Ty Watches "All or Nothing: A Season with the Michigan Wolverines"

I just recently finished the Amazon series, “All or Nothing: A Season with the Michigan Wolverines”.

Of course, I loved it.

The 8 episode documentary series was all about the 2017 season, which was a rough one for Michigan. What I liked about the show was how honest everything was. The footage they show is what they used. I’m sure they edited it, every show does, but what they used was real and true. I really appreciated that. The show showed the few ups, and the many downs of the 2017 season. I relieved all 13 games from last year, and I felt all the feels. I went through the same ups and downs when I watched the games in real time. I was thrilled seeing them best Florida in the season opener. I was happy, yet worried about their inability to put away teams early in the year. The Cincinnati and Air Force games were prime examples. Then we had the Michigan State disaster. Then the Penn State blow out. Then I got to see John O'Korn struggle again, which was tough. I saw the Wilton Speight injury again. I watched Brandon Peters play okay, but realized he wasn’t fully ready. I watched the defense play exceptional, but also get tired from being relied on so much. I mean, Mike McCray, Mo Hurst, Chase Winovich, Khaleke Hudson and Rashan Gary, among many others, play their hearts out all year, and veil that offense out more often than not.

Aside from the football, it was nice to get to know these kids as people. I was explaining to a friend that I always looked at these kids as football robots. Well, this show made me realize that they’re kids first, football players second. These kids have to go to class. These kids have kids of their own. These kids bleed for this program, but they also have lives outside of football. These kids have other aspirations outside of the NFL. These kids get homesick. It made me realize that they have feelings. I know that sounds weird, but it was eye opening.

Another eye opening thing I got from this series was how delusional Speight and O'Korn are. Wilton Speight is a jackass. That kid blamed everyone but himself, and he came off as arrogant. John O'Korn was better, but not by much. He took blame one time, but other than that, he was “trying his best”. He rarely took the fall for his poor play. Karan Higdon is an amazing young man. He is raising his daughter and kicking ass on the field. Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tarik Black have me excited for the future of the receiver position.

The show also made me respect Jim Harbaugh even more. He may be grating, but that guy loves football, and he loves to coach. Same with Don Brown. He’s a wild dude, but he gets the best out of his players. The show also made me see Greg Mattison and Pep Hamilton in a whole new light, in a good way.

Look, I was going to love this series no matter what. I’m a dyed in the wool Michigan fan. They are my favorite team of any team that has ever existed. Don’t watch this if you’re not a Michigan fan, it wasn’t made for you. Watch it if you are a Michigan fan, it was obviously made for us. But I’d also recommend it to fans of college football and high school coaches. It is a wonderful, insightful show. I’m glad they did this and I’m glad I watched it. It now has me excited for the 2018 season.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He wants to pitch a new show to Amazon about Michigan football fans watching an entire season. Way more people can relate to the stars of this show.

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I am Not Happy with the Amazon/Whole Foods Deal

Will Prime members be safe from runaway shopping carts?

The topic for today's piece, I have been sitting on for about a week. I have taken a lot of time to process how this particular thing has made me feel, and I finally think I am ready to put it out in the ether.

A week or so ago it was announced that Jeff Bezos and Amazon had purchased Whole Foods. A lot of people seemed to take this news and just accept it. I know that having groceries delivered happened in the past, remember Webvan, and it is making a small comeback right now. I know that a lot of people actually need this as an option, i.e,, the elderly, singles and others. I know that it sounds like a great thing that will make people's personal calendars more open. It all sounds very nice

Yet this Amazon/Whole Foods deal has been nagging at me for over a week. In fact, this whole thing really pisses me off and I think we are becoming way too reliant on technology. That may sound hypocritical for a writer on a website to say, but we are way too needy as a society, and our phones and computers are consuming us. Not a day goes by where I take my kids to the playground, swimming, riding bikes, playing sports, whatever we may do, and the majority of parents are sitting on a bench staring at their phones. I purposefully keep my phone in my car, unless pictures will be taken, because I want to see the joy on my kids faces when they go down a slide for the first time, or when they are on a swing or when they learn to swim or when they get their first hit or score their first goal or touchdown or basket. I want to be present when this stuff happens. But, more times than not, the majority of parents I personally see are nose deep in their devices.

I think Amazon and Jeff Bezos realize this, so they pounced when the opportunity to purchase a wildly popular grocery store chain came about. I blame Amazon most for this, but I get why they did it. Rich people want to be richer, just look at the assholes in D.C. right now, so buying something that will make them more money is what they strive to do.

I'm worried for our future for a couple of reasons though. First off, I genuinely enjoy going to the grocery store, especially with my kids. On Mondays, this is our outing. We go to a few different grocery stores to get everything we need. The drive to the stores is a great time to listen to music and dance, talk about superheroes, talk about toys, whatever my kids want to do on the ride, that is what we do. Then, when we get to the store, my 5 year old loves to help out. I have him get canned goods for me. I let him pick out whatever fruit he wants for the week. My daughter enjoys sitting in the cart and people watching. At the stores, we chit chat about the stuff we didn't talk about on the ride. My son would tell me about everything that happened at preschool when we'd go to the store on days I couldn't get there in the early morning. As I said, my daughter loves to people watch, and she sees so many people at the stores. And when she sees other babies, it is like she is making a new friend on every trip. I love going to the store with my kids. I love the time to talk and bond that we get in the 2 hours that we grocery shop. I love letting them pick things out and tell me random, nonsensical stories. It is so much fun, and I don't want to lose that feeling. I think the purchasing of Whole Foods by Amazon could take that away from me. That is reason number one why this pisses me off so much. Don't take this away from me. I will find other ways, believe me I have plenty of other activities where we communicate, but please don't take away my local grocery store trips. Please don't let this destroy local grocery store chains.

My second, and final reason that this scares, but also pisses me off even more, is the reliance on technology that I mentioned earlier. We are so god damn lazy as a society now. You mean to tell me that people can't take an hour or 2 to head to the store and shop once a week? Hell, I know some people that only go grocery shopping once a month. Why do these people need their groceries delivered? Going to the store is such an easy task, and you get to look and touch and feel and even taste the food you are about to purchase. With groceries being delivered, you just look at a picture, click on it, and the food will show up at your door in a day or 2. That may sound nice to some people, but to me, it seems like we are turning into the people from "Wall-E" or "Idiocracy".

Look at what happened to the people in "Wall-E". They became so reliant on technology that their arms and legs were super tiny because their stomachs were so big, and they rode around on pod like structures. When Jeff Garlin's character finally gets up and can barely walk because he has gotten so poorly out of shape, that was as sad as almost anything else in that awesome movie. That movie was very telling of how poorly things can go if we rely on technology to such a severe degree. That was a dystopia. I don't want to live in that world. 

Next we have the "Idiocracy" comparison. The fact that we can just point and click at something on a screen is definitely going to dumb us all down. We could just all be mute shut ins if we can just point and click. That doesn't take any real intelligence. You don't even have to really know how to read. As long as you can recognize bacon or cheese or any food stuff, just point and click. Not only does this make us dumber, it makes us lazier. If this is the way it is going to be, how long until we actually have a show called, "Ouch! My Balls", or a movie winning Oscars called "Ass"? Not too far in my opinion.

I really dislike this whole thing. It bothers me very much. I hate that it could take away quality time from me and my kids. I hate that the rich, big time people are trying to take local stores away from people. I hate that this is making the rich even richer. This is a nightmare for me. There is nothing but bad outcomes from this. It may sound nice right now, but in the long run, I think it is a terrible, terrible move. This stinks, and my only hope is that there is more people like me out there that truly like going to the store.

Don't take away my local grocery store Amazon. Don't piss me off anymore than you already have.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He has written a spec script for a film called "Ass". Hollywood can call Ty on his rotary phone, and make sure to dust off your Oscar shelf.

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Apple Just Quietly Announced One of their Best Products, and Loudly Announced One of their Worst

The regular apple peaked with the pie innovation

The 2017 Apple WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference for those of you not in the know) is currently in full swing. The estimated 5000 attendees packed in on day one to hear the Apple brass talk new software, and some new hardware, to loyal Apple fans worldwide. The WWDC is not the place for new iPhone launches, except for the 3GS and 4 models, but is a place for the Cupertino company to show off new software and sometimes for them to show off their next wave of home computers. Previous WWDC saw the reveal of macOS, the App Store, and Safari. The pressure is usually not as high for the company as it is for an iPhone launch, but plenty of people still pay attention. No matter what Apple does, when they take the stage, people listen.

The 2017 edition of the WWDC was heavy on new software upgrades. Apple's latest operating system, named High Sierra, was put on display. iOS 11 received some new updates including enhanced augmented reality abilities. The voice assistant Siri is getting some much-needed updating. These reveals and updates are par for the course at WWDC.

Lost in all the hoopla of the software advances, Apple announced one of their most mind-blowing products ever. The new iMac Pro is one of the most beautiful, and insanely powerful, computers ever packaged for the consumer market. The specs on this machine, and the price to own one, is off the charts. Much like the light bulb for General Electric, Apple seems to keep its computer business around to show respect to their past. This part of the business is usually neglected. This WWDC is different. With the incredibly iMac Pro, Apple just released the best home computer a whole lot of money could buy.

The iMac Pro was not the big reveal at the 2017 WWDC. That honor was reserved for Apple's entry into the marketplace of smart speakers. The new HomePod joins the Amazon Echo, Google Home, and whatever Microsoft says is coming as the big kids on the personal assistant speaker market. The Siri in a speaker will tell you the news, play music, and do other not described things like all the smart speakers that came before. Apple is confident that their loyal fanbase will give up their Echos, Google Homes, or newly jump into the smart speaker market with their branded offering. The HomePod goes on sale at the end of 2017 for $350.

The Apple HomePod is the dumbest product Apple has ever been happy to sell to their customers. Most of the time Apple will see a market where no one has found the true potential, and then they take over that market with a well thought out product. Apple's offerings are never the best, they never do everything the customer wants, but they do the simple things extremely well. And they look good doing it. The HomePod is nothing like the successful products of Apple's past.

The HomePod is entering a marketplace where the Cupertino company's competitors have been adapting to the customers wants for over a year, and they are all doing it for far less money than what a HomePod will cost. Apple knows they are behind on the smart speaker market. The only way the presenters at the WWDC could differentiate the HomePod is to talk about how good it sounds. That has been proven to not be important for the smart speaker market. The original Amazon Echo was hailed by many in the tech media as a "premium" speaker with the benefits of Alexa. Once Amazon released the affordable Echo Dot, the one without a good speaker, sales skyrocketed. Amazon learned that people want a smart speaker for the smarts, not how the music sounds out of it. If someone wanted a great Bluetooth speaker, they would buy something from a company known for good speakers. Bose, Harmon Kardon, Sonos, they all offered great speakers for less than $300, and they all connect wirelessly to the Echo. Amazon and Google have already used Apple's model of introducing hardware, and now they will swat away the HomePod like all the other failures before.

Apple's claim of making the HomePod a great speaker shows how lost they are with the product. The tech press has predictably been there to hold the water for Apple's bad decisions. Once the HomePod is availbale for purchase, tech media sites like CNET and Gizmodo will no doubt praise Apple for having the best sounding smart speaker on the market. Check out this comically idiotic defense of the HomePod from the Cupertino bootlickers at Engadget. The author wants everyone to forget about the smart applications of the HomePod, and just focus on how awesome the speaker is. This is a speaker allegedly built by the scam artists who built the Beats Audio headphones and speakers. The same people who ruin good sound quality by overemphasizing bass and put unnecessary metal into their products so the headphones / speakers would feel heavy and therefore the consumer would think the product is high end. The HomePod was made by a group of people concerned more about marketing than they are concerned about actual audio quality. That should say all there is to say about the sound quality of the HomePod. 

Many of the Apple faithful will fall for the reviews from a subservient tech media, and they will trust their favorite company and buy the HomePod. These early adopters will then brag to everyone in their social media circles about the superior sound quality. These HomePoders will then have to deal with the smarts of Siri. Here is where they will lose. 

Siri is widely considered far and away the worst of the popular smart assistants, and the HomePod buyers will have only Apple's voice helper. No Spotify, limited use of smart home devices like thermostats and light bulbs, and spotty comprehension. Apple says Siri will be smarter, but they have said that before. In the HomePod reveal, the presenter spent almost no time on the smart assistant features that Echo and Home owners enjoy, and spent a bunch of time having Siri play music from the Apple Music app. On the biggest stage, Apple decided to not show the flaws of their new smart speaker by showing how dumb the HomePod really is.

All these early missteps of the HomePod makes the $350 price tag look even more ridiculous. For the same price people could buy any of these smart home combinations:

2 Amazon Echos (one for the main floor and one for the bedroom)

3 Google Homes (one for the kitchen, living room, and bedroom)

9 Echo Dots (One for every damn room you have, note: you can purchase six Dots for the price of five)

An Echo Dot and a Bose Soundlink Revolve + (this is listed as CNET's best Bluetooth speaker.)

An Echo Dot, Nest Thermostat, and two TP-Link Dimmable Smart Light-bulbs that work with Alexa

An Echo Dot, a Bose Sound Base, and a Harmony Hub (control the television with your voice, and connect to a high-end speaker with Alexa)

An Echo, Echo Dot(s), Google Home, and numerous smart bulbs, locks, streaming devices, whatever, because Amazon and Google have thousands of skills (apps) to properly connect your home. Talk to your house like you live on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

Therefore the $350 price tag for a bass heavy, not very smart speaker, is kind of dumb.

The HomePod will not end Apple. The software updates, the new iMac Pro, and the anticipated tenth anniversary iPhone will keep the small Cupertino company in business for a long time. On the backs of the useless Apple Pencil, the HomePod is just a little bit worrisome. Has Apple given up on innovation? Are they relying solely on the ability to separate idiots from their money? Let's hope not. We need the Apple that goes all out and shows off the new iMac Pro, not the one who tries to sell you an overbuilt, lacking usefulness, speaker. Let the HomePod die a Newton like death. Apple should know better.

RD

RD is the Founder and Head Editor for SeedSing. He created his MySpace profile on an original iMac. It had a red shell.

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Drones: The Good, the Bad, and the Unsettling

Your newest delivery man

A few evenings ago, as the library was closing, I was sitting in my car in the parking lot catching up on some things on my phone. Suddenly I heard a tap at the window. There was a woman outside and she was pointing toward the sky. I got out to find out what she was so excited about.

There were some red and green blinky lights hovering in the air above the street a half of a block away from where we were standing. It was too dark to be sure what the lights might have been attached to. “What do you think that is?” she asked. I told her that it seemed like it might be a drone. Once it started moving I was certain it was a drone. I saw a light occasionally come on which I think must have been to facilitate a camera controlled remotely somewhere.

Her theory was that it might be a UFO. I stopped myself from explaining that since UFO stands for “unidentified flying object” and we have not definitively identified the flying object it technically was a UFO. Nonetheless, I could tell that she was very creeped out by what was happening. I reassured her that, since it hovers like a drone and moves like a drone, it was most likely a drone and not a visitor from somewhere else in the universe. We parted ways and I started thinking about the future.

We are not too many years away from wide scale drone delivery. Last year Amazon, the country’s largest online retailer, sent a letter to the FAA regarding the development of their Amazon Prime Air service. When I first heard about this I was pretty excited. Same day delivery via drone sounds pretty nice. But the applications go far beyond my consumer fancy of same day toilet paper or flying fast food. I started thinking about natural disasters and getting medical supplies out to where they are needed much faster than we can now.

Currently there are not that many drones which have the kind of range required to master drone delivery, but you can be sure that there are many companies working on perfecting it. Of course technology companies like Amazon and Google are working on it. But so are parcel delivery services such as FedEx and UPS. The first FAA approved drone delivery has actually already taken place. Although aided by an airplane modified by NASA to work remotely like a drone, this pioneer delivery dispatched medical supplies. Domino’s and a company called Tacocopter are already delivering food now as well.

These delivery applications are all very provocative, but what about those creeper drones that I started with? Even more scary, to me, are the drones being used by our military to attack unsuspecting weddings. Well, those things are already here. It is true that a peeping tom could use a drone to look into your window and there is nothing that you can do about it. In fact, because that it is considered an aircraft, it is a felony to shoot it down. As far as this scenario goes though, I think that the legal situation will change and that drones that are hovering within a certain height on private property will start to face some sort of legal consequence if it has not been invited.

As far as military use of drones goes, I guess the question to ask is whether our technology has outpaced our sense of compassion for humanity. I would argue that perhaps it has, but it certainly is not just because we use drones. For that matter it is not even remotely recent. Ever since humans have been making tools, there were always some made or used as weapons. This is just a modern version of that human foible.

What do you think? Are drones appealing or chilling? Let me know your views in the comments.

Kirk Aug

Kirk is the technology trend watcher at SeedSing. He is always looking to the sky in order to help fellow citizens identify the UFOs. Follow Kirk on twitter @kirkaug.