Who, pray tell, is burning as much fuel as possible?
Sorry I can't hear you over the sound of the fuel economy numbers for the average new car sold in the USA being material for stand up comedians around the world.
Or are you just spinning up ludicrous BS?
Wait. Were you serious? I thought the USA's reputation for oil addicition was known even in the USA. I never said you were the worst at it mind you, the Saudis and a few of the countries your president affectionately labelled as shitholes can do this even better. But face it the new car sales figures reflected this perfectly over the past 15 years where there were actual swings in the cost of oil / gasoline end products. The American market has shown it will buy as inefficient gas guzzler of a car as it can financially bear.
The rest of the world is no different, we just have far more expensive gasoline.
nope, devices stop working, software stops working
the gradual version upgrading of the os is shit
Again you're applying the wrong causality. Devices not working and software not working has for all the Windows 10 updates been as a result of fucking horrid quality control on the updates. That is neither a given nor the result of the shorter update cycle. Ubuntu updates every 6 months, yet my hardware and software run just fine there.
On the flip side software not working and devices not working on major several year out changes such as the move from Windows 7 to 8 have the added problem of large changes in software APIs that broke things by design and additionally also added the user hostile practice of large changes to the UI presenting a steep learning curve for users. This is inarguably worse than having small incremental changes to the UI to say nothing of the ability to roll back minor changes in a non jarring way.
What makes you think the have nots will get upgraded instead of just the haves at low speeds? You do realise that selectively focusing on the areas that make the most money is precisely what caused the divide in the first place right?
...and yet withdrawal from coffee (caffeine) is most definitely something that could impact your ability to do your job.
Withdrawal from anything you're addicted to would, including doing non-drug related things like addictions to masturbation or addictive drugs that have no actual performance impact on the body like nicotine, or simply a change in diet can induce withdrawal symptoms as well.
Side note: I called in sick for 2 days when I quit caffeine.
The answer is not to focus on drugs in that case but rather the process of withdrawals. Your brain is fully of funky shit that could impact your performance, but it's silly to combine these all under one banner.
I ended up with a M.2 NAND drive which was not any larger than the SATA one I had in my old PC and cost about as much if not more...
That alone should have netted you a close to 10x improvment in performance for identical cost unless you bought an incredibly crap M.2 drive.
obscene GPU prices which are like 2x what they should be right now
GPUs are going for bargain basement prices right now. New prices are back below MSRP, and the second hand market is flooded with cards. NOW is the time to buy, and if you're anywhere close to that 2x mark it's time to pick a different store.
and the CPU manufacturers for a) screwing it up
In what way?
So it is little wonder few people want to upgrade.
It really isn't, but not for the reasons you cite. You didn't specify your workload. You're happy with an old GPU, can't be arsed about memory bandwidth, so what on earth do you want out of your new computer? I only recently upgraded because well I had to. 4K video, 50mpxl images all of that takes effort to actually process and is slowly becoming the norm (modern phones do 4K video now too). You say 4K is useless for gaming, I say it provided a nice visual quality increase because frankly you can only push AA so far. You clearly don't game competitively otherwise you'd also be looking at a monitor with high refresh rates which is also something you need high-end hardware (especially higher than 1080p) in order to drive.
It's little wonder few people want to upgrade because few people actually tax their computers. It has nothing to do with the current cost of performance of the hardware itself.
You didn't mention what you're feeding in an out of your computer?
I would see no reason to upgrade if I took happy snaps on my smartphone, or recorded video using a potatoe. I would see no reason to upgrade if you're sitting there with a 1080p shitty monitor, playing some games that also run fine on the Xbox360.
On the flip side, start editing 50mpxl images (getting standard on new SLRs), or editing 4K video (getting standard on mobile phones), or try and drive a 4K display, with HDR, well suddenly you may actually see actual improvements in your life for the extra dollars spent.
The bang for buck is still there if you use it. You just don't use it. e.g. the Slightly faster RAM and slightly faster CPU I just bought has quartered the processing times of astronomy images for me. But then I present the computer with a load where it can actually use it's extra cores and heavily relies on video bandwidth.
If you drive back and forth in a school zone then a V8 Mustang won't benefit you much.
Because nowadays, there's barely a point in replacing them.
Yes and no, it depends on what you do. I just upgraded my 6 year old PC not because I do something new with it, but because other devices forced my hand. My camera takes 50mpxl images which just load and processed painfully slowly. My old camera didn't do that. My new phone takes 4K video footage and Premier just chugged when faced with that. That old 1TB drive was great in its day but with a modern game pushing 70GB it is not only filling up quickly but the wait between cutscene was just a pain.
Sure your old graphics card can play battlefield 5 at 1080p, but how about getting a 4k HDR monitor? Well now you're probably wanting a 1080Ti or something beefy to keep your frame rates up unless of course you're happy accepting sub par graphics (That has been the upgrade case since the 90s).
Also I'm actually interested what the future will hold with raytracing enabled games. It looks like we're finally getting back to an era where even high-end hardware struggles with the graphics quality that developers provide, something that hasn't really been a case since the xbox360 was released unless you were one of the aforementioned 4K gamers.
Google is willing to allow Foundem trains on its tracks but says they have to pay for the privilege since it is not free to build and maintain tracks.
Not quite. Google is willing to allow anyone on its tracks on a fair and non-discriminatory basis providing they don't directly take from Google's resources, and decide due to competition that Foundem trains would need to pay for the privilage.
Back a long time ago Google's search results were the product of a great algorithm, and if they still were just an algorithm then there wouldn't be a problem. The problem now is that it's not an algorithm. It's a curated result with specific competitors punished regardless of where the algorithm would rank them.
Unfortunately for Google, that is actually illegal. It is in the USA too, just people are too afraid to actually enforce laws against companies over there for fear of not getting those lovely donations.
It's illegal in the States too, it's just that no one gives a crap over there. No sorry that was wrong. People do give a crap. They cry foul, and socialism, and scream for small government every time the idea of regulating the free market (a market where monopolies are the only stable condition) gets raised.
why in hell anyone would think they should be forced to host their competitors in their place of business is a complete mystery.
Because that is by definition an antitrust issue when you're in a position of market dominance.
Should they give free adds to Amazon ?
No one is asking for this. What they are asking for is level playing fields. You may not like it but the reality is even in your own country it's illegal to use a strong position of power to further your own products over the competition.
The EU has always been horribly obvious about being bought and paid for by European aristocrats
If that is your definition of actually enforcing the anti-trust laws that are on the books of most countries and in the USA completely ignored for corporate interests then I say fetch me another cigar so I can sit here and be smug and aristocraty, because it's a fuckload better than the alternative; Which all brings me to the title:
Build your own?
Yes that would be possible in perfect market. Unfortunately we're not in a perfect market, we're in a free market where competition is inherently an unstable condition and without regulations these market always tend towards the stable condition of a monopoly. So yes, I agree with you, we should build our own. We can start by regulating those abusing their position of power.
Effectively I can't do any more with an iPhone XS or XR that I could do with an iPhone 6.
What is the obsession with doing more? Phones have been largely feature complete for a while now with the only real innovation left being to turn them into something else, like a full desktop ala Samsung Dex.
My current laptop can't do more than my pervious one could either. It can however do it faster and better. I'm not fan of the upgrade cycle, but that alone is no reason not to produce high-end top tier deviecs for those who want them.
An overt declaration that you have been living in such a deep hole that you missed the 10+ articles we've run on Fortnite here on Slashdot in the past 6 months.
Another great statement without any backup, context or knowledge.
Hey guess what is in the news today, it would appear those Linux developers you held such a high opinion of have changed their tune even further not only allowing the Spectre mitigations to be disabled, but actively disabling them by default in stable branches of 4.20 making the fixes opt-in.
It would seem that marginal increases in security do not trump a few percent performance gains as decided by experts. Maybe we're all putting the world at risk. Oh Noes!
But keep fighting the good fight buddy. More power to you.
Every time I hear about Europe and the internet/tech its about how EU wants to tax/fine/punish/legislate/regulate something. Never about the latest thing, or the cool new invention, or whatever. Always taxes-fines-punish-etc.
Congradulations on becoming self-aware enough to realise that you live in an echo chamber.
Mind you it depends on how you define the latest thing. Some of the arguably most valuable things to come out of the USA have been Facebook and Uber. If you limit your view of innovation to IT related unicorns then there's no doubt that the USA holds an absolute monopoly on that, there is however a doubt whether that is a worthy claim to fame.
In terms of innovation the Global Innovation Index however shows parts of Europe well ahead of the USA. Though we can't claim that as a complete EU success since the number one country is European but not in the Union. In order:
Switzerland
The Netherlands
Sweden
United Kingdom
Singapore
United States of America
Finland
Denmark
Germany
Ireland
But while you're in your echo chamber let's look at your examples: Nokia: Yep, gone. Destroyed by an American company. Ericsson: Developed and demonstrated the first viable 5G technology, and brought it to market with the help of the ghost of Nokia. Phillips:... TVs? I didn't know they still made those. I only recognise them as the company that provided an alternative to incadescent lighting which doesn't suck, industrial sensors, although they divested NXP into a separate company they are a powerhouse in semiconductors, but you ignore their biggest market, medical. My last CT scan was in a Philips machine. But if you want to limit new innovation then start with their most recent development, every tried to recusistate a baby? More often than not it results in death due to damage to lungs and airways. Well Philips only anounced last month a cheap system designed to ensure that infant recusitation can be done by any first aider, not just experts.
I am still amazed you mentioned ARM but not NXP. Your echo chamber is pretty damn good, probably controlled by an NXP Kinetis ARM Cortex-M series processor.;-)
Poor Europe.
In what way? The USA Poverty rate is worse than the worst EU country, and about double the average EU country. Don't cry for us. We're doing fine.
If I lived in the EU right now I would tell my boss to suck it and take the first flight out of there.
Interesting this implies one or more of 3 things:
a) You know of some mythical government that doesn't occasionally attempt to pass batshit stupid laws. b) You feel more strongly about a link tax than things that actually impact your life. c) You're off your medication and your carer is worried sick looking for you.
I never understand people. What is the alternative? The same trip will cost you $20 in taxi fare
Interesting you compare public transport in a city to the most expensive way of getting around as if moving through a city is a luxury.
But what's the alternative? Ever widening gaps between the rich and poor and keeping the lower class economically depressed. Combine that with difficulty finding workers, and you'd be amazed at how many "alternatives" there are to a well functioning economic model.
Surely the alternative is to raise wages.
Or the alternative is to drop the price of the subway and pay for it like other common infrastructure is paid for. Or maybe you could look at a more ideal model such as that adopted in Tallin where the public transport is completely free.
The real question is why are the fares still $2.75?
I know! It seems incredibly expensive to me to pay that much to use public transport. At that price I probably would think twice about using it as well. Oh and bottled water costs €1.60 here too. It's unbelievable to me that you pay more to move around your city than you do for a needless luxury like water in a plastic container.
Great then it can go from paying a tiny fraction of the cost of a road to a small fraction of the cost of a road.
I agree though, the USA needs to get away from its subsidised fuel cost. The damage being done by addiction to burning as much gasoline as possible is not remotely reflected in the tax applied to it in America.
What's a teller? According to Wikipedia it's an employee at a branch that deals with customers. I went down the Wikipedia spiral trying to find out what a bank branch was.
Do you guy still do this? I think vaguely remember talking to a "teller" back in the early 90s when my parents took me to a bank to open an account. I just looked at my own bank's website. Apparently they have branches and tellers and they charge you $5 if you need to talk to them. I don't know why you would ever talk to them but there you go.
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Who, pray tell, is burning as much fuel as possible?
Sorry I can't hear you over the sound of the fuel economy numbers for the average new car sold in the USA being material for stand up comedians around the world.
Or are you just spinning up ludicrous BS?
Wait. Were you serious? I thought the USA's reputation for oil addicition was known even in the USA. I never said you were the worst at it mind you, the Saudis and a few of the countries your president affectionately labelled as shitholes can do this even better. But face it the new car sales figures reflected this perfectly over the past 15 years where there were actual swings in the cost of oil / gasoline end products. The American market has shown it will buy as inefficient gas guzzler of a car as it can financially bear.
The rest of the world is no different, we just have far more expensive gasoline.
nope, devices stop working, software stops working
the gradual version upgrading of the os is shit
Again you're applying the wrong causality. Devices not working and software not working has for all the Windows 10 updates been as a result of fucking horrid quality control on the updates. That is neither a given nor the result of the shorter update cycle. Ubuntu updates every 6 months, yet my hardware and software run just fine there.
On the flip side software not working and devices not working on major several year out changes such as the move from Windows 7 to 8 have the added problem of large changes in software APIs that broke things by design and additionally also added the user hostile practice of large changes to the UI presenting a steep learning curve for users. This is inarguably worse than having small incremental changes to the UI to say nothing of the ability to roll back minor changes in a non jarring way.
What makes you think the have nots will get upgraded instead of just the haves at low speeds? You do realise that selectively focusing on the areas that make the most money is precisely what caused the divide in the first place right?
And you think my set of problems is particular?
along with adding a few more plugs for SD-Cards and USB devices to attach
Yes. Wait... Let me add an exclaimation mark: Yes!
...and yet withdrawal from coffee (caffeine) is most definitely something that could impact your ability to do your job.
Withdrawal from anything you're addicted to would, including doing non-drug related things like addictions to masturbation or addictive drugs that have no actual performance impact on the body like nicotine, or simply a change in diet can induce withdrawal symptoms as well.
Side note: I called in sick for 2 days when I quit caffeine.
The answer is not to focus on drugs in that case but rather the process of withdrawals. Your brain is fully of funky shit that could impact your performance, but it's silly to combine these all under one banner.
I ended up with a M.2 NAND drive which was not any larger than the SATA one I had in my old PC and cost about as much if not more...
That alone should have netted you a close to 10x improvment in performance for identical cost unless you bought an incredibly crap M.2 drive.
obscene GPU prices which are like 2x what they should be right now
GPUs are going for bargain basement prices right now. New prices are back below MSRP, and the second hand market is flooded with cards. NOW is the time to buy, and if you're anywhere close to that 2x mark it's time to pick a different store.
and the CPU manufacturers for a) screwing it up
In what way?
So it is little wonder few people want to upgrade.
It really isn't, but not for the reasons you cite. You didn't specify your workload. You're happy with an old GPU, can't be arsed about memory bandwidth, so what on earth do you want out of your new computer? I only recently upgraded because well I had to. 4K video, 50mpxl images all of that takes effort to actually process and is slowly becoming the norm (modern phones do 4K video now too). You say 4K is useless for gaming, I say it provided a nice visual quality increase because frankly you can only push AA so far. You clearly don't game competitively otherwise you'd also be looking at a monitor with high refresh rates which is also something you need high-end hardware (especially higher than 1080p) in order to drive.
It's little wonder few people want to upgrade because few people actually tax their computers. It has nothing to do with the current cost of performance of the hardware itself.
I see no reason to upgrade.
You didn't mention what you're feeding in an out of your computer?
I would see no reason to upgrade if I took happy snaps on my smartphone, or recorded video using a potatoe. I would see no reason to upgrade if you're sitting there with a 1080p shitty monitor, playing some games that also run fine on the Xbox360.
On the flip side, start editing 50mpxl images (getting standard on new SLRs), or editing 4K video (getting standard on mobile phones), or try and drive a 4K display, with HDR, well suddenly you may actually see actual improvements in your life for the extra dollars spent.
The bang for buck is still there if you use it. You just don't use it. e.g. the Slightly faster RAM and slightly faster CPU I just bought has quartered the processing times of astronomy images for me. But then I present the computer with a load where it can actually use it's extra cores and heavily relies on video bandwidth.
If you drive back and forth in a school zone then a V8 Mustang won't benefit you much.
Because nowadays, there's barely a point in replacing them.
Yes and no, it depends on what you do. I just upgraded my 6 year old PC not because I do something new with it, but because other devices forced my hand. My camera takes 50mpxl images which just load and processed painfully slowly. My old camera didn't do that. My new phone takes 4K video footage and Premier just chugged when faced with that. That old 1TB drive was great in its day but with a modern game pushing 70GB it is not only filling up quickly but the wait between cutscene was just a pain.
Sure your old graphics card can play battlefield 5 at 1080p, but how about getting a 4k HDR monitor? Well now you're probably wanting a 1080Ti or something beefy to keep your frame rates up unless of course you're happy accepting sub par graphics (That has been the upgrade case since the 90s).
Also I'm actually interested what the future will hold with raytracing enabled games. It looks like we're finally getting back to an era where even high-end hardware struggles with the graphics quality that developers provide, something that hasn't really been a case since the xbox360 was released unless you were one of the aforementioned 4K gamers.
But it's a good machine actually for people afraid of the big bad Intel ME and AMD PSP.
No one gives a damn about this, and it is well and truly reflected in the article.
Google is willing to allow Foundem trains on its tracks but says they have to pay for the privilege since it is not free to build and maintain tracks.
Not quite. Google is willing to allow anyone on its tracks on a fair and non-discriminatory basis providing they don't directly take from Google's resources, and decide due to competition that Foundem trains would need to pay for the privilage.
Back a long time ago Google's search results were the product of a great algorithm, and if they still were just an algorithm then there wouldn't be a problem. The problem now is that it's not an algorithm. It's a curated result with specific competitors punished regardless of where the algorithm would rank them.
Unfortunately for Google, that is actually illegal. It is in the USA too, just people are too afraid to actually enforce laws against companies over there for fear of not getting those lovely donations.
In the EU this is illegal
It's illegal in the States too, it's just that no one gives a crap over there. No sorry that was wrong. People do give a crap. They cry foul, and socialism, and scream for small government every time the idea of regulating the free market (a market where monopolies are the only stable condition) gets raised.
why in hell anyone would think they should be forced to host their competitors in their place of business is a complete mystery.
Because that is by definition an antitrust issue when you're in a position of market dominance.
Should they give free adds to Amazon ?
No one is asking for this. What they are asking for is level playing fields. You may not like it but the reality is even in your own country it's illegal to use a strong position of power to further your own products over the competition.
The EU has always been horribly obvious about being bought and paid for by European aristocrats
If that is your definition of actually enforcing the anti-trust laws that are on the books of most countries and in the USA completely ignored for corporate interests then I say fetch me another cigar so I can sit here and be smug and aristocraty, because it's a fuckload better than the alternative; Which all brings me to the title:
Build your own?
Yes that would be possible in perfect market. Unfortunately we're not in a perfect market, we're in a free market where competition is inherently an unstable condition and without regulations these market always tend towards the stable condition of a monopoly. So yes, I agree with you, we should build our own. We can start by regulating those abusing their position of power.
It's not like E.Coli is magically linked to "crunchy water".
Yes in this case it very much is.
Effectively I can't do any more with an iPhone XS or XR that I could do with an iPhone 6.
What is the obsession with doing more? Phones have been largely feature complete for a while now with the only real innovation left being to turn them into something else, like a full desktop ala Samsung Dex.
My current laptop can't do more than my pervious one could either. It can however do it faster and better. I'm not fan of the upgrade cycle, but that alone is no reason not to produce high-end top tier deviecs for those who want them.
There are probably over ten times that many players on Pornhub right now, and half of them are searching for "stepmother + kitchen".
I bet you a very small subset of those people are enjoying a multiplayer experience.
WTF Is Fortnite?
An overt declaration that you have been living in such a deep hole that you missed the 10+ articles we've run on Fortnite here on Slashdot in the past 6 months.
You're easily pleased.
Whoever you are assessing risks for is in danger.
Another great statement without any backup, context or knowledge.
Hey guess what is in the news today, it would appear those Linux developers you held such a high opinion of have changed their tune even further not only allowing the Spectre mitigations to be disabled, but actively disabling them by default in stable branches of 4.20 making the fixes opt-in.
It would seem that marginal increases in security do not trump a few percent performance gains as decided by experts. Maybe we're all putting the world at risk. Oh Noes!
But keep fighting the good fight buddy. More power to you.
Every time I hear about Europe and the internet/tech its about how EU wants to tax/fine/punish/legislate/regulate something. Never about the latest thing, or the cool new invention, or whatever. Always taxes-fines-punish-etc.
Congradulations on becoming self-aware enough to realise that you live in an echo chamber.
Mind you it depends on how you define the latest thing. Some of the arguably most valuable things to come out of the USA have been Facebook and Uber. If you limit your view of innovation to IT related unicorns then there's no doubt that the USA holds an absolute monopoly on that, there is however a doubt whether that is a worthy claim to fame.
In terms of innovation the Global Innovation Index however shows parts of Europe well ahead of the USA. Though we can't claim that as a complete EU success since the number one country is European but not in the Union. In order:
Switzerland
The Netherlands
Sweden
United Kingdom
Singapore
United States of America
Finland
Denmark
Germany
Ireland
But while you're in your echo chamber let's look at your examples: ... TVs? I didn't know they still made those. I only recognise them as the company that provided an alternative to incadescent lighting which doesn't suck, industrial sensors, although they divested NXP into a separate company they are a powerhouse in semiconductors, but you ignore their biggest market, medical. My last CT scan was in a Philips machine. But if you want to limit new innovation then start with their most recent development, every tried to recusistate a baby? More often than not it results in death due to damage to lungs and airways. Well Philips only anounced last month a cheap system designed to ensure that infant recusitation can be done by any first aider, not just experts.
Nokia: Yep, gone. Destroyed by an American company.
Ericsson: Developed and demonstrated the first viable 5G technology, and brought it to market with the help of the ghost of Nokia.
Phillips:
I am still amazed you mentioned ARM but not NXP. Your echo chamber is pretty damn good, probably controlled by an NXP Kinetis ARM Cortex-M series processor. ;-)
Poor Europe.
In what way? The USA Poverty rate is worse than the worst EU country, and about double the average EU country. Don't cry for us. We're doing fine.
If I lived in the EU right now I would tell my boss to suck it and take the first flight out of there.
Interesting this implies one or more of 3 things:
a) You know of some mythical government that doesn't occasionally attempt to pass batshit stupid laws.
b) You feel more strongly about a link tax than things that actually impact your life.
c) You're off your medication and your carer is worried sick looking for you.
I never understand people. What is the alternative? The same trip will cost you $20 in taxi fare
Interesting you compare public transport in a city to the most expensive way of getting around as if moving through a city is a luxury.
But what's the alternative? Ever widening gaps between the rich and poor and keeping the lower class economically depressed. Combine that with difficulty finding workers, and you'd be amazed at how many "alternatives" there are to a well functioning economic model.
Surely the alternative is to raise wages.
Or the alternative is to drop the price of the subway and pay for it like other common infrastructure is paid for. Or maybe you could look at a more ideal model such as that adopted in Tallin where the public transport is completely free.
The real question is why are the fares still $2.75?
I know! It seems incredibly expensive to me to pay that much to use public transport. At that price I probably would think twice about using it as well. Oh and bottled water costs €1.60 here too. It's unbelievable to me that you pay more to move around your city than you do for a needless luxury like water in a plastic container.
Gas price should be at least doubled in the USA.
Great then it can go from paying a tiny fraction of the cost of a road to a small fraction of the cost of a road.
I agree though, the USA needs to get away from its subsidised fuel cost. The damage being done by addiction to burning as much gasoline as possible is not remotely reflected in the tax applied to it in America.
from the local council for printing my name and address in the phone book?
The tellers know me by name
What's a teller? According to Wikipedia it's an employee at a branch that deals with customers. I went down the Wikipedia spiral trying to find out what a bank branch was.
Do you guy still do this? I think vaguely remember talking to a "teller" back in the early 90s when my parents took me to a bank to open an account. I just looked at my own bank's website. Apparently they have branches and tellers and they charge you $5 if you need to talk to them. I don't know why you would ever talk to them but there you go.
This conversation is like reading a history book.