Tech Time by Tim #36

Apple’s WWDC is fast approaching but we can already talk about its AR strategy right now! And no, the Pentagon didn’t get blown up as you can read about this week as well. We’ve also got some Beef Bugs and sailboats on the menu, and a Japanese Eco-nomics class. Finally, a look at Meta’s moat-buster gambit, and a look at how advertisers are getting along with their cookie rehab.

At A Glance

A quick overview of this week’s content.

·??????The Week that Was: Apple’s Augmented G(AR)den, Not Really Pentagone

·??????G’Day Climate: Beef Bugs And Sailboats, Eco-nomics

·??????Rules of Engagement: Meta’s Moat Buster Gambit, Will Burnt Cookies Spoil The Party?

The Week that Was:

A look back at the tech world of the past week.

Apple’s Augmented G(AR)den:

Let’s talk about Apple’s Augmented Reality (AR) again! The company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 5th will be the stage upon which the device will be officially unveiled. But unlike previous hardware, these AR glasses will purely be a means to an end. That doesn’t sound like Apple though, does it?

Not like the one where design ruled the roost, no. I’ve previously covered the power struggles within Apple between its operations and design departments. They are two major ‘factions’ within Apple. CEO Tim Cook sided with Operations, cementing its victory. The struggle was so heated because during the reign of Steve Jobs and John Ive, the design department WAS Apple. Worries about the device ‘not being ready should thus be interpreted through the lens of the design department. The eyes of the operations department are looking at what the device will be once it's matured.

What would it look like when ready then? Well have a look at this demo from last month of an AI-powered screenless computer by former Apple employees. Interesting right? Apple will be adding voice cloning capabilities to iOS later this year. Now take a look at more recent coverage of an AR laptop. Cross-reference that with the rumored features of ‘xrOS’ and keep in mind the extensive work Apple has already put into advanced motion tracking and object recognition. Even as far as ‘boring old’ things such as gesture controls go, Apple is significantly ahead of the curve.

So this next bit of advice is going to be a bit contradictory but… do not buy Apple’s AR headset. Instead, look past how janky, overpriced, and under-supported it will likely be, in the beginning at least. Cast your gaze forward, whilst monitoring how it does or does not impact the wider landscape of the following product categories: Phones, Laptops, and Smart Watches. If Apple manages to serve as an ice breaker for AR with this headset of theirs, its own success or failure will be irrelevant, it’ll be a means to an end. LINK

Not Really Pentagone – Section 230 and Terrorism:

In and of itself, Montana banning TikTok isn’t actually surprising or particularly noteworthy. One state in the US was always going to be the first, given the present climate. TikTok and Influencers reliant on it were always going to sue. No, what’s interesting about this is actually what else happened to social media this week.

Section 230, the liability shield for online platforms with regard to the content they host or recommend, was upheld by the supreme court. The court cases in question here were Twitter v. Taameh and Gonzalez v. Google. Those court cases were about whether or not Twitter (Pre-X Corp.) and YouTube (Google) directly benefitted from and contributed to the successful recruitment efforts and acts of Terrorism of ISIS via the potential engagement and ad revenue ISIS content generated on their platforms. The supreme court has ruled that no, there’s not enough evidence of that.

So anyway, a fake terrorist attack on the Pentagon went viral on Twitter because it got promoted via ‘verified’ accounts. Verification on Twitter has never been fool-proof, far from it, but originally a team of moderators ‘verified’ that an account really was operated by whatever noteworthy individual or organization it claimed to be associated with. Now you get verified by subscribing to Twitter blue. So far, so American.

In China, TikTok’s ‘home country,’ they have their own struggles with moderation. For example with regards to the booming medical influencer scene. If the US’s issues with TikTok and Section 230 were born, at least in part, of policy trying to fight financial incentives, China’s is the opposite. Medical influencers came about due to China’s COVID-19 policies providing doctors with a way to make way more money, much more easily, than they’d previously been capable of. To such an extent that the phenomenon grew well beyond its initial scope of providing necessary medical advice for citizens stuck at home. LINK

G’Day Climate:

Covering tech’s impact on the climate and our environment.

Beef Bugs And Sailboats:

A new study has recently come out that claims butterflies originated in North America after splitting off from moths. Going even further back than the origins of butterflies, another study points to comb jellies, scientifically referred to as ctenophores, being the closest living relatives to the first animal. It’s pretty wild to ponder, right? How we went from primitive jellyfish, to over 2300 different butterfly species, spread across 90 different countries. Not only that, but in the case of humans, we went from living under the sea to sailing across it. In the grand scheme of things, human history is obviously a lot shorter than that of the evolution of the entire animal kingdom.

Yet one aspect of that short human history appears to be rhyming in quite the interesting way. A new experimental sailboat is being developed to potentially replace fossil fuel reliant cargo ships. One of the most exciting parts of history is the unpredictable and novel ways in which it can end up part, or shaping the future, via new discoveries. So, how might insects and shipping be connected then? Well, one of the largest volumes of trade conducted by sea is for consumables such as meat and beer. How to feed cattle more sustainably, and recycle waste though?

Well, apparently another insect might be able to help with both. That’s right, more research! It appears as if black soldier fly larvae might be able to effectively consume beer waste, as well as other distillery-based waste materials. We had a lot of national holidays in the Netherlands in May, and a lot of beer gets consumed on those, so the potential of the black soldier fly to use beer waste to feed cattle, potentially lowering the environmental impact of two notoriously pollutive industries. Well, it’s interesting food for thought. LINK

Eco-nomics – Diaper Concrete And Japanese Regrowth:

A new book on degrowth appears to be gaining traction amongst Japanese growth even as mounting soft-pressure applied on Taiwan by China is causing investors to rediscover Japan. I’m using soft-pressure as a play on ‘soft-power.’ Soft power is stuff like economic incentives, trade agreements, and diplomatic relationships. As opposed to hard-power, which is usually military force, but isn’t limited to just that.

As for degrowth, the general principle behind the theory is that shrinking is good for long-term economic strength and resilience because much growth over the past few decades has been destructive and unsustainable, not just environmentally, but also economically.

Though fossil fuel companies have been calculated to owe the world trillions in climate reparations, I’m not holding my breath on that front. No, what is much more plausible, will be direct financial incentives to protect the climate. After all, despite what many might think about the fossil fuel industry, they don’t kill the planet because simply because they’re ‘evil,’ they kill it for money. If saving the planet proves to be more lucrative, they’ll do that instead. It’s just business, after all. This is why many initiatives for large scale environmental protections are grounded in economics.

But there’s experimental new techniques and technologies being developed as well, for example, to recycle clothing more easily. Polyester is in almost all articles of clothing in one way or another, yet this plastic based material is extremely difficult to recycle. So when you have an extremely wasteful sub-category such as fast fashion, in an already highly pollutive business sector such as clothing… well, you can see how things get out hand real fast right?

In a similar vein, as any parent will tell you, babies go through diapers at about the same speed that fast fashion cycles through product lines. Researchers have now turned used diapers into a viable concreate substitute. Apparently that shit is strong, able to replace up to 40% of sand typically used in making concrete. Lower costs, less trash in landfills, a real ‘baby boon’ to construction one might say. LINK

Rules of Engagement:

Ethics and legal matters regarding tech engagement.

Meta’s Moat Buster Gambit:

Remember that open letter calling for a pause on the development of new AI capabilities? Since then, some of the leading companies in the space have continued to warn against the risks of AI whilst also continuing to refine and expand their own capabilities. Isn’t that contradictory? Well, yes, and no.

With regards to AI’s frontrunners being the most enthusiastic about regulation, I’d like to posit that complying with overly restrictive regulations costs a lot of effort and money. Incurring overly harsh penalties is even more dangerous. In the short-term, this has a chilling effect on small companies, with potential to become a moat for larger ones that can handle the financial and administrative pressures. It’s not the actual regulations we might get down the line that matter here. What matters is the uncertainty and fear as smaller players await the details of those future policies.

Let’s presume the previously covered ‘we have no moat’ document is real. Meta open sourcing its (already leaked anyway) AI would certainly complicate efforts to dig a moat. There’s another strategic benefit to this for Meta, namely that open-source developers, who are generally smaller, and more vulnerable, are entangled within its AI infrastructure. Thus, regulations that harm Meta, will harm these ‘little guys’ more, the exact opposite of the stated intent. Should this gambit pay off, Open-source will be a sword against closed-source rivals, and a shield against Meta-hostile regulation.

So I agree with Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun that “the platform that will win will be the open one.” Especially since Meta can reap the rewards more easily from innovative new capabilities built on top of the framework they, as the makers, understand best. In that regard, as far as open-source innovation goes, ‘Drag your GAN’ looks very interesting indeed. LINK

Will Burnt Cookies Spoil The Party?

If you’re not active in advertising or otherwise involved with data management, the terms 3rd party and 1st party might not mean a whole lot to you. They most certainly affect you. A 3rd party, in data terms, is any company that isn’t directly involved with either the buyer or seller of a good or service. These are the two parties involved in the transaction and hey… would you look at that? A middleman getting in between the two.

1st Party data is data that the seller of a product or service gets directly from the buyer, without a middleman involved. It might seem weird not to call it two party data if the ‘third party’ isn’t involved in the transaction, but as with most things, it’s complicated. Much of our current legal issues regarding data can actually be traced back to the fact that dataflows are one way traffic. Users generally tend to be the product, even when they are also supposedly the customer. Functionally then, only one party really matters when it comes to 1st party data. And that exclusive access and ownership is what makes it so desirable… and complicated. Because the 1st party knife cuts both ways and you’d better have the infrastructure to manage it if you want to benefit.

To offset the extra costs, or just to maintain margins, even large companies are increasingly looking to integrate ads into subscription models, which in and of themselves often serve as tethers and data siphons already. So, as one of the most prominent providers of 3rd party cookies, what might the future of advertising for Google look like? I really hope it’s not more of the unskippable ads it’s adding to YouTube on TVs… LINK

A Nice Cup of Serendipity:

Cool bits and bobs from around the web.

Tight Fit LINK

Dino Dealers LINK

Raygun Conspiracy LINK

Sustainability Sells LINK

Dark Web Assistant LINK

StockGPT LINK

Rollup Screen LINK

Siri, Is That You? LINK

Crypto Tracking LINK

Artisanal Computing LINK

Portable Performance LINK

Development Pipelines LINK

Tears Of The Fandom LINK

The Deep End:

A weekly batch of longform content recommendations.

Rorschach Test Making:

Documenting the making of the (in)famous Rorschach test. LINK

Metaphor History:

A history of metaphors on the internet LINK

Quantifying Senses:

A look back at attempts through out the past 200 years to quantify our senses. LINK

What’s In The Box?

An explanation of what a black box is, and why it gets mentioned so much with regards to AI. LINK

Beef Bug Paper:

The actual paper on black soldier fly larvae, used in my item about Beef Bugs and Sailboats. For those that want the details. LINK

You Ok Doomers?

An article exploring the weird position doomsday preppers find themselves in right now. LINK

Ukraine’s Cyber War:

An interview with Ukraine’s cyber chief on the ever-changing digital war with Russia. LINK

One More Thing…

Millie, my now-adolescent dog, has discovered she can bark. She was just as surprised as us and the cat she chased away at 2am when she discovered this. Millie, when barking, will first do a few practice grumbles, kind of like how singers will do throat exercises before actually singing. Or, I guess, more like how politicians these days will fling threats back and forth before actually enacting policies against one another’s countries.

And indeed, quite like how such policies can be rather self-destructive, poor Millie appears to frighten herself more than anyone else with her barking. So for the past two days (at time of writing) we’ve had to go and comfort her in the middle of the night/morning after she’s frightened herself wide-awake. It’s funny in the sense that her bark is indeed worse than her bit right now, she frequently likes to chase and have a munch on her own tail when playing and loves it.