Spotify, a human's digital jukebox, has been a data-driven company since day one, using data for various purposes including payments and experimentation. Managing the vast amount of data required a more streamlined approach, leading to the development of their internal data platform.
Event Delivery System:
- On-Premises Setup: Initially, Spotify used on-premises solutions like Kafka and HDFS. Event data from clients was captured, timestamped, and routed to a central Hadoop cluster.
- Google Cloud Transition: In 2015, Spotify moved to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for better scalability and reliability. Key components include File Tailer, Event Delivery Service, Reliable Persistent Queue, and ETL jobs using Dataflow and BigQuery.
An article discussing how Spotify's in-car audio device, 'Car Thing', has become unusable after the company discontinued its service, leaving users with what they're calling a 'car brick'.
DeskThing transforms Spotify's discontinued CarThing into a versatile desktop companion by turning it into an app platform. Users can install and run various applications like weather forecasts, NBA statistics, GitHub repository metrics, system resource monitoring, Discord notifications, and more. This open platform allows developers to create and share their own apps, extending the device's capabilities far beyond its original purpose.
Desk Thing: The Discord Thing, Trello Thing, The Weather Thing, The Macro Thing, Just not The Car Thing anymore. An alternative OS for the Spotify Car Thing allowing community-made apps.
Spotify is refunding owners of its Car Thing device, but won't open-source the hardware, leaving some users frustrated with the scheduled obsolescence of the device
The article discusses the upcoming end of support for Spotify's Car Thing, a device that has been the subject of various hacks and research. The article highlights some of these hacks, such as gaining U-Boot and UART access to the device's Linux system. It also mentions YouTube videos that provide step-by-step guides for accessing the hardware.
Spotify's Car Thing device owners are asking for refunds and open-sourcing as the company plans to brick the devices in December 2024 without offering refunds or trade-in options.
