Google had an experiment called Google Contributor where you could buy all your own ads. This effectively had the experience you're describing (prepay and get no ads until it runs out). They tried it twice, so someone wanted it to work. I was always curious why they shuttered it.
Probably because people didn't want to pay. It's easy and cheap to say "I'd pay X to access website without ads!" ...but when it came to it and people had that option, essentially no-one did it.
This is because most of the time paying is not an option. And even when it is, there is a lot of friction to actually do that, even with streamlined payment services such as Stripe. The advertising business model and technology that powers it is so well established that a "free" service is much easier to manage for publishers and to access for consumers.
There's also the psychological aspect. People are used to advertising in every other form of media, so seeing it online is acceptable. People expect online services to be "free", and few really understand the business transaction they're a part of, or the repercussions of it. Even when they do, many are willing to make that transaction because they value the service more than what they're giving up to access it, and they have no other choice.
So it ultimately boils down to offering the choice to pay with currency, and making it frictionless for both consumers and publishers to use. And educating consumers about the real cost of advertising.
The unfortunate reality is that advertising has become so profitable that in order for the payment system to work, companies would have to price their services higher than any consumer would be willing to pay for them. Or they would have to settle for lower profits, which no company would actually do. This is why you see that even when a service has a payment option, they still inevitably choose to _also_ show ads. Advertising money is simply irresistible to most people, and few have the moral backbone to resist it.
I contributed ~$30 during both experiments. The most interesting aspect was seeing which sites consumed most of the spend. It also felt good to see the contribution to smaller sites.
Paying for my own ads felt similar to shopping at a local bookstore: I paid extra for the culture I wanted to see. There's a market for it, but, you're right, it probably wasn't big enough to justify its existence at Google.
This was my experience until I purchased custom molded earplugs a year ago. It's one of the best purchases I've made. They're superior to off-the-shelf plugs in many ways:
1. They don't fall out, because they "hook into" the shape of your ear.
2. They sit much closer to the inner ear, so they feel invisible when side-sleeping.
3. It's a perfect fit every time, so you don't have to worry about noise leakage or discomfort caused by pressure.
If you don't want to spend $200 on a pair of plugs from an audiologist (I'd strongly urge you to reconsider!), the best off-the-shelf alternative for me was silicone plugs. To solve the side-sleeping problem with silicone plugs, you can tear them in half or use children's versions depending on your ear canal size.
If enjoy and pay to see live music, you should spring for a set of "musician's earplugs". They're molded just like safety/sleeping earplugs, but they use a flat 10-15dB attenuating filter. They make the music quieter without distorting it.
Symphony players wear them because brass/percussion is loud enough to cause hearing damage with hours of exposure. I've sung in mine for Easter morning services where I was wedged between a celebratory trumpet and an organ with all the stops out.
They're not cheap, but they're not very expensive in the world of Ticketmaster fees.
> The whole selling point of AI is that they're vastly better
Not to nitpick, but "better" isn't on a single axis. Taking a photo is a better experience than searching and keying in every component, even if the accuracy is identical.
AI tools don't even have to be "vastly" better. They could be, and often are, even worse on several axes, because they often trade quality for ease-of-use.
You may assign a lower weight to the ease-of-use axis (as engineers, we tend to), but then you're likely not the ideal customer for many of today's AI products.
> Also cookies are not cryptographically signed and thus easily forgeable by the client/browser
While it's true that you could avoid signing cookies, this isn't the default for any server library I'm aware of. If your library doesn't require a secret to use for signing, you should report it.
I'm also unaware of JWT libraries that default to "none" for the algorithm (some go against the spec and avoid it entirely), though it's possible to use JWTs insecurely.
You'd be really interested in Michael Levin's work (et al) on morphology and bioelectricity [0]. Cells are problem solvers.
His lab has shown functioning eyes on the backs of tadpoles, allowed frog leg regeneration where none existed, and performed several other modifications that change the communication between cells to trigger desired growth. Surprisingly, the interventions are point modifications, then the system handles the rest of the process.
Cell-to-cell communication has a lot of explanatory power for a cell (or collection of cells) "knowing what/where to be".
True. Arguably it's trust with teeth, though the bite must be hard enough.
Apple - alleged Siri eavesdropping: $95M [0]
LinkedIn - alleged unauthorized ai training on private messages: ?? [1]
Google - alleged unlawful data collection in Texas: $1.4B [2]
Humans are capable of reproducing copyright illegally, but we allow them to train on copyrighted material legally.
Perhaps measures should be taken to prevent illegal reproduction, but if that's impossible, or too onerous, there should be utilitarian considerations.
Then the crux becomes a debate over utility, which often becomes a religious debate.
EveryUUID's virtual grid can assume every cell is the same height, but it's much more difficult if you assume cells have wrapped text. This is further complicated if you allow grid resizing.
Collections of SVGs for the icons: https://github.com/markmanx/isopacks/tree/main/collections
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