Gadgets too - We got a bread baking machine, and used it quite a lot for a year or two, then people got tired of it being somewhat impractical, it ended up in the back of the cupboard and finally thrown away.
Wouldn't be surprised if there is a group of people for whom it is very rewarding trying out new products, and many products you can't just buy once and then consider it "tried out".
And it is clearly guess here, the wording in article is clear on that.
For example, I was working in a bootstrapped tech startup in online education industry which was delivering real value (really great product). But didn't really go anywhere... Then I learned that the lack of success in the education sector is probably because the entire global monetary system is a scam and so, unlike in the last thousands of years, real economic value stopped mattering as soon as I entered the workforce (what are the odds of that!?).
So I learned from this and got into an extremely hyped-up blockchain project, then right after I joined, the CEO decided to cut back on marketing and focus on development, price crashed... (what are the odds?)
So I quit and started a crypto project related to travel industry, COVID19 happens... ITO fails... WTF???
Seriously, the government should just give me free money. I don't care about pride or self-fulfillment or whatever nonsense emotion some completely useless job is supposed to bring to my shitty life. Just give me free money so that I don't have to deal with any of this shit. I don't need any fancy bling, I just want unlimited time off from having to deal with our insane economy. Too bad I can't charge companies to NOT invest in them and to stay away from their employees.
BTW, Facebook reached out for an interview recently but I didn't follow through... So if someone reading this comment buys Facebook shares and makes a ton of money, please think of me and give me some free money.
Series N, Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/PNKgry1c8Qw&t=100
Also the Burger King "Big King" burger, the McDonalds chicken selects... and a few other items that I have forgotten about over the years...
I dunno if that makes me "Harbinger of Failure", but its become clear that my consumer tastes are pretty niche.
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At least I got "unsweet ice tea" right, lol. Seems like plenty of soda companies are making that now.
I agree though that Pebble was great and there's no true replacement yet.
I knew a guy there whose parents, sure enough, were giving data to several market research companies.
It is hard to be right all the time. Logically, it should be exactly, equally hard to be wrong all the time, but somehow more people achieve it.
In any big group of people known to each other, it is always easy to tell who the Oracles of Wrong are. (If you don't know, it might be you; but if it is, you are probably wrong about that, too.) I have had some decades to think about this, and identify other qualities of these individuals, besides their preference for wrongness. They are of above-average intelligence. They are typically upper-class; some wear a trilby. They prefer alternatives that are personally easy for them, requiring less change in habits or thinking. They have never experienced any substantial personal discomfort as a consequence of a wrong choice.
In cases of uncertainty, look to an Oracle of Wrong for anti-leadership.
Dichotomous choices almost never exist. It is very easy to be wrong on most issues, simply by speaking out random opinions every time you see a situation with more than two possible truths. Never miss an opportunity to call the outcome of a d20 roll and you'll be well on your way to being an anti-oracle.
When the number of choices is narrowed down to two, somebody who is only randomly wrong is just as likely to be right. But our Oracle can be counted upon to choose wrong with overwhelmingly greater than 50% accuracy.
Recent failures include: no brand Chinese smartphone bricking on Christmas Day and losing all his photos because he didn’t want to pay for the Apple tax any more (he had an iPhone XR which is still fine!), spending more on Audi service in three years than he did on the car, garage wall collapsed after hiring someone who convinced him was respectable but came with no references, throwing his shit out of the pram at work followed by claiming victory on Facebook followed by being fired followed by being hired for an undisclosed lower sum elsewhere, setting up range extenders in his house while not understanding the problem and actually not even enabling them.
That’s just 2020. I’m slowly folding his experiences into my list of things not to do. He only gets away with it because he has some cash to fall back on which was inherited.
Cipolla's first law of stupidity[1]:
Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
Carlo himself, while he lived, welcomed re-publication. His heirs spit on his memory.
I am also good at watching fads and as soon as I join they are over.
I definitely envy some people I know who have a talent for jumping on trends early. I often feeloput of sync with society .
Let me expand on what I meant:
Leveraging consumer data (and marketing that process in a blog post) is an insidious affair. This article is just a rebranded, simplified version of a research paper. There are many other articles like it, and they intend to simplify and sensationalize (to the degree that they can argue plausible deniability) something outrageous.
This entire article; the webpage, the work of the author, the words the article is composed of, could easily be reduced to a simple statement: "People who are more willing to take a risk on an unusual product are more willing to take a risk in multiple categories." This such an obvious conclusion that the publisher of this article should be tried for conspiracy and fraud. A child could come to this realization.
This is clickbait, plain and simple. Furthermore, its insulting. I look forward to the day that those who publish these article lose their incentive to do so.
