Chaos & Amazement #2510 Digg’s Reboot, Sesame’s AI Voice Assistant, and A Cat’s-Eye View of Japan
This week's edition dives into the shifting tides of tech—revivals, farewells, and fresh AI experiments—plus a dose of the weird and wonderful just to keep things interesting. Enjoy!
Tech news
In a nostalgic twist, founders Kevin Rose and Alexis Ohanian have teamed up to revive Digg, aiming to bring back the community-driven spirit of the early web. They're integrating AI to enhance user experience and foster genuine connections. Excited to see where this will go!
Microsoft says it will shut down Skype on May 5 and directs users to migrate all their contacts and chat data to Teams; Skype had 36M+ DAUs in 2023. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/02/28/the-next-chapter-moving-from-skype-to-microsoft-teams/
Gen Z's diverse worldviews show they value individualism and fluid interests. Marketing should focus on personalized feeds and meeting them where they are, rather than relying on outdated stereotypes. https://warc.com/content/feed/six-worldviews-that-explain-gen-zs-place-in-culture/en-GB/10373
I can’t help myself: here’s another robot video. Missing soundtrack: Get Up (Full Version) - Marc Rebillet.
Masdio Ivy – an AI-powered flower pot that reacts to touch, adapts to plant care, and develops a unique personality over time. It displays 49+ animated emotions, recognizes gestures, and connects to smart home devices. Would you buy it? https://masdio.com/products/masdio-ivy-smart-flowerpots
Fresh AI
DuckDuckGo’s Duck.ai lets you talk to top AI models—Claude, Llama, Mistral, and GPT-4o mini—without tracking or storing your data. Ask questions, get summaries, or just chat, all anonymously. Recent chats stay on your device, not on servers. Give it a try! More here: https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/duckai/
The next frontier in AI are voice interfaces. New AI voice assistant Sesame impresses with its naturalness and open-source approach. Could this be a sign of things to come for AI?
Anyone else tried Scribe by Elevenlabs for speech transcription? It claims to cover 99 languages with timestamps, speaker identification, and audio tagging. Curious about real-world accuracy compared to other ASR options. https://elevenlabs.io/speech-to-text
Philosopher Nick Bostrom: AI will change the types of human activities that are valuable. Some activities will become more important, while others will become less important. In the future, humans will need to find new ways to find meaning and purpose in their lives.
From my blog feed
Weird and wonderful
A Dutch public broadcaster made a sketch on the current situation in the world. From Reddit comments: The lady then posted the picture on social media with the caption "Look at this poor man, horrific accident, we need to do more about road safety!!"
Well, it finally happened. Bambi snapped. And honestly? Can you blame him?
You know this sound, but not its name… One the funkiest informative videos that I've seen so far!
Discover Japan through the eyes of its cats! On A Cat’s-Eye View of Japan, nature photographer Iwago Mitsuaki shares stunning cat photos from across the country, revealing hidden charms and local traditions. A unique and heartwarming journey! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFEzXnIQVwV_8qZZBa_0oxAdAk3IUAjBI&si=Nh63Mo51ZGIPMtUm
Oh, Able Heart! The bouncy hair makes this video irresistible. Watch it, and manifest your good mood.
