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adh0c.bsky.social
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@adh0c.bsky.social
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quintessential nexus of intellectual perturbation & cerebral tumult, wherein the most labyrinthine, intricately convoluted, configurations & architectures of probabilistic uncertainty & stochastic ambiguity, coalesce & converge, to manifest their most...
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adh0c.bsky.social
Manipulation of Personal Vulnerabilities Sinema allegedly used her influence to intercede in Ammel's personal struggles with PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and substance abuse resulting from his military service. Psychedelic "Guidance": Sinema allegedly encouraged Ammel to bring MDMA (ecstasy/molly) on work trips so she could "guide him through a psychedelic experience". Financial and Physical Control: She reportedly paid for his psychedelic treatments in Nashville, provided him with a Theragun massager so she could "work on his back" at her apartment, and took him on international vacations. The "Optics" of Infidelity The reporting describes a deliberate effort to hide the marital status of her bodyguard to facilitate public displays of affection. Wedding Ring Removal: By mid-2024, Ammel allegedly stopped wearing his wedding ring at Sinema's request so it would not look like she was "putting her hands on a married man" in public. Overt Seduction: Heather Ammel’s lawsuit accuses Sinema of "willfully and intentionally" seducing her husband, sending him "romantic and lascivious" messages via Signal, and sending photos of herself wearing nothing but a towel. Sexual Dismissiveness: When Ammel messaged her about having sex in the missionary position with the lights on, Sinema allegedly replied, "Boring!". Heather Ammel is seeking damages (ranging from $25,000 to $75,000 depending on the specific filing) for "alienation of affection," a legal claim that Sinema maliciously interfered with her 14-year marriage.
January 16, 2026 at 4:46 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
Allegations against former Senator Kyrsten Sinema assert a pattern of leveraging her position for personal and sexual gratification, often at the expense of her professional duties and the personal lives of those who worked for her. Disdain for Political Duties While Sinema publicly emphasized "civility" and "deal-making" as reasons for her departure from the Senate, her private communications allegedly revealed a deep lack of respect for the institution and her colleagues. State of the Union: She reportedly skipped President Biden's 2024 State of the Union address because she had no interest in listening to "some old man" talk about legislation that she herself had written. Contemptuous Comments: In text exchanges, she and her bodyguard, Matthew Ammel, allegedly joked about starting a "f— the troops" chant at a baseball game; Sinema reportedly responded that she would "f— the hot ones". A Pattern of Relations with Staff The lawsuit suggests that her affair with Matthew Ammel was not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of behavior involving her security detail. Security Team Resignations: Sinema’s former head of security resigned in 2023 because she was concerned the senator was "having sexual relations with other security members". Professional Favoritism: After the affair allegedly began, Sinema placed Ammel—a married father of three—on her official Senate staff as a Defense and National Security fellow while he continued to serve as her personal guard, significantly increasing his pay.
January 16, 2026 at 4:41 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
3. A "Protection Racket" for Scrapers The deals with Microsoft, Meta, and Perplexity are described by some as a way to get monetary compensation for what was already being stolen.. Users point out that: AI companies have no shame and will crawl Wikipedia with or without permission. These deals are essentially "convenience fees" or "peanuts" paid by tech giants to avoid the server-straining "headache" of hard scraping and to minimize the risk of lawsuits. The WMF cannot actually grant these companies any more legal rights to the content than the general public already has, meaning the deals are primarily about infrastructure access and PR. 4. The Inevitability of "Slop" While editors are "adamant and vigilant" against AI-generated material, the "enshitification" of the platform may be inevitable.. Even if Wikipedia blocks direct LLM entries, they cannot control the external sources volunteers might unwittingly cite - sources that may have already been "cooked up" by LLMs elsewhere on the internet. This creates a feedback loop where human-written articles begin to reflect AI "slop," leading to a "dead internet" where it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish between genuine human thought and automated regurgitation. 5. Displacement of Volunteers For the volunteer community is the feeling of betrayal.. Many editors contributed thousands of hours of unpaid labor to a non-profit mission of "free knowledge," only to see that labor packaged and sold to billion-dollar corporations. There is a growing fear that once these deals are normalized, the "mission" will shift from serving humanity to serving the data needs of AI models, eventually replacing human editors with automated bots to maximize "efficiency".
January 15, 2026 at 8:31 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
Wikipedia’s survival is being directly threatened by the very AI companies it is now partnering with. While public statements focus on "fair share" and "human curation," the underlying reality described by users and critics reveals a much more cynical landscape regarding financial desperation, organizational bloat, and the degradation of human knowledge. 1. The Survival "Oroborous" AI companies are essentially cannibalizing the source of their own intelligence. AI models require the human-curated data of Wikipedia to avoid becoming "angry" or generating "nonsense," yet the more people use AI to get answers, the fewer people visit Wikipedia. This decline in traffic leads to fewer volunteers and donors, which eventually "strangles" the platform of the human labor required to keep the data accurate for the AI to scrape in the first place. 2. The Foundation’s Financial Bloat Critics argue that the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) constant "begging" for donations hides a different reality: most of the money does not go to hosting or maintaining the site. Instead, it is allegedly used to: Fund high San Francisco salaries and "pointless" managerial positions. Fuel "random ass research" and product initiatives that neither the volunteers nor the public requested. Divert budget into AI research and GPU budgets for WMF employees rather than preserving the site for the long term.
January 15, 2026 at 8:30 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
3. Delusional Demographics and "Potatoes" The leaked data, archived by groups like Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets) and mirrored on sites like okstupid.lol, revealed a stark reality about the user base that differs from their online bravado. The Gender Gap: Root famously stated the gender ratio (86% male to 14% female) made "the Smurf village look like a feminist utopia". IQ Claims: A significant number of users - referred to by some commenters as "potatoes" - claimed to have IQs ranging from 120 to over 180, despite many being unemployed or earning low incomes (e.g., $20k–$40k/year). The "Honeypot" Reality: Many of the "women" users were reportedly AI chatbots deployed by Root to interact with and extract information from the men on the site. 4. Political Hypocrisy The leak of over 8,000 profiles forced a public reckoning for several individuals in positions of power who maintained secret extremist associations. UK Politicians: A Conservative councillor in Glastonbury was suspended after her profile, which identified her as "pro-white," was found in the database. A Reform UK councillor was also linked to the leak through an email address and username used on the platform. 5. The Paradox of Tolerance Regarding hacktivism: the "Paradox of Tolerance" suggests that to maintain a tolerant society, one must be intolerant of those who seek to destroy tolerance through hate. Root argued that when elected officials join such spaces, it ceases to be a private matter and becomes a matter of public accountability.
January 14, 2026 at 9:40 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
The explicit exposure of the motivations, demographics, and ideologies of extremist communities that often try to cloak themselves in more palatable language. The hacktivist known as Martha Root effectively performed this exposure by dismantling a network of white supremacist websites—specifically WhiteDate, WhiteChild, and WhiteDeal—during a live presentation at the Chaos Communication Congress (CCC) in Hamburg. 1. The "Master Race" Fallacy The irony of an ideology claiming genetic and intellectual superiority while failing at basic digital security. Root highlighted that the "master race" failed to secure its own infrastructure, noting that the security was so poor it would "make even your grandma’s AOL account blush". Technical Incompetence: The site was breached using an incredibly simple method: adding "/download-all-users/" to the end of the URL, which allowed Root to download the entire database without authentication. Opsec Failures: Users often uploaded photos that contained precise geolocation metadata, essentially sharing their home addresses alongside their "awkward selfies". 2. The Myth of the "Dating Site" While the platforms were marketed as niche dating apps for "white people," the investigation exposed that they were actually ideological networks using dating mechanics to facilitate radicalization. Eugenics and Hate: The purpose was not just romance but the promotion of eugenics, "white extinction" theories, and National Socialism. Content: The sites shared links to "pro-white" films like The Birth of a Nation and catalogs of books written by Adolf Hitler and other Nazis.
January 14, 2026 at 9:38 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
National-level internet infrastructure is fundamentally a kill-switch that allows a government to effectively "erase" a population of 90 million people from the digital world in a matter of hours. Regarding workarounds, the reality is that current decentralized alternatives are largely inadequate against a determined state power. The Fragility of Mesh Networks: While tools like Meshtastic are useful for local communication between activists or families, they are trivial to disrupt via Denial of Service (DoS) attacks and cannot easily facilitate communication outside of a single city. Infrastructure Barriers: Setting up independent antenna arrays to bypass state-controlled lines is a "huge project" that is prohibitively difficult for hobbyists and likely requires the funding and organization of a well-resourced minority faction or external entity. Corporate Complicity: Even if users have the right apps, centralized tech entities can be leveraged by governments to shut down services at any moment, as seen with Apple’s actions in Hong Kong. The Satellite "Endgame": Because terrestrial internet is so easily "switched off," satellites represent the only true endgame for maintaining connectivity in a closed environment. Despite the existence of a "data mesh" intended to reduce the impact of Disconnected, Down-intermittent, and Limited (DDIL) environments, a nation can still be forced into 118 hours of total silence.
January 14, 2026 at 7:06 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
The unprecedented erosion of privacy in exchange for the convenience of AI "Personal Intelligence." Total Surveillance for Convenience: To function as a "personal assistant," Gemini requires access to your most intimate digital records, including YouTube history, Google Photos, and search history. One user questioned if a marketing example - where Gemini suggested tires by referencing family road trips found in private Google Photos - was actually a "parody" because of how invasive it seemed. Monetization of Personal Context: Despite the "personal" nature of this intelligence, Google is already planning to bring ads to Gemini in 2026, marking the first time they have discussed monetizing the chatbot directly with advertisers. Forced Adoption through "Opt-Out" Models: Rather than waiting for users to choose these tools, Google is "unleashing" Gemini features on Gmail, where users are forced to manually opt out if they do not want to participate. Similarly, Gemini learns from user chats by default unless specifically told not to. "Personal Intelligence" is a trade: users give up the privacy of their life's history (Photos, Search, and History) so that an AI - which will eventually serve ads and replace human jobs - can tell them what tires to buy.
January 14, 2026 at 6:53 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
Gemini’s new Personal Intelligence feature is that the AI is now actively mining your private digital history—including YouTube history, Google Search history, and Google Photos—to create a hyper-personalized profile. While Google frames this as a leap in convenience, some users find the depth of this integration so intrusive that they question if the marketing examples are a "parody". Key insights into this transition include: Total Data Integration: Gemini can now cross-reference disparate parts of your life, such as suggesting specific tire options for your car by referencing family road trips it found in your Google Photos. It can also tailor recommendations, like books, based on videos you watched in your YouTube history. The Privacy Trade-off for Paid Tiers: Currently, this deep level of personal context is a "beta feature" restricted to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in the U.S.. This creates a dynamic where users are paying for a premium subscription to grant the AI deeper access to their personal data. The Workspace Disconnect: Despite the potential productivity benefits, this feature is explicitly not available for Workspace business, enterprise, or education users. Some users have labeled this exclusion and the general product planning as "pathetic," noting that consumer accounts have access to personal context that professional users do not. Skepticism vs. Hype: While some users claim the model is the "best to chat with now," others remain cynical, with discussions in community forums ranging from "Gemini is Bullshit" to highlighting its inclusion in subreddits dedicated to "unintentionally hilarious and terrible" AI failures. "Personal Intelligence" is less about a new form of reasoning and more about leveraging personal context—the "intelligence" that people naturally have in their own minds—by giving the AI permission to look through your private files.
January 14, 2026 at 6:34 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
Scott Adams transitioned from a celebrated corporate satirist to a polarizing figure who openly voiced prejudiced and controversial views he had previously kept hidden. While his early work with Dilbert was praised for providing a "shared language" for the unspoken frustrations of office life, his later years were defined by an unfiltered articulation of personal and political grievances. * Racial Segregation and Grievance: In 2023, Adams sparked widespread condemnation by explicitly advising white people to "get the hell away from Black people," labeling Black Americans a "hate group". Sources suggest these views may have been rooted in long-standing resentment from the 1980s, when Adams believed he was denied corporate promotions because he was a white man. * Gender and Social Dynamics: Adams expressed deeply troubling views on women and social violence, including a claim that he used hypnotism as a "Jedi mind trick" to sleep with women. He also once remarked that if his access to women (which he referred to as "hugging") were removed, he would likely "sign up for suicide bomb duty". * Views on Violence: Following a 2022 mass shooting, he opined that parents of troubled teenage boys are left with only two choices: "to either watch people die or murder their own son". * Calculated Faith: Regarding his religious conversion, Adams announced he was converting to Christianity based on a "risk-reward calculation" (Pascal's Wager) rather than sincere belief, admitting he was "not a believer" but found the potential payoff of entering heaven attractive. Explanations for this "Unfiltered" Descent There are several theories for why Adams chose to voice these thoughts so publicly: * "Hill Climbing" Controversy: Some speculate that as the popularity of newspaper comics faded, Adams used provocative statements to generate traffic and engagement. * Isolation and Echo Chambers: Others suggest that as he aged and became "terminally online," he lost interest in social conformity a…
January 13, 2026 at 10:35 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
Scott Adams transitioned from a celebrated corporate satirist to a polarizing figure who openly voiced prejudiced and controversial views he had previously kept hidden. While his early work with Dilbert was praised for providing a "shared language" for the unspoken frustrations of office life, his later years were defined by an unfiltered articulation of personal and political grievances. * Racial Segregation and Grievance: In 2023, Adams sparked widespread condemnation by explicitly advising white people to "get the hell away from Black people," labeling Black Americans a "hate group". Sources suggest these views may have been rooted in long-standing resentment from the 1980s, when Adams believed he was denied corporate promotions because he was a white man. * Gender and Social Dynamics: Adams expressed deeply troubling views on women and social violence, including a claim that he used hypnotism as a "Jedi mind trick" to sleep with women. He also once remarked that if his access to women (which he referred to as "hugging") were removed, he would likely "sign up for suicide bomb duty". * Views on Violence: Following a 2022 mass shooting, he opined that parents of troubled teenage boys are left with only two choices: "to either watch people die or murder their own son". * Calculated Faith: Regarding his religious conversion, Adams announced he was converting to Christianity based on a "risk-reward calculation" (Pascal's Wager) rather than sincere belief, admitting he was "not a believer" but found the potential payoff of entering heaven attractive. Explanations for this "Unfiltered" Descent There are several theories for why Adams chose to voice these thoughts so publicly: * "Hill Climbing" Controversy: Some speculate that as the popularity of newspaper comics faded, Adams used provocative statements to generate traffic and engagement. * Isolation and Echo Chambers: Others suggest that as he aged and became "terminally online," he lost interest in social conformity a…
January 13, 2026 at 10:31 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
4. Your Subconscious Reactions are Being Monetized The "frontier of brand engagement" now includes tracking your involuntary physical responses. Sophisticated sensors can measure cardiac rhythms, brain waves, and eye movements to gauge your emotional response to an advertisement in real-time. This allows companies to "read the room" and adjust digital displays to manipulate your "subconscious biological reactions" for better conversion rates. 5. Automated Discrimination and "Digital Stop-and-Frisk" The quiet reality of these AI systems is that they are frequently biased and inaccurate, particularly regarding women and people of color. The FTC's recent five-year ban on Rite Aid’s facial recognition use highlights how these systems can lead to "embarrassment, harassment, and other harm" when false positive alerts cause employees to wrongly accuse innocent shoppers of misconduct. 6. The Rise of "Anti-Surveillance" Warfare Because the technology is becoming so pervasive, a new industry of "adversarial fashion" has emerged. This includes: IR-Blasting Hats: Wearable tech that floods cameras with infrared light, turning your face into a "bright white blur" that is invisible to humans but blinding to AI. CV Dazzle: Makeup and hairstyles specifically designed to "break the mathematical algorithms" of facial recognition. Stealth Clothing: High-end brands like Cap_able sell patterns for up to $740 that make the wearer unrecognizable to AI systems.
January 13, 2026 at 6:26 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
Biometric surveillance is not primarily about stopping shoplifting; it is about transforming your biological identity into a high-yield asset for profit maximization and total behavioral control. While companies like Wegmans claim these systems are used "solely to keep stores secure," the underlying reality is a shift toward a "dystopian" landscape where your data is the product. 1. The "Security" Narrative is a Trojan Horse for Individualized Pricing While retailers publicly cite "asset protection" as the reason for facial recognition, researchers and critics argue the ultimate goal is individualized pricing. Instead of a standard price tag, stores seek to identify you via biometrics, analyze your shopping history and demographics, and then charge you the maximum amount you are personally willing to tolerate at the cash register. This turns a routine grocery trip into a "high-stakes negotiation" where the store has all your data, and you have none of theirs. 2. Biometrics Are the Ultimate "Unchangeable Password" Retailers treat biometric data like any other data point, but the quiet truth is that it is a permanent, immutable identifier. If a credit card or password is leaked in a hack, you can reset it; however, if your facial geometry or palm signature is compromised, you cannot get a new face or a new hand. This creates a permanent risk for consumers that companies are currently ill-equipped to rectify. 3. "Consent" is Often an Illusion or a Coerced Exchange Retailers argue that shoppers "consent" by entering the store after seeing a sign. However, the sources suggest this is a "value-exchange" where consumers are essentially forced to trade their privacy for basic necessities like food. As one shopper noted, providing this information should not be a "requirement of buying fucking groceries". Furthermore, many of these signs are "subtle or easy to miss," meaning most people are being scanned without ever realizing it.
January 13, 2026 at 6:25 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
3. Fire Codes are Obstacles to Profit PureGym treats New York City’s fire codes - which were "written in FDNY blood" - as barriers to be "disrupted" rather than essential safety measures. The company has proven willing to risk a "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory NYC 1911 Fire" scenario - where people are trapped by locked or impeded exits - rather than pay for a staff member to ensure an emergency door remains clear. Members have even been instructed that if they get stuck during a failure, they must manually pry the doors open to escape. 4. Security Theater and Discrimination The pods are a form of "overboard security theater" designed to catch the few "freeloaders" trying to sneak into a $20 membership, even if it means detaining paying members whose phones have died. Furthermore, the system prioritizes the "pod ritual" over legal accessibility; staff reportedly require members to provide a "doctor’s note" just to use the accessible ADA door, essentially filtering for "worthy" members who can navigate the "skinny" and "claustrophobic" tubes. 5. Intentional Dehumanization The sources suggest that PureGym views the frustration and "cattle-like" treatment of its members as an acceptable trade-off for its automated business model. This results in an "enshittification" cycle where cleanliness and maintenance decline because there are no longer enough cleaners or trainers on the floor to maintain order. Members are left to navigate a potential deathtrap alone as long as the company can continue to collect their monthly fees and data.
January 13, 2026 at 4:36 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
PureGym’s (formerly Blink Fitness) scan-to-exit pods are designed to prioritize labor cost elimination and data harvesting over human safety and user dignity. While the company's public narrative about them is that the pods are providing "enhanced security" and "24/7 access," this serves as a sanitizing mask for a raw prioritization of profit margins and extreme labor reduction. 1. Human Staff are an "Expense" to be Eliminated The underlying goal of replacing front-desk workers with "human hamster tubes" is the elimination of the human workforce to achieve a "wet dream for corporate overloads." By reducing operating costs to near zero through a completely unstaffed model, the company avoids paying even a minimum wage for a physical presence. This shift creates a "soulless" environment where no one is on-site to handle emergencies like assaults or heart attacks. 2. Members are Data Points for Harvesting The requirement to scan a QR code to exit the building—a practice the FDNY states should be unnecessary—is primarily for collecting accurate "time utilization" data. The gym is not locking you in for your safety; they are tracking exactly how long you stay and your demographic habits to boost their business analytics. This turns the simple act of leaving into a "ritual" where members must queue like they are at "TSA PreCheck" just to exit a budget gym.
January 13, 2026 at 4:35 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
Apple has effectively admitted a major failure in internal innovation while prioritizing a lucrative financial relationship over its own branding regarding user privacy. 1. Apple Failed to Innovate in AI The most glaring subtext is that Apple, the world's most valuable tech company, missed the boat on the AI revolution and could not develop its own competitive Large Language Model (LLM) in time. Apple "messed up" and "failed big time," ultimately being forced to pay a competitor for services they could not build themselves. This partnership indicates that the next generation of "Apple Foundation Models" will actually be built on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology, rather than Apple's own proprietary tech. 2. Privacy is a Marketing Tool, Not an Absolute While Apple continues to promise "industry-leading privacy standards" and the use of "Private Cloud Compute," the "quiet part" is the inherent contradiction in partnering with a company "known to spy on all user interactions". The Conflict: Users expressed that they feel Apple is "selling our privacy out to Google" because it is difficult to see how Google won't eventually gain access to phone data if its models are integrated so deeply into the OS. The Incentive: One user pointed out the massive financial incentive: Apple receives a $20 billion check every year from Google just to keep them as the default search engine. This suggests the partnership is driven more by a multi-billion dollar business alliance than by a commitment to the best possible user experience or privacy. 3. Siri was a "Disaster" That Needed a Bailout Siri has been a failure for years. Apple is leveraging Google’s technology to power a "more personalized Siri" because the previous versions lacked "personal context" and "on-screen awareness". For power users, the "ALL NEW Siri" being marketed as "Siri for pros" is seen as a desperate attempt to fix a product that many users had already "turned off" or labeled a "disaster". 4. Apple is Bec…
January 12, 2026 at 9:14 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
The "Personal Semantic Index" A key technical concept behind the revamped Siri is the Personal Semantic Index, which functions as an "information graph" of a user’s entire digital life. Deep Integration: Unlike a simple chatbot, this model will be able to query a user's emails, messages, photos, calendar, and third-party app data (via "App Intents") to perform complex tasks, such as tracking a mother's flight based on info in Mail. The Moat: While Google has the models, Apple's advantage is having all this personal data in one place, whereas Google’s data is often fragmented across separate services like Drive and Gmail. Privacy "Theater" vs. Private Cloud Compute A major point of contention is whether this deal compromises user privacy. Apple's Defense: Apple maintains that Gemini will run on Private Cloud Compute (PCC), meaning the models will be hosted on Apple’s own servers, and Google will reportedly have no access to user data. The Skeptics: Critics describe this as "Apple's privacy theater," arguing that partnering with a "tracking hound" like Google is fundamentally at odds with Apple's brand. Some users are so concerned they have vowed to disable Siri entirely once the update launches. Memorable Quotes and Comparisons The Historical Parallel: Many observers compare this deal to the early iPhone era when Google Maps was the default. One user noted, "Alex, I'll take 'Headlines one never would have read under Steve Jobs' for $2 Trillion". Management Critique: One source suggested Apple management has become an "out-of-control herd of cats with no clear strategy," leading to this reliance on an external provider. The Commodity Argument: Some experts argue this is a "smart move," as it allows Apple to avoid burning "10 years of cash flow" on training costs while maintaining the high-margin user relationship. Projected Launch The Gemini-powered Siri is expected to debut with iOS 26.4, likely seeing a public release in March or April.
January 12, 2026 at 9:03 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
4. The iPhone as a "Dumb Terminal" Apple is pivoting from being an innovator of core intelligence to a "premium 'last mile' delivery network" for someone else’s technology. Rather than owning the intelligence, Apple is optimizing the hardware to run distilled versions of Google’s models. This turns the iPhone into a high-end terminal for Google's services, a move some compared to the "Maps all over again" scenario, where Apple initially relied on Google before a disastrous attempt to go independent. 5. Admission of Siri's Decade of Failure By replacing Siri's backend with Gemini, Apple is tacitly admitting that Siri has been "in a state of disrepair" for over a decade. Despite being one of the first assistants on the market, it is frequently described as "utterly awful," an "abomination," and "hilariously bad". Apple could not fix Siri's core functionality—like playing an album or setting a reliable timer—using its own technology, even after 15 years of development. In essence, the partnership is a "brain transplant" performed out of necessity, proving that even with a trillion-dollar valuation, Apple cannot buy its way out of a decade of software stagnation without the help of its "mortal enemy".
January 12, 2026 at 8:53 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
Apple has effectively admitted defeat in the generative AI race and is now forced to "rent the brains" of its biggest competitor to save its most failing product. While the official statement frames the partnership as a "careful evaluation" of the "most capable foundation,"l several uncomfortable truths are behind the corporate rhetoric: 1. Internal Incompetence and Mismanagement Apple’s decision to use Google Gemini is an explicit acknowledgement of internal failure. Commenters note that Apple wasted years and billions on the "Vapour Car project" while missing the AI revolution, leading to a "spectacular failure in project management". Critics argue that Apple lacks the talent, culture, and compute infrastructure required to train a state-of-the-art (SOTA) model, making them "rudderless" without outside help. One source bluntly states that the company simply "isn't capable" of building a competitive Large Language Model (LLM) itself. 2. The "Privacy Theater" Compromise For years, Apple has used privacy as a primary marketing differentiator against Google. However, by powering Siri with Gemini, Apple is partnering with a company described as a "tracking hound" and a "privacy rapist". While Apple claims these models will run on their "Private Cloud Compute," skeptics describe this as "privacy theater" - a way to wrap Google’s data-hungry "brain" in a clean Apple-branded shell. Apple is willing to risk its core brand promise of privacy because Siri has become so "stupendously dumb" that they have no other choice to remain competitive. 3. A Duopoly to Stifle Competition The partnership is seen as a strategic move to maintain the status quo and block AI startups like OpenAI, Anthropic, or Perplexity from gaining a foothold on the world's most valuable mobile real-line. By teaming up, the two mobile OS giants are creating a "new search deal" for the AI era, essentially ensuring that even when Apple "fails" to innovate, it can use its platform power to "win-by-outsourcing…
January 12, 2026 at 8:47 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
The "New" Siri Experience Personalized Intelligence: The revamped Siri is expected to launch with iOS 26.4 around March or April. It will feature "on-screen awareness" and "personal context," allowing it to perform actions like finding a mother's flight information based on details from Mail and Messages. Orchestration Layer: A key "moat" for Apple is its Personal Semantic Index and App Intent Layer. This allows Siri to chain actions across first- and third-party apps—for example, querying a flight in a third-party travel app and then routing the user there in Maps. White Labeling: Unlike the previous ChatGPT integration, which felt like an opt-in extension, Gemini will be deeply integrated as the "engine" under the hood. Competitive and Legal Implications Antitrust Concerns: Critics argue this deal reinforces a duopoly between Apple and Google in the mobile OS market, potentially stifling competition from smaller AI labs like OpenAI or Anthropic. The "Maps" Precedent: Many observers compare this to the early days of the iPhone when Google Maps was the default provider. Some speculate this is a stopgap measure while Apple continues to refine its own in-house cloud models. OpenAI's Setback: This move is seen as a blow to OpenAI, which had previously been the primary partner for Apple Intelligence. Some sources suggest OpenAI may have lacked the necessary compute scale to satisfy Apple’s requirements. Community Sentiment Frustration with "Old" Siri: There is a broad consensus that current Siri is "objectively bad" and has regressed over the years, with users citing its inability to handle basic tasks like playing a specific album or setting simple timers without error. Privacy Skepticism: Despite the PCC safeguards, many users remain wary of any collaboration with Google, citing Google's history as a "tracking hound".
January 12, 2026 at 8:38 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
In a significant strategic shift, Apple has officially confirmed that Google Gemini will power the next-generation version of Siri, slated for release later this year. This partnership, described by Apple as a "multi-year collaboration," marks a departure from Apple's typical "Not-Invented-Here" philosophy and positions Google as the foundational engine for future Apple Intelligence features. Strategic Rationale and Financials The "Most Capable Foundation": Apple determined that Google’s technology offers the strongest foundation for its models, largely because Gemini’s large language model is significantly larger than Apple’s own proprietary models. The $1 Billion Deal: While not explicitly detailed in the press release, reports indicate that Apple is paying Google approximately $1 billion per year for this custom version of Gemini. Avoidance of Capex: Experts suggest Apple is pivoting to become a premium "last mile" delivery network for intelligence. By leasing Gemini, Apple avoids the massive capital expenditures (estimated in the billions) required to train "frontier" models from scratch, allowing Google to shoulder the power and hardware costs. Shift in Market Power: Following the news, Google's market value reportedly surpassed Apple's for the first time since 2019, touching $4 trillion. Privacy and Technical Implementation Private Cloud Compute (PCC): To maintain its privacy standards, Apple will run Gemini on its own Private Cloud Compute servers and on-device. Users generally won't be sending their data directly to Google’s servers; instead, the model runs within Apple's infrastructure. On-Device vs. Cloud: Simpler tasks will continue to be handled on-device to maximize privacy and speed, while more complex queries will be routed to the Gemini-powered cloud. Hardware Efficiency: Google’s TPUs (Tensor Processing Units) are noted as a major competitive advantage, providing highly efficient inference that helps lower the cost of running such massive models.
January 12, 2026 at 8:35 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
@craignewmark.bsky.social "There is a grim acknowledgement that Craigslist's survival depends entirely on its leadership remaining "uncorruptible" until they die."
3. The "Free" Internet is Dying Behind a Paywall Though praised for being a "free" service, users point out that Craigslist’s decision to start charging for certain posts (like cars and job gigs) significantly damaged its ecosystem. Charging for listings—such as $50 for a service ad—has made the site "pretty much useless" for many small providers, leaving only the most expensive options. Some users argue the site "died when they started charging" because it drove away the casual, "honest" traffic that made the "old internet" feel alive. 4. It is a "Powerhouse" in Sharp Decline While the site remains enormously profitable due to its tiny staff of roughly 50 people, the "quiet part" is its plummeting revenue. Estimated revenue dropped from $1 billion in 2018 to roughly $300 million in 2024. Critics suggest that the current user base is "dying off" and that no one in their 30s knows what the site is, implying that the business model may not survive the next generation. 5. Innovation is Now a Threat The site's refusal to change is its biggest selling point, but it also makes it increasingly fragile. Devotees worry that if the site ever tries to "innovate" or "go AI," it will lose its last remaining reason to exist. There is a grim acknowledgement that the site’s survival depends entirely on its leadership remaining "uncorruptible" until they die.
January 9, 2026 at 7:31 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
@craignewmark.bsky.social "the real freaks come out on Craigslist"; philosophical purity rarely wins against convenience; the "Facebook Marketplace paradox".
Craigslist’s status as a utopian, "ungentrified" relic means that its purity often translates into a lack of utility and safety for the average modern user. While tech enthusiasts celebrate its rejection of algorithms, many everyday users have quietly abandoned it because the very features it lacks - vetting, accountability, and a massive user base - are exactly what they need to get things done. 1. The "Purity" is Code for "Sketchy" While fans call the site "earnest," others admit that "the real freaks come out on Craigslist". The site’s refusal to implement public profiles or rating systems has left it with a persistent stigma of being a haven for scammers, "sketchy" characters, and even serial killers. For many, the lack of a "hidden toll" of data means there is also no "safety net" for verification. 2. We Hate Facebook, But We Use It Anyway The most uncomfortable truth found in user discussions is the "Facebook Marketplace paradox". Users frequently state they "hate social media" and "enshittification," yet they admit that Facebook Marketplace is "straight up easier to use" and has far more listings and responses. On Craigslist, buyers often find that sellers simply don't respond to inquiries. In many regions, Craigslist is described as "not as busy as it once was," with listings being less than half as active as they were 15 years ago. philosophical purity rarely wins against convenience.
January 9, 2026 at 7:29 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
2020 Academy of American Poets Prize
On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs by Renée Nicole Macklin i want back my rocking chairs, solipsist sunsets, & coastal jungle sounds that are tercets from cicadas and pentameter from the hairy legs of cockroaches. i’ve donated bibles to thrift stores (mashed them in plastic trash bags with an acidic himalayan salt lamp— the post-baptism bibles, the ones plucked from street corners from the meaty hands of zealots, the dumbed-down, easy-to-read, parasitic kind): remember more the slick rubber smell of high gloss biology textbook pictures; they burned the hairs inside my nostrils, & salt & ink that rubbed off on my palms. under clippings of the moon at two forty five AM I study&repeat ribosome endoplasmic— lactic acid stamen at the IHOP on the corner of powers and stetson hills— i repeated & scribbled until it picked its way & stagnated somewhere i can’t point to anymore, maybe my gut— maybe there in-between my pancreas & large intestine is the piddly brook of my soul. it’s the ruler by which i reduce all things now; hard-edged & splintering from knowledge that used to sit, a cloth against fevered forehead. can i let them both be? this fickle faith and this college science that heckles from the back of the classroom now i can’t believe— that the bible and qur’an and bhagavad gita are sliding long hairs behind my ear like mom used to & exhaling from their mouths “make room for wonder”— all my understanding dribbles down the chin onto the chest & is summarized as: life is merely to ovum and sperm and where those two meet and how often and how well and what dies there.
January 9, 2026 at 5:56 PM
adh0c.bsky.social
January 9, 2026 at 5:41 PM