If you end your review with a question mark, I do not think you are doing your job well. Review is supposed to be objective, fact based. You like some things, you may not like few others. Sure, there is a scope for personal/subjective judgement. But it can’t be open ended.
Thoughts
I am missing out on too many wonderful posts on m.b written while I was asleep. RSS won’t help, neither will Micro.threads if conversation dies down before am awake. It’s time to hit the board again, need a relook at how this can be addressed.
I don’t understand Google’s call screening feature. How does it solve the spam calls problem? Don’t I have to be equally attentive when the call arrives? I don’t think the problem is I have to receive the call, problem is I get the call in the first place. Some more thoughts.
I finally watched Justice League and I am left with a strange feeling. Sure, the movie is a drag, but it’s a lot better than recent attempts from DC. A lot less gloomy, peppered with few light moments. Never thought I would rate a DC movie same as a Marvel (latest Avenger) one.
Watching the hands-on videos of pixel Slate has been a very strange experience. Every frame suggests how laggy the ChromeOS platform is — but I have hardly seen anyone mention that. Is it not apparent while using it in actual? All impressions have been overtly positive.
I am loving this new addition to the Discover tab - now I can browse all the emojitags right here. How did I miss this update? Kudos @manton for making the m.b webapp better every day.
Thoughts on Google’s Call Screening feature
I don’t understand Google’s call screening feature. How does it solve the spam calls problem? Don’t I have to be equally attentive when the call arrives? I don’t think the problem is I have to receive the call, problem is I get the call in the first place.
Rather I am more distracted reading transcripts and making decisions. It looks to be targeted at the automated machine-driven calls. Human spammers/scammers will still have to be handled.
In most cases, the spam calls I get start with a person, a human, asking if it indeed is me. Then goes on to specify the call is about some information related to my account or a service I am using. And then comes the “offer for you” part. I tend to disconnect right at first step when someone wants to know if me is indeed me.
What’s to say the call screening will transcribe something like “This is xyz from abc bank and this is a service information call.”?
Anyway, no doubt Google has a great technology at its hands and the showcase via this use case sounds a lot coherent than the general duplex demo we saw during I/O. I am just perplexed how everyone seems to be already sold that this solves the problem which it isn’t even targeting.
Update: The post isn’t intended to be judgemental of the feature, rather it was, to be frank, in response to the constant perspective of “this is so useful, I need it now” from all around. But I could hardly understand why. John Gruber’s this comment finally triggered this.
man oh man, do I want that feature (Call Screening) on iOS.
Even Sarah Perez described the problem with scam calls succinctly in her opinion piece at TechCrunch.
Nearly half of all cellphone calls next year will be from scammers. And their tactics have gotten much worse in recent months.
They now often trick people by claiming to be the IRS, a bank, government representatives, and more. They pretend you’re in some sort of legal trouble. They say someone has stolen your bank card. They claim you owe taxes. Plus, they often use phone number spoofing tricks to make their calls appear local in order to get recipients to pick up.
I get it, it’s a problem. But Call Screening solves it how? I could not find the answer to that question in the whole post.
So Samsung has launched a quad camera smartphone in Galaxy A9? This madness needs to stop - these devices may be becoming smarter by day, we humans are running opposite fast on that scale. This is some crazy, mindless, shit-sticking race in play.
I have realised that I am being a lot more “social” on web these days. And I think m.b and efforts I put to enable the IndieWeb principles on my blog played a big role, to just open my mind to express more. I put down some of my thoughts.
Had a brilliant ambience at the bistro we visited today. Perfect for a chatty evening with family.
Watching the #MadeByGoogle event live today would be like going to that one movie which you’ve discussed and debated and heard narration for from many folks, those you know and those you don’t. It’d be a real event if Google manages to surprise anyone. Would still watch though.
Just came across Mixnode which as per the folks behind “turns the web into a giant database”. So basically you can fire SQL-like queries to fetch URLs as response. Man, I’ve so many questions - mainly how the bloody hell will it scale. But I guess I will hold the judgement back.
Another of those articles that triggers a heated debate on how and when to adopt a microservices-driven architecture. It’s one of those topics that is better not discussed in generic terms, but is way too often.
I hate shopping - especially shopping for clothes. Especially clothing for myself. I would argue so much mental energy in “wasted” on making decisions for clothes.
This story from John C Dvorak is indeed a cautionary tale - for both writers with publishers and the readers of the large publications. Especially this “Native advertising is a most insidious concept and should be rejected by every publisher.”
Best thing I like about Castro is how it handles chapters. It lists down all the chapters (with easy access to sponsors links), how much time each chapter runs for and also let’s you select which chapters you are interested in. Such a well thought out app this.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Such a wonderful read. I wonder how the hell have I not yet read this a hundred times. King teaches as he shares fascinating tidbits from his life. There’s so much to learn, about him and mainly about writing. About being honest.
There is a huge deviation in battery performance on Android devices with and without data connection on. In a way tells you how lenient the platform is in terms of pinging back home. This difference is observed even when the devices are on standby. Terrible wastage of resources.
Every time I hear someone say “no normal person gives a damn about privacy”, I cringe out of helplessness. No one cares about their data is such an insular view. Tell them what that data actually is, inform them what they are losing and then see them make an informed decision.
The best thing about Siri Shortcuts is that it can be triggered via text - swipe-down and search. I am always anxious using voice assitants in pubic - I don’t want to broadcast what I am doing on my phone. Though I still can’t “chat” with Siri, this is a good start.
Sometimes you behave with others, especially your close ones, in a way that you know just isn’t right. And it is times like these that I find are best spent alone. I distract my mind, not letting it wander. I give it what it likes. And then more often than not do I think clear.
I was a guest today in the pretend home of my daughter. She invited me to her pretend kitchen to make a pretend roll from a piece of napkin which I wasn’t prepared enough to do. I told her so to which her only response was “at least try dad before giving up”. Boy, kids are smart.
I‘ve decided to get inspired by my dad and strictly follow a daily routine - doesn’t matter then if I get called a bore. I believe it would be worth it if it lends some time to procrastinate at that odd moment and if am a tad more satisfied. The current lifestyle isn’t healthy.