When Intel announced it was discontinuing its diminutive NUC PCs last week, my first thought was why hadn’t Intel made this an open design spec years ago. Well it looks like they are doing just that. It’s giving Asus a non-exclusive license on its designs, opening the door for other firms to jump on board.
Intel doesn’t make money on PCs, its a chip company to the bone. It never made any sense why they made the NUC lineup, other than to show OEMs what was possible with its silicon in a very small form factor. Don’t get me wrong, Intel has made some cool NUC units over the years. They had some potential as console-sized gaming PCs, especially the AMD graphics collab with its Hades Canyon version.
When I worked for Gestalt IT, my boss loved to run our office infrastructure off of these little NUCs. They were quiet, reasonably powerful, and surprisingly configurable. Plus if you waited a few chip generations, the price was right. I also know they’ve found a niche in the HTPC market, and just people like the form factor. There’s already a flourishing tiny-PC market out there, but hopefully we’ll see a few OEMs keep the NUC designs alive.
Wow, a man working for a company that had it’s revenue slashed by an Apple privacy change thinks that the Apple OS is worse. Not that this isn’t a perfectly valid take, just love the idea this isn’t the default company line from Meta these days.
As mentioned, Dolittle, which tells the story of a Welsh veterinarian with the ability to communicate with animals, failed to meet expectations among critics and at the box office. The film, which also stars Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen, and Emma Thompson, currently holds a 14% critics' approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned $77 million at the domestic box office, falling short of its overall budget.
It’s not often you see product reviews or previews where the excitement for the product is palpable. But Sean Hollister seems almost giddy in his first look at the Framework 16, and I don’t blame him:
I don’t trust any company — no ethical journalist should. This is a pricey machine that could let you down. But I think Framework is one of the only companies, maybe the only one, that could get this right. I sincerely hope Patel and his team do, because it’s the kind of computer I’d like to own.
For VanMoof owners, the company says its e-bikes “will remain functional and rideable, as we aim to keep our app and servers online and aim to secure the ongoing services for the future.” It also confirms that all repair work and deliveries of parts is currently stopped, and that repaired and un-repaired e-bikes at shops in the Netherlands will eventually be made available for riders to pick up.
One of the constant criticisms of VanMoof’s bikes was its proprietary parts supply chain. Now bike owners are locked out of repair parts, and hoping that the company can keep its “aim” of keeping its servers online. While I think a sale is likely given their considerable customer base, it also likely means a buyer would have to convert those customers into revenue, ie a subscription for previously free services. Would suck for customers but I guess better than losing access to their bike.
The recent trend to make all software a subscription is irksome. I am sympathetic to the fact that this does make software more immediate accessible. I well remember my college days where Adobe’s Creative Suite was priced well out of reach. At that time, I would have welcomed a Creative Cloud subscription option. But the industry seems increasingly bent on making these the mandatory model.
One piece of software I use all the time seems to split the difference nicely. I use VueScan from Hamrick Software for scanning film. For a scanner, I use a Pacific Image PrimeFilm XA, and while it comes with a license for a free Silverfast scanning suite, my shift to Apple Silicon meant I needed to pay for a newer version. VueScan essentially provides third-party scanning suite and drivers for a while variety of scanners, many of them out of support. So if nothing else, I like supporting a company helping to keep these old machines out of a landfill.
In terms of obtaining the software, VueScan has a sweet spot. You can either buy the software outright, with a guarantee of a year of software updates and perpetual usage. Or you can pay an ongoing subscription. There’s also a free trial that watermarks all your scans. For an old scanner like this, I like that I can support this company, but I’m not on the hook for bug fixes for something that I likely don’t need. But in the event I run into compatibility issues with a new machine down the line, likely I can pay for a newer version of VueScan that will work.
VueScan isn’t perfect. I wish they didn’t put film scanner functionality behind their most expensive licensing tiers (the lower tiers are more designed for old flatbeds). Its UI is Audacity-esque. But given the fairly niche market for this, I don’t blame them. I’m at the age where I appreciate the economies of software development. The ecosystem works only if devs are fairly paid for their work. But that also doesn’t mean I want to have to constantly pay to keep any software functionality. VueScan seems like a good model to give users meaningful choices.
Purely anecdotal but I asked my two teenage nephews about if they tried Threads. Neither had heard of it and after I explained it kind of laughed at the idea of using Twitter.
I don’t need a phone to be exciting. I use an iPhone because it’s the Toyota Camry of phones. But foldables are getting to the point where they look freaking nice, sort of practical, and only at a slight price premium. I think seeing the Honor Magic V2 put me over.
“This means that creators can get a share in ad revenue starting in the replies to their posts,” a Twitter help article published today reads. “This is part of our effort to help people earn a living directly on Twitter.” Musk tweeted today that payouts “will be cumulative from when I first promised to do so in February.”
Not Just Consumption
Twitter came late to this game. YouTube has been doing this for years, TikTok and Snap both run similar programs with short form video. Still at least it beat Instagram to launching something.
But the format of the program is novel. All these other systems focus focus on consumption. Now creators know that engagement leads to better algorithmic visibility, which directly feeds views. But still, the onus for that is on the creator, it’s not baked into the program itself. Twitter is directly saying that mere tweet consumption isn’t enough to monetize. Instead users must literally spur more tweet creation for the program.
A Moderating Influence?
For another company, I might suspect this as a backdoor way to motivate creators to moderate their own comments. After all, if you’re monetizing based on ads run in replies, you’d want to keep those replies brand friendly. Twitter has run fast and loose with moderation since the Musk takeover, so not sure if that’s the case with this program. Still given how drastically the company cut costs, I wouldn’t be surprised if they see it as a potential benefit.
Also this whole system seem to just feed into the most blatant engagement hacking. Looking at Twitter’s Creator Monetization Standards, I don’t see anything in there that would prevent someone from doing legit giveaways of cash to just feed enough comments to qualify for ad-rev share. Good for the creator, but not sure how much value that gives Twitter long term.
Just installed the watchOS beta and I’m shocked how much the Snoopy watch face delights me.
Archive.org is an amazing resource. I recently found a collection of old arcade posters. Included is one for the game Thunder Jaws, an Atari game I’ve never heard of. The poster itself is exceptional:
It includes this amazing copy:
If one Great White lurking in the waters can become a smash hit, imagine the feeding frenzy when you have giant cybernetic sharks!
Just got a notice from Teenage Engineering that they restocked some of their Pocket Operator models, including their chiptune synth, the PO-20 Arcade. I thought they had just stopped production on all by their PO-33, so glad to see fresh stock (even if they are all $100 now).
White Hats Love Them Some Chatbots
An interesting study on how generative AI tools are being used in security research:
Many of the respondents are already using generative AI in their work, including in automating tasks (50%), analyzing data (48%), identifying vulnerabilities (36%), validating findings (35%) and conducting reconnaissance (35%). The report noted a trend of hackers using AI chatbots to help write reports, with the initial text generated by AI “a good jumping off point.”
Interestingly, researchers are doing this with off-the-shelf chatbots, overwhelmingly ChatGPT. What’s interesting is that Microsoft offers its own Security Copilot model for these types of tasks. Obviously the interest in using these tools is outpacing the speed that organizations can validate them (or at least the more specialized ones). Justin Robert Young made this point on Daily Tech News Show this week, even if chatbots aren’t “cleared” for a given use case, people are already using them.
The Threads app is a week old and Meta is still on version 1.0 on iOS. Like I don’t expect feature updates, but on a device used by over 100 million people, I’d expect a bug fix by now. Not sure if that means the team is still fairly small or they are waiting to push out new features.
Since this is a revenue diversification play for Broadcom, its in their interest to not restrict VMware’s software stack. While Broadcom is pervasive across enterprise infrastructure, it would needlessly devalue their VMware assets, which are not operating in a competitive vacuum.
Thus, the EC has made this one of the conditions for approving the deal — Broadcom must provide guaranteed access and interoperability relating to the “APIs, materials, tools, and technical support” that allow rival hardware companies (i.e. Marvell) to leverage VMware’s virtualization software. And on the same terms as Broadcom does.
It’s interesting the tact Broadcom has taken since their bid to acquire Qualcomm fell apart a few years ago. While that fell apart over concerns about Chinese influence, that really had all the trappings of creating a vertical chip monopoly. The Broadcom-VMware deal isn’t done, but getting EU approval means its a lot closer to happening.
I can’t tell you how much you messed up when the open source community is using Oracle as a favorable comparison. Full details on RHEL drama here.
This whole thing has become such a mess that even Oracle, which hasn’t always been seen as a champion of open source and which bases its Oracle Linux on RHEL, is coming out of this looking pretty good.
I love wrestling. I love goofy wrestling. Orange Cassidy is my favorite goofy wrestler. His whole gimmick is that he’s lazy and doesn’t really care. It’s glorious. This was his first match with AEW in 2020. Since then, he’s wrestled more than anyone in the company.
Sometimes the internet can still be fun. Recently I saw a thread going around on Bluesky, people sharing their favorite albums with black and white covers (I first saw Anil Dash share the post, which of course featured this gem by Prince. It’s a completely arbitrary distinction and also insanely fun to think about. Here are the ones I shared:
When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog
I mean we had to start with a Jen’s Lekman album right? This isn’t my favorite Jens album, but every time I revisit it, I’m shocked how well formed his songwriting sensabilities are for a debut release. That’s what was so striking discovering his music in my days at WRUW, he seemed so fully formed as an artist. “Tram No. 7 To Heaven” is kind of the perfect thesis statement for his early career. “Julie,” “You Are The Light,” “Higher Power” were all in the soundtrack to my 20s. (Is this album cover technically sepia? Yes)
Blur The Line
This album had me hooked from the start. “Oh God” is one of those songs that’s just perfect. Evocative and challenging lyrics, a glorious build, a bluesy rhythmic structure. I was onboard for whatever else was in store on this album, and it doesn’t disappoint. There’s something so wonderfully gritty in this album. There isn’t an ounce of romanticism in this alt country classic. Just glorious songs with a hint of twang and the piecing voice of the late Jessi Zazu.
Lost Themes
This album is pure kitsch. Expect a lot of chunky 80s synths, swirling arrangements, and driving dirges. I’m kind of a sucker for soundtracks to nonexistent movies. There’s something about trying to mentally place the music into a scene that adds a fun element to it. Lost Themes is just so darn specific, the perfect accompaniment to some imagined Carpenter gloom.
Tramp
I usually don’t enjoy albums so unblinkingly serious as Tramp. But Sharon Van Etten’s voice just melts me on some of these tracks. It’s not an album I can put on all the time, but when it hits, it hits hard. Her duet with Zach Condon on “We Are Fine” is exceptional.
I’d probably pick different albums on a different day, but no regrets with these picks.
Adding “Snapchat share sheet” to my list of tech tongue twisters.
Anthropic released its Claude 2 chatbot. I asked it to rewrite the US Constitution as a boy band song. It was fun.
We wanna form a more perfect union
Establish justice for all, from sea to shining sea
Make sure everyone can feel free
Provide for defense, for you and for me
Promote the welfare, general, you see
Secure the blessings of sweet, sweet liberty, yeah
For ourselves and our kids to eternity
Baby say you’ll agree and please ratify
This Constitution for you and I
Tech forward e-bike maker VanMoof hits the breaks
VanMoof tried to best the Apple of e-bikes. They were pretty, had a nice minimalist design, and bucked the trend of building a bike on readily available components. They counted on their style and tech stack to stand out. But we’ve seen the e-bike market explode with innovative products across the price spectrum in the last two years. Now it’s reported they don’t have a CEO and are trying to get funding to stay afloat.
VanMoof’s approach has been highly verticalized to date: It has designed the bike itself as well as the integrated app that controls it. It also has eschewed using off-the-shelf components in the building of the bike — a very common aspect of how bikes are made and fixed generally — opting instead to work with suppliers to manufacture custom components.
Ooooo a chart that shows a big drop! I am intrigued.
My problem with it is, the chart shows DNS ranking not traffic. It’s a dramatic drop, but given the modest scale of the y-axis, could be seen as a little misleading. Especially when Cloudflare offers actual traffic numbers. This is what they look like for Twitter over the last six months.
These show a slow decline with a precipitous drop-off in the last week. Which is not great for the company either. It just seemed weird for Prince to specifically reference traffic, but not link back to the figures from his own company that support his statement.
No Dignity in Journalism
I’m assuming Martin Pengelly went to a good school, studied hard, worked his way up through newsrooms to get to be the breaking news editor for The Guardian. Then he found himself writing this:
Twitter owner calls Facebook founder a ‘cuck’ as rancour grows over launch of Threads, a competitor to Musk’s network
Twitter owner Elon Musk has suggested he and Mark Zuckerberg should have “a literal dick-measuring contest” in the latest broadside aimed at his rival billionaire.
In a message inspired by the Meta chief executive’s launch last week of Threads, a Twitter competitor, Musk added a ruler emoji.
Using a slang word for “cuckold”, popular in rightwing circles as a term of derision, he also wrote: “Zuck is a cuck.”
Threads is a legitimately interesting development. Any platform that grows to 100 million users in a week in a gigantic story. But now we get the pabulum always associated with Musk. Somehow this makes him challenging Zuck to a fight quaint in comparison.
Testing out micro.blog. I evidently signed up for it a while ago but never posted anything. Now I have posted something.
It includes this amazing copy:
