Technological/practical "backward steps" we all just accept now

it's my area so, you know, there's more detail here – but the move from broadcast to streaming really has, is and is going to create a hell of a mess. 'glass to glass' as they like to say, all along the supply chain from the production lot to the screen/UI you view it on/with.

I was on the train down from Glasgow two days ago and I will just say that the transition from broadcast to IP has got a loooooooong way to go if my 4G connection was any indication

I'm so infuriated by the amount of software that requires specific email accounts + 2FA. I find myself trapped in verification loops all the time these days. I can't even remember the names of the ad hoc gmail accounts I create, or which services count as Microsoft. Yesterday I couldn't open a fucking .doc on my new burner phone. What used to be free open source software are now want you to register and will shower you with full-page ads before you can open a bloody pdf. My antivirus thinks it can do its daily promotion on my desktop. I don't want notifications, I don't even want to have to click and say "block" on every single webpage. There was a sweet period between the pop-up era and what we have now, and I want it back.

xpost to TH

yeah, and i think despite the bullishness of many CEO/DG people, most people internally recognise there's a very very long tail of broadcast infra that's going to need to be maintained if you want to maintain reach (especially if that reach is in your public service remit).

The challenge will be in doing that when none of the money wants to look at broadcast.

Mainly my post was from a very 'annoyed consumer' pov, is that the UIs are just so unhelpful and inconsistent and often quite janky. content discovery generally has gone miles backwards since 'broadcaster editorial decisions and a copy of the radio times every week' or whatever imv. if you overlay the viewing experience, and for a viewer you expect your finding, selection and playing of content to be seamless because why wouldn't you, then it gets even worse, with spinning wheels and 'something went wrong' messages, with no easy way to tell where in the chain something has gone wrong (wifi? connectivity? ISP? streamer back-end?)

All of the specialty message apps are a pain in the ass. I suppose the point is that people don't necessarily want their emails or phone numbers being shared, but my kids have multiple different apps to communicate with for summer camps and school. My comic book club only communicates via discord which I and others forget to look at.

i'm not sure how my dad is going to cope with an ip-only future given that he has had sky for over 20 years and still can't set a recording.

i also hate the way it always defaults to highest possible bandwidth - i am happy with half-pal, stop spending my money.

TV.

Used to be, sound and pictures matched perfectly as they were part of the same broadcast stream.

Now, because stereo sound and hi Def pictures are separate things, quite often the sound lags. By fractions of seconds, but still...

https://bsky.app/profile/stcymsn.bsky.social/post/3k6wf6ywlpd2x

This post and the one it’s quoting (“everything is a scam”) have stayed with me & I think of it every time this thread is revived

It’s a shame doctorow’s twee sub-iannucci “enshittification” had already been adopted, we could have had a way to describe this that doesn’t sound specifically designed for ppl who say “drumpf”

And if you're in Ireland, because the new systems all "record" to the cloud instead of your individual box in your house, you can no longer record BBC programmes. Some of the cheap new systems here won't even let you pause it.

I can imagine a few criticisms of enshittification, but "twee" wasn't really on the list. I think it's up with with bullshit jobs in simplicity - I've never mentioned it to someone and they haven't instantly grasped it.

Ai is going to contribute so much to this thread...

xp, that's because most people understand it to mean "a thing on the internet that got worse", which is a capacious enough definition that anyone can get it, but is not what Doctorow means per the article that coined the word.

that said, I don't think his meaning is worth defending. I don't think there's much evidence that platforms have gotten worse because the goals of their owners have changed. but also it's not worth defending because it has that vile cockwomble/shitgibbon energy.

this is what happens almost every time someone coins a new phrase, to be fair

for sure. my point is "it's a useful word because people instantly understand what it denotes" is particularly suspect in this case.

well yes, but those are very few and far-between, it's really not a great word, but I cannot personally think of anything better to describe this phenomenon

fair

never sure what someone means by "this phenomenon" in this context (is it the same thing doctorow means, is it "the internet is worse", something else?), but i agree "people instantly understand what it denotes" is an unrealistically high bar for a new word.

Ai is going to contribute so much to this thread...

― m0stly clean (Slowsquatch)

this was written by an AI, right? this reads like it was written by an AI. it's really bad. particularly as a take on LGBTQ+ culture.

https://www.discogs.com/digs/music/ballroom-culture-madonna-vogue

if not i guess it should go in the "worst music writing" thread. i don't feel like AI "writing" counts for the purposes of that thread. only bad writing by humans should count. i like human bad writing better.

that's pretty hacky but no I don't think it's AI. here's what AI writing looks like:

https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-vogue-single-version-by-madonna/

I love that “old time music” website, making me think all these songs are being played by jug bands.

There’s an Italian version of that website which also looks AI generated:

https://oldtimemusic.com/it/significato-di-vogue-qsound-mix-di-madonna/