Friends of the blog

BLOOD IN THE MACHINE is part of a loose collective of independent journalists and publications that produce critical tech writing, reporting, and analysis. Every blog on this list gets the bloody seal of approval. I encourage you to check them all out, and support them if you can.

404 Media is a journalist-founded digital media company exploring the ways technology is shaping—and is shaped by—our world. They’re focused on investigative reports, longform features, blogs, and scoops about topics including: hacking, cybersecurity, cybercrime, sex, artificial intelligence, consumer rights, surveillance, privacy, and the democratization of the internet.

Aftermath is a worker-owned, subscription-based website about games, the internet, and everything that comes after. Where other games publications are beholden to marketing and hype cycles, they strive to hold the industry accountable, focusing on people and labor over products.

Citation Needed critically examines the tech sector, with a particular emphasis on cryptocurrency, cutting through industry hype to explore technology’s tangible effects on people’s lives. Written by cryptocurrency critic and technology researcher Molly White, Citation Needed provides clear analysis and thorough explorations of stories that mainstream coverage often overlooks or fails to challenge.

Disconnect is your source for a critical perspective on what’s happening in Silicon Valley and beyond. For nearly a decade, Paris Marx has been calling out the tech industry, its snake-oil billionaires, and the harmful realities they hide behind futures that never arrive. As their power grows, seeing through their deceptive narratives is essential. Paris also cohosts the podcast and Tech Won’t Save Us.

The Tech Bubble is a newsletter by Edward Ongweso Jr that examines technology and its political economy. He is interested in understanding the financing, development, and deployment of various technologies (e.g. on-demand platforms, surveillance algorithms, crypto, AI) as well as how this shapes our geopolitics, labor conditions, political horizons, and social relations.

Where’s Your Ed At is a newsletter covering tech and culture by tech analyst and writer Ed Zitron, the host of iHeartRadio’s Better Offline, focused on the ways in which growth is destroying the tech ecosystem, featuring both a weekly premium column and an ongoing longform free newsletter.