August and September are an odd time as there is a big lull in activity, particularly economic activity. I’ve been fortunate to have had several training slots fulfilled that have helped me keep the machine turning, as it were.
This lull has recently started turning around to a much busier outlook over the coming months. I’ve been in the position to turn some work down as I wouldn’t have been able to properly do the work to the high standards I set for myself.
With some luck, I’ll have a steady flow of work for the coming months.
Reading
I finished iRobot as predicted and nearly finished A World Transformed. I have a couple of days coming up where I can spend time reading, so I’m going to put some time towards that. I’d started Walled Culture and Cory Doctorow’s The Internet Con but not quite got fully into them as yet.
I’ll set aside some time to read those over the coming days and weeks.
Of note
I’ve had two interesting observations and thoughts over the last couple of weeks: one about Apple and the other about Microsoft.
With Apple, I’ve started to see a pattern emerge with the way they present products that, at heart, are probably founded on good intention, but in execution, are either excruciatingly out of touch with reality or are so tone deaf that it in itself, distracts from the message. One is the sustainability and carbon-zero initiative. I called it out immediately, not because I’m a specialist or an expert on the matter, but because it is easy to find out with a bit of research. The other is this message that only Apple products can save or improve your lives. It’s BS and always has been. The reality is that for a number of years, Apple has been hitting it out of the park on innovation and usefulness of its products, which is why I have been using them for so long. Lately, the reasons to upgrade are meh at best. And coupled with the fact that they purposely make it more complicated and expensive to repair, it shows me that they no longer have my interests at heart. They have share price and market perception at the forefront of decision-making.
I don’t know if this is the start of the end of Tim Cook, but it does feel like it to me. I’m keeping a keen eye on how things develop.
The second observation was how Microsoft, specifically Satya Nadella, seems to have bet the entire pot on AI. Again, to clarify, they’ve been developing AI for many decades, and they have gotten literally nowhere with it, just like everyone else in the industry. Then ChatGPT came along. Nadella shrewdly moved to cut a deal with Open AI, and now that engine is starting to show up in everything. Whether or not it is a tested benefit and whether or not it is a net good, who cares? Ten billion dollars means that it has to work. I don’t think it will. What is also starkly apparent is how other projects are starting to see cuts and corner cutting. One might say this is to pay for the Open AI deal. That would be speculation, but that is precisely what I’m speculating. Microsoft Conferences are cheap affairs now, and their announcements are so duct-taped together that it’s embarrassing. Panos Panay left abruptly, and now we know why: cost-cutting a fantastic product line.
Like Tim Cook, I think this is the start of the end for Nadella.
Enjoy your week.
