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Hugh Wallace

@tumshie.me
1.3K followers 495 following 492 posts

Tech / gov / design / occasional snark. Usually found queuing for coffee ☕️ Digital and data for public good ✊ CIO @rds-scotland.bsky.social Chair @cfgsocial.bsky.social ✍️ Sign up to my newsletter: tumshie.me

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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 2h
and big shout outs to @davekarpf.bsky.social for the evergreen ‘butlers’ post, @lapope.bsky.social for the superb neo-Luddite words + data, and @eryk.bsky.social for his sane takes on the ‘rogue’ debate. Super helpful in informing my thinking.
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Phil Adams @phil-adams.bsky.social · 10h
Excellent piece by @tumshie.me on AI in the workplace. An experienced, coalface perspective. tumshie.me/new-adventur...?
tumshie.me
New Adventures in AI
The unprecedented volume of AI content, endless hype cycles, and risks of unscalable solutions.
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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 24/09/2026
This is a wonderful little story about children’s creativity in getting around Internet bans.
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 14/08/2026
Booked!
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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
have wanted to see more beef lately and this is a good one: karlbode.com/why-is-naomi...
karlbode.com
Why is Naomi Klein Funding Substack’s Hate Machine?
Writers of good conscience should not be building new media companies on the back of a platform that opportunistically coddles white supremacy.
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 14/07/2026
I finished Contrapposto last night, so your heartbreaking newsletter of staggering genius has helped fill the void now Cricket and Olympia are no longer around 😢
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 12/07/2026
It’s superb - love the ‘maintenance’ finale. Thanks for gift linking.
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party? - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @financialtimes.com Possibly the most informative article I've read this year
giftarticle.ft.com
Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party?
Our obsession with AI code-writing tools is overwhelming the web’s unsung human caretakers
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Kathryn Corrick @kcorrick.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Whoop, the Society for Hopeful Technologists has arrived! Follow @hopeful.technology Our latest newsletter is out today full of hopeful things to read, listen and do over the summer: buttondown.com/society-of-h... Subscribe here: buttondown.com/society-of-h...
buttondown.com
#6: The Summer 2026 Hopeful Tech Index
Updates from the Society for Hopeful Technologists, plus recommendations for summer reading, listening, and gaming
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Sarah Drummond @rufflemuffin.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Bad Services is out today and we’d like to take this opportunity to announce our unwavering support for services that don't work. So much so that we've launched our new sister company - The Bad Services Corporation Welcome to your Bad Services Corporation staff induction. badservicescorp.com
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 28/06/2026
Ha! This is so fab - just as quirky and brilliant as you promised 😄
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 23/06/2026
I started to write a tongue-in-cheek post about the way technology is portrayed in movies, and ended up with a fairly ranty piece on why the social media ban focuses on the wrong targets. Awkward juxtapose inc. tumshie.me/aliens-land-...
tumshie.me
Aliens land, social media banned
What do Steven Spielberg's latest movie and the UK banning social media for under 16s have in common?
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 20/06/2026
I wrote about Snap's TERRIBLE product design a couple of years back, in amongst other myths and fabrications the tech industry wants us to believe about smartglasses. tumshie.me/dead-behind-...
tumshie.me
Dead behind the eyeglasses
This post is sort of about augmented reality (AR). But the bigger point it’s grappling with is about who to trust when it comes to the development of technology. If all of my grumbling and moralising...
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 20/06/2026
So enjoyed the latest episode of Vergecast, particularly @davidpierce.xyz and @reckless.bsky.social's jovial talk of "wearable bullshit" and AR glasses "giving good demo" but little else of worth or value to humanity. www.theverge.com/podcast/9521...
theverge.com
Snap’s Specs look good on nobody
On The Vergecast: Snap Specs, Fox / Roku, and Facebook AI Mode.
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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
It is also absolutely typical that Elon Musk can do whatever he likes and the way to get it around it is to suppress young people's access to information and relationships.
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 01/06/2026
That's my lovely pal Ashley's work, he's done a load of great pieces that raise a quizzical eyebrow about the role of technology in our lives. ashleyrawson.com/about
ashleyrawson.com
About
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 20/05/2026
Just saw this Himal. Thanks for the kind words, and also for sharing your thoughts so openly on the day.
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 13/04/2026
Another way to put it is... if you don't use AI platforms because you have a moral objection to them, but you publish your words on Substack, you haven't really thought about this stuff.
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 22/03/2026
Hey - sorry to hear about this, all the best for a swift recovery
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 21/03/2026
I love that work and life collided, good old parkrun 😊 Looks like, for once, it might have been warmer in Edinburgh than London!
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 21/03/2026
Yup, true to form
Text reads: "Hello Hugh, Portobello parkrun, Edinburgh results for event #477. Your time was 00:27:18."
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 21/03/2026
20 years since the very first tweet - unhappy birthday Twitter! tumshie.me/x-why-are-yo...
tumshie.me
X: why are you still here?
Twitter is no longer with us, but X lives on. In the run up to what would've been Twitter's 20th birthday, why does X's influence endure?
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Ethan Zuckerman @ethanz.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Re: Meta's retreat from the metaverse: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/t... Told you so: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
Hey, Facebook, I Made a Metaverse 27 Years Ago
It was terrible then, and it’s terrible now.
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mia ridge @miaout.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
I'm volunteering as a parkrun marshall and scanner this weekend - the point about manual scanning promoting interactions is so true! 'Just enough technology' is a great mantra for life
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 19/03/2026
Big up the volunteers! I've done it a couple of times, and am always trying to persuade unwilling younger family members to do it more.
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 19/03/2026
I wrote some words about the joy of parkrun, the thoughtful application of technology, and (somewhat inevitably) AI. tumshie.me/its-a-run-no...
tumshie.me
It's a run, not a race
When I turned 50 last year, one of the most noteworthy things I did was rack up my 50th parkrun. I'd realised a few months earlier that if I timed it carefully, the two things would coincide nicely. ...
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MJ Lira @mjlira.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
This is the Society for Hopeful Technologists. Brilliant, kind and thoughtful individuals looking to bring hope back into tech. Join us for updates. societyforhopefultechnologists.org
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steve @visitmy.website · 11/03/2026
Local government bods! Anyone with experience of getting permission for working in the open at your local authority? Need a couple of quotes from people who’ve done it before...
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Anita Chaudhuri @anitachaudhuri.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Really insightful explainer and update on the dreadful Glasgow fire and its impact which must have been challenging to write today. Kudos to @libbybrooks.bsky.social and @severincarrell.bsky.social
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 09/03/2026
I also ended up in a dizzying spin of app, email, and notification confusion 😬
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 09/03/2026
Absolutely gutting news about Glasgow - I got the train into Central Station on Friday night, and it's hard to fathom how much is now just gone. This photo from the 80s shows the extent: from the Irn Bru to the Bell's sign, almost completely destroyed by fire. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...
flickr.com
Your Other National Drink - Renfield Street early eighties
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 08/03/2026
As is tradition, here are my highlights from February a week later than intended (accompanied by a fitting photo to sum up the general state of things) tumshie.me/monthnote-fe...
tumshie.me
Monthnote, February 2026
Various goings-on during the shortest month.
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 06/03/2026
And massive shout out to @jenitennison.com @emilyjmacaulay.bsky.social @gavinfreeguard.com and all the @connectedbydata.org team for running such an engaging and thought-provoking event. Plus a bonus lanyard that turns into seeds 🌱
A postcard that says ‘Innovation needs representation’ beside a lanyard with my name (Hugh) on it.
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 06/03/2026
Powerful, provocative keynote on AI from @elmosmoe.bsky.social at today’s ‘Power and participation in public tech’ conference in Manchester. So good to have the ‘this is inevitable’ narrative challenged with many pertinent examples.
Steph Wright in full flow presenting in front of a screen and colourful stained glass
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 27/02/2026
Thanks Chris. So many final straw moments! Hopefully more and more orgs/people will make the move off.
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 26/02/2026
Yes! I wrote this the other day. tumshie.me/x-why-are-yo...
tumshie.me
X: why are you still here?
Twitter is no longer with us, but X lives on. In the run up to what would've been Twitter's 20th birthday, why does X's influence endure?
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 23/02/2026
In a v rare moment of tapping into the zeitgeist 😂 my Happy 20th Birthday Twitter post covers a lot of similar ground to John Oliver’s takedown tumshie.me/x-why-are-yo...
tumshie.me
X: why are you still here?
Twitter is no longer with us, but X lives on. In the run up to what would've been Twitter's 20th birthday, why does X's influence endure?
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 23/02/2026
IMHO there isn't a defensible position anymore: get off the platform, or start making plans to. We all inevitibly end up drinking from the poisoned well.
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 23/02/2026
I dipped back in for the purposes of this post, and it's evident there's still loads of active accounts, and particular groups keeping things ticking along nicely. Huge kudos to @andytattersall.bsky.social's article and research into UK academia's use of X blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...
blogs.lse.ac.uk
UK academia’s presence on X is reaching a tipping point - LSE Impact
Data collected on UK universities’ use of social media shows academic engagement with X is at a tipping point with more institutions off the platform than on.
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 23/02/2026
I started drafting this last month in the midst of the CSAM scandal. I find it intensely frustrating that every 6-12 months there's a huge X backlash and then everyone largely carries on as normal, even though *nothing* is normal about how the platform operates.
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 23/02/2026
Twitter would have been 20 years old next month, but it didn't make it beyond its teenage years 😢 I've written about the fact X still exerts a lot of influence over our public discourse, and why that's bad for all of us. tumshie.me/x-why-are-yo...
tumshie.me
X: why are you still here?
Get your party clothes ready people: next month would have been Twitter's 20th birthday! 🥳 For so it came to pass, on 21 March 2006, Jack Dorsey posted "just setting up my twttr" and an era-defining ...
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 20/02/2026
I’ve migrated twice, to Buttondown & Ghost. Both times were super simple, but… as with all things internety, best to take a bit of time & send a few test emails - the main stuff I found easy (bulk moving posts, subscribers) but there are functional tweaks that u just have to work through. Good luck!
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 17/02/2026
😮
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Karen Hao @karenhao.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Episode 1 is OUT!! 🥳 🙌 This week on The Interface, we discuss: * That insane Superbowl ad for Ring * The US TikTok takeover * And the beef that launched ChatGPT Listen wherever you get your podcasts: app.magellan.ai/listen_links...
app.magellan.ai
The Interface
Listen to The Interface
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 11/02/2026
And now it’s lighting up LinkedIn too, with hundreds of AI boosters slavering all over it 🤮
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Ryan Broderick @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Here's my take on that big dumb post about AI going viral on X right now. www.garbageday.email/p/a-comfort-...
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
how do you write this story without noting there was a campaign literally called SUBSTACKERS AGAINST NAZIS in…2023
theguardian.com
Revealed: How Substack makes money from hosting Nazi newsletters
Exclusive: Site takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 07/02/2026
The slightly bonkers backstory to the Opalite video (and the music vid itself) have made we smile today. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/f...
theguardian.com
Taylor Swift casts ‘insanely charismatic and lovable’ Graham Norton in music video
Opalite video reunites host and guests including Domhnall Gleeson and Lewis Capaldi from Swift’s October chatshow appearance
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Hugh Wallace @tumshie.me · 07/02/2026
A monthnote for January. Musings on data, language, context, AI, and keeping occupied while it’s dark and dreich 🌧️ tumshie.me/monthnote-ja...
tumshie.me
Monthnote, January 2026
What is this? This is my monthnote for January, a post where I reflect on the previous month's work, alongside other life stuff. The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed I wrote a few of these at...
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