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The tech monoculture is finally breaking

jasonwillems.com

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Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#81

Post by [deleted] »

claudiulodro wrote: post #72
sylens wrote: post #29

I think the author is correct to a point but I don't believe the examples they've chosen provide the best support for their case. Gen Z buying iPods and people buying N64 games again is not evidence of the monoculture breaking apart - it's a retreat into the past for the enlightened few because their needs are not being met by modern goods and services. You cannot buy a dedicated MP3 player today with the software po…

AGPTEK makes decent and affordable MP3 players that still have buttons, and the battery life is really solid (~40 hrs!). I think they also use a dedicated MP3 player OS rather than an Android reskin. That's my recommendation if you want a 2007-style MP3 player with more modern hardware.

[deleted]

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#83

Post by pretzellogician »

alephnerd wrote: post #78
sylens wrote: post #29

I think the author is correct to a point but I don't believe the examples they've chosen provide the best support for their case. Gen Z buying iPods and people buying N64 games again is not evidence of the monoculture breaking apart - it's a retreat into the past for the enlightened few because their needs are not being met by modern goods and services. You cannot buy a dedicated MP3 player today with the software po…

> Gen Z buying iPods and people buying N64 games again is not evidence of the monoculture breaking apart - it's a retreat into the past for the enlightened few because their needs are not being met by modern goods and services It's simpler than that - retro is an (a e s t h e t i c) Those of us who are Zillenials, Gen Z, or Gen Alpha were still in elementary school or not around when those products were mainstream. I…

Your points about nostalgia marketing are quite valid.

But fyi, the Venture Brothers creators (Publick, born 1967, and Hammer, born 1971) are firmly in Gen X.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#84

Post by davidgay »

The bit about "Canon, Sony, and Nikon may have replaced Kodak for professionals" was entertainingly silly. AFAICT, Kodak cameras were never used by a significant fraction of professional photographers? (maybe pre-WW2?)

Film is a different matter of course.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#85

Post by nicoburns »

davidgay wrote: post #84

The bit about "Canon, Sony, and Nikon may have replaced Kodak for professionals" was entertainingly silly. AFAICT, Kodak cameras were never used by a significant fraction of professional photographers? (maybe pre-WW2?) Film is a different matter of course.

FWIW, Canon, Sony, and Nikon all make sensors as well as cameras (I believe Nikon just tweak Sony's these days, but they were certainly making their own at one point).

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#86

Post by Aurornis »

sylens wrote: post #29

I think the author is correct to a point but I don't believe the examples they've chosen provide the best support for their case. Gen Z buying iPods and people buying N64 games again is not evidence of the monoculture breaking apart - it's a retreat into the past for the enlightened few because their needs are not being met by modern goods and services. You cannot buy a dedicated MP3 player today with the software po…

> You cannot buy a dedicated MP3 player today with the software polish and quality of life that an iPod had in the early 2000s

I could see how many people would assume this, but it’s actually false.

There’s actually a big selection of dedicated audio players that do the job very well now. The battery life and audio quality are extremely good because there’s a niche market for them with a lot of competition.

If you think the iPod software experience in the early 2000s was good then you and I had very different experiences with iTunes during that time.

The resurgence of retro gear has a simpler explanation: Retro is cool. Vintage is cool. Has been for a long time. The reason we’re noticing it now is because the tech things we remember are finally passing that threshold where they go from being outdated to being retro. Just like clothes and styles that went out of fashion but are now retro-cool.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#87

Post by dzonga »

MarkusWandel wrote: post #74
bwestergard wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, which Garmin watch model do you have?

A Fenix 5S+. A lucky garage sale find. I can't btw vouch for "fully debugged" on some of its fancier features. I mean map display? On such a tiny device? I'll just use my phone. But the basic sports stuff is rock solid.

fenix 5 - I have one too - within the 6+ years I have had mine - some people have replaced their Apple Watches 2 - 3 times

maybe for a light weight version I will go for a gshock

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#88

Post by iammjm »

MarkusWandel wrote: post #17

I'm not sure I agree with all of that - that single-purpose tech is making a real comeback. But I do have one example in my daily life that supports this: A Garmin watch. Unlike "full" smartwatches (arbitrarily defined as: You can browse the web on them in some fashion) Garmin devices are intentionally limited but in return, what they do works very well and seems fully debugged. I spent several years recording outdoo…

> fully debugged

And here I am each morning having to manually enforce sync multiple times to have my fucking Garmin watch sleep data show up in my iPhone Garmin app. I love this watch (Instinct 2) but it’s far from bug free even in its most fundamental functions like data sync

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#89

Post by stronglikedan »

sylens wrote: post #29

I think the author is correct to a point but I don't believe the examples they've chosen provide the best support for their case. Gen Z buying iPods and people buying N64 games again is not evidence of the monoculture breaking apart - it's a retreat into the past for the enlightened few because their needs are not being met by modern goods and services. You cannot buy a dedicated MP3 player today with the software po…

> You cannot buy a dedicated MP3 player today with the software polish and quality of life that an iPod had in the early 2000s (or even a Zune).

What the what?!? There's tons of DAPs on the market, and more than a few that would put "an iPod had in the early 2000s (or even a Zune)" to shame.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#90

Post by nekooooo »

alephnerd wrote: post #78
sylens wrote: post #29

I think the author is correct to a point but I don't believe the examples they've chosen provide the best support for their case. Gen Z buying iPods and people buying N64 games again is not evidence of the monoculture breaking apart - it's a retreat into the past for the enlightened few because their needs are not being met by modern goods and services. You cannot buy a dedicated MP3 player today with the software po…

> Gen Z buying iPods and people buying N64 games again is not evidence of the monoculture breaking apart - it's a retreat into the past for the enlightened few because their needs are not being met by modern goods and services It's simpler than that - retro is an (a e s t h e t i c) Those of us who are Zillenials, Gen Z, or Gen Alpha were still in elementary school or not around when those products were mainstream. I…

not sure if you mean sonic and knuckles or the company that made king of fighters or something else.
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