Can't speak for GP but I got the feeling that after Apple embarrassed itself shipping almost none of the Apple Intelligence features announced at WWDC 2024, they scrambled to get something drastic out the door to show they're still "innovating" and "doing big things"
I assume the subtext is something like: "Customers are being abused to create the short-term illusion of improvement, to satisfy myopic investors in the financial markets and the personal compensation incentives of executives."
None of the siblings got it right. By 'shareholder-enforced enshittification' I meant when shareholders (or, generally, anyone from the top) enforce a direction that doesn't align with what's natural of the foundation. So the system ends up being stretched to afford it, corners get cut / shortcuts get taken, and then that becomes the final shipping version.
Shareholders want to maximize stock price, therefore they choose psychopathic CEOs willing to do literally anything to achieve that. People who view reputation and goodwill as just capital to be spent. Giving out free service to get people hooked then turning the screws on them is a proven strategy.
Early audience response suggested the message struggled to land. According to an iSpot survey of 500 viewers, the ad’s likeability score placed it in the bottom 3% compared with Super Bowl ads over the past five years. Its top-two-box purchase intent scored 24% below Super Bowl norms and 19% below ads in its category that aired over the last 90 days. Viewers most commonly described their reaction as “WTF,” signaling confusion around both the message and the execution.
I think that the ideas of AI boosters and other tech maximalists will pretty much always "struggle to land" with normal people. (See also: the ring ad.)
I don't think "normal people" especially run-of-the-mill office workers, like the idea of AI or want it to succeed. Not that it's going to stop Silicon Valley from ramming it down everyone's throats.
Only when the underlying product sucks. "Here's how the Torment Nexus is going to torment you - subscribe now!" is never going to be a popular message because it is actively making the world worse.
People aren't being luddites or not understanding innovation. They know perfectly well what is being sold, and they hate it.
Contrast it with the Dotcom bubble, where people mainly thought it wasn't for them or that they didn't need it. Look at interviews of people back then, and the services advertised are at worst described as "unnecessary": you would've had very little trouble convincing them that there would be some market for them.
But with those extreme AI examples? Normal people understand it, and they hate it.
"Many students are resisting the idea of in-person screenings altogether. Given the ease of streaming assignments from their dorm rooms, they see gathering in a campus theater as an imposition."
Students telegraphing to the film world that a coming generation of consumers simply won't be going to the theatre. The article is framed as a tragedy about the students, but it's actually a tragedy about the professors and institution of moviegoing.
I love movies but in the last 5-6 years I've only been 3 times to the theater. Dune 1, Dune 2, and Oppenheimer.
Theaters in my area couldn't care less about image and sound quality. Audiences don't seem to care at all about movies. Most are either on their phones or talking.
I'm not paying exorbitant prices for such sub par experience. I'd rather watch the movie at home with 4K DV on an OLED display and an Atmos setup.
The reality is that the home movie experience is now better.
Seeing a film on the big screen was still a great experience back in the 80s and early 90s when the home experience was VHS and a smallish CRT with mono audio.
It started to change when DVD arrived, but then we reached the era of affordable large LCD TVs, blu-rays, and then streaming. And now a lot of people have a 'big screen' at home. With a volume control and pause button. Better drinks (including alcohol) and snacks without paying the premium price, without having to drive anywhere. And no kids throwing popcorn around, or other people talking during the movie or other phones going off during quiet moments...
(That and the decline of movies. Maybe I'm just getting old and miserable, but there's been very little that's got me excited in recent years. Maybe I'll get out to a cinema for Project Hail Mary, loved the book and the trailers look promising)
You changed the phrase from “runs Windows software and games” to “compatible with Windows software and games”. I’m talking about the former phrase. The latter does imply more, but I didn’t say it; you did.
Running Windows software on Linux requires a bit of domain knowledge; e.g. Wine, Lutris, Proton. E.g. which software actually works really well, which software works with tweaks, and which software largely works but you need to avoid certain features. The fact that you need to install special software, and it isn't some core OS compatibility layer like 32-bit support makes it lean towards "runs Windows software and games" being a little ambitious. It's not a perfect user story, that's all.
“I’m not seeing many first-time homebuyers right now,” said Nicole Stewart, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in Boise, ID. “Rental rates here are still more manageable than saving up for a down payment and mortgage. People are finding rentals that are nicer than the house they could afford at the same monthly cost. That’s in part because a lot of home sellers are overpricing their properties as they struggle to adjust to the changing housing market.”
> The typical U.S. homebuyer needs to earn over $50,000 more than the typical renter to afford monthly housing payments, and the gap has been widening due to high home prices and mortgages rates.
I’ve heard that buying a house is being “long” on the local labor market. What this is suggesting is that labor markets (i.e. salaries) in general have not kept pace with inflation and higher interest rates.
When I owned an M1 Air the keys felt "thin" and "hollow" when bottoming out, versus the Pros which have always felt slightly softer without losing responsiveness. You can hear the difference between the keyboards at full speed typing. The M1 Air sounded cheaper to me. Can't speak to M4 Air.
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