# The Aspiring Nerd

> Personal blog by Greg, a neurodivergent AI transformation leader and product
> manager. Opinion, analysis and commentary at the crossroads of product
> management, AI, web marketing, development and technology. Running in various
> forms since 2007.

Posts are listed newest first as: title, date, category, summary. Categories:

- Curated find: short commentary on someone else's article, with a quote from the source (78 posts)
- Archive: pre-2020 post from the blog's earlier life, mostly PR, social media and web marketing (30 posts)
- Essay: longer original piece, usually a hands-on experiment or an opinion (16 posts)
- TIL: monthly brain dump listing what Greg explored that month (10 posts)
- Monthly dispatch: roundup of notable tech and AI news for the month (5 posts)

## Pages

- [Home](https://theaspiringnerd.com/): Latest posts
- [About](https://theaspiringnerd.com/about/): Who Greg is and what this blog is
- [Curated Finds](https://theaspiringnerd.com/curated-finds/): Handpicked links with commentary
- [Archives](https://theaspiringnerd.com/archives/): Every post grouped by year
- [Tags](https://theaspiringnerd.com/tags/): Browse by topic
- [Search](https://theaspiringnerd.com/search/): Full-text search
- [RSS](https://theaspiringnerd.com/rss.xml): Feed of all posts

## Posts

- [The Monthly Dispatch - The Lighter Summer Edition](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-monthly-dispatch-july-2026/): (2026-08-06, Monthly dispatch) Major model releases while an OpenAI test agent escaped its sandbox to hack Hugging Face and 1,300+ frontier lab employees called for slowing AI progress.
- [The Monthly Dispatch - June 2026](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-monthly-dispatch-june-2026/): (2026-07-03, Monthly dispatch) US government restricts frontier AI models while Anthropic and OpenAI file for IPO, SpaceX acquires Cursor , and Claude caught embedding fingerprinting us.
- [Wait, Midjourney Is Building a What Now?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/wait-midjourney-is-building-a-what-now/): (2026-06-20, Essay) Midjourney is apparently building a full-body ultrasonic scanner spa. It sounds ridiculous, inspiring, and a little too Gattaca for comfort.
- [The Monthly Dispatch - May 2026](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-monthly-dispatch-may-2026/): (2026-05-31, Monthly dispatch) Talent, compute, and supply chains. May 2026 brought Karpathy to Anthropic, 220K SpaceX GPUs to Claude, enterprise joint ventures from both frontier labs, a brutal Starlette CVE, and a fresh diagnosis: tech CEOs have AI psychosis.
- [Quoting Sameer Al-Sakran: Welcome to the strip mining era of open source security](https://theaspiringnerd.com/welcome-to-the-strip-mining-era-of-open-source-security/): (2026-05-17, Curated find) Open source security faces an AI-driven vulnerability gold rush.
- [Notes from inside China's AI labs](https://theaspiringnerd.com/notes-from-inside-chinas-ai-labs/): (2026-05-09, Curated find) Discover how China's AI research culture differs from Western labs.
- [The Monthly Dispatch - April 2026](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-monthly-dispatch-april-2026/): (2026-04-30, Monthly dispatch) April 2026 AI roundup: OpenAI-Microsoft restructure, AWS partnership, Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.5, major security breaches, and the wildest model leaks yet.
- [The Monthly Dispatch - March 2026](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-monthly-dispatch-march-2026/): (2026-03-30, Monthly dispatch) New models everywhere, agents getting hijacked in creative ways, the human cost of AI overload, and Anthropic's leaked Mythos project.
- [Curious & Confused: TIL in February 2026](https://theaspiringnerd.com/curious-confused-til-in-february-2026/): (2026-02-28, TIL) Model releases everywhere, AI agents going rogue, Anthropic refusing the Pentagon, OpenAI signing the deal.
- [Quoting Ethan Mollick: A Lot is Going to Change](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-ethan-mollick-a-lot-is-going-to-change-with-ai/): (2026-02-12, Curated find) Ethan Mollick warns that dismissing AI hype means missing the chance to shape dramatic changes already underway.
- [AI Doesn't Reduce Work—It Intensifies It](https://theaspiringnerd.com/ai-doesnt-reduce-workit-intensifies-it/): (2026-02-10, Curated find) AI tools don't reduce workload—they intensify it through faster pace, broader tasks, and extended hours.
- [Curious & Confused: TIL in January 2026](https://theaspiringnerd.com/curious-confused-til-in-january-2026/): (2026-02-02, TIL) January 2026 brain dump covering AI agents, infosecurity threats, OpenAI's ad plans, and a few delightfully weird corners of the internet.
- [Moltbook is fascinating, and kind of terrifying](https://theaspiringnerd.com/moltbook-is-fascinating-and-kind-of-terrifying/): (2026-01-31, Essay) Watching AI agents interact on Moltbook is fascinating, weird, and a bit concerning.
- [Hilary Gridley's AI Steering Wheel](https://theaspiringnerd.com/hilary-gridleys-ai-steering-wheel/): (2026-01-21, Curated find) The AI Steering Wheel transforms vague instructions like "simpler" or "ambitious" into specific, actionable commands that LLMs actually understand.
- [The Camera You Have on Hand: Using Codex Web to Act on Ideas Instantly](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-camera-you-have-on-hand-using-codex-web-to-act-on-ideas-instantly/): (2026-01-08, Essay) Learn how Codex Web lets you build and deploy projects instantly from your phone—no desk setup required.
- [Quoting Ethan Mollick: Managing Agents is Really a Management Problem](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-ethan-mollick-managing-agents-is-really-a-management-problem/): (2026-01-03, Curated find) Managing AI agents requires the same skills as managing people or products, that's why product managers excel at getting results from LLMs.
- [Quoting Jason Gorman: The Future of Software Development is Software Developers](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-jason-gorman-the-future-of-software-development-is-software-developers/): (2025-12-30, Curated find) Have you ever asked an LLM to do the same task in different languages and gotten wildly different results?
- [My Writing Workflow: From Reading to Publishing](https://theaspiringnerd.com/my-writing-workflow-from-reading-to-publishing/): (2025-12-29, Essay) Learn how a curator-first workflow helped increase blog output using Feedly, Raindrop, and a custom Astro CMS to capture, shape, and publish.
- [From 9 Posts to 47: Building, Breaking, and Learning With AI in 2025](https://theaspiringnerd.com/from-9-posts-to-47-building-breaking-and-learning-with-ai-in-2025/): (2025-12-26, Essay) My 2025 review: from building real projects with LLMs to exploring security risks, prototyping, and the philosophical impact of AI on work and creativity.
- [Curious & Confused: TIL in December 2025](https://theaspiringnerd.com/curious-and-confused-what-i-learned-in-december-2025/): (2025-12-25, TIL) December's tech discoveries: dependency cooldowns, AI criticism frameworks, MCP apps, normalization of deviance in AI, orbital data centers, and more
- [Quoting Bryan Newbold: Why Leaving X Makes Sense](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-bryan-newbold-why-leaving-x-makes-sense/): (2025-12-11, Curated find) Bryan Newbold's quote captures why leaving X matters—network effects work both ways, and institutions moving to Bluesky could trigger the tipping point.
- [Quoting Johann Rehberger: The Normalization of Deviance in AI](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-johann-rehberger-the-normalization-of-deviance-in-ai/): (2025-12-06, Curated find) Discover how the normalization of deviance threatens AI systems (or why companies gradually accept risky shortcuts)
- [Quoting The Resonant Computing Manifesto](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-the-resonant-computing-manifesto/): (2025-12-06, Curated find) I'm passionate about AI and LLMs, and I genuinely believe they could transform our world for the better. But I'm also a sarcastic realist who knows there are se...
- [Curious & Confused: TIL in September - November 2025](https://theaspiringnerd.com/curious-confused-til-in-september-november-2025/): (2025-11-30, TIL) A curated collection of tech discoveries from September-November 2025, covering AI developments, security threats, and privacy frameworks
- [A First Look at Prototyping With Gemini 3 and Google AI Studio](https://theaspiringnerd.com/a-first-look-at-prototyping-with-gemini-3-and-google-ai-studio/): (2025-11-20, Essay) How Gemini 3 and Google AI Studio revolutionize prototyping.
- [Quoting Elena Verna: My beef with AI credit pricing](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-elena-verna-my-beef-with-ai-credit-pricing/): (2025-11-17, Curated find) Elena Verna critiques AI credit pricing models and urges product teams to rethink how they charge for AI-powered features.
- [Experimenting with Codex CLI, Agents.md, and PRDs](https://theaspiringnerd.com/experimenting-with-codex-cli-agentsmd-and-prds/): (2025-11-03, Essay) First impressions using Codex CLI with Agents.md and PRDs to speed product work and code experiments without another subscription.
- [Quoting Geoffrey Litt: Code Like a Surgeon](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-geoffrey-litt-code-like-a-surgeon/): (2025-10-24, Curated find) Geoffrey Litt compares effective coding with AI support to a surgeon working with a skilled team, staying hands-on with the core.
- [On Vibe Coding Cleanup as a Service](https://theaspiringnerd.com/on-vibe-coding-cleanup-as-a-service/): (2025-09-22, Curated find) Reflecting on the business of cleaning up AI-generated code and why vibe-to-production services are becoming lucrative.
- [Curious & Confused: TIL in July - August 2025](https://theaspiringnerd.com/curious-confused-til-in-july-august-2025/): (2025-09-02, TIL) A roundup of my July–August rabbit holes: AI tools, odd ideas, and quick notes captured before they vanish.
- [Quoting Michael Bassili: I Miss Using Em Dashes](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-michael-bassili-i-miss-using-em-dashes/): (2025-09-02, Curated find) Michael Bassili laments losing em dashes to safety filters and how AI tooling reshapes writing habits for bloggers.
- [Quoting Bruce Schneier: We Are Still Unable to Secure LLMs](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-bruce-schneier-we-are-still-unable-to-secure-llms/): (2025-08-27, Curated find) Bruce Schneier argues we still lack defenses against malicious LLM inputs and outlines why current security approaches fall short.
- [Prototyping a Tag Manager Component with ChatGPT and Cursor](https://theaspiringnerd.com/prototyping-a-tag-manager-component-with-chatgpt-and-cursor/): (2025-08-20, Essay) Building a tag manager component for a blog CMS using ChatGPT for UI prototyping and Cursor for implementation, with LLM-powered tag suggestions.
- [Quoting Anu Atluru: Doomprompting Is the New Doomscrolling](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-anu-atluru-doomprompting-is-the-new-doomscrolling/): (2025-08-19, Curated find) Highlighting Anu Atluru's take on doomprompting—how short, lazy prompts make us passive creators and duller conversationalists.
- [GPT-5 First Impressions](https://theaspiringnerd.com/gpt-5-first-impressions-with-cursor/): (2025-08-08, Essay) Testing GPT-5 in Cursor to ship version history features quickly, with thoughts on speed, accuracy, and AI-assisted coding.
- [What is Slopsquatting?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/what-is-slopsquatting/): (2025-08-06, Curated find) Explaining slopsquatting—the tactic of registering fake packages that LLMs hallucinate, priming supply-chain attacks.
- [Quoting Orta Therox: Programming’s ‘Introduction to Photography’ Moment](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-orta-therox-we-are-at-the-introduction-of-photography-period-of-programming/): (2025-08-04, Curated find) Orta Therox frames AI-assisted coding as programming's photography moment, where new tools reshape craft rather than replace it.
- [Quoting Vincent Schmalbach: My LLMs Have Personalities](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-vincent-schmalbach-my-llms-have-personalities/): (2025-07-16, Curated find) Vincent Schmalbach personifies his LLMs like quirky interns, comparing ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok personalities.
- [Curious & Confused: TIL in May - June 2025](https://theaspiringnerd.com/curious-confused-what-i-learned-in-may-june-2025/): (2025-07-07, TIL) Notes from May–June explorations: AI agents, security quirks, regulation chatter, and context engineering experiments.
- [Quoting Simon Willison: Identify, solve, verify](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-simon-willison-identify-solve-verify/): (2025-07-05, Curated find) Simon Willison's identify–solve–verify mantra on why humans remain essential to guide, debug, and validate LLM-generated work.
- [Quoting John Rush: Building a Personal AI Factory](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-john-rush-building-a-personal-ai-factory/): (2025-07-02, Curated find) John Rush shares how he builds a personal AI factory with Claude Code, MCP, and agents, mirroring my own coding workflow.
- [Quoting Simon Willison: The lethal trifecta for AI agents](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-simon-willison-the-lethal-trifecta-for-ai-agents-private-data-untrusted-content-and-external-communication/): (2025-06-17, Curated find) Simon Willison outlines the lethal trifecta for AI agents—private data, untrusted content, and external communication risks.
- [Quoting Devansh: Fine-Tuning LLMs is a Huge Waste of Time](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-devansh-fine-tuning-llms-is-a-huge-waste-of-time/): (2025-06-12, Curated find) Devansh argues fine-tuning LLMs is destructive overwriting. Use RAG, adapters, or prompt engineering instead.
- [Curious & Confused: TIL in April 2025](https://theaspiringnerd.com/curious-and-confused-til-in-april-2025/): (2025-05-03, TIL) April 2025 learnings: panoptic segmentation, LLM grounding, EU AI Act, vision-language models, and prompt versioning.
- [Quoting Sean Goedecke: Debugging, emotional resilience, and mental models](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-sean-goedecke-debugging-emotional-resilience-and-mental-models/): (2025-04-27, Curated find) Sean Goedecke on why debugging is emotionally challenging—it breaks our comforting illusions of control and understanding.
- [Watching o3 guess a photo’s location is kinda scary](https://theaspiringnerd.com/watching-o3-guess-a-photos-location-is-kinda-scary/): (2025-04-26, Curated find) OpenAI's o3 model can identify photo locations—a powerful but dystopian capability that raises serious privacy concerns.
- [Quoting Drew Breunig on Domain Experts & Developers](https://theaspiringnerd.com/quoting-drew-breunig-on-domain-experts-and-developers/): (2025-04-11, Curated find) Drew Breunig on how AI is flipping the script: coding is becoming commodified while domain expertise becomes the real differentiator.
- [How secure is MCP, really?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/how-secure-is-mcp-really/): (2025-04-07, Curated find) Exploring the security risks of MCP and why it may not be production-ready. Key vulnerabilities include shell access and secret exposure.
- [Matt Webb, Interview for People and Blogs:](https://theaspiringnerd.com/matt-webb-interview-for-people-and-blogs/): (2025-04-05, Curated find) Matt Webb on why blogging is a political act: owning your words free from algorithmic control and platform values.
- [Curious & Confused: TIL in March 2025](https://theaspiringnerd.com/curious-and-confused-what-i-learned-in-march-2025/): (2025-04-02, TIL) A brain dump of interesting discoveries from March 2025: MCP, chain of draft, Perlin noise, and other fascinating concepts.
- [Curious & Confused: TIL in February 2025](https://theaspiringnerd.com/curious-and-confused-what-i-learned-in-february-2025/): (2025-03-02, TIL) February 2025 learnings: reasoning models, model distillation, decentralized AI, gumption traps, and various tech concepts.
- [The future belongs to idea guys who can just do things](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-future-belongs-to-idea-guys-who-can-just-do-things/): (2025-02-13, Curated find) How LLMs are empowering idea people to build and prototype without traditional coding skills—the future of rapid iteration.
- [The Anthropic Economic Index by Anthropic](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-anthropic-economic-index-by-anthropic/): (2025-02-10, Curated find) Anthropic's new economic index tracks how LLMs impact the economy and labor market, providing data for evidence-based AI regulation.
- [Curious & Confused: TIL in January 2025](https://theaspiringnerd.com/curious-and-confused-what-i-learned-in-january-2025/): (2025-01-31, TIL) Monthly brain dump: interesting discoveries from January 2025 including AI prototyping tools, decentralized social media, and LLMs.
- [OpenAI Furious DeepSeek Might Have Stolen All the Data They Stole First](https://theaspiringnerd.com/openai-furious-deepseek-might-have-stolen-all-the-data-openai-stole-from-us/): (2025-01-29, Curated find) The irony of OpenAI complaining about data theft when it built its company on unauthorized data collection—plus an intro to model distillation.
- [Your very own Benjamin Gates with ChatGPT](https://theaspiringnerd.com/your-very-own-benjamin-gates-with-chatgpt/): (2025-01-28, Curated find) ChatGPT is now surprisingly good at history, noticing details that even experts miss—like having your own Benjamin Gates.
- [Think of local-first as a hardening function.](https://theaspiringnerd.com/think-of-local-first-as-a-hardening-function/): (2025-01-22, Curated find) Steph Ango on local-first architecture: systems should remain operational even when infrastructure goes down.
- [Digital sovereignty is more important than ever](https://theaspiringnerd.com/digital-sovereignty-is-more-important-than-ever/): (2025-01-19, Curated find) Molly White on why digital sovereignty matters: move what you care about to spaces you control, not corporate platforms.
- [A guide to AI prototyping for product managers](https://theaspiringnerd.com/a-guide-to-ai-prototyping-for-product-managers/): (2025-01-16, Curated find) A practical guide to AI prototyping tools for product managers: when to use v0, Bolt, Replit, and Lovable for different use cases.
- [ChatGPT reveals the system prompt for Tasks](https://theaspiringnerd.com/chatgpt-reveals-the-system-prompt-for-tasks/): (2025-01-14, Curated find) Simon Willison reveals ChatGPT Tasks system prompt by getting the model to output its internal scheduling instructions.
- [The 2025 AI Engineering Reading List](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-2025-ai-engineering-reading-list/): (2025-01-14, Curated find) A curated list of ~50 essential AI engineering papers for 2025, selected for practical relevance to working AI engineers.
- [Street-fighting RAG: Chain-of-thought prompting](https://theaspiringnerd.com/street-fighting-rag-chain-of-thought-prompting/): (2025-01-10, Curated find) Using chain-of-thought prompting to control LLM responses in constrained game environments and prevent unwanted associations.
- [Challenging the "LLMs are just next-token predictors" take](https://theaspiringnerd.com/challenging-the-llms-are-just-next-token-predictors-take/): (2025-01-04, Curated find) Why dismissing LLMs as 'just next-token predictors' misses the emergent intelligence, reasoning, and creativity they develop.
- [Tracking Flights Over My House With ChatGPT and Claude](https://theaspiringnerd.com/track-flights-over-my-house-with-chatgpt-and-claude/): (2025-01-04, Essay) Building a flight tracking web app with ChatGPT and Claude—lessons on AI-assisted coding, prompt engineering, and iteration.
- [Can LLMs write better code if you keep asking them to “write better code”?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/can-llms-write-better-code-if-you-keep-asking-them-to-write-better-code/): (2025-01-03, Curated find) Experiment: can iteratively asking LLMs to 'write better code' actually improve output, or does it lead to over-engineering?
- [Things we learned about LLMs in 2024](https://theaspiringnerd.com/things-we-learned-about-llms-in-2024/): (2024-12-31, Curated find) Simon Willison's comprehensive review of key LLM developments, breakthroughs, and lessons learned throughout 2024.
- [OpenAI’s Board: ‘To Succeed, All We Need Is Unimaginable Sums of Money’](https://theaspiringnerd.com/openais-board-paraphrased-to-succeed-all-we-need-is-unimaginable-sums-of-money/): (2024-12-29, Curated find) John Gruber compares OpenAI to Netscape: leading product but no durable competitive moat in an increasingly commoditized AI market.
- [How decentralized is Bluesky really?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/how-decentralized-is-bluesky-really-dustycloud-brainstorms/): (2024-12-15, Curated find) A critical analysis of Bluesky's decentralization claims: is it truly decentralized or just a Twitter replacement with credible exit?
- [Perfect is the Enemy of Good](https://theaspiringnerd.com/perfect-is-the-enemy-of-good/): (2024-11-08, Curated find) Breaking free from perfectionism in writing: why publishing shorter, imperfect content is more liberating than endless editing.
- [To Auto-Save or Not to Auto-Save?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/to-auto-save-or-not-to-auto-save/): (2024-11-01, Curated find) Exploring the generational divide: users who expect auto-save vs. those who still want manual save buttons.
- [Art Display with Real-Time Image Diffusion](https://theaspiringnerd.com/art-display-with-real-time-image-diffusion/): (2024-10-24, Curated find) A wall-mounted diffusion mirror using Raspberry Pi 5 and Stable Diffusion to turn reflections into real-time AI-generated paintings.
- [What I Should Have Focused on When Picking Freelance Gigs](https://theaspiringnerd.com/what-i-should-have-focused-on-when-picking-freelance-gigs/): (2024-10-18, Essay) Lessons learned from freelancing: prioritize passion, challenges, and great collaborators over just the paycheck to avoid burnout.
- [The web is too big, or scaling down](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-web-is-too-big-or-scaling-down/): (2024-10-10, Curated find) Scott C. Richmond on the critical question of how technology scales down in an age of monopolies and centralized power.
- [The Lost Charm of the Early Internet](https://theaspiringnerd.com/i-miss-the-good-ol-web/): (2024-07-25, Essay) Nostalgia for the early web: random discovery, hand-coded HTML, and the wild west charm we've lost to corporate uniformity.
- [Get your Raindrop.io bookmarks into Obsidian using Pandoc](https://theaspiringnerd.com/raindrop-bookmarks-to-obsidian-markdown-with-pandoc/): (2022-01-28, Essay) Automatically convert Raindrop.io bookmarks to Obsidian markdown using Pandoc and cron jobs for seamless knowledge management.
- [2021 Podcasts Recommendations](https://theaspiringnerd.com/2021-podcasts-recommendations/): (2021-10-09, Essay) Curated podcast recommendations covering business, tech, culture, true crime, sports, and news—updated regularly with favorites.
- [The brand new 2020 Aspiring Nerd blog has arrived!](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-brand-new-2020-aspiring-nerd-blog-has-arrived/): (2020-02-06, Essay) The relaunch of The Aspiring Nerd blog with curated finds on politics, privacy, AI, and tech industry developments.
- [Net Neutrality is dead, cryptojacking keeps spreading & the Mirai Botnet isn’t what you think](https://theaspiringnerd.com/net-neutrality-is-dead-cryptojacking-keeps-spreading-and-the-mirai-botnet-isnt-what-you-think/): (2017-12-27, Curated find) Tech news: FCC kills net neutrality, Mirai botnet was a Minecraft scheme, and cryptocurrency developments.
- [Parts of the US Internet broke down, a poor guy stole and lost $300m in cryptocurrency by accident](https://theaspiringnerd.com/parts-of-the-us-internet-broke-down-a-poor-guy-stole-and-lost-300m-in-cryptocurrency-by-accident/): (2017-11-15, Curated find) Tech roundup: Level 3 internet outage, DOJ encryption debate, Facebook shadow profiles, and $300M cryptocurrency bug.
- [WiFi is broken, Big Brother lives in China and robots are coming for Wall Street!](https://theaspiringnerd.com/wifi-is-broken-big-brother-lives-in-china-and-robots-are-coming-for-wall-street/): (2017-10-23, Curated find) A curated roundup covering WPA2 KRACK vulnerability, China's social credit system, Wall Street automation, and tech security news.
- [Disqus leaks user data, Equifax still struggles with cybersecurity](https://theaspiringnerd.com/disqus-leaks-user-data-equifax-still-struggles-with-cybersecurity/): (2017-10-17, Curated find) Tech security news: Disqus data breach, We Heart It hack, Equifax redirects to malware, and Dow Jones testing mishap.
- [AIM shuts down after 20 years, Kaspersky Lab might be working with the Kremlin](https://theaspiringnerd.com/aim-shuts-down-after-20-years-kaspersky-lab-might-be-working-with-the-kremlin/): (2017-10-10, Curated find) Weekly tech roundup: AIM shutdown, FEMA deletes Puerto Rico data, UK WhatsApp encryption debate, and Equifax breach details.
- [Deloitte leaks clients’ secret emails, Uber wants to leave Quebec and the new Firefox Quantum is out](https://theaspiringnerd.com/deloitte-leaks-clients-secret-emails-uber-wants-to-leave-quebec-and-the-new-firefox-quantum-is-out/): (2017-10-02, Curated find) Tech news: Deloitte cyberattack, Equifax state-sponsored hack suspicions, Uber threatens Quebec exit, and Firefox Quantum launch.
- [Uber loses licence in London, Google buys HTC talents for $1.1B & CCleaner distributes malware million users](https://theaspiringnerd.com/uber-loses-licence-in-london-google-buys-htc-talents-for-11b-and-ccleaner-distributes-malware-million-users/): (2017-09-25, Curated find) Tech news roundup: Uber loses London license, Google acquires HTC talent, CCleaner malware attack, and more tech industry updates.
- [Equifax breach exposes millions of US consumers’ data, China bans cryptocurrencies & bluetooth flaw puts billions at risk](https://theaspiringnerd.com/equifax-breach-exposes-millions-of-us-consumers-data-china-bans-cryptocurrencies-and-bluetooth-flaw-puts-billions-at-risk/): (2017-09-17, Curated find) Tech news: Equifax breach exposes 150M accounts, China bans ICOs, Bluetooth security flaw, and Silicon Valley politics study.
- [Google breaks Japan’s internet, DDoS botnets keep growing & central banks get interested in cryptocurrencies](https://theaspiringnerd.com/google-breaks-japans-internet-ddos-botnets-keep-growing-and-central-banks-get-interested-in-cryptocurrencies/): (2017-09-05, Essay) Tech news: Google breaks Japan's internet, Facebook fights fake news, China's real-name registration, and Bitcoin energy concerns.
- [HBO keeps getting hacked, cryptocurrencies are not currencies & robots won’t take all our jobs](https://theaspiringnerd.com/hbo-keeps-getting-hacked-cryptocurrencies-are-not-currencies-and-robots-wont-take-all-our-jobs/): (2017-08-28, Curated find) Tech news: HBO security breaches, voting machine data leaks, prison coding bans, and online radicalization research.
- [The Daily Stormer sucks, Trumps disbands business councils & China’s headed for AI world domination](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-daily-stormer-sucks-trumps-disbands-business-councils-and-chinas-headed-for-ai-world-domination/): (2017-08-18, Curated find) Tech news roundup: Charlottesville aftermath, tech companies dropping neo-Nazis, Trump's business councils, and China's AI strategy.
- [Google’s diversity memo shakes the web, Walt Disney's leaving Netflix & researchers infected a computer with DNA](https://theaspiringnerd.com/googles-diversity-memo-shakes-the-web-walt-disneys-leaving-netflix-and-researchers-infected-a-computer-with-dna/): (2017-08-11, Curated find) Weekly roundup: Google diversity memo controversy, white hat hacker arrests, Disney leaving Netflix, and DNA-based malware.
- [China censors Apple and Amazon, cryptocurrencies are the new gold & Hyperloop is the future of public transportation](https://theaspiringnerd.com/china-censors-apple-and-amazon-cryptocurrencies-are-the-new-gold-and-hyperloop-is-the-future-of-public-transportation/): (2017-08-04, Curated find) Tech news: WannaCry hero arrested, Uber CEO search, SoundCloud collapse, Reddit funding, and cryptocurrency developments.
- [Sweden leaks massive data, Amazon misleads consumers & the Library of Congress opens its catalogs](https://theaspiringnerd.com/sweden-leaks-massive-data-amazon-misleads-consumers-and-the-library-of-congress-opens-its-catalogs/): (2017-07-28, Curated find) Tech news: Sweden's massive data breach, Amazon Prime Day pricing issues, and Library of Congress opening its catalogs.
- [$31M+ stolen in cryptocurrencies, new blockchain challenges & Japan sent a drone to space!](https://theaspiringnerd.com/sweden-leaks-massive-data-amazon-misleads-consumers-and-the-library-of-congress-opens-its-catalogs-2/): (2017-07-21, Curated find) Weekly tech roundup: Bitcoin civil war, $31M Ethereum hack, Canada's AI growth, and Android security threats.
- [Internet fights for Net Neutrality, bacteria can store animated gifs & AI is at war with journalists](https://theaspiringnerd.com/internet-fights-for-net-neutrality-bacteria-can-store-animated-gifs-and-ai-is-at-war-with-journalists/): (2017-07-14, Curated find) Tech finds: historic net neutrality day of action, Google's automated news project, and bacteria storing animated GIFs.
- [Fake news is scarier than ever, blockchain struggles with scaling & online privacy still an issue](https://theaspiringnerd.com/fake-news-is-scarier-than-ever-blockchain-struggles-with-scaling-and-online-privacy-still-an-issue/): (2017-07-07, Curated find) Weekly finds: AI-generated fake videos, Facebook tracking, scientific paper piracy, and massive Medicare data breach.
- [Petya breaks computers, EU fines Google €2.42B](https://theaspiringnerd.com/petya-breaks-computers-eu-fines-google-eu242b/): (2017-06-30, Curated find) Tech news: Petya ransomware outbreak, EU fines Google €2.42B for search manipulation, and emerging mobile technologies.
- [Amazon buys Whole Foods, Uber’s CEO resigns and the NSA goes open source](https://theaspiringnerd.com/amazon-buys-whole-foods-ubers-ceo-resigns-and-the-nsa-goes-open-source/): (2017-06-23, Curated find) Tech news: Amazon acquires Whole Foods, Uber CEO resigns, NSA contributes to open source, and net neutrality's impact on IoT.
- [Internet Trends 2017 are out, hacking power grids is possible & the blockchain keeps growing](https://theaspiringnerd.com/internet-trends-2017-are-out-hacking-power-grids-is-possible-and-the-blockchain-keeps-growing/): (2017-06-16, Curated find) Weekly tech roundup: Mary Meeker's Internet Trends 2017, power grid vulnerabilities, and blockchain enterprise adoption.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #12](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-12/): (2017-06-09, Curated find) Curated finds: crypto tokens, AI replacing humans, Russian election hacking, and Google's ad blocker strategy.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #11](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-11/): (2017-06-02, Curated find) Tech roundup: Elon Musk quits White House councils, Wikipedia HTTPS censorship fight, and US intelligence data breaches.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #10](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-10/): (2017-05-26, Curated find) Weekly finds: Bitcoin scarcity, AI political influence, criminal justice data transparency, and privacy commodification.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #9](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-9/): (2017-05-19, Curated find) Tech newsletter: WannaCry ransomware, FCC net neutrality vote, Google's AI-first strategy, and NSA exploit leaks.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #8](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-8/): (2017-05-12, Curated find) Curated finds: AI diversity, data as the new oil, Google's future, and data visualization trends.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #7](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-7/): (2017-05-07, Curated find) Tech roundup: Turkey blocks Wikipedia, FBI encryption debate, NSA surveillance changes, and AI developments.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #6](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-6/): (2017-04-27, Curated find) Weekly finds: Wikitribune launch, Facebook Instant Articles, Google ad-blocking, and tech diversity issues.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #5](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-5/): (2017-04-21, Curated find) Tech newsletter: USAFacts data project, phishing attacks, PGP key security, and AI accessibility trends.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #4](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-4/): (2017-04-14, Curated find) Tech finds: Mastodon disruption, Instagram Stories growth, Google fact-checking, and net neutrality in India.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #3](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-3/): (2017-04-07, Curated find) Weekly tech roundup: YouTube monetization changes, Tim Berners-Lee Turing Award, deep learning, and React resources.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #2](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-2/): (2017-03-31, Curated find) Tech newsletter: ISP privacy rollback, Russian hacker investigation, fake news trust, and startup ecosystem rankings.
- [The Aspiring Nerd — Issue #1](https://theaspiringnerd.com/the-aspiring-nerd-issue-1/): (2017-03-24, Curated find) Curated tech finds: net neutrality, ISP privacy rules, website security, chatbots, and web development resources.
- [Discovery: Google Public Data Explorer](https://theaspiringnerd.com/discovery-google-public-data-explorer/): (2010-03-15, Archive) Exploring Google Public Data Explorer: a free tool for visualizing statistical data from World Bank, OECD, and government sources.
- [What's Going On Inside the Brains of Internet Users?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/whats-going-on-inside-the-brains-of-internet-users/): (2010-01-24, Archive) Exploring how fMRI and EEG technology are revolutionizing UX research by revealing what's actually happening in users' brains.
- [Posterous: My Ideal Publishing Format?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/posterous-my-ideal-publishing-format/): (2009-10-03, Archive) Exploring Posterous as an ideal format for sharing shorter thoughts and quick takes between full blog posts and tweets.
- [BruTwestival Is Back—and Needs You!](https://theaspiringnerd.com/brutwestival-is-back-and-needs-you/): (2009-08-03, Archive) Brussels Twestival 2009: a social media community event raising money for local charities through Twitter and live events.
- [Thesis: Rumors 2.0 or Just a Matter of Semantics](https://theaspiringnerd.com/thesis-rumors-20-or-just-a-matter-of-semantics/): (2009-07-20, Archive) Questioning the Web 2.0 label and searching for better terminology to describe the participatory, social web.
- [Social Media Releases for the music industry](https://theaspiringnerd.com/social-media-releases-for-the-music-industry/): (2009-07-14, Archive) How bands and labels can create effective social media releases that aggregate music, photos, videos, and tour dates in one place.
- [Social Media and the Iranian Elections](https://theaspiringnerd.com/social-media-and-the-iranian-elections/): (2009-06-16, Archive) How Twitter, Flickr, and Google Maps became essential tools for organizing and reporting during Iran's 2009 election protests.
- [What Could Google Wave Change for Students?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/what-could-google-wave-change-for-students/): (2009-06-04, Archive) How Google Wave could revolutionize student collaboration with real-time editing, nested waves, and integrated communication tools.
- [Are iPhone apps better than flash ecards!?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/are-iphone-apps-better-than-flash-ecards/): (2009-05-22, Archive) Comparing iPhone apps to Flash ecards for music promotion: mobile features, interactivity, and the future of band marketing in 2009.
- [How would I use Twitter if I had an indie band?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/how-would-i-use-twitter-if-i-had-an-indie-band/): (2009-03-22, Archive) Practical tips for indie bands using Twitter: tour updates, fan engagement, promotion, and building a following in 2009.
- [Underground record labels and Twitter](https://theaspiringnerd.com/underground-record-labels-and-twitter/): (2009-03-20, Archive) An analysis of how underground record labels use Twitter for promotion, engagement, and connecting with fans in 2009.
- [Brussels Twestival 2009](https://theaspiringnerd.com/brussels-twestival-2009/): (2009-02-10, Archive) Brussels Twestival 2009: a global Twitter community event raising money for charity: water through music, unconference, and networking.
- [Alien Links Are Taking Over the Web!](https://theaspiringnerd.com/alien-links-are-taking-over-the-web/): (2008-11-30, Archive) Aaaliens is a blogger federation co-curating daily web discoveries with a human filter and link-journalism vibe.
- [Belgian Usability Day 2008: program](https://theaspiringnerd.com/belgian-usability-day-2008-program/): (2008-10-24, Archive) Program for Belgian Usability Day 2008: social networks, digital identity, travel UX, and traffic congestion design solutions.
- [Dissertation about electronic rumours: I need your help!](https://theaspiringnerd.com/dissertation-about-electronic-rumours-i-need-your-help/): (2008-10-22, Archive) Research call for help: seeking examples of electronic rumors spread via web 2.0 to test transmission models for a dissertation.
- [Bright One: Communication with a Social Purpose](https://theaspiringnerd.com/bright-one-communication-with-a-social-purpose/): (2008-10-19, Archive) Bright One: a UK communications agency offering affordable professional services to charities and NGOs through volunteer networks.
- [Why we use Facebook to promote our concerts](https://theaspiringnerd.com/why-we-use-facebook-to-promote-our-concerts/): (2008-09-20, Archive) A practical guide to using Facebook for concert promotion, covering event creation, RSVPs, viral invites, and post-event engagement.
- [Design Help via Twitter](https://theaspiringnerd.com/design-help-via-twitter/): (2008-08-18, Archive) Go Media launches design help via Twitter, creating a community where designers can get quick, personalized assistance.
- [Some Tips for Using Social Media Well](https://theaspiringnerd.com/some-tips-for-using-social-media-well/): (2008-07-29, Archive) Practical tips for businesses starting with social media: establishing goals, choosing platforms, and building consistent practices.
- [Google’s Ad Targeting Gets Sharper](https://theaspiringnerd.com/googles-ad-targeting-gets-sharper/): (2008-07-09, Archive) Google's new ad targeting uses recent search history for more precise ads, raising privacy concerns about data merging.
- [EuroBlog 2008: What’s Next](https://theaspiringnerd.com/euroblog-2008-whats-next/): (2008-03-22, Archive) Post-event roundup of EuroBlog 2008 with links to attendee recaps, videos, and a wiki to keep the conversation going.
- [EuroBlog 2008: Final Countdown](https://theaspiringnerd.com/euroblog-2008-final-countdown/): (2008-03-09, Archive) Quick pre-symposium update for EuroBlog 2008 with program highlights and a nudge to join the communications event.
- [interMedias: It's On!](https://theaspiringnerd.com/intermedias-its-on/): (2008-02-28, Archive) Announcing the interMedias launch—a collaborative media literacy project led by Alain Gerlache, Damien Vanachter, and team.
- [Download 'The Future of Reputation' for Free!](https://theaspiringnerd.com/download-the-future-of-reputation-for-free/): (2008-02-24, Archive) Sharing where to download “The Future of Reputation” for free and why its privacy and gossip themes still resonate.
- [Buzz Marketing, According to Kapferer (in 1987)](https://theaspiringnerd.com/buzz-marketing-according-to-kapferer-in-1987/): (2008-02-23, Archive) How Kapferer's 1987 word-of-mouth marketing insights predicted modern buzz marketing, influencer campaigns, and viral strategies.
- [Study from TNS Sofres: Web 2.0 and Business](https://theaspiringnerd.com/study-from-tns-sofres-web20-business/): (2008-02-16, Archive) TNS Sofres study on Web 2.0's impact on business: growing adoption and changing customer-company interactions in France.
- [I Don't Seek News Anymore—It Finds Me!](https://theaspiringnerd.com/i-dont-seek-news-anymore-it-finds-me/): (2008-02-13, Archive) How my news habits flipped—breaking events now reach me through social alerts, RSS, and friends instead of traditional media.
- [Can user-generated content predict music sales?](https://theaspiringnerd.com/can-user-generated-content-predict-music-sales/): (2008-02-11, Archive) NYU researchers test whether blogs, forums, and social chatter can forecast which albums will outsell the competition.
- [Impact of User-Generated Content on Music Sales](https://theaspiringnerd.com/impact-of-user-generated-content-on-music-sales/): (2008-02-11, Archive) Exploring research on whether user-generated content and social buzz can reliably predict album sales and music hits.
- [Euroblog 2008: Social media and the future of PR](https://theaspiringnerd.com/euroblog-2008-social-media-and-the-future-of-pr/): (2008-02-07, Archive) Program preview for EuroBlog 2008 Brussels Symposium on social media, PR education, and the future of public relations.