#consumer-tech

[reasonsforhope]

"The California state government has passed a landmark law that obligates technology companies to provide parts and manuals for repairing smartphones for seven years after their market release.

Senate Bill 244 passed 65-0 in the Assembly, and 38-0 in the Senate, and made California, the seat of so much of American technological hardware and software, the third state in the union to pass this so-called “right to repair” legislation.

On a more granular level, the bill guarantees consumers’ rights to replacement parts for three years’ time in the case of devices costing between $50 and $99, and seven years in the case of devices costing more than $100, with the bill retroactively affecting devices made and sold in 2021.

Similar laws have been passed in Minnesota and New York, but none with such a long-term period as California.

“Accessible, affordable, widely available repair benefits everyone,” said Kyle Wiens, the CEO of advocacy group iFixit, in a statement. “We’re especially thrilled to see this bill pass in the state where iFixit is headquartered, which also happens to be Big Tech’s backyard. Since Right to Repair can pass here, expect it to be on its way to a backyard near you.” ...

One of the reasons Wiens is cheering this on is because large manufacturers, from John Deere to Apple, have previously lobbied heavily against right-to-repair legislation for two reasons. One, it allows them to corner the repair and maintenance markets, and two, it [allegedly] protects their intellectual property and trade secrets from knock-offs or competition.

However, a byproduct of the difficulty of repairing modern electronics is that most people just throw them away.

...Wien added in the statement that he believes the California bill is a watershed that will cause a landslide of this legislation to come in the near future."

-via Good News Network, October 16, 2023

[wrenkenstein]

oughhhh juno and tech staring at each other which was really me studying side profiles,, and then i was like wow i actually want these two stem nerds to kiss so bad

[dyrdeer]

I'm so happy that tech companies without anyone asking got rid of headphone jacks so that I can only play music through my car speakers via Bluetooth. A thing that notoriously works 100% of the time (hint it never has worked for me in 10 years of owning a phone. That technology FUCKING sucks and they got rid of something that Bluetooth isn't HALF as good or reliable as)

[endcant]

i'm curious what the opinion of my followers and my followers' followers etc. are, so feel free to rb

[puppetmaster13u]

I just had a thought, fueled by the fact I have a fever probably.

Bruce, Batman, is very mom-coded.

Tony, Iron Man, is very dad-coded.

They should platonically co-parent.

[garfieldstim]

can I please have a stimboard for the Maelstrom gang in Cyberpunk 2077??

maelstrom gang(cyberpunk 2077) stimboard for anon

x x x / x - x / x x x

[briika-mereel]

The two types of reactions to tbb finale directly correlating to the two stances on Tech being alive or dead is both fascinating and somehow unsurprising, meanwhile I'm just over here glad no one else is dead.

[tending-the-hearth]

no bc phee really is literally the perfect partner for tech and he's the perfect partner for her bc they're both complete nerds in their own way who will 100% boost and influence each other's nerdiness and geek out just as much

like tech will absolutely be just as excited over a random ancient artifact that phee finds as she will be over a new algorithm that he discovers, they are meant for each other please

[desultory-novice]

"Damnation"

-

You swore to protect her... How could you do this to her...? 

-

It had become so easy to secure them food. Shelter. Safety. Perhaps Noir should have been more wary of the control he was gaining over the sword. If he ever had any at all...

-

[Apologies AU]  “Apologies”  “One Sneeze”  “Summer”  “A Walk in the Snow”  “The Swordsman” “Wonderful Gift” "Damnation" [You Are Here] "Salvation" "Unstoppable" "Brightest Star"

[Bonus Illust] “Ugly Scarf”  [Bonus Illust] "That's...Funny..." [Bonus Illust] "Full Regalia" (DMS "Gijinka") [Bonus Illust] "Was I A Good Brother?" [Relevant] “Vestige” (script-only)

[Bonus Text] Noir Facts!

[Dark Matter Painter AU] "It wasn't supposed to go this way...!" "You're a good knight!" "The Body Remembers"

I'm not going to lie, this part was SO hard in so many different ways that I almost threw in the towel on this whole project. ^^;

Anyway, I've been working on this part for so long I'm not sure how well any of it reads but Noir, after discovering his veins are turning an inky black and that the control gear has now fused itself around his neck and that his own sword cut him when he tried to pry it off with a knife goes to threaten an ex-New World scientist (one of many who did not escape the project "intact" ie: sane) for answers.

Answers he didn't want to hear...

That's him teleporting out at the end there, btw. Noir has recently gained even more powers from his artifact. Y'know, in exchange for having his body and soul eaten alive. Fair trade...?

[humanoidhistory]

AT&T’s VideoPhone 2500 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, 1993.

[shitpostingkats]

I don't know if it's intentional; but it is genuinely saddening that Yusho is a better dueltainer than his son.

I'm in the home stretch of Arc-V episodes, and now that we actually get to see Yusho duel it's obvious that he's just more... entertaining than Yuya. He's got this fun "silly uncle who pretends to pull a quarter from behind your ear" charm, much better charisma, and wears the morals he preaches far more naturally than Yuya, in places where pacifism makes sense, instead of some of Yuya's duels where it just felt like naivety. He just makes the whole ringmaster shtick feel more natural, and totally an extension of his character.

Idk, Yusho showing up and being active in the plot just drives home how desperately borrowed Yuya's aesthetic is.

[mittensmorgul]

There’s another post going around about this, but tumblr won’t let me reblog it but...

When I read a story written by a human being, I’m not just reading it because I want to read a coffee shop AU with a specific plot description. I’m reading it because it’s making a connection to another human storyteller and seeing a piece of them carved into the words. Storytelling is a human act of sharing joy, angst, tension, resolution, satisfaction. It’s an act of love.

Writing and reading a story isn’t just an act of creation and consumption. I hate that commercialism and AI are reducing it to that sort of transaction. Like oh, you need words on this subject and that’s the end of it. Like what we really needed was just a vending machine we can push buttons on to get a fix, as if the human creating the story wasn’t a factor. That the author’s life experience and views and feelings haven’t infused the words with their own unique touches.

I’ve read hundreds of coffee shop AU’s over the years (and thousands of fics in general). I’ve seen many similar tropes reused across stories, and just like an AI would, I’ve learned things about writing them that I will always carry with me. But unlike an AI, a human author is not just the sum total of coffee shop AU’s we’ve consumed. Even if we used the same prompt, the same sets of tropes, the same characters. I will always choose the human-crafted story over the computer generated one.

Because again, I’m not just looking for a very specific fix via a series of words. I’m looking for a human connection through story.

Unlike an AI, I have BEEN to a coffee shop. I’ve had experiences in coffee shops. I’ve had funny little meet-cutes with people. I’ve accidentally spilled coffee on myself and knocked heads with someone as we both rushed to wipe it up. I know what it FEELS like. The machine doesn’t.

I’ve also read millions of things that aren’t fanfic, or coffee shop AU’s. I’ve experienced things OTHER than going to coffee shops and having meet-cutes. And I know what all those things feel like when processed through my personal human lens of experience, which is different from every other personal human lens of experience.

All the machine can do is spit out what it THINKS a human experience is, and I honestly don’t care about that at all. Fic is not a “product” to be “generated.” It’s an art form that connects us to other people who share the same love of a thing that we do.

People who, even when all writing the same characters in the same setting to the exact same prompt, will all add something or have a viewpoint about something or bring a completely different personality and life experience to the story that no one else on the planet could. That’s what I’m actually reading.

[yes-armageddon-it]

[talesfrommedinastation]

How the Bad Batch got white-washed: a script

(Don't know if this is how it actually happened, but it's my personal theory that came out after some wiiiild discussions on Discord. I don't believe this actually happened, but I do think liberties were taken to secure audience members and ratings. Enjoy, my little crumpets!)

CW: Everything. Just...at this point, in between fics and art filled with violence and Naughty Times and Doug's irrational ramblings about Toaster Strudel and SEC football, you should probably leave if you're under 18.

-----

(Be Star Wars animation studio, probably Florida, who knows)

Studio Executive: Yo, animator, we got a problem here.

Animator: Yes?

Studio Executive: These clones, the new guys in this new show, 'The Bad Batch'…they all look alike. All bronzed, good looking guys with dark hair and thick shoulders. 

Animator: Yes, that’s, um, kind of what clones are, sir? They are genetic duplicates of an indigenous actor from New Zealand. 

Studio Executive: That’s the problem.

Animator: Say what?

Studio Executive: Who is watching this damn show? Who is paying for Disney + subscriptions? Who is our main money-making audience here?

Animator: Um, I guess…families? And, uh, lonely single adults?

Studio Executive: EXACTLY. And you know what is declining, besides civility in an ever-crumbling society? 

Animator: What?

Studio Executive: THE BIRTH RATE.

Animator: Uh, actually--

Studio Executive: YOU KNOW IT, I KNOW IT, THE WORLD KNOWS IT. DAMN GREAT RECESSION AND PANDEMIC AND CRUSHING REALITY GETTING MILLENIALS ALL (legitimately) SCARED OF HAVING BABIES. WE NEED MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE TO START BREEDING LIKE RABBITS IF WE WANT TO HAVE A STEADY POPULATION OF AUDIENCE CONSUMERS OF DISNEY PRODUCTS.

Animator: Well, that seems aggressively eugenics-oriented, with a tinge of classism.

Studio Executive: WHATEVER I MAKE THE BIG BUCKS SHUT YOUR ART SCHOOL MOUTH. Now, redesign those new clones!

Animator: To…what?

Studio Executive: First of all, the tech guy! What’s his name?

Animator: ….Tech. 

Studio Executive: WELL THAT SHIT’S EASY TO MARKET. Anywho, get rid of the tan and the muscles and the thick dark hair. No nerd looks like that, come on. Make him a skinny white guy with receding hair, slap some hipster glasses on him too. Actually, you know what? Meander your ass over to the accounting department on the second floor and draw a few of the weirdos conducting audits in there. Base the tech guy off of them, not a buff, golden, Maori man.

Animator: But the guys in accounting look NOTHING like Temuera Morrison! This is just wrong!

(pictured above: Not the average CPA in the USA. That rhymed)

Studio Executive: Bro, get real. Are these lonely single ladies and the exhausted moms watching this show with their kids going to run into Mr. Morrison while working their office job? You think Boba Fett’s tanned self sits at the corner cubicle and tries to hit on them when they go to the copier? What are you smoking?! And on that note, make that tech character sassy, smart, and nurturing! Make him the perfect guy!

Animator: Why? I am so confused.

("Wanna come look at some Excel spreadsheets with me, baby?")

Studio Executive: Because we want all the 30-something ladies watching this show to get so hot and bothered over Tech that they decide they need to have this clown’s babies, like, now! And they’ll run over to the accounting office, drunkenly hook up with one of the auditors in a broom closet after Thirsty Thursday, and boom! Another consumer born, 9 months later!

Animator: This is sounding astonishingly like eugenics.

Studio Executive: WHATEVER. Same goes for the other clones! Make that tall bald one look like the aggressively outgoing construction worker that’s laying cement outside of the accounting office! The one that always wolf-whistles and screams ‘Jesteś piękna! Beautiful like model!’ at every woman! The one that all the ladies in the office watch and go ‘Oh, yes, take that shirt off, it’s a hot day today, daddy’. Watching that fun guy on this show means those ladies with THROW THEMSELVES at guys like this! And bam! MORE CONSUMERS FOR DISNEY BORN. 

(Wrecker has raw contractor energy. ::lays pipe::)

Animator: I am not enjoying this conversation’s direction.

Studio Executive: CAN IT AND TAKE IT UP WITH HR. Now the leader, I know we’re going with Rambo, and I’m okay with it, but give him a little extra smolder and snatch that waist a bit. I want to go for a ‘hot waiter at Cooper’s Hawk that slips you his number after you tip him 40%’, vibe. 30-something ladies love Cooper’s Hawk, there’s been market research, do it. 

(He'll judge your love of pinot grigio, but not how you pay him, wink wink)

Animator: No.

Studio Executive: SHUT UP AND DO YOUR JOB. Now, the last two…bald, calm guy that always seems tired but is still constantly there for you? Basically, every exhausted Millennial man right now? Make him extra pale because he hasn’t left his condo since 2020 and his only social outlet is playing STEAM games with his other lonely friends. Perfect. Job well done. 

(He uses his scomp to play 'Dave the Diver'. You know he does)

Animator: Yeah, his name is Echo and he– 

Studio Executive: Good, make him like I said, and trust me, ladies will see men like him and want to fix them, and then promptly ride said men like it’s Derby Day. More consumers born, we will have a bumper crop of tickets purchased at Disneyworld and Galaxy's Edge within the next couple of years. Excellent. 

Animator: Sir, you are a sick, sick man. 

Studio Executive: Speaking of which, the last guy. Just make him Clint Eastwood. 

Animator:…Clint Eastwood. Isn’t he old as hell?

(Oh, Daddy Warcrimes, you and your toothpick are the Internet's Everything)

Studio Executive: Yeah, but, daddy issues abound amongst many of our consumer audience. And this is a show about daddy issues. And hopefully, by watching this, we will turn more people in daddies and KEEP OUR CONSUMER NUMBERS UP ON DISNEY +! 

Wait, where are you going?!

Animator: I’m resigning and joining the Peace Corps, I can’t do this anymore.

[pixelsjoy]

Me playing Tears of the Kingdom: As much as I miss the champions, it makes sense they're not mentioned much. It's been a hundred years since they died. Even if they survived the Calamity, most of them would probably be dead at this point. The only exception being Mipha, who would have been the only one that would still be alive if she survived the calamity due to her age. The reason they're still remembered so much in Breath of the Wild is because the Divine Beasts, one of the last remaining connections to them, are still active and looming in Hyrule. Impa also said that their spirits feel uneasy knowing their task of defeating the Calamity wasn't done. They were at peace when the Calamity was defeated and passed on. They're not brought up from that point on because them and their era are over and can be laid to rest.

Also me playing Tears of the Kingdom: - holding back tears - Damn I miss the champions

[aurosoulart]

the GREAT PATREON SMUSH

I was going to make an advertisement for this with bright colors and maybe animated sparkles but 1) I hate making ads and 2) we are all so exhausted by bright ads vying for our brain chemicals that I just don’t want to do that to you anymore!!!! I’m TIRED of things grabbing for my attention in an unending assault on my senses and I’m sure you are too!!!!!!!

if you’ve been doom-scrolling and need a break (a nice beverage, a stretch of the legs, etc.), take this as a sign to do so now. if you’ve got the energy for a little reading, though, and want to learn about my work - keep going!

ANYWAYS I’ll get to the point: ALL of my patreon benefits are now available to the lowest ($3) tier.

in fact, there ARE no other tiers anymore. they’re gone! scrunched! smunshed! stirred up all together into one big super tier soup of everything I offer now and will offer in the future!

everyone now gets:

over 100 4k desktop wallpapers

early access/wips

25% discounts on prints

livestream voice chat

art votes & art suggestions

commission slots

and access to the Art Grotto discord, a friendly and chill server with a small community of creative folks. we share art, writing, pets, memes, and also come up with fun art ideas together! 🌈

why am I smushing the tiers and giving up the higher pledge amounts?!

because capitalism sucks, we’re in a recession, and I’m lucky enough to have a full-time job that allows me to make art without being reliant on Patreon income. anyone who has sat in on one of my livestreams knows that I try to be a calming force in an often-chaotic world, and that I’m always looking for ways to make art more accessible to everyone. I want my Patreon to be a place where I can give back to those who are supporting me in this mission!

this tier smush is just the start of how I hope to transform this space! I have a bunch of fun ideas about stuff I want to do in the future, so keep an eye out for more announcements like this 👁

that’s all!!!! thank you if you’ve read this far, and here’s the link to the Patreon if any of this interested you!