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Big whoop
By adamg on Sun, 10/24/2021 - 8:52pm
Shamus Moynihan's first thought on seeing the illuminated word next to Kenmore Square's better known lit sign was not "Whoop!" but "WTF?"
Thanks to mitski’s yell on class of 2013 on NPR tiny desk we now know it's actually the logo for, well, Whoop, a Fenway-based company founded by Harvardians (one, the former president of the Harvard varsity men's squash team, another, in classic Harvard startup style, a Harvard student who dropped out to help found the company) who sell some app-based wrist-thing service that monitors you 24 hours a day, constantly "uncovering secrets your body is trying to tell you," and then melding that with data from all sorts of other athletes to build better sports humans and "advance human knowledge with our discoveries."
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Comments
They left off the final S for Savings
Hey!
No fair making the best line the first response!
There it is!
n/t
Ok which store is this from?
n/t
1-800-MATTRES
Melding data
"monitors you 24 hours a day" ... "melding that with data from all sorts of other athletes to ... advance human knowledge"
In other words, making as big a profit as they can off of your personal data. And, it sounds like, charging you for the privilege of participating in this grand experiment.
It's surprising
How many otherwise intelligent people buy into things like "unlocking the secrets of your body," or whatever. My sister in law, who I consider to be quite sharp and cynical to boot, once enthusiastically told me about an app for her iPad where you just put the iPad under your pillow while you sleep and it will give you all kinds of diagnostics on how much you sleep, what quality of sleep you get, and suggestions on how to improve. If you have something that generates answers then people will instinctively listen, despite their better judgement.
Orwell got it wrong
Big Brother is not a totalitarian government or political party; it's private for-profit corporations like Facebook and Google (whose motto, ironically, used to be "don't be evil").
How did you sleep last night?
Well, I had to get up three times to take a leak, and then laid looking straight up at the ceiling for four hours thinking about all that is wrong in the world before I feel asleep for seven minutes and then my alarm went off and I snoozed it three times.
But my iWatch says I slept great!
Comforting
Thanks for that cartoon. It reminds me that everyone who suffers from insomnia feels like everything is awful at 3:30am. And yes, I do occasionally get screenplay ideas as well.
Meh
Your iphone and other devices are constantly monitoring/selling your data, at least with these fitness devices they give you information you can actively use to improve your health