A $2200 device and still limited to running dumbed-down touchscreen 'apps' from the App Store.

I used to obsess over audio quality. But then I reached my 40s, and it started to become clear that my ageing ears were becoming the limiting factor.

Now I just embrace the convenience of Bluetooth and usefulness of noise cancelling.

(But then again, even my AirPods or Sony XM4s are high fidelity compared to what many of the kids these days are listening with, small mono bluetooth speakers or playing music out of their phone speakers)

Some sort of signatures to verify legitimate unmodified photographs (taken with a relatively secure device, e.g an iPhone) seems like a reasonable idea

But even then, people will be able to point that camera at a manipulated/generated image (either printed or on a screen). Maybe that one could be solved if the photo included some depth information?

I doubt that NYT, WaPo, or any other mainstream journalist would do that.

TV shows on the other hand, have suffered extreme shrinkflation.

From 20+ episode seasons every year to maybe 8-10 episodes every 2-3 years.

Yeah, budgets/production values are higher. But characters and storytelling were often better in those old shows (Star Trek TNG/DS9, Lost, 24, Breaking Bad) where they could make those longer seasons every year for 5 or more years in a row. Simply far more screen time for character development.

Retro gaming is rising in popularity for good reasons. And it's not purely nostalgia.

A lot of people aren't enjoying modern games (with modern monetization)

It's not just monetization. Modern games are a mass market product with all the fun parts shaved off.

TV quality isn't what it used to be, though.

Got a fairly expensive LG OLED and after 5 years it's developing clusters of dead pixels down one edge. And even if the hardware doesn't fail/degrade, the software is often enshittified (ads pushed to smart TVs)

OLEDs are an odd example... Their warranties are generally just as good, and the lifespan due to burn in is still improving.

There's also 'Drinkflation', the ABV of beers being reduced. (Maybe it's mostly a UK thing due to the tax system, weaker beer = less tax)

Pretty sad state of things when simple pleasures like beer or chocolate are hit so hard by enshittification.

That's not the case in the US. If anything I see far more beers that are 6-10% now.

Your income went up. Seriously. You're seeing interesting micros that target you and other high-income people, what's in your neighborhood is targeted. Most of America is drinking lower ABV beer from a case.

Cheap 5% beer is still available but there is an increase of availability of higher ABV beer.

For example, when I was younger grocery stores didn't stock anything but the big national brands. Now they stock far more variety, much of it over 5%.

This has nothing to do with my income. I've liked better beer since I started drinking in college. I've never liked the mass produced junk.

It does have to do with your income - really your class. You aren't going to the same grocery stores as the median American.

You're making incorrect assumptions, you know nothing about me and how I've lived.

At this point, it’s the ExBox :(

Why are cold drinks with sugar and caffeine seen as problematic, while hot drinks with sugar and caffeine are seen as perfectly good?

On the one hand it’s nonsense, as you imply.

On the other, ‘energy’ drinks can often have far more sugar and caffeine than e.g. tea or coffee, and are obviously marketed heavily at young people, who can then find themselves consuming unhealthy amounts and/or forming addictions.

So it’s not really a particular drink in moderation that’s a problem per se, but everything else that comes with it.

What I liked about the older, simpler Arduino was that you could move an ATmega328p project from an Arduino board to a chip on a breadboard then to a custom PCB with minimal complexity - with just hobbyist-level skills.

But the boards and modules just seem to be getting ever more complex, with lots of tiny SMD components, removing that path.

Sometimes you get lucky and the smd components have larger packages you can hand solder, but the price for assembly in a Chinese pcb shop is so cheap I don’t think I want to hand solder

There are modern MCUs that require a total of 5 passives and a dream. Sure, they're still QFN at best, but they're within that "hand soldering" range.

Not to mention that both factory made custom PCBs and pre-assembled PCBs are cheaper than ever nowadays.

Robotic pick and place board assembly means through-hole components are going the way of the dodo. Sorry.

Adafruit sells breakout boards for various SMT packages so that with a little solder reflow work you can adapt that shiny new chip to your breadboard. https://www.adafruit.com/category/475

>pick and place board assembly means through-hole components are going the way of the dodo

The factories willing to do SMD mixed with through-hole high-power electronics is shrinking. However, package constrained power dissipation limits on SMD technology is real.

Depends on what your firm builds. =3