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The tech monoculture is finally breaking

jasonwillems.com

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Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#281

Post by seec »

jhbadger wrote: post #250
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…

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.

Yeah, people hating iTunes seem to have no clue how bad all the "alternatives" were back then. I'll be the first to shit on current Apple, but seriously, it was very successful for a reason.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#282

Post by seec »

at1as wrote: post #213
lemax wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 m…

Wireless earbuds are convenient sometimes, but that comes at the price of inconvenience other times (thinking about charging and connecting).

I think the noise canceling is overhyped to oblivion. Sound isolation with good tips has been more than fine since the 2000s, and most of the annoying, hard-to-block noise comes from physical transfer via vibration anyway.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#283

Post by xg15 »

> Meta shipped a wearable that normal people actually use, thanks to a clever Ray-Ban partnership (and associated equity stake). 3D printers have become real household products. Wearables are diversifying—smart rings, over-the-counter glucose monitors, connected beds.

In which reality is this guy living?

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#284

Post by 9rx »

mwigdahl wrote: post #12
torlok wrote: post #8

What a weird techno-optimist blog post, full of cherry-picked examples, with a twist of consumerism. Refreshing take in a sea of nihilism, but saying people are interested in Pokémon and N64 games again when it's mostly post-NFT "everything is an investment" mentality is cute in its naivety.

It was the "growth of Linux on the desktop" that broke my suspension of disbelief. If there was going to be any year where Linux made strong gains it should have been 2025 with the forced retirement of the "forever OS" Windows 10. But the needle barely moved at all. The author paints a nice picture but there's a lot of wishful thinking and projection there.

> it should have been 2025 with the forced retirement of the "forever OS" Windows 10.

Still too soon, no? Windows 10 continues to work just fine. The layman using it doesn't really care — and probably doesn't even realize — that it isn't supported anymore. Only when they start to have trouble will they start to care. Eventually a time will come when they want to use some new software that won't work in it, or what have you. When that time comes, that will be the true test.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#285

Post by rini17 »

hokumguru wrote: post #214
idibiks wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's exactly the policing.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#286

Post by patwolf »

Onavo wrote: post #97
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…

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

I got one of these for my kid a few years ago. He liked to browse Spotify on my phone, and I thought it would be a good screenless alternative. But honestly it just sat in a drawer, and I didn't have the patience to maintain and sync playlists to it.

It's easy to be nostalgic for the iPod era, but having to sync music is something I'm fine keeping in the past.

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#287

Post by cyberrock »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #275

Wired vs wireless headphones can demonstrate why sometimes, the old simple tech is actually better. Wired headphones have a great user interface - you plug them into the device making music. That's it. If a friend wants to play you some music, you can just plug your headphones into their device (assuming it has an audio socket) without mucking around with pairing and then later having a problem because it can only pa…

I can't speak for everyone but I've lost more wired inventory to cable damage (before ca. 2020) than wireless earbuds from just losing them. It seems that now they're not the only game in town, replaceable cables are suddenly a standard feature instead of a luxury, so the moral I've taken from this is that the competition was good.

It's also not like the problem is the audio equipment itself, because the problem most people have is with phones removing 3.5mm and being theoretically unable to charge (with cable) and listen to music at the same time. I think it's another example of a false tech culture war that the original article wants to exist.

Now, I wish we could go to 2 USB-C ports instead of holding on to 3.5mm. Not all DACs are created equal...

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#288

Post by izacus »

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.

Map display is incredibly useful for us outdoor people - having a map of a hiking track at hand is much nicer than having to pull out a phone constantly.

This holds true also for other sports - e.g. ski layer is nice to orient yourself on ski slopes.

(Also Garmin maps actually have sports tracks with better detail than software made for cars like GMaps.)

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#289

Post by zahirbmirza »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #185
zahirbmirza wrote: post #113

I find this discussion interesting. I have been thinking about the declining appeal of a device that does everything, but on which you can only really do one thing at a time well. Ie, you put the iPhone in a cage and add a tripod and you could make a high quality video. But, then you can't use the phone like a phone... Solution, a DJI osmo pocket 3, which is something that does video brilliantly. And you can set it u…

> I recently serendipitously found my sansa clip+ which to my delight has a battery that has somehow and miraculously not failed. Have you thought of installing Rockbox on it? It made mine instantly better.

oh! great thought. thanks!

Re: The tech monoculture is finally breaking

#290

Post by ghaff »

Lapsa wrote: post #268
ghaff wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually have an Apple Watch that I mostly use for hiking. I just use a $30 Timex most of the time that I don't need to charge.

there's a big yellow clock up in the sky and if there isn't - you should be sleeping anyway

The yellow clock in the sky doesn't have GPS/mileage indicators :-)
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