John Gruber on the rise in the use of *asterisks* for emphasis in the plaintext age: "Neither appeared in print until the mid-'60s, when *sigh* began appearing. But *cough* doesn't appear until 1987. Both though, exploded in usage starting in 1997, and have risen steadily ever since. So I think I'm correct that this use of asterisks has been largely driven by Internet punctuation idioms."
Emphasize *this*
Pope tells priests to stop using AI to write their sermons
Forget stochastic parrots: how about periphrastic priests? Pope Leo XIV, in an address in Rome, warned Catholic clergy against using AI to pad out their sermons: "To give a true… READ THE REST
Study finds most new articles generated by AI
A study of online content finds that the quantity of AI-generated articles now exceeds the number posted by human authors. But it's been a close-run thing for about 12 months,… READ THE REST
No JS, No CSS, No HTML: online "clubs" celebrate plainer websites
The revived No JS Club celebrates websites that don't use Javascript, the powerful but sometimes overused code that's been bloating the web and crashing tabs since 1995. The No CSS… READ THE REST
Refresh your PC with Microsoft Office and Windows 11 for just $26
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: Get MS Office Pro Plus 2019 and Windows 11 Pro for just $25.99 (reg. $428). You can… READ THE REST
Lock in 1 year of premium protection with ExpressVPN for only $40
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: This 1-year subscription to the ExpressVPN Basic Plan includes access to advanced protection features like ExpressMailGuard and… READ THE REST
Save time on crafting prompts with your expert AI assistant, Prompting Systems at just $48 for life
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: Make your ideas come to life faster with a lifetime subscription to the Prompting Systems Silver Plan,… READ THE REST
