Covered this week; Earnings in the ‘gig economy’ are dropping… Google is coming for your personal data harder than ever… MacOS Mojave Review… Berners-Lee endorses Ro Khanna’s Internet Bill of Rights… Conan says goodbye to his band… Banksy self destructs… the Brewers are the team to beat in the National League…
October 1, 2018
At the moment, my perspective on stories like this is from a loftier position as I’ve found my ride-sharing techniques and continue to make consistent money in the same amount of hours worked week-to-week… but these are the trends, not just for ride-share, but for other jobs within the gig economy as well.
The average monthly payments to those who worked for a transportation app in a given month declined to $783 from $1,469. Meanwhile, people working for leasing apps — Airbnb, Turo, Parklee and other apps that let you rent assets like your home, car or parking space — saw their incomes from those platforms rise 69 percent to $1,736 on average.
October 2, 2018
As things are starting to play out over time, I’m happy to have made the decision to (mostly) resist Google all along. Office suites, email services, web browsing, etc. Where I stand today is that I’ve given them the bare minimum in exchange for YouTube, Analytic tools and web fonts… 2 of the 3 things here that I can’t reliably get somewhere else… and as far as YouTube goes, I’m slowly transitioning to Vimeo. You have to pay a yearly fee for a functional use of Vimeo, but the uploadable quality of video is better anyway and the platform doesn’t seem hell bent on extracting personal data from me. One way or another, give this a good read and consider your own vulnerability. Google is a much bigger threat to (personal) privacy than you would think.
Google’s reputation is hard-earned, and it can be easily lost. Changes like this burn a lot of trust with users. If the change is solving an absolutely critical problem for users , then maybe a loss of trust is worth it. I wish Google could convince me that was the case.
October 3, 2018
MacOS Mojave, an incremental update it would appear… still some stuff to talk about though…
macOS Mojave, the new version coming out today, is a prototypically 2010s macOS release: filled with minor improvements, some additions from iOS, and little to praise or complain about. I like it, and I think there are things that make it worth installing. But more than ever, it has me wondering: where is this platform going?
October 4, 2018
Occasionally I get nostalgic for the way the internet was back in the beginning. Let’s hope all this comes to pass sooner rather than later. Here’s to turning some tables in November…
The principles came to life when California Senator Nancy Pelosi asked Khanna to assemble them. Turning the principles into something with the power of law could be a hard political fight given the current Republican majority’s deregulatory mania, but with the midterm elections coming up, the playing field might look very different on November 7.
October 5, 2018
Can’t say I was ever a regular watcher of his show (way down the road on TBS)… but this is a rockin’ cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Killing Floor’…
“There is one change on the horizon that makes me quite sad,” O’Brien said of Conan’s 2019 shift. “In January, when our show transitions to the new half-hour format, our band will not be with us. Since we began this journey 25 years ago, my band has been a daily source of joy in my life.”
October 6, 2018
Nothin’ about this dude is ever boring… he never fails to entertain… my love of him continues…
The British street artist Banksy pulled off one of his most spectacular pranks on Friday night, when one of his trademark paintings appeared to self-destruct at Sotheby’s in London after selling for $1.4 million at auction.
October 7, 2018
I’m the sort of baseball fan that in the event his team (Cubs) has been removed from the post-season conversation… the first team I’m interested in rooting for heading on towards the Series… is a team from the NL Central if possible (this doesn’t include the Cardinals if I’m being honest). So that said… these Milwaukee Brewers are for real. They they’ve complete a mauling of the Rockies just now, they’re the winners of 11 straight going back to 9/23 and they’re gonna be set up nicely as their pitchers have a long rest while awaiting the winner of the Dodgers/Braves series, which is currently 2-1 in favor of LA… so the Brewers are my team moving forward in this year’s post-season while I simultaneously fantasize about how much fun it might be trying to overtake them next season.
The Brewers beat the Colorado Rockies 6-0 at Coors Field to sweep the NLDS, with shutouts in the final two games of the series. Five Milwaukee relievers combined to give up just one hit in 4⅓ innings to close out the game.
