Ben Werdmuller

Invasive thought: maybe I should start a zine.

We got our three year old a potty timer watch on a recommendation from daycare. It arrived today. Within five minutes of receiving it, he'd worked out how to reset it and change its settings. On balance, I am proud.

I had no idea this site existed and now I will live in it.

Everyone always wants to cover The Book of Love. Take on Papa Was a Rodeo, you cowards

Did you know @propublica.org maintains a Bluesky feed of its reporting partners? bsky.app/profile/did:...

Just to say it: sinking a ship on its way home from a friendly international exercise that we were also taking part in is such cowardice. I can't stop thinking about it. It makes everyone less safe in so many obvious ways.

Workers who love ‘synergizing paradigms’ might be bad at their jobs Employees who are impressed with corporate jargon are less good at their jobs. News at 11.

Employees who are impressed with corporate jargon are less good at their jobs. News at 11. werd.io/workers-who-...

Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protester "A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the...

"A court record reviewed by 404 Media shows privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail handed over payment data related to a Stop Cop City email account to the Swiss government, which handed it to the FBI." werd.io/proton-mail-...

I really enjoyed this conversation with @rabble.nz. It's an expansive discussion: we take in VC, journalism, AI, the open social web, and even Elgg, my very first startup and open source community platform. I hope you like it too.

You just read the magnetic fields, with your hands, while humming in resonance

It's a ZX81! A small 8-bit computer with a built-in membrane keyboard.

This was my first computer. I learned to write English and BASIC at the same time, on its little keyboard - so everything I've put out into the internet is its fault in some way. Happy birthday, little ZX81.

BBC says ‘irreversible’ trends mean it will not survive without major overhaul The BBC is dying. It needs to be preserved - but doing so will require a radical reinvention.

The BBC is dying. It needs to be preserved - but doing so will require a radical reinvention. werd.io/bbc-says-irr...

The Safety Levers "A framework to move your subculture from the Anxiety Zone to the Learning Zone" - and provide a way for everyone on your team to contribute and experiment safely.

"A framework to move your subculture from the Anxiety Zone to the Learning Zone" - and provide a way for everyone on your team to contribute and experiment safely. werd.io/the-safety-l...

I didn't but now I'll go find it! I think that's exactly right.

Totally fascinating that AI use is leading to (1) more people building useful CLI utilities for services, (2) [if WebMCP works] websites exposing lightweight APIs for regular tasks. Neither thing needs AI to be useful. Kind of wish we'd had these for decades, but hey! Here we are!

This is such an important piece of journalism right now; kudos to Cosmo for having more courage than the rest of the British media combined.

My feed, Speaking Truth to Power, features non-profit newsrooms and their journalists, reporting on US news and politics. It gets a fair amount of activity - click through to pin it to your Bluesky feeds. bsky.app/profile/did:...

I made a feed for posts from my hometown.
bsky.app/profile/did:...

Why no one wants to be the next Doctor Who He who pays the Piper… has to wait until she’s finished making her latest Netflix show. That seems to be the case with Doctor Who, which, with a 2026 Christmas special in the offing featuring Billie P...

I'll do it www.yahoo.com/entertainmen...

Okay, so I did buy myself a new personal computer. My existing one is six years old, so I figure it's allowed. Going for a highly-specified M5 Air this time around: I don't care about the XDR screen and I don't think I need the thermals of a Pro, but the lower base price means I can afford more RAM.

Wait, did Apple just release a netbook ...?

Parable of the Talents was tremendous. It took me years to get up the courage to read past the first chapter. And I Who Have Never Known Men was astonishing; I’ll be thinking about it forever. bsky.app/profile/timw...

This was a great idea, I can tell already

I’ve been at work all day and literally had no idea it went down. Did it go down? What did everyone else do? bsky.app/profile/stev...

I’m in transit and it’s been a looong day.

Ask me anything.

Can we build the dog? What resource-constrained teams need to ask before writing a line of code

If you’re a small, resource-strapped team, for example in a newsroom, how can you figure out what software is feasible for you to build and maintain? I wrote a guide. werd.io/can-we-build...

Can we build the dog? What resource-constrained teams need to ask before writing a line of code

Building software is easier than ever. The real risk to your team isn't the build; it's the long tail of maintenance. I built a rubric to help teams spot hidden risks and achieve shared understanding of the complexity before they write a single line of code. werd.io/can-we-build...

Founding a Startup, Just One More Time I’m a 2X founder and a startup investor. What would I do differently today?

Long ago, when I was investing in mission-driven startups, I wrote this piece about what I'd do differently if I founded one more of my own. It still holds up and may be useful perspective for anyone who's starting something new. benwerd.medium.com/founding-a-s...

There are finally promising treatments for the genetic TERT mutations that have plagued my family with telomere dysfunctions that have led to pulmonary fibrosis and more. They’re too late for so many people I love, but so many more people will be helped.

It’s a selfish lens to put on it, and it’s certainly not all that it is or most of what it is, but being a parent has been so incredibly healing.