techbubb.le - would have thought one small prick would have been enough

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > techbubb.le - would have thought one small prick would have been enough

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Notorious b.s.d.: Jan 25, 2003; by Reene

crabrock posted:

i love public transit but the main problem with buses is that at peak times they're jammed pack full and it sucks, and at non-peak times you have to wait forever for them to come by.

these are both problems driven primarily by congestion

crabrock posted:

also the one person who gets on first and pays in nickles.

pay before boarding should be the only way to do it

# ? Mar 12, 2018 20:44

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# ? May 25, 2024 14:32

H.P. Hovercraft: Jan 12, 2004; one thing a computer can do that most humans can't is be sealed up in a cardboard box and sit in a warehouse; Slippery Tilde

https://twitter.com/drewtoothpaste/status/973281594059493377

# ? Mar 12, 2018 20:44

infernal machines: Oct 11, 2012; we monitor many frequencies. we listen always. came a voice, out of the babel of tongues, speaking to us. it played us a mighty dub.

"Waterfront Google-fication in Toronto posted:

In ' Playtime', the seminal 1967 physical comedy, Jacques Tati envisions a re-imagined Paris built on the principles of design and technology. Of course, not everything goes to plan; cars gyre endlessly in a roundabout with no clear means of exit, doormen labour with befuddling intra-building telecoms and, in an echo of the issues besetting Apple's new headquarters, commuters bounce off impeccably transparent glass walls.

Undeterred by Tati, and a number of realists cynics since, a new wave of technologists hope to again transform our urban spaces to, in the words of Google's Sidewalk Labs, �achieve new standards of sustainability, affordability, mobility, and economic opportunity�.

Yet do we trust Silicon Valley, with their distrust of government and 'move fast and break stuff' mantras, to be the best custodians of our cities? Particularly when these companies do not have the best track records in rolling out public works.

Sidewalk Labs, created by Google to apparently design, test and build urban innovations, have partnered with Waterfront Toronto to help the public discern the answer to this very question.

The project initially involves Sidewalk Labs consulting on the redevelopment of an 800 acre site in Toronto called ' Sidewalk Toronto', a joint effort between Waterfront Toronto and Sidewalk Labs to create a new kind of mixed-use, 'complete' community.

As part of the consulting period, Sidewalk Labs have agreed to spending $50m in-kind (internally allocated Google costs) to figure out the best outcomes for the site.

If this seems like another example of local governments outsourcing their responsibilities for the urban environment to the mega-tech sector (hello Amazon's HQ2), you would be correct. It is even explicitly admitted by Waterfront Toronto on page eight of the Request For Proposal (emphasis ours):

The context in which we are operating continues to change rapidly: Toronto is the fastest growing large metropolitan area in North America; the downtown core is adding more jobs and residents at a robust rate, and is expanding towards the waterfront; there is a backlog of critical urban infrastructure; government funding is constrained...

However, the real question is around ownership. Cities are blindingly complex organisms, where the line between public and private ownership shifts from step-to-step. In London, for instance, the public's right to freely occupy a space, such as Hyde Park's Parade Ground, is fluid. It can transform into a restricted commercial space overnight.

This model seems to work, and people generally understand the legal boundaries. We don't get to walk through someone else's house and over their garden fence to shorten the walk to the train station.

In the ephemeral world of connected, sensory cities, the lines between public and private ownership of your behavioural data remain undefined. However this is exactly what Sidewalk Labs is aiming to capture. Here is an extract from page 31 of Sidewalk Toronto's RFP submission (emphasis again our own):

Given the speed of technological change, cities will only meet their growth challenges if they support innovation not right now but 10, 20, and 50 years ahead. To do so requires designing for radical flexibility, enabling the best ideas to be refined in real time and creating a cycle of ongoing improvement driven by the feedback of residents and the energy of entrepreneurs, rather than prescribed by planners and designers.

To summise, Sidewalk Toronto are outlining an urban environment where every movement will be monitored, recorded and captured in order to feed back a swathe of unerringly personalised goods and services to the public.

In early responses to questions about what sort of data will be collected, who will own it, and how it will be used, Sidewalk Labs has told Canadian media, including The Toronto Star and The Globe & Mail, that they do not plan to monetise the data and that it will be made open source.

Effectively the aggregate behaviour of the resident becomes, in tech-parlance, a platform; free to be exploited by whichever benign private business taps into your routine.

Sure, it might be cool for a coffee shop to know you are stopping by for your morning macchiato however it would be less cool if you were automatically barred from entering your apartment for missing rent.

Then there is question of the form of the proposed urban space. We are all aware of private spaces which are designed to maximise consumption - Ikea's piles of cheap goods are there to frame price expectations and make customers commit to their set journey through the store, for instance.

Extending such an approach to our communal spaces raises questions of means and ends. Is the spatial planning meeting the needs of a diverse population or to harvest the best behavioural information?

Will the promised �modular spaces'� which it �makes it quick and easy to convert building uses� lead to a space that consistently iterates relative to the aggregate behaviour of the residents? The relationship between architecture and culture is a whole other topic, but not everyone may want public space to be as precarious as the gig-economy.

For their part, the citizens of Toronto appear to be furious. Tech Reset Canada, a pressure group co-founded by journalist Bianca Wylie, have gathered an avalanche of questions for the project.

While Sidewalk Toronto have answered some questions, they have been silent on nearly every issue. Inquiries regarding data opt-outs, local governance and the role of law-enforcement are still unanswered six months after the consultation period began.

In Playtime's denouement, the riotous ' Royal Gardens' sequence, Tati paints an optimistic vision as he celebrates the triumph of humanity over funereal modernity and its dim-witted offspring, technology.

Half a century later, the question is again the extent to which tech will radically shape our communal space. Given Toronto's experience so far, it deserves better answers.

# ? Mar 12, 2018 20:49

H.P. Hovercraft: Jan 12, 2004; one thing a computer can do that most humans can't is be sealed up in a cardboard box and sit in a warehouse; Slippery Tilde

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/973285115941081089

# ? Mar 12, 2018 20:51

Moist von Lipwig: Oct 28, 2006; by FactsAreUseless; Tortured By Flan

infernal machines posted:

we're planning the redevelopment of an uptown main street here in toronto. the staff approved plan was to widen the sidewalks, add bike lanes and reduce it to 4 lanes of traffic (from 6, there's also a subway line running under it)

the idiots from the surrounding neighbourhoods vetoed the plan, and substituted one that keeps everything as it is, and puts bike lanes a few blocks away, on a parallel residential street, for only $9 million more

wait I missed this, what street?

# ? Mar 12, 2018 21:41

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

https://theintercept.com/2018/03/09/amazon-echo-alexa-uk-police/

# ? Mar 12, 2018 21:41

hobbesmaster: Jan 28, 2008

H.P. Hovercraft posted:

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/973285115941081089

the onion is actually reporting on news that occurs in the near future

# ? Mar 12, 2018 21:42

infernal machines: Oct 11, 2012; we monitor many frequencies. we listen always. came a voice, out of the babel of tongues, speaking to us. it played us a mighty dub.

SENSUAL DAD KISS posted:

wait I missed this, what street?

http://reimaginingyonge.ca/vision/

https://twitter.com/g_meslin/status/967407385903067136

# ? Mar 12, 2018 21:47

Bunni-kat: May 25, 2010; Service Desk B-b-bunny...
How can-ca-caaaaan I
help-p-p-p you?

infernal machines posted:

http://reimaginingyonge.ca/vision/

https://twitter.com/g_meslin/status/967407385903067136

Reminds me of Edmonton doing the demo last summer of how they wanted to redo Jasper Avenue. They wanted to axe the parking/bus stop lanes, and put in trees and places to sit to encourage pedestrian traffic.

After 3 months all the rented trees were dead and busses were constantly late because the bus ahead of them was blocking traffic at every stop. The redesign wasn't a bad idea, but they didn't do anything beyond "make it harder for cars to go through this heavily used chunk of road."

# ? Mar 12, 2018 21:58

H.P. Hovercraft: Jan 12, 2004; one thing a computer can do that most humans can't is be sealed up in a cardboard box and sit in a warehouse; Slippery Tilde

# ? Mar 12, 2018 22:00

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

numtot's just not as fun these days

# ? Mar 12, 2018 22:01

infernal machines: Oct 11, 2012; we monitor many frequencies. we listen always. came a voice, out of the babel of tongues, speaking to us. it played us a mighty dub.

netflix gamifying your kid's tv viewing

# ? Mar 12, 2018 22:19

infernal machines: Oct 11, 2012; we monitor many frequencies. we listen always. came a voice, out of the babel of tongues, speaking to us. it played us a mighty dub.

Jonny 290 posted:

numtot's just not as fun these days

more like numthot

# ? Mar 12, 2018 22:19

Moist von Lipwig: Oct 28, 2006; by FactsAreUseless; Tortured By Flan

infernal machines posted:

http://reimaginingyonge.ca/vision/

https://twitter.com/g_meslin/status/967407385903067136

ugh

# ? Mar 12, 2018 23:32

Workaday Wizard: Oct 23, 2009; by Pragmatica

infernal machines posted:

netflix gamifying your kid's tv viewing

this is child endangerment

# ? Mar 12, 2018 23:39

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

Yeah i don't even know what to say any more

it's a good thing we never had kids because we both forcefully agreed the other day that we would not allow them to touch mass media or public schools, but then again, the FOMO - will they be left behind - thing is the flipside

(my answer: no, i was denied much popular technology as a child and simply picked it up and caught up when it was made available to me)

# ? Mar 12, 2018 23:54

infernal machines: Oct 11, 2012; we monitor many frequencies. we listen always. came a voice, out of the babel of tongues, speaking to us. it played us a mighty dub.

turns out shaggar does transit planning in arlington tx

# ? Mar 12, 2018 23:56

Shame Boy: Mar 2, 2010

Jonny 290 posted:

public schools

tell us more about your disdain for public schools friend :allears:

# ? Mar 12, 2018 23:58

FMguru: Sep 10, 2003; peed on;
sexually

Jonny 290 posted:

Yeah i don't even know what to say any more

it's a good thing we never had kids because we both forcefully agreed the other day that we would not allow them to touch mass media or public schools, but then again, the FOMO - will they be left behind - thing is the flipside

(my answer: no, i was denied much popular technology as a child and simply picked it up and caught up when it was made available to me)

the problem with trying to protect your kids from technology is that even if you manage to be strict about videogames and youtube and limiting screen time, they have have friends who are not, and they'll engage in all that stuff over at their friends' houses (after school or during sleepovers) and at school

its an unwinnable game

# ? Mar 13, 2018 00:00

ArmedZombie: Jun 6, 2004

infernal machines posted:

turns out shaggar does transit planning in arlington tx

this seems... unrealistic

# ? Mar 13, 2018 00:03

President Beep: Apr 30, 2009; i have to have a car because otherwise i cant drive around the country solving mysteries while being doggedly pursued by federal marshals for a crime i did not commit (9/11)

ate all the Oreos posted:

tell us more about your disdain for public schools friend

in my experience home/private schooling a kid is a pretty fool proof way to turn them into a little fucker who one day turns into a big fucker

# ? Mar 13, 2018 00:06

NoneMoreNegative: Jul 20, 2000; GOTH FASCISTIC
PAIN MASTER

shit wizard dad

# ? Mar 13, 2018 00:31

heated game moment: Oct 30, 2003; Lipstick Apathy

H.P. Hovercraft posted:

https://twitter.com/drewtoothpaste/status/973281594059493377

this reminds me i need to cancel my free trial of amazon prime. i try not to ever order anything off of there but had to last month and the shipping cost more than the item so i did the trial

# ? Mar 13, 2018 00:45

Shaggar: Apr 26, 2006

infernal machines posted:

turns out shaggar does transit planning in arlington tx

sounds good 2 me

# ? Mar 13, 2018 01:49

PokeJoe: Aug 24, 2004; hail cgatan

i went to public school

# ? Mar 13, 2018 02:32

crabrock: Aug 2, 2002; I

AM

MAGNIFICENT

I've gone to a lot of public schools

# ? Mar 13, 2018 08:20

Cerv: Sep 14, 2004; This is a silly post with little news value.

crabrock posted:

i love public transit but the main problem with buses is that at peak times they're jammed pack full and it sucks, and at non-peak times you have to wait forever for them to come by.

also the one person who gets on first and pays in nickles.

lol if your buses accept cash like a horse drawn carriage or something

# ? Mar 13, 2018 11:11

Suspicious Dish: Sep 24, 2011; 2020 is the year of linux on the desktop, bro; Fun Shoe

google, not pleased with cars that automatically ram into people at high speeds, has just announced flying cars that automatically ram into people at high speeds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeFxjRMv5U8

# ? Mar 13, 2018 11:32

Jimmy Carter: Nov 3, 2005; THIS MOTHERDUCKER
FLIES IN STYLE

why do people keep trying to invent the �flying car� when the Cessna 172 already exists?

# ? Mar 13, 2018 13:26

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

Jimmy Carter posted:

why do people keep trying to invent the �flying car� when the Cessna 172 already exists?

VTOL

# ? Mar 13, 2018 14:21

flakeloaf: Feb 26, 2003; Still better than android clock

Jimmy Carter posted:

why do people keep trying to invent the �flying car� when the Cessna 172 already exists?

cause planes are hard to fly but cars are just like, you get in and go and anyone can do it, there's like autopilots and self-driving things now so all the hard stuff can just be done by computer

for some reason this argument is being used in favour of flying cars

# ? Mar 13, 2018 14:25

Not a Children: Oct 9, 2012; Don't need a holster if you never stop shooting.

People want flying cars to lessen the chance that they will have to interact with poors

That's pretty much it

# ? Mar 13, 2018 14:54

Jabor: Jul 16, 2010; #1 Loser at SpaceChem

"if my car could fly, i wouldn't get stuck in traffic"

it's a chronic lack of imagination

# ? Mar 13, 2018 15:08

Shame Boy: Mar 2, 2010

Not a Children posted:

People want flying cars to lessen the chance that they will have to interact with poors

That's pretty much it

gotta go full blade runner where poor people are permanently shrouded in the forever-dark surface streets of the megacity, the middle class has all left for musk's off-world colony and the rich live at the top of all the towers, flying around from place to place in their flying cars so they don't have to interact with the surface

# ? Mar 13, 2018 15:12

haveblue: Aug 15, 2005; Toilet Rascal

ate all the Oreos posted:

gotta go full blade runner where poor people are permanently shrouded in the forever-dark surface streets of the megacity, the middle class has all left for musk's off-world colony and the rich live at the top of all the towers, flying around from place to place in their flying cars so they don't have to interact with the surface

at least in blade runner the spinners didn't have 12 rotors sticking out to mince the poors who don't get out of the way

guess ducted fans were too heavy/expensive/low class

# ? Mar 13, 2018 15:14

Jabor: Jul 16, 2010; #1 Loser at SpaceChem

tbf i'm not sure how you'd go about man-rating something like a quadcopter design, those things are a single bearing seize-up away from flipping over and being totally unrecoverable. which is fine if it's just a toy and the operator is following the rules of "don't fly it around over people", but not so much when you're carrying a person around.

spreading each possible torque moment over multiple rotors means that the control system at least has a chance of landing the thing safely if one (or even several) fail, and you just need to guard them sufficiently such that one failing doesn't take out anything else with shrapnel.

# ? Mar 13, 2018 15:24

Cat Face Joe: Feb 20, 2005; goth vegan crossfit mom who vapes

President Beep posted:

because a lot of people only care about something if it can personally and immediately impact them

that's why you're mom cares so much about this dilz!

# ? Mar 13, 2018 15:27

President Beep: Apr 30, 2009; i have to have a car because otherwise i cant drive around the country solving mysteries while being doggedly pursued by federal marshals for a crime i did not commit (9/11)

i want that cool little helicopter thingy from the road warrior. id zoom it around and buzz rich fuckers in their flying escalades.

# ? Mar 13, 2018 15:39

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

https://twitter.com/sarahjeong/status/973569423284961281

# ? Mar 13, 2018 15:42

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# ? May 25, 2024 14:32

Bunni-kat: May 25, 2010; Service Desk B-b-bunny...
How can-ca-caaaaan I
help-p-p-p you?

Endless Mike posted:

https://twitter.com/sarahjeong/status/973569423284961281

Wasn't Tillerson part of some resignation pact, where if he went, someone else went too?

# ? Mar 13, 2018 16:03

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > techbubb.le - would have thought one small prick would have been enough

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