frunch

My guess: they'll use this as their latest example of the "violent left" without evidence, as is tradition

This article is worth reading, imo. There's more going on here than the introduction of the "Max" 'super-app'. I wasn't aware of this but Russia has also been subjecting its population to a "digital detox" where Internet blackouts are becoming increasingly common. In some areas the Internet is down most of the time, in others service has returned but is extremely poor compared to before the blackout. Mobile Internet blackouts have been performed claiming without evidence that it's to disrupt drones coming from Ukraine.

In some areas this Max 'super-app' (which handles banking, communication, and more--and is a direct line for government surveillance) is the only option to do banking or communicate with anybody by phone. This practice is sweeping the country after declaring Meta a terrorist organization, and swiftly eliminating any Meta apps from Russian access including Instagram, Facebook, and the most popular app for communication in Russia: WhatsApp.

This is fucked on another level and i think we should be paying attention because this is presumably where Trump gets his inspiration and/or his marching orders, so i have a suspicion we'll see something similar wash up on our shores soon enough.

I've been thinking about this for a while now--a mass, extended Internet disruption would not only screw up communication on a grand scale here, but business would also be tremendously impacted. It's the next 'privilege' for us to have taken away and replaced with an enshittified surrogate, forcing large swaths of people to sign over even more of their autonomy to big brother in exchange to have all the things the Internet has now made possible. Want to be able to easily get navigation on gps? Talk to your friends or family? Pay bills using your bank account? Imagine there was only 1 app that will allow you to do that from now on. I can only imagine how shitty the user experience is on "Max" but i suppose in time i won't need to--I'll have a front row seat to try it out here in the comfort of my home one of these days, seeing the direction things appear to be heading in. I mean shit, we're probably already nearly there and i just don't realize it yet 🫠

þEBKAC?

Your keyboard appears to be broken ✨

I feel like that's where we're headed at this point. Major corps have all the tech and all the money. At this point we are seeing every new iteration of consumer tech/electronics costing more, lasting less time, and offering no greater value than previous iterations while sometimes actually taking away features and functionality in the process. They know they are the only game in town now and they only have to offer what they feel is enough to placate their clientele--if they even choose to go that far. People grumble, then they pay.

AI will replace people in many of these situations and it will suck and be less helpful and very problematic but that's the best they're going to offer. If anyone comes along trying to offer anything better they'll be swiftly dealt with by defeating and/or buying them out. There will probably be like 5 corps that own everything one day (maybe that's too many--3? 2 perhaps? I just can't see it being 1 for some reason)

Can't you just call customer service and keep escalating it to the next department until it's solved?

/s

I really think they're finding the last corners they can cut for profit, meager as it may be. Less colors, less details, less $ to print. That's my theory at least. Another good example of what you're talking about is the Pringles guy:

Edit: Dunkin Donuts is another one, come to think of it. I swear they're going to pull a Prince one day and have their name become a single emoji/symbol or something. They managed to squeeze all the way down from Dunkin' Donuts to Dunkin' to DD... I'm convinced they're going to be the first major company to be named a symbol and people will call it DD or maybe they'll even come up with a new sound that will represent their symbol, and you'll have to get their app to make the sound 🫠

"lobbying" 🙃

Well if you don't drop everything and singlehandedly bring it all to a screeching halt i won't respect you and even if you try I'll find other reasons to criticize you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks

I'm so glad this lives on, lol

Sounds like another case of Amazon trying to out-Amazon itself