We can’t quit electric cars — or robotaxis
Robotaxis: in. EVs: Out? The Verge's Andy Hawkins joins the show to talk about the goings-on in the transportation industry, including the reasons car makers are slowing down on EV production (but not giving up entirely) and why suddenly everyone's back in on robotaxis. Then, The Social Web Foundation's Evan Prodromou tells us what's new with the fediverse. We talk about Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon, and the increasingly ambitious plans for the ActivityPub protocol. Finally, we talk through some feedback on last week's episode about the pricing of the iPhone 16E, and how the way you buy your phone changes the way you feel about its price.
Further reading:
EV truck maker Nikola goes bust
Senate Republicans introduce bills to make EVs more expensive
Volkswagen claims it’s actually making that $20,000 EV and will show it next month
Ford lost $5 billion on EVs in 2024, teases new models
Lyft eyes robotaxi launch in 2026
Uber to Austin: get ready for Waymo
The fediverse, explained: Mastodon, Threads, and the open future of social networking
Flipboard’s Surf app is a feed reader for the fediverse
Tumblr’s fediverse integration might finally happen soon.
The Social Web Foundation
Apple launches the iPhone 16E
Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you.
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Protocol Wars - The Fediverse Explained!
In this episode, we dive deep into the origins of two of the leading social networks and the protocols they run on - Threads/ActivityPub and Bluesky/AT protocol. If you've been wondering what the heck the Fediverse is, this episode is for you!
Music provided by Epidemic Sound
Special Thanks to:
Evan Prodomou at Activitypub
Eugen Rochko at Mastodon
John O'Nolan at Ghost
Mike McCue at Flipboard
Adam Mosseri at Meta
Jay Gruber at Bluesky
Ryan Barrett at Bridgy-Fed
Sources:
W3C: https://www.w3.org/
Identica logo: By _Identi.ca_logo.png: Status.net Teamderivative work: Valarauco (talk) - _Identi.ca_logo.png, CC BY 3.0, https://bit.ly/4cKI4le
NY Times Elon and Zuck Cage Match: https://nyti.ms/3XmP2IM
ActivityPub Graphic: Image creator: mray https://bit.ly/3T6sYjh
Activity Streams graphic: By User:Unoli - https://bit.ly/4dIoUhi
Huffpost Twitter Clown Car: https://bit.ly/3YWzPiW
Original Hacker News Mastodon Post: https://bit.ly/3Z9oeNk
NBC News Elon buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/4dwNBx7
Bloomberg Elon Buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Z4X3mW
CBS News Elon Buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/3yUBaw6
NBC News Elon Buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Xk5WYB
NY Times Elon Buys Twitter: https://nyti.ms/3z8xLcW
NBC News Twitter Rebrands to X: https://nbcnews.to/3MqIUc8
Verge Twitter Paid Verification: https://bit.ly/3Xn4o06
Forbes How Facebook Beat Myspace: https://bit.ly/3Z3B27X
Guardian Digg users revolt: https://bit.ly/3AF2v5U
Verge Reddit API Shutdown: https://bit.ly/3YWsyzE
Adweek Reddit Platform Visibility: https://bit.ly/3MnLX4Z
Elon F You to Advertisers: https://bit.ly/3XjY35w
404Media AI Shrimp Jesus Explained: https://bit.ly/476VGWJ
Forbes Threads Fastest Growing App: https://bit.ly/3T4VAco
Waveform Secret History of the Internet: https://bit.ly/4dDCmTv
Instagram Statement about Political Content: https://bit.ly/4cJxw65
Wired Google Launches Buzz: https://bit.ly/3X7f69s
Business Insider Google Buzz Privacy Flaw: https://bit.ly/3X2ThIbFTC Charges Google: https://bit.ly/3AD76FA
Shop the merch:
https://shop.mkbhd.com
Socials:
Waveform: https://twitter.com/WVFRM
Waveform: https://www.threads.net/@waveformpodcast
Marques: https://www.threads.net/@mkbhd
Andrew: https://www.threads.net/@andrew_manganelli
David Imel: https://www.threads.net/@davidimel
Adam: https://www.threads.net/@parmesanpapi17
Ellis: https://twitter.com/EllisRovin
TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@waveformpodcast
Join the Discord:
https://discord.gg/mkbhd
Music by 20syl:
https://bit.ly/2S53xlC
Waveform is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
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The Fediverse: What It Is, Why It’s Promising, What’s Next
In the early days, the internet was a decentralized space created by enthusiasts. However, it has since transformed into a centralized, commerce-driven entity dominated by a few major players. The promise of the fediverse, a decentralized social networking concept, offers a refreshing alternative.
Evan Prodromou, OpenEarth Foundation's director of open technology, has been advocating for decentralized social networks since 2008, starting with his creation, Identi.ca. Unlike Twitter, Identi.ca was open source and federated, allowing independent networks to interconnect.
Prodromou, a co-author of ActivityPub—the W3C standard for decentralized networking used by platforms like Mastodon—discusses the evolution of the fediverse on The New Stack Makers podcast. He notes that small social networks dwindled to a few giants, such as Twitter and Facebook, which rarely interconnected. The acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk disrupted the established norms, prompting users to reconsider their dependence on centralized platforms.
The fediverse aims to address these issues by allowing users to maintain relationships across different instances, ensuring a smoother transition between networks. This decentralization fosters community management and better control over social interactions.
Check out the full podcast episode to explore how tech giants like Meta are engaging with the fediverse and how to join decentralized social networks.
Learn more from The New Stack about fediverse:
FediForum Showcases New Fediverse Apps and Developer Network
One Login: Towards a Single Fediverse Identity on ActivityPub
Web Dev 2024: Fediverse Ramps Up, More AI, Less JavaScript
Join our community of newsletter subscribers to stay on top of the news and at the top of your game. https://thenewstack.io/newsletter/
Into the Fediverse (Interview)
This week Evan Prodromou is back to take us deeper into the Fediverse. As many of us reconsider our relationship with Twitter, Mastodon has been by-and-large the target of migration. They helped to popularize the idea of a federated universe of community-owned, decentralized, social networks. And, at the heart of it all is ActivityPub. ActivityPub is a decentralized social networking protocol published by the W3C. It is co-authored by Evan as well as; Christine Lemmer-Webber, Jessica Tallon, Erin Shepherd, and Amy Guy. Today, Evan shares the details behind this protocol and where the Fediverse might be heading.
Join the discussion
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Featuring:
Evan Prodromou – Website, GitHub, Mastodon, X
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Jerod Santo – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
ActivityPub - W3C Recommendation (23 January 2018)
PeerTube
Twitter says it’s intentionally blocking apps like Tweetbot
Changelog.social
Mastodon Roadmap
The Changelog #257 with Evan Prodromou
Medium embraces Mastodon
Cosocial
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
The power of wikis, the problem with social networks, the promise of AI (Interview)
Evan Prodromou has been involved in open source since the mid ‘90s. His open source travel guide – Wikitravel – grew up alongside Wikipedia and the web itself. In this episode, we hear Evan’s history, try to solve open social networking once and for all, and learn how sprinkling a little artificial intelligence on to our products can yield big wins without having to shoot the moon.
Join the discussion
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Featuring:
Evan Prodromou – Website, GitHub, Mastodon, X
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Jerod Santo – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
The Power of Wikis
Wikitravel
MediaWiki
Wikivoyage
Wikihow
Wikimedia Foundation
The Problem with Social Networks
Social Web Working Group
Pump.io
Identica
GNU Social
Tent.io
Micro.blog
JSON Feed
The Promise of A.I.
Fuzzy.ai
AlphaGo
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
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