Given the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the global reaction to the events it could trigger, it’s hard to switch from the possibilities suddenly on the table to more mundane issues. But nevertheless I’m going to try. I’ve been watching most of the coverage on YouTube TV, using the new AppleTV 4K with its new “big” remote and the ability to drive two sets of AirPods simultaneously. YouTube TV is a big step into the brave new world of cord cutting and streaming clutter; the most used button on the remote is the one you speak into and talk to Siri. That’s because the concept of channels, or stations, or even shows has been obliterated by the combined technology.
Instead, you ask Siri to show you a network, or simply the name of a show. YouTube TV has unlimited recording at your command, and once you identify favorite shows, they will automatically be recorded. The least important piece of information about a show is the network or channel it sits on. The TV guide approach you find in an endlessly scrolling list (remember hotel rooms?) has its counterpart in the YouTube UI, but it’s way more complicated than just pushing the Siri button anytime you see or hear the name of a show. Tweets trump UI; it’s the new water cooler.
With work from everywhere continuing to drive the structure of post-pandemic life, multiple AirPods can make the cross-talk between parents, kids, pets, and the mute button more tolerable. Apple Music’s updated release of The Beatles’ 1 collection of 27 hit singles in the new Dolby Atmos spatial audio format augurs for a wave of classic recordings coming into the office/home complex. And all the 1st party data flowing over this remote/AirPod/remixed experience will surely lead to less Siri commands and more next-likely-actions automation. First software creates this world, then it eats it.
Last week we moved the Gillmor Gang Newsletter from Twitter Revue to Substack. Well, that’s not entirely true; we’re still compiling curated posts from Feedly and notifications in Revue’s drag-and-drop interface. For now, we’re copying and pasting the results into Substack, placed behind its paywall. This is designed to attract subscribers, but since we’re comping all of the readers, it simply gives us and you value in the form of analytics to improve that part of the service. Though the numbers are very small at this early point, we can already see some trends appearing. There are no links except in the Revue citations behind the paywall, so some 13% of email openers clicked on something not even available to Web readers. The top clickers were the Gillmor Gang show and blockbuster newsletter content such as Ian Leslie’s Beatles Get Back opus
Another interesting data point comes from the Substack text editor, which reports that at this point I’ve written approximately 473 words that would take about 3 minutes to read. Since this column is available to all readers on the Web, it gives me a short window to make the case for joining the paywall to get the full Monty. So it behooves me to keep writing. Or does it? As I was writing this, my college alma mater called and I answered by telling the unidentified voice I was in a meeting. Could she please send me email, I requested. “Can I put you down for 20 dollars,” she countered. I said, no, put it in the email, please. Her window was approximately 40 seconds. And I’ll definitely give them 20 dollars if she puts it in the email. And then it might be useful for them to add that to their pitch if it proves more successful than the phone strategy. But I digress. 628 words. The reading time still says about 3 minutes.
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