Excursions

Intel has a new AI that can detect if a student is bored or distracted - their claim is it helps to improve student engagement. Sigh! Let students learn in natural way. If they want to get bored, let them get bored 🤦🏽‍♂️

I had no idea Pebble (or at least part of it) was purchased by Fitbit. Almost 6 years back. So unfortunate we didn’t see any launches of inspired products from Fitbit. One with an e-paper display and good battery life. I would have loved such a device.

HT: I was reminded of this fact by this wonderful essay by Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky on the importance of learning from failures. Mainly why Pebble failed.

I am tired of websites with pop downs asking for permission to show notifications. Why would I enable that? Notifications are already a headache to manage, even the ones just from the apps. Why would I let websites also bug me incessantly?

Apple needs to launch a TV+ app for Android. They have one for music. So I can’t understand why they won’t launch one for their TV offerings too. It’s such a pain to watch their shows and movies on a non-Apple mobile device. And I won’t buy an Apple device just for TV.

iPhone SE is a lazy upgrade — Apple is a boring company. If there is one thing that will dent the juggernaut that is Apple, it is their tendency to play safe to cater to the majority. We need to sell in millions, so we can’t experiment too much on design. I understand the why. Consumer aren’t supposed to care.

The strategy might work in US. Apple might throw numbers to prove that SE sells well worldwide. But all they are doing is to keep a manufacturing unit running since last 2014.

India is an extremely competitive market on price and I am tired of waiting for Apple to price their low end devices well.

SE needs a better, modern design. Be bold and make one custom for smaller devices. Or stay lazy and make iPhone 12 mini your new SE. Or if that’s too premium, make iPhone 11 the new SE. But kill those bezels already.

And 64GB? Still. Seriously?

Seriously Samsung, do you want me to still “pre-book” S22 — one you launched on 9th February — for a delivery in April first week? How do you always find new ways to botch up launches?

Google is shutting down FLoC. Or so we are made to believe. Not surprising at all. This reminds me of the short story that I had posted when Google was trying to make FLoC happen.

After a welcome phase of independence from my smartphone, I am back to fidgeting unnecessarily with the device. I keep it close to me when I shouldn’t. Notifications have started pestering me again. They hack my focus away. I know the reason, I have given up on my resolve to not hand over the control. It didn’t happen instantaneously. It happened gradually, over time. Now I feel the burning sensation like a slowly boiling frog.

There was a time when I used to go to any extends to stay away from the device. Keep it in the next room. No apps. No notifications. Never next to the bed. YouTube disabled. And on and on. Eventually, every time I picked it, a bulb lighted in my brain reminding me to not surrender.

And the pesky device conquered those defences one by one, without me realising. It started with a few apps. Then their notifications. Then a need to watch and share a YouTube video from the device. Before I realised, I was wishing good night to my phone lying in the bed.

Today, I was on my computer, the powerful personal computer which can cater to all my commands. But I reached out, as if out of habit, to the smartphone just to peek at those apps, the web versions of which I had just visited. I knew I was sick again.

My smartphone has become the most personal thing I own, but also the one I need to frequently stay away the farthest from.

I use Google Photos as the store and thought that’s the only cross-platform option. I realized today that SmugMug can import the photos from Google Photos. Nice! Chances of me considering the service increases many fold. Now to evaluate the other parameters, mainly the privacy.

I call things that I can’t put any name to as “meta”. I already have too many posts that are categorised as #meta. They have nothing to do with Facebook.

Here’s how Meta is defined – all so apt for what Facebook is going for in varying degree.

“showing or suggesting an explicit awareness of itself or oneself as a member of its category” - Lol! A good joke

“cleverly self-referential” - a lot less clever, a lot more self-referential

“concerning or providing information about members of its own category” - Information-shinformation, bruhh!

So, what is it. Facebook has gone Meta? Meta has engulfed Facebook? Or Facebook is Meta now?

The new name for Facebook is as vague as the future they plan with it.