What's the point of 'smart' and 'connected' objects? Are they supposed to help us get through menial tasks more efficiently, or have the capitalists figured out a clever way to perpetually profit off the objects we use on a daily basis? Sometimes it feels like the latter. When your printer holds your ink cartridge hostage because you haven't paid your monthly printer subscription, I think it's safe to say you've been swindled by the 'Internet of Things.' And technology itself isn't necessarily to blame. We'll never get to that fabled techno-utopia as long as 'innovation' prioritizes profit rather than usefulness. Until then, we get to clumsily navigate this boring dystopia of connected crap, eternally updating the firmware on our smart trashcans.
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On this day in 1994, Kurt Cobain tragically died at the age of 27 in his Seattle home. Over the years, fans have wondered where Nirvana would have gone if not for Cobain's untimely death, but the reality is that he suffered from both mental and physical illnesses that would have continued to hinder him creatively in life. An organization called Over The Bridge is aiming to 'change the conversation about mental health in the music community' with their current Lost Tapes of the 27 Club project—an album of songs generated by AI software in the style of various musicians who all died at the age of 27 and struggled with their mental health. The album includes one Nirvana tribute called Drowned in the Sun. Everything in the song was generated by AI software except for the vocals, which were performed by the frontman of a Nirvana tribute band. The song itself is a somewhat unsettling pastiche of the legendary band. Drowned in the Sun certainly wouldn't have been one of Nirvana's best, but AI-generated music as a process is pretty surreal and fascinating in itself. Computers can't replace legends, that's for sure.
Ever look around and get the sense that we're living in some sort of techno-dystopia? We get it—sometimes it's cool to have lights that you can dim from your phone or a watch that tells you how many calories you burned, but maybe the 'Internet of Things' has gone too damn far. Once you start connecting every single object in your home to the internet, you become pretty vulnerable when, say, Google is suddenly down, or your WiFi router malfunctions. Sometimes a doorbell should just be a doorbell and a toothbrush certainly shouldn't require regular firmware updates. And who the hell actually wants an Amazon surveillance robot literally flying around their house 24/7?
Anyway, we've got a bunch of examples of bad 'smart devices' from Twitter that might make you reconsider that bluetooth coffee mug purchase.
Paging all programmers, tech geeks, and computer scientists! We know that while the industry is booming where salaries are concerned, the reality of working with code on a daily basis can be very frustrating. And as is the case with other frustrating fields, this makes for some highly relatable and somewhat comforting content. While these memes and tweets won't help to lessen your workload, they might help you laugh your way through the pain.
We've got a humble bunch of geeky memes for all the techies, coders, and computer scientists out there. We've gotta admit, even we didn't get some of the references to Linux and obscure developer tools, but maybe all you programmers and hackers out there will appreciate these niche jokes.
Social media can be a good thing. Sites like Facebook and Instagram allow people to keep in touch with family and friends - a luxury that people are learning is incredibly important as the world copes with the Covid-19 pandemic. But there's a darker (and untintentionally hilarious) side to being able to share images with your followers. We're talking about the fact that people can hit the "share" button and share convoluted memes and posts that they seem to think are ultra deep. You know, "We live in a society" type sentiments. They often have to do with some very teenage feelings about loneliness and dating, and, even worse, the negative effects of the same technology they're using to share their "deep thoughts." The r/im14andthisisdeep subreddit is an impressive archive of these kinds of posts, a veritable hub of cringey thoughts that, frankly, we can't help but eat up. We've put together some of their latest and greatest offerings, but you can enjoy some more of this content here if you end up craving more.
Everyone's got 20/20 hindsight, but many are blind when it comes to predicting outcomes and sharing takes that stand the test of time. It's not always fun to look into the past, especially when you're the one with the embarrassingly wrong analysis immortalized forever on subs like r/agedlikemilk. For us passive observers on the other hand, this stuff is mad entertaining.
We all know that hindsight is 20/20. That definitely applies to the year 2020, too. But today we're talking about a special kind of hindsight and regret. We've all seen that tweet from Hillary Clinton where she says "Happy birthday to this future President." Well, things didn't really go as planned. Today we're here to cover some of the regretful and poorly aged posts that you may not have seen plastered over the internet. You know, posts regarding the horrendous winter storm that struck America's heartland this week. Or, perhaps, posts that deal with some woefully ignorant Bitcoin owners who sold themselves short years ago.
Most of these regrettable situations and posts are pretty harmless. But they're a great reminder that you really need to try to think to the future before getting your hopes up - or your hopes lost. One thing's for sure, it always helps to laugh through the pain.
TikTok is certainly the latest social media craze among the teens, but it's also come under fire for allegedly collecting user data and sending it to Chinese authorities. That, and memers across the board seem to hate it. Accordingly, we've curated this gallery of memes that poke a little fun, and we hope you enjoy!
Robotics company Boston Dynamics went viral today after sharing a video of several of their robots dancing to The Contours' "Do You Love Me?" The video, which garnered a lot of attention on Twitter, is thought by some to reduce the intimidating nature of the machines. While we are still a bit weird about robots, the most intimidating thing about them was their super sick moves. It's a sad day when a robot can out-dance you, but these are the times we live in.
If you've ever felt disconcerted by the way technology/AI have interfered in our lives, you're not alone. Twitter account @internetofshit is basically dedicated to waking people up to the fact that tech is ruining our lives in the most capitalistic ways possible. Let's all find new ways to do necessary life things and charge people a premium for it. What the heck is the world coming to?
It feels like everyone and their mom has gotten into coding lately, and we can't blame them. Today's digital-facing economy makes programming an incredibly logical (and lucrative) career path. While some of these memes might mean nothing to the average internet browser, we're willing to bet they are scary relatable to most programmers, whether they're seasoned masters of the code or just learning the ropes.
Every now and then we see a photo that boils our blood and makes us shake with anger. The r/mildlyinfuriating is a mecca for these kinds of images. People share disturbing images from real life and from the depths of the internet that will get your grinds gearing in no time. After all, it's better to feel anger than the numbness we feel most of the damn time. Whether your mildly infuriating poison is food-related (well-done steak) or tech-related (nobody actually wants sticky keys turned on) we're willing to bet that something in here will piss you off.
