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VOICE ARCHIVE

Ben Sandofsky

@sandofsky
61 posts
2024-10-02
This year we're trying something different at Lux. Normally, I just edit Sebastiaan's annual iPhone review. This year, I made a review of my own! https://www.youtube.com/...
2024-10-02 View on X
Lux

iPhone 16 Pro camera review: overall image and quality of life improvements, and Camera Control, Zero Shutter Lag, and its advanced Photographic Styles impress

For the first “Desert Titanium” iPhone, we took over 1000 photos and videos in the desert.  Take a deep dive into what's new — and why it's close to the last of its kind.

It's new iPhone season, and you know what that means: Lux's annual iPhone camera review. https://www.lux.camera/...
2024-10-02 View on X
Lux

iPhone 16 Pro camera review: overall image and quality of life improvements, and Camera Control, Zero Shutter Lag, and its advanced Photographic Styles impress

For the first “Desert Titanium” iPhone, we took over 1000 photos and videos in the desert.  Take a deep dive into what's new — and why it's close to the last of its kind.

2024-06-20
I finally wrote up the full story behind Lambda School, Silicon Valley's disastrous foray into for-profit education. I cover how it burned through $120 million, why Income Share Agreements failed, and how one developer-turned-journalist ended the fraud. https://www.sandofsky.com/...
2024-06-20 View on X
Sandofsky

A history of Lambda School: burning through $120M, why its income share agreements failed, how one developer-turned-journalist revealed the fraud, and more

Two days after his company's downfall, Austen Allred wrote: … Austen co-founded Lambda School, one of the largest educational startups of all time. Mastodon: @slightlyoff@toot.cafe...

2024-04-18
“Too much going on,” indeed. [image]
2024-04-18 View on X
TechCrunch

The US CFPB fines BloomTech, formerly Lambda School, and CEO Austen Allred $164K+ and bans BloomTech from lending for 10 years over deceiving students on loans

In an order today, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said that BloomTech, the for-profit coding bootcamp previously known …

Austen Allred, CEO of Lambda School, was just personally fined $100,000 for “Deceiving Students and Hiding Loan Costs,” and ordered to stop collecting from graduates. I think this saga is coming to a close. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ ...
2024-04-18 View on X
TechCrunch

The US CFPB fines BloomTech, formerly Lambda School, and CEO Austen Allred $164K+ and bans BloomTech from lending for 10 years over deceiving students on loans

In an order today, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said that BloomTech, the for-profit coding bootcamp previously known …

2023-12-30
This message was delivered on a platform that leveraged the position of Instagram to bootstrap its social graph.  Instagram has never allowed third party clients, and Facebook pulled Twitter's API access when it launched a “Find My Facebook Friends” feature.
2023-12-30 View on X
Daring Fireball

Apple blocking Beeper Mini, not a service unto itself but an unauthorized client for a proprietary platform that costs a lot to run, is not anticompetitive

what a shame!  I swear, these companies — Meta, Spotify, and Epic come to mind — are the whiniest bastards ever.  In a hypothetical situation where Meta made its own phone and Appl...

2023-11-10
Today Humane announced *three* products.  A chat GPT wrapper.  A camera without a screen.  Swappable batteries.  ChatGPT.  Useless camera.  Batteries.  Are you getting it?
2023-11-10 View on X
Wired

Humane plans to open Ai Pin pre-orders on November 16, starting at $699 plus $24/month for unlimited calls, texts, and data via T-Mobile, shipping in early 2024

Are they trying to succeed? … @sdw@mastodon.social : I don't have a wisecrack or snark — this takes a lot of courage and a lot of vision to do.  It's worth celebrating that there's...

My theory about what happened at Humane... Founders pitch investors on a hand laser thing when it's a napkin sketch.  They raise too much money, hire too many people.  They build a prototype, but too late.  Turns out the laser UI sucks and eats too much battery.  “Hmm. …
2023-11-10 View on X
New York Times

A look at Humane's $699 clip-on Ai Pin, the culmination of five years of work, $240M in funding, and 25 patents; Humane expects to sell ~100K in the first year

$700 is nuts, but what do you want to bet they lose money on every unit sold?  https://www.theverge.com/...
2023-11-10 View on X
Wired

Humane plans to open Ai Pin pre-orders on November 16, starting at $699 plus $24/month for unlimited calls, texts, and data via T-Mobile, shipping in early 2024

Are they trying to succeed? … @sdw@mastodon.social : I don't have a wisecrack or snark — this takes a lot of courage and a lot of vision to do.  It's worth celebrating that there's...

Today Humane announced *three* products.  A chat GPT wrapper.  A camera without a screen.  Swappable batteries.  ChatGPT.  Useless camera.  Batteries.  Are you getting it?
2023-11-10 View on X
New York Times

A look at Humane's $699 clip-on Ai Pin, the culmination of five years of work, $240M in funding, and 25 patents; Humane expects to sell ~100K in the first year

My theory about what happened at Humane... Founders pitch investors on a hand laser thing when it's a napkin sketch.  They raise too much money, hire too many people.  They build a prototype, but too late.  Turns out the laser UI sucks and eats too much battery.  “Hmm. …
2023-11-10 View on X
Wired

Humane plans to open Ai Pin pre-orders on November 16, starting at $699 plus $24/month for unlimited calls, texts, and data via T-Mobile, shipping in early 2024

Are they trying to succeed? … @sdw@mastodon.social : I don't have a wisecrack or snark — this takes a lot of courage and a lot of vision to do.  It's worth celebrating that there's...

2023-11-09
$700 is nuts, but what do you want to bet they lose money on every unit sold?  https://www.theverge.com/...
2023-11-09 View on X
The Verge

Documents detail Humane's $699 Ai Pin: a $24/month subscription, including a phone number, data, cloud storage, and access to Microsoft and OpenAI AI models

It's scheduled to launch the Pin on Thursday, but The Verge has obtained documents detailing practically everything about the device ahead of its official launch.

2023-07-06
The pitch meeting for Threads: “It's Twitter but swap nazis for brands.”
2023-07-06 View on X
Platformer

Hands-on with Threads: fairly basic text-based messaging app, log in via Instagram, no hashtags, can't search for anything other than user handles, and more

Programming note: I really was trying to take a vacation, but this felt like it was worth the one-day interruption.

The pitch meeting for Threads: “It's Twitter but swap nazis for brands.”
2023-07-06 View on X
Financial Times

Instagram Threads feels like Twitter's early days, offering users an insta-network underpinned by Meta's infrastructure that helped surpass smaller rivals

Tim Bradshaw / Financial Times :

2023-04-11
Happy “FCC Consent Order,” to all who celebrate. https://twitter.com/...
2023-04-11 View on X
Techdirt

Matt Taibbi's account, including the Twitter Files, was shadowbanned for a while after a spat with Elon Musk, preventing users from finding his tweets in search

The refrain to remember with Twitter under Elon Musk: it can always get dumber.  —  Quick(ish) recap:

2022-12-20
At least in my circles, the community is active and fun. A few rough edges in the UX, but nothing too bad. Great time to join if you want early Twitter vibes. https://twitter.com/...
2022-12-20 View on X
The Verge

Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko says the social network reached 2.5M MAUs in November, up from around 300,000 in October, as Twitter users flee the service

Mastodon, a decentralized social media platform that many are turning to as a Twitter alternative, saw its userbase skyrocket …

2022-10-06
I'd rather Musk not own Twitter, but if it had to happen, it's nice he took the most humiliating path.
2022-10-06 View on X
Financial Times

Sources: Twitter agreed to delay a deposition of Elon Musk by its lead litigation attorney on October 6 in Austin, as both sides hash out the $44B deal

Tesla chief and social media group are negotiating end to legal fight to finalise $44bn buyout  —  Twitter has agreed to delay …

I'd rather Musk not own Twitter, but if it had to happen, it's nice he took the most humiliating path.
2022-10-06 View on X
Bloomberg

Elon Musk's revived $44B Twitter acquisition could rely on banks providing $12.5B at a time when offloading risky debt is difficult, leading to potential losses

2022-06-14
On October 28, 2021, Matt Damon said, “Fortune Favors the Brave.” If you went out and bought a leading cryptocurrency, today you're down 73% https://twitter.com/...
2022-06-14 View on X
Bloomberg

Major cryptocurrencies crash as the crypto market cap falls below $1T: bitcoin drops 15%+ to ~$22K, ether drops 16%+ to ~$1.2K, and Solana drops 7%+ to ~$28

(Any views expressed below are the personal views of the author … Mitchell Clark / The Verge : BlockFi and Crypto.com lay off hundreds of staff as coins slump Dylan LeClair / Bitco...

On October 28, 2021, Matt Damon said, “Fortune Favors the Brave.” If you went out and bought a leading cryptocurrency, today you're down 73% https://twitter.com/...
2022-06-14 View on X
CoinDesk

Binance paused bitcoin withdrawals for a few hours on Monday “due to a stuck transaction causing a backlog”; the company says BTC withdrawals have since resumed

CEO Changpeng Zhao attributed the issue to a “stuck transaction,” and promised a quick fix. Source: @cz_binance , @binance , and @cz_binance .