gumby271

And a rise in tech companies building products and features that dont benefit the users, knowing we cant really escape at this point.

The article says the same. I think the point is to be aware and try to build things in a way to minimize the chance for abuse. There's nuance and the author says as much.

I've been arguing with folks on Reddit about this lately when it comes to Google's changes to Android (where they've made it more difficult to install any software on your device without Google first tracking the identity of the developer). My argument ultimately comes down to the fact that Google (and Apple already) have built a technology that gives them immense power to control individual computing freedoms, and no matter their internal policy, they still must follow US law. No amount of promises or legit good faith on their part matter, they've made a dangerous technology and are behold to a government that is very eager to censor anything it doesn't like. It's so disappointing to see 1. Google engineers build such a thing, and 2. For people to support it.

That feels like a crazy definition of Notarization there Apple.

If [shitty thing] had been normalized years ago, we wouldn't be questioning [shitty thing]'s existence today. I mean, yeah dude.

I think people like AI tools when it's their choice to engage with them and they set the terms. I have a good experience with Claude largely because I choose when to use it and when I don't care about it's existence, its gone. But the stupid glowing, animated, overlapping Copilot button in Word is the dumbest thing imaginable. I don't want it, and I cant stop being reminded of it.

The simple distinction of pro vs anti ai isn't the root cause, its about individual control and choice which can span both of those stances.

Oh totally agreed, I went through the same thought process 8 years ago at my last job and decided against Flutter too. I really wanted to, it was just too new as a Google product. I'm happy I get to use it now, it's solid.

Flutter is 9 years old at this point. I do hope they move it its own open source foundation since a ton of apps use it, having all that under Google's control isn't the best (looking at you too Android)

How are they limping? Flutter has completely replaced it's rendering engine across all platforms and they're building out major window management support on desktop platforms.

At some point there's just not much exciting new stuff to add. Flutter is a nice stable platform, I'd highly recommend it.

By durable I guess I mean they don't destroy themselves just by existing.

That's cool, I didn't see that mentioned in the article.

I have a feeling that making durable fold in half cell phones is just not something we can do cheaply, so they have to be billed as premium to justify it.

Also isn't that terminology settled? Fold for passport, flip for flip phone. I'm sure Apple will invent a new word but everyone doing foldables seems to use those consistently.

I knew I'd seen that city gif with the lines before: https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2020/12/improving-...

> From the 2026 article: "But you also need really good AI to do it right"

So a feature from 2020 (albeit a cool one) is now brand new and AI powered? Did Google have good AI in 2020 and replace it with Gemini?

The DC metro stations with this architecture (and several of the federal buildings downtown in a similar brutalist style) are some of my favorite places. Growing up in the area, the Metro was so exciting for field trips. It felt like being a grown up in a different underground world. The dramatic lighting, weird smell, and cave temperature of the underground ones feel so special to me. Built like a cathedral, stripped down to only the practical parts. Even commuting as an adult it feels special, those senses come back every time. I'm glad they have the same dirty hexagonal tiles at every station too!

Dallmatians

I get the feeling this article is just about mobile apps, which you clearly think is an irremediable platform for some reason. Given ths choice between native mobile apps, locked down by two massive tech companies and web apps, I'll take the latter.

Omg it's a Asteroids Vampire Survivors, that's such a good idea! Love seeing android apps distributed independently too. Excited to play!

To be clear, I am not the creator of this app. I find their work incredibly impressive and want to get the word out about what they've done!

Except at least there are alternatives to Unity without replacing your entire OS and hardware.

I think this is very much already a thing. Have a bot spam Reddit, which Google uses heavily for their AI summaries, and get free advertising and steering of the top of the Google search results page. We basically speed-ran SEO but for AI results.

> Division is free, multiplication is prediction

I'm so tired

> But saying "Google = bad, me uninstall Google, if you use Google Chrome you are an idiot" are not a productive feedback for a product owner there.

I wasn't? I hope that wasn't directed at me since we seem to kind of agree otherwise.

Unfortunately the vast majority of Chrome users wont understand that prompt. Google decided that the Chrome installer should be 4GB, that seems like a large web browser, but is it that crazy compared to anything else? Teams on my Mac is taking 1GB+ just in Applications (not to say I'm terribly happy about that). Chrome installs its own updates and has for a very long time, ensuring we dont have to support super old browser versions, I'm not sure where the line is.

I'm sorry but the AI model that was forced to write this article is struggling to explain why this is a problem. I get that a chrome update that suddenly balloons to 4gb+ is stupid, that's fair, but I'm not sure I understand the rest of the issues. They don't like the off-device AI features Google is forcing into everything, but they also don't like the on-device AI features since they don't do enough?

Aside from taking up a lot of space as a web browser, I'm not sure I get it. Their explanation that Apple's version of this is fine but Google's isn't is wild too.

I love the click-wheel on my Mazda3 and I love that it allows the screen to sit out of arms length up on the dashboard. Its a very nice interior. What I don't love is how Android Auto is slowly breaking since it assumes more and more that you have a touchscreen.

It used to be that it would focus buttons in notifications, making it easy to interact with. Now the focus doesn't seem to change at all (or only sometimes) making it a nightmare to do simple things. I dare not use the new Gemini assistant since the last time I was completely unable to navigate to the buttons in its panel at all.

I really hope they don't phase out the wheel just because Google sucks at supporting it. I know they have both touch and the wheel in newer models now.

Phew!

This feels like the most ridiculous option and one I've never heard in the wild. Sequel-ite, S-Q-lite, sure. S-Q-L-ite, nah I'm not buying that. Kinda like the inventor of GIF insisting on pronouncing it wrong (I kid)

Omg thx bbg!

Check out Buzzkill, its a great app for managing notification rules. You can set it to hide and batch up notifications during your off hours and show them later.

Truly the most accurate username I've encountered here.

Who's benefiting from SF homelessness?