tal

is a pain in the ass

is dependent on 3rd parties

Well, one of the two, at any rate.

mysterious Picts

The Picts, the descendants of Iron Age tribes, are known for decorating standing stones with intricate carvings and constructing impressive hillforts.

They ruled northern and eastern Scotland for hundreds of years before vanishing from written records about 1,100 years ago, the name of their kingdom disappearing with them.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/9953179/The-Picts-are-alive-and-well-and-living-in-Scotland.html

The Picts are 'alive and well' and living in Scotland

TEN per cent of Scottish men are directly descended from the Picts, according to a new discovery by a DNA project.

Unless there's a technology tie-in that I'm not seeing here, you might do better at !incest@lemmynsfw.com.

A predominantly-white interior decor and clothing motif. Makes the room brighter.

American tech company Kyndryl

Who the heck is Kyndryl?

kagis

Ah. It looks like IBM split off their IT services division into a separate company.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyndryl

Officially formed in late 2021, Kyndryl was created from the spin-off of IBM's infrastructure services,[4][5] and comprises the bulk of the former IBM Global Technology Services.

In 2022, as ranked by revenue, CRN placed Kyndryl No. 6 on its list of largest IT solution providers in North America.

Focused on IT services for businesses,[20] Kyndryl designs, builds, manages, and modernizes enterprise IT infrastructure systems,[4][17] with capabilities in artificial intelligence as well as data and analytics.[20] In late 2021, Kyndryl listed its six service areas as: cloud; security and resiliency; network and edge computing; digital workplace; core enterprise and zCloud; and applications, data, and AI.

Also known as the All United for the Union of Populist Movements party, the Trump party is seemingly a successor to far-right Wallonian parties Chez Nous and the Belgian National Front (NF).

Trump is pretty big on licensing fees for use of his brand. I suspect that this won't end well.

The Billboard chart in question is behind a paywall.

Someone on a Reddit discussion on the same song pointed out that it could be bypassed with:

https://open.bolha.tools/ and plugging in the Billboard URL https://www.billboard.com/charts/country-digital-song-sales/

That being said, while I can see the chart, I don't see any numbers, so I'm assuming that they must be coming from somewhere else, though I don't have any reason to doubt them; it sounds like tasteofcountry.com is reputable.

That article does point out that there are a substantial number of Spotify users listening to the song, though if I remember, there was some past discussion about how various people had tried trying to game Spotify's recommendation system to try to get more people listening to their songs, so maybe someone could just be leveraging that hard?

kagis

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/11/05/spotify-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit-alleging-discovery-mode-is-a-pay-for-play-scheme/

I'm not sure if this is what I'm remembering. I wasn't super-interested at the time, but I thought that it was talking about how some artists had been gaming the system to be more-frequently-recommended, whereas this is talking about Spotify apparently taking money to increase recommendations.

EDIT: I can't find any news story that seems to fit what I thought I remember reading. I do see a LinkedIn page talking about tactics to attack Spotify's recommendation algorithm:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/advanced-techniques-legally-hacking-spotifys-algorithm-nicolas-rabaud-eawve

So I imagine that there are probably people out there working hard to game it, though I suppose that that's probably something of a given.

is AI going play the Grand Ole Opry?

Virtual bands playing human-composed and -recorded music predate present music from generative AI, and they've done performances.

I imagine at some point, probably someone will pair virtual bands with AI-generated music, and do performances of it, if they haven't already.

I believe that he's joking.

I'm not really familiar with Spotify, but at least for me

I don't have a Spotify account

it only plays the first bit.

I think that this is the same song, but on YouTube Music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx3OirkhX0g

Eh, I mean, I wouldn't buy it, but then I wouldn't buy Apple products in general, as they're all gonna carry a premium. They sell into kinda a low-end luxury market. I dunno how many people remember back when Apple introduced the white earbuds with the iPod and had a marketing campaign focusing on their color, at a time when headphones were pretty universally a more-subtle black, to make it very obvious that what someone had in their pocket was an iPod.

For some luxury goods, the point is to visibly show the item to others, to demonstrate that you can afford the item, engage in conspicious consumption. Then you get Veblen goods:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good

A Veblen good is a type of luxury good, named after American economist Thorstein Veblen, for which the demand increases as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve.

The higher prices of Veblen goods may make them desirable as a status symbol in the practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. A product may be a Veblen good because it is a positional good, something few others can own.

So people can prefer a higher-priced item, specifically because it lets them show off that they can afford it.

And if you figure that the closest thing to the "phone pocket" is women's purses, well...that's historically been a product category that sees a fair number of members that are Veblen goods, a lot of pricey items designed to show that their wearer can afford them. Like, a designer handbag isn't really any more functional than a far-less-expensive equivalent, yet lots of people buy them.

https://www.hermes.com/us/en/category/women/bags-and-small-leather-goods/bags-and-clutches/

Those are pretty hefty prices for the functionality you're getting.

If you figure that a phone pocket probably fills more-or-less the same fashion role, then I wouldn't be surprised if the potential to sell luxury phone pockets is comparable to that to selling luxury handbags.

Apple already kinda sells towards a low-end luxury market, so I expect that Apple's probably making a not-unreasonable move in trying to feel out whether there's potential for that among their customer base.

I wouldn't pay much for a luxury container for a phone, but that's me. My pockets fit my phone just fine, so I'm not even in the market in the first place. But...doesn't mean that Apple isn't making the right move from a business standpoint for them, I think.

EDIT: A quick kagi later, it sounds like the proper industry term is "affordable luxury" rather than "low-end luxury":

https://themetropolitan.metrostate.edu/iphone-17-apple-transforms-smartphones-into-symbols-of-affordable-luxury/

The iPhone 17 was launched in September 2025, during Apple’s traditional event in Cupertino, California. Tim Cook, in turn, emphasized that the model reinforces the company’s strategy of transforming smartphones into symbols of affordable luxury in the global market. Although the price is high for most people, the iPhone 17 is still priced lower than other traditional luxury goods, including designer handbags, sports cars, and Swiss watches.

Since 2007, Apple has established its brand as a benchmark for innovation and prestige. However, in September 2025, the company once again reinforced the idea that the iPhone is the “cheapest rich-people’s item” available on the market. According to Bloomberg, the device has therefore become a gateway for consumers looking to flaunt a globally recognized status item. Thus, it has come to be seen as an affordable alternative to prestige.

I mean, I like the Lara Croft thigh holster route, but that might chafe.

And if you're wearing it the way the male model is, you can probably add an outer shirt or jacket and wear it like an underarm money belt in less-secure environments. I have one of those that I repurposed for carrying a tablet. Looks very similar to this, though not the same brand or type of fabric:

https://www.amazon.com/Multi-Purpose-Anti-Thief-Security-Underarm-Messenger/dp/B077GD5C27

Kind of like a very thin purse with a padded, short strap that's intended to optionally hide under one's clothes.

You don't need something that large to carry a phone, though. The sort of smaller thing that they're doing here is big enough for that.