So much snow. (Credit: Lance Ulanoff)
Eye on us
We’re suffering from an oversaturation of us.
I know it’s hard to believe, especially for Gen Z, but there was a time when we didn’t have video cameras in our pockets at all times. There were those who were into photography and subset that carried film (later, bulky video cameras with them), and then there was the rest of us.
However, the desire to share precious and important milestones was almost universal and as cameras and, especially, video cameras shrunk in size, we all started taking them to our kid’s birthday parties, the park, on vacation. I had my first camcorder, a bulky Hitachi in the min 1990s. It was followed by a Sony, and then a palm-sized Canon.
The “everyone” should film craze didn’t start unit the Flip cam, a pocketable camcorder that arrived in 2006. They were popular enough to spawn a dozen copycat devices. The rise of the smartphone, especially the iPhone, killed it within two years.
Society, though, was forever changed and we started filming everything, and built platforms to support the flood of new “content.” YouTube, which launched the same year as Flip is partly to blame, but it was arguably social media, which took the small flame and made it an unstoppable fire.
We now see humans in every moment of their lives. There is little that goes unseen, unwitnessed. From the mundane to the extraordinary, we’re filming and sharing it. The same people who whine about privacy are also sharing TikToks of them losing control of a turkey as they drop it into a vat of boiling oil, as they attempt the latest TikTok dance, or not-quite executing a full somersault (ouch!). They’re post short and long videos on Instagram of beautiful vacations and raw emotional confessionals.
I was thinking about George Floyd and that horrific, 8-minute video of his murder. We’ve all seen it and most know it was shot by a teen on her iPhone. That seems remarkable, but it’s not. It might’ve also seen remarkable that she caught this tragedy. but I’m pretty sure it was a pattern repeated around the country. With everyone carrying a video camera in their pocket, it was only a matter of time before someone recorded something like that tragedy happening.
Ultimately, all these cameras, our ability to see and our dark impulses being shoved out of the shadows and into the light is probably a good thing. But do I need to see your kid getting knocked over by a toy electric Humvee? Probably not.
Apple Car Still a thing?
Last week Apple’s Apple Car project, Project Titan, iCar, whatever the hell you want to call it, lost another executive. This time to Facebook, I mean, Meta.
I try and muster some excitement about this news or any details regarding the vaporwaremobile, but I can’t do it. Apple has been reportedly noodling around with this idea for so, so long. It missed, in my opinion, a big opportunity to buy Tesla back in the day (it can’t really afford it now) and seems hell-bent on building its own car.
This makes some sense. EVs are the future, which makes cars much more like giant rolling phones, except for the speed and danger. But even with Apple’s new car project leadership, the whole thing appears to be going in circles–I mean nowhere fast.
Look at who’s leading the project: Kevin Lynch. I like the guy and know he’s as sharp as they come. However, his most recent Apple experience was in building the Apple Watch, a tiny wearable with fewer moving parts than an iPhone. I don’t know why time Cook thinks he’s the right guy for the iCar, but maybe Lynch is also secretly into Ferraris.
In any case, the Apple Car is no closer to reality than it was five years ago. It is fun to talk about, though, isn’t it?
BTW: If anyone was wondering if Apple’s iPhone 13 is a hit, they should just take a look at the company’s latest blockbuster earnings.
More Apple: The company’s latest beta platforms for iPad and Mac showcase how you can connect and work on both systems at the same time.
I’ve always wondered how birds knew where to fly without Google Maps.
Have you tried using iPhone’s built-in measurement utility to check out your snow counts? I have.
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Stay safe
See you soon