13 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Wow, @Catwhat happened to your parents with the Eurostar was unacceptable! That makes me incensed just to read it. The use of tech in customer service has now become infused with a deliberate lack of humanity—soulless, devoid of regard. I have often felt as if these systems have become a barrier so that companies can minimize their contact with human beings.

100%. Companies want to block any criticism or duck accountability with regards to delivering a service. They sent two young kids to deal with hundreds of passengers, and they just repeated the mantra "Please go onto the website and rebook your journey." Not one executive or decision-maker was visible.

To compound matters, I ended up catching Covid from the melée of passengers at the station, lol.

This is what I mean about being let down by tech. A more personalized, human(e) service would have been more efficient in this situation. Within an hour, most passengers could have been quickly rebooked on trains that very day. But Eurostar just wants the algorithm deal with everything, and save some $$ and avoid either training humans or having to deal with human customers.

Another example: the closure of physical retail bank spaces in the UK. They want everyone to do banking 'on the app.' This is isolating a sizeable portion of older or immigrant residents who prefer dealing in cash and checks and don't know how to use computers or fancy smartphones. How to take out cash or deposit checks? Where do you go when you notice fraud in your account or on your credit card? Sit on a phone for half-an-hour and go through the motions dictated by automated voicecall?

14 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

To get around the protectionist accusations, I think the Biden administration is trying to carve out some collaborative trade agreements with allied countries, particularly European Union nations where the concerns and grumbling has been the strongest (and loudest). I think that neither the United States nor the EU wants to close off any potential pathways to sell their products to the other’s consumers. As long as no nation becomes dependent upon any one nation outside of its own borders, the cross trade agreements could be a sound idea.

Biden also recognises the alliance aspect of shared values under threat. But I will say that the Inflation Reduction Act was not well received in the EU -- it was seen as a competitive strike to attract European green business across the Atlantic to the US. Now the EU is trying to formulate meaningful green subsidies and incentives of its own.

13 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

The U.S. is already doing in this vein with some foreign companies from Taiwan and South Korea having built fabrication plants in some U.S. states, mostly in the South but at least one major fabrication plant in upstate New York.

Fear of an invasion of Taiwan is also governing this decision. Will the US back the Pacific alliance of Taiwan, Japan and South Korea? Guess that depends on who is in the WH.

2 hours ago, Cat said:

Another example: the closure of physical retail bank spaces in the UK. They want everyone to do banking 'on the app.' This is isolating a sizeable portion of older or immigrant residents who prefer dealing in cash and checks and don't know how to use computers or fancy smartphones. How to take out cash or deposit checks? Where do you go when you notice fraud in your account or on your credit card? Sit on a phone for half-an-hour and go through the motions dictated by automated voicecall?

A few years ago, there was a certain number of the banking and business sectors that tried to promote the idea of a “cashless” society and at first, I was willing to hear them out but upon hearing more information, I decided that it would eventually become another facet of a divide along socioeconomic lines, with the ‘haves’ benefiting and the ‘have nots’ being at a marked disadvantage. We’re already getting a taste of the repercussions of this with some establishments that have tried to deny cash payments, for example an upscale fast-casual eatery called Sweetgreen (very popular here in the Northeast U.S.) which was forced to reverse their anti-cash policy after a severe backlash once the policy became public.

2 hours ago, Cat said:

Fear of an invasion of Taiwan is also governing this decision. Will the US back the Pacific alliance of Taiwan, Japan and South Korea? Guess that depends on who is in the WH.

Well, they do say that necessity is the mother of invention and necessity, and I guess necessity can also provide the incentive to transform and refigure.

3 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

A few years ago, there was a certain number of the banking and business sectors that tried to promote the idea of a “cashless” society and at first, I was willing to hear them out but upon hearing more information, I decided that it would eventually become another facet of a divide along socioeconomic lines, with the ‘haves’ benefiting and the ‘have nots’ being at a marked disadvantage. We’re already getting a taste of the repercussions of this with some establishments that have tried to deny cash payments, for example an upscale fast-casual eatery called Sweetgreen (very popular here in the Northeast U.S.) which was forced to reverse their anti-cash policy after a severe backlash once the policy became public.

I love that people reacted against it and Sweetgreen acquiesced! So many big businesses now talk the talk of 'listening to our customers' but don't walk the walk. They basically want to force square pegs into round holes, as I've said before.

Before I derail this tech thread completely, I just wanted to repeat a rumor regarding the vanishing of physical banks from main street -- there are whispers that the ECB wants to introduce a CBDC (central bank digital currency) later this year (October?), and the removal of banks' physical presence on the continent may be part of that. However, this could also be a conspiracy theory started by an irate bank customer.

AI’s bias problem has always been known (and troubling) it the specifics of how this plays out in everyday life is deeply disturbing imo.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/04/arts/design/black-artists-bias-ai.html#:~:text=Artists Say A.I.-,Shows Bias%2C With Algorithms Erasing Their History,perpetuate discrimination and need improvement.&text=The artist Stephanie Dinkins has,in her Brooklyn-based practice.

This makes me wonder if I should even post spitball story ideas on message boards. I might not do this anymore.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/15/technology/artificial-intelligence-models-chat-data.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

This is the first time I’ve heard of livestream shopping (other than HSN and QVC, which I am not entirely sure is always live- I suspect some portions are recorded) but this sounds insane. Though this may only work for well-known celebrities.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/17/china/james-harden-nba-china-livestream-wine-intl-hnk/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_content=2023-08-18T09%3A00%3A15&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twCNN

https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/101223-1100?fbclid=IwAR3fbiaAnN7w5jtqU28h94Xlu8-1HSAZ6UYQlew6Tt05nnsGMkdPQmMZkds

Damn!!

That site must be getting a lot of traffic because it will not load. 

20 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/101223-1100

Damn!!

 

17 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

That site must be getting a lot of traffic because it will not load. 

Here you go, it's about Best Buy:
https://web.archive.org/web/20231013094348/https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/101223-1100

7 hours ago, janea4old said:

Here you go, it's about Best Buy:
https://web.archive.org/web/20231013094348/https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/101223-1100

Thank you @janea4old. I appreciate you posting this archived link. The author apparently heard from a lot of people who were unable to get on and his posted what he’d written directly to his social media.

Amazon fire tablet 11...has anyone bought the new version?

Not sure how long this will be the case but…

https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-overtakes-apple-worlds-most-valuable-company-2024-01-11/

Anybody know of a free program I can use to convert a video to an mp3 file?

I've don't it before but don't recall which program since I don't have that tech anymore.

 

Just now, Soapsuds said:

Anybody know of a free program I can use to convert a video to an mp3 file?

I've don't it before but don't recall which program since I don't have that tech anymore.

 

Handbrake

Shutter Encoder

Free. The best ones. 

3 minutes ago, The Crazy Cat Lady said:

Handbrake

Shutter Encoder

Free. The best ones. 

Thanks! Appreciate it!😊