A Whole Lot of Nothing

Read to the end for a post about too many books. Hey, it’s been a few weeks! So, welcome back. TimeMachiner is a labor of love for me. But part of that is balancing my personal life, job, etc, with writing and running this place. I love doing it and it’s fantastic. No, this isn’t a goodbye or announcement of any sort. TimeMachiner isn’t going anywhere. What is happening is my time balance right now is… out of balance? Let me explain. I love finding random stuff online. That turned into TimeMachiner. But it’s something I do with the free…

Surge Fry Pricing

In a world where companies rake in a whole lot of money and lay off employees in order to appease shareholders, we now get another nonsense tactic from companies to wring every last cent from people: surge pricing at Wendy’s. Yes, you read that right. Depending on the time of day, the food you order could cost more or less. Michelle Chapman at AP News has more. During a conference call earlier this month, Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said that the Dublin, Ohio-based burger chain will start testing dynamic pricing, also known as surge pricing, as early as next year. “Beginning…

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Finishing Cristo

Read to the end for a post about boarding positions. This past weekend I was traveling and found myself nose-deep in my Kindle. I am still reading The Count of Monte Cristo, which I’ve already dubbed “The longest book” because, well, it is. It’s 1200+ pages. It’s over 110 chapters long. And I’m 98% done with it. Back in June when I wrote about this endeavor, I estimated I would finish it last year. That didn’t happen. Between life and other things occupying my free time, I did not read as much as I would’ve liked. As such, it’s only…

Old Timey TikTok

If I asked you to think of any movie or recording from the early 1900s you would likely think the same as me: something with a lot of grain or muffled sound. Then I came upon this post from Dave Rahardja over on Mastodon. These carbon microphones are incredible because you have @Samsonite1890 performing Five Foot Two on the banjo here in 2024 and yet it sounds perfectly like a recording a century ago. Originally developed in 1878 by David Hughes in England, the device used loosely packed carbon granules and the varying pressure exerted on the granules by the…

Laid Off Guy Hides Undetected in Company Slack

The remote work era means companies are completely reliant on chat and communication apps. Slack and Microsoft Teams are the two big companies in this space. To me, Teams still feels like a terrible ‘homework copying’ by Microsoft to clone Slack but I’m not here to rant about that. What I’m here to write is how Gizmodo writer Tom McKay, laid off in 2022, was able to stay on the company’s Slack instance for months undetected. How? By pretending to be the built-in Slackbot that is part of every instance. Emma Roth at The Verge has more. When it was…

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Vision Sorta Pro

Read to the end for a post about inconsistent music. This past weekend I got my hands on an Apple Vision Pro. Now, I’m far from any YouTuber who gets press products nor wannabe ‘influencers’ who buy products, review them, then return them within Apple’s 14-day return window. And I certainly don’t have a spare $3,400 laying around. On Saturday I had some free time and saw on Apple’s website that I could schedule a 30-minute demo at a local Apple Store. It’s free and requires no promise to purchase or anything else. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but…

Apple’s Big Baby Moments

It’s weird to see companies having public temper tantrums. The year is not even two months old and Apple has been on a tear with taking its ball and going home. First it was Apple’s legal loss resulting in it being forced to allow outside payments from the App Store. On the surface this ruling looks like a big win for the likes of Spotify, Netflix, and any other company that doesn’t want to pay a 30% cut to Apple for all purchases. Fair enough. But Apple, always one to want total control, is going the Full-Greed route wherein it…

Raccoon Causes Power Outage

Sometimes the headlines write themselves. A power outage in downtown Toronto earlier this month was the result of a raccoon coming in contact with “equipment”. Alex Arsenych at CTV has more. A raccoon was behind the massive power outage that knocked out  electricity to some 7,000 customers in downtown Toronto for hours Thursday night. Hydro One said a raccoon “made contact with equipment” at a downtown station, which cut the lights for parts of the city. The raccoon’s condition is currently unknown. “We’re currently responding to an outage affecting customers in and around the following boundaries: St. Clair Avenue W to…

Walmart Buys Vizio

What does a cool $2.3 billion get you? A well-established TV manufacturer if you’re Walmart. Just announced this morning, Walmart is acquiring Vizio in a deal to expand its ad business. Tom Warren at The Verge has more. “The acquisition of Vizio and its SmartCast Operating System (OS) would enable Walmart to connect with and serve its customers in new ways including innovative television and in-home entertainment and media experiences,” says Walmart in a press release. “It would also create new opportunities to help advertisers connect with customers, empowering brands with differentiated and compelling opportunities to engage at scale and…

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Dreaming of 2001

Read to the end for a post about talking heads. I’ve been a lifelong Sega fan. From the day my parents brought home a Genesis, I was hooked. My teenage years were spent rushing Sonic through Emerald Hills zone, blasting monsters in the sewers, and virtually fighting. There’s been leaks of news lately that Microsoft may stop making the Xbox console and let me tell you, it’s giving me large Sega Dreamcast flashbacks. Why? Let’s get into it. The Dreamcast was Sega’s final console. Released on 9/9/99, it was the company’s last attempt to recover from the debacle of everything…

Outhorse Your Email

One things Americans have been accused of is never being fully disconnected while on vacation. We sorta have a reputation for continuing to check email, dialing into calls, and overall monitoring things when we’re on PTO and trying to relax. Iceland’s tourism board is looking to change that. A scenic and beautiful country, Iceland’s tourism board is looking to help you disconnect and enjoy everything it has to offer. To help facilitate this, it came up with delegating your out of office email responses to a horse. Yes, a horse. When you visit the site you get to choose one…

No, Mr. Bond. I Expect You To Print

Printers suck. You know this. I know this. It is a universal truth. Aside from paper jams and managing setups that are complicated, the modern printers are even worse than that. Long ago companies went to a ‘razor blade’ sales model to sell the printer cheap and make money on the ink. HP has taken this cat and mouse game to the next level. Its CEO declared that ink must be a subscription and it can only be HP’s ink. Scharon Harding at Ars Technica has more. HP CEO Enrique Lores addressed the company’s controversial practice of bricking printers when…

Clean Mail

Nearly a year after the USPS announced it would shift a sizable portion of its delivery fleet to electric vehicles, the first signs of this are coming to fruition. A few weeks ago in Atlanta there was a press event that showed chargers in the ground and showed off the new Ford E-Transit EV delivery van. Jennifer Mossalgue at Electrek has more. The US Postal Service showed off its first EV charging stations, and some spiffy new Ford E-Transit BEVs, at an event in Atlanta yesterday, with hundreds of new sorting and delivery centers set to open around the country…

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Quick Time

Read to the end for a post about Tech Elitism. I’ve been under the weather for a couple of days, so this issue is a short one. I apologize for only having one story for you today. Next week’s edition should be back to normal. Thanks for reading. Now, onto the rest of today’s issue.

Right to Repair’s Moment to Shine

The ability to fix your own stuff is the core of Right to Repair. The movement to compel companies to provide parts and schematics that enable people to repair the stuff they buy has been in the works for many years. Small wins were gained as a few states passed RtR laws, New York being one of them. And while there were some bumps along the way, Right to Repair is having its moment. It also helps that Apple and Google have gotten aboard. Maddie Stone at The Verge has more. Signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, the Right to…

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It’s Only A Matter of Time

Read to the end for a post about critical chicken thinking. For over a year and a half I’ve been pining to see Back to the Future: The Musical ever since it debuted on Broadway here in NY back in October, ’22. But life usually has other plans. Finally though after waiting over a year, this past weekend my fiancé and I headed to Broadway. For me it was seeing new ‘Future’ for the first time since experiencing BTTF: The Ride in 2000. BTTF: The Musical is not a reboot or Part: IV or any other breaking of The Pact…

A Roller Coaster For One

For those of you that enjoy theme park rides then you’ll want to check this out. The Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art in North Adams faced a daunting challenge: how to occupy an expansive space with a creation that would captivate visitors. To solve this provlem, they turned to the talents of Los Angeles-based artist E.J. Hill. His interactive sculpture called the “Break Run Helix” exhibit built in 2022, is an imaginative exploration inspired by the whimsy of backyard roller coasters. But, this isn’t your typical theme park ride. The experience is designed for a single rider, allowing only one…

The Power of TayTay

Only a few months ago I wrote about the incredible proliferation of Taylor Swift and her music. Her business acumen has propelled her into superstardom. But last week a flood of AI-generated fake sexually explicit material of Swift was posted all over Twitter X. It’s a reminder that this happened to one of the most powerful entertainers out there. Even she can still fall victim to terrible people, predictably doing terrible things with bullshit-spewing AI tools. Jess Weatherbed at The Verge has more. One of the most prominent examples on X attracted more than 45 million views, 24,000 reposts, and…

The Touchscreen iMac

On the 40th anniversary of the Macintosh computer, I thought it would be interesting to look back on an oddity in the history of this machine: a touch screen version. In the late 90s Apple was close to going out of business and with the acquisition of NeXT brought Steve Jobs back into the fold. The iMac was the first piece of saving the company. Then a different company was buying them and installing touch technology into them for niche use. The coolest part of these machines was that the company ELO was an Apple Authorized seller and apparently had…

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I Ditched Gas

Read to the end for a post about pasta shenanigans. I’ve written a bunch about electric vehicles (EVs) here on TimeMachiner. They’ve intrigued me ever since watching the film Who Killed The Electric Car? which chronicled the efforts of GM to bring an EV to market… to them take back every lease and crush them all. That movie took place in 2006 and boy have things changed. Here in 2024 it’s not like EVs are at a tipping point… yet. People love their trucks and vehicles of choice here in America. It’s no secret we’re a car-focused country and a…

The First Webpage

Tons of things online are lost to time, but one of the most important things ever continues to live on: The first webpage. Even better, the announcement of said webpage by Sir Tim Berners-Lee continues to be available online. To me, it’s the ultimate nostalgia trip. Before the web, there was Usenet and Listserv message boards and mailing lists. The idea of a graphical way to “visit” a place was a far-out idea but on August 6, 1991 the announcement was made from CERN. In part it reads as follows: WorldWideWeb – Executive Summary The WWW project merges the techniques…

Surprising Nobody, A Zelda Movie Is Coming

Nintendo has learned a thing or two about making movies. Its first outing back in 1993 was somewhat absolutely a disaster. A confusing live-action flick starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo was so, so bad. But thirty year later in 2023, Nintendo tried again. And boy did they have success. So much so that its other tentpole franchise is heading toward the big screen. Yuri Kageyama at the AP has more. Nintendo is developing a live-action film based on its hit video game “The Legend of Zelda.” The film, with financing from Sony Pictures Entertainment as well as its own…

Inhumane Pin

I continue to be skeptical about AI and that skepticism extends to the “AI-focused” products that are coming out this year. Case-in-point: a pin from an unknown company called Humane. They’d like you to think of it as a sort of wearable thing that you can interact with using AI. What it looks like is a very expensive product, spewing confidently-wrong-AI bullshit-filled-responses that will likely sell in tiny quantities. Ron Amadeo at Ars Technica has more. As far as we can tell, it’s a $700 screenless voice assistant box and, like all smartphone-ish devices released in the last 10 years,…

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