TwinIon

Maybe a tangent, but this is another reason that Elon "open sourcing" the Twitter algorithm is so bogus. The machine learning algorithms that process all this stuff are basically black boxes even to those that built them.

From the article: Honestly, the biggest problems I see here is the system for these requests relies on a simple email, and apparently law enforcement emails aren't well secured. If Google gets a request from a legit law enforcement email address, I don't blame them if they comply. If the system was better set up and required some sort of additional call back (like suggested in the article), that would be a start. As would requiring two factor auth and other security measures for all .gov emails.

Thanks for finding that. I couldn't quickly figure out how many shows we're talking about here, but the number is probably less than 100 if we're only talking US TV. So the difference between Netflix and Disney / Warner is only maybe two shows. This shows that cancellation rates for new shows is lower than it used to be, but still only about half of new network TV shows get a second season. It also shows how much that number changes from year to year, and I'd guess it varies a lot between producers as well. While I remain dubious as to the proposition that Netflix is much worse at canceling promising shows than anyone else, what I feel very confident they're worse at is advertising their content. Netflix seems to expect the recommendation algorithm to surface new things, and if a show doesn't take off, there's not much to be done. How much of network TV commercial time is advertising other shows on their network? It's probably a reasonable amount, and Netflix just doesn't have that. It's been discussed earlier in the thread, but their unwillingness to release things weekly also changes how people talk about shows and how long they live in the zeitgeist. Even Apple more aggressively advertises their other shows when you want to watch something. There are other factors as well, but it boils down to shows not getting the same exposure on Netflix that they may have had elsewhere, and that has probably killed a number of shows early. I think the other thing that's changed a lot over time is that the existence of such strong competition has meant that Netflix doesn't have nearly the monopoly on weird TV they used to. Early on I'd look at shows that took huge risks like Lady Dynamite or Master of None or Sense8 and think that these are shows that wouldn't make it on TV normally, but they exist because Netflix was willing to take risks and needed content. Now the streaming wars have heated up so much that every viable show can find a home somewhere, but Netflix is also increasingly risk adverse.

I feel like I've seen a lot of talk about shows getting canned by Netflix, but are they really any worse than anyone else? When I look through the list of canceled Netflix shows, most of the shows I actually watched and liked got more than one season, and they're the kind of shows that wouldn't have existed pre-Netflix. Shows like Sense8, Lady Dynamite, and American Vandal. I'll concede that of the 71 shows listed at that link, 43 of them only got one season, but of those the only two I watched were Tuca & Bertie and Cowboy Bebop, and only the former deserved more (which it ended up getting from Cartoon Network). Maybe it's just because of the shows that I actually watch on Netflix, but my overall impression is that they generally give shows more time than I'd have expected.

I hardly ever play games on my phone or tablet, so a PC release makes me much more interested in Immortal. If it's a good game, I can see myself playing primarily on my PC, but also enjoying it on my iPad occasionally.

I certainly understand people who can't separate art from artist at all, but that's not me. I don't generally think about the actors or directors while I'm watching something.

I haven't looked a the numbers to say if Netflix was overvalued and the market is just correcting or if the market is really overreacting to this news, but overall I think people are overreacting to this news. Netflix changed the game, but it's been obvious for a long time now that this was not a winner take all scenario. The point we're at now is exactly what everyone expected a decade ago when Netflix started making their own content. Everyone knew that eventually basically every content creator would eventually make their own Netflix, and now not only has that happened, but we've also seen new competitors like Apple and Amazon. I think Netflix has done a pretty decent job of building up their content portfolio as quickly as possible, so I think they'll be fine. Yeah, they're not as good at making watercooler shows as HBO and they're no Disney when it comes to making movies, but I think they bought themselves more time to get there than expected.

I actually believe that going private is probably the right move for Twitter, even if Elon is not the guy I'd want in charge of it. I've said this before, but I think the problem with Twitter is that the thing that it's good at is not the thing that makes it money. As a broadcast platform, I think Twitter is pretty good. I follow a lot of journalists, some domain experts, and some institutions (government entities, companies, etc.), and it works well as a way for those high profile types to share official communications in addition to other thoughts. I think my twitter feed is a decent source of news I'm interested in, but I don't really interact with anyone on there. I don't talk to friends on the platform or really post much at all. I'm a heavy user that contributes basically nothing, and that limits what info Twitter can get about me. I read through Twitter far more often now than I ever did with Facebook, but while I used Facebook there's no doubt they knew more about me. It's also a terrible place to search for something, even tweets that were on your own feed, which again limits what they end up knowing about me. The usage that I think twitter is best suited for doesn't result in the extraordinary growth most social networks are searching for, nor does it result in Twitter becoming an ideal advertising provider. So much of Twitter's efforts seem focused on promoting more of the facebook style peer-to-peer social networking, because that's where the money is, but it's not what Twitter is good at. Elon's not the guy to fix this kind of stuff, but a private Twitter does have potential. If they don't have to focus so much on the growth metrics that the market is looking for and can instead focus on improving what the platform is actually good at, maybe it can become a better product.

None of this shocks me. I suspect there's a certain amount of COD fatigue, and Blizzard hasn't put out anything new for quite a while. I haven't been part of the COD audience for years, but I don't really know what they could do to reverse this trend. Blizzard just needs to release new stuff to get their numbers back up. Immortal will help, though who knows how much effect it'll have on the long term.

I agree. Looking at their most recent earnings report, and it's clear that Twitter doesn't even consistently make money. It's also not as if this is early Facebook or Amazon where they could be making more money if they just decide to. This is a social network that, despite its prominence in news media, I don't believe has ever really focused itself into what is it actually good at.

Personally, I don't see the big deal even if Elon ends up owning Twitter. It's not like Jack was some kind of great billionaire or CEO that we should all trust and like. I'm fine with moderating posts that are just tweets, especially as the OP in a thread. As replies, I expect that tweets will still have utility for either jokes or just a reporters' take on a situation.

I don't really have a problem with this, but I'm never eager to criminalize even terrible speech. Something I would like to see is making things like Holocaust denial unacceptable for public servants. Make it easier to expel anyone from police officers to congress people. Maybe that's a terrible idea I haven't thought through at all, but in an era of extreme gerrymandering and polarization, it sure would be nice if those in charge were held to a higher standard.

10 cents a gallon and it makes mileage worse and is worse for the environment? What a terrible idea.

In any case, it seems that the reception was good enough that we're getting more of the show. Apple seems to still value prestige buzz over viewership for the time being. I just hope we don't have a Barry like wait in between seasons.

Sony left. Yes, the Vita was a failure, but they absolutely could have continued if they wanted to. It's not like they failed so badly that they could never have recovered. During most of the Vita's lifespan, Sony was again the dominant player in the console hardware space. Also, they remain Sony, a multinational conglomerate that could easily decide to throw significant resources at a product space should they wish to without risking the future of the company. The failure that Nintendo had with the WiiU was so much worse than what Sony had with the Vita, but they continued on just fine, and all their money comes from games. The failure of the Vita coincided with the increasing ubiquity of smartphones and Nintendo's refocused efforts in portables, leaving Sony a diminished opportunity in the portable market. Sony could easily have weathered more than one Vita level failure in the portable space if they thought that's where the opportunity was, but I think they were smart not to chase it. If you want an example of a big company really failing in a market so completely that they had no real choice but to leave, look at Microsoft and smartphones.

I grew up with pets. We always had multiple dogs, some birds, and some fish. My folks still have some dogs and a couple birds, but I haven't had any pets of my own since I moved out. Wife and I both like animals, but we value our autonomy and appreciate the lack of responsibility enough that we've never been particularly close to getting any of our own.

My guess is that it's the fiduciary responsibilities more than the ownership cap that scared Elon off. I don't think he really wants to own Twitter, but he certainly doesn't want to have even more limits on what he can say about the company.

The last episode is really good. I hope the wait for season 2 isn't too long. Spoilers.

It's a lengthy story, but for me it boils down to "obvious scam turns out to be incompetent scam." Worldcoin Promised Free Crypto If They Scanned Their Eyeballs With “The Orb.” Now They Feel Robbed. My favorite part is that some guys figured out that the orb couldn't detect duplicates, so they scanned in all their friends repeatedly to meet their quota. Seems pretty damning when that's the entire point of the retinal scanning in the first place. It also calls into question the value of all the scans they've taken. The other thing is that shocked me is that they only have 30 orbs operating, which seems like a terribly small amount.

I don't think they've left the market so much as they've refined their niche within it such that they compete less directly.

Somehow I feel like these are games best left to my memories.

It'll be fun to see what people come up with before we actually start seeing games using UE5.

Looks like I read the article incorrectly. This initial release of Direct Storage continues to use the CPU for decompression, but it still reduces CPU overhead. It's future releases that will allow for GPU decompression.

I'm not surprised at all given how little of the game they've shown.