Writer, musician, hobbyist coder. Wired / NYT Magazine / Mother Jones, author of "Coders". Blog at clivethompson.medium.com. Free "Linkfest" newsletter ("the opposite of doomscrolling"): https://shorturl.at/XcutG. Built https://www.weirdoldbookfinder.net/https://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.social/post/3muzd4krjdc27UI/UX designer folks! I'm writing a Fast Company feature on how AI is changing design -- lots of AI tooling in Figma now, but also designers using coding LLMs, Claude code, etc You have experiences? Thoughts? Pro, con, both? Hit me up, I'd love to hear! (and boost) clive@clivethompson.net08 Sep 2026 15:20 +0000at://did:plc:fxn5uqrcdglryab2p3plltsc/app.bsky.feed.post/3muzd4krjdc27https://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.social/post/3mtewcyoazk2rbehold a programming language ... ... that demands you say "please" it's like something douglas adams would have invented i give you "INTERCAL" item #16 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free to read/subscribe: https://buttondown.com/clivethompson/archive/linkfest-47-a-decoy-font-reverse-minesweeper-and/18 Aug 2026 19:12 +0000at://did:plc:fxn5uqrcdglryab2p3plltsc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtewcyoazk2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.social/post/3msxwcj327c2u"Fable" is a fun quick game with a lovely premise: you start off with a closeup of an animal ... ... and it slowly zooms out you try to guess it as soon as you can item #4 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free here: https://buttondown.com/clivethompson/archive/linkfest-47-a-decoy-font-reverse-minesweeper-and/13 Aug 2026 15:07 +0000at://did:plc:fxn5uqrcdglryab2p3plltsc/app.bsky.feed.post/3msxwcj327c2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.social/post/3msdr5zg72s22a plant that dies ... ... if you look at your phone fun project by designer @simonegiertz.bsky.social item #1 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free here: https://buttondown.com/clivethompson/archive/linkfest-47-a-decoy-font-reverse-minesweeper-and/05 Aug 2026 14:42 +0000at://did:plc:fxn5uqrcdglryab2p3plltsc/app.bsky.feed.post/3msdr5zg72s22https://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.social/post/3mrsrqvtl5c25holy *crap* "One missing underscore in a Skyrim-themed username put an innocent Nova Scotia man in prison for 18 months" full story here: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/police-missed-one-underscore-and-sent-the-wrong-man-to-prison/29 Jul 2026 20:37 +0000at://did:plc:fxn5uqrcdglryab2p3plltsc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrsrqvtl5c25https://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.social/post/3mqcwnbi3dc2aHong Kong has 2,549 basketball courts the photographer Austin Bell has taken pictures of every single one his online gallery -- and his print book -- are *amazing* item #12 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free here: https://buttondown.com/clivethompson/archive/linkfest-46-curse-tablets-a-robot-cellist-and-why/10 Jul 2026 19:57 +0000at://did:plc:fxn5uqrcdglryab2p3plltsc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mqcwnbi3dc2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.social/post/3mq7wkngh322twhy do scriptwriters hate geologists?? an analysis of found that "geologists die at an alarming rate in the movies" about one third get killed before the credits roll item #9 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free here: https://buttondown.com/clivethompson/archive/linkfest-46-curse-tablets-a-robot-cellist-and-why/ (steve buscemi as a geologist, below)09 Jul 2026 15:18 +0000at://did:plc:fxn5uqrcdglryab2p3plltsc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq7wkngh322thttps://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.social/post/3mq5gdxrrkk2gExcellent @jasonkoebler.bsky.social piece at @404media.co about the cultural shift in real-world and online flyers ... ... as people start posting AI-generated ones that all have the same bland creepy look https://www.404media.co/we-are-living-in-a-chatgpt-flyer-pandemic/ (unpaywalled, just in case: archive.is/pNTQh) 1/208 Jul 2026 15:22 +0000at://did:plc:fxn5uqrcdglryab2p3plltsc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq5gdxrrkk2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.social/post/3mq5dwy5ays2nthe penguins in a japanese zoo have *very* complex romantic lives poly groupings, broken hearts, lots of side-eye and drams so the zoo made a chart of it item #5 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free here: https://buttondown.com/clivethompson/archive/linkfest-46-curse-tablets-a-robot-cellist-and-why/08 Jul 2026 14:39 +0000at://did:plc:fxn5uqrcdglryab2p3plltsc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq5dwy5ays2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.social/post/3mq36mgehys2xI was trying to type "alpha male" on my phone and I accidentally misspelled it as "aloha male" this is the best typo I've ever made07 Jul 2026 17:58 +0000at://did:plc:fxn5uqrcdglryab2p3plltsc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq36mgehys2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/clivethompson.bsky.social/post/3mq2whecigk2eDoom running on ... ... an array of *e coli* cells (to be clear, the e coli is just the display, not the computation necessary to run the game lol) item #3 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter, free to read and subscribe to here: https://buttondown.com/clivethompson/archive/linkfest-46-curse-tablets-a-robot-cellist-and-why/07 Jul 2026 15:32 +0000at://did:plc:fxn5uqrcdglryab2p3plltsc/app.bsky.feed.post/3mq2whecigk2e