iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Muse is constantly updating granular information about you — even if you don’t use Muse. All users giving permission to Muse to scrape personal data are in effect offering that permission on behalf of literally everyone else they are in contact with. Data privacy nightmare.

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Snip snap snip snap www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/u... (Gift link)

021

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Enjoying these new ads for Control Resonant on my road in London

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Very real-sized right hand you got there, Apple hand model.

010

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Donald Trump more interested in literal arts and crafts than running the country, as per Antonia Hitchens: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Oversaturated podcast genres: Business, Society & Culture Undersaturated podcast genres: Kids & Family, Music, History, Science uk.themedialeader.com/business-pod...

010

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

David Ellison argues in NYT today why he should be trusted with owning both Paramount and WBD, both CBS News and CNN. He then betrays his lack of understanding about the purpose of news. News based on “facts and truth” is not necessarily “straight down the middle.” And who defines the middle?

001

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Seven Sisters shot on Tri-X with a Rolleiflex T.

150

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Some scenes around London caught on half frame from the past few months. Camera: Olympus Pen F Film: Cinestill 800T

140

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I spoke to Meta's EMEA VP recently and asked her about privacy concerns around their line of smart glasses. Her response was basically that the LED light that shines when a photo/video is being captured (which mods have been able to disable) is a sufficient safety feature. Transcript:

Meta's EMEA Vice President responds to concerns around smart glasses by claiming Meta has a "privacy review" process for new consumer products and that its LED light, which shines when the camera is active (and which mods have been able to disable) is a sufficient safety feature.

121

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

That an editor thought this was worth a news story is so funny to me.

110

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

“I know Oklahoma is OK, but are you doing well?”

090

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Very telling that NYT further publishes, in the comment section of Rufo's interview with Klein, a comment by Rufo saying, "it's better for the country to have a rational Right and a rational Left that can engage in dialogue and debate." As if his gutter racism represents the "rational Right".

110

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I played around with the dev kit of these last year. The tech is awesome. The implications for privacy are terrifying. uk.themedialeader.com/snap-is-bett... My conclusions:

010

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Reading between the lines of the @reutersinstitute.bsky.social 2026 Digital News Report, and it strikes me that news consumers still need traditional outlets to provide trustworthy news, but that they prefer to get the biased take from someone that agrees with their worldview. Seems healthy.

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

The Strait of Hormuz closure is forecast to threaten $94bn worth of global advertising investment over the next 18 months. uk.themedialeader.com/strait-of-ho... “If the conflict drags on — or further intensifies — these risks shift toward stagflation."

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Scenes from a dystopia, Shoreditch, London, 2026

100

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Oh man www.newyorker.com/news/letter-...

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Just a friendly reminder www.justice.gov/epstein/file...

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

The sycophancy is really summed up here by comms director Steven Cheung. “Cheung gave neither a yes or a no, but said whatever decision Trump made would be the right one.” That is how people tend to consider acts of God, not the acts of a stupid, easily swayed, aging wannabe dictator.

021

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

It basically occurred as everyone speculated. Israel presented what US intelligence described as a “farcical” plan to topple the Iranian regime. Trump liked the idea. And the yes-men he surrounded himself with, despite all saying essentially it was a bad idea, also said they’d back his decision.

121

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

I don't know why, but looking at some of the most amazing photos I've ever seen, and right next to it seeing a comparably low-res selfie of the astronauts with their flimsy-looking eclipse glasses really makes it for me.

0394

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Or, as artfully put by Farrow and Marantz:

041

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

NYT on when it decides to publish an obscenity. www.nytimes.com/article/when... "For example, The Times doesn’t shy away from reporting vulgarities uttered by powerful public figures and wielded in a public setting." Apparently this comes with exceptions for Trump comma Donald.

100

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Interesting analysis from “ad contrarian” Bob Hoffman, who is skeptical the social media addiction trial result is akin to a “Big Tobacco” moment. Big Tobacco’s consumers were the public, who cared about their health. Social media’s consumers are advertisers, who don’t care about public health.

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Neither of these actions are legal, but you wouldn’t know that by the headline or description at most major US papers (NYT here as an example).

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Meanwhile nearly half of creator advertising is not even being *seen* by users because the brand doesn’t appear within the first 3 seconds of a video. Because 86% of videos on Meta platforms aren’t being viewed longer than 3 seconds (!) Pretty shocking given Meta’s ad revenue growth.

030

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Meta is on stage at Advertising Week Europe here in London. They haven’t addressed the addiction trial-sized elephant in the room, but they have shared some interesting data. 5 years ago, 0% of the content shown to users was from accounts you don’t follow. Last year it was 70%.

42310

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Seen today outside King’s College in London. Naively thought I’d escaped this by moving out of the States.

110

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Apparently British people have "little knowledge" of SNL. The American critic calls it, "Like stepping into a well-run Starbucks abroad". The British critic: "The best sketches were good, but they highlighted the bloat elsewhere" Well yep, that's SNL for you. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/a...

110

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I apparently watched a different hearing

010

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

New Bluesky CEO says ads are “near the bottom of the idea list” as the platform weighs its monetization strategy.

072

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Today in ‘America is an Oligarchy’: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/u... (Gift link)

032

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Former OpenAI researcher says in NYT today she has “deep reservations” about the company’s ad model. “The company is building an economic engine that creates strong incentives to override its own rules.” Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/11/o...

010

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Tough jobs figures out of UK advertising agencies. - Total employment at agencies declined 6.8%, driven by a 14.3% fall in employees at creative agencies. - Just 11.8% of employees are now under-25s, down from 17.4% in 2022. - Open vacancies were down 40.8% uk.themedialeader.com/agency-emplo...

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

@ruthmarcus.bsky.social: Jeff Bezos' fortune is such that WaPo could lose $100m/year and he could still afford to keep it funded on his own dime for 2,000+ years. A great and terribly depressing read: www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...

In the 1941 movie “Citizen Kane,” Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper publisher who, like Bezos, is one of the richest men in the world, is confronted by his legal guardian, Walter Thatcher, about the folly of funding his paper. “Honestly, my boy, don’t you think it’s rather unwise to continue this philanthropic enterprise, this Inquirer that’s costing you a million dollars a year?” Thatcher demands. “You’re right, Mr. Thatcher. I did lose a million dollars last year,” Kane replies. “I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I’ll have to close this place in sixty years.” Update Kane’s outlays to assume losses of a hundred million annually, in perpetuity. By that math, Bezos would have more than two millennia before needing to turn out the lights. ♦

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

LEAD is an annual conference hosted by the UK’s Advertising Association. In attendance are hundreds of C-suite executives from the media and advertising industry. The questions they submitted to Meta are telling.

110

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

At today’s LEAD conference in Westminster, Meta was asked to respond to @justinhorowitz.bsky.social’s reporting in November than Meta internally estimated about 10% of its overall annual revenue in 2024 (equivalent to $16bn) from running ads for scams and banned goods. I live blogged the response:

100

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Respect to the media reporters for the sass. (Not that WaPo needs to be profitable, given Bezos is happy to throw around millions for Melania, etc, but not actual journalism.)

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Pretty much sums up the reaction everyone in Europe is having to the Americans in Davos.

042

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

X is now claiming it's implemented "technological measures" to prevent Grok from being used to create nude or lewd images of people, including minors. An Ofcom spokesperson called it a "welcome development" but stressed its formal investigation remains ongoing.

000

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

The impact Covid and changed streaming habits has had on cinema, in one chart. UK & Ireland box office in the three years before Covid was fairly consistent, around the £1.3bn range. But in the three full years since pandemic lockdowns were lifted, a new plateau has emerged between £1bn and £1.1bn.

100

Jack Benjamin @jackcarterbenjamin.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

This copy is so completely laughable it’s hard to believe it’s an earnest attempt at context. The framing betrays the extraordinary bias innate to NYT’s coverage of Mamdani since his campaign began getting traction.

010