I for one have a very old phone and am waiting with anticipation for the new models this year - knowing it is silly to buy today since the price for "last years" model is going down soon. However, I'm not sure I'll make it to the finish line as the battery is expanding and has literally pushed the glass off the front - it's holding on by rubber band and light leaks out the sides.
Innovation is possible. We're all jadded - we want something way-out there, space aged, something we can't imagine what it is. All of phones do look like phones. I thought that the Apple Watch would help pave a drastic new future (Dick Tracy-esque). I too want a smaller phone - having a little screen on my arm that does 80% of what I need my phone for felt wonderful. Just like my iPad has delivered me the "post-PC" era, I thought the watch would deliver a "post-Phone" era.
But the phone wasn't waterproof (nor is the watch I have). So i can't "forget about it" and jump in the lake. It isn't integrated into "my life" I still need to find a place for these ever growing phones to be put. I used to work with a woman who couldn't push her phone into the pockets on her jeans - the phone stuck out half way... because that's the way women's pants are made. Now men are starting to have the same problem.
I feel like it's the PC era -- bigger Boxes, bigger monitors --- finally the iPad came along and shut all that down. Now the phone needs to shrink.
The OP writeup sounds like a horror movie script. Bugs that suck the life from people, invading "ticks" (our collective favorite scary bug), marching on us, invaders from space.
Yes - if I were to think of an AI nano-bot script, I'd make it even scarier by replacing them with REAL bugs that collectively work together. The Blob has nothing on this. Oooh -- Chuckie could lead them.
And in a turn of events the Chainsaw dude could come and save us all.
I had a Pre+ back in the day. Pretty good phone (except for that darn repeating "e" key and GPS that never worked).
But who cares. Palm and WebOs are gone, done, finito. Several OS' now have many of the cool features that webos invented (although I miss their implementation of consolidated email/contacts).
While my HP printer uses webos - I don't get a sense of nostalgia when I select "double-sided color" or "scan to cloud."
Lots of questions....Will they actually invent something, new Android features? Will it be as inventive as Palm once was?
Or just another Android phone with a by-gone logo and sold on "CircuitCity" or "RadioShack" dot-com ?!
I'll admit it - I read the evil purveyors of fake news. But I do so less and less often because it requires a full powered PC these days. The pages render largely blank, readable text is a moving target constantly resizing and moving content around,, and on my iPad Mini sometimes fails to load text beyond the first paragraph. Other websites are becoming the same way. Even my few years old quad-core i7 struggles to load a website. How much horsepower do I need to read the news? (haha -- maybe I need a virtual PC to read fake news?!!:-D )
But I have to wonder if it isn't the platform used to generate/publish the website. It can't be "just the ads" --- CNN has decided that every article needs Video whether the video belongs to the article. And the video needs to auto-play to some other video. Poor design choices. I'm usually done reading the page before the video loads.
And with other sites becoming just as slow - could it be "Angular" or whatever framework is used these days? So much dynamic javascript - javascript is a pig (sorry, I think it needs a compiler). The web wants "Flash" like features but we're all using low-powered mobile devices. I think there's conflict.
Given that low level people can access info beyond their pay grade, I'd assume spies are everywhere within the system.
If Snowden exposed anything - it's how poor the security is and that people could easily steal data and give it to foreign governments. Should the person desire to do that of course.
I stumbled across his channel earlier this year. He raises a lot of good points - although he may not verbalize them in the videos, he stumbles across lots of issues that are bigger, he'll have a problem "man Tesla makes this difficult" that really needs to be thought through. It seems bigger than right-to-repair. Watching his experiences is terrific though, as it provides insights into how complicated this can be.
Somebody wrote to him with a problem which raised an issue - the guy had purchased a used Tesla. The issue raised was: sure, maybe you need to pay for something, life isn't free. Take super charging for example - seems like an add-on (i'm not a telsa expert) that the first owner can purchase. But it does not transfer to the second owner nor can another company offer it. When the car has been sold to a second owner, or resurrected from the scrap yard... Tesla won't allow super-charging via (what is believed to be) a firmware block. Only "certified" cars can have this...and only "certified" cars can have firmware updates (which includes safety updates like auto-pilot). But the cost to get a car recertified was (in a few cases) many many (many!!) thousands of dollars. So you're blocked from super-charging and presumably from auto-pilot updates too. They are connected in Tesla's mind. When you buy a used-Tesla you should mentally tack on $5-10k for the recertification & required repairs. I understand that the electricity may not be free to the second owner, but Supercharging is also the rate of charge.
I can understand that the battery might require inspection to verify that it won't catch fire when under charging load. And there might be a fee for this inspection. But the price tag was a bit out of this world. Which then asks - can't somebody else perform this? And then how would they offer charging to a secondary-certified car? Tesla is not interested in this - at least based upon their pricing. It's like a cell phone. Battery doesn't work? Toss it in the recycle bin and buy a new car.
Might I create my own charging network? And offer charging to Tesla's? But I can't offer "super-charging" capacity to these cars because Tesla blocked it in the car itself.... even if "I" created a recertification program for my network.
Of course - my first auto-pilot update would be to offer bigger pillows to strap onto the front bumper.
I have to wonder if we lockup all websites as viewable only via SSL - does that limit access to anything (historical) ? Alright - time to through away the crap, we can't keep everything.
Why is bbc.com insecure because it uses HTTP? I understand why mybank.com would be insecure. I'm worried well lose something valuable when Chrome et al block (some day in the future) all of HTTP.
Besides - it's only a matter of time before hackers move to SSL attacks. When the low hanging HTTP fruit is all gone, SSL looks very appetizing.
On my little USB "stick" I've never property ejected it. And I'm not about to start.
As for my HDD USB drive - even though the cache policy is disabled-write-cache - I have more important data on it (usually a Backup) - so I do "properly" eject it.
But let's face it - the UI for these things is horribly wrong if it makes a difference. Is the plug locked into the computer? No. It's just a cord or stick that one can easily Yank on It. There is usually a light that blinks if the device is busy. If it isn't busy - just yank it. That's all I've waited for.
If it makes a difference then manufacturers should change the blinky lights, or lock the cord into the plug until you Eject it. Remember Floppy Disks? It was locked while writing - attempting to press the eject button made horrible noises so you knew you screwed it up !!! (whether that was the intended UI or not).
I've used Tape drives that pressing Eject is a queued operation - meaning "I intend to eject this" and you wait until it is done -- and only then does the tape pop out.
So --- if this was honestly critical they'd have trained us all better. I say Just Yank It.
I seem to remember reading or watching a program that described this happening elsewhere. Maybe Hong-Kong. Apparently there's politics involved too with those who own the slots and renting them out. The airport has lost control over who lands in a slot. There were a bunch of small private jets that wanted to gain access and are having issues - but the slots are being sold to the highest bidder. Plus have a long lead time.
It isn't odd or uncommon. Microsoft.NET does the same thing. After downloading a new update there's a background job that compiles everything for your device. It can take an hour or 2 - and survives a reboot, continuing where it left off when the reboot occurred.
When the job is done it disables itself.
I used to find this statement true of iOS too. After a reboot my battery life was reduced for 1/2 day (or so). Everyone would post that battery life sucked - but a reboot would fix it. Then Apple said "wait - we're still performing post-upgrade processing" which turned out to fit my experience.
But I agree - it would be nice to know this was happening so that I wouldn't complain. I simply learned to never apply updates before traveling - or anytime access to a charger would be limited.
While I'd appreciate some kind of "common requirements" regarding privacy - this is simply a matter of owning the problem. If Gov't has to regulate it becomes more difficult to operate as a free business. If Silicon Valley doesn't own the problem - then we won't trust them because it isn't their problem.
I signed up with Disqus and they have this whole "you promise to keep your password secret, only use the platform for appropriate purposes, and allow us to share/do X,Y,Z to you, bend over...blah blah" in the privacy statement. BUT it doesn't say what happens when somebody HACKS THEIR F-ing system and steals my password and runs off with all my private data. So no -- I won't provide you with my real name.
They plan to have Northern CA by fall of this year?! Hopefully the rest of the map won't go black (or white).
I think it's very important for Apple to start (re)investing in their software. As a person who was around the last time Apple stumbled - it was mostly due to poor software. Everyone else could do it - except Apple. The whole iOS ecosystem has very strong apps by other vendors....but iOS doesn't allow for integration. Windows-10 allows me to set the default browser (although I can't replace Cortana). My issue here is that Google Maps and (voice) Search is way way (way) better than anything that Apple has. Yet it is difficult to use because I need to Launch the App !!! It's why I won't buy an Apple smart speaker - what can I really do with it?! Pay more for audio !!
I often wonder if I should switch to Android. Then I ponder it and think -I like the security so let's try using the native iOS apps again only to realize.. WTF.. back to Google apps.
Line this up with perceived "the most expensive phones" on the market, poor software, and one has to wonder how long before Apple will again find themselves at the bottom?!
I turned off targeted ads and news articles when I recently setup a new device. Wow. The breadth of things I've been missing are amazing.
I've been seeing headlines for in depth reporting on the trials and tribulations of the Royal Family (and I live in the USA). Important {other gender} products. News articles about things Other than Microsoft/Google/Facebook.
It's kind of amazing actually how narrow my information funnel has been. While commentators have warned of this happening and the potential pitfalls, it's very interesting to see what information I've been unaware of.
Although - even when I turned off ad targeting, the number of attractive women in the ads increased.. I expected a normalization. But I guess pretty faces sell everything to everyone.
oh - and I forgot about the Ozone. All of those spray cans with ozone depleting chemicals in them. Or PCBs in the transformers. Or that chemical they used to put in gasoline that can't be removed from the ground water, or the chemical spills in Woburn MA? Open burning of trash, the collection of gold from electronics?!
There are a lot of things that seemed like a good idea at the time.
What about all of those people who were complicit in this environmental crime? What of those of who had dirty 2-cycle lawnmowers and big gas guzzling cars, and who heat our homes using propane, NG, coal, and wood?
What about the basic "that's how civilization works" ?! We'll learn and change as a civilization - no single company did this. We were all complicit together.
I don't use twitter often, nor linkedIn. After an extended away, the App on my phone started to show notifications from Twitter - and upon logging in there were no DMs or messages, just "missed tweets". Similar experience with LinkedIn. The notification was because twitter hadn't seen in awhile. The emails from both began too. Please login, we missed you. One of them even assumed I had forgotten my password.
When I unplugged my cable box because I don't use it Comcast noticed. I figured I'd save the power bill (dang thing gets warm). Comcast sent me a Letter in the mail with instructions on how to turn it back on. They assumed I was confused and wasn't using it, maybe even afraid to call for help. It is a nice gesture if I was 80 years old and couldn't figure out technology. But they too missed me. They wanted me to know about all of the Terrific Programming that I was missing.
It's all about engagement. Part of it is getting customers back, part is assuming there's a problem.
Ticketfly has not yet contacted me. But my subscription to Troy Hunt's "Have I been pwned" sent an alert a week or so ago.
It's a WTF moment. I'd also like to see the data-dump so I can actually SEE what content the hacker grabbed.
Most critical was the description on their website announcement "offering a secure alternative." I guess previously it was an insecure product - but now they'll offer their website in another flavor.
Years ago (1998) I put my money down on a not-yet-released VW "New" Beetle. The car was announced around January and had a late-spring/early-summer ship date. I was 3rd in line at my local dealership with cash in hand on the first day they started accepting down payments.
And I waited excitedly for several months until finally it arrived. Of course I worked right across the street from the dealership so I could see the trucks coming and going. Mine wasn't on the first truck - but when I saw a truck with a bright Red one -- I ran across the street and they let me drive it around the parking lot with the white plastic wrapper still on it. Everyone wanted to see that car - it was like being a rock star for a few months. Do Tesla owners have that energy?! I looks like a great car - I'd love one as it seems to be the future.
I can't imagine waiting Years for a car to arrive. Apple announces new phones - and everyone gets in line the next day. But Years? I know two people who are on the list and while I'm sure they are excited - at least one of them has at times forgotten he put up money. yeah - it'll come. someday. Talk about delayed gratification.
I have to agree with you. Over the past several months there have been lots of "dump Tesla" - some even including the upfront "we're short on Tesla." They sure are good at getting free press from the media. You'd think Tesla was about to go under - being short on cash etc.
But that said. If I had put down $1,000 several years ago waiting for a $35,000 car only to find out that the car isn't coming out anytime soon....I might cash out. Why lend them $1,000 when I can just wait for the actual car to become available in a few more years? I can't afford the X or S - the $35k version sounded terrific ! Almost revolutionary. The new administration is doing away with buyer incentives to prop up coal. Because the $35k price was "after rebates" --- it means it will probably never exist.
I understand it - they want to employ more people throughout the state. Smart people do live in remote locations - and the available rural "high-speed" internet options can be few and slow. There are several co-location places in Burlington ('da "big" city) - I know people who rent space. This plan sounds like encouraging a consolidation of resources to a single "office" and providing high-speed from there - rather than running wires to the home. I suppose this could help solve part of the "last mile" problem that Comcast has been trying to sue their way out of (after taking lots of money from the state).
But $400,000 more a year? Around here we're getting tax fatigue in the form of Property "School Equalization Fairness" Tax. We also have income and sales tax. Each year the Property tax has increased because school budgets keep going up. Sure out of ~$4 billion total budget may $400k isn't much. A typical single-family home has a $5,000 property tax bill. McMansions run in the $7,000 range. It's based on home value.
Something needs to be done to grow workers,technology and wages in areas outside the big centers. A least this one is a grant form and not a "soft tax" like the solar industry wanted (they wanted to enact a renewable energy tax on all fossil fuel bills - and send it directly to them as revenue). So -- will $400,000 investment bring in more than that in taxes? Or it doesn't matter because some small company can grow and wages increase for those few people?
I like to be introduced to new music, or genres of music. I used to subscribe to Pandora but canceled a few years ago. I'd read the local "bands playing this weekend" and look them up on Pandora.
What I liked was typing in a musicians name and hearing one track from them - and then "like" tracks from other bands so I get the basic vibe. Then I could decide "I like that" and buy tickets.
But the big failing --- if I wanted to know what "smooth jazz" was, there wasn't a way to type in a (foreign to me) genre and have the system be a smart DJ. Instead when creating a "station" the "DNA" system would just play similar tempo music. It would wander off from quiet rock and I'd begin to hear Frank Sinatra an hour later (I swear you could start with AC/DC and always get to Frank!). These AI systems don't understand music - rather are all trained on tempo or volume or other characteristics of the Sound file. Some of this could be due to the small library that Pandora has. I often heard repeats on the Surfing station within an hour or so (I think I own more content in this one genre than they did !)
There are still a few local DJ's who "go a track deeper" and play an hour of music, providing a tour. Man - I want some 80's disco. Not popular Bee Gees track followed by a bunch of similar hip hop covers !
When AI becomes this smart - then I'll be impressed. Until then I'll stream whatever is cheap from my Amazon prime or personal collection - and listen to the radio for when I want non-artificial intelligence.
Slashdot Mirror
I for one have a very old phone and am waiting with anticipation for the new models this year - knowing it is silly to buy today since the price for "last years" model is going down soon. However, I'm not sure I'll make it to the finish line as the battery is expanding and has literally pushed the glass off the front - it's holding on by rubber band and light leaks out the sides.
Innovation is possible. We're all jadded - we want something way-out there, space aged, something we can't imagine what it is. All of phones do look like phones. I thought that the Apple Watch would help pave a drastic new future (Dick Tracy-esque). I too want a smaller phone - having a little screen on my arm that does 80% of what I need my phone for felt wonderful. Just like my iPad has delivered me the "post-PC" era, I thought the watch would deliver a "post-Phone" era.
But the phone wasn't waterproof (nor is the watch I have). So i can't "forget about it" and jump in the lake. It isn't integrated into "my life" I still need to find a place for these ever growing phones to be put. I used to work with a woman who couldn't push her phone into the pockets on her jeans - the phone stuck out half way ... because that's the way women's pants are made. Now men are starting to have the same problem.
I feel like it's the PC era -- bigger Boxes, bigger monitors --- finally the iPad came along and shut all that down. Now the phone needs to shrink.
The OP writeup sounds like a horror movie script. Bugs that suck the life from people, invading "ticks" (our collective favorite scary bug), marching on us, invaders from space.
Yes - if I were to think of an AI nano-bot script, I'd make it even scarier by replacing them with REAL bugs that collectively work together. The Blob has nothing on this. Oooh -- Chuckie could lead them.
And in a turn of events the Chainsaw dude could come and save us all.
I had a Pre+ back in the day. Pretty good phone (except for that darn repeating "e" key and GPS that never worked).
But who cares. Palm and WebOs are gone, done, finito. Several OS' now have many of the cool features that webos invented (although I miss their implementation of consolidated email/contacts).
While my HP printer uses webos - I don't get a sense of nostalgia when I select "double-sided color" or "scan to cloud."
Lots of questions....Will they actually invent something, new Android features? Will it be as inventive as Palm once was?
Or just another Android phone with a by-gone logo and sold on "CircuitCity" or "RadioShack" dot-com ?!
I'll admit it - I read the evil purveyors of fake news. But I do so less and less often because it requires a full powered PC these days. The pages render largely blank, readable text is a moving target constantly resizing and moving content around,, and on my iPad Mini sometimes fails to load text beyond the first paragraph. Other websites are becoming the same way. Even my few years old quad-core i7 struggles to load a website. How much horsepower do I need to read the news? (haha -- maybe I need a virtual PC to read fake news?!! :-D )
But I have to wonder if it isn't the platform used to generate/publish the website. It can't be "just the ads" --- CNN has decided that every article needs Video whether the video belongs to the article. And the video needs to auto-play to some other video. Poor design choices. I'm usually done reading the page before the video loads.
And with other sites becoming just as slow - could it be "Angular" or whatever framework is used these days? So much dynamic javascript - javascript is a pig (sorry, I think it needs a compiler). The web wants "Flash" like features but we're all using low-powered mobile devices. I think there's conflict.
a relative statement of course.
Given that low level people can access info beyond their pay grade, I'd assume spies are everywhere within the system.
If Snowden exposed anything - it's how poor the security is and that people could easily steal data and give it to foreign governments. Should the person desire to do that of course.
I stumbled across his channel earlier this year. He raises a lot of good points - although he may not verbalize them in the videos, he stumbles across lots of issues that are bigger, he'll have a problem "man Tesla makes this difficult" that really needs to be thought through. It seems bigger than right-to-repair. Watching his experiences is terrific though, as it provides insights into how complicated this can be.
Somebody wrote to him with a problem which raised an issue - the guy had purchased a used Tesla. The issue raised was: sure, maybe you need to pay for something, life isn't free. Take super charging for example - seems like an add-on (i'm not a telsa expert) that the first owner can purchase. But it does not transfer to the second owner nor can another company offer it. When the car has been sold to a second owner, or resurrected from the scrap yard... Tesla won't allow super-charging via (what is believed to be) a firmware block. Only "certified" cars can have this...and only "certified" cars can have firmware updates (which includes safety updates like auto-pilot). But the cost to get a car recertified was (in a few cases) many many (many!!) thousands of dollars. So you're blocked from super-charging and presumably from auto-pilot updates too. They are connected in Tesla's mind. When you buy a used-Tesla you should mentally tack on $5-10k for the recertification & required repairs. I understand that the electricity may not be free to the second owner, but Supercharging is also the rate of charge.
I can understand that the battery might require inspection to verify that it won't catch fire when under charging load. And there might be a fee for this inspection. But the price tag was a bit out of this world. Which then asks - can't somebody else perform this? And then how would they offer charging to a secondary-certified car? Tesla is not interested in this - at least based upon their pricing. It's like a cell phone. Battery doesn't work? Toss it in the recycle bin and buy a new car.
Might I create my own charging network? And offer charging to Tesla's? But I can't offer "super-charging" capacity to these cars because Tesla blocked it in the car itself.... even if "I" created a recertification program for my network.
Of course - my first auto-pilot update would be to offer bigger pillows to strap onto the front bumper.
News was not reported on this because the White house Blocked CNN from attending the new conference, all because the White house doesn't like CNN.
Orwellian nonsense?! Pot... Kettle?!
I have to wonder if we lockup all websites as viewable only via SSL - does that limit access to anything (historical) ? Alright - time to through away the crap, we can't keep everything.
Why is bbc.com insecure because it uses HTTP? I understand why mybank.com would be insecure. I'm worried well lose something valuable when Chrome et al block (some day in the future) all of HTTP.
Besides - it's only a matter of time before hackers move to SSL attacks. When the low hanging HTTP fruit is all gone, SSL looks very appetizing.
On my little USB "stick" I've never property ejected it. And I'm not about to start.
As for my HDD USB drive - even though the cache policy is disabled-write-cache - I have more important data on it (usually a Backup) - so I do "properly" eject it.
But let's face it - the UI for these things is horribly wrong if it makes a difference. Is the plug locked into the computer? No. It's just a cord or stick that one can easily Yank on It. There is usually a light that blinks if the device is busy. If it isn't busy - just yank it. That's all I've waited for.
If it makes a difference then manufacturers should change the blinky lights, or lock the cord into the plug until you Eject it. Remember Floppy Disks? It was locked while writing - attempting to press the eject button made horrible noises so you knew you screwed it up !!! (whether that was the intended UI or not).
I've used Tape drives that pressing Eject is a queued operation - meaning "I intend to eject this" and you wait until it is done -- and only then does the tape pop out.
So --- if this was honestly critical they'd have trained us all better. I say Just Yank It.
I seem to remember reading or watching a program that described this happening elsewhere. Maybe Hong-Kong. Apparently there's politics involved too with those who own the slots and renting them out. The airport has lost control over who lands in a slot. There were a bunch of small private jets that wanted to gain access and are having issues - but the slots are being sold to the highest bidder. Plus have a long lead time.
Are you suggesting Peanut Milk?
It isn't odd or uncommon. Microsoft .NET does the same thing. After downloading a new update there's a background job that compiles everything for your device. It can take an hour or 2 - and survives a reboot, continuing where it left off when the reboot occurred.
When the job is done it disables itself.
I used to find this statement true of iOS too. After a reboot my battery life was reduced for 1/2 day (or so). Everyone would post that battery life sucked - but a reboot would fix it. Then Apple said "wait - we're still performing post-upgrade processing" which turned out to fit my experience.
But I agree - it would be nice to know this was happening so that I wouldn't complain. I simply learned to never apply updates before traveling - or anytime access to a charger would be limited.
Geez -- I thought the skinny jeans people were all "post-iPhone" and back to the flip !!
iPhone is wanna be rich. Flip is "somebody else reads my email for me" rich.
While I'd appreciate some kind of "common requirements" regarding privacy - this is simply a matter of owning the problem. If Gov't has to regulate it becomes more difficult to operate as a free business. If Silicon Valley doesn't own the problem - then we won't trust them because it isn't their problem.
I signed up with Disqus and they have this whole "you promise to keep your password secret, only use the platform for appropriate purposes, and allow us to share/do X,Y,Z to you, bend over...blah blah" in the privacy statement. BUT it doesn't say what happens when somebody HACKS THEIR F-ing system and steals my password and runs off with all my private data. So no -- I won't provide you with my real name.
I don't Trust You!!
Signed,
-Bob
They plan to have Northern CA by fall of this year?! Hopefully the rest of the map won't go black (or white).
I think it's very important for Apple to start (re)investing in their software. As a person who was around the last time Apple stumbled - it was mostly due to poor software. Everyone else could do it - except Apple. The whole iOS ecosystem has very strong apps by other vendors....but iOS doesn't allow for integration. Windows-10 allows me to set the default browser (although I can't replace Cortana). My issue here is that Google Maps and (voice) Search is way way (way) better than anything that Apple has. Yet it is difficult to use because I need to Launch the App !!! It's why I won't buy an Apple smart speaker - what can I really do with it?! Pay more for audio !!
I often wonder if I should switch to Android. Then I ponder it and think -I like the security so let's try using the native iOS apps again only to realize .. WTF.. back to Google apps.
Line this up with perceived "the most expensive phones" on the market, poor software, and one has to wonder how long before Apple will again find themselves at the bottom?!
I turned off targeted ads and news articles when I recently setup a new device. Wow. The breadth of things I've been missing are amazing.
I've been seeing headlines for in depth reporting on the trials and tribulations of the Royal Family (and I live in the USA). Important {other gender} products. News articles about things Other than Microsoft/Google/Facebook.
It's kind of amazing actually how narrow my information funnel has been. While commentators have warned of this happening and the potential pitfalls, it's very interesting to see what information I've been unaware of.
Although - even when I turned off ad targeting, the number of attractive women in the ads increased.. I expected a normalization. But I guess pretty faces sell everything to everyone.
oh - and I forgot about the Ozone. All of those spray cans with ozone depleting chemicals in them. Or PCBs in the transformers. Or that chemical they used to put in gasoline that can't be removed from the ground water, or the chemical spills in Woburn MA? Open burning of trash, the collection of gold from electronics?!
There are a lot of things that seemed like a good idea at the time.
What about all of those people who were complicit in this environmental crime? What of those of who had dirty 2-cycle lawnmowers and big gas guzzling cars, and who heat our homes using propane, NG, coal, and wood?
What about the basic "that's how civilization works" ?! We'll learn and change as a civilization - no single company did this. We were all complicit together.
Now - go recycle those soda can's boys and girls.
And - stop using plastic gosh darn-it.
I don't use twitter often, nor linkedIn. After an extended away, the App on my phone started to show notifications from Twitter - and upon logging in there were no DMs or messages, just "missed tweets". Similar experience with LinkedIn. The notification was because twitter hadn't seen in awhile. The emails from both began too. Please login, we missed you. One of them even assumed I had forgotten my password.
When I unplugged my cable box because I don't use it Comcast noticed. I figured I'd save the power bill (dang thing gets warm). Comcast sent me a Letter in the mail with instructions on how to turn it back on. They assumed I was confused and wasn't using it, maybe even afraid to call for help. It is a nice gesture if I was 80 years old and couldn't figure out technology. But they too missed me. They wanted me to know about all of the Terrific Programming that I was missing.
It's all about engagement. Part of it is getting customers back, part is assuming there's a problem.
Ticketfly has not yet contacted me. But my subscription to Troy Hunt's "Have I been pwned" sent an alert a week or so ago.
It's a WTF moment. I'd also like to see the data-dump so I can actually SEE what content the hacker grabbed.
Most critical was the description on their website announcement "offering a secure alternative." I guess previously it was an insecure product - but now they'll offer their website in another flavor.
idiots.
Years ago (1998) I put my money down on a not-yet-released VW "New" Beetle. The car was announced around January and had a late-spring/early-summer ship date. I was 3rd in line at my local dealership with cash in hand on the first day they started accepting down payments.
And I waited excitedly for several months until finally it arrived. Of course I worked right across the street from the dealership so I could see the trucks coming and going. Mine wasn't on the first truck - but when I saw a truck with a bright Red one -- I ran across the street and they let me drive it around the parking lot with the white plastic wrapper still on it. Everyone wanted to see that car - it was like being a rock star for a few months. Do Tesla owners have that energy?! I looks like a great car - I'd love one as it seems to be the future.
I can't imagine waiting Years for a car to arrive. Apple announces new phones - and everyone gets in line the next day. But Years? I know two people who are on the list and while I'm sure they are excited - at least one of them has at times forgotten he put up money. yeah - it'll come. someday. Talk about delayed gratification.
I have to agree with you. Over the past several months there have been lots of "dump Tesla" - some even including the upfront "we're short on Tesla." They sure are good at getting free press from the media. You'd think Tesla was about to go under - being short on cash etc.
But that said. If I had put down $1,000 several years ago waiting for a $35,000 car only to find out that the car isn't coming out anytime soon....I might cash out. Why lend them $1,000 when I can just wait for the actual car to become available in a few more years? I can't afford the X or S - the $35k version sounded terrific ! Almost revolutionary. The new administration is doing away with buyer incentives to prop up coal. Because the $35k price was "after rebates" --- it means it will probably never exist.
I think the new car shine has worn off.
I understand it - they want to employ more people throughout the state. Smart people do live in remote locations - and the available rural "high-speed" internet options can be few and slow. There are several co-location places in Burlington ('da "big" city) - I know people who rent space. This plan sounds like encouraging a consolidation of resources to a single "office" and providing high-speed from there - rather than running wires to the home. I suppose this could help solve part of the "last mile" problem that Comcast has been trying to sue their way out of (after taking lots of money from the state).
But $400,000 more a year? Around here we're getting tax fatigue in the form of Property "School Equalization Fairness" Tax. We also have income and sales tax. Each year the Property tax has increased because school budgets keep going up. Sure out of ~$4 billion total budget may $400k isn't much. A typical single-family home has a $5,000 property tax bill. McMansions run in the $7,000 range. It's based on home value.
Something needs to be done to grow workers,technology and wages in areas outside the big centers. A least this one is a grant form and not a "soft tax" like the solar industry wanted (they wanted to enact a renewable energy tax on all fossil fuel bills - and send it directly to them as revenue). So -- will $400,000 investment bring in more than that in taxes? Or it doesn't matter because some small company can grow and wages increase for those few people?
Build it and they will come?!
I like to be introduced to new music, or genres of music. I used to subscribe to Pandora but canceled a few years ago. I'd read the local "bands playing this weekend" and look them up on Pandora.
What I liked was typing in a musicians name and hearing one track from them - and then "like" tracks from other bands so I get the basic vibe. Then I could decide "I like that" and buy tickets.
But the big failing --- if I wanted to know what "smooth jazz" was, there wasn't a way to type in a (foreign to me) genre and have the system be a smart DJ. Instead when creating a "station" the "DNA" system would just play similar tempo music. It would wander off from quiet rock and I'd begin to hear Frank Sinatra an hour later (I swear you could start with AC/DC and always get to Frank!). These AI systems don't understand music - rather are all trained on tempo or volume or other characteristics of the Sound file. Some of this could be due to the small library that Pandora has. I often heard repeats on the Surfing station within an hour or so (I think I own more content in this one genre than they did !)
There are still a few local DJ's who "go a track deeper" and play an hour of music, providing a tour. Man - I want some 80's disco. Not popular Bee Gees track followed by a bunch of similar hip hop covers !
When AI becomes this smart - then I'll be impressed. Until then I'll stream whatever is cheap from my Amazon prime or personal collection - and listen to the radio for when I want non-artificial intelligence.