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  6. <title type="text">Matt Mullenweg</title>
  7. <subtitle type="text">Unlucky in Cards</subtitle>
  8.  
  9. <updated>2025-10-06T03:50:06Z</updated>
  10.  
  11. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt" />
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  13. <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/feed/atom/" />
  14.  
  15. <generator uri="https://wordpress.org/" version="6.9-alpha-60902">WordPress</generator>
  16. <icon>https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2024/01/cropped-matt-favicon.png?fit=32%2C32&#038;quality=80&#038;ssl=1</icon>
  17. <entry>
  18. <author>
  19. <name>Matt</name>
  20. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  21. </author>
  22.  
  23. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Telegram and Weird Al]]></title>
  24. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/telegram-and-weird-al/" />
  25.  
  26. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=150113</id>
  27. <updated>2025-10-06T03:50:06Z</updated>
  28. <published>2025-10-05T21:08:02Z</published>
  29. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Music" /><category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Technology" />
  30. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[I have two interesting interviews to share with you today, the first is Lex Friedman interviewing Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram. I started using and advocating for Telegram back in 2015, and Audrey Capital was part of their aborted fundraise in 2018. As a software craftsperson, I&#8217;ve always had tremendous respect for the team &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/telegram-and-weird-al/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Telegram and Weird Al</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  31.  
  32. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/10/telegram-and-weird-al/"><![CDATA[
  33. <p>I have two interesting interviews to share with you today, the first is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjPH9njnaVU">Lex Friedman interviewing Pavel Durov</a>, the founder of <a href="https://telegram.org/">Telegram</a>. I started using and advocating for Telegram back in 2015, and <a href="https://audrey.co/">Audrey Capital</a> was part of their aborted fundraise in 2018. As a software craftsperson, I&#8217;ve always had tremendous respect for the team and the rate at which they shipped truly novel design and UI. I&#8217;m amazed by the speed at which they ship major features across multiple platforms. The network also has incredibly resiliency, which they get into on the podcast. As I&#8217;m often in poor connectivity situations in planes or remote locations, Telegram has been one of the networks that works most reliably.</p>
  34.  
  35.  
  36.  
  37. <p>I&#8217;ve met Pavel only briefly about a decade ago, but have followed his story as he&#8217;s a unique character with an ascetic lifestyle, target of many intelligence agencies, sperm donor father of 100+ children, and many other unique characteristics. I use Telegram like I use X/Twitter, I put things I consider semi-public on it and I think of it like a social network and development platform, and <a href="https://ma.tt/2022/08/telegram-channel/">since 2022 I&#8217;ve cross-posted my blog to a Telegram channel using a Jetpack bot</a>. It&#8217;s probably my favorite community platform. The four hour interview between Lex and Pavel covers a lot of ground, but product builders will probably appreciate most the middle part around the 2-hour mark where they go into their engineering and design philosophies. (BTW I usually watch/listen to these at 2x speed.)</p>
  38.  
  39.  
  40.  
  41. <figure class="wp-block-embed alignwide is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  42. <iframe title="Pavel Durov: Telegram, Freedom, Censorship, Money, Power &amp; Human Nature | Lex Fridman Podcast #482" width="604" height="340" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qjPH9njnaVU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  43. </div></figure>
  44.  
  45.  
  46.  
  47. <p>If you&#8217;re looking for something a little lighter on a Sunday I recommend this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSu2eMkIyZs">heart-warming conversation between John Mayer and Weird Al Yankovic</a>.</p>
  48.  
  49.  
  50.  
  51. <figure class="wp-block-embed alignwide is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  52. <iframe title="How&#039;s Life with John Mayer - Weird Al Yankovic FULL INTERVIEW" width="604" height="340" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sSu2eMkIyZs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  53. </div></figure>
  54.  
  55.  
  56.  
  57. <p>I know this seems like an unusual pairing, but both Pavel and Weird Al are hackers in the sense that they examined the rules of the system and decided to create a new game.</p>
  58. ]]></content>
  60. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/telegram-and-weird-al/#comments" thr:count="0" />
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  62. <thr:total>0</thr:total>
  63. </entry>
  64. <entry>
  65. <author>
  66. <name>Matt</name>
  67. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  68. </author>
  69.  
  70. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Greenwashing]]></title>
  71. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/greenwashing/" />
  72.  
  73. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=150105</id>
  74. <updated>2025-10-05T09:43:52Z</updated>
  75. <published>2025-10-05T06:44:42Z</published>
  76. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Karma" /><category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Open Source" /><category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="WordPress" />
  77. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[Tonight there was a lovely event at TinkerTendo by Raman Frey and Karin Johnson of Good People Dinners, this one honoring David Gelles&#8217; new book, Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away. I&#8217;m a huge fan of Yvon Chouinard and really enjoyed his book Let My People &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/greenwashing/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Greenwashing</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  78.  
  79. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/10/greenwashing/"><![CDATA[
  80. <p>Tonight there was a lovely event at <a href="https://tinkertendo.com/">TinkerTendo</a> by Raman Frey and Karin Johnson of <a href="https://www.gpdinners.com/">Good People Dinners</a>, this one honoring <a href="https://davidgelles.com/">David Gelles&#8217;</a> new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dirtbag-Billionaire-Chouinard-Patagonia-Fortune/dp/1668032260?tag=photomatt08-20">Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away</a>. I&#8217;m a huge fan of Yvon Chouinard and really enjoyed his book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Let-People-Surfing-Education-Businessman/dp/1594200726/?tag=photomatt08-20">Let My People Go Surfing</a> which I read back in 2018. It was the first time hosting such a large 60-person dinner in the TinkerTendo warehouse, and thanks to <a href="https://copperhome.com/">this Copper battery-operated induction stovetop</a> and an amazing local chef, <a href="https://www.komaaj.com/">Hanif Sadr</a>, the food turned out amazing.</p>
  81.  
  82.  
  83.  
  84. <p>I&#8217;ve only started the new book, but I&#8217;m interested to see what&#8217;s happened in the 20 years between Yvon&#8217;s book and David&#8217;s, especially the story of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html">how Yvon gave away all his equity and control in the company</a> to ensure a focus on his lifelong goal of environmentalism and conservation. Patagonia is one of the better corporate entities fighting for good, but it reminded me of how companies can put on a jacket of doing good while actually being evil underneath.</p>
  85.  
  86.  
  87.  
  88. <p>Like I talked about the <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/externalities/">economic concept of Externalties a few weeks ago</a>, I think it&#8217;s imperative that the WordPress community understands the history of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing">Greenwashing</a>, which the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/climate-issues/greenwashing">United Nations defines as follows</a>:</p>
  89.  
  90.  
  91.  
  92. <ol class="wp-block-list">
  93. <li>Claiming that the company will achieve future environment milestones while not putting sufficient plans in place to do so.</li>
  94.  
  95.  
  96.  
  97. <li>Being intentionally vague about operations or using vague claims that cannot be specifically proven (like saying they are &#8220;environmentally friendly&#8221; or &#8220;green&#8221;).</li>
  98.  
  99.  
  100.  
  101. <li>Saying that a product does not contain harmful materials or use harmful practices that they would not use anyway.</li>
  102.  
  103.  
  104.  
  105. <li>Highlighting one thing the company does well regarding the environment while not doing anything else.</li>
  106.  
  107.  
  108.  
  109. <li>Promoting products that meet regulatory minimums as if peer products do not.</li>
  110. </ol>
  111.  
  112.  
  113.  
  114. <p>In <a href="https://wordpress.org/">WordPress</a> and open source our environmental crisis comes from companies that frack the open source software and brands, which shows up as lack of investment in the code which falls fallow <a href="https://tech.eu/2025/07/25/chronic-underfunding-of-open-source-software-poses-strategic-risk-to-europes-digital-sovereignty/">espescially in the security sense</a>, or by attaching themselves to a brand or trademark and tricking people into thinking they&#8217;re associated with the Good Open thing, when they&#8217;re really a parasitic cancer on it.</p>
  115.  
  116.  
  117.  
  118. <p>This is happening right now in WordPress, so when you see a company hire a good person or sponsor an event that seems on its own a good thing, and probably represents hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment, weigh that against the tens of millions they&#8217;re spending with their other hand to destroy the source of everything they&#8217;ve benefited from, and if they were to win, endanger every open source project. It&#8217;s an open source form of greenwashing, perhaps call it <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openwashing">openwashing</a>.</p>
  119. ]]></content>
  121. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/greenwashing/#comments" thr:count="5" />
  122. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/greenwashing/feed/atom/" thr:count="5" />
  123. <thr:total>5</thr:total>
  124. </entry>
  125. <entry>
  126. <author>
  127. <name>Matt</name>
  128. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  129. </author>
  130.  
  131. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Linkrot]]></title>
  132. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/linkrot/" />
  133.  
  134. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=150093</id>
  135. <updated>2025-10-04T00:58:00Z</updated>
  136. <published>2025-10-04T00:24:40Z</published>
  137. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Press" /><category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="WordPress" />
  138. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[One of the things I hate most on the internet, and part of the reason I started WordPress, was to fight linkrot. Ever since 1998, when Tim Berners-Lee wrote &#8220;Cool URIs Don&#8217;t Change,&#8221; I&#8217;ve been obsessed with content management and ensuring that links don&#8217;t break. (BTW, TBL, a pioneer of creating the World Wide Web, &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/linkrot/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Linkrot</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  139.  
  140. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/10/linkrot/"><![CDATA[
  141. <p>One of the things I hate most on the internet, and part of the reason I started <a href="https://wordpress.org/">WordPress</a>, was to fight linkrot. Ever since 1998, when <a href="https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/">Tim Berners-Lee</a> wrote &#8220;<a href="https://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI">Cool URIs Don&#8217;t Change</a>,&#8221; I&#8217;ve been obsessed with content management and ensuring that links don&#8217;t break. (BTW, TBL, a pioneer of creating the World Wide Web, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/10/06/tim-berners-lee-invented-the-world-wide-web-now-he-wants-to-save-it">has a great new profile out in the New Yorker</a>.)</p>
  142.  
  143.  
  144.  
  145. <p>I learned today from the <a href="https://newspack.com/">Newspack</a> newsletter that the <a href="https://www.houstonpress.com/">Houston Press</a> is now on WordPress. Newspack is a distribution or bundle of WordPress designed for journalism, and it is led by <a href="https://kinsey.nyc/">Kinsey Wilson</a>, who began his career as a night-shift journalist covering cops for a newspaper in Chicago, went on to have top editorial and business positions at The New York Times, NPR, and USA TODAY, and ran WordPress.com for a few years, which gives him a very unique position to help craft WordPress for journalists and publishers.</p>
  146.  
  147.  
  148.  
  149. <p>The Houston Press is an alt-weekly that wrote the very first profile of me in the world, <a href="https://ma.tt/2004/10/press-and-cnet/">which I blogged about here</a>. There&#8217;s a funny quote in there:</p>
  150.  
  151.  
  152.  
  153. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  154. <p>He recently considered taking a job with a San Francisco search-engine start-up, but ended up turning them down. “They have a ton of money…But it would be 50- or 60- or 70-hour weeks, a lot of work, and I wouldn’t have time” to do WordPress.&nbsp;</p>
  155. </blockquote>
  156.  
  157.  
  158.  
  159. <p>That &#8220;search-engine start-up&#8221; was <a href="https://www.google.com/">Google</a>! How the internet might have turned out differently if I had taken that job, as my Mom wanted me to (because they offered free food). I still think Google is one of the most interesting companies in the world, one of the few places I&#8217;d consider working if I weren&#8217;t running <a href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a>.</p>
  160.  
  161.  
  162.  
  163. <p>Back to linkrot, the original link to the profile in that article was <code>http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2004-10-28/feature2.html</code>, which this morning didn&#8217;t work, but thanks to the Houston Press being on Newspack/WordPress I was able to ping Kinsey and his colleague Jason Lee was able to fix it so it redirects to the new canonical URL for that content in minutes. A little corner of the internet tidied up! I love the <a href="https://web.archive.org/">Wayback Machine</a>, but not needing it is even better.</p>
  164. ]]></content>
  166. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/linkrot/#comments" thr:count="5" />
  167. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/linkrot/feed/atom/" thr:count="5" />
  168. <thr:total>5</thr:total>
  169. </entry>
  170. <entry>
  171. <author>
  172. <name>Matt</name>
  173. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  174. </author>
  175.  
  176. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Blocktober]]></title>
  177. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/blocktober/" />
  178.  
  179. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=150063</id>
  180. <updated>2025-10-02T22:15:34Z</updated>
  181. <published>2025-10-02T22:15:34Z</published>
  182. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="WordPress" />
  183. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[It&#8217;s so exciting to see what the creative minds like Nick Hamze or Tammie Lister are doing with Automattic&#8217;s AI vibe coding tool, Telex. Tammie is doing a Blocktober, a block every day this month of October, you should follow along.]]></summary>
  184.  
  185. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/10/blocktober/"><![CDATA[
  186. <p>It&#8217;s so exciting to see what the creative minds like <a href="https://iconick.io/">Nick Hamze</a> or <a href="https://tammielister.com/">Tammie Lister</a> are doing with Automattic&#8217;s AI vibe coding tool, <a href="https://telex.automattic.ai/">Telex</a>. Tammie is doing a Blocktober, <a href="https://blocktober.fun/">a block every day this month of October, you should follow along</a>.</p>
  187. ]]></content>
  189. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/blocktober/#comments" thr:count="0" />
  190. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/blocktober/feed/atom/" thr:count="0" />
  191. <thr:total>0</thr:total>
  192. </entry>
  193. <entry>
  194. <author>
  195. <name>Matt</name>
  196. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  197. </author>
  198.  
  199. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Fight For Open]]></title>
  200. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/fight-for-open/" />
  201.  
  202. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=150050</id>
  203. <updated>2025-10-01T20:54:12Z</updated>
  204. <published>2025-10-01T20:29:45Z</published>
  205. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Apple" /><category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Automattic" />
  206. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[Sometimes the battle for open source and freedom can take on very prosaic and practical terms, but the wins can benefit everybody. To give an example: In Beeper we need more memory for showing notifications, because we support end-to-end encryption for networks like Signal, but Apple&#8217;s default was to only give 15 megabytes — barely &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/fight-for-open/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Fight For Open</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  207.  
  208. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/10/fight-for-open/"><![CDATA[
  209. <p>Sometimes the battle for open source and freedom can take on very prosaic and practical terms, but the wins can benefit everybody. To give an example: In <a href="https://www.beeper.com/">Beeper</a> we need more memory for showing notifications, because we support end-to-end encryption for networks like Signal, but Apple&#8217;s default was to only give 15 megabytes — barely enough to do anything. The previous CEO of Beeper, Eric Migicovsky, started a lobbying effort with the <a href="https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/index_en">EU’s Digital Markets Act</a> on behalf of the team to give third-party apps the same memory limits that Apple provides for their own apps, which is 50MB instead of 15MB. (And up to 250MB on their higher end devices.)</p>
  210.  
  211.  
  212.  
  213. <p>Today we’ve gotten a notification that as part of iOS 26 update Apple has shipped to 2.3B devices around the world, our memory limits issue has been addressed globally, for every application developer, and some interoperability requests we had for <a href="https://developer.apple.com/documentation/telephonymessagingkit">SMS/RCS</a> have been addressed for EU users. Kudos and huge thank you to Apple for giving us all new capabilities to build amazing experiences for users on par with what they seek to deliver themselves. If you want to geek out on this, <a href="https://blog.beeper.com/2025/10/01/how-beeper-ios-implements-notifications/">check out the technical deep dive that Beeper just posted</a>.</p>
  214.  
  215.  
  216.  
  217. <p>BTW, if you haven&#8217;t heard of it yet, <a href="https://www.beeper.com/">Beeper</a> is an Automattic product which aims to democratize messaging, just like WordPress democratized publishing for the world, by allowing you to get all your messages from friends across 11 different networks, like WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter/X, Signal, Discord, in one single inbox. The new version we launched in July does this in a completely secure way that&#8217;s local to your device, so the same encryption, privacy, and security each network provides is maintained.</p>
  218. ]]></content>
  220. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/fight-for-open/#comments" thr:count="5" />
  221. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/10/fight-for-open/feed/atom/" thr:count="5" />
  222. <thr:total>5</thr:total>
  223. </entry>
  224. <entry>
  225. <author>
  226. <name>Matt</name>
  227. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  228. </author>
  229.  
  230. <title type="html"><![CDATA[What&#8217;s Your Time?]]></title>
  231. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/tick-tock/" />
  232.  
  233. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=150037</id>
  234. <updated>2025-09-30T17:33:29Z</updated>
  235. <published>2025-09-30T17:30:25Z</published>
  236. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Asides" />
  237. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[I think some of the best writing about technology PR is this ten-year-old article by Aaron Zamost: What’s Your Hour in ‘Silicon Valley Time’? It describes the cycles that companies go through in public perception, and the beauty of revisiting it ten years later is that you can see which of the examples are still &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/tick-tock/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">What&#8217;s Your Time?</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  238.  
  239. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/tick-tock/"><![CDATA[
  240. <p>I think some of the best writing about technology PR is this ten-year-old article by <a href="https://www.onbackground.com/">Aaron Zamost</a>: <a href="https://medium.com/backchannel/how-the-tech-press-forces-a-narrative-on-companies-it-covers-5f89fdb7793e">What’s Your Hour in ‘Silicon Valley Time’?</a> It describes the cycles that companies go through in public perception, and the beauty of revisiting it ten years later is that you can see which of the examples are still relevant, or the domains that 404. As someone who has been around this clock probably a dozen times now, I highly suggest this for anyone &#8220;going through it.&#8221; Some of the most powerful words in the English language: <em>This too shall pass</em>. </p>
  241.  
  242.  
  243.  
  244. <p>See also: The Zen fable or old Chinese poem of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_old_man_lost_his_horse">the old man who loses his horse</a>.</p>
  245. ]]></content>
  247. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/tick-tock/#comments" thr:count="0" />
  248. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/tick-tock/feed/atom/" thr:count="0" />
  249. <thr:total>0</thr:total>
  250. </entry>
  251. <entry>
  252. <author>
  253. <name>Matt</name>
  254. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  255. </author>
  256.  
  257. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Om 59]]></title>
  258. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/om-59/" />
  259.  
  260. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=150022</id>
  261. <updated>2025-09-30T00:54:44Z</updated>
  262. <published>2025-09-29T15:50:56Z</published>
  263. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Personal" />
  264. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[I want to dedicate my blog post today to my dear friend and brother, Om Malik, whose birthday it is. Om is a multi-hyphenate, but at his core, he&#8217;s a writer, someone who looks at the world and parses it down for others, a seeker who appreciates the spark of creation before most others. Om &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/om-59/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Om 59</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  265.  
  266. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/om-59/"><![CDATA[
  267. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="604" height="340" data-attachment-id="150030" data-permalink="https://ma.tt/img_0803-3/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?fit=2560%2C1440&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1440" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 13 Pro&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1633864736&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;2.71&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.019230769230769&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="IMG_0803" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?fit=840%2C473&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?fit=604%2C340&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?resize=604%2C340&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-150030" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?w=2560&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2560w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?resize=840%2C473&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 840w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?resize=195%2C110&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 195w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?resize=768%2C432&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?resize=1536%2C864&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?resize=2048%2C1152&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?resize=818%2C460&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 818w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?w=1208&amp;quality=89 1208w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0803-1-edited-scaled.jpeg?w=1812&amp;quality=89 1812w" sizes="(max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px" /></figure>
  268.  
  269.  
  270.  
  271. <p>I want to dedicate my blog post today to my dear friend and brother, <a href="https://om.co/">Om Malik</a>, whose birthday it is. Om is a multi-hyphenate, but at his core, he&#8217;s a writer, someone who looks at the world and parses it down for others, a seeker who appreciates the spark of creation before most others.</p>
  272.  
  273.  
  274.  
  275. <p>Om was one of the earliest users of WordPress and he was one of <a href="https://ma.tt/2005/01/meetup-aftermath/">8 people who came to the very first WordPress meetups at Chaat Cafe on 3<sup>rd</sup> street in San Francisco in 2005</a>. (You can tell what an early adopter he is because he has the username &#8220;Om&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/om">on Twitter/X</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/om/">Instagram</a> and WordPress and probably more.) We had connected on the WordPress support forums when I helped him get set up around the 1.0 days. After I moved to San Francisco to take the job at CNET he connected me to people like Phil Black, Tony Conrad, and Toni Schneider who would become, respectively, an investor, board member, and CEO of Automattic. These are folks I still work with and consider close friends today. As a journalist, he had a keen nose for BS and made sure as a naïve 20-something in SF I was connecting with quality people.</p>
  276.  
  277.  
  278.  
  279. <p>Since we met we&#8217;ve both had a shared love for photography, and I&#8217;ve seen Om blossom into an amazing photographer with a really unique style and approach, <a href="https://www.photosbyom.com/">in fact you can even buy some of his photography prints</a>.</p>
  280.  
  281.  
  282.  
  283. <p>Over the years, we&#8217;ve dipped in and out of shared obsessions with cameras, watches, shoes, fashion, and design. We have a fair number of matching things in each. In photography we&#8217;ve shivered in minus thirty weather in Antarctica and Jackson Hole at odd hours to catch a special shot. We&#8217;ve traveled to Europe and Japan dozens of times, being very early (pre John Mayer and Kanye) to brands like <a href="https://www.visvim.tv/">Visvim</a>. <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">When I wear something like a bespoke<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, hand-made piece from <a href="https://45rglobal.com/" target="_blank">45R</a> to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45HRzzc0waU" target="_blank">speak at WordCamp US</a>, he recognizes it off the cuff </span>and even knows the one store on Crosby Street in New York where you can buy it.</span> He is a tastemaker and an aesthetic connoisseur in every area he&#8217;s interested in, from food to coffee to pens, and everything in between. Sometimes we&#8217;ll start a journey together, for example, trying nice pens, and years later, I&#8217;ve moved on and he&#8217;s gone deep into collecting dozens of them, being in obscure forums and Reddits, or attending events like the <a href="https://sanfranciscopenshow.com/">SF Pen Show last month</a>.</p>
  284.  
  285.  
  286.  
  287. <p>When you walk into a coffee shop with Om he doesn&#8217;t just know the barista&#8217;s name, he knows their dog&#8217;s name and the story of every person working there.</p>
  288.  
  289.  
  290.  
  291. <p>I&#8217;m 500 words in, and I still haven&#8217;t even scratched the surface of describing Om&#8217;s journey, from growing up in Delhi to becoming a journalist for a Japanese publication in New York, a book author, party promoter, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, photographer, and explorer. If you want to understand the AI bubble we&#8217;re in right now, you should <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0471660612?tag=photomatt08-20">read his book Broadbandits on the crazy telecom / Enron bubble</a>. This is a long way to say, happy birthday Om!</p>
  292. ]]></content>
  294. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/om-59/#comments" thr:count="5" />
  295. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/om-59/feed/atom/" thr:count="5" />
  296. <thr:total>5</thr:total>
  297. </entry>
  298. <entry>
  299. <author>
  300. <name>Matt</name>
  301. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  302. </author>
  303.  
  304. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Craft vs Slop]]></title>
  305. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/craft-slop/" />
  306.  
  307. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=150017</id>
  308. <updated>2025-09-29T06:46:13Z</updated>
  309. <published>2025-09-29T06:41:36Z</published>
  310. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="AI" />
  311. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[In an age where AI can generate an infinite amount of stuff, what matters? Some of the most interesting writing I&#8217;ve read on this comes from Will Manidis, who makes it biblical and says that Craft is the Antidote to Slop: From Genesis, man enters not a paradise without labor but a world of intentional &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/craft-slop/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Craft vs Slop</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  312.  
  313. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/craft-slop/"><![CDATA[
  314. <p>In an age where AI can generate an infinite amount of stuff, what matters? Some of the most interesting writing I&#8217;ve read on this comes from <a href="https://willmanidis.com/">Will Manidis</a>, who makes it biblical and says that Craft is the Antidote to Slop:</p>
  315.  
  316.  
  317.  
  318. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  319. <p>From Genesis, man enters not a paradise without labor but a world of intentional creation. The LORD God places man in the Garden of Eden<em>&nbsp;&#8220;to dress it and to keep it&#8221;</em>&nbsp;(Genesis 2:15) establishing labor not as punishment but as sacred vocation. This original calling invites us to co-create the Kingdom, tending and developing the world with intention and care. Our fundamental purpose is not consumption but participation in the ongoing work of creation.</p>
  320.  
  321.  
  322.  
  323. <p>The serpent&#8217;s temptation represents the first shortcut in human history<em>.&#8221;Ye shall be as gods&#8221;&nbsp;</em>(Genesis 3:5) was not an invitation to deeper engagement with creation, but a way to get out of the work required to tend to it. The consequence wasn&#8217;t the introduction of work itself, but its corruption into burdensome toil:&nbsp;<em>&#8220;In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread&#8221;&nbsp;</em>(Genesis 3:19). Humanity&#8217;s first sin was, in part, choosing the easy shortcut over the meaningful process – preferring effortless gain to the demanding but fulfilling work of tending the garden.</p>
  324. </blockquote>
  325.  
  326.  
  327.  
  328. <p>You can read the rest as <a href="https://x.com/WillManidis/status/1971920155996574168">screenshots on X</a> or <a href="https://minutes.substack.com/p/craft-is-the-antidote-to-slop">on his Substack</a>, but I hope he gets a real website soon. This also makes me think you should watch the <a href="https://www.weareasgods.film/">We Are As Gods documentary on Stewart Brand</a>, supported by the amazing folks at <a href="https://press.stripe.com/">Stripe Press</a>.</p>
  329. ]]></content>
  331. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/craft-slop/#comments" thr:count="4" />
  332. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/craft-slop/feed/atom/" thr:count="4" />
  333. <thr:total>4</thr:total>
  334. </entry>
  335. <entry>
  336. <author>
  337. <name>Matt</name>
  338. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  339. </author>
  340.  
  341. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Saturday Shares]]></title>
  342. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/saturday-shares/" />
  343.  
  344. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=150000</id>
  345. <updated>2025-09-28T01:31:04Z</updated>
  346. <published>2025-09-28T01:31:04Z</published>
  347. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Asides" />
  348. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[A few links for you: Fun fact: this post has the ID of &#8220;150,000&#8221; in my wp_posts table.]]></summary>
  349.  
  350. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/saturday-shares/"><![CDATA[
  351. <p>A few links for you:</p>
  352.  
  353.  
  354.  
  355. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  356. <li>From Kirschblütenboogie to Khruangbin (from Houston!), here&#8217;s a <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/27gcPbqPTfnjS1xnfq9jFe?si=lF1sBoR1R3SyrPOEu3c3aQ">Saturday chill Spotify playlist I made for you to have good vibes this weekend</a>. Perfect for sunsets. Hat tip: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielgruneberg/">Daniel Gruneberg</a> who first introduced me to Hermanos Gutiérrez.</li>
  357.  
  358.  
  359.  
  360. <li><a href="https://openssf.org/blog/2025/09/23/open-infrastructure-is-not-free-a-joint-statement-on-sustainable-stewardship/">Open Infrastructure is Not Free: A Joint Statement on Sustainable Stewardship</a>. &#8220;Billion-dollar ecosystems cannot stand on foundations built of goodwill and unpaid weekends.&#8221;</li>
  361.  
  362.  
  363.  
  364. <li>Chat-based photo editing is one of the most magical uses of AI right now, and <a href="https://blog.google/products/photos/android-conversational-editing-google-photos/">Google Photos just made it available to everybody</a>.</li>
  365.  
  366.  
  367.  
  368. <li>Did you know <a href="https://automattic.com/expectations/anti-glossary/">Automattic has an anti-glossary</a>?</li>
  369.  
  370.  
  371.  
  372. <li>It&#8217;s cool to see <a href="https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/07/07/copyleft.html">Vitalik Buterin come around to copyleft licenses</a>.</li>
  373.  
  374.  
  375.  
  376. <li>I&#8217;m going to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQDNgy774sg">re-link the Grit interview, some people are saying it is their favorite they&#8217;ve seen of me in years</a>.</li>
  377.  
  378.  
  379.  
  380. <li>BCG has an annoyingly-good rundown of <a href="https://www.bcg.com/publications/2023/corporate-development-finance-function-excellence-art-of-capital-allocation">The Art of Capital Allocation</a>.</li>
  381.  
  382.  
  383.  
  384. <li><a href="https://siliconangle.com/2025/06/26/linux-foundation-open-source-ai-opensourcesummit/">The Linux Foundation thinks open source contributes $9 Trillion in global value</a>. Really what we&#8217;re doing is sharing the technological phylogenetic branches for humanity&#8217;s progress.</li>
  385.  
  386.  
  387.  
  388. <li><a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/08/study-social-media-probably-cant-be-fixed/">A great interview with Petter Törnberg on his paper about how social media might be structually dysfunctional</a>. &#8220;Rather than bringing us together into one utopian public square and fostering a healthy exchange of ideas, these platforms too often create filter bubbles or echo chambers.&#8221;</li>
  389.  
  390.  
  391.  
  392. <li>See <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4JxqES_Gzk">Harry Mack meet Will Smith and Martin Lawrence</a>.</li>
  393. </ul>
  394.  
  395.  
  396.  
  397. <p>Fun fact: this post has the ID of &#8220;150,000&#8221; in <a href="https://codex.wordpress.org/Database_Description#Table:_wp_posts">my wp_posts table</a>.</p>
  398. ]]></content>
  400. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/saturday-shares/#comments" thr:count="3" />
  401. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/saturday-shares/feed/atom/" thr:count="3" />
  402. <thr:total>3</thr:total>
  403. </entry>
  404. <entry>
  405. <author>
  406. <name>Matt</name>
  407. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  408. </author>
  409.  
  410. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Five Publications I&#8217;d Love on WordPress]]></title>
  411. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/big-five/" />
  412.  
  413. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=51331</id>
  414. <updated>2025-09-27T03:28:52Z</updated>
  415. <published>2025-09-27T03:28:52Z</published>
  416. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Asides" />
  417. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[When WordPress started in 2003, I never dreamed it would power over 40% of websites, nine times the number two CMS, but I wrote on a notecard a list of five publications I admired and respected so much I wanted them to run on WP someday. In the interest of sharing your dreams to help &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/big-five/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Five Publications I&#8217;d Love on WordPress</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  418.  
  419. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/big-five/"><![CDATA[
  420. <p>When WordPress started in 2003, I never dreamed it would power over 40% of websites, nine times the number two CMS, but I wrote on a notecard a list of five publications I admired and respected so much I wanted them to run on WP someday. In the interest of sharing your dreams to help them come true, here they are:</p>
  421.  
  422.  
  423.  
  424. <ol class="wp-block-list">
  425. <li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/">Atlantic</a></li>
  426.  
  427.  
  428.  
  429. <li><a href="https://www.economist.com/">Economist</a></li>
  430.  
  431.  
  432.  
  433. <li><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/">New Yorker</a></li>
  434.  
  435.  
  436.  
  437. <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/">New York Times</a></li>
  438.  
  439.  
  440.  
  441. <li><a href="https://www.wsj.com/">Wall Street Journal</a></li>
  442. </ol>
  443.  
  444.  
  445.  
  446. <p>And one bonus: <a href="https://www.chron.com/">Houston Chronicle</a>. (Gotta root for the hometown.)</p>
  447.  
  448.  
  449.  
  450. <p>There has been uneven progress toward this over the years; we&#8217;ve gotten some of the NYT and all of the New Yorker at one point, only to have them revert under new CTOs. Also, there have been some unexpected huge wins, like when <a href="https://ma.tt/2023/07/chorus-and-wordpress/">Vox Media retired its proprietary CMS Chorus and brought over amazing publications like The Verge and New York Magazine</a>. For any projects related to these publications, including trials or micro-sites, I&#8217;d be happy to provide my feedback on architecture, design, and opportunities, and contribute <a href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a> and <a href="https://wpvip.com/">VIP</a> resources wherever they could be helpful. </p>
  451.  
  452.  
  453.  
  454. <p>I believe the most crucial aspect to get right for these customers is real-time co-editing, which is on the <a href="https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/">Gutenberg</a> roadmap and shipping soon. If I were writing this list today I might choose some different targets.</p>
  455. ]]></content>
  457. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/big-five/#comments" thr:count="2" />
  458. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/big-five/feed/atom/" thr:count="2" />
  459. <thr:total>2</thr:total>
  460. </entry>
  461. <entry>
  462. <author>
  463. <name>Matt</name>
  464. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  465. </author>
  466.  
  467. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Harry Mack]]></title>
  468. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/harry-mack/" />
  469.  
  470. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149863</id>
  471. <updated>2025-09-28T01:24:36Z</updated>
  472. <published>2025-09-26T06:38:37Z</published>
  473. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Music" />
  474. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[I love the culture of freestyle rap, it&#8217;s so inspiring to see how people can create such rich poetry riddled with allusions and puns on command. Last week I got to meet Harry Mack and see him improvise live and it totally makes sense that he has a jazz drums background. If you&#8217;re not familiar &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/harry-mack/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Harry Mack</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  475.  
  476. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/harry-mack/"><![CDATA[
  477. <p>I love the culture of freestyle rap, it&#8217;s so inspiring to see how people can create such rich poetry riddled with allusions and puns on command. Last week <a href="https://matt.blog/2025/09/19/with-harry-mack/">I got to meet Harry Mack</a> and see him improvise live and it totally makes sense that he has a jazz drums background. If you&#8217;re not familiar with <a href="https://www.harrymackofficial.com/">Harry Mack</a>, this is a good example of him taking three words: Imported, Lurking, <a href="https://automatic.com/">Automatic</a> and freestyling with them. (BTW, if you noticed, we finally got the domain spelled correctly.) </p>
  478.  
  479.  
  480.  
  481. <figure class="wp-block-embed alignwide is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  482. <iframe loading="lazy" title="Imported, Lurking, Automatic - Harry Mack Freestyle (Omegle Bars 6)" width="604" height="340" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DceyX6SKyAQ?start=112&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  483. </div></figure>
  484.  
  485.  
  486.  
  487. <p>There is a video chat site called <a href="https://www.omegle.fun/">Omegle</a> that paired you with random people, and Harry would record these encounters, such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mccIi2YOFgQ">this cute one with girls from Sweden who gave him the words Cartoon, Titan, Death</a>. It&#8217;s awesome to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4JxqES_Gzk">see him meet Will Smith and Martin Lawrence</a>.</p>
  488.  
  489.  
  490.  
  491. <p>For some fun WordPress rap history, check out when <a href="https://youtu.be/KG5vJKOwsjw?t=195">Childish Gambino referenced me in a rap he performed on Tim Westwood back in 2012</a>.</p>
  492. ]]></content>
  494. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/harry-mack/#comments" thr:count="2" />
  495. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/harry-mack/feed/atom/" thr:count="2" />
  496. <thr:total>2</thr:total>
  497. </entry>
  498. <entry>
  499. <author>
  500. <name>Matt</name>
  501. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  502. </author>
  503.  
  504. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Telex Remixes]]></title>
  505. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/telex-remixes/" />
  506.  
  507. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149897</id>
  508. <updated>2025-09-26T22:57:55Z</updated>
  509. <published>2025-09-25T06:23:06Z</published>
  510. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="AI" /><category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Automattic" /><category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="WordPress" />
  511. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[Telex has launched a new design and a gallery of some interesting examples. It&#8217;s really cool to see what people are starting to do with Telex, it really gets back at the fun of hacking and coding at the beginning, when a computer does something for you that makes you gasp. My colleague Eduardo Villuendas &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/telex-remixes/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Telex Remixes</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  512.  
  513. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/telex-remixes/"><![CDATA[
  514. <p><a href="https://telex.automattic.ai/">Telex has launched a new design and a gallery of some interesting examples</a>. It&#8217;s really cool to see what people are starting to do with Telex, it really gets back at the fun of hacking and coding at the beginning, when a computer does something for you that makes you gasp.</p>
  515.  
  516.  
  517.  
  518. <p>My colleague <a href="https://eduardo.blog/">Eduardo Villuendas</a> has <a href="https://telex.automattic.ai/MTc1ODc1MjQ3OTpmYzVkOWQ2YWRkNWVhN2UwYWM5MQ==~NjU4NTk0OjIzNjA5YWIzLTE3OGQtNDRjZS1iYzc5LThjMGI1OGFiMTUwZDo3NTZiZTdjYTEwNzMyM2EyNjAyZg=="> been making some cool music with it</a>.</p>
  519.  
  520.  
  521.  
  522. <figure class="wp-block-jetpack-videopress jetpack-videopress-player" style="" >
  523. <div class="jetpack-videopress-player__wrapper"> <iframe title="VideoPress Video Player" aria-label='VideoPress Video Player' width='604' height='447' src='https://videopress.com/embed/IpN7ldwm?cover=1&amp;autoPlay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;loop=0&amp;muted=0&amp;persistVolume=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;preloadContent=metadata&amp;useAverageColor=1&amp;hd=0' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen data-resize-to-parent="true" allow='clipboard-write'></iframe><script src='https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1739540970'></script></div>
  526. </figure>
  528.  
  529.  
  530. <p>This really gets to my vision for Gutenberg to be a builder that anyone can use to create an incredible website, like legos anyone can assemble anything they imagine on the web. This is why I said <a href="https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/">Gutenberg</a> is bigger than WordPress.</p>
  531.  
  532.  
  533.  
  534. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  535. <li><a href="https://jeffpaul.com/2025/09/pong-block/">Jeff Paul made a game of Pong</a>.</li>
  536.  
  537.  
  538.  
  539. <li><a href="https://juanma.codes/2025/09/19/playing-with-telex-building-a-mermaid-diagram-block-in-just-a-few-prompts/">JuanMa Garrido made a mermaid diagram</a>. (Which I have never heard of before.)</li>
  540.  
  541.  
  542.  
  543. <li><a href="https://ivanovicmarko.com/2025/09/17/space-dots/">Marko Ivanović did a beautiful dot art thing</a>.</li>
  544. </ul>
  545.  
  546.  
  547.  
  548. <p>Hat tip to the <a href="https://gutenbergtimes.com/">Gutenberg Times</a>. As I said in 2022, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeigCZuxnfY">you need to learn AI deeply</a>, there is so much fun stuff happening. They even <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/1nozn1k/did_you_try_wordpress_telex_its_awesome/">like it on Reddit</a>.</p>
  549.  
  550.  
  551.  
  552. <p>Nick Diego writes <a href="https://wordpress.com/blog/2025/09/23/telex-turns-everyone-into-a-wordpress-block-developer/">how Telex Turns Everyone into a WordPress Block developer</a>.</p>
  553. ]]></content>
  555. <link href="https://videos.files.wordpress.com/IpN7ldwm/strudel-block-2.mp4" rel="enclosure" length="39553352" type="video/mp4" />
  556. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/telex-remixes/#comments" thr:count="3" />
  557. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/telex-remixes/feed/atom/" thr:count="3" />
  558. <thr:total>3</thr:total>
  559. </entry>
  560. <entry>
  561. <author>
  562. <name>Matt</name>
  563. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  564. </author>
  565.  
  566. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Ruby Drama]]></title>
  567. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/ruby-drama/" />
  568.  
  569. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149923</id>
  570. <updated>2025-09-24T00:31:32Z</updated>
  571. <published>2025-09-24T00:31:32Z</published>
  572. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Open Source" />
  573. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[There is some riveting drama in the Ruby community around company sponsorships, and directory nudging similar to what happened with Advanced Custom Fields and Secure Custom Fields. This post does the best summary: Shopify, pulling strings at Ruby Central, forces Bundler and RubyGems takeover. I will only add that Automattic attempted to sponsor RailsConf and &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/ruby-drama/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Ruby Drama</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  574.  
  575. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/ruby-drama/"><![CDATA[
  576. <p>There is some riveting drama in the Ruby community around company sponsorships, and directory nudging similar to what happened with Advanced Custom Fields and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/secure-custom-fields/">Secure Custom Fields</a>. This post does the best summary: <a href="https://joel.drapper.me/p/rubygems-takeover/">Shopify, pulling strings at Ruby Central, forces Bundler and RubyGems takeover</a>.</p>
  577.  
  578.  
  579.  
  580. <p>I will only add that Automattic attempted to sponsor RailsConf and have a booth for our open web apps, such as Pocket Casts, Day One, and Beeper, which we thought would be relevant to the open source and open web audience there; however, we were denied. We&#8217;ve <a href="https://ma.tt/2024/12/drupalcon-singapore/">sponsored other </a><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://ma.tt/2024/12/drupalcon-singapore/" target="_blank">open-source events like DrupalCon before</a> and did so in a tasteful way that wasn&#8217;t in conflict with the organization&#8217;s mission</span>.</p>
  581. ]]></content>
  583. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/ruby-drama/#comments" thr:count="3" />
  584. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/ruby-drama/feed/atom/" thr:count="3" />
  585. <thr:total>3</thr:total>
  586. </entry>
  587. <entry>
  588. <author>
  589. <name>Matt</name>
  590. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  591. </author>
  592.  
  593. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Post-Earthquake Tea Grit]]></title>
  594. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/tea/" />
  595.  
  596. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149908</id>
  597. <updated>2025-09-23T01:17:50Z</updated>
  598. <published>2025-09-23T01:17:50Z</published>
  599. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Press" />
  600. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[The 4.7 earthquake definitely disturbed my sleep last night, so it&#8217;s nice to have a Cuzen Matcha shot and some Harney &#38; Sons Paris tea to wake up and get me through the day. Speaking of spilling tea, I had a great conversation with Joubin Mirzadegan of the storied VC firm Kleiner Perkins where we &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/tea/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Post-Earthquake Tea Grit</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  601.  
  602. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/tea/"><![CDATA[
  603. <p>The 4.7 earthquake definitely disturbed my sleep last night, so it&#8217;s nice to have a <a href="https://cuzenmatcha.com/">Cuzen Matcha</a> shot and some <a href="https://www.harney.com/products/paris-tea">Harney &amp; Sons Paris tea</a> to wake up and get me through the day.</p>
  604.  
  605.  
  606.  
  607. <figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="604" height="453" data-attachment-id="149909" data-permalink="https://ma.tt/2025/09/tea/img_0007-2/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?fit=2560%2C1920&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="2560,1920" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;1.78&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 17 Pro&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1758542240&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;6.7649998656528&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;125&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0048543689320388&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="IMG_0007" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?fit=840%2C630&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?fit=604%2C453&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-1024x768.jpeg?resize=604%2C453&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-149909" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?resize=840%2C630&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 840w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?resize=195%2C146&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 195w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?resize=768%2C576&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?resize=2048%2C1536&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?resize=613%2C460&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 613w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?w=1208&amp;quality=89 1208w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_0007-scaled.jpeg?w=1812&amp;quality=89 1812w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px" /></figure>
  608.  
  609.  
  610.  
  611. <p>Speaking of spilling tea, I had a great conversation with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joubin-mirzadegan-66186854/">Joubin Mirzadegan</a> of the storied VC firm <a href="https://www.kleinerperkins.com/">Kleiner Perkins</a> where we got to chat about the hero&#8217;s journey of entrepreneurship, my earliest &#8220;Hot Nacho&#8221; WordPress scandal and the context of current battles, 996 work, jazz clubs in San Francisco, and more. Kleiner never invested in Automattic (I don&#8217;t think we ever pitched) but I have always had huge respect for John Doerr, Brook Byers, Bing Gordon, Mary Meeker, Ilya Fushman, and Mamoon Hamid, so many of the people at KPCB.  You can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQDNgy774sg">watch on YouTube</a> or <a href="https://pca.st/mggq43pb">listen in Pocket Casts</a>.</p>
  612.  
  613.  
  614.  
  615. <figure class="wp-block-embed alignwide is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  616. <iframe loading="lazy" title="How WordPress Became a Web Giant | Automattic Founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg" width="604" height="340" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xQDNgy774sg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  617. </div></figure>
  618. ]]></content>
  620. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/tea/#comments" thr:count="1" />
  621. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/tea/feed/atom/" thr:count="1" />
  622. <thr:total>1</thr:total>
  623. </entry>
  624. <entry>
  625. <author>
  626. <name>Matt</name>
  627. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  628. </author>
  629.  
  630. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Work With Music]]></title>
  631. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/work-with-music/" />
  632.  
  633. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149893</id>
  634. <updated>2025-09-22T04:37:26Z</updated>
  635. <published>2025-09-22T04:34:00Z</published>
  636. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Music" />
  637. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[If you&#8217;re not playing music while you&#8217;re working, you&#8217;re missing out. It&#8217;s incredible how sounds can transform how our brain works. You can, on tap, put yourself into a different mode of being with music; you can change your drive, motivation, mood, and more. There are some apps that have started to hack this, such &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/work-with-music/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Work With Music</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  638.  
  639. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/work-with-music/"><![CDATA[
  640. <p>If you&#8217;re not playing music while you&#8217;re working, you&#8217;re missing out. It&#8217;s incredible how sounds can transform how our brain works. You can, on tap, put yourself into a different mode of being with music; you can change your drive, motivation, mood, and more. There are some apps that have started to hack this, such as <a href="https://endel.io/">Endel</a>, which can generate music programmatically in a very <a href="https://www.brian-eno.net/">Brian Eno</a>-like way. I&#8217;ve been a fan and user of theirs since 2020. I also love the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/LofiGirl">Lofi Girl</a>. On your <a href="https://www.sonos.com/">Sonos</a> you can actually stream <a href="https://www.focusatwill.com/">Focus @ Will</a>, which is another attempt, and I have a subscription there. My favorite is Endel, though, so if you&#8217;re only going to try one, try that one.</p>
  641. ]]></content>
  643. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/work-with-music/#comments" thr:count="9" />
  644. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/work-with-music/feed/atom/" thr:count="9" />
  645. <thr:total>9</thr:total>
  646. </entry>
  647. <entry>
  648. <author>
  649. <name>Matt</name>
  650. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  651. </author>
  652.  
  653. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Books on Grieving]]></title>
  654. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/books-on-grieving/" />
  655.  
  656. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149866</id>
  657. <updated>2025-09-21T02:28:10Z</updated>
  658. <published>2025-09-21T02:28:10Z</published>
  659. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Asides" />
  660. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[When my father passed unexpectedly, I was despondent. One thing I remember was the Amazon lovebomb I got from my high school girlfriend Sunaina Sondhi, five books to help me deal with the pain. Even a decade after we dated, books were her love language; in fact, she had given me my very first book &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/books-on-grieving/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Books on Grieving</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  661.  
  662. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/books-on-grieving/"><![CDATA[
  663. <p>When my father passed unexpectedly, I was despondent. One thing I remember was the Amazon lovebomb I got from my high school girlfriend Sunaina Sondhi, five books to help me deal with the pain. Even a decade after we dated, books were her love language; in fact, she had given me my very first book about meditation when we were teenagers. I don&#8217;t recall what all the books were, but the two that really made a difference for me were Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s and David Kessler&#8217;s posthumous book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Grief-Grieving-Finding-Meaning-Through/dp/1476775559">On Grief and Grieving</a>, and the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tibetan-Book-Living-Dying-International-ebook/dp/B000FC147G/">Tibetan Book of Living and Dying</a>. Each allowed me to process and understand the emotions I was going through.</p>
  664. ]]></content>
  666. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/books-on-grieving/#comments" thr:count="4" />
  667. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/books-on-grieving/feed/atom/" thr:count="4" />
  668. <thr:total>4</thr:total>
  669. </entry>
  670. <entry>
  671. <author>
  672. <name>Matt</name>
  673. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  674. </author>
  675.  
  676. <title type="html"><![CDATA[MCP Everywhere]]></title>
  677. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/mcp-everywhere/" />
  678.  
  679. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149849</id>
  680. <updated>2025-09-20T01:41:21Z</updated>
  681. <published>2025-09-20T01:41:21Z</published>
  682. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Automattic" /><category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="WordPress" />
  683. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. (The joke is the S in MCP stands for security, but that&#8217;s another post.) They say to think of it like &#8220;like a USB-C port for AI applications&#8221; because it allows interoperability between AI chatbots and other tools. Here&#8217;s some of the MCP stuff happening across the Automattic solar &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/mcp-everywhere/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">MCP Everywhere</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  684.  
  685. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/mcp-everywhere/"><![CDATA[
  686. <p>MCP stands for <a href="https://modelcontextprotocol.io/">Model Context Protocol</a>. (The joke is the S in MCP stands for security, but that&#8217;s another post.) They say to think of it like &#8220;like a USB-C port for AI applications&#8221; because it allows interoperability between AI chatbots and other tools. Here&#8217;s some of the MCP stuff happening across the <a href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a> solar system:</p>
  687.  
  688.  
  689.  
  690. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  691. <li>Core WordPress now has <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/mcp-adapter/">an MCP Adapter</a> that uses a new <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/ai/2025/07/17/abilities-api/">Abilities API</a> to do <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Create,_read,_update_and_delete">CRUD</a> and more operations across WordPress.</li>
  692.  
  693.  
  694.  
  695. <li>Woo&#8217;s core MCP is coming in version 10.3 in early October, though <a href="https://github.com/techspawn/woocommerce-mcp-server">Lawrence Sinclair already spun one up on Github</a>.</li>
  696.  
  697.  
  698.  
  699. <li><a href="https://library.clay.earth/hc/en-us/articles/36405339564315-Clay-MCP-live-Make-integration-improved-Library-and-more">Here&#8217;s how to set up Clay&#8217;s MCP</a> so your AI can ask things like &#8220;Who are my contacts at Google that I haven&#8217;t spoken to in 6 months?&#8221;</li>
  700.  
  701.  
  702.  
  703. <li><a href="https://www.beeper.com/desktop-api">Beeper&#8217;s MCP implementation</a> lets you query your entire message history across iMessage (on MacOS), WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Instagram, and many more with natural language.</li>
  704.  
  705.  
  706.  
  707. <li>Day One has a <a href="https://github.com/Quevin/mcp-dayone/">community MCP implementation from Kevin Davinson</a>.</li>
  708. </ul>
  709.  
  710.  
  711.  
  712. <p>When nerds start connecting things, interesting stuff happens; that&#8217;s been my entire career, so while none of these have made it into a critical daily workflow for me, I&#8217;m curious to see what people come up with.</p>
  713. ]]></content>
  715. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/mcp-everywhere/#comments" thr:count="0" />
  716. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/mcp-everywhere/feed/atom/" thr:count="0" />
  717. <thr:total>0</thr:total>
  718. </entry>
  719. <entry>
  720. <author>
  721. <name>Matt</name>
  722. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  723. </author>
  724.  
  725. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Every 6 Minutes]]></title>
  726. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/every-6-minutes/" />
  727.  
  728. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149834</id>
  729. <updated>2025-09-18T06:57:40Z</updated>
  730. <published>2025-09-18T06:57:40Z</published>
  731. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Asides" />
  732. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[I&#8217;m at a dinner tonight and they have these old magazines on the table, including some old copies of WIRED, which, if you can imagine, as a kid in Houston in the 90s, was a portal to the amazing world of the internet and technology. I flipped through, and there is an entire web hosting &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/every-6-minutes/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Every 6 Minutes</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  733.  
  734. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/every-6-minutes/"><![CDATA[
  735. <p>I&#8217;m at a dinner tonight and they have these old magazines on the table, including some old copies of <a href="https://www.wired.com/">WIRED</a>, which, if you can imagine, as a kid in Houston in the 90s, was a portal to the amazing world of the internet and technology. I flipped through, and there is an entire web hosting classifieds section! Hiway Technologies wants you to know that every 6 minutes, someone hosts with Hiway.</p>
  736.  
  737.  
  738.  
  739. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="604" height="805" data-attachment-id="149835" data-permalink="https://ma.tt/2025/09/every-6-minutes/img_4771/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?fit=1920%2C2560&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="1920,2560" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 16 Pro&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1758139350&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;2.2200000286119&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;1000&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.016666666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="IMG_4771" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?fit=555%2C740&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?fit=604%2C805&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-768x1024.jpeg?resize=604%2C805&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-149835" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?resize=555%2C740&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 555w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?resize=158%2C210&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 158w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?resize=1152%2C1536&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1152w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?resize=1536%2C2048&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?resize=345%2C460&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 345w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?w=1920&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?w=1208&amp;quality=89 1208w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4771-scaled.jpeg?w=1812&amp;quality=89 1812w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px" /></figure>
  740.  
  741.  
  742.  
  743. <p>Every six minutes, so they were doing 240 signups a day. 100,000 sites! Last month <a href="https://wordpress.com/">WordPress.com</a> created a new site about every 3 seconds. Hiway was founded by Scott Adams, same name but not the <a href="https://dilbert.com/">Dilbert</a> guy or the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Adams_(game_designer)">game designer</a>, who apparently played football in Florida and the company &#8220;<a href="https://www.fau.edu/research/magazine/2018/01/dor-adams-2018-01/">was sold in 1999 for $352 million. Adams was 35.</a>&#8221; </p>
  744.  
  745.  
  746.  
  747. <p>There was also this guy, who has a website, but do you?</p>
  748.  
  749.  
  750.  
  751. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="604" height="805" data-attachment-id="149838" data-permalink="https://ma.tt/2025/09/every-6-minutes/img_4767/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?fit=1920%2C2560&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="1920,2560" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.2&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;iPhone 16 Pro&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1758139241&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;2.2200000286119&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;1000&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.025&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="IMG_4767" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?fit=555%2C740&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?fit=604%2C805&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-768x1024.jpeg?resize=604%2C805&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-149838" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?resize=555%2C740&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 555w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?resize=158%2C210&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 158w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?resize=1152%2C1536&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1152w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?resize=1536%2C2048&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?resize=345%2C460&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 345w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?w=1920&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?w=1208&amp;quality=89 1208w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/IMG_4767-scaled.jpeg?w=1812&amp;quality=89 1812w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px" /></figure>
  752. ]]></content>
  754. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/every-6-minutes/#comments" thr:count="1" />
  755. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/every-6-minutes/feed/atom/" thr:count="1" />
  756. <thr:total>1</thr:total>
  757. </entry>
  758. <entry>
  759. <author>
  760. <name>Matt</name>
  761. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  762. </author>
  763.  
  764. <title type="html"><![CDATA[United Starlink]]></title>
  765. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/united-starlink/" />
  766.  
  767. <id>https://ma.tt/2025/09/united-starlink/</id>
  768. <updated>2025-09-18T07:01:08Z</updated>
  769. <published>2025-09-17T00:05:41Z</published>
  770. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Asides" />
  771. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[I’m on my first United flight with Starlink, and wow! I ran a fast.com test and got 110 mbps down and 38 mbps up, which is insane. 28ms ping times. While flying! When you think of all of the engineering and technology coming together to let me blog this it’s really incredible. Update 2025-09-16: United &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/united-starlink/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">United Starlink</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  772.  
  773. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/united-starlink/"><![CDATA[
  774. <p>I’m on my first United flight with Starlink, and wow! I ran a <a href="https://fast.com/">fast.com</a> test and got 110 mbps down and 38 mbps up, which is insane.  28ms ping times. While flying! When you think of all of the engineering and technology coming together to let me blog this it’s really incredible.</p>
  775.  
  776.  
  777.  
  778. <p>Update 2025-09-16: United actually responded to my tweet about this. <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/16.0.1/72x72/1f602.png" alt="😂" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
  779.  
  780.  
  781.  
  782. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  783. <div class="embed-twitter"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Entertainment at 35,000 feet has never been better (or faster)! ?</p>&mdash; United Airlines (@united) <a href="https://twitter.com/united/status/1968318805018632648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 17, 2025</a></blockquote><script>window.twitterLazyLoadEmbedJS( document.currentScript );</script></div>
  784. </div></figure>
  785. ]]></content>
  787. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/united-starlink/#comments" thr:count="1" />
  788. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/united-starlink/feed/atom/" thr:count="1" />
  789. <thr:total>1</thr:total>
  790. </entry>
  791. <entry>
  792. <author>
  793. <name>Matt</name>
  794. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  795. </author>
  796.  
  797. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Retention]]></title>
  798. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/retention/" />
  799.  
  800. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149819</id>
  801. <updated>2025-09-16T04:40:11Z</updated>
  802. <published>2025-09-16T04:40:11Z</published>
  803. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Asides" />
  804. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[Andrew Chen has a great post on retention.]]></summary>
  805.  
  806. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/retention/"><![CDATA[
  807. <p>Andrew Chen <a href="https://x.com/andrewchen/status/1965419750525431873?s=46">has a great post on retention</a>.</p>
  808. ]]></content>
  810. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/retention/#comments" thr:count="0" />
  811. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/retention/feed/atom/" thr:count="0" />
  812. <thr:total>0</thr:total>
  813. </entry>
  814. <entry>
  815. <author>
  816. <name>Matt</name>
  817. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  818. </author>
  819.  
  820. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Weekend YouTubes]]></title>
  821. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/weekend-youtubes/" />
  822.  
  823. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149801</id>
  824. <updated>2025-09-15T07:32:15Z</updated>
  825. <published>2025-09-14T23:23:42Z</published>
  826. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Asides" />
  827. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[One of my favorite YouTubers is Charles Cornell (WordPress-powered!), who creates great videos that break down the music theory of various things you’ve heard,&#160;such as this adorable one featuring SNES soundtracks or The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I first came across him reacting to Jacob Collier in 2020. Once I got super-into &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/weekend-youtubes/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Weekend YouTubes</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  828.  
  829. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/weekend-youtubes/"><![CDATA[
  830. <p>One of my favorite YouTubers is <a href="https://charlescornellstudios.com/">Charles Cornell</a> (WordPress-powered!), who <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">creates great videos </span>that break down the music theory of various things you’ve heard,&nbsp;such as this adorable one featuring <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-fv_oyYhqc">SNES soundtracks</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRRSWmZrJGs">The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</a>. I first came across him <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Popdt3NYgU">reacting to Jacob Collier in 2020</a>. Once I got super-into Severance, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQg1TMEEPnQ">his breakdown of the spooky music is great</a>. It’s also interesting to see that the YouTube community is going through its own version of fair use and copyright, trademark, etc., enforcement, which he discusses <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GrLFQ26jFs">here</a>.</p>
  831.  
  832.  
  833.  
  834. <p><a href="https://blog.samaltman.com/">Sam Altman</a> is always interesting to follow, and it&#8217;s interesting to contrast this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pxmdmlJCG0">great interview he did with David Perell on writing</a> with this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KmpT-BoVf4">very direct and awkward one with Tucker Carlson</a>. I have immense respect for anyone who enters the arena and engages directly with journalists or critics, rather than hiding behind PR agents or lawyers. Given the current blood feud, it&#8217;s fun to go back eight years and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnBQmEqBCY0">see Sam Altman interview Elon Musk</a>, long before any of the AI stuff blew up they were both terribly prescient.</p>
  835.  
  836.  
  837.  
  838. <p>Ray Dalio is always a gem and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49RT6SQ8n0Y">he went on Diary of a CEO</a>. Theo Browne <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TMPWvPG5GA">has a good take on what it means to vibe code</a>. Kishan Bagaria <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwsfdRY-K2s">discusses how Beeper is going to reach 100  million users</a>. The story of how Atlassian took a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SKUw3w2FEg">non-traditional enterprise path with Jay Simons is great</a>. Not a YouTube, but don&#8217;t miss <a href="https://www.theverge.com/decoder-podcast-with-nilay-patel/773904/sierra-ceo-bret-taylor-ai-agents-openai-bubble-interview">Bret Taylor on The Verge</a>. Check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N7XvGaQ72E">Adam D&#8217;Angelo at South Park Commons</a>.</p>
  839.  
  840.  
  841.  
  842. <p>And finally, I&#8217;ll say that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/premium">YouTube Premium</a>, which turns off all the ads, is probably one of the highest value subscriptions you can have. <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Many of these are essentially like podcasts, and from a product perspective, I think we need to figure out how to sync and allow seamless movement between watching, listening, or reading transcripts</span> in&nbsp;<a href="https://pocketcasts.com/">Pocket Casts</a>&nbsp;(Automattic&#8217;s open-source podcasting&nbsp;app). We support video podcasts, but there&#8217;s no good way yet to have a <a href="https://www.audible.com/ep/wfs">Whispersync-like</a> experience between video, audio, and a transcript.</p>
  843. ]]></content>
  845. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/weekend-youtubes/#comments" thr:count="4" />
  846. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/weekend-youtubes/feed/atom/" thr:count="4" />
  847. <thr:total>4</thr:total>
  848. </entry>
  849. <entry>
  850. <author>
  851. <name>Matt</name>
  852. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  853. </author>
  854.  
  855. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Old Business Cards]]></title>
  856. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/old-business-cards/" />
  857.  
  858. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149786</id>
  859. <updated>2025-09-14T02:55:19Z</updated>
  860. <published>2025-09-14T02:50:47Z</published>
  861. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Asides" />
  862. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[I recently came across a few old business cards I designed back in 1999. The first ones were for my services as a saxophone player: A few notes: This was for my “design” business: I would also design business cards for friends, here’s one for my friend who was a percussionist and vibraphonist, Chase Jordan:&#160;]]></summary>
  863.  
  864. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/old-business-cards/"><![CDATA[
  865. <p><br>I recently came across a few old business cards I designed back in 1999. The first ones were for my services as a saxophone player:</p>
  866.  
  867.  
  868.  
  869. <figure data-carousel-extra='{"blog_id":1,"permalink":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2025\/09\/old-business-cards\/"}'  class="wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex">
  870. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="604" height="336" data-attachment-id="149788" data-permalink="https://ma.tt/2025/09/old-business-cards/business-card-blue/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?fit=2086%2C1160&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="2086,1160" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="business-card-blue" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?fit=840%2C467&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?fit=604%2C336&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-id="149788" src="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue-1024x569.jpg?resize=604%2C336&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-149788" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?resize=1024%2C569&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?resize=840%2C467&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 840w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?resize=195%2C108&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 195w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?resize=768%2C427&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?resize=1536%2C854&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?resize=2048%2C1139&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?resize=827%2C460&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 827w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?w=1208&amp;quality=89 1208w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-blue.jpg?w=1812&amp;quality=89 1812w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px" /></figure>
  871.  
  872.  
  873.  
  874. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="604" height="345" data-attachment-id="149787" data-permalink="https://ma.tt/2025/09/old-business-cards/business-card-yellow/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-yellow.jpg?fit=1050%2C600&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="1050,600" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="business-card-yellow" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-yellow.jpg?fit=840%2C480&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-yellow.jpg?fit=604%2C345&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-id="149787" src="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-yellow-1024x585.jpg?resize=604%2C345&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-149787" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-yellow.jpg?resize=1024%2C585&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-yellow.jpg?resize=840%2C480&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 840w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-yellow.jpg?resize=195%2C111&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 195w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-yellow.jpg?resize=768%2C439&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-yellow.jpg?resize=805%2C460&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 805w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-yellow.jpg?w=1050&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1050w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px" /></figure>
  875. </figure>
  876.  
  877.  
  878.  
  879. <p>A few notes:</p>
  880.  
  881.  
  882.  
  883. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  884. <li>I went mostly by “Matthew” then.</li>
  885.  
  886.  
  887.  
  888. <li>At some point I decided to remove the home address and say that I was available to play not just alto saxophone but baritone, tenor, and soprano as well.</li>
  889.  
  890.  
  891.  
  892. <li>The number was the home shared house number, not a cell phone.</li>
  893.  
  894.  
  895.  
  896. <li>The email was an email address the entire family shared, under my dad’s name.</li>
  897.  
  898.  
  899.  
  900. <li><a href="https://www.hal-pc.org/">HAL-PC</a> was an amazing non-profit local to Houston that stood for the “Houston Area League of PC users.” There was a pretty reasonable annual membership fee, and they hosted a monthly general meeting which had hundreds of attendees, always with a presentation or two and a raffle giveaway at the end. They were a dial-up ISP and BBS/newsgroup host. I volunteered for them by going in on Saturdays where they had a room people could bring their broken computers to and get free tech support, and by hosting a SIG, or special-interest group, around PalmOS called <a href="https://hpug.org/">HPUG</a>, the Houston Palm Users Group. This was a big part of the inspiration for WordCamps.</li>
  901. </ul>
  902.  
  903.  
  904.  
  905. <p>This was for my “design” business:</p>
  906.  
  907.  
  908.  
  909. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="604" height="345" data-attachment-id="149789" data-permalink="https://ma.tt/2025/09/old-business-cards/business-card-design/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-design.jpg?fit=1050%2C600&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="1050,600" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="business-card-design" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-design.jpg?fit=840%2C480&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-design.jpg?fit=604%2C345&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-design-1024x585.jpg?resize=604%2C345&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-149789" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-design.jpg?resize=1024%2C585&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-design.jpg?resize=840%2C480&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 840w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-design.jpg?resize=195%2C111&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 195w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-design.jpg?resize=768%2C439&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-design.jpg?resize=805%2C460&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 805w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-design.jpg?w=1050&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1050w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px" /></figure>
  910.  
  911.  
  912.  
  913. <p><br>I would also design business cards for friends, here’s one for my friend who was a percussionist and vibraphonist, Chase Jordan:&nbsp;</p>
  914.  
  915.  
  916.  
  917. <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="604" height="362" data-attachment-id="149790" data-permalink="https://ma.tt/2025/09/old-business-cards/business-card-chase-jordan/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-chase-jordan.jpg?fit=1000%2C600&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-orig-size="1000,600" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="business-card-chase-jordan" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-chase-jordan.jpg?fit=840%2C504&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-chase-jordan.jpg?fit=604%2C362&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1" src="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-chase-jordan.jpg?resize=604%2C362&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-149790" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-chase-jordan.jpg?w=1000&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1000w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-chase-jordan.jpg?resize=840%2C504&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 840w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-chase-jordan.jpg?resize=195%2C117&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 195w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-chase-jordan.jpg?resize=768%2C461&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2025/09/business-card-chase-jordan.jpg?resize=767%2C460&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 767w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px" /></figure>
  918. ]]></content>
  920. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/old-business-cards/#comments" thr:count="9" />
  921. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/old-business-cards/feed/atom/" thr:count="9" />
  922. <thr:total>9</thr:total>
  923. </entry>
  924. <entry>
  925. <author>
  926. <name>Matt</name>
  927. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  928. </author>
  929.  
  930. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Legal Win]]></title>
  931. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/legal-win/" />
  932.  
  933. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149776</id>
  934. <updated>2025-09-14T01:54:14Z</updated>
  935. <published>2025-09-13T01:27:15Z</published>
  936. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="WordPress" />
  937. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[Just got word that the court dismissed several of WP Engine and Silver Lake’s most serious claims — antitrust, monopolization, and extortion have been knocked out! These were by far the most significant and far-reaching allegations in the case and with today’s decision the case is narrowed significantly. This is a win not just for &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/legal-win/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Legal Win</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  938.  
  939. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/legal-win/"><![CDATA[
  940. <p>Just got word that the<a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69221176/169/wpengine-inc-v-automattic-inc/"> court dismissed several of WP Engine and Silver Lake’s most serious claims</a> — antitrust, monopolization, and extortion have been knocked out! These were by far the most significant and far-reaching allegations in the case and with today’s decision the case is narrowed significantly. This is a win not just for us but for all open source maintainers and contributors.&nbsp;Huge thanks to the folks at <a href="https://www.gibsondunn.com/">Gibson</a> and <a href="https://automattic.com/">Automattic</a> who have been working on this.</p>
  941.  
  942.  
  943.  
  944. <p>With respect to any remaining claims, we’re confident the facts will demonstrate that our actions were lawful and in the best interests of the WordPress community.</p>
  945.  
  946.  
  947.  
  948. <p>This ruling is a significant milestone, but our focus remains the same: building a free, open, and thriving WordPress ecosystem and supporting the millions of people who use it every day.</p>
  949. ]]></content>
  951. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/legal-win/#comments" thr:count="13" />
  952. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/legal-win/feed/atom/" thr:count="13" />
  953. <thr:total>13</thr:total>
  954. </entry>
  955. <entry>
  956. <author>
  957. <name>Matt</name>
  958. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  959. </author>
  960.  
  961. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Really Simple Licensing]]></title>
  962. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/really-simple-licensing/" />
  963.  
  964. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149763</id>
  965. <updated>2025-09-12T05:18:26Z</updated>
  966. <published>2025-09-12T05:18:26Z</published>
  967. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Asides" />
  968. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[It&#8217;s been a busy (and tragic) week but one of the more interesting things to launch was the Really Simple Licensing standard. I have a lot of scars from the web standards wars, so I&#8217;m hesitant to dive back in, but this is from a lot of the early Web 2.0 people, as TechCrunch writes &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/really-simple-licensing/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Really Simple Licensing</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  969.  
  970. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/really-simple-licensing/"><![CDATA[
  971. <p>It&#8217;s been a busy (and tragic) week but one of the more interesting things to launch was the <a href="https://rslstandard.org/">Really Simple Licensing standard</a>. I have a lot of scars from the web standards wars, so I&#8217;m hesitant to dive back in, but this is from a lot of the early Web 2.0 people, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/10/rss-co-creator-launches-new-protocol-for-ai-data-licensing/">as TechCrunch writes about</a>.</p>
  972.  
  973.  
  974.  
  975. <p>As it happens, <a href="https://github.com/Jameswlepage/rsl-wp">James LePage of Automattic has spun up a WordPress plugin for it</a>, so that was fast. Now the thing to figure out is distribution and adoption.</p>
  976. ]]></content>
  978. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/really-simple-licensing/#comments" thr:count="7" />
  979. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/really-simple-licensing/feed/atom/" thr:count="7" />
  980. <thr:total>7</thr:total>
  981. </entry>
  982. <entry>
  983. <author>
  984. <name>Matt</name>
  985. <uri>http://ma.tt/</uri>
  986. </author>
  987.  
  988. <title type="html"><![CDATA[Account for Externalities]]></title>
  989. <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/externalities/" />
  990.  
  991. <id>https://ma.tt/?p=149759</id>
  992. <updated>2025-09-12T00:58:50Z</updated>
  993. <published>2025-09-12T00:58:50Z</published>
  994. <category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Economics" /><category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="Open Source" /><category scheme="https://ma.tt" term="WordPress" />
  995. <summary type="html"><![CDATA[When I studied economics, one of the concepts that struck me the most was the concept of externalities. This International Monetary Fund post explains it well. In short, externalities are costs or benefits of an economic activity that affect third parties who did not choose to incur them, leading to a divergence between private and &#8230; <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/externalities/" class="more-link">Continue reading <span class="screen-reader-text">Account for Externalities</span> <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></summary>
  996.  
  997. <content type="html" xml:base="https://ma.tt/2025/09/externalities/"><![CDATA[
  998. <p>When I studied economics, one of the concepts that struck me the most was the concept of externalities. <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/Series/Back-to-Basics/Externalities">This International Monetary Fund post explains it well</a>. In short, externalities are costs or benefits of an economic activity that affect third parties who did not choose to incur them, leading to a divergence between private and social costs or benefits. They’re spillover effects—positive or negative—that the market price fails to reflect. A classic example is air pollution from a factory, where nearby residents bear health and environmental costs not included in the price of the factory’s products.</p>
  999.  
  1000.  
  1001.  
  1002. <p>Open source is full of externalities. On the positive side, adoption creates ecosystems of developers and provides many paths of distribution. On the negative side, there’s often underinvestment in the very projects that sustain the ecosystem. I have a lot of empathy for why, when open source meets finance and private equity, things can go sideways. You can look at a business built on open source and see seemingly amazing margins—efficient R&amp;D that compounds in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discounted_cash_flow">DCF model</a>. A percent here or there over many years really adds up.</p>
  1003.  
  1004.  
  1005.  
  1006. <p>My plea to investors in open-source businesses is this: when a business is built on top of open source, incorporate a restorative investment percentage back into the projects critical to the end-user experience of what you’re offering customers. In WordPress, we call this <a href="https://wordpress.org/five-for-the-future/">Five for the Future</a>, but it doesn’t have to be five percent; it could be 0.1%. Plan for it when modeling your expected <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_rate_of_return">IRR</a> hurdle from an investment. Then, a few years down the line, when the small percentages start to add up, you won’t face a big catch-up or gap.</p>
  1007.  
  1008.  
  1009.  
  1010. <p>This underinvestment is itself an externality. It doesn’t appear on the balance sheet, but it can manifest in black swan events, such as security breaches or remote code exploits. Technical debt is one of the largest unaccounted-for externalities in the world today. Engineering, in the long run, is primarily a craft of maintenance rather than creation. The bulk of the cost of something comes from its upkeep over time.</p>
  1011. ]]></content>
  1013. <link rel="replies" type="text/html" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/externalities/#comments" thr:count="5" />
  1014. <link rel="replies" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://ma.tt/2025/09/externalities/feed/atom/" thr:count="5" />
  1015. <thr:total>5</thr:total>
  1016. </entry>
  1017. </feed>
  1018.  

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