Things Newly Enshittified

[Irrev-Black]

Optus CEO... NO SIGNAL...

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/busine ... 5ekw8.html

[Irrev-Black]

Colleagues, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of enshittified printers.

Woe to the owner of the I Want Genuine Brand Cartridges device, and may Pikkiwoki comfort those who use the Penguin's Wares.

Cutting to the chase... we use Brother now. And here's an interesting perspective on that.

ifixcoinops@retro.social
Dan Fixes Coin-Ops
@ifixcoinops@retro.social

Watching a mutual ask for printer recs and receive a chorus of tired tech folk going "Just get a Brother, they're fine" and man

MAN

Like this is actually kinda fascinating honestly, Brother is now the best printer brand, the one that every Computer Person recommends, and is it because their printers are good? Their printers are fine, they print, whatever, no, it's because everybody else's printers have gotten Innovated out the wazoo, every innovation making them way worse, until it's gotten to the point where I wouldn't have one in the house even if it were free, and meanwhile Brother's have remained consistently Fine I Guess, which now makes them the best printer manufacturer simply by virtue of them opting out of the Who Can Get Crappiest Fastest race

Brother have gotten to where they are now, by NOT innovating

It's HERE and the comments are also enlightening.

[Irrev-Black]

Remember the Mystery Fault with our car: the one that could only be remedied by going to ThatBrandCar's dealer?

I was wondering if there was at least some similarity to the HP Cartridge Trick (see above).

It seems Polish trains have the Genuine Brand Name Problem in a big way.

https://badcyber.com/dieselgate-but-for ... e-hacking/

[stylofone]

7, 9 and 10 had better watch out, once they become in any way dependent on Amazon, the whole thing turns to shit.

Yes, who needs a sales rep when you can have a breakfast news reporter?

And while White is not getting a cut, it appears that Seven is from any products Amazon sells via the Seven website.

And it wasn’t just Seven getting in on that merchandise deal, Nine was too.

And at the start of last month, the now-cancelled Studio 10 was going the full-Oprah, gifting audience members Amazon products for the morning show’s 10th anniversary:

https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episo ... /103186258

[Irrev-Black]

Subscriptions to use stuff you've bought?

That shit wants shutting down fast.

Jason Luu's 2020 Volvo XC90 has state-of-the-art remote features, such as the ability to start and stop the engine and unlock and lock the car from an app on his smart phone.

But if he wants to keep using those features after a free trial, it will cost $200 a year.

"It's a little disheartening," Luu told CBS News.

Subscriptions are shifting into overdrive in the auto industry. For certain Toyota vehicles, the remote start option comes at a price of $8 per month after the expiration of a free trial, while BMW charges $20 a month for enhanced cruise control on certain vehicles.

While Ford offers its hands-free driving "BlueCruise" assisted cruise control option for some of its vehicles, including the all-electric F-150 Lightning, are drivers willing to pay $75 per month for it?

Alistair Weaver, editor-in-chief at Edmunds, says automakers are counting on the new revenue stream to pay for the expensive transition to electric cars.

"So if your car payment is 600 bucks a month, it's now $675," Weaver said.

General Motors projects subscription fees to bring in as much as $25 billion a year by 2030. For context, Netflix's entire revenue for fiscal year 2023 was $32.74 billion.

"Part of me says, 'Well, you've already bought the hardware...so just let me use it,'" Weaver said.

Alix Partners, a global consulting firm, found that more than 60% of consumers are willing to consider subscribing for enhanced safety and convenience features as long they don't feel like they are being charged for something they already paid for.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/auto-indus ... ion-costs/

[stevebrooks]

Alix Partners, a global consulting firm, found that more than 60% of consumers are willing to consider subscribing for enhanced safety and convenience features as long they don't feel like they are being charged for something they already paid for.

What happens when these enhanced safety features become compulsory for drivers to use if they are equipped, like seat belts? Will the driver then be required to pay the manufacturer or risk being fined for not using X feature? Will insurers refuse to pay out if something like "enhanced lane keeping" isn't working because the owner refused to pay the monthly fee?

[stylofone]

Alix Partners, a global consulting firm, found that more than 60% of consumers are willing to consider subscribing for enhanced safety and convenience features as long they don't feel like they are being charged for something they already paid for.

What happens when these enhanced safety features become compulsory for drivers to use if they are equipped, like seat belts? Will the driver then be required to pay the manufacturer or risk being fined for not using X feature? Will insurers refuse to pay out if something like "enhanced lane keeping" isn't working because the owner refused to pay the monthly fee?

Hacking, cracking, modchipping, jailbreaking, ripping, softmodding has been a thing for videogame consoles, video formats, and iphones/ipads for decades. I've done it countless times to get around restrictions on those devices and formats. I actually paid someone to install a chip on my Gamecube, a nice little cottage industry. It seems highly likely this will be an emerging part of the car industry too. Then the battle will then be on to establish the legality. Who will be the "DVD Jon" of cars? I feel like there should be a "Heroes of the Revolution" bubblegum card series for people like him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Lech_Johansen

[Irrev-Black]

Remember the Mystery Fault with our car: the one that could only be remedied by going to ThatBrandCar's dealer?

I was wondering if there was at least some similarity to the HP Cartridge Trick (see above).

It seems Polish trains have the Genuine Brand Name Problem in a big way.

https://badcyber.com/dieselgate-but-for ... e-hacking/

And now, some followup, in which TrainCo threatens to sue those who fixed the software .

https://gizmodo.com/hackers-hit-with-le ... 1851097424

[Irrev-Black]

Eavesdropping on you to better serve you with fucking ADVERTS?

Getteth thou in the bin.

A marketing team within media giant Cox Media Group (CMG) claims it has the capability to listen to ambient conversations of consumers through embedded microphones in smartphones, smart TVs, and other devices to gather data and use it to target ads, according to a review of CMG marketing materials by 404 Media and details from a pitch given to an outside marketing professional. Called “Active Listening,” CMG claims the capability can identify potential customers “based on casual conversations in real time.”

The news signals that what a huge swath of the public has believed for years—that smartphones are listening to people in order to deliver ads—may finally be a reality in certain situations. Until now, there was no evidence that such a capability actually existed, but its myth permeated due to how sophisticated other ad tracking methods have become.

https://www.404media.co/cmg-cox-media-a ... marketing/

[Irrev-Black]

Alas, Substack.

There's some people I'm going to miss writing on that site.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/21/240 ... h-mckenzie