Justin Pot

I am a freelance journalist and a person. I believe that tech is a tool, not a way of life, and that we should use it to connect with each other. I currently write for Lifehacker, WIRED, The Atlantic, PopSci, PCMag, and The Wall Street Journal.

238 followers79 following29 stories

Longform Stories

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Reddit started blocking mobile browser users without the app which is great because I've been trying to quit reading r/AmITheAsshole for a while now. Thanks, Reddit! This will save me a lot of time.

2d ago·1 min read·68 words

Which World Cup games are on free broadcast television? Here’s a tool to find out.

I looked it up so you don't have to.

2d ago·1 min read·197 words

I turned my website into a personal social network that connects to Bluesky and the Fediverse—here’s how.

I'm tired of posting on so many different social networks, so I built my own. All it took was a WordPress website, two plugins, and a lot of fiddling.

3d ago·5 min read·830 words

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What's an app you stopped using without even noticing? For me it's Gmail. I used to log in regularly but the interface kept getting worse. I use an email client these days.

3d ago·1 min read·64 words

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Ads for Wisprflow are unavoidable online, but are there free tools that do the same thing? I looked into it for WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/do-you-actually-need-to-pay-for-transcription-softwar…

4d ago·1 min read·46 words

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Fans don't actually cool rooms—just the people in them. I wrote about this and a few other home energy facts for PopSci: https://www.popsci.com/diy/home-energy-conservation-myths/

5d ago·1 min read·46 words

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I set up my website to push both full blog posts and short status updates to both Bluesky and the Fediverse. The best part: replies from both show up on my site as comments. This open internet thing i…

Jun 4·1 min read·82 words

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I hate the interface on my Google TV, so I found a replacement. I wrote about it for WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/at4k-app-makes-google-tv-actually-usable/

Jun 4·1 min read·40 words

How to use AI without stagnating

Are you metaphorically driving a car while pretending to run a marathon?

Jun 3·4 min read·759 words

Sill finds the best links on Bluesky and Mastodon so you don’t have to

I want to read more and scroll less. The problem is I find a lot of good things to read by scrolling. Sill is a potential solution.

May 5·2 min read·330 words

Our devices are exhausting us

I'm no longer working with Lifehacker, which is disappointing. But I'm grateful I got to spend two years doing one of my favorite things: finding great indie and open source tools and sharing them wit…

Apr 10·2 min read·347 words

Pips and the art of feeling good about being wrong

In the short term, being confidently wrong about something feels just as good as actually being correct.

Apr 8·3 min read·439 words

The peace that’s available

We're told we live in unprecedented times, and there's truth to that. It's worth remembering, though, that it's all a little less unprecedented than it feels. The last track on Simon and Garfunkel's 1…

Dec 24·5 min read·802 words

What’s worth saying right now?

Lately I've been wanting to write a newsletter and realizing that, for the most part, I don't feel like I have much to say. I sometimes wonder if it's depression, but I'm not sure it is. My life is pr…

Dec 11·4 min read·753 words

The only way I’ve managed to catch my own typos

Anyone who has ever edited me will tell you I have a few...quirks. My worst habit is leaving unfinished sentences it the end of my ...paragraphs. Like that. I regularly do this without noticing, even …

Oct 13·4 min read·623 words

Mark Zuckerberg Is A Digital Narcotics Dealer

In a recent newsletter I referred to Mark Zuckerberg as a digital narcotics dealer, which readers seemed to enjoy. I briefly wondered if I was overstating the matter until I read about how schools are…

Sep 24·4 min read·665 words

Did Twitter’s design inevitably led us to Brexit and Trump?

Last week we talked about how mediums—like film and novels—have their own built-in rules, and how those rules necessarily shape the way you can tell stories and express ideas. We made this point, natu…

Jul 30·6 min read·1113 words

The Tom Bombadil theory of media literacy

One of the most profound lessons you can learn about media literacy is that it isn't enough to talk about the content—you need to talk about the medium. People far smarter than me have written books a…

Jul 23·5 min read·886 words

YouTube and the end of “internet culture”

Last week YouTube officially announced that the trending page is going away, to be replaced with separate trending pages just for music, podcasts, and movie trailers. It's the end of "internet culture…

Jul 16·4 min read·686 words

Do it anyway.

I hate running. I used to believe that, over time, this would change. I thought, over time, that I would grow to love running out of sheer repetition. This has not happened. I used to think that if I …

Jul 1·4 min read·796 words

What to do if you find a shipwreck and other practical advice I wrote this week

I had a great time writing about what to do if you find a shipwreck over at PopSci. The good news: it's not impossible! The bad news: you don't get to keep any treasure. I've had a really great time l…

Jun 13·2 min read·216 words

How to bring democracy to America

Imagine that you, as a philanthropist or activist who wants to help spread democracy across the world, read about a country described as a "flawed democracy.” The report describes the problems that co…

Jun 13·5 min read·804 words

Oh No There’s an AI Clippy Now (and other stuff I wrote this week)

I regret to inform you that someone made an actual AI Clippy. The application, which is more art project than useful application, run an actual local large language model right on your computer, allow…

Jun 6·3 min read·420 words

The hardest thing I do every week (and how I do it)

I write a lot. I've finished just shy of 150 articles so far this year between Lifehacker, PopSci, WIRED, and PCMag, an average of 25 articles a month. I love it. The best part of being a freelancer…

Jun 6·4 min read·677 words

Dishwashers are great and other stuff I wrote this week

I think dishwashers are great, so I wrote about the science of why you should use your dishwasher over at PopSci. It's easier to do and better for the environment than hand washing. A point I want to …

May 23·2 min read·220 words

Tech is making things easier—just not for you

"Technology makes everything more complicated," an elderly relative said to me. It's hard to argue with. In this specific situation she had paid to reserve a parking spot that, it turned out, she didn…

May 23·4 min read·771 words

Mark Zuckerberg sees loneliness as a market opportunity

The internet used to be exciting—its potential to make the world better seemed endless. In the early 2010s it felt inevitable that innovation would make us happier, more productive, more connected, an…

May 9·6 min read·1034 words

The End of Windows 10 is coming (and other stuff I wrote this week)

More people use Windows 10 than Windows 11, but later this year Windows 10 will stop getting security updates. What does that mean? I explained over at WIRED and outlined your options. In summary: you…

May 9·2 min read·202 words

Get Minesweeper back on your PC and other stuff I wrote this week

It's been over a decade since Microsoft removed Minesweeper from Windows. If you don't go a single day without thinking about this loss you might want to read How to get Minesweeper and seven other cl…

May 2·2 min read·305 words