In position for a night of nostalgia.

May was a bad month in Silicon Valley, whether you're Musk or a Meta staffer. The late of tech layoffs is only increasing. By the end of this month the totals are likely to exceed those of the whole of 2025. In six months the phrase happy New Year might ring very hollow. My latest column.

In position for Microsoft Build. The next two days could tell us a lot about where Redmond is headed.

This tshirt I made for Symantec Vulnerability Research, a program predating Google Project Zero by nearly a decade where we’d discover, report, & disclose vulnerabilities we found in other people’s software, is 20 years old. Still holds true: Don’t hate the Finder, hate the vuln

We're going to need a bigger hammer. Rocket aside, the facilities are going to be trashed for at least six months.

One of the worst things about driving 101 is that California drivers don't seem to get the concept of stopping distances. Leave a safe gap to the vehicle in front and immediately two cars try and jump in there. My former driving instructor would be going full into full rage mode.

No spoilers but the Canadian F1 race was an absolute stonker - hard racing and tactics, a worthy podium for all, and the cool-down room comments were classic. "I had a snap there and nearly crapped myself," said the GOAT.

I've been trying to explain about Eurovision to American friends this morning and they are looking at me like I'm mad.

Morning MU/TH/UR. youtu.be/oxdCEBppRM8?...

Welcome back Hungary, we've missed you.

Going to Ikea on the weekend reminds you that, while the Swedes are no longer vikings, they can still bugger up your weekend. Where does this extra screw go?

He's a national treasure.

I'm far from Starmer's biggest fan but the article makes some good points. Trying to imitate Reform is a losing strategy. Highlighting at their lamentable record when they do have power is a better strategy.

UK local elections seem to have gone smoothly but if you haven't voted you please go down to the polls before 10pm. It's a right your ancestors fought and died for.

Both the look, and the words, don't inspire confidence.

Brewster Kahle founded the Archive when he could have just retired after selling his tech businesses. Instead he created something wonderful and vital, and is happy to show folks around every Friday. As an interviewee he gives great quotes and is passionate about the need for the Archive. 1/2

April's View from the Valley is entitled "The shot heard round the AI world." Two attacks on Sam Altman's house this month are a sign that some Americans are getting bizarrely militant about AI. Thankfully it's just some nutters, but the industry needs to make its case for datacenters everywhere.

Microsoft is no longer paying OpenAI to run all its models there; OpenAI can run on the massively polluting data centres Oracle and others are building if they can stay in business that long without Microsoft’s money. Amicable divorce splits childcare responsibilities, endorses dating around

Someone is apparently unaware that: The UK got its first bagel shop on 1855. You never boil beans, only simmer them. Bagels are essentially boiled bread. And the weekend fry up is a thing of joy.

And in one of history's most beautiful F1 cars.

As has long been suspected, Tim Cook is stepping down as CEO in favour of John Turnus after 15 years at the helm. While it's usually a good step to put an engineer in charge of a tech firm (looking at you Intel) I doubt the enshittification of Apple will slow down, and may even speed up.

120 years ago, there was a whole lotta of shaking (an estimated 7.9 magnitude) going on in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake. Some colourised footage here, with commentary from Jack London's account. I suspect he employed his fiction skills in describing how calm everyone was.

Given government plans in this area, and the enormously high stakes involved in verification, you'd think the EU could do better than this. Then again, experience shows it's hardly surprising - government isn't good at building apps.

A soggy Sunday is a bit of a letdown but we need the water.

Decided to take a break from the diet and have an In-N-Out for lunch. The double-double animal style with whole onion is the finest fast-food burger in the US. It's a pity the fries are so bad, even done crispy.

Welcome home. An epic trip.

You know what doesn't get its support unceremoniously pulled by a tech company? Fuckin' books, brother

The Earth is coming into view for Artemis II. Not taken from an iPhone.

A great panel and a lot of fun was had. Was very glad I helped expose the Great British Marmalade Scandal that isn't - Paddington would be giving some journalists a very hard stare.

Walking the cat in the evening and a neighbour stopped by to give her strokes. "It's Stumpy, the local celebrity!" I know it's odd walking a cat but she's very old and her eyesight is not so good. But she loves a prowl.

Dear sub-editors and everyone else talking about Artemis II - It's the far side of the moon, not the dark side. It gets nearly the same amount of sunlight as the near side. This is the regolith mound I stand on. Pink Floyd have a lot to answer for, despite it being a great album.

The latest View from the Valley is up and it's all war, security, and tech layoffs. One of the feelings from RSAC is that everyone - even C-suiters - are gloomy about the job situation improving. It's not all AI-based, but it's a large part of it as tech moves to a good-enough business model.

I'm pretty sure the headline writer had a huge grin on their face when crafting this one.

It's always nice to meet up with an old friend, and we had a great time. We're both living away from home these days but a superb catchup. And yes, the effect of AI on security can't be understated - we're in for a rough few years.

Covered the BSidesSF keynote and a great talk by @k8em0.bsky.social. She said one thing that I can't get out of my head. The UN World Food Programme forecast it could end world hunger in a decade for $40bn a year. Just for this year, five tech companies committed $660–690bn to AI infrastructure.

Sunset heading into San Francisco.

This is deeply worrying as a journalist and headline writer. Crafted headlines are essential to attracting readers and this half-arsed job by an AI bot is both insulting and a step too far. Google seems intent on enshittifying everything it touches these days. This will not end well.

Do look up.

Yes, that is a picture of Alan Turing riding a badger. I explain why in the podcast.

This view never gets old.

Heading into the city to meet a good friend, but it's Saint Patrick's Day, which means amateur-hour drinkers. We've got a nice place to go but if you are going to get wankered tonight please tip the bartenders, who are having a hell of a time, and keep it cheerful. No one likes a fighty drunk.

OK, the Chinese Grand Prix could be worth watching tomorrow. Maybe this season isn't going to be so one-sided after all.

This is a terrifying case of the police misusing AI. Angela Lipps was locked up for four months based solely on the result of facial recognition software, losing her house and pets. It's insane that a force can be so lazy that they don't even bother investigating and just trust the software.

Big Sur is a beautiful place that is also renowned for having the highest gas prices in the state. I took this a decade ago to show friends how bad things were My better half spotted a local Shell station today is selling petrol/gas at $6 a gallon, up from $4.50 last week, and diesel is even worse.

"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure." -Clarance Darrow.

My latest piece for The Stack on Microsoft taking a leaf from the antivirus industry and "fingerprinting" LLM prompt injection attacks to block them across multiple agents. The paper looks very interesting but Microsoft has declined to comment on when it'll be released.

A lovely obit, and the last three words speak volumes. A proper old-school hacker.

I promise this month's View from the Valley had no forewarning of Iran strikes. It does look like AI was involved, but not in that way. www.techfinitive.com/features/vie... That said, the willingness to go nuclear is worrying - someone should teach LLMs about the effect of EMP on servers.

Andrew, the royal formerly known as Prince, was arrested on his 66th birthday over claims he leaked UK trade data to Epstein. That's a hearty "f*** you" from his older brother. As far as I'm aware the last time a royal was actually arrested was King Charles I in 1647. The Firm are clearly angry.