spheric

The biggest issue right now is the distribution of subscription fees. 

Currently, everyone's fees are thrown in a pot and distributed according to the total number of streams. 

This is somewhere between problematic and catastrophic. 

1.) it opens the floodgates for manipulation. Bot farms streaming hundreds of thousands of instances generate real money, and take it away from all the rest of us. 

2.) it ensures that only the major players get any sort of meaningful revenue. 

What we need is a model where each user's subscription fee is allocated to the artists THAT USER listens to. 

A kid who pays a $12 subscription fee, but only listens to his three favourite underground bands, sees all his money goes to Drake and Taylor Swift. 

That is not okay, and it makes work impossible for a whole range of indie artists who used to sell just enough records to their loyal fanbase to break even. 

Daily Star? 

Xed said:

DAalseth said:

Xed said:

This individual isn't mentally sounds and needs a conservatorship.

Reminds me of Howard Hughes in the last few years. Mad as a hatter, but able to afford enough attorneys and toadies to cover over his behaviour and to allow him to not get the mental help he desperately needs. I suspect that West will end up the same way Hughes did. 

I agree with Trevor Noah on this. We can laugh, but at the core this is someone with mental health issues getting a platform instead of the help they need, which is unfortunate.

https://www.tiktok.com/@thedailyshow/video/7156940792953654570

I love this so much. 

danvm said:

dewme said:

danox said:

dewme said:

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I would attribute some of the flattening of iPad demand to be the result of iPhones getting increasingly larger. When the iPad was first introduced the iPhone 4 and then 4s were diminutive compared to the first generation iPad. A Plus sized or Max sized iPhone can legitimately fill in as sub-mini or mini tablet in a pinch, and especially when equipped with plenty of storage. I have no problem reading an ebook or PDF on a Max size iPhone, whereas doing so on a iPhone 4/4s would be a constant source of eyestrain. 

iPad’s still need better file management, it still is not as good as it should be, all pre 2000 desktop computers are still better. Or maybe it’s the flat U.I. Scheme? 

As far as iPad evolution is concerned, I’m totally cool with Apple not falling into the lazy trap of turning the iPad into simply another form factor of the Mac, like Microsoft has done with the Surface. For all of the whining I see about the iPad software being insufficient for its hardware, I’ve yet to see an example of what the software would look and work like that don’t regress to “just make it work like it does on the Mac.” I’m holding out hope that Apple looks forward and finds a new and better direction for what an operating system and user experience should deliver on a tablet device without looking backward to legacy ways of doing things on devices that weren’t iPads. 

IMO, Apple did worse than MS by making the iPad Pro a limited Surface Pro.  The multitasking and external monitor support is limited, mobile apps forced in desktop mode and bad file management are some examples of a bad experience you have trying to use an iPad as a laptop.  MS did the right thing by not limiting what the Surface Pro can do when you attach a keyboard.

Apple's in a weird spot, because the whole point of iPad was to eliminate the complexity of traditional computers, creating a safe and powerful "home computer" for ordinary people (specifically NOT the cousin who keeps getting asked by his relatives to take a look at/set up their computer). Back to what the Mac was intended to be initially, relatively speaking. 

So adding all this extra stuff — multiple monitors, multitasking interface, file management — comes at the price of adding back that complexity.
It needs to be done in a manner that remains invisible to the user who has no desire to go deep, but is still discoverable for those that do. 
That's a super hard tightrope walk. 

Since you mention it: file management on iPad has improved by leaps and bounds in the past few years, and I really hate it when mobile apps designed for smartphones are blown up to 10 inches, giving you both an annoyingly huge interface and annoyingly little content. 

I have a 10" screen. Give me desktop content! (But make sure it doesn't have mouseover menus and other crap like that.)

techconc said:

hmlongco said:

From my perspective, the primary reason that iPad sales are down is that once you have an iPad you're good for quite a few years. The things last forever and that's not much a new model can do that an earlier version can not.

So most people who think they need one, or have a use case for one, already have one and won't need another one for a long, long time.

I also think the M1/M2 Air has moved into the iPad's space as well. Small, lightweight, powerful, a long battery life... and the ability to run many iPad apps.

Agreed.  iPads are great and basically maintenance free.  They seem to last forever.  Honestly, of all 3 device categories (iPhone, iPad and Mac), I enjoy the iPad the most.  It's perfect for media consumption and even does well at gaming.  The iPad is a great class of device.  There are those who "get it" and those who don't. 

Yup. My 2017 iPad Pro got bent and cracked in a bag a few weeks ago, and I’ve been using the 2014 iPad Air 2 as backup until it gets replaced. It’s a little sluggish occasionally, and the battery is slightly wonky, but it works just fine.