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The tech monoculture is finally breaking

jasonwillems.com

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Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#241

Post by xethos »

californical wrote: post #95
Aurornis wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 th…

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…

No promises, but a Tangera might actually be what you failed to find. Fair enough for that too, as they're not exactly mainstream

https://www.crowdsupply.com/cool-tech-zone/tangara

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#242

Post by nephihaha »

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…

Gimp is alright in my experience. It took a while to play around with and get used to... But I was able to use it to edit some of my photographs for a public art exhibition.

I'm not a Linux nerd by the way. I struggle to use it but Gimp did the job, whereas a couple of alternatives wouldn't. (One of them was RawTherapee and I didn't find it user friendly.)

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#243

Post by fsflover »

Fervicus wrote: post #210
thaumasiotes wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2) when institutions like banks force users to use their app, they actually make an app for this platform. What, does your Librem 5 not have a web browser?

I thought I was pretty clear when I said "force users to use their app". It's a trend more and more banks have started following.

Unless the bank forces SafetyNet, I can run the app with Waydroid. I switched banks when I had that problem.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#244

Post by austin-cheney »

Nope.

For some people, like this article, technology is just a wave of trends and fashions. For other people there is an actual utility to the tech.

For example consider why so much digital media is pirated. It’s not because most of those people refuse to pay for content. It’s because they reject to pay for limited access. Why bother with all the platform lock-in and limited rights when you can download it for free and achieve maximum portability. The people that pay for streaming do so because it’s the fashion/trend and there is a cost of increased effort to try out individual liberty.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#245

Post by emodendroket »

californical wrote: post #95
Aurornis wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 th…

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…

How hard did you look? You can type "MP3 Player" into an Amazon search box (and I'm sure Aliexpress and other competitors) and find many devices that are exactly what you say you want.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#246

Post by mickeyp »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #172
Onavo wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there's SV's favorite minimalist hardware (along with the overpriced woop band): https://bemighty.com/

Why is it $130? It's a small mp3 player. It should be more like $30.

Wait until you learn what Apple charged for their incredibly basic ipods in the 2000s.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#247

Post by BrenBarn »

cj wrote: post #15
BeetleB wrote: post #2

> A Timex ad went viral this year: “Know the time without seeing you have 1,249 unanswered emails.” Having to micromanage notifications is why I have two phones - one without a SIM card. It's nice to be able to do stuff on the phone and know it won't bug you. I simply put the one with the SIM card elsewhere (other room, leave in car, etc). No - I'm not going to spend too much time learning how to "effectively" manage…

My strategy here is to default notifications off for everything other than calls and texts. And then manually open Gmail to check mail, manually open Instagram when I feel like checking notifications, etc. It’s such a better experience when you’re opening an app because you want to, and not because a notification is baiting you.

I agree. I see a lot of comments here and articles out on the web where it seems like people don't realize you can turn notifications off. A large portion of the distraction problem of tech is really a notification problem. Push notifications are the scourge of our era. The only things that I get notifications for on my phone are messaging things that I use for personal messaging (text messages, calls, etc.). If I want to check my email I open up an email program and check it. It's mindblowing to me when I look at someone else's phone and see the constant stream of notifications that are nothing more than ads from various apps.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#248

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

fumar wrote: post #174
idibiks wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a problem with "single-purpose" devices for kids, too. Drawing tablets, music players. They're all actually full Android phones (sans cell modem) and tablets. It sucks.

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

It represents a general purpose computer on your network which will accumulate vulnerabilities and never be patched or otherwise secured, making it a persistent insider threat as a launchpad for attacks on your network

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#249

Post by kakacik »

raffraffraff wrote: post #230
Aurornis wrote: post #139

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 There are a lot of DAPs in this style. They're just not popular because the Android-based units are perfectly fine and don't feel like Android phones with an MP3 player app installed. Most…

For me it's not arbitrary. An android device is a general purpose handheld touchscreen computer that happens to be used for music. That means a bunch of things to me: 1. "Touchscreen first" UX 2. Heavier than it needs to be 3. Worse battery life compared to a non-Android device Using a touchscreen in the rain is impossible. Running out of battery sucks. Going for a run with a 240g brick is no fun, it'll pull your pan…

Whats wrong with some Nokia brick? Has bluetooth, probably 3.5mm jack too, lasts a week, has more physical buttons than you need for playing mp3s. Costs little

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#250

Post by jhbadger »

Aurornis wrote: post #86
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 th…

Sure, you can find new MP3 players on Temu and Alibaba, but they are almost invariably nearly unusable instant e-waste (like most things on those sites) And iTunes was great back in the day -- it only got awful when Apple made it support iPhones, Apple Music, etc. When it just did what it was supposed to (rip CDs and put the contents, neatly labeled and organized on your iPod) it was unsurpassed to this day.
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