What I Spend
Re: What I Spend
A little peripheral to the thread, but the traditional entertainment media model came to its official end in 2023. Blockbuster films, big theatrical releases are not happening anymore. New technology/media aside, I was thinking about how it coincides with the disintegration of traditional work environments and the loss of water cooler pressure to have spent your weekend at the theatre watching the most recent blockbuster.
Re: What I Spend
The atomisation of the consumer is the final stage of consumerism prior to societal collapse.
Re: What I Spend
@loutfard - that's what I did for a long time. The TV lived in the basement for about 15 years, limited to streaming during workouts. I watched video on my phone or a tablet. I brought it upstairs recently - 42" at 1080p. My optometrist wanted me to stop looking close and down.
There's a lot of additional detail I was missing. I've chilled out on trying to live purposefully, and it's a good time. Especially when I'm supposed to be rest. I'd guess in the next 1-3 years, I go for a 4k setup with PS5 or some other hotness. Since my screen tethered career ended, the video game time also feels much less wasteful.
@Henry / @Chenda - I'm still finding strong media trends. 2023 theaters gave us the Barbie movie and Taylor Swift's concert. I found they offered a surprising amount of shared ground with others. Nintendo also dropped the latest Zelda and Mario games. I agree there's been a push out of the theater, but IMO the herd is thriving. The streaming services are the new currency, leading to people running 4-6 concurrent subscriptions. That's nuts to me, but I will happily binge one service over a month.
There's a lot of additional detail I was missing. I've chilled out on trying to live purposefully, and it's a good time. Especially when I'm supposed to be rest. I'd guess in the next 1-3 years, I go for a 4k setup with PS5 or some other hotness. Since my screen tethered career ended, the video game time also feels much less wasteful.
@Henry / @Chenda - I'm still finding strong media trends. 2023 theaters gave us the Barbie movie and Taylor Swift's concert. I found they offered a surprising amount of shared ground with others. Nintendo also dropped the latest Zelda and Mario games. I agree there's been a push out of the theater, but IMO the herd is thriving. The streaming services are the new currency, leading to people running 4-6 concurrent subscriptions. That's nuts to me, but I will happily binge one service over a month.
Re: What I Spend
I'm not saying media is over. I'm saying it has transformed to the point that the days of traditional media ie television and films being capable of creating a cultural moment are over. There will never be a Beatles on Ed Sullivan. There will never be another decapitated horse head in the bed. Or did you sneak in to see the Exorcist. Or who shot JR. My wife and I couldn't name one Taylor Swift song between us although I'm sure I've heard some. Yes it has something to do with age but Barbie did not captivate the nation the way Jaws did for all generations. There are no more movie stars or rock stars. Not complaining or wistfully wanting days long gone, it's entertainment after all. I'm just saying. Video games, streaming, just evidence how things have fractioned, coinciding with the dissolution of the traditional workplace and I'm thinking if they are not connected literally they are at least symbolically.
Re: What I Spend
It occurred to me that when TEOTWAWKI occurs streaming services will be the first thing to go down. So we should be keeping our VHS tapes and DVDs for our fallout bunkers.
Re: What I Spend
I'll go ahead and guess you didn't watch Netflix's Christmas release. They've got your number, lol.
Re: What I Spend
Looks like it's originally a book. The end of the plot summary is relevant to our discussion. Spoilers, obviously:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leave_t ... ind_(film)
This highlights one of the big tech gotchas. Often, they're nothing more than a middle man, siphoning value by flooding the market for our attention. I would have preferred the book. I never heard of it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leave_t ... ind_(film)
This highlights one of the big tech gotchas. Often, they're nothing more than a middle man, siphoning value by flooding the market for our attention. I would have preferred the book. I never heard of it.
Re: What I Spend
Most of the stuff is on torrents, you'll probably be able to download it before the demise.
Re: What I Spend
Interesting to read that right now! I just went to the movies and there were no obvious blockbusters. It felt really unusual. There were always blockbusters. Like last year had Avatar and Top Gun and a Jurassic Park sequel. Now the movies on offer looked cheesy and low budget. No lack of visitors though, the theatre was well filled. The other trend I noticed was that people spend almost the price of a ticket on drinks and popcorn.
Without blockbusters everyone follows different stories, and the combination of stories we tell ourselves become individual, instead of society wide. How does that view match your idea of the media transformation?
Re: What I Spend
Metanarratives have become impossible because they are deemed as political constructs. Jaws is not about a couple of guys chasing a shark. A simple Moby Dick for the masses. It's about white patristic hegemony or something like that. The superhero thing worked for Hollywood for a while but it's been beaten to death and there is no simplistic Cold War good vs. evil dichotomy to support it. People can now choose their own identity so they are going to want customize their media content to the same degree. The individual is now the absolute authority. So my guess is the content will become more and more hyperindivudalized but the providers will develop the ability to monetize the content accordingly. Streaming will no longer be the alternative to traditional television with its traditional advertising. It will just replace traditional television and the meta advertising will follow. You like watching lion vs elephant fights? Ok. But don't think that it was just a coincidence that at the end of the fight when the elephant is dead that the can of Diet Coke that the lion drank and then shoved up the ass of the elephant corpse just happened to be lying around the jungle at the time.
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white belt
- Posts: 1457
- Joined: Sat May 21, 2011 12:15 am
Re: What I Spend
I think this is a positive sign. It seems that you are perhaps finally adjusted to your post salaryman life, a process that can take years. The first few years of feeling like you have to live everything with a purpose seems to be a reaction to spending so many years working towards the priorities of others. Now it seems like you are returning to some sort of equilibrium. Even Jacob enjoys playing his flight sim games sometimes.Scott 2 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 04, 2024 2:29 pmThere's a lot of additional detail I was missing. I've chilled out on trying to live purposefully, and it's a good time. Especially when I'm supposed to be rest. I'd guess in the next 1-3 years, I go for a 4k setup with PS5 or some other hotness. Since my screen tethered career ended, the video game time also feels much less wasteful.
Yeah I've noticed the same thing with DuckDuckGo. It's perfectly fine for probably 75% of my searches, but if I really need to find something obscure then I still use Google. Speaking of sites not working, I use UBlock and NoScript plugins with Firefox. NoScript in particular will break a lot of sites, but it's one click to unbreak them, which I find is fine for me. Most sites still work and if it's something you frequently use, you can always whitelist the specific script that breaks everything (usually it's a .cdn). I also use a VPN which nowadays breaks many sites or results in CAPTCHAs every visit. At one point I considered setting up a VPN at the router level for my entire home network, but DW is not as tech savvy as me so I don't want to deal with the headaches that would entail. Maybe I will still set up some separate VLAN's to at least segregate the guest wifi and IOT devices from my own device. At one point I didn't want any IOT devices, but I think it's getting harder and harder to do that these days.Scott 2 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 03, 2024 7:46 pmIn an attempt to reduce the presence of Chrome and Google, we default to firefox with duck duck go search. I end up running back a couple times per week. Some times a site just won't work. Others, the Google search results are just vastly superior. Escaping big tech is not an easy trade off.
I'm still on Windows 10 until it goes EOL in 2025, then I will probably upgrade to newer laptop with Windows 11. I understand the appeal of Linux and have worked with it a lot, but at the end of the day it's just not feasible for my specific use cases (especially nowadays when I'm doing gaming, streaming, and video editing). I think of the OS cost as essentially a business expense at this point.
Re: What I Spend
Recovering from the financial damage of 2022 helped me to chill. Our 2024 budget looks easy. I've also hit some physical limits, which makes mellowing around goals more comfortable.white belt wrote: ↑Fri Jan 05, 2024 3:58 pmNow it seems like you are returning to some sort of equilibrium.
Living off a portfolio does still make me feel like a bum. I worked hard to achieve early retirement, but I don't ascribe any feeling of success or status to it. More like a quiet, guilty pleasure. Will I ever make something of myself? Probably not
.We're running uBlock Origin and DuckDuckGo privacy essentials extensions in Firefox. My experience is similar to years. I never got around to messing with a personal VPN. These days, I try to keep our home network as simple as possible. I don't want the hassle, and I can't expect my wife to troubleshoot it.
If I was trying to collaborate with others, I wouldn't fight the OS trends. Whatever tool I need for the job is fine. This is a case of being on Windows by default. I don't know that it's better for my needs. It just has inertia.
Re: What I Spend
Some more progress on escaping Amazon:
1. My last order went through, draining the final gift card credit. I was able to remove all credit card information from the account.
2. Ripping my audible books turned out to be trivial. I downloaded an app called Libation and was done in under an hour.
3. I submitted the last credit card payment and am just waiting for that to zero out, before cancelling the card. I also drained the rewards. It's been about 10 months since anything but Amazon companies went through the card, so I think the cancellation will be painless.
4. I found a couple more barriers that either cost me or delay the account closure:
4.1 An audible pre-order publishing in March. I can buy again elsewhere, for $15. Or wait for my library to eventually have it.
4.2 The request for my Amazon data takes up to a month to fulfill (or more, they make no promise). I could abandon it.
4.3 I want to replace the Fire stick with a Chromecast with Google TV. Android TV 14 is in beta, expected to launch this year. Buying now locks in old tech. I could use my Chromebook. Or make a dummy Amazon account entirely for the Fire stick. Or simply do without.
All surmountable. There's no reason I cannot wait, but I might get impatient. I failed to appreciate how deeply Amazon's hooks were set. Leaving hurts, which makes me all the more eager to execute. It's a great case study in how customers experience a company's competitive moat.
The more I look at life without Amazon, the more I like it. Beyond declining their influence, I am finding second order benefits. It forces me identify who makes the thing I want. I need to think about how I get money to them, what the transaction process will look like. Buying random items on auto-pilot is much harder. I become a more intentional consumer.
I'm also noticing default patterns Amazon has co-opted. I searched a book this morning. The #1 result was Amazon's product page. Why not the author? Or the publisher? Wouldn't I rather start from the source? Or even better, my library? I understand the technical reasons Amazon is first. But it's not best for me. Yet I've accepted it without second though. There are hundreds of times I've used Amazon as my default link, for a product or book. I'm rethinking all of that.
1. My last order went through, draining the final gift card credit. I was able to remove all credit card information from the account.
2. Ripping my audible books turned out to be trivial. I downloaded an app called Libation and was done in under an hour.
3. I submitted the last credit card payment and am just waiting for that to zero out, before cancelling the card. I also drained the rewards. It's been about 10 months since anything but Amazon companies went through the card, so I think the cancellation will be painless.
4. I found a couple more barriers that either cost me or delay the account closure:
4.1 An audible pre-order publishing in March. I can buy again elsewhere, for $15. Or wait for my library to eventually have it.
4.2 The request for my Amazon data takes up to a month to fulfill (or more, they make no promise). I could abandon it.
4.3 I want to replace the Fire stick with a Chromecast with Google TV. Android TV 14 is in beta, expected to launch this year. Buying now locks in old tech. I could use my Chromebook. Or make a dummy Amazon account entirely for the Fire stick. Or simply do without.
All surmountable. There's no reason I cannot wait, but I might get impatient. I failed to appreciate how deeply Amazon's hooks were set. Leaving hurts, which makes me all the more eager to execute. It's a great case study in how customers experience a company's competitive moat.
The more I look at life without Amazon, the more I like it. Beyond declining their influence, I am finding second order benefits. It forces me identify who makes the thing I want. I need to think about how I get money to them, what the transaction process will look like. Buying random items on auto-pilot is much harder. I become a more intentional consumer.
I'm also noticing default patterns Amazon has co-opted. I searched a book this morning. The #1 result was Amazon's product page. Why not the author? Or the publisher? Wouldn't I rather start from the source? Or even better, my library? I understand the technical reasons Amazon is first. But it's not best for me. Yet I've accepted it without second though. There are hundreds of times I've used Amazon as my default link, for a product or book. I'm rethinking all of that.
Re: What I Spend
Impressive. And something to aspire to. I am finding that being in a place where I don't have two day Prime delivery has tempered my Amazon purchases substantially. It is good to know that ripping your Audible books was easy. That is the pain point for me that keeps me attached to Amazon more than anything. I don't like that I paid for a product but don't truly own it. So maybe that will be my weekend project before we head underway: then I can have my entire library available even without internet access.
Re: What I Spend
Further progress escaping Amazon:
1. I was able to return my Audible pre-order for a credit, spend that and rip the new book. In the process, I found several audio books that are now available via my library. The Audible account is ready to close.
2. I picked apps for playing audio books and music on Android. My phone fits all my books and half my music. I doubt I'll use the content, but it's fun to try this approach. The new book will let me confirm everything worked as I expect. I'm not interested in the long term hassle of piracy, but I see it's easier than ever. Given how all you can eat streaming wastes my time, piracy would be a disaster.
3. Somehow my Fire TV stick decided to logout my user. Upon logging back in, I found my apps were gone. I've been messing with the Amazon account a lot, so it was probably something I did. Anyway, I decided to factory reset the device and unplug. I found a guide to rooting it and replacing the OS with Android TV. However, it includes manually shorting the hardware and several layers of software install. Unless I get really bored, it's more trouble than it is worth. Several hours and ongoing hassle.
4. I learned connecting my chromebook to a TV requires a USB-C dock. Which is about the same price as a chromecast. The dock would also work with a phone, at least based upon YouTube videos. I'm going to try doing without for now, but I have good options.
5. The Amazon credit card is at a zero balance. Closing it now costs me a dollar in pending points and makes returning any connected transactions harder. I think it's ready as well.
So other than seeing if Amazon responds to my data request, I'm ready to end the relationship. I'll give a couple week cooling off period, just in case I've overlooked something critical. After this upfront time investment, I'm not expecting much sacrifice. Well worth the benefits, IMO.
This does highlight my dependency on Google's vertically integrated smart phone ecosystem. Breaking that is dramatically more difficult. Switching to Apple would be a tolerable, but it's more of the same. With android being open source, achieving a Google escape looks more technically feasible. I'd need to learn a lot about how mobile devices work, stay current on the OS stack, keep up with networking and security protocols, monitor the app ecosystem, etc. That doesn't feel worth it, at least not right now.
1. I was able to return my Audible pre-order for a credit, spend that and rip the new book. In the process, I found several audio books that are now available via my library. The Audible account is ready to close.
2. I picked apps for playing audio books and music on Android. My phone fits all my books and half my music. I doubt I'll use the content, but it's fun to try this approach. The new book will let me confirm everything worked as I expect. I'm not interested in the long term hassle of piracy, but I see it's easier than ever. Given how all you can eat streaming wastes my time, piracy would be a disaster.
3. Somehow my Fire TV stick decided to logout my user. Upon logging back in, I found my apps were gone. I've been messing with the Amazon account a lot, so it was probably something I did. Anyway, I decided to factory reset the device and unplug. I found a guide to rooting it and replacing the OS with Android TV. However, it includes manually shorting the hardware and several layers of software install. Unless I get really bored, it's more trouble than it is worth. Several hours and ongoing hassle.
4. I learned connecting my chromebook to a TV requires a USB-C dock. Which is about the same price as a chromecast. The dock would also work with a phone, at least based upon YouTube videos. I'm going to try doing without for now, but I have good options.
5. The Amazon credit card is at a zero balance. Closing it now costs me a dollar in pending points and makes returning any connected transactions harder. I think it's ready as well.
So other than seeing if Amazon responds to my data request, I'm ready to end the relationship. I'll give a couple week cooling off period, just in case I've overlooked something critical. After this upfront time investment, I'm not expecting much sacrifice. Well worth the benefits, IMO.
This does highlight my dependency on Google's vertically integrated smart phone ecosystem. Breaking that is dramatically more difficult. Switching to Apple would be a tolerable, but it's more of the same. With android being open source, achieving a Google escape looks more technically feasible. I'd need to learn a lot about how mobile devices work, stay current on the OS stack, keep up with networking and security protocols, monitor the app ecosystem, etc. That doesn't feel worth it, at least not right now.
Re: What I Spend
For whatever reason I'm fixated on this escape Amazon thing, and big tech in general:
1. My wife recently got a fire tablet. She's decided to return it. I've agreed to match her dollar in buying the replacement.
2. I found the chromecast hd on sale for $20. I picked it up, so I can see what's involved in both casting and Google TV. I learned my phone doesn't support video out, killing the USB doc idea.
3. I made a spreadsheet for the credit card churning. Among other things, to confirm closing the Amazon card shouldn't be a big deal. I'm interested to see the credit score impact.
4. I looked a little more at degoogling my life. This one offers a slow burn strategy. There are accessible small changes that reduce my dependency. I can get further from my Google credentials being a single point of failure in life.
5. It looks like replacing the OS on my Chromebook requires taking it apart. I've remembered I can run Linux on it in containers though. So it's an option for playing with Linux distros.
I find myself drawn to Manjaro, due to their frequent update strategy. I think it encourages good practices and is less risky overall.
Reading about degoogling reminds me of all the telemetry data collected by any commercial OS. It's pretty intense.
1. My wife recently got a fire tablet. She's decided to return it. I've agreed to match her dollar in buying the replacement.
2. I found the chromecast hd on sale for $20. I picked it up, so I can see what's involved in both casting and Google TV. I learned my phone doesn't support video out, killing the USB doc idea.
3. I made a spreadsheet for the credit card churning. Among other things, to confirm closing the Amazon card shouldn't be a big deal. I'm interested to see the credit score impact.
4. I looked a little more at degoogling my life. This one offers a slow burn strategy. There are accessible small changes that reduce my dependency. I can get further from my Google credentials being a single point of failure in life.
5. It looks like replacing the OS on my Chromebook requires taking it apart. I've remembered I can run Linux on it in containers though. So it's an option for playing with Linux distros.
I find myself drawn to Manjaro, due to their frequent update strategy. I think it encourages good practices and is less risky overall.
Reading about degoogling reminds me of all the telemetry data collected by any commercial OS. It's pretty intense.
Re: What I Spend
Don't get fooled by their "frequent update strategy". I'm happy they exist, but they're definitely fringe.
Want the latest and frequent updates? Try Arch Linux. Many of my developer and sysadmin friends use it, for good reason.
Want fairly recent and well supported? Try Debian testing, Fedora or Ubuntu.
Want rock stable, but a bit older? Try Debian stable.
We're in full agreement on that.Reading about degoogling reminds me of all the telemetry data collected by any commercial OS. It's pretty intense.
Re: What I Spend
Ah, I tried to look at usage statistics. Best I can tell, desktop Linux has something like a 1-4% market share. Half of that is Debian based, mostly Ubuntu.
It looks like rolling release distros are a small minority, Debian Test may be the biggest. Arch looks like a low single digit % of the desktop Linux install, at most. And Manjaro is built on top of that, making it even smaller.
I also looked into immutable distros. A good idea server side, it seems headed for a headache on the desktop. And again very niche.
I didn't realize how dominant Windows had become. No wonder they feel entitled to antagonize the end consumer.
Looks like Ubuntu is the place to start exploring. I need to level up before deciding if I approach Arch. I do have a friend who runs it.
This could culminate in praising Big Tech, for making my life easy.