Walled Gardens are cracking! And that’s great for you and I, until it isn’t.

Not going to lie reader, I’ve been struggling with writers block. There are lots of topics I want to put my thoughts into typed words but nothing that made me want to dive deep into it. They were all shallow, like me! But I need to get some consistency in my writing habits. Alas, I have a few loosely connected (thematically at least) stories I want to highlight. Onto the first corporation.

Apple

As someone already inside Apple’s ecosystem, two things happened that shows the software lock ins that Apple implements doesn’t have to actually constrain us. Let’s start with the best selling headphones on the market: AirPods.

Although they are just bluetooth headphones that you could connect to any bluetooth device, when paired with other Apple products, they actually gain a lot more customization. Some examples: Switching noise cancellation modes, detecting when the AirPods are in your ear, head gestures, and conversational awareness. Useful features that you lose when connected as regular bluetooth headphones. Enter LibrePods!

A developer named Kavish Devar made an application for Android and Linux computers that gives you most of the features Apple native users get on their devices. There’s some caveats, and I personally haven’t tried it, but it’s awesome that this exists. More options for more people is never a bad thing. Sharing is caring after all. Speaking of sharing…

Google of all companies, revealed a sick new feature for their Pixel phones. They can now natively use AirDrop with Apple users! And it seems they want to roll this out to all Android devices. Sharing files between Android and Apple users has always been annoying. This is straight up great for everyone. The Apple user does need to allow AirDrops from everyone (for 10 minutes, like using AirDrop with a person who doesn’t have your number) but that’s it! Interoperability for everyone! A win-win!

Keep an eye out for next “security update” Apple pushes out. Still waiting to see how they react to this. Let’s move to the next corporation.

OpenAI

You should know this name by now, but they’re the makers of ChatGPT. The de facto LLM of choice for most people. Being such a big name means a new release is big, which happened recently. But if they are the owners of the walled garden of chatting with an LLM, how is it crumbling? Surprise!!! Google is back poking holes in walls like the creepy data collectors they are.

Google released Gemini 3 shortly after ChatGPT 5.1 came out and it seems to be the new top LLM on the market. On the journey to make a digital god, this tool is being rolled out throughout Google’s products. Loyalty isn’t beneficial to us, so more options are better. Don’t default to one LLM when another one could be better. Before someone uses me as an excuse, I meant loyalty to these corporations. Be loyal to your partner reader, don’t put that on me…

I’m actually looking forward to trying Gemini 3 with some of my coding projects. It supposed to be the best on the market in that department and that could be…one moment please…annnnnnnnd a new Claude just dropped. Maybe Google isn’t the top LLM anymore? Whatever! Next corporation!

Microsoft

In the never ending chase of “profits must infinitely go up”, Microsoft is leaning heavily into it’s AI endeavors. This seems to be at the cost of other areas. The Xbox division is rumored to be leaning towards a PC based console for the living room. One issue that plagues the Xbox division is that if they plan to make their next console a computer, they need to use a computer operating system. Microsoft, as you know reader, already has a computer operating system called Windows 11. Although it’s the go to system for gamers, it seems its not a good system for a console.

Enter Valve. They’ve been investing in Linux gaming technology to make a viable option for gaming on computers less reliant on Windows. So when the Steam Deck came out a few years ago, it used SteamOS instead of Windows 11. Gaming on the go without relying on Microsoft. Well, now Valve has it’s eyes on the living room. Along with a controller and VR headset, Valve announced the Steam Machine.

A console like experience that’s actually a full computer…you know…what Xbox is rumored to do. This is huge and I’ll be keeping my eye on this closely next year. As someone who uses Windows 11 strictly for gaming, an alternative is very enticing. So much so that I’m considering switching to Linux now instead of waiting for SteamOS to roll out a desktop version. Maybe I’ll write about that another day.

The next few corporations may not be household names to you, but all these other corporations actually depend on them (which means you do too reader). Let’s chat about infrastructure.

The Internet

On October 20th, lots of regular folks couldn’t use services like Snapchat, Fortnite, Ring cameras or Roblox. What happened? Amazon Web Services had problem with US-EAST-1. A lot of our internet relies on AWS in the background. That’s something you and I can’t control. Which is worrying! Imagine buying a $2500 bed, and on October 20th it cranked the heat up and got stuck in an inclined position? That would suck right? Well, that happened.

But Luis, that’s so rare! Things happen!

You’re correct reader! But allow me to talk about October 29th. When Starbucks, Alaska Airlines, Xbox users, and Minecraft users were having problems. Another AWS outage you say? No reader, this one was an Azure outage! Where Amazon has AWS, Microsoft has Azure. Two separate companies that you and I can’t not do anything about but hope they work. It doesn’t end there. Always remember, rule of three.

November 18th, starting early morning eastern standard time, people were having issues using Spotify, playing League Of Legends, hailing Ubers, and even using ChatGPT. CHATGPT!!!! Another outage, via Cloudflare.

All the silly worries about iPhone or Android, which digital God is better than which, or where my friends and I decide to play video games don’t matter if the technology they depend on fail. I need to make a back up plan to start hand delivering my newsletter. Always need to have a contingency plan.

things i read

They survived the hurricane. Their insurance company didn't. | Zoya Teirstein for grist.org

The Inside Story of How Gen Z Toppled Nepal’s Leader and Chose a New One on Discord | Tulsi Rauniyar for www.wired.com

British Churches Are Putting Their Faith in Heat Pumps | Chris Baraniuk for www.wired.com

Inside a Wild Bitcoin Heist: Five-Star Hotels, Cash-Stuffed Envelopes, and Vanishing Funds | Joel Khalili for www.wired.com

Massive Leak Shows Erotic Chatbot Users Turned Women’s Yearbook Pictures Into AI Porn | Samantha Cole for www.404media.co

Scorching Saturdays: The Rising Heat Threat Inside Football Stadiums | Olivia McMurrey, Lee Hedgepeth for insideclimatenews.org

Car influencers love Chinese EVs — and China loves them back | Andrew J. Hawkins for www.theverge.com

Meet the Artist Who Bedazzled Naomi Osaka’s Labubus | Callie Holtermann for www.nytimes.com

It doesn’t end at Neuralink | Elissa Welle for www.theverge.com

The Hardest-Working Art Thief in History | Jack Rodolico for magazine.atavist.com

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