"Business users are spinning up AI agents left and right, feeling like they can build anything. Meanwhile, developers are stuck being the ‘reality police’ — trying to make these things actually work in production while secretly wondering if they’re automating themselves out of a job.
At the end of the day, many devs feel like they go through all this chaos … only to end up with a solution not that different from the software they’ve built before."
At this point, however, they have built an interesting business beyond their own league and live events.
They have a subscription service - $10 a month - that has both the biggest library of important MMA fights and acts as the streaming platform and distributor for dozens of smaller leagues.
The UFC is even branching out to stream more niche combat sports that aren't MMA.
Because they were banned from television for so long, they were forced to focus on the digital side of the business, and it is now paying big dividends.
"The song “Drag Me Down” by One Direction appeared on YouTube 2,700 times after the service was asked to take down unlicensed copies. These 2,700 pirated uploads allowed Google to continue profiting from advertising while the artists got nothing."
That is objectively not true. Labels are very strict about issuing takedown notices. The only videos that stay up are those using content ID, in which case the artist gets paid.
I know this is an op-ed, but shame on the NYT for allowing such a blatant falsehood to be published.
Going from a seed stage startup to a feature on 10 million TVs in less than a year sounds fun. Only downside is you aren't going to build your own billion dollar business with this model.
You can't log into HBO now with you HBO Go credentials because they are two totally separate business models. You need a pay-tv subscription to authenticate HBO GO, while you pay a la carte for HBO Now and don't need cable. Cord cutter versus traditional.
I can see this being useful for sharing 3D models and perhaps some items in augmented reality commerce, but I doubt it will have much of a role to play in serious VR
Jelani did not waive the right to a speedy trial, and in fact his lawyer filed the motion demanding one on three separate occasions before it was granted. This was more than one year into his incarceration.
The DA needs to present enough evidence at a grand jury to get an indictment. After that, at least in NY, much of the evidence does not have to be shared until trial. Plea deals in these big crew conspiracy cases often occur without the defendant seeing much of the evidence against them.
I started the story after a friend, who is a social worker and civil rights activist, told me that he knew several kids from a large Crew Cut raid in Brooklyn, and that they were good kids who had left the city for college, but been dragged back by a conspiracy indictment relating to a crew they left years earlier. Very similar to Asheem's situation.
As I worked on the story for two years I became pretty depressed at times. I mostly write about technology - new gadgets and startups - which keep me feeling generally excited and optimistic about the future. With this story i really came to grips with the way the deck is stacked against poor people, doubly do for poor people of color growing up in high crime areas.
I didn't come away from this thinking anyone was 100% guilty or innocent. But I certainly know, based on what I was like in high school, that I would have made the same or worse choices as these two boys if my teenage reality had been like theirs.
The state's attorney and mayor's office have both called for major changes at Riker's and threatened to sue if conditions are not improved there. But sadly that won't solve the problem of a clogged court system that allows prosecutors to delay trials for months or even years.
Hey - writer of the story here. The goal was to show two brothers, very much two sides of the same coin - born one year apart, raised in the same environment. What choices did they make, how did that lead to different outcomes (or not).
It's a very long story and I don't honestly expect everyone on the internet to read it closely or all the way through. But to be clear, it was the older brother who owned a gun. Law enforcement never produced evidence that Jelani, the younger brother accused of double attempted murder, owned or used a firearm.
Hey Tomp - I wrote that post. I cited the author, linked extensively, and gave credit in multiple places. If there had been a contact on his HN bio, I would have reached out that way as well.
"Business users are spinning up AI agents left and right, feeling like they can build anything. Meanwhile, developers are stuck being the ‘reality police’ — trying to make these things actually work in production while secretly wondering if they’re automating themselves out of a job.
At the end of the day, many devs feel like they go through all this chaos … only to end up with a solution not that different from the software they’ve built before."