- @thorgalle
This itemized recollection of the process of creating a hit indie game was thrilling. The often exponentially-doubling "wishlist" numbers add meaningful context to the events, and show the effects of streamers and media for spreading the word. I haven't played the game yet, but it's hard to miss today.
This was a very tumultuous time in the history of the game because I was in limbo between nothing will come of this game and I want to move on with my life and what if I could do this as a job?
Reactions to this news show that it's clearly a beloved app, I think I should try it!
I started listening more frequently to podcasts on an Android phones about a decade ago with the local Podcast Addict app. I later got an iPhone in 2019 (still using that one) and switched to Apple Podcasts for a while. At the same time I also used Spotify for music, and as the company increased its focus there, it also gradually usurped all my podcast listening over the last years.
I now have love/hate relationship with podcasts on Spotify: the law of least effort dictates that it simplifies "listening" by keeping both music & podcasts in the same place, on all my devices. Updates to frequently visited podcasts are readily available on my Spotify Home, so I barely have to think anymore. And yet, music and podcasts are two very different intentions. It is annoying when podcasts are suggested (and playing) on my laptop when I just wanted to put on some background music. I almost exclusively listen to podcasts on mobile devices. The algorithmic, double-use Spotify UI (triple with audiobooks?) is regularly messy when used for podcast management. I think I'm ready for a new dedicated podcast app, especially if is available cross-device like Spotify.
Also, I'm not insensitive to the argument about Spotify's walled gardens closing in RSS. Openness in the ecosystem is great and it can only be kept intact by a plethora of independent and significant parties with qualitative products. I simultaneously appreciate the author's notes about the Automattic's ownership & its still ongoing WordPress controversy. It is probably not a coincidence that Automattic wants to re-assert itself as an advocate of the "open", even if that doesn't necessarily mean "open-source" (only Pocket Casts mobile apps are open-source, since two years). Pocket Cast's "closed-source cloud" & freemium model is clearly different from WordPress's model. I will guess that makes it more zen for Matt.
Another good example why disrupting trade with allies is at least a short & mid term loss for the US, and questionable in the long term too, since they’d be losing influence over Finnish expertise.
Wow, I’d seen Mark Gurman quoted for so many years in tech news that I always assumed he was an industry veteran the age of Tim Cook or Steve Jobs, turns out he’s just a couple of years my senior.
Gurman's Apple-related news coverage is mostly based on his sources within the company. Thanks to them, he is able to report on the company’s product launches and news months before the company officially reveals them, if it does at all.
So some employee(s) are willing to break their NDAs with him. I wonder how many, and if Apple management is trying to identify the actual leaker(s) at the source.
I've lived in bike-friendly locations all my life and grew up with bikes for commuting and leisure, which is to say I personally have never been attracted by e-bikes, which seem the least repairable and most work to keep charged. My dad has contemplated one of those 45km/h (~28mph) S-pedelec bikes, which are usually classified as mopeds. For a 10-20km/6-12mi commute, I think they do make sense even if you don’t have issues riding a regular bike.
The trend towards more proprietary parts is saddening, but I only see electrification growing. The universally compatible battery kickstarter at the end looks promising in that regard! Promising as well are the detachable motor solutions that I’ve seen pass by here, which can be fit onto regular bikes. I also hope standardisation legislation will proceed.
In current events, moving back to Belgium, I'm about to ship back the 2nd hand Gazelle bicycle that I got for ~500 eur in the Netherlands in ~2015. I rode it to Finland, and it's been me serving well for commutes and leisure all this time. Some of its components subject to wear have been replaced 3-4 times (including, for the first time, the saddle and bottom bracket a few weeks ago), probably for a total lifetime cost of some ~1500 eur.
That’s not extremely cheap, but I’ve never optimized the replacement of the chain, quickening degradation of some other parts and leading to higher costs that could have been avoided. Gazelle also uses some less-common components (but still fairly standard, I think) compared to older bikes, which are often slightly more expensive, and the Shimano Deore-class components are also more high-end. The costs still pale in comparison with alternative transportation like a car or even public transport.
After 10 years however, I’m in the market for a new bicycle! A sturdy, high-quality touring bicycle, to be specific. I’ll keep an eye on repairability, that’s for sure.
I get that landing a reusable skyscraper rocket is a marvelous engineering achievement, but I wish that I could rather marvel at astounding levels of global cooperation and long-thought-impossible technological progress to curb carbon emissions.
Unconventional methods! I'm not sure if Infowars readers would realize it if the site were taken over by satire.
Ugh. Older people are more susceptible to conservative ideas, because everything was obviously better back in the day. Some of that is inevitable. The Trump mind virus goes further though, this hurts to read!
The beauty about an article about geological timelines is that it will never really be irrelevant! I got referred to this unexpectedly on an episode of The Vergecast, where almost ten years later, a tally is made of systems in place today to warn the US west coast of a Cascadia earthquake, and where one podcast host describes bolting their Seattle house to its foundation for earthquake preparedness.
While a regular geological macro-event is not human-induced climate change, the parallels drawn in our attitude towards both are apt:
The Cascadia situation, a calamity in its own right, is also a parable for this age of ecological reckoning, and the questions it raises are ones that we all now face. How should a society respond to a looming crisis of uncertain timing but of catastrophic proportions? How can it begin to right itself when its entire infrastructure and culture developed in a way that leaves it profoundly vulnerable to natural disaster?
In that respect, I've once read The Great Derangement: Climate Change and The Unthinkable by Amitav Ghosh (published only one year after this article), where the author called out the lack of imagination (in fiction) as one cause of the unpreparedness of societies. To the contrary, this piece was visceral non-fiction. We need more of it.
In those cases, builders are required only to consult with DOGAMI about evacuation plans. “So you come in and sit down,” Ian Madin says. “And I say, ‘That’s a stupid idea.’ And you say, ‘Thanks. Now we’ve consulted.’ ”
Serendipity for the win!
The second half got into a surprisingly interesting what is love? reflection.
Readup is a kind of linkblogging!
Sure does give a different perspective! It's not entirely clear to me if this is satire, or serious (leaning towards the former). In either case, I don't think it's fair to call Harris' rise to power a coup, and equate it as part of a dilemma with Trump's election denialism.
the ethnostates of sub-Scandinavian Europe
Never heard that expression before. Good point though that strife in Europe was a major contributor to the world wars.
Ouch, scathing. I can't claim to know better, but the sentiment seems overly pessimistic.
Discourse is an amazing success story for open-source! I hope the $20M Series A, and perhaps later investments, will not eventually make them less open.
If they host 3,000 of the total 20,000 communities themselves, it shows how much more impact they have through open-source. Of course, that only works if they get enough value back from the entire ecosystem. Here's one hoping!
A detailed post a little outside of my niche, but this resonates:
Manageable and Scalable Goals: Custom-built solutions are tricky and take some time to get right. A progressive transition to more open source software might be better than trying to engineer an all in one solution.
Dramatic rewrites/reforms are hard to pull off. Progressive transitions are much more likely to succeed. Sonos’ botched new app is one recent example of that.
Neat concept!
(Plus I still miss my circa-2010, 10-inch netbook from college, may it rest in peace.)
Relatable. I used a 2014 Acer C720P 11” Chromebook with various Linux distros as a daily driver during my first four college years. It was great.
I dusted it off last year to use as a x86 testing machine, since most of my other devices are ARM-based. It has aged in terms of speed and battery, but it still works!
What a story! Incredible determination, and a sliver or luck, too. The challenges just multiplied. It also illuminates what some people have to go through when trying to get kids; I had no idea IVF was this expensive, and this much tied to variable insurance coverage.
Cool! I made one today. I’ve been enjoying Now pages on the web.
Yes, and our goal is to pay people as close to Silicon Valley’s salaries as possible, so we can recruit very senior people, knowing that we don’t have equity to offer them. We pay engineers very well.
This alternative approach to creating big tech is remarkable. No investors, non-profit, but also not relying on volunteers, and paying big salaries.
She talks repeatedly about her main job being establishing long-term sustainability through endowments. I know Signal asks users for donations, but I can hardly believe that is their main source of funding (I have to look it up). It probably consists of huge philanthropic donations from very wealthy foundations or people. This isn’t an unicum in tech. Maybe it is at its scale, but foundations like FUTO and projects like Ladybird also exist.
I appreciate Greenberg’s incredulity on whether this model can be extrapolated to other organizations. In a way, living on huge donations, which were somehow originally gained through capitalistic activity, is still being part of a capitalistic system.
I also wonder: is Signal taking any money from governmental institutions? It’s remarkable that the EU Commission is recommending the service to its members. Do they give back in any way?
And, comparing with the current Telegram situation, does Signal cooperate with authorities which point out specific illegal activity by certain users/groups? Or is it really not able to do anything considering that everything is maximally encrypted?
I didn’t get these answers from the interview.
What a sad way to burn a huge pile of cash and human effort.
It also doesn’t help that Concord released on August 23, 2024, just three days after Black Myth: Wukong.
I’ve been hearing about games being postponed to avoid overcrowded release periods, like Avowed by Xbox. Seem like a wise move given this example.
According to our data, only about 16% of the total revenue of the games market now comes from traditional full-game sales. Publishers are going to keep chasing that 84%.
I didn’t imagine the situation to be this extreme!
Many years ago in some history class, the name of that plane taught me that "gay" was a word with multiple meanings.
Purging valuable archives is sad, doing it in such a careless and stupid way makes it even worse.