The artificial intelligence (AI) craze is in full swing, with every tech company trying to shove AI features into its products. Unfortunately so far, for anyone not tied to Silicon Valley or Wall Street, the AI boom has had questionable results. Among AI’s problems include the increasing amount of AI-generated images appearing in online searches. For those searching online for images (such as, say, bloggers), it makes using Google to find or verify non-AI images harder. Fortunately, there’s still a few ways to try to filter out AI images in Google. Filter results in Google Search Google Image ..read more

On the heels of Best Buy dropping DVDs comes another big box store scaling back. IGN reports that Target plans to scale back its in-store DVD/Blu-ray sales. Going forward, Target will shift to only offering (to quote the article/a Target spokesperson) “select DVDs in stores when they are newly released or during key times throughout the year when they are more popular, like for gift giving during the holidays.” The new policy doesn’t affect physical video game sales, or the DVDs/Blu-rays offered on Target’s website. Seeing Target scale back on in-store DVD sales isn’t surprising, based on my l ..read more

Comics retailer and analyst Brian Hibbs has released his annual report on the state of 2023 book channel graphic novel and manga sales. Overall, graphic novel sales were still strong. However, for the top 750 graphic novels, unit sales are down almost 20% from 2022 sales, while sales by dollar amounts are down by about 7%. (For all books sold, unit sales are down 15%, while dollar amounts are down 6%.) Though it’s less people turning on comics and more the overall decline in some product sales since the pandemic’s peak several years ago, plus a slight decline in manga sales (Western comics are ..read more

Over the past year or so, I’ve resumed buying DVDs and Blu-rays (and ripping them on my computer to my own media server) as an alternative to paying for a few expensive streaming services, such as (HBO) Max and Netflix. (Or buying digital rights management (DRM)-encumbered digital videos.) However, fewer places now sell physical media versus before the “streaming wars” kicked off. Back in January, I wrote about a few places I buy DVDs and Blu-rays. I thought I’d expand on such with a dedicated post. Amazon Given the decline in retail sales, shopping for DVDs/Blu-rays online is increasingly bec ..read more

Back in 2019, I bought a sixth-generation, entry-level iPad, replacing the several Android/Fire tablets I used through the 2010s. At the time, I was tired of the mediocre quality of most Android tablets (the software, the OS, and/or the physical tablet itself), so I thought I’d give Apple’s famous tablet a go. While the iPad’s worked fine, it’s started to greatly show its age over the past year or so; the 32GB of storage has definitely become problematic. Also, it’s likely to lose new iPadOS system updates from Apple either this year or next year (more likely the former). Overall, it’s clearly ..read more

The “fediverse,” the decentralized, federated social media world (powered by the ActivityPub protocol) has seen some recent changes. Threads, Meta’s attempt at a Twitter-like text-based social network, has now opened its app (as a beta) to the fediverse as an optional setting. Once activated (instructions here), Threads users’ accounts will be visible on ActivityPub-based social networks such as Mastodon. That said, Threads federating has generated much controversy on Mastodon, to the point some Mastodon instances have blocked federating with (i.e. access from) Threads. Among the Threads users ..read more

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has released its annual statistics on US music revenue for 2023. Below are my thoughts on this year’s report. Overall, music revenue grew by 8% from 2022 to a record high (not adjusting for inflation) of $17.1 billion. Here’s a chart summarizing 2023 US music revenue. The full report is available here. Source: RIAADigital formats As usual, streaming is the dominant music format, making up 84% of all revenue ($14.4 billion). “Old-school” digital downloads (i.e. buying MP3s from Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, etc.) continues to be a shrinking porti ..read more

This week, Disney officially launched (after several months of beta testing) Disney+ with Hulu integrated. To summarize the new setup: Subscribers to the Disney Bundle (Disney+ and Hulu; ESPN+ optional) will be able to use the new version of Disney+. Those only subscribed to Disney+ can see the new Hulu tile/its content, but won’t be able to watch Hulu stuff unless they upgrade. Of course, Disney plans to push the Bundle harder. Disney+ and Hulu will remain standalone services. Hulu-only customers who don’t want Disney+ can continue using Hulu as-is; nothing will change. Ditto those who only ..read more

Here’s a look at what media of interest is coming out for April 2024 (and beyond). Graphic novels/manga Moriarty the Patriot, vol. 15 (Viz), on sale April 2, $12 Teen Titans: Starfire GN (DC Comics), on sale July 2, $17 Disney+ A full list is available here. Wish, April 3 Peacock A full list is available here. Migration, April 19 Sports NBA Finals playoffs, starting April 20 (ABC, ESPN, TNT, NBA TV) NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, starting April 22 (various channels) My thoughts “Migration.” (Illumination) DC’s continuing its Teen Titans graphic novel series with a volume for Starfire. Good ..read more

Time again for another blog status update post. Dropping Google ads (again) For those visiting my site with their ad blocker turned off, you’ll notice I’ve turned off Google ads, at least for now. Google’s own downsides aside, there’s also that the amount of revenue from Google ads has declined, even by my meager standards. I’d sometimes meet Google’s $100 minimum payout level about once a year (if lucky). However, at the current rate, I wasn’t meeting even that. Thus, I figured I’d save on the site code/load speed and ditch Google’s ads for now. If interested in supporting my site financially ..read more