AI washing, rescuing the Vision Pro, another failed AI coding test, and bean counters beware
Plus, my most recent book, secret Disney tech projects, Chinese weed farms in America, new Easter Island insights, and the importance of being lazy
I’m David Gewirtz. Welcome to this week’s Advanced Geekery newsletter. It’s been an exciting week. Let’s dive in.
My articles
Let’s kick it off with a quick recap of the articles I published in the last week on ZDNET.
To rescue the Vision Pro, Apple must do these 3 things: How did Facebook's $500 Meta Quest 3 wallop the company that Steve Jobs built? Apple was busy showing off instead of building something useful - and now it faces some tough decisions.
I pitted Claude 3.5 Sonnet against AI coding tests ChatGPT aced - and it failed creatively: Anthropic claims its updated AI tool is ideal for programming. After subjecting Claude 3.5 Sonnet to my four standard programming tests, I have some advice for you.
AI washing is dirty business. Lenovo's COO explains how to avoid it: Lenovo's Linda Yao spoke to ZDNET about the myths and misconceptions of AI. Here's how to avoid being misled.
ZDNET Special Feature: What Al Means for Jobs and Productivity
ZDNET is launching its newest Special Feature, What Al Means for Jobs and Productivity. Here’s an article I wrote on the topic:
Sorry bean counters: AI should bolster creatives, not replace them: The future of creative work is about how AI is reshaping the roles of writers, artists, and designers. We uncover the limitations, risks, and opportunities of using AI in creative industries.
Speaking of jobs and productivity, some of you might not be aware I wrote an entire book on the topic back in 2010:
It is from 2010, so some of it’s a bit out of date. But there are some underlying thoughts and history that, if I say so myself, are pretty fascinating and forward-thinking. You can download it for free on Kindle right now.
Must-watch YouTube
Moving on, let’s queue up some interesting YouTube videos for your entertainment and edification.
It’s always fun visiting the development labs for innovative companies. In this video, we get to see some of the projects being worked on at Disney.
Want an excuse to just veg? The term is called Niksen, and it’s the Dutch art of doing nothing. Seriously, “No, honey, I wasn’t napping. I was practicing Niksen.” Hmm, in the US, the phonics of that statement don’t work as well as they read. But it’s still cool.
Here’s another video on the importance of being lazy, this time from CBS News. No, I didn’t have time to watch it. What do you think I am, a slacker?
Interesting reads
And now, some good stuff from around the Internet, well worth reading.
Apparently, Easter Island’s society didn’t collapse the way we all thought it did.
NPR reports that the Chinese have been funding and staffing weed farms all across the US.
An Earth-sized planet has been found orbiting a Sun-like star. Engage!
Send in your projects
I’d like to regularly spotlight a reader project or two here. Your project doesn’t have to be a big Kickstarter launch. If you’ve built something cool, it has some pretty pictures, and you’re proud of it, I might be able to share it here.
If you have a photogenic reader project, send an email to me at david@zatz.com with the subject “READER PROJECT,” a few pictures, and a short one-paragraph description. If you have a social media link or a link to the project, include that, too.
Both my EPs are now streaming
Available on all your favorite streaming services.
More clicky
I’ve got a lot happening all over the web. Here are links to my various stuff:
House of the Head: home for my published music
ZATZ Labs: where I host my published software projects
Feel free to dig around, visit, and say hey!
Leave some comments
Substack supports comments, so feel free to leave some. I promise to read them. Just, please, let’s keep our personal politics out of any discussion.
That should do it for this week. This newsletter is really starting to pick up subscribers. Please help it out by sharing links on all your socials.
Have a great week!