ericesque

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ericesque
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  • Bill Gates said Steve Jobs caught Microsoft 'flat-footed' with launch of iTunes Store

    ericesqueericesque
     to make way for the ill-fated Zune Marketplace and other similarly abysmal content delivery products. 
    Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on a minute.  Zune Marketplace was absolutely ill-fated.  But “abysmal content delivery product” is a gross mischaracterization.  By Gen 3 Microsoft, in 2008, had competitive hardware for the day and in most respects better software and services than Apple has in Apple Music today.  

    Sure, Zune had long since been panned by consumer electronics blogs, but gen 3 hardware was legit.  The desktop software would still hold up against Spotify and Apple Music in terms of usability and vastly outclasses either in style.  The music exploration and recommendations were excellent.  I still miss the playback visualizations.  They had social features baked in and had a web music player that was a first class citizen in their ecosystem. You could cast music between devices before the word “casting” had been coined.  Zune Pass gave you access to unlimited streaming of 14 million tracks and let you keep 10 each month.  While Apple was raising digital downloads to $1.29/track, Microsoft was offering discounted annual subscriptions at $149.  It was the equivalent of buying 10 songs on iTunes each month plus $1.75/mo for unlimited streaming.

    Zune lost the battle of mind share, but 13 years later I’m still waiting for someone to step up and revive the golden age of streaming music.




    gregoriusmAlex_VDogpersonFileMakerFeller

  • YouTube TV hikes monthly subscription price to $65

    ericesqueericesque
    lightvox88 said:
    Exactly. It was already more than cable before, and now it's just ridiculous. 30% increase!?! Who would be interested in this? People with money to burn...
    It can depend heavily on what’s available in your area. The ONLY cable option to our home is Comcast. 

    The cheapest package I can seem to get from Comcast is $80 once you add in hidden fees for HD content and local sports broadcast fees. This is literally double their advertised price. 

    YT TV isn’t what any of us hoped Internet TV would be, but it’s still 20% cheaper than Comcast for a significantly better lineup and features that would raise the price of a Comcast package even higher. 
    mtrivisowilliamlondonapplesauce007randominternetperson

  • Facebook CFO says personalized advertising 'under assault' by Apple privacy changes

    ericesqueericesque
    Oh the humanity! Not the personalized ads!  

    Can anyone imagine an Internet where multi billion dollar companies had to provide a product that was compelling enough for users to actually reach into their wallet and pay?  Where sites competed on the merit of their content rather than who’s algorithm and a/b testing has created the quickest dopamine hit? 

    Yes I’ve been watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix. And yes I appreciate the conflict of interest in a video streaming service creating a documentary on the horrors of being addicted to services that compete for your attention. And yes I appreciate the irony of posting all this on an Internet forum with at least some subliminal desire of coming back later to find it got a few likes. 
    command_fAnilu_777cgWerkstrustnoone00christopher126aderuttermariowincoheadfull0winerandominternetpersonwatto_cobra

  • US Army wants Steve Jobs-like iPhone-style design process for next-generation rifles

    ericesqueericesque
    I think Apple has already submitted their design...  🔫
    mwhitebeowulfschmidtStrangeDaysleavingthebiggmobirdAppleExposedcaladanianjony0

  • Twitter's new 2500-word limit won't fix the attention spans it has broken

    ericesqueericesque
    This article is 2494 characters long and has 404 words. 
    Vermelhofastasleepwatto_cobra

  • Spotify rant demands decisive action against Apple

    ericesqueericesque
    I’m old enough to remember when Spotify was an exciting new company using a tech startup approach to make music personal with the best recommendation engine on the market. Now look at them. It’s sad to see how fast a company can lose its way.
    JaiOh81racerhomie3igorskybaconstangwatto_cobrajony0

  • Google CEO 'Lord Farquaad' lambasted for giant pay raise after 12,000 layoffs

    ericesqueericesque
    Is anyone actually running the numbers or just experiencing sticker shock?  The article says he received $200M in stock options every 3 years. Even if you pretend he can leverage all of that stock and walk away with $200M it is only $66M per year. Divide that out across 12,000. You get $5,500. Great! Nobody sees a dollar in their paycheck and Google still owes about $66M just to cover benefits.
    ravnorodom

  • Ad agency zombifies TUAW with AI copy & recycled bylines in stupid SEO play

    ericesqueericesque
    So you could say, scummy ad company attempts to hawk TUAW. 
    timpetusradarthekatwatto_cobra

  • House Judiciary says Apple enjoys monopoly power with App Store

    ericesqueericesque
    Forcing Apple to allow competing stores on iOS is not as terrible as many are making it out to be. 
    I prefer the peace of mind I get from downloading apps from the App Store. If other stores are made available I will simply not download apps from them. If a developer wants to reach me as a user they will need to submit their app to the App Store. 
    elijahgmuthuk_vanalingam

  • WebKit code leaks Apple's next OS names as macOS 12, iOS 15

    ericesqueericesque
    Yes! Finally! I’ve been wondering what would come after 11. I ran out of fingers a couple releases ago so I’ve just been on pins and needles!
    rezwits