Here’s something I saw while walking the dog one afternoon in February 2019.
Watched: R.J. Decker S1E1, Pilot. This is the perfect tv show for me. Carl Hiaasen meets the Rockford Files. 12/10 no notes. 🍿
I don’t use dictation on my desktop. I have spent a lot of time typing every day for my entire adult life and much of my teens. I am as comfortable typing as I am speaking — maybe more comfortable.
But that’s only when I have a full-size keyboard and a flat surface to put it on. On my iPhone, I dictate, rather than type, half the time or more. I use Siri for that; I haven’t tried any other voice-to-text apps.
In the 1970s, writer John Varley wrote a series of science fiction stories where the characters communicate with their wearable computers using “subvocalization” — whispering inaudibly. Sensors at the throat detect throat and mouth movements and convert that to speech for the computer to read. That still seems workable, and would solve the problem of making offices sound like call-centers.
Typing Is Being Replaced by Whispering—and It’s Way More Annoying. Workspaces are starting to resemble high-end call centers, only these employees are talking to AI. “It’s just a little awkward.” By Kate Clark at the Wall Street Journal.
An explanation of why the buns are askew on Japanese McDonald’s ads. This takes a turn at the end.
“I was on a call with investors who asked why there are so many protests about data centers. I told them something they didn’t want to hear. The public looks at what hyperscalers are doing and sees this: tech gets rich; you pay more for water and electricity; your kids may not have jobs. And you’re surprised that 85% of the public doesn’t like that deal? They’re not wrong.”
My colleague Steve Saunders interviews Blair Levin, policy analyst with New Street Research and chief architect of the 2010 National Broadband Plan on AI, infrastructure and why the U.S. is falling behind.
Truth, Consequences, Climate, and Demand Destruction — The Iran war is reducing demand for fossil fuels and driving the world toward renewables for everybody but the US, writes Rebecca Solnit. “This is how the attack by one petro-state (ours) on another (Iran’s) may be turning out to be very bad for petroleum, because the only thing history loves more than a surprise party is irony.” (Via Cory)
The Other Reasons Why Podcasting is Hot — Doc Searls
We shouldn’t use AI to replace doctors. We should use it to replace patients