416470
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 21/09/2026
More @doctorow.pluralistic.net awesomeness: pluralistic.net/2026/09/21/s... "When we interact with an AI, we hallucinate the person on the other side of the interaction. Those hallucinations are far more common and far more consequential than any AI-generated hallucinations"
pluralistic.net
Pluralistic: The Claude Delusion (21 Sep 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
030
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 21/09/2026
Netflix: entry tier has ads; can pay to avoid Prime: entry tier has ads; can pay to avoid Disney+: all ads, all the time Suspect it won't be long before the other platforms all decide "well, if *Disney* are doing it, why can't we?"
2141
Reposted by Colin Hoad
Mikel Reparaz @wikiparaz.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
PAUL: What’s in the box? REVEREND MOTHER: Pain. [PAUL hesitantly puts his hand in the BOX, then FROWNS IN CONFUSION. He pulls out A BAGUETTE.] REVEREND MOHER: Hōn hōn,
6276872017
Reposted by Colin Hoad
Pip @pipmadeley.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
RIP Stephanie Cole OBE. Seemingly forever typecast to play ladies of a certain age and yet all those performances prove she was one of the most versatile, nuanced actresses in the business. She'll be missed.
Man DownOpen All HoursNoel's House PartyA Bit Of A Do
48112
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 18/09/2026
This thread is extremely good. I mean, it's @doctorow.pluralistic.net so that's priced in, but this thread in particular is right at the heart of why I get so frustrated with the hype concerning LLMs.
020
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 17/09/2026
This is wild! Quake... on Windows 3.1 🤩
2121
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 17/09/2026
This evening I will be revisiting a centrepiece of my childhood trauma... in 4k! princecharlescinema.com/film/3161747...
princecharlescinema.com
The Transformers: The Movie: 40th Anniversary Film Times and Tickets | The Prince Charles Cinema
Browse film times and buy tickets for The Transformers: The Movie: 40th Anniversary at The Prince Charles Cinema
140
Reposted by Colin Hoad
Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Better slogan: No read book? Book too much words? Try robot!
1622831
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 16/09/2026
There's a point at which these numbers are just made-up nonsense. And to be clear, we passed that point long ago, this is just the very latest in a series of bizzarro world funny money numbers. www.reuters.com/legal/transa...
reuters.com
OpenAI mulls funding round at $1.2 trillion valuation ahead of IPO, FT reports
OpenAI has recently held discussions with large investors about a fresh capital raise ​that would increase the ChatGPT maker's valuation to ‌about $1.2 trillion before it goes public, the Financial Ti...
160
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 16/09/2026
REMINDER: Domesday At 40 event at the Cambridge Centre for Computing History is *this Saturday*! Hope to see you there...
062
Reposted by Colin Hoad
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 16/09/2026
Which is to say, these companies are claiming that they are *so cool* that their profitability can only be measured using a novel, secret form of mathematics: futurism.com/future-socie...
futurism.com
Anthropic Boasts It Would Be Profitable if You Ignore How Much It Costs to Develop AI
Anthropic says that its billion-dollar AI business would be profitable, if only you ignore the figure on the bottom line.
813741
Reposted by Colin Hoad
DadGamerUK @dadgamer.uk · 16/09/2026
We've held a village referendum
0121
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 16/09/2026
My phone (which is only a few months old) stopped recognising the USB charging cable. Turned out to be a huge lump of compacted lint that had collected around the inside of the port! Managed to hoick it out with a bread bag tie this morning and it's now happily charging again.
250
Reposted by Colin Hoad
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 15/09/2026
Jeff Bezos and I are very different people. For one thing, he is a sociopathic billionaire who built his fortune by monopolizing bookselling while I am a penniless author of books. He was born in 1964 and is 62; I was born in 1971 and am 55.
A mason jar of piss with Jeff Bezos's laughing head submerged in it.


Image:
Steve Jurvetson (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jeff_Bezos%27_iconic_laugh_crop.jpg

CC BY 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

--

Themightyquill (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kerr_mason_jar.jpg

CC BY-SA 2.5
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en
10457130
Reposted by Colin Hoad
William Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
And I assume that it does, though it’s still scarcely AI at all. So this is a familiar future, yet stupid. And in so many other ways as well.
2447871
Reposted by Colin Hoad
William Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I’ve now lived so much longer than I would ever have expected to that I feel I’m living in the future. This is when I imagined Neuromancer happening. And now the creators of today’s AI warn us that it threatens humanity.
841957386
Reposted by Colin Hoad
Andy Toone @lockfarm.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Ah. The penny drops. Of course they want to talk up dangers of catastrophic AI. It's the obvious step to banning local AI models ("they could destroy the world!") which would otherwise be an existential threat to the guys who're spending trillions on datacentres. "Trust us to run it, we're safe!"
3185
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 14/09/2026
"E-bikes are an increasingly popular zero emission way to get around," says BBC News. Not technically true, though,is it. The electricity to charge them doesn't magically spring from the ground. *Bicycles* are zero emission vehicles.
471
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 14/09/2026
@snuggsy187.bsky.social You might be interested to know that Chuckulus has been selected for the Stardot High Score Challenge's latest round 😁 stardot.org.uk/forums/viewt...
stardot.org.uk
High Score Challenge - S28 - Round - Five - Chuckulus
Stardot high score challenge Season Twenty Eight: Round Five Chuckulus chosen by ColinHoad
1162
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 12/09/2026
Well, the Greaseweazle was fun... but now it's time to try digitally archiving a tape image! This is hard mode, because you can't rewind and replay dropped bytes... so it probably won't work first time and will require some audio splicing ✂️
4193
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 12/09/2026
This is what peak game cover art looks like
Games of Strategy boxed game for the BBC Micro
0100
Reposted by Colin Hoad
0xC0DE @0xc0de.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Let's play something unique on your Acorn Electron this weekend! Try Pyjamarama or Citadel 2 by me, Chuckulus by the inimitable @snuggsy187.bsky.social, Apache Canyon by the awesome @rasto1968.bsky.social or Zezito and the Lost Stars by the excellent @newiapetus.bsky.social. Links in thread...
4276
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 11/09/2026
Things I was frightened of as a child: Maybugs People doing that inside-out-eyelid thing Freddy Krueger The deep end of the swimming pool Cement mixers The Nutter (local urban legend) Dad's childhood bedroom in Grandma's house
060
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 11/09/2026
Sounds like the British answer to the American PBJ... Marmite & Jam.
050
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 11/09/2026
SPACESHIPS ▸ wave 12 · 38 wrecked ▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░ NAVIGATOR can you beat it? spaceships.treybastian.com
spaceships.treybastian.com
SPACESHIPS
Inverted Asteroids: you are not the ship. Place gravity wells and sling the rocks.
162
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 11/09/2026
25 years ago today, I was in my final week at a summer job before starting uni, in a small recruitment agency in Croydon (building their website) when the boss came past and said "someone's flown a plane into the world trade fair" (yes, he said "fair") and I assumed it was a Cessna accident.
270
Reposted by Colin Hoad
Cally Beaton @callybeaton.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Anyone who has ever complained about London Underground, complain no more.
149127442216
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 11/09/2026
Your Computing Museum needs you! I may be biased, as a volunteer, but @tnmoc.bsky.social is fantastic and there is so much to see, you'll definitely want to come back again. So why not sign up for an annual ticket? Ample parking and walkable from the train station, too, so no excuses there! 😄
1113
Reposted by Colin Hoad
Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 10/09/2026
I am serious that today’s journalism ecosystem would be fooled if they played war of the worlds on the radio. It would be on CNN within hours
504649882
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 10/09/2026
A note to journalists reporting on AI: doing the necessary research does not both start and end at "talking to people working for the big AI labs"
180
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 10/09/2026
Conference call!
The Ainley Master holds the universe hostage with a portable cassette player
050
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 10/09/2026
Can these companies not SEE themselves? This is nightmare fuel dystopian bullshit.
4131
Reposted by Colin Hoad
Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 09/09/2026
AI* has a >10%** chance to kill us all *not the AI we're working on but some other AI that we'll build for sure if you keep funding the company I work at **number I made up based on a still-theoretical technology that nobody has but we all love talking about
Evan Hubinger & @EvanHub • 10h
9 ...
To be clear, as we say in our latest Risk Report (x.com/AnthropicAI/st...), | think the risk from present models is low. What I am worried about is superintelligence arising from recursive self-improvement, as we have said is happening faster than we thought
Show more
Anthropic @AnthropicAI • Aug 14
As part of our Responsible Scaling Policy, we publish regular Risk Reports. These share detailed information on the risks of our systems and how prepared we are to address them.
Our second Risk Report is now available: anthropic.com/aug-2026-...
200
17 409
3.8K
Ill 1.6M
企
351106236
Colin Hoad @colinhoad.com · 09/09/2026
No, HMRC, I have not done my tax return, nor will any email you send me motivate me to do so. I shall instead be keeping to the tradition of a mad panic at the end of January, as is right and proper.
2130
Reposted by Colin Hoad
CEEFAUX @ceefaux.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
21.00 THE ZX FILES
Mulder and Scully investigate tales of a manic miner, an atac in an atic and the curious story of a dizzy egg. Please allow seven minutes for this programme to load.
1116237