Mastodawn

Just two weeks until my talk at TechNExt Festival, "Making Buildings Smarter with the Web of Things" https://www.technext.co.uk/programme/events/making-buildings-smarter-with-the-web-of-things-pmdq0

If you're interested in smart buildings or the Web of Things, please join me for this free talk at the The Catalyst in Newcastle on Thursday 18th June.

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Ben Francis May 27

Where does this lead? It seems like either:
a) People stop making websites, LLMs are trained on the output of LLMs and the models collapse
b) Some other business model emerges to fund the web beyond ads

Ben Francis May 27

AI needs the open web, but it also poses an existential threat to it. LLMs rely on the content that humans create for their training, whilst also undermining the business models that incentivise people to create the content in the first place. https://nicolasbouliane.com/blog/death-by-ai

AI is killing All About Berlin - Nicolas Bouliane

They used my work to train their AI, and now they're using their AI to put me out of work.

Ben Francis May 21

If you'd have told 16 year old me that Microsoft would one day release their own Linux distribution, I wouldn't have believed you. https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-releases-its-first-server-linux-distribution-azure-linux-4-0/

Microsoft surprises with its first server Linux distribution: Azure Linux 4.0

You'll be able to run this Linux distro on both Azure and your desktop using Windows Subsystem for Linux. Here's what we know about it so far.

ZDNET

Ben Francis May 19

Did Lean Startup get a conscience? https://www.incorruptible.co/

As someone who has been trying (and often failing) to follow the Lean Startup methodology for many years it has raised lots of questions for me about speed vs. long term impact. I am looking forward to reading this book.

Incorruptible by Eric Ries — Why Good Companies Go Bad

Eric Ries's new book — Incorruptible — on why successful companies turn on their founding values, and how to build ones that don't. Out May 26.

Ben Francis May 14

Googlebooks will run a desktop version of Android with a Gemini-possessed cursor.

Seems like the beginning of the end for ChromeOS, with serious implications for education in particular.

Should we be building an open source web-based replacement..?

https://www.theverge.com/tech/928479/google-googlebook-laptops-android-tease-aluminium-chromebook

Google announces its Chromebook successor: the Googlebook

Google has a new operating system and a new laptop platform, but no hardware just yet.

The Verge

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Ben Francis May 11

I will also be at the Launch Conference and Festival Party if you want to say hi! 🥳

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Ben Francis May 11

I will be talking about how the @w3c Web of Things provides a universal application layer for the Internet of Things that apps, services and AI agents can use to interact with the physical world. #IoT #WoT #Data #AI

I'll also talk about how @krellian are helping facilities managers of commercial buildings to meet their net zero targets whilst saving money, by optimising space utilisation and reducing energy consumption using smart building technology. #SmartBuildings #NetZero

Ben Francis May 11

I'm delighted to share that I will be giving a talk at TechNExt Festival 2026 called "Making Buildings Smarter with the Web of Things". https://www.technext.co.uk/programme/events/making-buildings-smarter-with-the-web-of-things-pmdq0 #TechNExt #TechNExtFestival

📅 Thursday 18th June 2026
🕒 15:20-16:20
📍The Catalyst, Newcastle
📝 Data & AI Hub registration (free): https://www.technext.co.uk/programme/events/data-and-ai-hub-3hdzj#registration

Ben Francis May 5

This pay package implies Elon Musk believes a 1 million person settlement on Mars is feasible within his lifetime. I'm not anti space travel, but imagine if those kinds of resources were put into solving the climate crisis on our actually habitable planet. https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-elon-musk-compensation-bonus-colonize-mars/

SpaceX Board has set a Mars bonus for Elon Musk

SpaceX has given Elon Musk the goal to put one million people on Mars.

TESLARATI

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