Below are the most recent 30 comments. I try to keep it clean of comment spam, but some times things
get through and it takes me several hours to get to it. So please excuse any of that comment spam.
Fact is, the Web is a huge publishing platform, and somebody needs to make it accessible. To use an analogy, the Web is like a massive library, while an AI-powered "answer engine" is like an encyclopedia or an almanac. There may be a place for "answer engines," but they don't eliminate the need for Web sites--or for tools that help users find information on those Web sites.
Yes, as we've agreed on in the past (I think you did), Politicians should have term limits like the president. The problem is, though, when they take one and replace it with another, the scumbags will get their tentacles wrapped around the new ones. Money talks.
The only problem with voting against your one, the other one will become complicit even if they are on the other team. They'll be subtle differences between the opposition and the incumbent but it won't be tech rules that makes them stand out.
Just a lil news regarding a state AI bill Trump wants to stomp out.
<b>Here’s what’s in the RAISE Act, a state-level AI bill opposed by Trump and industry leaders</b> - <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/24/raise-act-new-york-faces-opposition-from-trump-ai-industry-super-pac.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/24/raise-act-new-york-faces-opposition-from-trump-ai-industry-super-pac.html</a>
<blockquote>A bipartisan super PAC called Leading the Future announced last week that it will target Alex Bores, a Democratic congressional candidate who has openly championed AI safety legislation in New York by promoting the the Responsible AI Safety and Education, or RAISE, Act. The bill would require large AI companies to publish safety and risk protocols and disclose serious safety incidents.
“They don’t want there to be any regulation whatsoever,” Bores told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday. “What they’re saying is the fact that you dared step up and push back on us at all means we need to bury you with millions and millions of dollars.”</blockquote>
Not much we can do except do a HPU (Helpful Politician Update) and flush the existing turds down the toilet. Especially the incumbents, who haven't done shit in decades except take up space in DC, gotta go regardless of party. Come this election I and many others I know will be voting against the big techie takeover.
But they'll only be replaced by Democrat versions, Schumer and Lofgren being the two most corrupt. They both have family interests in Big Tech, and their daughters both work for them.
We talk about democracy being for the people by the people, but as elections are so expensive, only big tech has the money to pay for them. Does this mean I'm advocating communism, no elections... Noooo, there should be a limit on how much a company or person can donate to a political party, maybe $100,000, is that too low, too high? That way, 1000 people who hate Google can have as large an audience as Google after donating $100.
Trumpty only attack BigTech in his first term to make them switch sides. JD probably did want to break them up during the election but boy did he switch sides when he thinks it could leapfrog him into the big seat...
I have blocked Russia and China, I can lose Chinese visitors because they bring in so little money at the moment. Singapore is heavy usage but I don't block them yet because of Ahrefs as I like to think its there traffic, probably isn't but if I do, I'll block Ahrefs.
Sadly this was always doomed to happen. AI is a product of it's creators and therefore as well as inheriting the good it will pretty much also inherit the bad.
You are so right with the niche thing. I have zero or nearly zero ads when my site or similar sites are referenced, but have AdSense ads showing if visitors go to sites. They must be losing millions, or even billions, from the loss of visitors. As their other revenue streams are doing ok, no one is concerned, just at the final figure. I bet Google records both AdSense and sponsored links in the same amount, which is why no one is asking. Its not just me and you who have noticed this, @Gabriel who posted some months ago also noted this.
All Google has become unfocused, instead of sticking to what its good at, its saying we need to incorporate that along with their illegal monopoly, no one out there is aware of what is available.
AI is making people stupid as @codecommander:disqus showed a research paper about AI Slop making people stupid, Glen Gabe in one of his videos said he caught his children copying and pasting everything for their coursework. I bet if they were truthful, people aren't asking additional question, they're probably just saying "Write me 2000 words on why WW1 started" and then handing it.
PicSearch.com came along, Google copied image theft, rich snippets are probably copied from elsewhere.
As had been said before in the past, when they can charge $758 for a click but only 0.001 for a visual ad on a website
This is not my niche but ads are appearing now in AI mode. You say search for trainers - click on image it takes you to a set of sponsored links. Problem is if you search for <brand> trainers - then it takes you to the sites that pay, not the <brand> of trainer. This means lot's of people will click wanting the <brand> but end up on some retailer. Strange as I don't think people will trust this method. It is all so messed up.
The cost of change is the Priceifier update where Google users are targeted with price increases for using search, browser, etc. belonging to the Google Crime Syndicate. Politicians (Trump & Vance) who lied to us about breaking up Google will all pay the price as well when voters kick their asses out of office.
I followed the advice of more ads after one of those "consultations" and ended up with less traffic and rank. Adsense are not talking to search. It is a mess. Adsense is slowly going to disappear at this rate. I am 80% down as all my keywords have AIO and the crazy thing is there are 0 ads in my niche on actual Google search - as I have checked from multiple sources. Google is loosing six figures a year from me alone in ad revenue and I am loosing the same >$300k lost. Crazy strategy Google to fu%ck up your adsense business to follow AI that pays a big fat $0.
Crazy... my numbers keep going down. Since Saturday, 1/3 of my – already poor – traffic has disappeared.
If Google tightens the AI screw even further, I'll eventually end up at zero.
But Google is still trying to keep up appearances.
I received an email from Google Adsense addressing me as a “valued AdSense publisher.”
I was offered a “one-on-one consultation with one of our AdSense experts.”
I accepted the offer because my site is now generating around 10% of my previous income.
The “consultation” was a complete disaster.
It was really just about maximizing the number of ads on my site.
They really don't care that you completely destroy websites when you plaster them with ads.
I was also told that the “golden era” for publishers was unfortunately over.
The gentleman from Google Adsense was well prepared for my question about the disappearance of traffic on my site.
He mumbled something about “COVID,” then about “changes to the algorithm”, and finally that there was also the “AI thing.”
Unfortunately, all these developments cannot be reversed.
That's it, then. There's nothing more to expect from Google. They'll stop at nothing and throw you and your site off the cliff without batting an eyelid.
Keir Starmer (doesn't deserve to be referred to as Sir :D ) has been talking up AI, they didn't mention that in their manifesto last year. <a href="https://www.dechert.com/knowledge/onpoint/2024/7/a-new-uk-labour-government--a-fresh-approach-to-ai-regulation.html">https://www.dechert.com/knowledge/onpoint/2024/7/a-new-uk-labour-government--a-fresh-approach-to-ai-regulation.html</a>
All politicians are falling over themselves to push AI to be seen as "forward thinking" but none apart from probably fringe parties are actively talking up the negativity about AI.
They all think it will increase GDP but at what cost, no one has done any proper analysis apart those classed as Luddites.
How do you vote against it when both political parties are fleecing citizens? Look at Trump and Vance who were both critical of Google and suggesting Google should be broken up. I voted for that and now Trump and Vance are using the Federal government to protect Google. It's similar on a state level where an economic board recommends subsidies and elected officials sign off on it and blame the economic board if something goes wrong. Look at the $2.3 billion in subsidies for Google <a href="https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/?parent=alphabet-inc&order=sub_year&sort=">https://subsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/?parent=alphabet-inc&order=sub_year&sort=</a> and click on the links to see details of those subsidies. Amazon is much worse at $11 billion in subsidies and this tracker is only updated twice a year I think.
I did hear they are considering space options for their AI. If they send Spamdar to space to get it up and running, with a one way ticket, I'd help subsidize the trip.
That CNBC article is butchered. I found two typos in what I quoted (bold below). Then you find more. LOL American journalism at its finest...
<blockquote>North American Electric <b>Relibaility</b> Corporation
during freezing temperatures like <b>catastropic</b> Winter Storm Uri in 2021</blockquote>
Have you heard of the Google Suncatcher project?
<a href="https://research.google/blog/exploring-a-space-based-scalable-ai-infrastructure-system-design/">https://research.google/blog/exploring-a-space-based-scalable-ai-infrastructure-system-design/
</a>
An alternative to the Earth-bound power stations, up in space and plenty of solar power + cool air....
Surely with what you said, the Government should step in, oh, wait... they would do if they weren't starry eyed and focused on the majority.
I see what you mean by the spelling mistake.... "But avalaible power could fall to around 69.7 gigawatts in extreme winter weather, leaving a supply deficit of more than 15 gigawatts."
If they are getting the Americans to pay for electric then it is corruption at the highest degree. Why are you letting them do this? Your a voter right?
Google just announced a $40 billion investment in Texas datacenters, and power companies are already saying they may have problems keeping the lights on for people in severe weather events. Who cares if granny freezes in her home in winter, or has a heat stroke in summer, so long as Google gets to serve BS AI responses and ads. It's all about priorities. LOL
<b>Texas data center expansion raises blackout risk during extreme winter weather</b> - <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/22/texas-data-center-ai-ercot-blackout-power-outage.html?msockid=1ea9c4639cd06f463b76d2ce9dca6eb4">https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/22/texas-data-center-ai-ercot-blackout-power-outage.html?msockid=1ea9c4639cd06f463b76d2ce9dca6eb4</a>
<blockquote>The North American Electric Reliability Corporation warned this week that data centers’ round-the-clock energy consumption will make it more difficult to sustain sufficient electricity supply under extreme demand conditions during freezing temperatures like catastrophic Winter Storm Uri in 2021.
“Strong load growth from new data centers and other large industrial end users is driving higher winter electricity demand forecasts and contributing to continued risk of supply shortfalls,” NERC said of Texas in an analysis published Tuesday. Texas faces elevated risk during extreme winter weather, but the state’s grid is reliable during normal peak demand, NERC said. </blockquote>Note: I had to correct some typos in the CNBC quote because they can't spell check or used shit for brains AI to write the story.
Yikes, 25% , the costs should really even though they don't should be levied on the heavy users. This is why big tech are pushing ahead to readily. If it were the appropriate way, I doubt they'd be so eager.
<blockquote>think they should go pure AI mode for all topics and it will bankrupt them as they can't afford the power.</blockquote>The cost of powering datacenters is spread onto all electric customers. Add on the tax abatements datacenters are getting, and the cost is cheap for Google which is why they are building so many of them.
<b>Explained: This is how data centers can lead to higher electric bills</b> - <a href="https://technical.ly/civics/data-centers-impact-electricity-costs/">https://technical.ly/civics/data-centers-impact-electricity-costs/</a>