a writer's notebook
OPERATIONS: too much to do today, back tomorrow
STATUS: six and a half hours sleep aaaag
READING: THE BLAZING WORLD: A NEW HISTORY OF REVOLUTIONARY ENGLAND, Jomathan Healey (UK) (US+)
LISTENING:
MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.
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Ghost shark has teeth on forehead
The Dash was a privateer schooner that vanished in 1815 and soon entered local legend as a ghost ship. For over two centuries, eerie sightings of the Dash have tied it to omens of death and supernatural lore. By blending history, poetry, and folklore, the ship’s story has become one of New England’s most enduring maritime hauntings.
Here’s a “Dr. Strangelove”-sounding idea: drop three consecutive nuclear missiles on the same target.
The Chinese military simulated this shock and awe scenario in a miniaturized lab experiment in order to see what kind of damage would happen, according to the South China Morning Post, and published their findings earlier this month in the science journal, Explosion and Shock Waves.
They found that striking a target with multiple nuclear munitions in rapid succession leaves a bigger crater and causes way more destruction than a single detonation — duh — but the scientists claim that the research is relevant because it’s the first laboratory test to accurately simulate the damage from such a brutal attack.
But the true value from this test is probably that the military could glean data from the paper to build better bunkers that could withstand such an apocalyptic situation — a matter that’s on everybody’s mind as China and the United States size up each other’s weapons arsenal amid rising geopolitical tension.
morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.
My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/
Comments closedThe AI device called the Rabbit R1 was sold as having the ability to connect to apps like Doordash and Uber, so you could place orders just by holding the side button down and talking normally. Infamously, it didn’t work. In fact most things about the Rabbit R1 don’t work. The “Large Action Models” that are intended to connect it to web pages don’t work, the “Intern” chatbot thing doesn’t work. It’s a great little search box, but that’s all.
ChatGPT announced today that it will have third-party services build apps inside of it.
Figma, Coursera, Zillow, Expedia, DoorDash, Booking.com, Spotify, Canva, Instacart, Uber, and AllTrails have already created apps within ChatGPT — or will be rolling them out soon.
That is exactly what Rabbit offered but couldn’t build. Now OpenAI will build it inside ChatGPT – and, don’t forget, OpenAI have promised/threatened an AI device that, like Rabbit, is intended to get you off your phone.
The Rabbit recently had an OS refresh, turning many of its functions into hypercards with tiny type that require the touchscreen to be a good deal more sensitive than it actually is. I doubt there’ll be another such refresh. ChatGPT just ate its ideas.
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TODAY:
OPERATIONS: Yesterday was something of a fail on several levels. I have to really dig in today, and will be mostly offline.
STATUS: Inbox 95 trash fire, seven and a half hours sleep
READING: THE BLAZING WORLD: A NEW HISTORY OF REVOLUTIONARY ENGLAND, Jomathan Healey (UK) (US+)
LISTENING: Bloomberg Daybreak Europe
MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.
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morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.
My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/
Comments closedComments closedThe CBS News owner Paramount will acquire the Free Press, a media startup founded by Bari Weiss, and has appointed her editor-in-chief of the storied US news network.
Weiss, 41, has no experience working in broadcast television, though she has carved out a reputation as a heterodox opinion writer and burgeoning media operator.
Known for her attacks on liberal institutions and “cancel culture”, Weiss founded the Free Press with her partner Nellie Bowles in 2021 after she left the New York Times as a columnist, claiming that she was heavily scrutinized for her conservative views and criticism of the left at the paper.
Gorgeous day. This is probably all I’ll see of it.
OPERATIONS: need to nail down eight pages and file them and then deal with half a dozen other things I haven’t gotten around to. Looking at a shared drive and hoping it will be fully populated by the end of the day.
STATUS: inbox 78, all is quiet
READING: THE BLAZING WORLD: A NEW HISTORY OF REVOLUTIONARY ENGLAND, Jomathan Healey (UK) (US+)
LISTENING: The Moderns 387 (music podcast)
MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.
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Social media usage peaked in 2022 and has been on a steady decline since. An analysis of 250,000 adults across more than 50 countries by the digital audience insights company GWI found that adults aged 16 and older spent an average of two hours and 20 minutes per day on social platforms at the end of 2024. That figure is down almost 10% from 2022. The decline is most pronounced among teenagers and people in their twenties. Usage has traced a smooth curve upward and then downward over the past decade. This is not simply the unwinding of increased screen time during pandemic lockdowns. The data also captured a shift in how people use these platforms. The share of people who report using social media to stay in touch with friends, express themselves or meet new people has fallen by more than a quarter since 2014. Opening the apps reflexively to fill spare time has risen. North America is an exception to the global trend. Social media consumption there continues to climb. By 2024 it reached levels 15% higher than Europe. Meta and OpenAI recently announced new social platforms that will be filled with AI-generated short-form videos.
morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.
My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/
Comments closed