Elaine Burke
elaineburke.bsky.social
Elaine Burke
@elaineburke.bsky.social
Talking tech, science and media. Journalist and broadcaster. Host of @fortechssakepod.bsky.social and Connected AI Podcast.
Reposted by Elaine Burke
there are about 10 vacant homes for every homeless person in Ireland - and I know that's oversimplified and imperfect maths, but I'm still mad
November 10, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Fun exercise in data literacy you can do for #ScienceWeek:

hidden-selves.wove.co
Hidden Selves - A game about data privacy.
This game is developed by Wove and Adapt in collaboration with funding from Research Ireland's Science Week 2025.
hidden-selves.wove.co
November 10, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
Coming up with @mattcooperlastword.bsky.social on Today FM - ME! plus @elaineburke.bsky.social talking TV and streaming - return of the Tubs, Trump's BBC bullshit & how u should watch Mr Burton on BBC1 tonight.
a man in a white hat is holding a candle and says `` excommunicate and anathema '' .
Alt: RICHARD burton - as Bishop Thomas Beckett in white hat is holding a candle and says "excommunicate and anathema '' .
media.tenor.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Gonna be on @todayfm.bsky.social shortly with @mattcooperlastword.bsky.social and @josefoshea.bsky.social talking about the best worst TV show ever made perhaps...
a close up of a woman 's face with the words all 's fair on the bottom
Alt: A slow zoom-out on the shocked face of Kim Kardashian in All's Fair.
media.tenor.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
ok yes those are definitely skeleton panda sea squirts
November 9, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
Wikipedia HERO

A guy discovered a faked photo of a rare blue gas on Wikipedia. So he SYNTHESIZED THE GAS HIMSELF so that he could photograph it. Yesterday he updated the article with this real photo of trifluoronitrosomethane:
November 8, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
17th-19th century Irish scribal abbreviations that look like text-speak: numeral 8 edition

"beannacht" (x2), "Connacht"
November 9, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
tech companies & executives are not scared enough of the consequences of harming people. they know they're ultimately very insulated from the blowback for wildly reckless experiments on people; that makes for a very unhealthy environment that we need to fix now

tech co's should be scared of people
November 8, 2025 at 8:33 PM
This is an incredible obituary and a reckoning on how hubris can drive success but also severe pigheadedness.
November 8, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
November 8, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Excellent, informative thread 👇🏻
There's a lot of confusion about saying all LLM behavior is "learned." Plenty is externally designed, albeit in different ways than we would design any other product. Developers can steer models through data curation, fine tuning, system prompts, RLHF and other directed RL techniques, and so on...
November 8, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
Gotta say, I’m not so confident that you do
November 7, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Currently at 5 no-shows for the 16 bus. Two other buses at the same stop also haven't shown. This is after two no-shows earlier today, and a cancelled bus (which is the only reason I'm getting the 16).

Dublin Bus falling apart because it's [check notes] ... raining.
November 7, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
Irish friends; please meet Bud, an unusually sweet and affectionate dog of 11 who's yearning for his forever home.

He's currently at the DSPCA out past Rathfarnham where one of my family volunteers. He's a really special little guy (country logistics sadly mean we can't adopt him). A real dote.
Bug - DSPCA
www.dspca.ie
November 6, 2025 at 3:01 PM
If gave you €1 every second since you were born:

You would have €1 million within a week and a half.

You would have €1 billion by 32.

You would never have €1 trillion. Generations upon generations after you would not reach €1 trillion. Because it would take over 31,700 years to reach €1 trillion.
November 7, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
There are no words for how evil this is
November 7, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
Wow. What a bizarre setting! It's tempting to try to see how far we can push that filter #spéirgorm
#spéirgorm this feels like an attack on our culture
If you aren't seeing skeets from some of your fave people, they might have been labeled "Rude" by bsky mods. Idk what they are thinking, I don't need a mommy to tell me who to be buddies with. Anyway, go into Settings > moderation > bluesky moderation (advanced) and turn Rude off.
November 7, 2025 at 7:17 AM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
The world’s first trillionaire initiated a move that has left more than half a million people dead, most of whom are children.
November 7, 2025 at 7:39 AM
#spéirgorm this feels like an attack on our culture
If you aren't seeing skeets from some of your fave people, they might have been labeled "Rude" by bsky mods. Idk what they are thinking, I don't need a mommy to tell me who to be buddies with. Anyway, go into Settings > moderation > bluesky moderation (advanced) and turn Rude off.
November 7, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
Who is the good guy of tech? 🤔

@earley.bsky.social picked Clippy. 📎

@elaineburke.bsky.social picked Tim Berners-Lee. 💻

We had a good chat about it, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts. (Episode 4.16: The good guy of tech)

But who would you pick???
November 6, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
calling all queer and trans people who were involved in the catherine connolly campaign: would you like to speak to me for an article i am writing? (i would love to get as many different perspectives as possible)
November 5, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
November 6, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Reposted by Elaine Burke
People my book would make an excellent Christmas present for:

Hip-hop heads
Readers who enjoy music biographies
Readers who enjoy political history
Lefties
All the comrades, outlaws and generally scandalouz
November 3, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Lots of thought-provoking stuff in this episode, if I do say so myself.
Have you ever thought about your data after life? And who you would trust with your data after you die?

Researcher @dannysnow.bsky.social certainly has, and he has some advice.

Listen to the full interview: pod.fo/e/3472a6
November 5, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Sad to be missing this!
It’s great to have @joetidy.bsky.social speak about teenage hackers at this #irisscon
November 5, 2025 at 12:50 PM