Tag: rss_source

“SmartNews also instituted an annual company road trip as part of this project. Employees, often accompanied by Suzuki himself, would drive through political swing states across the American Rust Belt and the South to interview SmartNews users, local voters, and politicians. The company’s most recent road trip in the fall of 2022 brought members of the marketing team to Atlanta, Georgia, ahead of the state’s midterm elections.

The trips often included visits to rallies for Donald Trump, multiple employees said. “Why would I want to give up one week of my life showing some guy from Tokyo around a Trump rally?” recalled one employee who declined an invitation to join the road trip in 2020. “The whole premise of the idea was very bizarre.”

https://restofworld.org/2023/smartnews-japan-unicorn-layoffs-media/

“Everyone is trying to sell this thing you’ve created to the next person in line, that’s how the industry works. At its core, it’s a sales business. Not creative. Try to get that into your head. This is not a creative industry, you didn’t read Save The Cat from cover to cover because you wanted to be David Lynch

When I left school I worked in sales for a couple of years, and I learned one very valuable lesson; most sales people don’t relish a challenge. They would far rather you gave them something easy to sell, something that sells itself. “We’d be more comfortable selling this movie if you had Tom Cruise attached”. Sure, I get that. But if I had Tom Cruise, I could sell the fucking thing myself – how about you try earning your commission?”

https://developmenthell.substack.com/p/the-collapse-of-hollywood

“So how do political opponents take on a popular agenda? Well, instead of taking it on directly, you do it by being super-boring. Just cut the budget of the entity you don’t like. And indeed, since the turn against antitrust in the 1980s, Congress has been cutting the funding of the Antitrust Division, such that it has 230 fewer employees today than it did in 1979, despite a much larger economy. Few pro-consolidation politicians said “I like monopolies,” instead they just defunded the cops”

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/congressional-republicans-to-defund

“But for creators, and for the world, that inefficiency was often wonderful. The inefficiency of old media formats resulted in less surveillance of the purchasing and behavioral habits of individuals, and larger surpluses that sustained a healthier, more vibrant media ecosystem that could even afford to invest in important stories or content despite the fact that they might not have a large audience”

https://anildash.com/2024/02/06/wherever-you-get-podcasts/

“The phrase ‘women locked up in restitution centers to pay off court expenses and forced to work at fast food restaurants’ chills to the bone. It is so shocking, so cynical and twisted, and somehow not the least bit surprising”

https://newsletter.scammerdarkly.com/archive/chain-gang-prison-labor-boeing-23andme-and-taking/

“This first-generation Vision Pro hardware is severely restricted by the current limits of technology. Apple has pushed those limits in numerous ways, but the limits are glaring. This Vision Pro is a stake in the ground, defining the new state of the art in immersive headset technology. But that stake in the ground will recede in the rear view mirror as the years march on. Just like the Mac’s 9-inch monochrome 512×342 pixel display. Just like the iPhone’s EDGE cellular modem.

But the conceptual design of VisionOS lays the foundation for an entirely new direction of interaction design. Just like how the basic concepts of the original Mac interface were exactly right, and remain true to this day. Just like how the original iPhone defined the way every phone in the world now works”

https://daringfireball.net/2024/01/the_vision_pro

“Rivers has had a winning record in 16 straight seasons despite different teams, schemes, coaching staffs, and personnel. Not bad! But barring a title in Milwaukee, the persistent buildup of postseason disappointment will be the second, third, and fourth sentences of his coaching legacy”

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2024/1/29/24053682/doc-rivers-milwaukee-bucks-coaching-history

“studies show that fertilizer prices move alongside food prices, rather than reflecting any underlying change in the inputs required to manufacture it, meaning fertilizer manufacturers aren’t constrained by any real market discipline. They’re just opportunistically gouging farmers. And some of that increased cost is inevitably going to wind up in the prices of the food you purchase at the grocery store too”

https://boondoggle.substack.com/p/the-fertilizer-oligopoly-stinks

“Instacart lost two billion dollars last quarter, which somehow beat Wall Street expectations. The markets have decided that gig grocery delivery is something society needs so badly it’s worth blowing billions and grinding a dwindling independent workforce into dust to make it happen”

https://newsletter.scammerdarkly.com/archive/out-of-stock-instacart-elon-musk-cruises-and-crabs/

“In his resignation letter, DeWit claimed the recording had been “taken out of context” and said he had been “set up.” He noted that Lake has “a disturbing tendency to exploit private interactions for personal gain,” calling out “her habit of secretly recording personal and private conversations. This is obviously a concern given how much interaction she has with high profile people including President Trump,” he added. “I believe she orchestrated this entire situation to have control over the state party,” he wrote.

DeWit said he had “received an ultimatum from Lake’s team: resign today or face the release of a new, more damaging recording. I am truly unsure of its contents,” he wrote, “but considering our numerous past open conversations as friends, I have decided not to take the risk. I am resigning as Lake requested.”

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-24-2024