Should you say ‘please’ to an AI?

Yes, I think you should, and I try to as much as I can…

 

There are two reasons we say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. The first is pretty obvious. It gives the other person dignity. It acknowledges their humanity. It implies that at some level, this engagement is voluntary. But of course, none of this is true when we’re talking to Siri or Alexa.

Source: Should you say ‘please’ to an AI?

WordPress 5.0 is here!

From iThemes

WordPress 5.0 just landed with a new post and page editor called Gutenberg. Because WordPress 5.0 is a major version release, you’ll want to have a proper update checklist in place so the update goes smoothly

How to Update to WordPress 5.0: A Checklist

At least pickup trucks are selling, right?

From Axios

GM is laying off 14,300 employees. It’s shuttering five factories in the U.S. and Canada, and says that two more closings will be announced internationally. By next year, it will no longer make the Buick LaCrosse, the Chevrolet Impala, or the Cadillac CT6 sedan. It’s even killing the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid.

• Welcome to the modern car industry, which is full of bad news, report Axios’ Felix Salmon in New York and Joann Muller in Detroit.

The big picture: All the top-selling sedans in America — the Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Altima, and Nissan Sentra — are Japanese.

• Why it matters: American carmakers can’t compete, and are giving up that segment of the market. Instead they’re concentrating on trucks, SUVs, and crossovers, which have higher profit margins and growing demand.

What’s next? Almost certainly, even more job losses.

• Car factories are at their most efficient when they run at full capacity. Right now America is capable of producing many more vehicles than there’s demand for — roughly 3.2 million vehicles per year, according to Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and economics at the Center for Automotive Research. (GM accounts for about 1 million of that.)
• The logic of efficiency means that yet more factories are likely to close.

President Trump’s trade war and steel tariffs are costing the industry billions, including roughly $700 million in higher steel prices at GM alone. Very few big automakers have avoided problems:

• Ford has already announced that it is effectively getting out of the car business. By 2020, it will no longer sell the Fiesta, Taurus, Fusion or Focus in North America. Only the Mustang will remain, along with a crossover called the Focus Active.
• Tesla CEO Elon Musk told “Axios on HBO” that the entire company was “within single-digit weeks” of death — in need of layoffs or new financing — earlier this year.
• Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, after trying to push through a merger with France’s Renault that neither company really wanted, is now sitting in a Japanese jail. A Nissan whistleblower told Japanese authorities that Ghosn was being paid tens of millions of dollars in undeclared income. (Wall Street Journal editorial: “The Ghosn Inquisition“)
• Fiat Chrysler is struggling after the death of its charismatic leader, Sergio Marchionne, who never achieved his longstanding dream of merging with GM.
• Volkswagen, which has also seen a senior executive arrested, has set aside $30 billion to cover costs associated with its Dieselgate scandal.

What to watch: The future of car-making might be grim, but stock market investors are excited about self-driving cars and mobility as a service.

• That market logic is putting pressure on carmakers to pour billions into R&D. It’s also driving strategic investments in everything from AI to electric scooters.
• The result: A major secular employment shift away from unionized factory workers and Detroit middle-management lifers. Expect the United Auto Workers, still GM’s largest shareholder with a $3.6 billion stake in the company, to remain extremely unhappy for the foreseeable future.

Give Me This Adorable Case That Turns My Apple Watch Back Into an iPod

The “2018 Pod case” Photo: Yeonsoo Kang ( Behance ) Of all the things you do with your iOS devices, listening to music is probably still one of the most common reasons you reach for them. The iPod isn’t dead; it just got lost in a sea of other features.

Source: Give Me This Adorable Case That Turns My Apple Watch Back Into an iPod

Comics legend Stan Lee dead at 95

End of an era! Excelcior sir, excelcior.

 

The legendary comic-book author, publisher, and film producer Stan Lee has died. He created Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, the Avengers, the X-Men, and many more comic book, game, film, and TV icons. He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Source: Comics legend Stan Lee dead at 95

Wubba Lubba dub-dub! Adult Swim orders a whopping 70 more episodes of Rick and Morty

WOO HOO!

After months of uncertainty over a fourth season of Rick and Morty , Adult Swim has ordered 70 new episodes of the hit sci-fi cartoon from creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon.

Source: Wubba Lubba dub-dub! Adult Swim orders a whopping 70 more episodes of Rick and Morty

What’s your ikigai, your reason to get up in the morning?

Rob Bell lays out the basics of the Japanese concept of ikigai , the search for purpose and fulfillment in life. Illustrator Mark Winn created a Venn diagram often used to explain the idea: (more…)

Source: What’s your ikigai, your reason to get up in the morning?

Gmail’s biggest redesign is now live

I’ve been using Inbox for a while now in my browser, and Spark on my devices. This looks like a nice modern direction. Eager to try something new.

If you click on the settings gear icon, there should be a link to Try the New Gmail, if you have been a longtime user, or an Inbox beta tester.

The world’s most popular email service is getting a big overhaul today. Google is making official the changes we saw leaked earlier this month , with email snoozing, nudging, and confidential mode making their debut alongside a substantial visual redesign for Gmail on the web.

Source: Gmail’s biggest redesign is now live

‘God of War’ director’s video shows the human side of making games

I am only about 3 hours into the game, but already it is THE BEST experience I have had on a console in years, dare I say even since Halo

It’s easy to forget that real people create games. For them, the eventual launch is as much terrifying as it is exciting — they’ve poured years of their life into a project whose success is far from guaranteed. And if you need an illustration of that point, you just have to ask God of War director Cory Barlog.

Source: ‘God of War’ director’s video shows the human side of making games