quartz
More broadly: Invisible wearable microphones are coming for everyone and perfect memory will follow. I'm incredibly excited about this for myself and simultaneously terrified about everyone else having it.
It's coming fast enough that I'm beginning to assume in any decently sized crowd of tech folks /someone/ is recording everything.
Compared to even the suburbs where 1-2 people on a sidewalk can feel like you're dangerously close to having to step into an active roadway, sidewalks in NYC neighborhoods like the upper east side feel gigantic and are bordered by parked cars that provide a buffer to the roadway.
In 1811 the grid plan designated sidewalk widths to be 20ft for major cross-town roads vs. many suburban sidewalk widths at 4-5 feet.
I'm a big fan of this sidewalk width map: https://sidewalkwidths.nyc/
It's offline-first but syncs reliably, uses the exact interpretation and display of markdown I like, searches and sorts the way I like, integrates with AI only in the ways I want it to (specific search capabilities, summarizing), uses on-device dictation via whisper so speech-to-text works when I'm away from a data connection, tracks location... I could go on and on since I add a new feature every month or so from a note (inside the app!) where I keep track of little things I wish it had.
But most importantly nothing ever gets added to it that I don't want... ever. No one else ever updates the terms of service, the UI layout, the retention period, the formatting, the shortcuts... there isn't some subscription I have to keep track of, or "pro" modes, or popups telling me about new features I should check out.
And since I have access to the backing db I can do all kinds of fun stuff with the data-- I've been playing way more with local LLMs lately with it.
I think it's healthy to remember that not everything has to be a startup or a public github repo.
I watched a blurry video of a family at the zoo, a father tickling his toddler (who is having an absolute blast), a middle school play rehearsal, some guy's high school class presentation in south africa (I think?), a random indie country band at a bar, lots of terrible dancing... all joyful, no agendas.
There was a thread yesterday about Facebook's little red book and a lot of nostalgia from folks who were there at the time about the optimism across builders then. This was the kind of content that drove that feeling.
And hey it worked out great for Microsoft— they got the software they wanted at a great price (1x used corvette * ~1.8 for taxes) with no negotiation, and they already employ the guy who wrote it so I imagine integrating it was even easier than they expected.
[1] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10....
This is very reasonable-- AI or not, companies can't expect consumers to know which parts of their digital experience are accurate and which aren't.
I have this memory of having to do that to get rid of the wsj after I made the fatal mistake of forgetting to cancel after a trial.
After combing through my credit card bills to identify all the recurring charges my conclusion was less that I have too many subscriptions but that cost creep is out of control on them.
Ex: I stopped paying attention to my storage unit monthly bill because it was on autopay. Turns out now after 4 years I'm paying more than double the published rate. Called the storage facility and they said the only way around it is to rent a new unit at the new rate and move my things there to start the process all over again.
I always thought that sounded like it would provide maximum flexibility since there are so many tiny airfields in the US you'd be hard pressed to work somewhere too far from one.
Seemed pretty incredible overall... at the time I remember looking it up and the cost working out to a bit cheaper than bay area housing all-in, but I didn't really know how to calculate the airplane costs accurately.
[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/cameron-airpark-estates-cali...
That said with the recent changes allowing OTC hearing aids as of 2022 and companies like rewind.ai chasing always-on audio recording I imagine we'll see some interesting innovations in this space over the next few years.
I could be wrong but last time I checked the IRS doesn't provide an official form for this. It does provide a sample election letter[1] but this sample does not include a space for a spouse to sign. You'd need to include an additional line for this yourself in the letter you draft if you wanted it.
Don't forget: if you do this yourself make sure to mail it certified mail with return receipt as physical evidence that it was delivered.
A few months after delivery you can also call any IRS service center and ask them to verify they have the letter on file (these days everything is scanned into the system so any IRS person can find it vs. having to call the center that received it).
I ended up using y.js in my personal react native notes app and it works wonderfully.
I also wonder if the regenerative braking is less efficient / engages less often when dealing with larger weight.
[1] https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a30169467/tesla-model-3s-a...
My wife has a 1950's Raleigh women's bike we bought ages ago for $50 and it is hands down the most comfortable bike we own.
I own 4 other bikes (a cruiser, an e-cruiser, and two racing bikes) but always grab hers for my errands within ~15 blocks.
Everything about it just feels easy-- it's well balanced, has a great upright sitting position, a super comfy saddle, an easy to use 3-speed hub, big soft tires, and the frame is basically indestructible.
Occasionally something gets out of place or slightly off and I just whack it back into place.
It's less commonly recognized outside the state... I live in NYC now and often have to catch myself when I say something like "I'm headed back to visit a friend at Carolina" since it almost always results in "oh? which one?"
[1] https://shop.goheels.com/mens-fanatics-branded-black-north-c...
Instructional video instead of step-by-step text is a personal pet peeve. I know it's a lot easier to just record a video to show something like "how to replace the battery on a cordless vacuum" or "removing a sink basin nut" but it's often such a painful experience for consumption (watch a moment, pause, scrub back and watch again, pause, continue, pause, all with potentially gloved hands often in tight working spaces).
I live in a co-op building from 1929 so it's really the only point of failure in the unit that would be my liability if there was a leak and it already saved me once when the old tailpiece on my drain cracked.