Fresh Fusion
114 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 days ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingA weekly show where we discuss the business, the art, the ethics of content creation on the open web. Hosted by Jared White.
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Episodes
114: Threadiverse / Threadsadverse?
April 25, 2024 18:05 - 34 minutes - 32.5 MBA tale of two Threads: one—the Threadiverse—is a subportion of the Fediverse dedicated to replicating the kind of experiences we’re familiar with on Reddit, Hacker News, and the like; the other is Meta’s fast-growing competitor to X. Not confusing at all! 😂
113: The “Irrelevance” of Alternative Social Networks Was Always a Fallacy
April 02, 2024 21:43 - 46 minutes - 42.8 MBSigh. It's frustrating to still feel like an early adopter of open web technology. How many years has it been? 25? 30? But here we are, trying to convince the masses that you can use open protocols, networks, and software to build lasting publishing businesses and outlets for your creativity.
112: The Subtle Art of Giving a Toot
March 06, 2024 16:27 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBMicroblogging is an artform, just like any other creative endeavor people publish on the web. In this episode, I talk about one of the subtle techniques I sometimes use to microblog which increases the likelihood of engagement and boosting—but beware! You can definitely overdo it, and you can also manipulate people with it if you're a bad actor. Use responsibly.
111: The Ethical AI Layer Cake
February 27, 2024 19:05 - 50 minutes - 46.9 MBHow I *might* be willing to acknowledge an ethical approach to using generative AI tools, and why virtually all tools in widespread use today fall *wildly* short in the morality department—which makes the embrace of these tools by corporations incredibly disappointing. But can we thread this needle? Is there a viable path forward? Let’s discuss.
110: Fediverse Goes Mainstream
February 06, 2024 18:50 - 22 minutes - 21.2 MBFolks have been talking about different terminology and ways of describing this brave new world of decentralized social networking. But with Threads’ staggering growth to 150 million MAU (Monthly Active Users), combined with its embrace of the colloquial term “fediverse”, I make the case that fediverse is here to stay. I also touch on the recent news around Google’s flailing leadership causing Googlers to get real grumpy real fast.
109: Sneak Preview of The Internet, Reviewed (Push Technology in the 90s)
January 31, 2024 16:16 - 50 minutes - 47 MBPeople will remember the “browser wars” of the 1990s, but they may not remember the “webtop wars” — that is, the battle for who will control the Push Technology which transforms your OS desktop into a tuner for live web channels. Learn about this fascinating blip in early internet history which eventually gave rise to a much simpler technology still in use today…one might even call it Really Simple (Syndication).
108: Podcasts to Listen to in 2024
January 16, 2024 18:49 - 27 minutes - 25.8 MBIt’s a new year, I’m moving my business away from HEY & Basecamp, and I’m listening to a lot of podcasts! I talk about all of that in this episode as well as my latest blogging kick due to a small but mighty design tweak on my website. And in the Fusion+ segment: Is podcasting still as great as it ever was?
107: From YouTube to Your Tube
January 09, 2024 19:41 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBHow do we deal with YouTube? As fediverse-aware content creators, YouTube remains a major hurdle, but there are still ways to route around it—either partially or completely.
106: The Internet Review’s Rebirth in 2024
January 03, 2024 16:52 - 26 minutes - 24.9 MBCall it a reboot, a resurrection if you will. A new chapter in my history as a blogger. And—literally for the first time ever—a mostly-complete chronicle of all my tech blogging during a span of almost 30 years. Get ready for The Internet Review.
105: Sam Altman is Gone! Er, Back!
November 22, 2023 19:44 - 24 minutes - 23.2 MBDespite ch-ch-ch-changes every minute it seems, Jared attempts to analyze the shocking power struggle going on at OpenAI and what the this all means for Microsoft—because let’s face it, they’re really the ones in charge. In addition, some conversation regarding Apple’s incredible speed gains over the past several iterations of Apple Silicon and the appeal of M3 MacBookPros. And for Fresh Fusion+ members: a look at the transition from producer to educator and how careers may shift over the years.
104: I, For One, Do Not Welcome Our Robot Overlords
November 09, 2023 17:30 - 36 minutes - 34.2 MBJared is feeling a wee bit down in the mouth that his career is nearly over, apparently, due to AI coming for us all. The programmers. The musicians. The designers. The this, and the that. Or…is all of that largely utter nonsense and the artists are fighting back? (Hello WGA & SAG-AFTRA!) Let’s talk about AI and how true AGI is probably centuries away and OpenAI is trying to pull a fast one. And on today’s very exciting new Fresh Fusion+ segment: how to write and publish content on the web th...
103: Passions from a Common Spring
September 19, 2023 18:33 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MBI’m a die-hard Ivory for Mastodon user and “ambassador” of the Fediverse. So then, why am I on Threads? Well, it’s all about who you follow, and you can follow many interesting sorts of accounts there which aren’t all on Mastodon. In this episode, I break down the various categories of accounts I follow, as well as talk about some of the other social media news of the day.
102: Living in Portland 3.0
August 23, 2023 16:19 - 18 minutes - 17.7 MBSome reflections after a year of podcasting since the “reboot” of Fresh Fusion, growing success in blogging and the importance of owning your own domain name and platform, the joys of belonging to a local creative community and feeling inspired by your locale, and more. All the feelz in this episode!
101: Cruisin’ on the Redwood Highway
August 01, 2023 16:24 - 37 minutes - 34.4 MBLike 'em or hate 'em, the BBC is here and has joined the fediverse. In this episode I talk about what this means and more broadly why it's a good thing to see another large news organization launch their own Mastodon instance. And on the Fusion+ segment I talk all about Elon's new social network called X. Pour one out for Twitter folks. The bird is gone.
100: Rebuilding the Internet, with Mariya Delano
July 25, 2023 14:38 - 44 minutes - 41 MBWe made it folks. ONE HUNDRED EPISODES! 🎉 On this 100th installment of Fresh Fusion, it is my extreme pleasure to welcome writer, founder, and marketing expert Mariya Delano to the show for a lively conversation about the growth of the internet and social media, when things started to go terribly awry, the cultural shift that's happening RIGHT NOW, and where she believes this is all headed. (Spoiler alert: there really is lots to be hopeful about!)
99: Aggregators Gonna Aggregate
July 18, 2023 16:03 - 21 minutes - 19.8 MBWe’re here to herald the return of the aggregator-style link blog—at least for me. Listen while I break down the recent launch of That HTML Blog, the rise and fall and rise again of the blogosphere, and the occasional value of moving quickly and not overthinking new creative projects.
98: Let's Talk About Talking About Threads!
July 11, 2023 19:39 - 38 minutes - 35.3 MBThe episode wherein I opine on all the latest news on Threads by way of highlighting others of interest who are talking about Threads and have stood out to me during my time scrolling through my Mastodon feed. Am I excited about Threads? Do I dread the rise of Threads? Has the trajectory of the Fediverse changed forevermore? Well…yes! Let’s dive in.
97: What if the Fediverse Goes Bust?
June 27, 2023 18:17 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MBCountdown to 100! 💯 We only have a few episodes left until the 100th episode of Fresh Fusion. Today, I muse on what I might do if my efforts to accelerate a career in content creation come to naught because the Fediverse doesn’t go anywhere. Will I…gasp…embrace Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram once again? 🤡
96: Digital Ecological Collapse
June 20, 2023 16:33 - 52 minutes - 48.5 MBWe are witnessing the total meltdown of the commercial internet.
95: Those Memes are Not for Me
May 17, 2023 17:05 - 29 minutes - 27.5 MBWherein I share my thoughts having tried out Bluesky and why when it comes to the Fediverse, I’m not going anywhere.
94: Federation Wars
May 03, 2023 17:35 - 39 minutes - 36.4 MBShould we be concerned about imminent centralization of decentralized social networking? Nope.
93: Leave Your Comments Down Below
April 04, 2023 18:08 - 42 minutes - 39.4 MBThe episode in which I comment on my own articles. 😂
92: ActivityPub Everywhere All at Once
March 15, 2023 17:57 - 35 minutes - 33 MBEverything Everywhere All at Once won big at the Oscars, but it's not the only ’verse-spanning creation making it big this year. ActivityPub is having a moment, and we're here to chronicle the rise of numerous new instances, applications, and networks—including the very WEIRD and wacky news that Meta (of all companies!) is exploring an ActivityPub-powered decentralized social networking platform of its own!
91: 90s Internet Nostalgia Trip
February 28, 2023 17:23 - 8 minutes - 7.9 MBAs Arnold would say, I’m back, baby! Yes, I am rebooting my first blog ever, and this new daily weblog all about tech and nerd culture news with a dash of fun 90s nostalgia on the side will feature archives reaching all the way back to 1996. Are you excited yet? You should be!
90: iPad TV & Putting YouTube in Perspective
February 14, 2023 18:22 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBHow can one feel like an intellectually fulfilled citizen of the open web & fediverse and still consume regular YouTube content? Here's what I have done to corral this monster into a cage…and in the process unlocked a whole new environment for computing & entertainment. Life after Big Social can be so much better.
89: Care to Comment?
February 07, 2023 18:26 - 19 minutes - 18 MBBlog comments are BACK, and this time it’s not about software people have to use on your blog or on their blog or even over on corporate social media…it’s all about the fediverse. Using Mastodon’s API, it’s possible to find the right “toot” (that is, published status) and display all replies—from Mastodon as well as the wider range of fediverse software—as blog comments. Woo hoo! Let’s dive in.
88: An Interesting Reflection on the Nature of the Podcast
January 30, 2023 17:19 - 56 minutes - 52.4 MBOr in French, une réflexion intéressante sur la nature du podcast. Yes, a très intéressante discussion ensued on Mastodon over the past few days: what is a podcast? What is the medium of podcasting? What is the format of podcasting? What is the history of podcasting? Why is a podcast called a podcast? Oddly enough, responses are all over the map, and my attempt on Mastodon to pin down a definitive definition of podcast proved rather controversial! Why?! Let’s break it all down—and ask my 2005...
87: It’s a Bird! It’s a Blog! No, It’s a…Newsletter?
January 18, 2023 16:58 - 31 minutes - 29.1 MBWhere do you put the stuff that you write? Where do you post your posts? How do you publish things online now that Twitter is imploding and the Fediverse is rising? Has blogging made a comeback? What's the different between a blog and an email newsletter that's available via the web? Questions abound, and I'm here to talk about all of it and my thoughts around smart growth of a healthier, more open web.
86: My Yearly Theme and 3 Words for 2023
January 10, 2023 17:35 - 18 minutes - 17.6 MBIn this episode, I recap all my “3 words” in previous years which helped set the tone for what I hoped to accomplish throughout the year and the values to focus on most. And then I share with you my yearly theme and “3 words” for 2023, why I chose those words, and what my overarching goals are for the new year. I hope this episode inspires you to join me in choosing your own words for 2023!
85: My Top 10 Genre Movies & Shows of 2022
January 03, 2023 18:04 - 46 minutes - 43.3 MBHappy New Year everybody! I meant to record this show last week, but I was sick for most of the holidays. Oh well. I'm just glad I *have* a top ten list like this because honestly, I thought a lot of geek entertainment fare earlier this year rather sucked (quite a few disappointments coming from Disney in particular). Thankfully, things picked up as the year progressed, and we were able to finish out 2022 with an excellent list of some of my favorite properties not just in 2022 but ever. Let'...
84: Harry & Meghan, Taylor Lorenz, and the Campaigns of Hate
December 20, 2022 18:10 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MBToday, we are all John Mastodon. And in this episode, I talk about the explosive docuseries concerning Prince Harry & Meghan Markle and the outrageous, toxic relationship between the British tabloids and the Royal Family, and the even BIGGER story about how online mobs form to target victims whether they be celebrities or journalists or creators and how we need to push the reset button on online discourse because the vitriol has gotten completely out of control!
83: E-Scooters & the News with FeedBin
December 14, 2022 17:41 - 30 minutes - 28.1 MBIn this episode, I follow up on some of the continuing Mastodon/Twitter zaniness as well as some interesting takes around the web on “generative AI”, then dive right into my review of the Anyhill UM-2 e-scooter and an initial look at FeedBin for managing and reading news feeds. As Captain Pike would say, hit it!
82: Pocket Casts: Best Podcast Player in the World?
December 06, 2022 17:48 - 27 minutes - 25.2 MBIn this episode I take a deep dive into (my) history of playing podcasts over the decades, and how I eventually arrived at using Pocket Casts as my preferred podcast player of choice. Pocket Casts is chock-full of great features, not the least of which is support for playing videos (apparently not a universal feature of third-party podcast players). Listen to how I use Pocket Casts from day-to-day, as well as my thoughts on the UI design of this multi-platform (and now partially open source!)...
81: Who Gives a Toot?
November 29, 2022 17:35 - 58 minutes - 54.2 MBYou won’t want to miss this episode wherein I pull back the curtain into major new developments for the future of this show, follow up on my 2019 social media predictions and compare with how current events are playing out, share specific thoughts on how to think about Mastodon instances and the health of the network, and challenge the veracity of the claim that Americans are growing more and more lonely. It’s an action-packed episode, so let’s get started!
80: Heat Death of the Social Media Universe
November 14, 2022 16:41 - 24 minutes - 23 MBIn this episode of Fresh Fusion, I share some of my raw and unfiltered feelings about the meltdown of Twitter, how there’s never been a time like right now to focus squarely on “the business, the art, the ethics of content creation on the open web” (which is the tagline of this show!), my minimalism bent and desire for a Star Trek-like post-money future, reluctantly taking steps to build a “paywall” to house some of my content, and more. Buckle up folks and enjoy the ride!
79: Midnight in Portland
September 13, 2022 22:47 - 42 minutes - 17 MBAlternate title: How to Be Productive and Successful as a Content Creator. (Yeah, I know…it's cringey…but I have a bunch of pent-up thoughts and some helpful tools/workflows to share with you all and figured now is as good a time as any to dive into all that. Also feeling all the feelz after a tweet actually went viral. Imagine that!)
78: Living in Portland 2.0
July 19, 2022 15:45 - 18 minutes - 17 MBCould it be? Maybe? Yes! Fresh Fusion is BACK, and in this episode I catch you up on the last couple of months as I recovered from Covid and moved across town to a new home! And not just Fresh Fusion, but the vlog (Essential Life with Jared) is also in the process of making a comeback. Listen for the inside scoop.
77: Catch-2022
February 02, 2022 16:55 - 24 minutes - 22.9 MBIn this possibly final episode of the show, I candidly share my struggles with creative identity and finding success in the "wrong" genre. I contemplate whether I should cancel Fresh Fusion and put greater effort behind other projects. And I wonder what makes sense as a creator in a year when I expect to be on the road more often than not. Should I stay or should I go?
76: Back to The Matrix
December 16, 2021 16:27 - 30 minutes - 28.5 MBA fireside chat about my off-the-charts excitement level at entering back into the world of The Matrix—my favorite movie of all time—and how much the real world has changed over the past 20+ years. Will The Matrix Resurrections live up to the hype?
75: Twitter vs. Meta (A Tale of Two Social Networks)
November 24, 2021 17:25 - 45 minutes - 42 MBMy kids are obsessed with "Squid Game" — even though they've (obviously!) never seen the show. "You" has taken over Netflix Top 10. Twitter vs. Meta: I'm amazed at the shockingly different trajectory these two companies are taking. The social media landscape is fracturing and it's no longer Facebook/Twitter as a monolithic duo. Let's do a deep dive into just how much Twitter has grown and changed since Jack Dorsey become CEO. Episode 75—here we go!
74: MaxBook Pro & The Podcasts I Love
October 20, 2021 20:23 - 33 minutes - 31.1 MBApple's latest and greatest M1-powered MacBooks (MaxBooks?) are here, and Jared wonders if there's anything left for Mac nerds to be upset about when it seems like Apple has fulfilled all their wishes. (For a hefty price of course!) Plus a special rundown of all of Jared's favorite podcasts he frequently listens to and why they're worthy of your attention. Hmm, sounds like…a Fresh Fusion Reaction! 🤓
73: Dawn of a New Era (New Website, Newly Single)
October 05, 2021 18:13 - 22 minutes - 21.4 MBYes my friends, it’s time to pull back the curtain and share about some events which have transpired in my personal life—things which have been among the most challenging moments of my life. But first, an announcement: I have a newly redesigned website! Woo hoo! =)
72: Sex Appeal, Heteronormativity, and White Supremacy in Algorithms
July 22, 2021 14:40 - 29 minutes - 27.5 MBIn today's episode, I step through some follow-up and a few items of note I've been tracking (such as the gorgeous Nikon Z fc retro-style camera!) before kicking off a rant about the ways algorithms privilege the already privileged instead of favoring content off the beaten path. Apparently you're likely to do quite well on YouTube if you're young, white, cis, "attractive", and so forth…but what about the rest of us?
71: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Tweeter
July 13, 2021 17:27 - 32 minutes - 30 MBJared returns with a brilliant solution to the woes of maintaining a deep podcast content pipeline: read tweets! 😅
70: The Personal Website in 2021
May 19, 2021 19:49 - 32 minutes - 29.7 MBJoin me for a dive into my design notes! What is a "personal website" in 2021? How do we evolve from the mental model of the "blog" circa 2005? And how does that all integrate with social media, newsletters, and the like?
69: When Your World (as a Content Creator) Falls Apart
May 04, 2021 15:14 - 38 minutes - 35.2 MBThe last two weeks have been devastating for me—on multiple fronts, both as a huge fan of the #VanLife community as well as a figure in the Ruby programming community. This podcast episode is my catharsis, as I try to work through the heartache and find something meaningful to hold on to at the end of the day.
68: Why I Started Creator Class (a Newsletter)
April 21, 2021 14:41 - 23 minutes - 21.9 MBCreator Class is my new newsletter all about the challenges and rewards of being an underpaid content creator building an audience one connection at a time. In today's episode of Fresh Fusion, I talk about why I decided to rebrand and refocus my newsletter and why it's so important to highlight conversations around motivation and ethics in content creation. (Also why I'm ditching YouTube and going back to an audio-only format!)
67: O Patreon, You Done Me Wrong
March 02, 2021 17:04 - 18 minutes - 8.94 MBI opened the Patreon mobile app on my iPhone. I looked at the feed. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, POOF! A bunch of the creators I follow vanished. Gone. Out of this world. Did they suddenly shut down all their accounts? Was there a rapture and I wasn’t notified? No, it was none of those things. Patreon just had a temporary snafu billing my debit card, and because of that, I was unceremoniously placed in fan purgatory with little elucidation of my crimes. This wasn’t a temporary user e...
66: Meet the New Normal, Same as the Old Normal?
February 24, 2021 15:49 - 18 minutes - 9.09 MBThis is me stumbling my way through an episode all about systemic racism in zoning laws and white supremacist policies harming disenfranchised minorities, and how I was raised to believe affluent suburban neighborhoods are the American Dream. While the global pandemic has been horrifying and so very hard to stomach, perhaps we can also see it as a much-needed opportunity to accept just how much work remains to be done to bring liberty and justice to all. We shouldn't ever want to go "back to ...
65: Portland: Paradise or Perdition?
February 10, 2021 16:47 - 33 minutes - 30.8 MBThis is a deeply personal episode. I spent most of my life within a 60 miles radius of where I was born. That all changed when I relocated to the Portland, Oregon metro area. I came here on a fact-finding mission in 2017 and fell head-over-heels in love with the place. It's no accident in the slightest that the most creative period in my entire life has transpired right here in Portland. I guess that's why it's a real sore spot for me when I see Portland dragged through the mud in the press—n...