Amit Gawande:
Dumb and powerful, now there’s the super villain from any sane person’s nightmare.
The power is in the data, not the devices. Right now some of that data is mostly noise, but it won’t be long before machine learning makes that “noise” into a billion dollar industry.
Om Malik:
I for one, refuse to use Alexa and Google Home in my apartment. I don’t trust them, much like I don’t trust Facebook. Apple seems to be doing a good job of keeping its nose clean, but who knows when they come under pressure from “activist” investors.
So much promise, but without any regulation by the government, we are asking for trouble.
Kashmir Hill and Surya Mattu:
I’m going to warn you against a smart home because living in it is annoying as hell.
I have shockingly few smart gadgets. And what I do have, switches, are not great. They all lack “just works” factor, and that’s crucial for these devices.
John Herrman on his five year old iPad:
It was, in contrast to the iPhone from which it descended, understood by its users as simply good enough — not life-changing, but handy. It was to be used until its users started noticing it, at which point it was to be replaced. It was, like the iPhone, immune to attachment. But unlike the iPhones, which might be reclaimed by a cellular carrier as part of a scheduled trade-in or just shoved aside by a two-year upgrade, iPads tend to linger. They have time to reveal their tragic thingness.
This is a pretty good read. I understand why older devices don’t move up to newer version of iOS, but it does suck that they eventually get put in device purgatory.
Jessica Guynn reporting:
“In total, we made changes that reduced time spent on Facebook by roughly 50 million hours every day,” Zuckerberg said, in announcing the social media company’s fourth-quarter results. “By focusing on meaningful connections, our community and business will be stronger over the long term.”
Unless my math is wrong (and I don’t rule that out), given that Facebook has 1.4 billion daily active users, that’s only a reduction of 2.1 minutes per person, on average. Right? No wonder he used the larger number.
Then again, the average Facebook user spends 20 minutes on the site per day. So there is hope for humanity, is I guess the lesson.
Brent Simmons:
Micro.blog is not an alternative silo: instead, it’s what you build when you believe that the web itself is the great social network.
I really want to get a pair of these for work travel.
Lindy West:
Being on Twitter felt like being in a nonconsensual BDSM relationship with the apocalypse. So, I left.
Miranda Katz:
Those numbers tend to be steady regardless of the length of the show—and according to Panoply, the few listeners who do skip ads continue to remain engaged with the episode, rather than dropping off at the first sign of an interruption.
I’m fairly shocked by this, but I don’t think it’s far off before we get podcast ad blockers. Take something like the “deepfakes” ML that places people’s faces on another persons body (usually to make porn right now, or add Nicholas Cage into movies) — that’s a much computationally harder task than learning when a podcaster is starting a stopping an ad read. It will be interesting to see which company jumps on making such an app “click play on your favorite podcast, never hear an ad”.
Zeynep Tufekci:
Part of the problem with the ideal of individualized informed consent is that it assumes companies have the ability to inform us about the risks we are consenting to. They don’t. Strava surely did not intend to reveal the GPS coordinates of a possible Central Intelligence Agency annex in Mogadishu, Somalia — but it may have done just that. Even if all technology companies meant well and acted in good faith, they would not be in a position to let you know what exactly you were signing up for.
Our laws are dangerously lagging behind.
Pretty neat trick, it’s too bad you have to use really shitty keyboards to make it work well.
But if you find yourself grazing through social media with the same vacant appetite you might use to slowly work your way through a stack of Pringles — not enjoying it, not hating it, just sorta doing it — then give my solution a shot. You can always reinstall.
Hell of an analogy.
Great post. I also see a parallel here between blogs, vlogs, and podcasts.
Some great thoughts from Joe Cieplinski around using an iPad for writing. I still hold that an iPad plus a keyboard you like with Ulysses running — there’s no better setup for writing.
Adam Popescu:
“Never be the first person in the group to whip out his phone,” Mr. Alford said. “Don’t be Patient Zero.”
Good rule to live by.
Love this quote from Om Malik:
As a passenger, sitting in back of an Uber X is like playing Russian Roulette with someone else pulling the trigger.
Nick Bilton:
There’s another theory floating around as to why Facebook cares so much about the way it’s impacting the world, and it’s one that I happen to agree with. When Zuckerberg looks into his big-data crystal ball, he can see a troublesome trend occurring. A few years ago, for example, there wasn’t a single person I knew who didn’t have Facebook on their smartphone. These days, it’s the opposite.
This is why talking about this, and taking stands is so important. Because as futile and slow as it seems it may be, in the end self-preservation often shows through for these companies and they realize they need to change.
Mark Sullivan:
On Wednesday Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said Facebook should be regulated like a tobacco product. “I think that you do it exactly the same way that you regulated the cigarette industry,” Benioff said on CNBC’s Squawk Alley. “Here’s a product: Cigarettes. They’re addictive, they’re not good for you,” Benioff said. For someone of Benioff’s stature and reputation, this is a bombshell.
It’s not apps, it’s “engagement” driven businesses. Regulating Facebook though? That’s common sense at this point.
Emma Martinho-Truswell:
When the work of public servants can be done in less time, a government might reduce its staff numbers, and return money saved to taxpayers — and I am sure that some governments will pursue that option. But it’s not necessarily the one I would recommend. Governments could instead choose to invest in the quality of its services. They can re-employ workers’ time towards more rewarding work that requires the lateral thinking, empathy, and creativity — all things at which humans continue to outperform even the most sophisticated AI program.
Really nice update to the Rucker backpack. However, that’s not why I am posting about it — shit I didn’t even use my affiliate link on that. As part of the redesign, GORUCK filmed a 2 minute video, which can be found on the linked page, and it explains the Rucker redesign. But it actually doesn’t. It left me wondering why I should care beyond it being new. That video was of GORUCK’s President Blayne Smith giving a focused look at the bag.
Smith is excellent at direct, on script, style communication. It shows why he is president, but also, he didn’t do a good job selling the bag. This lead to a 20+ minute video (Warning that link is to a Reddit link to the damned Facebook video, which somehow I was able to watch through Pocket for reasons I don’t understand.) from Jason McCarthy, the founder of GORUCK, to explain the same bag.
At the end of the 20 minute video — and yeah I watched the entire thing — I wanted a new Rucker. Because even though Jason (I don’t know him, but he seems to go by that in the community and not Mr. McCarthy) rambles quite a bit and lacks focus, he holds a much better clarity about the product itself. That is: he sold the product, and never once made me feel like “when’s this video going to end”.
So I’m linking to these two videos as a tool for you. When you are trying to sell your product or yourself: which video are you?
Steve Jobs was a salesman, but in a different way than Jason above. Cook is not, he’s direct and sincere, but he isn’t going to get you excited, which is exactly why he hands off the presentations to people he hopes can get buyers excited.