The Hype Cycle: Vol. 8
Musings on the latest in tech and media, plus some recos for your consumption.
Three Things, My Thoughts.
Some recent, noteworthy topics — with my own 🔥 (or 🥶) takes:
AI Hitting a Data Wall
A great article on Spyglass last week laid out how the arms race in AI has slowed. All of the big players are struggling to contribute to accelerate new tool development and upgrades to their existing models. This is largely due to a lack of good, quality data.
My Take: this was inevitable, right? If companies are training these tools faster than we humans can generate data–and synthetic data always seemed like a silly alternative, long-term–then we were always destined to see a slowdown. That's not a bad thing. It means we can catch up on how to properly harness this technology for maximum ROI while minimizing collateral damage.
Perplexity Plunges Into Shopping
It’s not all doom-and-gloom in AI, though. Perplexity took aim at Google and TikTok with its recent shopping feature launch. Consumers can now purchase items directly from Perplexity’s app. The startup is integrating Shopify’s API to deliver its shopping experience, giving it access to valuable data from well-known brands.
My Take: Google better wake up. I'm a millennial who's instinct is to browse a search engine, but lately I find myself gravitating more towards AI tools that can give me a simpler, cleaner set of choices. Adding the ability to tap, swipe or click-and-buy right there in the platform could be a paradigm shifter.
(PS–watch Apple... they just might slide in after everyone does the hard work and deliver the best user experience on something like this. 👀)
New Social Apps Benefitting From An “X-odus”
Seems like Mastodon and rival BlueSky are reporting user gains from The App Formerly Known As Twitter. Mastodon has seen more modest growth compared to a couple years ago, but the larger trend is the X/Twitter continues to shed users. Mastodon’s cofounder continues to assert that “the fediverse is the long game.”
My Take: I never use X. Haven't for over a year. Honestly don't miss it. Between TikTok's ability to mainline a trend quickly and Threads steady growth, I feel like I get my fill of staying current with what I care about. And the fediverse is still something I believe in. It could be a really powerful unlock in this new era of digital decentralization.
Two Good Resources.
I found a couple of recent 📖 🎧 📺 I found to be particularly good:
Nintindo Soul by Terrace Martin
Terrace has been one of my low-key favorites for a few years now. He consistently puts out music that has a vibe—fusing jazz, funk and hip-hop in some pretty heady ways. This latest album is a good one for juicing your creativity.
Measure What Matters by John Doerr
I’m only about a quarter of the way through this book, but it’s fantastic. I’m a nut for understanding philosophy and structure, so it was only a matter of time before I picked up the seminal work discussing OKRs and business strategy. If you’re into the science of how to get (more and better) things done, pick it up.
One Great Quote.
I leave with you some words of wisdom relative to the time of year where we are reminded to express our gratitude, reflect and rejoice at the opportunity for growth. I don’t think it can be said any better:
“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.”[1]
— Michael J. Fox
- just remember; family is what you define it to be. Enjoy time with this holiday season whoever you hold closely in your heart. ↩︎ ❤️ 👊🏻
