Ernie Smith

@ernie@writing.exchange
5.9K Followers
626 Following
18.4K Posts

Editor of Tedium, an offbeat newsletter that’s been rocking since 2015. I complain on the internet a lot, and I accidentally made a search engine.

Support what I do here: https://ko-fi.com/tedium

Interests: #writing #news #history #technology #retrotech #weird #geoworks #freelance

Tediumhttps://tedium.co/
&udm=14https://udm14.com
Portfoliohttps://erniesmith.net/
Verified Journalisthttps://www.verifiedjournalist.org/people/@ernie@writing.exchange
Ernie Smith1d ago
Ernie Smith2d ago

2026 has me thinking about the quirks of the number 26. One of the more interesting ones: Did you know that most years, people who get paid biweekly get 26 paychecks, but in 2026, they’ll get 27?

More from our 2026 @tedium look-ahead:

https://tedium.co/2026/01/02/tedium-trends-2026/

Tedium Trends 2026: The Surprisingly Importance Of 26

The number 26, which gets back-burnered compared to numbers with neater divisibility, is an essential digit. And you’re gonna be hearing all about it in 2026.

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.
Show threadErnie Smith2d ago

We hit a lot of topics in the year-end wrap-up—and I get a mention of Stewart Cheifet’s passing in this:

“For most viewers, if you cared about computers and wanted to watch a show about it, this was it.”

https://tedium.co/2026/01/02/tedium-trends-2026/

Tedium Trends 2026: The Surprisingly Importance Of 26

The number 26, which gets back-burnered compared to numbers with neater divisibility, is an essential digit. And you’re gonna be hearing all about it in 2026.

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.
Ernie Smith2d ago

2026 has me thinking about the quirks of the number 26. One of the more interesting ones: Did you know that most years, people who get paid biweekly get 26 paychecks, but in 2026, they’ll get 27?

More from our 2026 @tedium look-ahead:

https://tedium.co/2026/01/02/tedium-trends-2026/

Tedium Trends 2026: The Surprisingly Importance Of 26

The number 26, which gets back-burnered compared to numbers with neater divisibility, is an essential digit. And you’re gonna be hearing all about it in 2026.

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.
Ernie Smith3d ago
Nivex 🐧 📻3d ago

RE: https://writing.exchange/@ernie/115816040290671309

Normal kids watched cartoons on Saturday mornings. I watched Computer Chronicles.

Show threadErnie Smith3d ago

Here’s an overarching interview he did with Leo Laporte, who arguably carried his torch to the next generation of tech journalists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdtHS_X1ibg

Triangulation 114: Stewart Cheifet

YouTube
Ernie Smith4d ago

RIP Stewart Cheifet.

Anyone who covers tech owes a mountain of ink to that guy. He was the trailblazer in a way that few others were.

Show threadErnie Smith4d ago

“And given that the motivation with many figures was to stay silent, it may have been the bravest bit of reporting in 2025. I mean, it’s not even close. This has to be the best feature story of the year, even if it is the result of farcical circumstance.”

https://tedium.co/2025/12/31/best-feature-story-2025-white-house-signal-leak/

Ernie Smith4d ago

OK, have another year-end @tedium award to give out—this time for Best Feature Story. Maybe it’s obvious, but I mean, the sheer farce of the Signal leak, where a White House official dropped the editor-in-chief of @TheAtlantic into the chat, is too much to ignore.

https://tedium.co/2025/12/31/best-feature-story-2025-white-house-signal-leak/

The Year’s Best Feature Story: The Absurdity Of The Signal Leak

The absurd comedy of errors that put a reporter in a high-stakes Signal chat is almost too silly to be believed. But it happened, and it led to a great story.

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.
Ernie Smith4d ago
Ernie Smith5d ago

OK, in the first of our @tedium awards, I looked back at quite a few videos I’ve watched on YouTube and elsewhere this year, and I kept coming back to this Lindsay Ellis video.

It was an event when it came out. It is an impactful video months later.

https://tedium.co/2025/12/30/lindsay-ellis-best-online-video-2025/

The Year’s Best Online Video: A Complex Take On Empathy

One of the best videos of the year came from someone who once publicly quit YouTube. It’s a multi-hour epic—and it’s stuck with me for months.

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.
Ernie Smith5d ago

Near the start of this year, I wrote this obit of Mark Discordia. I feel like it’s one of my better pieces this year.

“Like Discordia was, I am a middle-aged man who likes his Mario. There’s nothing wrong with that—and there never was.”

https://tedium.co/2025/01/15/mark-discordia-nintendo-power-remembrance/

RIP Mark Discordia: The Nintendo Fan Who Became An Internet Meme

On the passing of Mark Discordia, a ’90s video game fan who got a troll’s welcome to the internet. He was a plumber who loved Mario. Nothing wrong with that.

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet.