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Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet

Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet

A long-running newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail. We’ve yet to find it, though we’ll keep trying.

@tedium.co0readers1269posts3mo ago

LatestRecent writing

Project Code Name

Why do corporate restructuring plans get code names the way operating systems do? And why are the names often so bizarre?

corporationscorporate restructuring

Design Deconstruction

Design is perhaps the software paradigm most wedded to the mouse and the GUI. But there’s no reason it can’t be text-driven.

designgraphic design

Mass layoffs are a fact of life in journalism. Your favorite writers and editors have dealt with them. But they weren’t supposed to happen at The Post.

washington postjournalism

A Quiet Townhouse, A Great Gift

A mostly unknown townhouse in Manhattan was the site of a small but significant moment in the history of 20th-century American literature. It also gives insight into how modern society defines its history.

plaquesnew york

My favorite UX metaphor, the scrolling window manager, is having a moment—and it’s for pretty dank reasons.

sliding window managerscrolling window manager

Rumors of OnePlus’ possible death are heating up, which would be a real shame, given how much the smartphone market has already contracted. It’s not true, but their grip is slipping.

oneplussmartphones

They Were Robbed

The tale of the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, the place where hits go to die—in some cases, over and over again. Let’s talk about the chart through the lens of its two most iconic artists.

billboardhot 100

Splitting Machines

How the virtual machine, a foundational element of cloud computing, found its modern footing after a couple of scientists proved a couple of theorems wrong.

vmwarevirtualization

A Number Of Surprising Importance

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.

year in reviewyear end

The Accidental Blockbuster

The absurd comedy of errors that led to the year’s best feature story is almost too silly to be believed. But it happened.

signalwhite house

A Complex Case For 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.

lindsay ellisbest online video

Convoy Steamroller

The unexpected connection between advertising, a 1975 novelty song, CB radio, and some of your favorite modern Christmas tunes.

cb radioc.w. mccall