Reading List

The most recent articles from a list of feeds I subscribe to.

AI labs are buying Slack, Jira, and email archives from defunct startups to build "reinforcement learning gyms" and train AI agents in simulated workplaces (Anna Tong/Forbes)

Anna Tong / Forbes:
AI labs are buying Slack, Jira, and email archives from defunct startups to build “reinforcement learning gyms” and train AI agents in simulated workplaces  —  Defunct startups are being liquidated for their Slack archives, Jira tickets, and email threads—operational exhaust that AI labs now treat as premium training data.

Chance Miller: ‘Netflix Ruined Its Apple TV App by Switching to a Custom Video Player’

Chance Miller, 9to5Mac:

The change began rolling out a few weeks ago, and user frustration is mounting. On Reddit, there’s a growing thread of Netflix subscribers saying they are canceling their subscription because of this change to the Apple TV app. [...]

The change also means you lose access to full payback controls using the Apple TV Remote app on your iPhone. You can’t enable Enhance Dialogue from the video player. That clever Apple TV feature that automatically enables subtitles when you rewind? Gone.

One of my most-used tvOS video player features is the ability to tap the Siri Remote to see when what I’m currently watching will end. It’s great for trying to decide whether you have time for one more episode before bed. That feature is gone in Netflix as part of this change.

FlatpanelsHD has a great roundup of all the features on Apple TV that rely on an app using the native video player.

Someone tried to argue with me when I complained about this horrendous regression that Netflix users somehow want consistency across different platforms — that users want the same Netflix player on Apple TV as on Roku, Amazon Fire, Google TV, and whatever crap is built into their “smart” TV. Nonsense. Why would users of one platform care what the Netflix player is like on other platforms? Apple TV users buy Apple TV boxes because they want the Apple TV experience. Maybe Netflix wants to present the same experience everywhere. Maybe Netflix wants to save on engineering costs by having a write-once-run-like-shit-everywhere video player. That’s a Netflix concern, not a user concern.

From the perspective of users, this change to the tvOS Netflix app just sucks. There’s no upside at all. Nothing is better, much is worse, and a slew of cool platform features are now gone.

All chaos cube locations in Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 2

Where to find every chaos cube as part of the "Path of the Voyager" quest in Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 2.

OpenAI launches GPT-Rosalind, an AI model for life sciences research, including drug discovery, as a research preview for customers such as Moderna and Amgen (Megan Morrone/Axios)

Megan Morrone / Axios:
OpenAI launches GPT-Rosalind, an AI model for life sciences research, including drug discovery, as a research preview for customers such as Moderna and Amgen  —  OpenAI announced a new series of AI models built to help life sciences researchers work faster.

Live Nation says it will fight monopoly suit loss

After a jury found that Live Nation-Ticketmaster violated antitrust law on several counts, the company warns in a blog post that the verdict "is not the last word on this matter." The company plans to renew a motion for the judge to issue a ruling against the states, claiming that they did not prove their […]