It probably makes sense with a silent linear keyswitch for users who are used to the obvious acoustic feedback of a typewriter.

Since cheap modern MCUs have programmable ADCs, you can wiggle an output pin and experiment with different sounds. I've tried something a bit more "tinkle" like than a flat "beep" and it has its charms, but it could go a whole new place like different tones for special keys (simulating the clunk of a shift or space bar) or even keys that you could subtly differentiate by sound to tell if you're off alignment.

There's probably a better take on this in the "non-sold" software market. I feel like there's an optimistic story there, in that AI could lead back towards an era of user-directed computing.

We've had a long trend of software vendors infantilizing and limiting their users, normally in the service of some goal of making the product nonintimidating to nontechnical customers (mobile-first design with hidden or nonexistent poweruser functions), or to simplify their own job (Electron instead of native)

But on any system people use frequently, users eventually want to refine and streamline their workflows, to maximize productivity and limit frustration.

I suspect the slopamatron will be the 2026 answer. 20 years ago, you might have non-developers scraping together just enough VBA, TCL/Tk, AppleScript, or even macro-recorder tools to file off their rough edges. Today, those users will ask the bot for help to wrestle back control, particular when a lot of the old hardpoints for automation don't exist in newer designs.

Most of these tools never end up on an App Store-- at best they'd be shared internally within a single organization, or a user-group if those still exist, but they're delivering way more value than the a random App Store game with 7 downloads and a bunch of legally distinct knockoff assets.

Maybe if vendors see that large numbers of their customers are enlisting AI to work around bad design decisions, they'll reconsider those decisions, or at least surface first-class automation tooling, which could be consumed by chatbots and human programmers.

I think Obsidian is an interesting case. It is highly customisable and it allows for Claude code and other agents to run inside it, with access to both the app data and the code. So all within Obsidian, you can tell Claude to change anything about Obsidian, and he will do it and you will see the changes almost instantly. So basically everyone starts when the default obsidian build but each user ends up having a different set of UI, workflows and extensions to fit their needs

This seems like a new spin on the "wealth fades after 3 generations" narrative.

You built the killbots that prevent anyone from ever reallocating your wealth and holed up in your compound. But will your daughter and granddaughter be able to keep them operational and aligned to their interests?

I think if the elites cared about their daughter and granddaughter they would have acted to not destroy the world to begin with, frankly. And it's no reprieve for the common man that after the world is ruined the elite bunkers will be trash after 100 years

Phone batteries have relatively little margin. If it lasts barely a full day at full capacity, going down to 80% means you can no longer reliably say "I'll charge it overnight".

A car battery that lasted 300km new but now only 200km is still entirely adequate for a commuter with a 25km typical commute, and occasional 75km days out.

Western manufacturers really shot themselves in the crotch with this one. Foot isn't strong enough here.

Had CXMT hit a normal functioning market, they would be a much harder sell-- existing vendors could spread FUD about performance and quality to hold them back for a few years. But now you have an audience that is desperate to the verge of soldering up banks of 74LS74 flip-flops to make their own RAM.

It's not even like they're offering a reasonable "there's a domestic product but it's marginally more expensive" alternative. And it's all their fault. I sort of wonder if someone was actually saying "we'd better keep some supply around just to avoid burning our bridges with Dell/HP/Apple/etc." when the deals went down.

The US might try to go protectionist/China-baiting to keep CXMT products off their market, but I expect they'll sell just fine everywhere else.

> Had CXMT hit a normal functioning market, they would be a much harder sell-- existing vendors could spread FUD about performance and quality to hold them back for a few years.

I agree with this. Off-brand NVMe and SSDs are really in your face right now and as people buy them out of desperation they’re learning they work just fine. Western manufacturers have done massive damage to their long term brands for some short term profits.

The billing address "bull" is part of a basic fraud due-diligence feature (AVS - Address Verification System).

You can get back different match levels (matched the house number only, the zip code only, or both) which provide some insight into potentially sketchy transactions. Some payment gateways allow you to auto-decline based on the results, or the merchant can choose to follow up depending on their scale and risk tolerance.

Plenty of petrol stations ask for the zip code on the unattended keypad when making a purchase for the same reason.

So when you sign up for a CC the address is used by the bank/institution, but when you tell a merchant they don't even cross-check with the bank... ever? They'd have to, otherwise what's the point in asking for it? Maybe the bank only shares zip codes? If so, why not just ask the buyer for a zip code?

Every time you make a cc purchase online, the seller, if they get your details directly can then go out and use your details to make purchases of their own from your card. That's insane, let alone having your name and address details. No wonder cc companies get fraud.

If I am going to use a credit card, let me hand over the number, and then send me an email to confirm the purchase. Not sure what the flow of that would be and if/how to use confirmation codes. Also, the last thing I'd want is another "app". Maybe optional 2FA.

Thanks.

Crypto debit cards are on the rise anyway.

Another idea would be to have a once-only disposable CC number generator. New purchase, get new number. Also, when new numbers are generated, the bank can record the who/when/where of the request and it can be matched with the when/where/how it is used later, and how many times to get a clue if an account is compromised as a fallback protection.

Imagine if those numbers went on a blockchain for merchants to use. They could see if/when a number was already used, but not necessarily need to use/integrate with it - but the bank would. Crypto address generators are commonplace now but addresses are very hard to key-in. So the blockchain would be a security layer on top of the conventional transaction, which could work without it if need be.

"Donate to a different charity" is in no way a viable alternative.

Charities are anything but interchangeable. You might not want to sponsor one on ideological grounds, or concerns about how effectively they use the money, or just because you were seeking to support a specific cause. If you deposited money in a box that said "we're buying medicine for sick people in Somaliland" and they sent it to the RSPCA instead, wouldn't you be pissed?

Was it definitely a different charity though? I couldn't tell, hoped for clarification.

"probably still requires a lot of GPU compute" is something that would be very desirable to undercut.

There's a galaxy of potential AI markets that are local-only for compliance/privacy/deployment environment reasons, and an equally large and overlapping set of use cases where you won't be able to bolt a rack of thousand-watt GPUs on the side of the device.

What if the next "DeepSeek shock" is something we can run for non-toy use cases on our box of old Android phones? The GPU data centres could be expensive albatrosses very quickly.

There's probably a case that right now, the bigger-is-better paradigm protects incumbents-- a smaller model will always have a FOMO factor unless it can be proven competitive, so that leaves the playing field to those who can afford to train and deploy a new Fable or Sol every few months.

I guess I don't understand the sales argument for a 'smart monitor'.

For the "smart TV" the argument to the consumer is either 1) to access OTT services if you don't have a device for it already or 2) that the data harvest subsidizes the product.

Neither of these arguments make sense for a straight monitor.

People generally don't buy monitors if they don't have a PC, game console, or some other video source to plug them into. So "it runs Netflix or Zoom standalone" isn't gonna move the needle.

The subsidy argument is also pretty hard to make. It works for TVs because you can advertise "60 inches with malware for the same price as 32 inches without". But monitors have fairly low upper limits on desired size when you're using them at a desk. Many would find a 60" screen overwhelming, but 27" is reasonable. You can buy a new 27" 1080p IPS monitor for $95 today. Can ads and data theft subsidize it down to $80? Maybe. But again, will that make much of a difference for consumers?

This is also only from a consumer perspective. I can imagine IT department having a fit about these products. At the best, it's support tickets when someone accidentally engages with an unexpected feature or plugs their Ethernet cord into the monitor. At worst, it's a fun new source of compliance obligations and patch processes.

The worst-case angle I can see is eventually media entities will see it as a way to close one more loophole. Someone will launch a service that can't be streamed on the host PC, only on blessed smart devices themselves, to eliminate the risk someone plugged the DisplayPort cable into some sort of DRM-stripping device. But that would alienate a hell of a lot of potential customers.

Different arguments for different audiences.

Some people respond to moral arguments directly.

But even if you're all about extractive imperialism, you can make a case for "starting fires in your own backyard is going to be costly for you, especially in the long term."