Latest posts
- Pressed For OptionsApr 15, 2026Ernie Smith
I bought a USB fingerprint reader for my Linux laptop from Temu because it was the only one I could find that I knew would work. As you may or may not know, I’m somewhat obsessed with tech on the edges, gadgets that do a thing comparable to a more expensive thing, and making the most of the things I have. (See my Colmi R02 smart ring, which I’m wearing now.) And I kind of hate typing in my passwo
- The Solitaire ShuffleApr 10, 2026Ernie Smith
A meditation on the game of Solitaire and its endless variations, which go well beyond what you can find in Windows 3.1. Hey all, Ernie here with a piece from David Buck, who has been obsessed with a certain single-player game lately. See if you can figure out which one. Today in Tedium: Who doesn’t love card games, especially the ones you can play on your own? Solitaire is quiet. It’s slow. It w
- Pork & PuppetryApr 08, 2026Ernie Smith
What inspired the semi-viral fake GIMP trailer that recently fluttered around FOSS circles? The creator and puppeteer behind Pork Johnson explains. Look, I haven’t necessarily changed my mind about GIMP, the image editor that has something of a love-hate relationship in the open-source community. It’s not quite Photoshop or Affinity. But I do think it makes for very funny comedic fodder. Which is
- Em Dashes: Back In Style?Apr 03, 2026Ernie Smith
Cloudflare’s new attempt to win over the hearts of developers could help keep a few ancient WordPress sites from falling off the internet. That‘s a good thing. Cloudflare started its life nearly 20 years ago, and I found out about it basically because I was running a blog—and obsessed with keeping it online. ShortFormBlog was many things, but the most important was that it was barely held togethe
- Wayne’s WorldApr 01, 2026Ernie Smith
As Apple hits its 50th anniversary this week, we got a chance to talk to its forgotten third founder: Ronald G. Wayne. Apple is honestly a footnote in his long life. Quick programming note: Starting this week, we’re doing a bit of a throwback and going back to our Tuesday/Thursday roots. And in honor of that, we’re sharing a great interview we recently did. Today in Tedium: Recently, I had the ch
- Self-Hosting: Still Worth It?Mar 28, 2026Ernie Smith
Once upon a time, self-hosting used to be a cost-effective thing. Is it still a good option for fending off SaaS as the prices keep creeping up? Today in Tedium: It’s a tough time to be a financially-conscious computer user. We’re living deep in a RAM crisis, and you’ve probably heard the stories about well-spec’ed computers slowly suffering from a nagging case of Unobtainium. Meanwhile, SaaS jus
- An Intention UpgradeMar 27, 2026Ernie Smith
By ditching the Mac Pro so close to its 50th anniversary, Apple is making a statement of intent for its next 50 years. A mere six days before the 50th anniversary of Apple, the company quietly did something it has clearly wanted to do for a long time. It killed the Mac Pro, a device with a lineage that dates back decades. While it has only been a Mac Pro since 2006, its real roots probably lie in
- The Pancake DiscussionMar 23, 2026Ernie Smith
When every discussion feels flat, how do you fluff it up? The answer, to me, is to eat fewer pancakes. Pancakes are not my favorite thing to make. They require me to make a messy, gloppy mixture of wheat, milk, and eggs. They come out imperfectly every time. And when you’re done with them, you’ve created a bunch of heavy, saggy discs. (However, not floppy disks.) But they can be made quickly, and
- Last-Run SyndicationMar 14, 2026Ernie Smith
One of television’s most important business models—syndicating first-run content to TV stations looking to fill airtime—might be losing strea … er, steam. If you’re a longtime reader of Tedium, you might be aware of my ongoing fascination with first-run syndication—TV shows that skip the network and instead get sold to local channels to air whenever. In the days before we found a fourth network,
- Paywalls For MinimalistsMar 08, 2026Ernie Smith
What’s the least you can do to build an effective paywall for creators that’s mostly open-source? If we can figure that out, that might make it easier to cut out the big platforms. One of the reasons why companies like Substack have such a strong hold on creators is pretty simple: It’s hard to build a paywall. You have to deal with a lot of really hard stuff, like logins and payment methods. And