say, if tiktok launches an ai app store, it won’t be for complex software—it’ll start with low-friction, high-retention apps: ai-powered video enhancements (think face-swaps, lip sync, object replacement) or micro-utilities, something like ASim does.
for platforms, it’s obvious—more engagement, higher monetization, and a new vertical.
for creators, it’s a no-brainer—why funnel traffic to some app store when you can keep users inside tiktok, get them to install, and even monetize directly?
even the infamous 30% app store cut could be creatively sidestepped—imagine launching your own meme coin for in-app purchases instead.
if you're tracking users for analytics using cookies, fingerprinting, or any other method that identifies them (even probabilistically), you generally need explicit consent under GDPR and similar privacy laws. The key point is that it's not just about cookies; any persistent tracking requires consent.
The term cha (茶) is “Sinitic,” meaning it is common to many varieties of Chinese dialects. Meanwhile, the word tea comes from the Min Nan variety of Chinese, spoken in the coastal Fujian province, where the character 茶 is pronounced te.
countries receiving tea overland (e.g., via the Silk Road) adopted forms of “cha,” while those trading by sea through Fujian ports adopted forms of “te.”
The project visualise perfectly this distinction.
I would assume nothing, similarly to how exports of western tech from western countries somehow magically exploded overnight to Russia's neighbors and everyone is pretending not to notice because it makes money.
Will try to visit the country in March and share some notes in public web
In truth, values and ethics are fundamental to effectively discussing politics. After all, all political decisions are ultimately about how we want to shape the world that we as humans live in. There can be no agreement about economic policy without a shared understanding of the ultimate goal of an economy. No agreement about foreign relations without a shared understanding of the role of nations as representatives for groups of humans, and how we believe one group of humans should interact with another group of humans through the lens of nations.
For the last 20 years at least, the leadership of the two main political parties in the US have largely invested in messaging around the values that they represent. The policies are different too, but over time we've gone from a world where there were at least some cases where the two parties had different policies for how to reach the same goals, and into a world where the parties policies are aiming to realize fundamentally different visions of the world, based on fundamentally different values.
In this world, asking "who did you vote for" isn't a matter of tribalism, but it is a (good) proxy for asking someone "what are your values". If you discover that someone has completely different values from you, then discussing policy isn't going to be useful anyway, because there's no way you'll agree on a single policy when you have different fundamental values.
Personally, I find it hard to fully identify with either the left or the right. I share beliefs and values from both sides, depending on the issue. This makes it difficult to adopt a clear-cut political label, and I think that's true for many people.
Politics today often feels more like a battle of narratives than a clash of core principles / values.
p.s. my perspective is non-US one.