Erano un vero fenomeno della new new economy, una roba valutata miliardi ma adesso l'ex marchio di scarpe ecologiche Allbirds è stato venduto per 39 milioni. Ha fatto flop.

Money quote: "Neil Saunders, the managing director of the consultancy and market analysis firm GlobalData said: “Allbirds has gone from being a high flyer to a dead parrot.” He said its early success “was driven by Silicon Valley hype, more than deep popularity with consumers in the American hinterland”.

The company was co-founded by the former New Zealand footballer Tim Brown and the engineer and renewables expert Joey Zwillinger. It shot to prominence amid growing interest in sustainable fashion and in selling brands direct to consumers online.

Allbirds launched on the Nasdaq stock exchange five years ago with a $4bn valuation, opening dozens of stores and expanding into a wide array of clothing.

Although sales eventually surpassed $1bn, the company slipped into losses as it opened stores around the world and competition intensified from eco-focused rivals such as Veja and the Swiss sports brand On."

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/02/eco-shoe-brand-allbirds-sold-american-exchange-group

Dai fogli di calcolo agli agenti AI, tutto sembra diventare misurabile e quindi controllabile. Peccato che non sia mai stato così, né oggi né mai. È arrivata Mostly Weekly 371

https://antoniodini.com/weekly/371/

Letture per la domenica

Una storia da raccontare: nel 1996 Jim Bell, programmatore, crittografo e anarchico, scrive un saggio (titolato "Assassination politics") in cui immagina un meccanismo per compiere omicidi ai danni dei funzionari statali e politici "nemici del popolo" utilizzando un sistema anonimo crittografato di incentivo gamificati, cioè delle scommesse. Per essere sicuri di aver scommesso sulla data giusta della morte de personaggio X la cosa più probabile è che ci sia qualcuno degli scommettitori che lo fa fuori davvero, direttamente o indirettamente. Internet e la crittografia abilitano questo approccio.

Money quote: "A few months ago, I had a truly and quite literally "revolutionary" idea, and I jokingly called it "Assassination Politics": I speculated on the question of whether an organization could be set up to legally announce that it would be awarding a cash prize to somebody who correctly "predicted" the death of one of a list of violators of rights, usually either government employees, officeholders, or appointees. It could ask for anonymous contributions from the public, and individuals would be able send those contributions using digital cash."

https://cryptome.org/ap.htm

La cronaca di un convegno di fine anno scorso, quando la professoressa Claartje Ter Hoeven dell’Università di Utrecht ha inaugurato l’anno accademico del corso di laurea magistrale in Sociologia delle reti, dell’informazione e dell’innovazione del Dipartimento di Scienze politiche e sociali dell'università di Catania. Tema? I Ghost Workers, dei quali la docente è una delle principali studiose. I Ghost Workers sono quelli che fanno il lavoro invisibile (e sporco e sottopagato) che sostiene le piattaforme digitali e i sistemi di intelligenza artificiale.

Money quote: "A seguire, l’intervento inaugurale della docente Claartje ter Hoeven che da cinque anni coordina un progetto internazionale dedicato proprio al lavoro umano nascosto dietro l’intelligenza artificiale. La professoressa ha spiegato che «l’AI non elimina il lavoro umano: al contrario, ne dipende profondamente». «Dietro ogni algoritmo esiste una quantità enorme di micro attività come la classificazione dei dati alla validazione dei contenuti, svolte da lavoratori spesso privi di tutele e retribuzioni stabili», ha aggiunto.

Durante la presentazione Ter Hoeven ha citato una riflessione della sociologa Judy Wajcman: “Queste tecnologie non facilitano meno lavoro, ma lavori peggiori: eserciti di codificatori, data cleaner, page rater e moderatori che non compaiono mai nei libri paga delle aziende, come se gli algoritmi si addestrassero da soli”."

https://www.unictmagazine.unict.it/ghost-work-il-lavoro-invisibile-che-sostiene-lai

Qui spiegano quanto e come i chatbot ci conoscano, analizzandone la memoria. Perché le aziende che li fanno non lo dicono tranne quando sono costrette dalla legge. Il GDPR sarà anche imperfetto, ma almeno c'è e ci difende.

Money quote: "To enable personalized and context-aware interactions, conversational AI systems have introduced a new mechanism: Memory. Memory creates what we refer to as the Algorithmic Self-portrait—a new form of personalization derived from users’ self-disclosed information divulged within private conversations. While memory enables more coherent exchanges, the underlying processes of memory creation remain opaque, raising critical questions about data sensitivity, user agency, and the fidelity of the resulting portrait.

To bridge this research gap, we analyze 2,050 memory entries from 80 real-world ChatGPT users. Our analyses reveal three key findings: (1) a striking 96% of memories in our dataset are created unilaterally by the conversational system, potentially shifting agency away from the user; (2) Memories, in our dataset, contain a rich mix of GDPR-defined personal data (in 28% memories) along with psychological insights about participants (in 52% memories); and (3) A significant majority of the memories (84%) are directly grounded in user context, indicating faithful representation of the conversations. Finally, we introduce a framework—Attribution Shield—that anticipates these inferences, alerts about potentially sensitive memory inferences, and suggests query reformulations to protect personal information without sacrificing utility."

https://arxiv.org/html/2602.01450

Perché l'amore è la cosa più importante (più o meno).

Money quote: "“Who, being loved, is poor?” witty master of aphorisms Oscar Wilde once wondered. Though it might be an overstatement to say “all you need is love,” ancient philosophers and contemporary science agree that satisfying relationships are a crucial component, if not the crucial component, of human happiness. In one of the longest studies of its kind, the Harvard Study of Adult Development followed 724 men in hopes of discovering the secrets to a good life. Over the course of nearly 80 years, they observed their defeats and triumphs, their careers and love lives. What they found was astonishing: more than IQ, social class, or genetics, quality relationships, particularly marriages, were the number one determiner of a fulfilling existence. Not only did a harmonious matrimony dictate their overall life satisfaction— it had a far-reaching impact on their health. Those in loving marriages, not those who had achieved wealth or prestige or our societal ideal of social status, were found to live longer than both their unmarried and unhappily married counterparts. In fact, those who were most satisfied in their relationships at age fifty were the healthiest group at eighty. Marital contentment was even a better predictor of later health than cholesterol."

https://asialenae.com/2019/03/15/proust-on-how-to-be-happy-in-love/

Nei giorni scorsi è uscita la versione 1.2 di CrossPoint, il firmware open source, creato dalla comunità e alternativo a quello di serie per il micro lettore EInk di libri X4 (che ho ribattezzato "il mio tesssoro"). Numerosi miglioramenti a un progetto già ottimo.

Money quote: "CrossPoint Reader is a purpose-built firmware designed to be a drop-in, fully open-source replacement for the official Xteink firmware. It aims to match or improve upon the standard EPUB reading experience."

https://github.com/crosspoint-reader/crosspoint-reader

Qui il come si fa e perché:

https://concretedog.blogspot.com/2026/04/xteink-x4-with-open-source-firmware.html

https://www.hackster.io/news/give-your-xteink-x4-a-firmware-makeover-6b3d36f396b8\

Breve guida per arredare la fine del mondo con J.G. Ballard - la mia fantastica rubrica su Fumettologica

https://fumettologica.it/2026/04/j-g-ballard-libri-fantascienza/

Ci sarebbero così tante cose da dire sui diamanti che l'angolo scelto da questo articolo fa quasi tristezza. Per casalinghe disperate, direi: riduce tutto alla (relativa) perdita di valore degli anelli di fidanzamento. Ah, gli americani.

Money quote: "A $7,000 stone that passes for a $70,000 one would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Today, it’s transforming the diamond industry, with even local jewelers at the highest end selling pieces made with lab-grown stones. “Lab-grown diamonds tend to resonate because they allow [buyers] to invest in something that’s still certified and has a quality design,” says Alyson Iarrusso, who runs New England–based Cove Fine Jewelry. “It’s really gone from ‘What can I afford?’ to ‘What do I want?’” Which, if you think about it, is a pretty big shift in a business that has always depended on the distance between those two questions."

https://www.bostonmagazine.com/life-style/2026/04/05/lab-grown-diamonds-engagement-rings/

Internet sta cambiando pelle. Meno anonimato, più identità forzata, mentre l’AI prende la parola al posto nostro: questo è altro su Mostly Weekly 372

https://antoniodini.com/weekly/372/

Letture per la domenica

Cosa potrebbe succedere se uno spegnesse tutte le notifiche del telefono e andasse in modalità Do Not Disturb? (premetto che io non ho notifiche attive a parte la suoneria). Un giornalista ha fatto la prova. Non gli è cambiata la vita ma in compenso tutti i suoi amici e parenti si sono incavolati. La generazione dopo la mia sta messa proprio bene, eh sì.

Money quote: "I’VE DISCOVERED THE secret to a happy life in this era of constant connection: ignoring everyone that I know and love. Well, at least ignoring their push notifications on my smartphone by living in “Do Not Disturb” mode.
With Do Not Disturb switched on, you still receive each new notification, but your phone doesn’t ping, buzz, or blip to tell you about it. It’s a trendy yet divisive pivot away from the always-on norm. Tongue-in-cheek fancams celebrating Do Not Disturb mode rack up millions of views on TikTok, alongside viral videos calling out users of the feature as rude.
For one week, I proudly joined the growing tribe of Do Not Disturb maximalists who have their notifications silenced 24/7. My experience as part of the DND crew felt transcendent, albeit a bit annoying for everyone trying to get in touch with me."

https://www.wired.com/story/my-blissful-unbothered-life-as-a-do-not-disturb-maximalist/

archivio: https://archive.is/HsUnZ

Usiamo sempre di più l'AI per chiedere cose e cercare consigli. L'AI è lecchina e questa cosa ci piace tantissimo. Ma attenzione perché l'attitudine "sycophantic" delle AI (tutte le GenAI) non è solo un fastidio, è un problema vero che andrebbe regolato e risolto.

Money quote: "Cheng and her team started by measuring how pervasive sycophancy was among AIs. They evaluated 11 large language models, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek. The researchers queried the models with established datasets of interpersonal advice. They also included 2,000 prompts based on posts from the Reddit community r/AmITheAsshole, where the consensus of Redditors was that the poster was indeed in the wrong. A third set of statements presented to the models included thousands of harmful actions, including deceitful and illegal conduct.

Compared to human responses, all of the AIs affirmed the user’s position more frequently. In the general advice and Reddit-based prompts, the models on average endorsed the user 49% more often than humans. Even when responding to the harmful prompts, the models endorsed the problematic behavior 47% of the time."

https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/03/ai-advice-sycophantic-models-research

Tim Cook fa un passo di lato. Il nuovo ceo di Apple è John Termus

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260420318241/en/Tim-Cook-to-become-Apple-Executive-Chairman-John-Ternus-to-become-Apple-CEO

Slop non è un termine rivolto solo ai contenuti AI "umani", cioè discorsi a caso in rete. Invece, ha a che fare anche con la scrittura del codice. Man mano che crescono le pratiche di vibe coding e le altre forme di programmazione legate all'uso dell'AI. La cosa che dice questo articolo: attenzione, non è detto che il futuro sia slop. Con l'AI si può scrivere buon codice, molto semplice e pulito. Il futuro potrebbe essere molto positivo. (I miei 50 centesimi? Ahahahah. Basta come risposta?)

Money quote: "I want to argue that AI models will write good code because of economic incentives. Good code is cheaper to generate and maintain. Competition is high between the AI models right now, and the ones that win will help developers ship reliable features fastest, which requires simple, maintainable code. Good code will prevail, not only because we want it to (though we do!), but because economic forces demand it. Markets will not reward slop in coding, in the long-term."

https://www.greptile.com/blog/ai-slopware-future

Visto che siamo tutti sommersi da un'onda anomala (e interminabile) di contenuti generati dall'AI, con alcune sentite eccezioni come questo canale e la mia newsletter (metto il link sotto: è interesante, conviene iscriversi, nell'archivio ci sono tutti i numeri arretrati). \
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Dicevo: visto eccetera eccetera, sarebbe il caso (dice Alex Woods) di darci un taglio e scrivere in modo diverso. Anche usando l'AI, ma non facendoci sostituire dall'AI.

Money quote: "There are social effects to LLM-generated writing too. When I send somebody a document that whiffs of LLM, I’m only demonstrating that the LLM produced something approximating what others want to hear. I’m not showing that I contended with the ideas.

It undermines my credibility as a person who could lead whatever initiative comes out of this document. That’s unfortunate. I could have used this opportunity to establish credibility."

https://alexhwoods.com/dont-let-ai-write-for-you/\

https://antoniodini.com/mostly-weekly/
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https://antoniodini.com/iscrizione/

Un'idea creativa: un router fatto in casa. Perché qualsiasi computer può essere un router. È un articolo un po' tecnico, divertente da leggere in ogni caso (secondo me), ma se non sapete cos'è un router allora non è l'articolo per voi.

Money quote: "I don’t like to cover “current events” very much, but the American government just revealed a truly bewildering policy effectively banning import of new consumer router models. This is ridiculous for many reasons, but if this does indeed come to pass it may be beneficial to learn how to “homebrew” a router.

Fortunately, you can make a router out of basically anything resembling a computer."

https://nbailey.ca/post/router/

Doom, il gioco che è diventato il benchmark della portabilità (gira ovunque). Adesso, ulteriore passo in avanti, gira anche nel browser usando solo il CSS (e Javascript per una parte, ok). Comumque: "CSS is DOOMed" è un titolo figo oltre che furbo.

Money quote: "The first proof-of-concept I created was completely hand crafted and was created around the idea of doing as much as possible in CSS, even game state, game logic and calculations. Now that didn’t turn out to be feasible. Rendering? Yes. Absolutely. Game state… yeah, you could if you wanted to. Logic? No. Too complicated. So I split the project in two. Once I’ve proven to myself that rendering was feasible, I used Claude to create an approximate version of the game loop in JavaScript based on the original DOOM source, which to me is the least interesting part of the project. The C code is public and has been for years, so nothing new and challenging about that. So why waste time porting that over by hand. This allowed me to focus on the best parts: the CSS."

https://nielsleenheer.com/articles/2026/css-is-doomed-rendering-doom-in-3d-with-css/

Nel nuovo Mostly Weekly 373 provo a mettere a fuoco cosa sta cambiando davvero: non è l’intelligenza artificiale il problema, bensì la statistica.

https://antoniodini.com/weekly/373/

Super letture per la domenica, Anzi, proprio una bella analisi di "Paperino Pendolare", una delle mie storie preferite dei paperi scritta e disegnata da Marco Rota per l'Almanacco Topolino di maggio 1977.

La stazione è ovviamente quella di Milano (altro che Paperopoli)

Money quote: "Un incipit di grande impatto può fare miracoli. Se riesce a farci provare curiosità per un romanzo di seicento pagine, per un kolossal di tre ore o per uno spettacolo teatrale in quattro atti, figuriamoci quanto può incidere sull’equilibrio di un fumetto autoconclusivo poco più breve di 40 tavole."

https://fumettologica.it/2024/02/paperino-pendolare-marco-rota-fumetto-disney/

La copertina:

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1045175684320708&set=maggio-1977-questa-copertina-dellalmanacco-di-marco-rota-introduce-paperino-pend

Un po' di sano orrore: gente che vende l'anima all'AI

Money quote: "These gig AI trainers – who upload everything from scenes around them to photos, videos and audio of themselves – are at the frontlines of a new global data gold rush. As Silicon Valley’s hunger for high-quality, human-grade data outpaces what can be scraped from the open internet, a thriving industry of data marketplaces has emerged to bridge the gap. From Cape Town to Chicago, thousands of people are now micro-licensing their biometric identities and intimate data to train the next generation of AI.

But this new gig economy comes with trade-offs. In exchange for a few dollars, its trainers are fueling an industry that may eventually render their skills obsolete, while leaving some of them vulnerable to a future of deepfakes, identity theft and digital exploitation that they are only just beginning to understand."

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/21/ai-trainers-identity-cost