#ai marketing europe

[optimizacijasajta]

GOOGLE GARANCIJE DA LI ZNATE ZA "GOOGLE GUARANTEE"? Na uspešnom digitalnom tržištu, poverenje je poput izvora sveže vode u pustinji - retko i dragoceno. Korisnici, bombardování anonimnim imenima i prevarama na internetu, često oklevaju pre nego što se odluče da pruže svoje teško zarađene dinare. Ali zamislite sjajnu značku, simbol viteštva koja se nosi samo na oklopima najhrabrijih boraca za uslugu. Ova značka, Google Garancija, nije samo ornament, već emblem poslovne bitke izborene i dobijene. Da bi osvojili ovu poželjnu titulu, preduzeća moraju proći kroz vatru proveravanja. Gugl, svevideći bog digitalnog carstva, podvrgava ih rigoroznim ispitivanjima. Licenca, osiguranje, i prošli podvizi se temeljito pregledaju. Samo oni sa besprekornim zapisom i gorom željom da zadovolje svoje kupce se smatraju vrednima da nose ovo digitalno odlikovanje. Za kupce, Google Garancija je više od sjajne značke, to je svetlost nade koja probija kroz mrak nepoznavanja. Više ne moraju da se slepo pouzdaju u anonimne entitete na internetu. Ali Google Garancija je dvostrani mač. Kompanije koje nose ovu značku postaju šampioni, ali i branioci časti. Njima je poverena sveta dužnost zadovoljenja kupaca. Ako se kupac oseti prevarenim, brzo i pravično rešenje je apsolutni prioritet. U protivnom, rizikuju da izazovu bes "reembursement" politike Gugla, moćnog arbitra u ovom digitalnom koloseumu. Ovaj program nije za slabe duše. Zahteva značajnu mesečnu naknadu, neprekidnu budnost nad srećom kupaca, i hrabrost da se suoči licem u lice sa nezadovoljnim klijentima. Ali za preduzeća koja se usude da se upuste na arenu Google Garancije, nagrade su bogate. Značka postaje magnet, privlačeći kupce koji traže mir i izuzetnu uslugu. To je svedočanstvo njihove nepokolebljive posvećenosti izvrsnosti, sjajna zvezda koja ih izdvaja iz mora konkurencije. Dakle, sledeći put kada budete putovali digitalnim okeanom u potrazi za uslugom, obratite pažnju na zastavu Google Garancije. To je više od marketinškog trika, već simbol pobede i kvaliteta, i dokaz nepokolebljivog duha zadovoljenja kupaca. Budite mudri kapetan svog digitalnog broda i upravljajte ga prema toj sjajnoj zastavi.

AI STRATEGIST PREDRAG PETROVIC

DIGITAL ART MARKETING - STRATEGIES FOR 2025

SEARCH EVERYWHERE OPTIMIZATION EXPERT

PREDRAG PETROVIC, SEO STRATEG

[aimarketingexpertemea]

How to use AI tools

looking to leverage AI tools for your social media and marketing needs! Here's a breakdown of how AI can supercharge your workflow:

1. Defining Audience

AI-powered social listening tools: These tools crawl social media platforms, analyzing conversations and identifying demographics, interests, and behaviors relevant to your brand or industry. Some popular options include Brandwatch, Talkwalker, and SproutSocial.

AI-driven audience analysis platforms: These platforms analyze your existing customer data (website traffic, CRM, etc.) to create detailed audience segments based on demographics, psychographics, and purchase behavior. This helps you target your content more effectively. Check out tools like Segment and Bluecore.

2. Generating Captions

AI caption generators: Tools like Jasper, Copy.ai, and Anyword can generate creative and engaging captions tailored to your content and target audience. You provide some basic information (image, topic, desired tone) and the AI suggests several options.

3. Writing Social Media Posts

AI content creation tools: Similar to caption generators, these tools can help you write full-fledged social media posts, including text, hashtags, and even suggest relevant emojis. Many of the tools mentioned above (Jasper, Copy.ai) offer this functionality.

Content repurposing tools: AI can help you reformat existing content (blog posts, articles) into social media-friendly snippets, increasing your reach and efficiency.

4. Responding to Comments/Reviews

AI-powered chatbots and customer service tools: These can handle common inquiries, provide automated responses, and even escalate complex issues to human agents. Examples include Intercom, Zendesk, and ManyChat.

Sentiment analysis tools: AI can analyze the sentiment (positive, negative, neutral) of comments and reviews, helping you prioritize responses and identify potential PR crises.

5. Keyword Analysis and SEO

AI-powered keyword research tools: These tools can identify relevant keywords, assess their search volume and competition, and suggest long-tail keywords to target niche audiences. SEMrush, Ahrefs, and SurferSEO all have AI-driven features.

Content optimization tools: AI can analyze your content and provide suggestions for improving on-page SEO, such as keyword density, readability, and heading structure. Clearscope and MarketMuse are great options.

6. Google Ads and Social Media Ads

AI-powered ad platforms: Google Ads and major social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) use AI to optimize ad targeting, bidding strategies, and ad creatives. Leverage their built-in AI tools for better campaign performance.

Ad copy generation and testing: AI can generate multiple ad copy variations and even predict which ones are likely to perform best based on historical data.

7. Translating Content

AI translation tools: Google Translate, DeepL, and Microsoft Translator are constantly improving in accuracy and fluency. They can quickly translate your content into multiple languages, expanding your reach to a global audience.

Important Notes:

Human oversight is crucial: While AI tools are powerful, they're not perfect. Always review and edit AI-generated content to ensure accuracy, brand consistency, and human touch.

Experiment and iterate: The best way to learn how to use AI tools effectively is to experiment, track your results, and adjust your approach accordingly.

Ethical considerations: Be mindful of potential biases in AI-generated content and use these tools responsibly.

By incorporating AI tools into your workflow, you can save time, improve efficiency, and boost your social media and marketing performance.

تحسين محركات البحث بالذكاء الاصطناعي

[aimarketingdubai]

BLEEDING EDGE SEO DUBAI

Here's how to approach bleeding-edge SEO and some cutting-edge techniques:

1. Mindset:

Embrace experimentation: Be willing to try new things and track the results meticulously. Not everything will work, but the successes can give you a significant advantage.

Stay informed: Follow industry blogs, attend conferences, and engage with the SEO community to keep your finger on the pulse of emerging trends.

Be adaptable: The SEO landscape is constantly evolving. Be prepared to adjust your strategies as Google's algorithms change and new technologies emerge.

Data-driven: Rely on data and analytics to measure the effectiveness of your experiments. Don't just follow trends blindly.

2. Cutting-Edge Techniques:

AI-powered content optimization: Tools like Jasper.ai and Copy.ai are becoming increasingly sophisticated in generating high-quality, SEO-friendly content. Explore how these tools can enhance your content creation process.

Semantic SEO: Go beyond keywords and focus on understanding the intent and context behind search queries. Use structured data, schema markup, and knowledge graphs to help search engines understand the meaning of your content.

Voice search optimization: With the rise of voice assistants, optimize your content for natural language and conversational queries.

Programmatic SEO: Automate the creation of large volumes of content tailored to specific keywords and long-tail searches. This is particularly useful for e-commerce sites with extensive product catalogs.

Entity-based SEO: Focus on building your brand's online presence as a recognized entity. This involves creating content that establishes your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) in your industry.

Advanced technical SEO: Dive deep into technical aspects like Core Web Vitals, page speed optimization, mobile-first indexing, and structured data implementation to ensure your website meets Google's latest standards.

3. Proceed with Caution:

Don't sacrifice the basics: While exploring bleeding edge techniques, don't neglect the fundamentals of SEO, like keyword research, on-page optimization, and quality content creation.

Avoid black hat tactics: Stay away from any techniques that violate Google's guidelines. These tactics may provide short-term gains but can lead to penalties and long-term damage to your website's ranking.

Test and measure: Always test new techniques on a small scale before implementing them across your entire website. Track the results carefully to assess their effectiveness.

By embracing a forward-thinking mindset and experimenting with cutting-edge techniques, you can position your website at the forefront of the SEO landscape and gain a competitive edge in the ever-evolving world of search.

[digitalartmarketing]

GOOGLE CREATOR SUMMIT

It seems like the Google Creator Summit left many creators feeling disheartened and frustrated. Spending $400-$600 to travel to Google HQ, only to be told "You are creating good content, but unfortunately, we can't help you," is undoubtedly a deflating experience. 💔

This situation highlights a few key issues:

Lack of Transparency and Support: Creators invest significant time and resources in creating content that aligns with Google's guidelines, yet often face algorithm updates that negatively impact their visibility and reach. The lack of clear explanations and support from Google leaves creators feeling lost and helpless.

The Power of the Algorithm: Google's algorithm holds immense power over creators' livelihoods. While the algorithm aims to prioritize quality content, its complexity and constant updates can feel arbitrary and unpredictable, leaving creators feeling like they're at the mercy of a black box.

The Need for Better Communication: Creators crave clear communication and actionable advice from Google. Instead of vague statements, creators need specific guidance on how to navigate algorithm changes and ensure their content thrives.

This situation underscores the need for a more collaborative and supportive relationship between Google and creators.

Here are some potential ways Google could improve:

Increased Transparency: Provide clearer explanations of algorithm updates and their potential impact on creators.

Actionable Advice: Offer specific, actionable advice on how creators can adapt their content to thrive in the evolving digital landscape.

Improved Communication Channels: Create more effective communication channels for creators to voice concerns and receive support.

Recognize and Reward Quality Content: Develop better ways to recognize and reward creators who consistently produce high-quality, engaging content.

Ultimately, a healthy creator ecosystem benefits both Google and the creators themselves. By fostering a more supportive and collaborative environment, Google can empower creators to thrive and continue producing the valuable content that makes the internet a rich and diverse space.

[predragpetrovic]

Think Like a Creative Director in the Age of AI

How to Think Like a Creative Director in the Age of AI

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the creative landscape forever. For creative directors, this means adapting to new technologies and ways of working. In this article, we will discuss how to think like a creative director in the age of AI.

Embrace AI

The first step to thinking like a creative director in the age of AI is to embrace it. AI can be a powerful tool for creative directors. It can help you to generate ideas, create visuals, and automate tasks. However, it is important to remember that AI is not a replacement for human creativity. It is simply a tool that can be used to enhance your work.

Use AI to Your Advantage

Once you have embraced AI, you can start to use it to your advantage. Here are a few tips:

Use AI to generate ideas. AI can be used to generate a wide range of creative ideas. For example, you can use AI to generate new product concepts, advertising campaigns, or website designs.

Use AI to create visuals. AI can be used to create high-quality visuals, such as images, videos, and animations.

Use AI to automate tasks. AI can be used to automate repetitive tasks, such as editing photos or creating social media posts.

Stay Up-to-Date on the Latest AI Technologies

The field of AI is constantly evolving. It is important to stay up-to-date on the latest AI technologies so that you can use them to your advantage. There are a number of resources available to help you learn about AI, such as online courses, books, and articles.

Develop Your Creative Skills

Even though AI can be a powerful tool, it is still important to develop your creative skills. AI cannot replace the human touch that is essential for great creative work. So, continue to hone your skills in areas such as storytelling, visual design, and copywriting.

Collaborate with AI Experts

If you are not an AI expert yourself, it is important to collaborate with AI experts. AI experts can help you to understand and use AI technologies effectively.

Embrace Change

The age of AI is a time of change. It is important to embrace change and be willing to adapt to new ways of working. By doing so, you can ensure that you remain a successful creative director in the years to come.

Conclusion

Thinking like a creative director in the age of AI requires embracing AI, using it to your advantage, staying up-to-date on the latest AI technologies, developing your creative skills, collaborating with AI experts, and embracing change. By following these tips, you can ensure that you are well-prepared for the future of creative leadership.

[janishoppin1950blog]

[xtruss]

Global Times: When The West Talks About China's Change, What Do They Fear?

— August 24, 2023

Out of touch with reality. Illustration: Liu Rui/Global Times

The world we live today is the world in which the West has been expanding for 500 years, but the Global South, represented by China, is on the rise.

However, the West's expansion and Global South's emergence are not going to integrate in a silky-smooth transition, especially for the West - it is entering this change with a deep affection and attachment to its 500 years of expansion.

On Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock expressed her feelings in a virtual speech to the Lowy Institute, an Australia think tank: "Increasingly, China is a rival - when it comes to the very fundamentals of how we live together in this world.

"China has changed, and that's why our policy toward China also needs to change," she added.

If we look at the changes in US and Western policy toward China based on the so-called change of China, described by Baerbock, what we see is a China that is seemingly like the West of 500 years ago - full of drive for global exploration, expansion, and colonization, and unafraid to use military power as a precursor to unifying the wealth and faith of the world under the banner of Western civilization

However, China's "change" in Baerbock's description is filled with the Western imagination.

Over the past four decades of its reform and opening-up, China has followed a path of peaceful development. At the core of China's change is the modernization of a home to one-fifth of the world's population, fundamentally altering global development and our way of living together.

China's change is not a result of failing to respond to the abrupt changes in the tide of globalization. On the contrary, Chinese enterprises that have been or are on the verge of leading the world are all advancing in the market economy.

The West looks at China's change with fear, because they are not willing to fully give China the world status it deserves, including China's position in the global manufacturing and the global market.

One example is the West's treatment of electric vehicles produced in China.

In a recent interview with the Telegraph, a senior British government official said, "If it is manufactured in a country like China, how certain can you be that it won't be a vehicle for collecting intel and data?"

Jim Saker, president of the Institute of the Motor Industry, put it more sinisterly and told The Times that "the threat of connected electric vehicles flooding the country could be the most effective Trojan horse that the Chinese establishment has."

The backdrop to this concern is that China has become the world's largest producer of electric cars, with surging exports knocking on the doors of the US and Europe.

All products related to the internet and AI technology undoubtedly face information security concerns. But highlighting the ideological attributes of this issue, rather than addressing it realistically through legal provisions that are consistent with a market economy, is clearly contrary to the order emphasized by the West, and underscores the fact that this so-called order, which is used to bash China, is in fact self-serving, narrow-minded and conservative.

In the final analysis, it is evident the West can't accept the challenge posed by China's change, and still recognizes in its bones that China can only be inferior to the West as a follower, rather than a leader.

China is changing, the Global South is changing, and such changes are bound to touch Western interests. If the West pushes China to the hostile side because of their inability to accept such changes, in the end, China will not be the only one facing difficulties and challenges.

Whether the West is willing to share the order they have built over the past 500 years is directly related to the advancement or retreat of human development.

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Month - August 2024

1.Negative Power Prices Hit Europe as Renewable Energy Floods the Grid

European power markets are experiencing a notable shift as renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar, become a larger part of the energy mix. On Wednesday, power prices in several European markets, including Germany, dipped below zero due to a surge in green electricity production.

2. Taiwan introduces ban on performances by captive wild animals

Live performances by wild animals held in captivity, including performances by dolphins, tigers, and other non-domesticated mammals, will no longer be permitted in Taiwan under new Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) regulations.

3. FTC bans fake online reviews, inflated social media influence; rule takes effect in October

The FTC voted unanimously to ban marketers from using fake reviews, such as those generated with AI technology, and other misleading advertising practices.

The ban also forbids marketers from exaggerating their own influence by, for example, paying for bots to inflate their follower count.

4. Chinese drones will fly trash out of Everest slopes

Come autumn, Nepal will deploy heavy lifter drones to transport garbage from the 6,812-metre tall Ama Dablam, south of Everest. This will be the first commercial work an unmanned aerial vehicle does in Nepal’s high-altitude zone.

The heavy lifter from China’s biggest drone maker, Da Jiang Innovations (DJI), will take on tasks traditionally handled by Sherpas. Officials believe it will help reduce casualties on Everest.

5. Swiss scientists have found a way to use the whole cocoa fruit to make chocolate and not just taking beans and discarding the rest.

Kim Mishra (L) and Anian Schreiber (R) cooperated on the new chocolate making process

Food scientists in Switzerland have come up with a way to make chocolate using the entire cocoa fruit rather than just the beans - and without using sugar.

The chocolate, developed at Zurich’s prestigious Federal Institute of Technology by scientist Kim Mishra and his team includes the cocoa fruit pulp, the juice, and the husk, or endocarp.

6. Six-year-old boy found in Vietnam forest after five days

A six-year-old boy who was missing for five days has been found deep in a forest in Vietnam. Dang Tien Lam, who lives in the northwestern Yen Bai province, was playing in a stream with his nine siblings on 17 August when he wandered into the hills and got lost, local reports said.

He was found on Wednesday by local farmers who heard a child's cry while they were clearing a cinnamon field close to the forest.

7. Lego plans to make half the plastic in bricks from renewable materials by 2026

Lego plans to make half the plastic in its bricks from renewable or recycled material rather than fossil fuels by 2026, in its latest effort to ensure its toys are more environmentally friendly.

The Danish company last year ditched efforts to make bricks entirely from recycled bottles because of cost and production issues. At the moment, 22% of the material in its colourful bricks is not made from fossil fuels.

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That's it for this month :)

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Buy me a coffee ❤️

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[mostlysignssomeportents]

Apple to EU: “Go fuck yourself”

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/06/spoil-the-bunch/#dma

There's a strain of anti-anti-monopolist that insists that they're not pro-monopoly – they're just realists who understand that global gigacorporations are too big to fail, too big to jail, and that governments can't hope to rein them in. Trying to regulate a tech giant, they say, is like trying to regulate the weather.

This ploy is cousins with Jay Rosen's idea of "savvying," defined as: "dismissing valid questions with the insider's, 'and this surprises you?'"

https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/344825874362810369?lang=en

In both cases, an apologist for corruption masquerades as a pragmatist who understands the ways of the world, unlike you, a pathetic dreamer who foolishly hopes for a better world. In both cases, the apologist provides cover for corruption, painting it as an inevitability, not a choice. "Don't hate the player. Hate the game."

The reason this foolish nonsense flies is that we are living in an age of rampant corruption and utter impunity. Companies really do get away with both literal and figurative murder. Governments really do ignore horrible crimes by the rich and powerful, and fumble what rare, few enforcement efforts they assay.

Take the GDPR, Europe's landmark privacy law. The GDPR establishes strict limitations of data-collection and processing, and provides for brutal penalties for companies that violate its rules. The immediate impact of the GDPR was a mass-extinction event for Europe's data-brokerages and surveillance advertising companies, all of which were in obvious violation of the GDPR's rules.

But there was a curious pattern to GDPR enforcement: while smaller, EU-based companies were swiftly shuttered by its provisions, the US-based giants that conduct the most brazen, wide-ranging, illegal surveillance escaped unscathed for years and years, continuing to spy on Europeans.

One (erroneous) way to look at this is as a "compliance moat" story. In that story, GDPR requires a bunch of expensive systems that only gigantic companies like Facebook and Google can afford. These compliance costs are a "capital moat" – a way to exclude smaller companies from functioning in the market. Thus, the GDPR acted as an anticompetitive wrecking ball, clearing the field for the largest companies, who get to operate without having to contend with smaller companies nipping at their heels:

https://www.techdirt.com/2019/06/27/another-report-shows-gdpr-benefited-google-facebook-hurt-everyone-else/

This is wrong.

Oh, compliance moats are definitely real – think of the calls for AI companies to license their training data. AI companies can easily do this – they'll just buy training data from giant media companies – the very same companies that hope to use models to replace creative workers with algorithms. Create a new copyright over training data won't eliminate AI – it'll just confine AI to the largest, best capitalized companies, who will gladly provide tools to corporations hoping to fire their workforces:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/09/ai-monkeys-paw/#bullied-schoolkids

But just because some regulations can be compliance moats, that doesn't mean that all regulations are compliance moats. And just because some regulations are vigorously applied to small companies while leaving larger firms unscathed, it doesn't follow that the regulation in question is a compliance moat.

A harder look at what happened with the GDPR reveals a completely different dynamic at work. The reason the GDPR vaporized small surveillance companies and left the big companies untouched had nothing to do with compliance costs. The Big Tech companies don't comply with the GDPR – they just get away with violating the GDPR.

How do they get away with it? They fly Irish flags of convenience. Decades ago, Ireland started dabbling with offering tax-havens to the wealthy and mobile – they invented the duty-free store:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty-free_shop#1947%E2%80%931990:_duty_free_establishment

Capturing pennies from the wealthy by helping them avoid fortunes they owed in taxes elsewhere was terribly seductive. In the years that followed, Ireland began aggressively courting the wealthy on an industrial scale, offering corporations the chance to duck their obligations to their host countries by flying an Irish flag of convenience.

There are other countries who've tried this gambit – the "treasure islands" of the Caribbean, the English channel, and elsewhere ��� but Ireland is part of the EU. In the global competition to help the rich to get richer, Ireland had a killer advantage: access to the EU, the common market, and 500m affluent potential customers. The Caymans can hide your money for you, and there's a few super-luxe stores and art-galleries in George Town where you can spend it, but it's no Champs Elysees or Ku-Damm.

But when you're competing with other countries for the pennies of trillion-dollar tax-dodgers, any wins can be turned into a loss in an instant. After all, any corporation that is footloose enough to establish a Potemkin Headquarters in Dublin and fly the trídhathach can easily up sticks and open another Big Store HQ in some other haven that offers it a sweeter deal.

This has created a global race to the bottom among tax-havens to also serve as regulatory havens – and there's a made-in-the-EU version that sees Ireland, Malta, Cyprus and sometimes the Netherlands competing to see who can offer the most impunity for the worst crimes to the most awful corporations in the world.

And that's why Google and Facebook haven't been extinguished by the GDPR while their rivals were. It's not compliance moats – it's impunity. Once a corporation attains a certain scale, it has the excess capital to spend on phony relocations that let it hop from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, chasing the loosest slots on the strip. Ireland is a made town, where the cops are all on the take, and two thirds of the data commissioner's rulings are eventually overturned by the federal court:

https://www.iccl.ie/digital-data/iccl-2023-gdpr-report/

This is a problem among many federations, not just the EU. The US has its onshore-offshore tax- and regulation-havens (Delaware, South Dakota, Texas, etc), and so does Canada (Alberta), and some Swiss cantons are, frankly, batshit:

https://lenews.ch/2017/11/25/swiss-fact-some-swiss-women-had-to-wait-until-1991-to-vote/

None of this is to condemn federations outright. Federations are (potentially) good! But federalism has a vulnerability: the autonomy of the federated states means that they can be played against each other by national or transnational entities, like corporations. This doesn't mean that it's impossible to regulate powerful entities within a federation – but it means that federal regulation needs to account for the risk of jurisdiction-shopping.

Enter the Digital Markets Act, a new Big Tech specific law that, among other things, bans monopoly app stores and payment processing, through which companies like Apple and Google have levied a 30% tax on the entire app market, while arrogating to themselves the right to decide which software their customers may run on their own devices:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/07/curatorial-vig/#app-tax

Apple has responded to this regulation with a gesture of contempt so naked and broad that it beggars belief. As Proton describes, Apple's DMA plan is the very definition of malicious compliance:

https://proton.me/blog/apple-dma-compliance-plan-trap

Recall that the DMA is intended to curtail monopoly software distribution through app stores and mobile platforms' insistence on using their payment processors, whose fees are sky-high. The law is intended to extinguish developer agreements that ban software creators from informing customers that they can get a better deal by initiating payments elsewhere, or by getting a service through the web instead of via an app.

In response, Apple, has instituted a junk fee it calls the "Core Technology Fee": EUR0.50/install for every installation over 1m. As Proton writes, as apps grow more popular, using third-party payment systems will grow less attractive. Apple has offered discounts on its eye-watering payment processing fees to a mere 20% for the first payment and 13% for renewals. Compare this with the normal – and far, far too high – payment processing fees the rest of the industry charges, which run 2-5%. On top of all this, Apple has lied about these new discounted rates, hiding a 3% "processing" fee in its headline figures.

As Proton explains, paying 17% fees and EUR0.50 for each subscriber's renewal makes most software businesses into money-losers. The only way to keep them afloat is to use Apple's old, default payment system. That choice is made more attractive by Apple's inclusion of a "scare screen" that warns you that demons will rend your soul for all eternity if you try to use an alternative payment scheme.

Apple defends this scare screen by saying that it will protect users from the intrinsic unreliability of third-party processors, but as Proton points out, there are plenty of giant corporations who get to use their own payment processors with their iOS apps, because Apple decided they were too big to fuck with. Somehow, Apple can let its customers spend money Uber, McDonald's, Airbnb, Doordash and Amazon without terrorizing them about existential security risks – but not mom-and-pop software vendors or publishers who don't want to hand 30% of their income over to a three-trillion-dollar company.

Apple has also reserved the right to cancel any alternative app store and nuke it from Apple customers' devices without warning, reason or liability. Those app stores also have to post a one-million euro line of credit in order to be considered for iOS. Given these terms, it's obvious that no one is going to offer a third-party app store for iOS and if they did, no one would list their apps in it.

The fuckery goes on and on. If an app developer opts into third-party payments, they can't use Apple's payment processing too – so any users who are scared off by the scare screen have no way to pay the app's creators. And once an app creator opts into third party payments, they can never go back – the decision is permanent.

Apple also reserves the right to change all of these policies later, for the worse ("I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it further" -D. Vader). They have warned developers that they might change the API for reporting external sales and revoke developers' right to use alternative app stores at its discretion, with no penalties if that screws the developer.

Apple's contempt extends beyond app marketplaces. The DMA also obliges Apple to open its platform to third party browsers and browser engines. Every browser on iOS is actually just Safari wrapped in a cosmetic skin, because Apple bans third-party browser-engines:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/13/kitbashed/#app-store-tax

But, as Mozilla puts it, Apple's plan for this is "as painful as possible":

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/26/24052067/mozilla-apple-ios-browser-rules-firefox

For one thing, Apple will only allow European customers to run alternative browser engines. That means that Firefox will have to "build and maintain two separate browser implementations — a burden Apple themselves will not have to bear."

(One wonders how Apple will treat Americans living in the EU, whose Apple accounts still have US billing addresses – these people will still be entitled to the browser choice that Apple is grudgingly extending to Europeans.)

All of this sends a strong signal that Apple is planning to run the same playbook with the DMA that Google and Facebook used on the GDPR: ignore the law, use lawyerly bullshit to chaff regulators, and hope that European federalism has sufficiently deep cracks that it can hide in them when the enforcers come to call.

But Apple is about to get a nasty shock. For one thing, the DMA allows wronged parties to start their search for justice in the European federal court system – bypassing the Irish regulators and courts. For another, there is a global movement to check corporate power, and because the tech companies do the same kinds of fuckery in every territory, regulators are able to collaborate across borders to take them down.

Take Apple's app store monopoly. The best reference on this is the report published by the UK Competition and Markets Authority's Digital Markets Unit:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63f61bc0d3bf7f62e8c34a02/Mobile_Ecosystems_Final_Report_amended_2.pdf

The devastating case that the DMU report was key to crafting the DMA – but it also inspired a US law aimed at forcing app markets open:

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2710

And a Japanese enforcement action:

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Japan-to-crack-down-on-Apple-and-Google-app-store-monopolies

And action in South Korea:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/skorea-considers-505-mln-fine-against-google-apple-over-app-market-practices-2023-10-06/

These enforcers gather for annual meetings – I spoke at one in London, convened by the Competition and Markets Authority – where they compare notes, form coalitions, and plan strategy:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cma-data-technology-and-analytics-conference-2022-registration-308678625077

This is where the savvying breaks down. Yes, Apple is big enough to run circles around Japan, or South Korea, or the UK. But when those countries join forces with the EU, the USA and other countries that are fed up to the eyeballs with Apple's bullshit, the company is in serious danger.

It's true that Apple has convinced a bunch of its customers that buying a phone from a multi-trillion-dollar corporation makes you a member of an oppressed religious minority:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones

Some of those self-avowed members of the "Cult of Mac" are willing to take the company's pronouncements at face value and will dutifully repeat Apple's claims to be "protecting" its customers. But even that credulity has its breaking point – Apple can only poison the well so many times before people stop drinking from it. Remember when the company announced a miraculous reversal to its war on right to repair, later revealed to be a bald-faced lie?

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/22/vin-locking/#thought-differently

Or when Apple claimed to be protecting phone users' privacy, which was also a lie?

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

The savvy will see Apple lying (again) and say, "this surprises you?" No, it doesn't surprise me, but it pisses me off – and I'm not the only one, and Apple's insulting lies are getting less effective by the day.

Image: Alex Popovkin, Bahia, Brazil from Brazil (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Annelid_worm,_Atlantic_forest,_northern_littoral_of_Bahia,_Brazil_%2816107326533%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

--

Hubertl (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2015-03-04_Elstar_%28apple%29_starting_putrefying_IMG_9761_bis_9772.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[probablyasocialecologist]

There is no obvious path between today’s machine learning models — which mimic human creativity by predicting the next word, sound, or pixel — and an AI that can form a hostile intent or circumvent our every effort to contain it. Regardless, it is fair to ask why Dr. Frankenstein is holding the pitchfork. Why is it that the people building, deploying, and profiting from AI are the ones leading the call to focus public attention on its existential risk? Well, I can see at least two possible reasons. The first is that it requires far less sacrifice on their part to call attention to a hypothetical threat than to address the more immediate harms and costs that AI is already imposing on society. Today’s AI is plagued by error and replete with bias. It makes up facts and reproduces discriminatory heuristics. It empowers both government and consumer surveillance. AI is displacing labor and exacerbating income and wealth inequality. It poses an enormous and escalating threat to the environment, consuming an enormous and growing amount of energy and fueling a race to extract materials from a beleaguered Earth. These societal costs aren’t easily absorbed. Mitigating them requires a significant commitment of personnel and other resources, which doesn’t make shareholders happy — and which is why the market recently rewarded tech companies for laying off many members of their privacy, security, or ethics teams. How much easier would life be for AI companies if the public instead fixated on speculative theories about far-off threats that may or may not actually bear out? What would action to “mitigate the risk of extinction” even look like? I submit that it would consist of vague whitepapers, series of workshops led by speculative philosophers, and donations to computer science labs that are willing to speak the language of longtermism. This would be a pittance, compared with the effort required to reverse what AI is already doing to displace labor, exacerbate inequality, and accelerate environmental degradation. A second reason the AI community might be motivated to cast the technology as posing an existential risk could be, ironically, to reinforce the idea that AI has enormous potential. Convincing the public that AI is so powerful that it could end human existence would be a pretty effective way for AI scientists to make the case that what they are working on is important. Doomsaying is great marketing. The long-term fear may be that AI will threaten humanity, but the near-term fear, for anyone who doesn’t incorporate AI into their business, agency, or classroom, is that they will be left behind. The same goes for national policy: If AI poses existential risks, U.S. policymakers might say, we better not let China beat us to it for lack of investment or overregulation. (It is telling that Sam Altman — the CEO of OpenAI and a signatory of the Center for AI Safety statement — warned the E.U. that his company will pull out of Europe if regulations become too burdensome.)

[trans-elrond]

Petition: establish AI regulations

EU people (but possible to sign from elsewhere in the world) please add your name to this petition for human-centric and culture-friendly AI regulation. Needs 47,000 more votes as of the time of posting. From the petition:

'Summary: In an open letter, the Authors' Rights Network (Netzwerk Autorenrechte) calls on the German government as well as the French and Italian leaders to reconsider their stance on the (non-)regulation of AI, to take a stand against the massive damaging effects of unregulated AI applications based on theft, to protect people and authors from data theft and disinformation and to reflect on values such as trust, democracy and justice.

++ Open letter on the subject of France, Germany's and Italy's position on the planned EU Artificial Intelligence Act ++

Dear Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Germany),

Dear Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck,

Dear Federal Minister for Digital and Transport Volker Wissing,

Dear President Emmanuel Macron (France), 

Dear Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (Italy):

It is with great concern that we, the members of the Netzwerk Autorenrechte which represents authors and translators in the book sector from 15 organisations in the D-A-CH region, observe Germany's, Frances and Italy's new position on the AI Act proposal. This new position runs counter to the consensus previously reached by EU Member States on the legal regulation of AI, in particular with regard to transparency and liability obligations for developers of generative technology.

According to reports from Euractiv on 19 November 2023, Germany – under the lead of the Digital Ministry and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, and together with France and Italy – wants to push for "obligatory self-regulation" instead of legally binding regulation. There are no sanctions for saftey incidents such as copyright, authors’ rights and data protection violations, insufficient labeling, or circumventing ethical standards in the position of these three countries.

Reason

Dear Chancellor, dear Vice Chancellor, dear Federal Minister,

dear Mr President of France, dear Prime Minister of Italy:

We urge you to change your position, which currently favors supposed economic advantages to the detriment of sustainable legal rules. Your position sends a fatal signal to everyone in the cultural sectors and to all people in Europe: namely, that you're willing to protect the same tech companies that illegitimately make use of cultural works and citizens data for their own profits – rather than protecting the people whose work and private data have made these foundation models and generative applications possible in the first place.

The consequences of your position would be devastating. Generative technology is already threatening numerous jobs. We can already observe several harmful “business models” based on AI products and an increase in disinformation. It's been proven that generative AI uses unlawfully obtained works without the knowledge or consent of the works' authors. Without legal regulation, generative technologies will accelerate the theft of artistic work and data. They'll increase discrimination and the falsification of information, including damage to reputations. And they'll significantly contribute to climate change. The more legally deregulated generative products reach the market, the more irreparable the loss of trust in texts, images, and information will become for society as a whole.

We urge you to return to the values of trust, democracy, and justice. We're standing on the threshold of an evolution, of one of the most decisive moments in history. Will we regulate the machines that are using humans in order to replace them? Or will we choose the short-sighted ideology of money?

We trust you have the political resolve to do the right thing.

Berlin, 24 November 2023'

[mariacallous]

Elon Musk is a ‘promoter of evil,’ EU rule-of-law chief says

BRUSSELS — Elon Musk, unlike other tech bosses, "is not able to recognize good and evil,” a European Union top official said Wednesday.

The multibillionaire tech mogul and boss of X, Tesla and SpaceX is amplifying hatred, outgoing European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová told POLITICO in an interview, calling him a “promoter of evil.”

Musk has been on a collision course with European officials, fighting regulators and governments on multiple fronts. The tech mogul bought Twitter in April 2022, rebranding it as X shortly after, and he has attracted criticism for his management of the platform, with European politicians and civil society saying he has allowed hate speech to fester on the site.

“We started to relativize evil, and he's helping it proactively. He's the promoter of evil,” Jourová said.

The Czech politician, who was the EU’s justice chief from 2014-2019 and has been in charge of “values and transparency” since 2019, has had regular contact with many of the world’s largest technology companies over the last decade on issues like privacy, disinformation and content moderation. 

Big tech companies have “monstrous power in their hands,” Jourová said. “I'm really scared by digital platforms in bad hands."

X is “the main hub for spreading antisemitism now,” Jourová said, adding that she warned ministers from EU capitals on Tuesday to be vigilant to the possibility of online antisemitism spilling over into the real world. 

“Now we are in the situation where the member states’ law enforcement powers have to protect the people who are under threat, under physical threat,” she said. “This is what I mean ... This new chapter, new intensity of antisemitism, where we don't see sufficient action from the side of the platforms.”

Jourová has never met Musk in person, but said that “even without this personal meeting, I would say that out of all the bosses I met, he is the only one who is not able to recognize good and evil.” 

The EU’s former internal market chief Thierry Breton did meet Musk in California in 2022, and since clashed with him publicly over Musk’s approach to online content moderation. 

X did not respond to a request for comment.

Regulation vs. innovation

Jourová also dismissed the increasingly popular narrative that Brussels' overregulation has stifled tech innovation.

The EU passed a raft of digital legislation over the last five years, leading some of the world’s largest technology companies to argue that they cannot launch AI tools and other innovative products in the bloc because they don’t know how the new laws work together or how they will be enforced. 

But innovation for innovation’s sake is not necessarily desirable, Jourová said: “We have to be sure that the innovations are developed to do good to people.”

She said she wondered why innovation was typically "described as something absolutely good, [and] regulations as something which is bad … It's not black and white."

Big tech companies’ vast profits should not be at the expense of Europeans, Jourová said — even if that means product-launch delays. “Nobody says that Google and others cannot introduce new technologies in Europe. Maybe, one, two months, half a year later than somewhere else, but we want to be sure,” she said. 

Jourová led work on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a landmark privacy regime that went into force in 2018 and remains one of the EU’s most famous — and infamous — laws. 

Though the EU recently passed the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, the GDPR often remains the main target of tech companies' ire, particularly because of how it is interpreted. The question of whether the law will need to be changed in the next five years is a key issue for incoming Commission tech chief Henna Virkkunen, Jourová said. 

“I think in [terms of] GDPR, we will have to look again at how to better enforce under the principle of one continent, one law,” she said. 

Jourová, who is leaving Brussels after 10 years at the Berlaymont, joked that she was returning to Prague as a “dissident,” given she left her own ANO party, which has turned more illiberal under former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. 

The return of the Euroskeptic Babiš, who is currently leading the polls ahead of next year's Czech election, would strengthen the illiberal forces in the EU, given Babiš’ ties to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. 

Jourová dismissed rumors that she would start her own political movement to take on her former boss. Instead, she will return to her alma mater, Charles University in Prague, in a management and teaching role.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Friday

SpaceTime 20240823 Series 27 Episode 102

Fairwell to NASA’s NEOWISE spacecraft

NASA’s infrared NEOWISE space telescope has relayed its final data stream to Earth bringing the historic mission to an end.

What time is it on the Moon?

Scientists are developing a plan for precise timekeeping on the Moon. For decades, the Moon's subtle gravitational pull has posed a vexing challenge—atomic clocks on its surface would tick faster than those on Earth by about 56 microseconds per day.

Europe’s Space Rider successfully completes its drop tests

Over the last four months, the European Space Agency’s reusable Space Rider test article has been undertaking a series of drop tests in the skies above the Italian Island of Sardinia.

The Science Report

Droughts, heatwaves, fire and fertilisers causing soils to store less carbon.

A link discovered between heavy cannabis use and increased risk of head and neck cancers.

Giving AI chatbots political bias

Skeptics guide to Werewolf Portals in England

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/

SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary

SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. Gary’s radio career stretches back some 34 years including 26 at the ABC. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. He was part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and became one of its first on air presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.  The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently.  StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016.  Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

[predragpetrovic]

The art world, long a bastion of human expression and emotion, is undergoing a fascinating metamorphosis in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). While purists may scoff, AI presents a treasure trove of opportunities for artists and art marketers alike, transforming the way we create, connect, and ultimately, sell art. This isn't a dystopian takeover by silicon sentience; it's a chance to wield AI as a brush, adding vibrant new strokes to your artistic and marketing palette.

Step into the Personalized Portal:

Imagine a collector, not just browsing your website, but virtually stepping into your studio, guided by an AI docent that tailors the experience to their unique preferences. AI can analyze data on past purchases, online behavior, and even facial expressions to curate personalized exhibitions, recommend similar works, and even predict buying intent. This isn't just marketing; it's forging a deep, one-on-one connection with potential patrons.

Beyond Demographics, Dive into the Depths of Desire:

Forget the tired tropes of age and income brackets. AI delves deeper, analyzing vast datasets to understand the emotional resonance of your art. Does your abstract expressionism evoke feelings of joy or existential dread? AI can decipher these nuances, allowing you to craft marketing messages that speak directly to the hearts and minds of your target audience. Imagine promoting a melancholic seascape not to "ocean lovers," but to those seeking solace in the vastness of the unknown.

Pricing Picasso with Precision:

Gone are the days of guesswork and gut instinct. AI algorithms can analyze market trends, auction history, and even the buying habits of similar collectors to suggest optimal pricing strategies for your art. This data-driven approach ensures you're not leaving money on the table, while also preventing the dreaded art-world faux pas of overvaluing (or undervaluing) your masterpiece.

From Palette to Pixels: AI, Your Artistic Accomplice:

AI isn't just for marketing; it's becoming an artistic collaborator in its own right. Platforms like Artbreeder, NightCafe Creator, and Deep Dream Generator allow you to co-create with AI, generating variations on your existing pieces, conjuring new works inspired by your style, or even offering unexpected creative prompts. Think of it as a brainstorming session on steroids, fueled by algorithms and boundless imagination.

But Wait, There's More: The AR/VR Art Extravaganza:

Forget flat screens and sterile white walls. AI is ushering in a new era of immersive art experiences. Imagine virtual reality (VR) galleries where collectors can wander through your artistic universe, or augmented reality (AR) installations that bring your paintings to life on the streets. These interactive experiences not only captivate your audience but also create a lasting impression, etching your art in their memory (and Instagram feed).

Remember, the Human Touch is the Masterstroke:

AI is a powerful tool, but it's not a replacement for the soul of an artist. The beauty, the emotion, the raw human experience that draws us to art in the first place, that can never be replicated by algorithms. Use AI to amplify your voice, not drown it out. Let it handle the tedious tasks, the data crunching, the market analysis, while you focus on what truly matters: creating art that moves, inspires, and transcends the digital canvas.

And Finally, a Word on Ethics:

With great power comes great responsibility. As we dance with AI in the art world, we must tread carefully. Ensure your AI tools are used responsibly, avoiding bias and respecting artist ownership and intellectual property. Transparency is key. Be upfront about how you're using AI, allowing collectors to appreciate the value it adds to your work without compromising the integrity of your artistic vision.

The future of art marketing in the age of AI is a kaleidoscope of possibilities. By embracing its potential, wielding it ethically, and using it to enhance your artistic voice, you can transform your marketing strategy from humdrum to avant-garde. So, step into the digital studio, pick up your AI brush, and paint a masterpiece of engagement, reach, and ultimately, artistic success. Remember, the art world is your canvas, and now, with AI as your co-pilot, the possibilities are truly infinite.

Merging Muse and Machine: A Canvas Crafted with AI in the Age of Art Marketing

The art world, long a bastion of human expression, is experiencing a paradigm shift. Artificial intelligence (AI), once relegated to science fiction, is now poised to revolutionize the way art is created, experienced, and, crucially, marketed. For artists and galleries navigating this uncharted territory, the question arises: how can we harness the power of AI to paint a masterpiece of a marketing strategy, one that amplifies artistic voices and connects with collectors in innovative ways?

Step into the AI-Powered Gallery:

Gone are the days of static websites and generic brochures. AI unlocks a treasure trove of tools to craft immersive, interactive experiences that bring art to life online. Imagine virtual galleries where collectors don VR headsets and wander through meticulously rendered exhibitions, each brushstroke and texture faithfully captured.

AI can personalize these experiences, tailoring the virtual tour to individual preferences. A collector drawn to bold abstracts might find themselves transported to a gallery pulsating with color and movement, while another seeking serenity might be enveloped in a tranquil moonlit landscape. This level of customization fosters deeper engagement and emotional connection with the art, laying the groundwork for potential sales.

Beyond the Brush: AI as Creative Collaborator

But AI's impact extends beyond simply showcasing existing art. It can be a muse, a co-creator, pushing the boundaries of artistic expression. Algorithms can analyze your artistic style, generate variations on your existing pieces, or even dream up entirely new works inspired by your unique vision.

Imagine a world where a sculptor partners with AI to craft intricate kinetic sculptures that respond to the viewer's movements, or where a painter collaborates with an algorithm to create canvases that morph and evolve over time. These AI-infused creations not only push the boundaries of traditional art forms but also pique the curiosity of collectors seeking the cutting edge.

Building Bridges with Big Data:

Of course, the art world doesn't exist in a vacuum. Collectors, too, are evolving. AI empowers artists and galleries to understand their target audience like never before. By analyzing vast datasets of online behavior and preferences, AI can identify potential collectors with a taste for your unique style. This allows for hyper-targeted marketing campaigns, ensuring your message reaches the right eyes and ears, maximizing your marketing ROI.

However, amidst the excitement, remember that AI is not a silver bullet. Its true power lies in its ability to augment, not replace, the human touch. The emotional core of art, the spark that ignites a collector's passion, still comes from the artist's unique vision and creative spirit. AI should be seen as a tool to amplify this voice, not drown it out.

A Symphony of Creativity:

The future of art marketing is not a binary choice between humans and machines. It's a harmonious symphony where both play their part. Artists, armed with the power of AI, can create groundbreaking works and connect with collectors in ever-more meaningful ways. Galleries can craft immersive experiences that transcend the physical limitations of walls and spaces. And collectors can discover art that speaks to their souls, fueled by the combined magic of human ingenuity and artificial intelligence.

So, embrace the brushstrokes of the future. Let AI be your collaborator, your curator, your bridge to a wider audience. Together, you can paint a masterpiece of a marketing strategy, one that not only sells art but also redefines the very experience of art in the digital age.

The canvas is vast, the colors vibrant, and the possibilities endless. It's time to unleash your creativity and paint your vision onto the world, guided by the steady hand of AI. The future of art marketing awaits, a masterpiece waiting to be crafted.

[inbabylontheywept]

The Defanging of FAANG

So taking this from the top.

Facebook's own prognosis is that their userbase has already peaked. Worse, their entire business model - harvesting user data in order to deliver targeted advertisements - has proven to be less effective than actual random ads. It's fucking magic beans.

Apple's problem is that their industrial base is in China. The US saw how bad Europe bled over its relationship with Russia and decided to pre-empt the problem. Bad news is that caused an inflation spike. Good news is that it did pre empt the problem. The next generation industrial country for the US is going to be Mexico, but the competition for their workers has already been won by Samsung. Apple is in for a rough twenty years.

Amazon makes most of its money from its server service, and it is looking down the barrel of an anti-trust lawsuit. It has no political allies and is very likely to lose.

Netflix is part of a supersatured hypercompetitive market over an increasingly small market share. Their entire model is not sustainable, and never has been.

Google makes their money in exactly the same way that Facebook does, and is looking at death by the same mechanism. It's a one-trillion dollar company whose main product is about to become worthless.

My suspicion is that this is why AI is getting so much money thrown at it. There are a lot of big players with shitloads of cash, but no long term future. If they were human beings, they'd take the money and bow out, but corporations don't actually care about cash - they care about living. And they only get to live as long as they can grow.

[cadet-aviator]

Quality time

And we went, I think it was the same weekend or the weekend after, but pretty soon. Dad must have made some quick changes in his schedule, to free himself up. 

We had compromised: no cadet uniform, but ‘just’ my school uniform, shirt and tie, grey pants, normal shoes. It was quite relaxed, actually.

There are some photographs where clearly I have unbuttoned my top button and loosened my tie – very uncharacteristic of me. 

I think now that I did that to please my Dad, mostly, to show that I was not a robot, but perhaps I did unwind a bit.

It was fun. Lovely food, some culture, just me and Dad on a market, in a restaurant, chatting. I had missed the Christmas holidays, remember, when I was at Camp, and I had been working away ever since.

But when we talked some more, later at night, in our nice hotel room, I still felt lost.

It felt wrong to escape the Saturday morning school cadet drill, and it felt wrong to not fulfil my punishment duties at the barracks, in the afternoon. I felt like a deserter. 

I couldn’t tell my Dad that I really wanted to talk to the Admiral some more and ask him why he felt I was ‘officer material’, or why he thought I would be best placed as a household aide, and what that would mean. I certainly couldn’t tell my Dad how I felt about kneeling for the Admiral and putting my head on the floor in front of him, and how good it felt when he kept me waiting like that for a few minutes, before telling me to get up.

I remember that on the third or fourth day I ran out of clean white shirts. My Dad told me ‘to just let the hotel staff take care of that’. Which made sense, but when the lady came to pick up the laundry I made sure to tell her exactly how I wanted them washed and ironed. I even went down to the laundry room with her. I didn’t tell my Dad that, neither.

On the last night we went to a more expensive restaurant, overlooking the beach, and my Dad (bless him) put on a shirt and tie for me – ‘just proper dress code for that place, son, nothing disciplinary, I’m not joining your bloody cadets’ – and I really appreciated it. It made talking easier. 

I told him I was not a nerd or autistic or something, I just felt so safe and at home when things were organised like that, ‘you know, with rules’ and he said he understood.

I told him that I had sometimes hoped that he would wear formal clothes at home all the time, ‘so we’d have a really formal home, with structure but just normal, happy, clean…’ He smiled at that, and I guess he understood that too – over all these conversations in Thailand hung the shadow of my mother, who was away in Europe, battling her demons. 

He said: ‘It’s fine, son, you can wear what you want and do what you want.’

And I said: ‘I have to do the camp, Dad. I know it was hard last time but I want to go again. Please let me do the camp.’

‘Very well, son.’

‘Thanks Dad’.

‘There’s a chance I will have to spend a month or so on the coast, and another few weeks back home in Europe, for this deal. Would you like me to talk to the Admiral’s office about a place for you there?’

‘Yes. Yes Dad. I’m sorry Dad, but yes.’

And I cried a bit, again. Dad hugged me. It was all fine. 

It was also a goodbye.

We had to wait a while, at the airport. Dad got out his phone and did some work.

I went to have a haircut. Not just any haircut. A proper haircut, a cadet haircut.

I loved my Dad and I was grateful for the trip, but I was going to be a better boy. I was going to wear uniform forever, I was going to stay pure, I was going to obey, obey, obey, and I was going to serve.

(All images are AI-generated)