Category: Technology

EXTRACTING ONES SELF FROM GOOGLE

I don’t know how to reply or contact Brad Barrish, so I figured I’d answer his inquiry about moving away from Google on my own blog.

Docs and Sheets might well be impossible, or at least the trade-offs might be too great. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do there yet.

I’ve been experimenting with Proton Drive, which has its own version of Docs and Sheets. I’m using it for my own projects at the moment, and I like how it’s worked so far. The sharing and normal collaboration seems to work just fine. Sure, not everything feels as familiar as the tools we’ve been using for the last 10+ years, but I’m giving it a chance.

Then there’s infomaniak, which is a wild name, but I’ve been talking to someone who moved their whole operation away from Google Workspace and it’s working out nicely for them. They seem to have a Docs / Sheets / PowerPoint offering of their own (kDrive), but I haven’t played around with it yet.

Also… being as I extracted 20 years of photos from Apple’s “Photos”, I’ve been looking for an organizational solution, and ente has been recommended as well, and it looks pretty solid.

As I tell most folks (I’ve hosted a few Break Up With Google Zoom calls in recent months with my Social Media Escape Club folks), just sign up for some of these sorts of things and feel ’em out.

The biggest tech guru YouTuber (or I) could tell you which one is the “best,” but if you log in and hate it, it won’t matter. All of these platforms and services are something you really need to get into and test drive for yourself.

YOUTUBE NEEDS MORE OUTPUT

YouTube will always need more. More viewers, more time spent on the site, more more more.

Some folks want to “monetize their channels,” meaning, get a cut of the ad revenue from views. Before you had to 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the last year.

Well, YouTube says you need 8,000 hours.

From TechCrunch:

YouTube announced on Monday that new creators will have to meet higher thresholds to begin earning money from ads and subscriptions.

Creators who want to start earning on the platform will need at least 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Currently, creators need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours over the past year or 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views over the past 90 days.

More content, more chances for people to keep watching, and an even bigger investment for people looking to get monetized.

As Seth Godin says, the problem with the race to the bottom is you just might win.

ADS ARE EVERYWHERE

So BMW dropped an ad for Spider Man into the big dumb video dashboard. I mean, did we really think advertisers weren’t going to find a way to weasel their way onto those dashboard displays? It’s prime real estate, esp when you can target BMW drivers who have money, right?

Apparently this is a one time thing, but if there’s money to be made I’m sure you’ll see this in many more cars in the coming years.

And this is exactly why I want a older car with a manual transmission with windows I can roll down myself.

SUBSTACK NOTES SOURCE PROBLEM

I love loathe seeing breaking news and big statements on Substack Notes with massive engagement without a link to a source.

  • “Senator grows horns and spiked tail!” 2.4K likes
  • “AP reports plastic in newborn eyeballs!” 5.3K likes
  • “Studies prove breathing is helpful.” 3,000 comments

Like, we’re just taking the posters word?

Posting without credit or source is 100% totally ok because EnGaGeMeNt??!

There was a time on social media where you’d get 100 replies all saying “SOURCE!?!?” if you left out a link to where you got your news.

STOP BLAMING TECH FOR MISSING OUT

We don’t need a new platform, we need to fucking regain focus on allocate time and attention to the people we say we love and want to follow.

“Oh, I never see my friend’s posts anymore!”

Well fucking bookmark their profile and set a reminder!

Subscribe to their newsletter or RSS or podcast, set a recurring alert to email / call / send a letter.

There’s so much technology available to us to find, re-find, and remind. “Siri, remind me to…” is the probably 85% of the answer to all this.

We don’t need another login, we need to fucking grow up and choose our damn destiny, retake our agency, and dictate our own flow of time and energy.

Another platform run by a bunch of strangers probably ain’t the answer we need.

DISCOVERY WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA

From Bear Blog Discover → a blog post titled “More Than Email” → Tuta (Secure Email: Private, Green & Ad-free) → CryptPad (CryptPad is a collaborative office suite that is end-to-end encrypted and open-source.)

“BuT How will i FIND nEw CoOL sTUFF WiThOUt SoCiAL MediA?!?”

By clicking around Bear Blog’s Discover and Bubbles you can find some interesting blog posts, which lead you down rabbit holes to other interesting blogs or products or services.

It’s not served to you on a silver platter like an algorithm, but that’s the point.