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I hope they’re successful. We need more fun gadgets. Phones, tablets and computers are all so boring and functional now.
by throwaway5959 2y ago
I hope they’re successful. We need more fun gadgets. Phones, tablets and computers are all so boring and functional now.
- pona-a 2y agoSo instead we need something that is fun and dysfunctional? Let's be honest, even with all the LLM tech, voice interfaces could never be more than a stop-gap before the user does reach for a screen. That's why smart speakers may have actually been at least very very very slightly successful, since at least they have hands-free timers/music/smart-home controls going for them. The real problem is that tech produced by corporations, whose explicit goal is to minimize input labor/time/salaries and maximize revenue, does tend to slowly degenerate into repetitions of itself. When software is treated as a handmade thing, it transcends its inherent value as a tool, it becomes an ornament, a sentimental object, a type of self-expression. When you design software as a product, intent on copying your competitors exactly to satisfy the investors, even if that market niche is taken, software becomes boring. You can build a culture out of trash, but it will only be a trash culture.
- karmajunkie 2y agoi mean, who doesn’t enjoy winning a lottery? now you can play every time you use your device! (in all seriousness, voice devices are a crucial affordance or adaptation for some disabled users. i ordered one of these (somewhat impulsively i admit) to evaluate it for a family member with a neurodegenerative disease who uses alexa to a degree that seems almost insane to me but it allows him to navigate his daily activities.)
- gfourfour 2y agoWe need more fun software