Tedium. The newsletter all your other newsletters look up to.

Since 2015, Ernie Smith's Tedium has been hunting for the end of the long tail, and we've yet to find it. But we'd sure love it if you followed us on our journey. Especially now that we're ten friggin' years old and we're still using a Street Fighter II slogan as our subscribe button. Validate the use of obscure video game slang as a successful subscription strategy. Click the button.

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Slide Away

My favorite UX metaphor, the scrolling window manager, is having a moment--and it's for pretty dank reasons.

By Ernie Smith * January 29, 2026
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Minus World

Rumors of OnePlus' possible death are heating up, which would be a real shame, given how much the smartphone market has already contracted. It's not true, but their grip is slipping.

By Ernie Smith * January 22, 2026

They Were Robbed

The tale of the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, the place where hits go to die--in some cases, over and over again. Let's talk about the chart through the lens of its two most iconic artists.

By Ernie Smith * January 19, 2026

Splitting Machines

How the virtual machine, a foundational element of cloud computing, found its modern footing after a couple of scientists proved a couple of theorems wrong.

By Ernie Smith * January 12, 2026

A Number Of Surprising Importance

The number 26, which gets back-burnered compared to numbers with neater divisibility, is an essential digit. And you're gonna be hearing all about it in 2026.

By Ernie Smith * January 2, 2026

The Accidental Blockbuster

The absurd comedy of errors that led to the year's best feature story is almost too silly to be believed. But it happened.

By Ernie Smith * December 31, 2025

A Complex Case For Empathy

One of the best videos of the year came from someone who once publicly quit YouTube. It's a multi-hour epic--and it's stuck with me for months.

By Ernie Smith * December 30, 2025

Convoy Steamroller

The unexpected connection between advertising, a 1975 novelty song, CB radio, and some of your favorite modern Christmas tunes.

By David Buck * December 25, 2025

Beyond The Last Minute

Tedium's annual last-minute gift guide presumes you're going to give your loved ones gifts on the 26th ... or let's be honest, the middle of January.

By Ernie Smith * December 22, 2025

Collecting The Carts

On bottle deposits, cheap local commercials, projectile-style turkeys, union-busting grocery stores, and the friend of mine who showed me the ropes.

By Ernie Smith * December 19, 2025
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