I was alerted to this by a commenter, but sadly Molly’s old homepage has now been taken over by some scumbag crypto promoter (Molly died in September 2023). This is something all of us have to think about, as one’s relatives most likely aren’t web professionals and so domains will slip away over time. Makes me really angry, but it’s another thing we should find solutions for on the indie web — how to keep important domains going posthumously.
Indieweb.Social
Classic Web (@classicweb@indieweb.social)
Attached: 1 image molly.com on August 06, 2004 https://web.archive.org/web/20040806010708if_/http://www.molly.com:80
I admit, I am fascinated by how X users see the internet. I think some of them genuinely don’t know what websites are. image
When Perplexity buys Chrome, browsing will henceforth be called "hoovering" https://www.wsj.com/tech/perplexity-ai-google-chrome-offer-5ddb7a22?st=7gNiSR
Gary Marcus is not impressed.
GPT-5: Overdue, overhyped and underwhelming. And that’s not the worst of it.
A new release botched … and a breaking research new paper that spells trouble
I disagree with the whole premise of this article (which btw is far too long — it’s clearly been written for machines). “But the web isn’t human-first anymore,” he writes. WRONG. That’s what big tech wants you to believe. My websites are written for humans. Ok, I accept I need to figure out how to make a living from that in this AI era…but the Web is human-first for me, and always will be. That’s non-negotiable. Ref: The web isn’t URL-shaped anymore - Jono Alderson
Jono Alderson
The web isn’t URL-shaped anymore
Why SEO’s page-centric thinking is broken, and how machines are changing the rules of the web.
Tim Berners-Lee on 6 August 1991: “The WWW project was started to allow high energy physicists to share data, news, and documentation. We are very interested in spreading the web to other areas, and having gateway servers for other data. Collaborators welcome!”
Cybercultural
1991: Tim Berners-Lee Tries to Convert the Hypertext Faithful
After a year and a half of stalling from CERN management, Tim Berners-Lee hopes the momentum at the end of 1990 will continue into the new year. Bu...
 Notice he said collaborators and not parasites (yes, I mean AI, but also human SEO parasites). With the open social web, we have a chance for human collaboration again.
If by “hard tech” they mean “hard to stomach”, that would be more accurate. I do agree this is absolutely the next big era after Web 2.0, and I find AI tools to be generally useful, but the hype (exemplified by X users), callousness of big cos (massive job losses, and also what Google is doing to publishers) and the dehumanization around this tech is all very worrying.
Silicon Valley Is in Its ‘Hard Tech’ Era
Goodbye to the age of consumer websites and mobile apps. Artificial intelligence has ushered in an era of what insiders in the nation’s innovatio...
The Web is made of people…who increasingly get tricked into viewing slop by AI.
Mastodon
Sarah Perez 💙 (@Sarahp@mastodon.social)
Zuckerberg: AI increased the time spent on Facebook and Instagram in Q2 https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/30/zuckerberg-ai-increased-the-time-spent-on...
I take a look at how Online Identity has evolved through the years, from the fluid identities of BowieWorld to the neutered identity culture that Facebook introduced in the 2000s. David Bowie himself played with virtual personas (how could he not?!) and I also look at a 1999 book by US sociologist Sherry Turkle.
Cybercultural
From BowieWorld to Facebook: How Online Identity Evolved
Exploring different personas on the web is a widespread trend by the late-1990s. Later, Facebook will neuter online identity, but in 1999 you can i...
 #InternetHistory #OnlineIdentity
Google's latest earnings is currently the top story on @npub1t0qu...ayut. I clicked on the link (how old-fashioned of me), and noted this statement from Sundar Pichai: "Search delivered double-digit revenue growth, and our new features, like AI Overviews and AI Mode, are performing well." "Performing well" for whom? Not the users, not the publishers, and not the WEB. But clearly, performing well for Alphabet Inc & its shareholders :/ Google used to be focused on web users.
Techmeme
Alphabet reports Q2 revenue up 14% YoY to $96.43B, vs. $94B est., net income up 19% to $28.2B, operating income up 14% to $31.27B, and Services revenue up 12%
From Alphabet. View the full context on Techmeme.