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The tech monoculture is finally breaking

jasonwillems.com

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Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#211

Post by 8note »

echelon wrote: post #34
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…

> growth and momentum behind Linux and self-hosting as better evidence that change is afoot. Linux is still not user friendly enough. Products from two decades ago are more user friendly than modern "mainstream" disros. Look at Matrix and other OSS that wants to be mainstream. It's got awful UI/UX. And it's never taken off. Gimp is an ugly beast with a bad name. Nobody's using that unless they're a Linux nerd. I do s…

> Linux is still not user friendly enough

have you not touched a steam deck? it does the job well.

when the gabecube comes out, linux as a desktop i think will gain a lot of popularity

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#212

Post by at1as »

snvzz wrote: post #206

>They’re now working to bring a “next-gen” CRT monitor to market. Wait what? Who? Why have I not heard of this? Did the AI hallucinate? There definitely is interest in next-gen CRTs.

Palmer Lucky mentioned in an interview that they were looking into making a TV, in part because of how much he hated all the adware slop bundled into modern TVs.

He then followed that they were investigating whether they could build a modern CRT. I can't immediately find the except, but I had previously watched the interview

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#213

Post by at1as »

lemax wrote: post #122
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…

Yeah, I guess this take is tempting for a technologist, but Gen Z is buying iPods and walking around in wired headphones because it's cool and nostalgic, not because of usability. Cycles of nostalgia are well understood to be getting smaller. The creative industry is creating new things less frequently and referring back sooner (the old 20 year cycle of fashion repeating itself is contracting). There is an element of…

> walking around in wired headphones because it's cool and nostalgic, not because of usability

Can only speak for myself, but I purchased some $15 wired USB-C earbuds to use on flights while the Airpods were charging.

And I've been increasingly just using them. The Airpods would often not connect in one ear without a few tries, and the pairing was a pain (disabled the auto-pairing as that was even worse), even on a medium-length flight I'd have to charge them at least once, and I'd often find a way to fidget with the case and have everything disconnect.

I think I overestimated how much value their noise canceling or audio quality was bringing me when I mostly used them for podcasts.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#214

Post by hokumguru »

idibiks wrote: post #192
fumar wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is android bad here? An android launcher can create the illusion of a single purpose device. What difference does it make? Battery life?

They can do too much stuff, so it’s yet another do-anything device to have to police.

So install a dumbed down launcher and put it in kiosk mode? Thatll lock things down pretty heavily.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#215

Post by hokumguru »

NetOpWibby wrote: post #157
californical wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked pretty hard - I specifically don’t want an android OS called an mp3 player. I want a dedicated media player that has physical button controls (not touch screen), is very snappy, has a good UI, and has a purpose-built OS specific to only playing songs and podcasts, and maybe movies, which I can sync with my computer (maybe with rsync or whatever else). No apps. The only option that I could find was an iPod cl…

Pretty sure I know what music player you're talking about because I have the same requirement. Sony's modern Walkman is an Android device. No thanks.

For what it’s worth I love mine. I have app pinning enabled in android so it’s completely locked to just my music app. Feels like a great compromise of customizability while also feeling like an all in one device

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#216

Post by sanex »

saulpw wrote: post #166
Retric wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They likely want to use the device without looking at it, thus the requirement is physical buttons not a specific OS. It’s the same issue with touch screens in cars. Anything that’s a touchscreen simply fails a core MP3 player requirement for many people.

Yup. I want to be able to use it to listen to music, start/stop/pause/skip/volume while I'm at the dentist.

Hold on. You wear headphones while at the dentist? How are you supposed to carry on a conversation where they ask you question and you respond HOAYRA AH OT AH HA AH

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#217

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#218

Post by andai »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #110
californical wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked pretty hard - I specifically don’t want an android OS called an mp3 player. I want a dedicated media player that has physical button controls (not touch screen), is very snappy, has a good UI, and has a purpose-built OS specific to only playing songs and podcasts, and maybe movies, which I can sync with my computer (maybe with rsync or whatever else). No apps. The only option that I could find was an iPod cl…

I can't vouch for it personally since I don't own one, but I saw a video on YouTube mentioning the Innioasis Y1[0], which supposedly does a decent job of replicating the iPod experience with some modern features like USB-C and Bluetooth at a decent price. Can be flashed with RockBox. No external SD slot, but it can be opened to swap out the SD card it comes with. Reportedly doesn't feel nearly as nice in hand as a re…

Damn this looks great. I'd guess the main difference in feel is the weight. iPod classic was about 2-3x heavier, which seems to be the main factor in premium feel.

(Well, that and the metal body.)

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#219

Post by at1as »

mullingitover wrote: post #182
at1as wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two claims you're making 1) they're rarely used 2) when they are it's nefarious To the first point, they've sold at least 2M pairs, and are reported scaling production to handle up to 10M units per year. To the second point, do you believe that all or most of those 2M people using it for those purposes? Or to take videos of travel, music festivals, etc. Lots of companies are rushing into this space, so you…

> There are two claims you're making 1) they're rarely used 2) when they are it's nefarious I'm not making any claims , just sharing my observation. The claim I'm reacting to is that "they're totally used by normal people now!" and my observation is that I personally don't know anyone in my fairly tech-savvy peer group who has even uttered their name, and the only time I have heard of them outside their marketing is…

> I'm not making any claims... Clearly being a creep with the glasses is popular enough to create a whole cottage industry.

I think this is pretty much a claim. But in any case, it's not unique to smart glasses. Smartphones also have this problem, which is why they're legally required to make an audible shutter noise in many jurisdictions. And unlike glasses that power on when unfolded and worn on the face, phones and other types of devices can be much more discreet.

You can address AR glasses by changing the laws - Québec has uniquely strong privacy laws against photographing people, even in public places. The rest of Canada and the US have much weaker protections in this area.

You can also change the regulations for the companies that produce the devices. The Ray Ban Metas will not function if the light is tampered with, but clearly there is a cat and mouse game where people temporarily evade those restrictions until they're tightened again. It's obviously not in Meta's interest to allow people do this. But a comparison will inevitably play out as the tech is commoditized and people find off-brand alternates in the back of Shenzen markets.

New technology will bring much bigger challenges than smart glasses. A few I worry about are every conversation being recorded and transcribed by personal AIs (with ultra discreet devices), and the authenticity of audio, video, or image content may one day be unproveable (in which case every recorded corruption scandal becomes a plausible denial).

The article's claim, however, is that we're starting to find off-ramps to many one or two-player marketplaces, and the domain that the meta Ray bans operate within will be one of those (in the interim we should probably be thankful it's not just another Apple product, and that they actually have to play catch up. A weaker Apple will have to treat consumers and partners better). The article's point is that the future of tech looks fun, and should provide consumers with more choices.

Sure, the side effects of future tech could be very bad, but that'd be the case whether or not the points in the article are true.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#220

Post by at1as »

thebigman433 wrote: post #162
at1as wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two claims you're making 1) they're rarely used 2) when they are it's nefarious To the first point, they've sold at least 2M pairs, and are reported scaling production to handle up to 10M units per year. To the second point, do you believe that all or most of those 2M people using it for those purposes? Or to take videos of travel, music festivals, etc. Lots of companies are rushing into this space, so you…

> To the first point, they've sold at least 2M pairs, and are reported scaling production to handle up to 10M units per year Im actually very curious to learn more about the usage statistics of their glasses overall. I live in SF and I have noticed 1 person wearing them in the wild. Its obviously probable that Ive missed a handful, but my suspicion is that a lot of people wear them for short bursts of time, for speci…

Mine gather dust except for travel. But they're worth it to me for that use case alone.

I also wouldn't be surprised if that was a common pattern.

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