Paris Marx
@parismarx.bsky.social
i criticize the tech industry
šļø @techwontsave.us
š¬ https://disconnect.blog
š https://roadtonowherebook.com
pretty disappointing they havenāt been able to keep up the quality on halo, kind of tarnishing its IP value. i havenāt watched the show, but heard that wasnāt great either.
Xbox is losing the console war to Playstation, so it planned to blow up that paradigm by moving everything to subscription services.
But its plan to release an initial four exclusive games on other consoles is an admission the Game Pass strategy failed. Itās pivoting to keep Microsoft happy.
Microsoftās Xbox dilemma
A new strategy is angering fans as Xbox loses the console war and Game Pass fails to take off
disconnect.blogGreat to chat with Zachary about the misconceptions about what data actually shows us and why we need to be seriously thinking about what a decomputerized society could look like.
User interfaces donāt just make tech products usable; they make us see ourselves and the world in a different way.
This week Zachary Kaiser joins @parismarx.bsky.social to discuss how the data our tech collects is not an accurate reflection of the world.
Full ep: techwontsave.us/episode/207_...
Months after its release, Tesla owners are reporting their Cybertrucks are already rusting from being in the rain.
In typical Tesla bro fashion, some are even trying to convince themselves their rusting vehicles are good actually. š«
futurism.com/cybertruck-o...
āThe torching of the Waymo car may well prove to be a turning point.ā
@bcmerchant.bsky.social really nails it in this piece. The torched Waymo isnāt an isolated incident; itās yet another example of how much people are fed up with our tech overlords.
Torching the Google car: Why the growing revolt against big tech just escalated
If Silicon Valley doesn't start listening, the torched Waymo car will merely be the beginning.
www.bloodinthemachine.comApple fans are reporting headaches and burst blood vessels as they bring back the Vision Pro before their 14-day return window closes.
Apple fans are starting to return their Vision Pros
That 14-day return window is fast approaching.
www.theverge.com
Uber says it finally made an annual profit after 15 years, but who paid the price?
The company fired 6,700 workers, hiked fares for customers, and squeezed drivers even harder. Now the stock is up and investors will get a $7 billion share buyback. It turns your stomach.
The high cost of Uberās small profit
Workers and customers get squeezed so investors can make off like bandits
disconnect.bloglinkedin have given me my account back, but refuse to say why they took it offline in the first place. oh well, at least you can āconnectā with me over there if you want to š¤·
linkedin appears to have banned me for no apparent reason. i didnāt even get an email to explain why and canāt seem to contact support without logging in, which i canāt seem to do. if i know anyone with connections to linkedin, let me know!
ChatGPT does not have āa memory.ā It does not ārememberā anything. OpenAI is just storing data about you and your engagement with its product.
Iām begging the media to stop repeating tech companiesā misleading framings of their products.
i just need a cool bsky domain like yours and weāre all set š
āUberās margins fattened as competitors fell by the wayside and the company ground down costs.ā
Those ācostsā are driver wages. Uberās shifted billions from drivers to corporate coffers and that will now fund a big share buyback and potentially a divided.
Uber records first annual profit as market value approaches $150bn
Rides, deliveries and ads increase as company celebrates āinflection pointā
www.ft.comcount me in for twisters. it might be a cash grab, but iām ready to be terrified by big tornadoes again.
Our tech overlords tell us the AIs could enslave us, but theyāre the ones serving up the world to computers on a silver platter and dreaming of becoming computers themselves then building them throughout the galaxy. Theyāre the real risk to humanity.
disconnect.blog/roundup-feed...
Our tech overlords tell us the AIs could enslave us, but theyāre the ones serving up the world to computers on a silver platter and dreaming of becoming computers themselves them building them throughout the galaxy. Theyāre the real risk to humanity.
disconnect.blog/roundup-feed...
In the Disconnect Roundup, I explain the threat isnāt superintelligent AI but the CEOs who believe in it and are feeding the world to computers. Plus, recommended reads, labor updates, and other tech news!
Roundup: Feeding the world to computers
Read to the end for a photo of the only kind of Waymo vehicle I approve of
disconnect.blogāIn 2024, calling your game ālive serviceā might as well be tantamount to telling players it's going to creep into their house at night and kill their dog.ā
The "live service" model is all played out | Opinion
We all have a pretty intuitive understanding of the anatomy of a trend in game design. A very successful title is folloā¦
www.gamesindustry.bizanyway, iāve found somewhere quiet where i can write my next book
the one good thing you can saying about the hobbit trilogy of films is it gave them a reason to rebuild the hobbiton movie set. wonderful evening of partying and feasting!
Dara Khosrowshahi: the shameless executive fighting the rights of Uber workers around the world to make sure he can squeeze them to enough to pretend thereās finally a profit after 15 years
the dune 2 footage at the end of the rerelease has me even more excited to see it in a few weeks. maybe weāll even do a livestream? š
linkedin appears to have banned me for no apparent reason. i didnāt even get an email to explain why and canāt seem to contact support without logging in, which i canāt seem to do. if i know anyone with connections to linkedin, let me know!
The AI boom requires massive data centers that consume enormous amounts of water and energy.
Tech CEOs have plans for hundreds more hyperscale facilities in the coming years, but activists around the world are fighting back and forcing us to ask who really benefits from Silicon Valleyās future.
AI is fueling a data center boom. It must be stopped.
Silicon Valley believes more computation is essential for progress. But they ignore the resource burden and donāt care if the benefits materialize.
disconnect.blog
Elon Musk āPounds the Tableā When Facts Are Against Him, US Labor Watchdog Says
Elon Musk just āpounds the tableā in his escalating legal battle with the US labor board over his aerospace company SpaceX because he lacks a cogent argument, its top prosecutor said Wednesday.
www.bloomberg.comElon Musk throws bigger tantrums than Boss Baby, says NLRB general counsel
Governments and CEOs tell us not to worry about rising emissions because new technologies will fix it.
On February 18, Iāll be in Auckland to explain why tech wonāt save us from the climate crisis. Find out more from Tohatoha: www.tohatoha.org.nz/2024/02/even...
The tech industry claims itās all about empowerment and innovation, but it relies on governments gutting the public sector to enrich private companies. @nastasiahadjadji.bsky.social told me all about the consequences of that in France.
In 2017, Emmanuel Macron became president of France with the promise to make it a āStart-Up Nation.ā
@nastasiahadjadji.bsky.social joins @parismarx.bsky.social to discuss how that pledge set the stage for a neoliberal assault on the public sector.
Full episode: techwontsave.us/episode/206_...
Tomorrow evening Iāll be chatting with the Wellington Socialist Society about the harmful ideologies of the tech elite. Donāt miss it!
More info here: www.socialistsocieties.org.nz/aec_events/o...
Tech giants are building huge data centers around the world that require a ton of water and energy. The AI boom will only accelerate it, but local opposition is growing.
I spoke to @slehuede.bsky.social about a group in Chile that fought a Google data center and why techās plans must be challenged.
How to stop a data center
An interview with SebastiƔn LehuedƩ about a community in Chile that blocked Google
disconnect.blogIn this weekās Disconnect Roundup, the reasons to oppose the Vision Pro are already accumulating and itās not Appleās only problem. Plus, recommended reads, labor updates, and other news you might have missed!
Roundup: The trouble facing Apple
Read to the end for a meme about Vision Pro and the metaverse
disconnect.blogyeah, i agree. i think itās both. max degrading hbo, and apple being able to spend whatever it wants to bring over that talent
āNo amount of criticism or public indifference will stop tech companies from trying to get us opt into their isolating technology, into their enclosure, where they can not only capture more of our biometric gestures ā¦ but can fully mediate reality to us.ā ā @robhorning.bsky.social
Looking away
The first reviews are in on Appleās Vision Pro. Does it earn a thumbās up? Is it an 8.7? Will it be a hit? How many units have sold? Is it trending? It would be pointless for me to pretend to neut...
robhorning.substack.comincredible how far apple tv+ has come that it can get headlines like this now
Iām in Christchurch, NZ this evening to chat about the tech industry and the dangerous ideas of its billionaires with the Canterbury Socialist Society. Be sure to join us!
More info here: www.facebook.com/events/34175...
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You wonāt just be supporting the work that goes into making it; youāll also get weekly roundups, reading lists, commenting rights, and more. Claim it now!
Disconnect
Tech critic Paris Marx provides the critical take on Silicon Valley youāve been missing
disconnect.blog
Appleās Vision Pro is a visionless product that only exists to placate investors and try to show the company can still innovate under Tim Cook.
The headset demonstrates just how much Apple lost its way after a decade of putting the share price above everything else.
I wrote about it in Disconnect:
Appleās Vision Pro lacks any real vision
The companyās headset exists to placate investors, not serve usersā needs
disconnect.blogthey finally got tim cook to stick a headset on his face and it looks ridiculous
With the new wave of journalist layoffs weāve been seeing in recent weeks, I thought it was time to discuss the real structural problems in news media.
Victor Pickard makes it clear: the platforms arenāt our friends, but neither is the commercial model so much news media relies on.
The news media is in crisis, but is the internet the root of the problem?
Victor Pickard joins @parismarx.bsky.social to discuss how the commercial model so much media relies on is failing journalists and the public, and just giving them platform money wonāt fix it.
techwontsave.us/episode/205_...
company sued over sexual harassment and creating a work environment so hostile to black workers it was nicknamed āthe plantationā says actually the minorities are the problem
Tesla Drops Minority-Worker Language After Muskās Rants Over Diversity Initiatives
Tesla Inc. removed language about minority workers and supporting employee resource groups from one of its regulatory filings after Chief Executive Officer Elon Muskās recent comments criticizing di...
www.bloomberg.comIn this weekās Disconnect Roundup, I dig into the scandal around the AI-generated explicit images circulating of Taylor Swift and what action might come of it. Plus, a bunch of recommended reads, labor updates, and other news you might have missed!
Roundup: Can Taylor Swift stop AI-generated abuse?
Read to the end for some anti-computer vibes in an old video game
disconnect.blogGreat profile of billionaire Reed Hastings by Julia Black. After leaving Netflix, heās now obsessed with a ski resort, pushing decades-old narratives about internet access solving social problems in Africa, and further privatizing US education.
The Power and The Powder: Inside Reed Hastingsā Life After Netflix
Up nearly 9,000 feet in the Utah sky, the yurt-shaped lodge atop Powder Mountain offered an expansive vista when I arrived in mid-January, showing dozens of icy peaks stretching across four states. A ...
www.theinformation.com
Tesla says itās going to start building a new model in 2025, but thatās only to distract from how the next year or so looks dreadful for the company.
As it faces growing scandals and increased competition, itās not clear Elon Musk can guide it through the challenging times ahead.
Tesla's in serious trouble
Not even plans for a new car in 2025 can distract from the EV maker's poor future prospects
disconnect.blogThis was a fun episode with @ericsilver.bsky.social! Given listeners are tuning into this podcast regularly, I thought they might be interested in learning more about the podcast industry and how Spotify in particular was really out to absorb it into its app. Luckily, they havenāt succeeded.
Spotify spent big to try to take over podcasting. Now itās shutting down shows and laying off workers.
@ericsilver.bsky.social joins @parismarx.bsky.social to discuss Spotifyās plan to enclose podcasts so it could get more data and diversify away from music.
techwontsave.us/episode/204_...
