Feature chum is a shady business goal presented to consumers as a useful feature to a company’s product line or feature set. Feature chum always benefits the company’s objective of obtaining more power and growth, but not necessarily valuable for the end user.
I have been wearing a smartwatch for years. Today I have an Apple Watch Ultra 2, but in the past, I have had several Apple wearables. Besides the Watch, I have had various Fitbit, some Samsung Galaxy Watches, the first Moto 360 with Android Wear, and others more or less famous, more or less watches, more or less Chinese. I have tried many until, since 2021, I have had nothing but Apple devices.
I don’t have a Meta account, but I do have a WhatsApp account, which is practically mandatory in Italy. It’s a cancer that will be very difficult to eradicate. I don’t use Meta accounts by choice because I don’t use social networks, and because I care about my privacy, and because I prefer this blog to be the place where all my content resides. Things already said.
In Italy, at school, we are not trained in the culture of saving and managing our assets—regardless of their size—and consequently, we are not encouraged to invest and protect the purchasing power of our savings. In my country, there is a lot of distrust; risk is considered a danger, and the mattress is still the best way to keep the fruit of one’s hard work safe.
When I was a boy and my mother, who worked as a teacher, talked – by choice or by chance – with other teachers, the discussion would focus on a single topic: school. My father, my brothers, and I had to endure – if we couldn’t somehow participate – the ramblings on the subject until the final goodbyes. More or less, but with a bit more flexibility, the same thing happens with my partner, who works as a teacher. From this, I understood that it is indeed a problem for those who work in the school: they talk just about school.
Zuck is flatly interested in acting freely in favor of his companies. When he apologizes for the negative consequences of his products, he is less sincere than when he decides to cut costs that are needed to avoid them. As for the depth of his strategic thinking in the great power struggle that Musk has launched, well, on that, it might be better to wait a bit longer to express a judgment. Certainly, Zuck has not invested much in the attempt to demonstrate that he possesses depth of thought.
I’ve mentioned in the past about Default Apps, the list of predefined software and services born last winter from the Hemispheric Views podcast. During this holiday season, I noticed that many bloggers have updated their lists1 highlighting all the changes. It was very fascinating, once again, to browse through the posts and make some considerations.
Over the past year, I haven’t read much. Or rather, I’ve read quite a bit—compared to the average of my fellow countrymen—and as much as I would have liked—compared to the goal I had set myself on Literal. But I don’t feel like I’ve read well. I’ve often had the feeling of reading with a snobbishness, without a good concentration, too susceptible to distractions, uncomfortable. So, I’ve read, but I would have liked to read better.