Linked List: July 14, 2023

Friday, 14 July 2023

Meta Is Blocking EU-Based Users From Accessing Threads via VPN ★

Ivan Mehta, reporting for TechCrunch:

“Threads is not currently available in most countries in Europe and we’ve taken additional steps to prevent people based there from accessing it at this time. Europe continues to be an incredibly important market for Meta and we hope to make Threads available here in the future,” it said in a statement provided to TechCrunch.

Earlier today, several EU-based users started posting screenshots on Twitter indicating that they were not able to access the Threads app even after using VPN.

Federico Viticci (on Mastodon):

Threads has been down for me like this since last night. I’m in Italy. I can’t view my profile, notifications, or post. But I can read my timeline.

Maybe they figured out a way to block some parts of the app in Europe? 🤷‍♂️

Aaron Levie (on Threads):

Why doesn’t the EU just turn off the web?

‘Electric Bike, Stupid Love of My Life’ ★

Craig Mod:

I’ve long since posited world peace could be achieved if you bought everyone in the world a bike, but now I want those bikes to be electric. I want everyone to feel this silliness, this punch-drunk stupidity of pure love, this sense of cheating the rules, the norms, this sense of ever-present delight. At our worst, humans mindlessly consume, sear the earth and each other, fill our bodies with poisons. At our best we invent electric bikes. Batteries have gotten more efficient, motors smaller and more powerful. The last decade has brought great efficiency to these machines, and the next ten years will only double down on these gains. Electric bike numbers are up, year over year over year. Tremendously so. Those who know, proselytize. We can’t help it. The charm is too great. The game non- zero sum. The more people who know, the better the world. It’s a wild notion, this sense of goodness to be had if you just reach out for it. Goodness with no real downside. Like solar panels or wind turbines, electric bikes are machines that buoy the spirit and the earth.

What a lovely essay. Hard to read it and resist not immediately opening a browser tab to begin shopping for an e-bike.