Shellsharks: Setting off on a self-hosting journey. “I want to self-host a bunch of things. Why? Let’s see here… techno-fascism, privacy disasters, tech companies randomly sunsetting things, enshittification spirals, etc… I’m tired of it. I want to run some stuff myself, own the data, and be happy with my tech.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/02/24/shellsharks-setting-off-on-a-self-hosting-journey/

Blake Watson: I used Claude Code and GSD to build the accessibility tool I’ve always wanted. “I didn’t have the mental bandwidth to learn enough Swift and native macOS programming to do it on my own. I’d considered hiring other developers to make assistive tech software for me before, but it never went anywhere, usually because of lack of interest. This seemed like a small enough project […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/02/22/blake-watson-i-used-claude-code-and-gsd-to-build-the-accessibility-tool-ive-always-wanted/

Techdirt: How Close Can AI Get To Writing A Techdirt Post?. “I still have no intention of letting AI write for me, but as the underlying technology has continued to level up, every so often I’ll run a test to see if it could write a better Techdirt post than I can. I don’t think it’s there (and I’m still not convinced it will ever get there), but I figured I can share the process with […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/02/20/techdirt-how-close-can-ai-get-to-writing-a-techdirt-post/

Ars Technica: I spent two days gigging at RentAHuman and didn’t make a single cent. “I never ended up hanging any posters or making any cash on RentAHuman during my two days of fruitless attempts. In the past, I’ve done gig work that sucked, but at least I was hired by a human to do actual tasks. At its core, RentAHuman is an extension of the circular AI hype machine, an ouroboros of […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/02/17/ars-technica-i-spent-two-days-gigging-at-rentahuman-and-didnt-make-a-single-cent/

Mashable: My awkward first date with an AI companion . “EVA AI gave me the perfect opportunity at the app’s ‘EVA AI cafe,’ a pop-up nestled in a Manhattan wine bar where participants can go on ‘dates’ with AI personas. So, I signed up, and reader, it was one word: awkward.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/02/16/mashable-my-awkward-first-date-with-an-ai-companion/

ZDNet: I tried a Claude Code alternative that’s local, open source, and completely free – how it works. “This is the first of three articles that will discuss the integration of Goose (the agent framework), Ollama (an LLM server), and Qwen3-coder (the LLM). In this article, I’ll show you how to get everything working. In the next article, I’ll give you a more in-depth understanding of the roles […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/02/03/zdnet-i-tried-a-claude-code-alternative-thats-local-open-source-and-completely-free-how-it-works/

Evolving Web: Designing a digital archive in partnership with an Indigenous community. “At Evolving Web, we recently collaborated with the University of Denver on the Our Stories, Our Medicine Archive (OSOMA), a community-owned digital archive that centres traditional Indigenous knowledge related to health, wellness, culture, and identity. Built in close collaboration with community partners, […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/02/01/evolving-web-designing-a-digital-archive-in-partnership-with-an-indigenous-community/

Nature: When two years of academic work vanished with a single click. “…in August, I temporarily disabled the ‘data consent’ option because I wanted to see whether I would still have access to all of the model’s functions if I did not provide OpenAI with my data. At that moment, all of my chats were permanently deleted and the project folders were emptied — two years of carefully […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/01/25/nature-when-two-years-of-academic-work-vanished-with-a-single-click/

Ars Technica: 10 things I learned from burning myself out with AI coding agents. “Since November, I have used Claude Code and Claude Opus 4.5 through a personal Claude Max account to extensively experiment with AI-assisted software development (I have also used OpenAI’s Codex in a similar way, though not as frequently). Fifty projects later, I’ll be frank: I have not had this much fun with […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/01/21/ars-technica-10-things-i-learned-from-burning-myself-out-with-ai-coding-agents/