Ah, the Neural DSP Quad Cortex, the proverbial golden child of the guitar modelling world. As we approach the two-year anniversary of my ownership, I find myself in a love-hate relationship with this awesome device.
Let’s start with the good bits. The touchscreen and rotary stomps are nothing short of a revelation. Navigating through the menus is as smooth as a hot knife through butter, and the visual building process is so intuitive it’s like playing with Lego blocks. But alas, this is where the honeymoon period ends, and the reality of living with the Quad Cortex sets in.
In the cutthroat world of web development, trends come and go faster than a blink of an eye. Yet amidst this constant churn, there has been one relentless narrative: the supposed downfall of PHP and its offspring, WordPress. But here’s the twist—despite the years of criticism, proclamations of their death, and the rise of shinier, ‘cooler’ tools, PHP and WordPress are still standing. Not just standing but thriving.
Let’s face it. PHP has been the favourite whipping boy of developers for years. It’s been derided as messy, outdated, and everything in between. Yet, if PHP is as terrible as its critics claim, how has it survived and flourished in the competitive landscape of web development? The answer lies in its simplicity, flexibility, and resilience.
Have you ever found yourself startled by the uncanny resemblance between the smartphone in your hand and that of your mate’s, despite them being from entirely different manufacturers? You are not alone. This unsettling sameness is a symptom of a broader ailment plaguing the tech industry: homogenisation.
Like a relentless tide, homogenisation has washed over the technology landscape, reducing the once vibrant panorama of innovation to a monotonous, grey sea. This is a trend where uniqueness is relinquished in favour of uniformity, where diversity is suppressed for the sake of standardisation. But at what cost?
Who else had this on their 2023 bingo card? In the midst of a global cost of living crisis, two tech titans have presented us with an unexpected yet entertaining proposition: a cage fight.
Elon Musk, the audacious CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has indirectly challenged Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight. And funnily enough, Zuckerberg seems to be down for the challenge.
This playful feud started on Twitter, where Musk has been taunting Zuckerberg with zingers like “Zuck my 👅.” During an internal all-hands meeting at Meta last week, chief product officer Chris Cox told employees the company thinks creators want a version of Twitter that is “sanely run,” drawing cheers. In a recent podcast interview with Lex Fridman, Zuckerberg added, “I’ve always thought that Twitter should have a billion people using it.” which felt like a pointed jab.
In a move that caught everyone by surprise, Google recently announced the sale of Google Domains to Squarespace. To many, this strategic realignment came out of left field, providing a glaring clue about the shape of Google’s new vision. The seismic shift to prioritise artificial intelligence (AI) has raised questions about the fate of Firebase, a Google-owned platform popular among developers.
What will come of Firebase?
Under Sundar Pichai’s leadership, Google has transformed from a mobile-first to an AI-first company. If Google Domains, a more traditional web offering, no longer fits within the framework of this AI-focused vision, where does Firebase fit in?
Well, well, well, what do we have here? The guardians of Stack Overflow, those volunteer moderators who’ve turned the site into their personal fiefdom, are having a tantrum. As of June 5th, 2023, they’ve gone on a historic general moderation strike, joined by over 850 contributors and users.
Their beef? Stack Overflow, Inc. isn’t giving them the attention they feel they deserve regarding being able to police AI-generated answers. To which I say, “Welcome to the club, mates.”
Designers and developers have had a very long and complicated relationship with Adobe. Over the years, we have seen scrappy upstarts come and take a bite out of Adobe’s lunch: inVision, SketchApp, Figma (which Adobe acquired in 2022) and countless others. Despite numerous attempts, Adobe is still standing.
Here we are in 2023, and another attack wave is being set upon companies like Adobe in the form of generative AI. Tools like DALL-E and Midjourney make generating images easy and even manipulating images without setting forth inside Photoshop. But, Adobe is not taking this lying down.
Apple is known for introducing innovative products to the market and revolutionising the tech industry, most notably with the iPod and then the iPhone. The latest buzz is about the upcoming Apple augmented reality (AR) glasses being dubbed Apple Glasses. AR technology superimposes digital elements in the real world, creating an interactive and immersive experience.
The idea of AR glasses is not new, but Apple’s entry into the market could be a game-changer if they do it right. The company has a loyal fan base, and its products have a reputation for being high-quality and user-friendly.
I’ve got a confession to make. I miss buttons. You know, the kind in cars, where you press one and something actually happens. No swiping, no squinting, no guessing if you hit the right part of the screen. Just good old-fashioned, satisfying, clicky buttons.
Remember when touchscreens started becoming a thing in cars? There was this sense of “Wow, it’s like driving in the future!” But after the novelty wore off, we were left playing a dangerous game of ‘Whack-A-Mole’ on the highway. You just wanted to adjust the fan speed, but instead found yourself in a high-stakes game of find-the-menu, all while keeping an eye on the road. Not exactly the stress-free driving experience we were promised.
The end of Succession is near its fourth and final season. Arguably, one of the greatest TV shows in recent years. A perfect mixture of comedy, drama and suspense. After the emotionally charged second last episode, “Church and State”, fans are left to guess how they will end the show.
Oh, also: spoiler alert. Stop reading if you haven’t seen season 4 or are behind.
Things are shaping up for the finale after the funeral episode featuring an incredible performance by Kieran Culkin (give the man an Emmy already). We saw Roman completely break; after saying he had already “pre-grieved”, he fell apart. This pinnacle moment of the episode saw the threads of power unravel.