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Bluesky's shrinking user numbers and Have I Been Pwned refresh

Plus: Why is a random English composer the most translated Wikipedia article?

Author

Cam Wilson
May 20, 2025

Issue 2335 - Tuesday 20 May 2025

Editor’s note: I removed a bit about an event that I attended because I’m told it was not for attribution.

The News

Twitter alternatives keep improving — but are they catching on?

Bluesky continues to tinker with their platform. It’s just launched a streaming indicator that will show when a Bluesky account is live on somewhere like Twitch or YouTube (Engadget). And Bluesky CEO Jay Graber (WIRED, $) says they’re going to make it easier to use and run custom feeds, which are essentially user-moderated communities like subreddits. Both of these are cool! I’m glad to see the hard work of building the infrastructure to let communities grow — but one other thing I’m looking at: after a big spike following the US election result, Bluesky’s active user count seems to have fallen by half (bsky.jazco.dev). Mastodon accounts seem to have maybe inched up to 1.1 million active accounts. Even if you think that growth spurt was a mirage, these decentralised social platforms still have a long way to go when it comes to finding and keeping new users.

Bluesky numbers are still hugely up overall, but it doesn’t seem like they’ve plateaued yet

Have I Been Pwned gets a facelift

Troy Hunt has released a new version of his crucial cybersecurity website Have I Been Pwned? (Troy Hunt). HIBP 2.0 has a slick, refreshed interface and some handy features like easier ways to sign up to get breaches notifications from your family members. Troy provides such an important service for free, he really is underrated as an Australian hero (2026 Australian of the Year?). While we’re on cybersecurity, I thought this resource from the Australian Signals Directorate explaining a concept like geo-blocking is really handy (Cyber). You can almost hear the pent-up frustration being worked out as they typed “An IP address is not a GPS coordinate.”

Leftovers

  • .au Licensing Rules Review: Expressions of Interest open for auDA Policy Advisory Panel 2025 (auDA)

  • X takes legal action against Australian eSafety standard (InformationAge)

  • PC targets AI adoption with new regulatory review (InnovationAus, $)

  • Vodafone tests ‘direct-to-mobile’ satellite service in NSW (Cyber Daily)

  • Defence admits work devices put at risk of foreign hack (Canberra Times, $)

  • Crypto and property worth more than $4.5m seized from Aussie League of Legends hacker (Cyber Daily)

  • Volvo to build electric trucks in Australia and transport giant Linfox signs on as customer (The Australian, $)

  • Weeks after Amazon's Alexa+ AI launch, a mystery: where are the users? (Reuters)

  • Microsoft open-sources Windows Subsystem for Linux at Build 2025 (Bleeping Computer) 

  • Windows is getting support for the ‘USB-C of AI apps’ (The Verge)

  • Trump’s sanctions on ICC prosecutor have halted tribunal’s work Ed’s Note: including Microsoft locking him out of his email address (AP)

  • India iPhone production will be boosted by $1.5B Foxconn investment (Apple Insider)

  • Trump signs the Take It Down Act into law (The Verge)

  • Police secretly monitored New Orleans with facial recognition cameras (Washington Post, $)

  • We Made Luigi Mangione’s 3D-Printed Gun—and Fired It (WIRED, $)

  • I’m a LinkedIn Executive. I See the Bottom Rung of the Career Ladder Breaking. (NYT, $)

  • Why AI advancement doesn’t have to come at the expense of marginalized workers (Rest of World)

  • Tracking apps might make us feel safe, but blurring the line between care and control can be dangerous (The Guardian Australia by Sizzler Sam!)

Oh, Also

Why is a random English composter the most translated Wikipedia article?

I came across this leaderboard of the Wikipedia pages that have been translated in the most languages (Sohom.dev). Most of the entries are what you’d probably expect: countries (Australia is the 10th most!) and of course Wikipedia itself. What I didn’t expect was equal first, tied with Turkey the country, is English composer David Woodard with 334 versions.

So why is someone who’s best known contribution is coining the portmanteau “prequiem” — I’m certain this is the first time you’ve heard that term — such a big presence across Wikipedias? The literal answer seems to be because one editor, Swmmng, has made dozens of “versions” of Woodard’s entries. And I say “versions” because many seem to be one line entries written using Google Translate or something like it. So, why has Swmmng done this? I don’t know yet! I’m going to track them down and I promise to report back.

Bargains

Electrical & Electronics

Computing

Mobile

The End

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