Seriously though, well written and succinct. The thing you didn't touch on was the convenience factor. People have decided that they'd trade a bit of privacy (hey, it's all aggregate and not PII!) for 'free' stuff like gmail. And it is pretty hard to compete with 'free' (quotes intentional).
It's like Walmart writ large -- Walmart caters to people who's biggest differentiator for a purchase is price. Well, it turns out that that represents such a large majority of consumers, competitors get squeezed out. And it really, really sucks in the long run.
If you ever figure this out, please let the rest of know.
Somewhere along the way MS lost the plot in regards to a user actually owning their computer, and therefore having the right to update it or not at their discretion.
That's not how conspiracy theories work. Conspiracy theories exist outside the realm of facts. You cannot use facts, reason, or logic to refute them -- because if someone has performed the requisite mental gymnastics to believe in one in the first place, any additional facts that come their way will be dealt with in similar fashion. Further, the more facts/arguments that are piled on, the more entrenched they become (because after all, if there wasn't something to the conspiracy, why would people expend so much energy to refute it?)
So, you can either argue till you're blue in the face (and get no where) or simply ignore them, and they'll fade away on their own.
Well, this is kind of the problem inherent to a large company with many different business units.
Should Amazon's core business (selling shit to people) be hamstrung by their other business units? At some point business A will have conflicting interests with business B.. Punishing your customers (which is what this boils down to really) is not the right answer -- we can call this pulling a 'Sony'. it rarely works out in anyone's favor.
Because really, if you run a store, and you turn a profit on items sold, why voluntarily remove a popular item?
But that said, maybe work out some kind of deal with big-scary google? (i refuse to call them alphabet) It's another shade of the 'me too' mindset companies employ chasing Apple. Apple can get away with it, because.. it's Apple. Monopolies flexing their monopoly dicks is bad for everyone.
Awesome to see two very large, very influential companies act like this. Especially since these are the companies we're inviting into our homes to record us 24/7, And clearly have aspirations to influence every aspect of our daily lives.
(On an aside, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to see that the billionaires running these two companies are still human after all.)
"Olfaction, the act or process of smelling, is a dog's primary special sense. A dog's sense of smell is said to be a thousand times more sensitive than that of humans. In fact, a dog has more than 220 million olfactory receptors in its nose, while humans have only 5 million"
That's a pretty wide disparity. My money is on a dog being better at the smellings.
there's what, a 40k difference between the two? The price premium of the tesla would equal out to a fair amount of gas (hell, you could even get premium grade for the life of the car).
Maybe one could get two mustangs, and still have a few thousand left over for gas?
Ford (or GM, any of the existing manufacturers) have *huge* advantages over Tesla. capital, production capacity, dealer networks just for a start
Tesla needs to first overcome the engineering challenges of producing a viable electric car (mostly there), then find a way to get those cars into the hands of people (getting there), then find a way to expand production enough to lower the production costs (not even close).
The existing makers.. they just need to design and implement the drive train and charging.
So what's easier, coming up with all the infrastructure, logistics, and R or just completing the R&D and using your existing infrastructure to pivot to EV's?
Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Honda.. I'd wager they cross the finish line before Tesla -- they certainly have the luxury of sitting on the fence and slowly transitioning (we see this with the fusion energi, hybrid, chevy volt, etc.) Whereas Tesla has to get it 100% right, the first time, or they're done.
so you're telling me.. a company that makes its money by being creepy and intrusive would never, ever do something like send audio upstream for 'testing and improving the user experience' right? Or change the TOS/EULA unilaterally with an 'opt-in' for a default?
i can't tell if you're a very subtle shill, or a complete fool.
BTC is not a store of value*, is not a method of exchange*, and will not supplant the dollar or the euro for anything**.
It's a speculative bubble, one that *WILL* pop, and the fallout will be a complete annihilation of trust in cryptocurrencies.
*massive fluctuations in price, lack of acceptance, etc etc. ** if you honestly believe that the US gov't or EU would allow their currency to be replaced by cryptocurrency.. please, I implore you to sink all of your assets into BTC.
cash lets a rogue employee steal a little money slowly; going electronic only lets them steal a lot of money, quickly.
Basically taking cash from the till is stealing from their employer, versus stealing directly from the customer -- but hey, who cares about them after they've purchased their item, right?
maybe it's because amazon is feeling left out of all the creepy shit that google and facebook get to do with our online habits -- so they wanted to get a head start on being creepy, invasive, and just plain evil in the physical world.
they're wrong about vinyl records, and they'd be wrong about this one too.
Ceding control over something as fundamental as how you get from point a to point b, and leaving it in the hands of people who's vested interest is either in selling shit to you, or controlling you -- is just an incredibly bad idea.
Slashdot Mirror
why post this AC? oh i get it!
Seriously though, well written and succinct. The thing you didn't touch on was the convenience factor. People have decided that they'd trade a bit of privacy (hey, it's all aggregate and not PII!) for 'free' stuff like gmail. And it is pretty hard to compete with 'free' (quotes intentional).
It's like Walmart writ large -- Walmart caters to people who's biggest differentiator for a purchase is price. Well, it turns out that that represents such a large majority of consumers, competitors get squeezed out. And it really, really sucks in the long run.
good fucking luck escaping it Stallman.
If you ever figure this out, please let the rest of know.
Somewhere along the way MS lost the plot in regards to a user actually owning their computer, and therefore having the right to update it or not at their discretion.
fuckers.
i always thought was to discourage pigeons from roosting, and then shitting on people as they walk in (though roughly the same idea?)
So what if Apple throttles the phone. From a technical standpoint, it makes sense.
All they had to do was inform the user of it, and/or allow it to be disabled.
If this was any other maker, it wouldn't be nearly as big of a story.
That's not how conspiracy theories work. Conspiracy theories exist outside the realm of facts. You cannot use facts, reason, or logic to refute them -- because if someone has performed the requisite mental gymnastics to believe in one in the first place, any additional facts that come their way will be dealt with in similar fashion. Further, the more facts/arguments that are piled on, the more entrenched they become (because after all, if there wasn't something to the conspiracy, why would people expend so much energy to refute it?)
So, you can either argue till you're blue in the face (and get no where) or simply ignore them, and they'll fade away on their own.
Well, this is kind of the problem inherent to a large company with many different business units.
Should Amazon's core business (selling shit to people) be hamstrung by their other business units? At some point business A will have conflicting interests with business B.. Punishing your customers (which is what this boils down to really) is not the right answer -- we can call this pulling a 'Sony'. it rarely works out in anyone's favor.
Because really, if you run a store, and you turn a profit on items sold, why voluntarily remove a popular item?
But that said, maybe work out some kind of deal with big-scary google? (i refuse to call them alphabet) It's another shade of the 'me too' mindset companies employ chasing Apple. Apple can get away with it, because .. it's Apple. Monopolies flexing their monopoly dicks is bad for everyone.
Awesome to see two very large, very influential companies act like this. Especially since these are the companies we're inviting into our homes to record us 24/7, And clearly have aspirations to influence every aspect of our daily lives.
(On an aside, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to see that the billionaires running these two companies are still human after all.)
"Olfaction, the act or process of smelling, is a dog's primary special sense. A dog's sense of smell is said to be a thousand times more sensitive than that of humans. In fact, a dog has more than 220 million olfactory receptors in its nose, while humans have only 5 million"
That's a pretty wide disparity. My money is on a dog being better at the smellings.
maybe it was a play on words, dogs, begging... c'mon expound your mind! It's not that hard to see outside the box. The forest with trees and all that.
over the internet does anyone know they're actually corporations?
And humans of course have almost as good of a nose as a dog
Citation absolutely needed sir.
there's what, a 40k difference between the two? The price premium of the tesla would equal out to a fair amount of gas (hell, you could even get premium grade for the life of the car).
Maybe one could get two mustangs, and still have a few thousand left over for gas?
Ford (or GM, any of the existing manufacturers) have *huge* advantages over Tesla.
capital, production capacity, dealer networks just for a start
Tesla needs to first overcome the engineering challenges of producing a viable electric car (mostly there), then find a way to get those cars into the hands of people (getting there), then find a way to expand production enough to lower the production costs (not even close).
The existing makers.. they just need to design and implement the drive train and charging.
So what's easier, coming up with all the infrastructure, logistics, and R or just completing the R&D and using your existing infrastructure to pivot to EV's?
Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Honda.. I'd wager they cross the finish line before Tesla -- they certainly have the luxury of sitting on the fence and slowly transitioning (we see this with the fusion energi, hybrid, chevy volt, etc.) Whereas Tesla has to get it 100% right, the first time, or they're done.
i don't know about you, but i find myself needing a 300 MPH truck pretty frequently. Very, very hard to find though.
before or after the FDIC?
methinks you misspelled 'inept'?
so you're telling me.. a company that makes its money by being creepy and intrusive would never, ever do something like send audio upstream for 'testing and improving the user experience' right? Or change the TOS/EULA unilaterally with an 'opt-in' for a default?
Pardon my cynicism.
logitech's harmony line of remotes are pretty nifty for clearing up the remote clutter (though they can be a bit tedious to setup)
i can't tell if you're a very subtle shill, or a complete fool.
BTC is not a store of value*, is not a method of exchange*, and will not supplant the dollar or the euro for anything**.
It's a speculative bubble, one that *WILL* pop, and the fallout will be a complete annihilation of trust in cryptocurrencies.
*massive fluctuations in price, lack of acceptance, etc etc.
** if you honestly believe that the US gov't or EU would allow their currency to be replaced by cryptocurrency.. please, I implore you to sink all of your assets into BTC.
didn't you get the memo? bwm's are okay now, it's the audi owners you need to be mindful of.
'Trojan'..
What an absolutely unfortunate name for a nuclear power plant... Why not just name it 'Titanic' or 'Hindenburg' ?
for a retail shop...
cash lets a rogue employee steal a little money slowly; going electronic only lets them steal a lot of money, quickly.
Basically taking cash from the till is stealing from their employer, versus stealing directly from the customer -- but hey, who cares about them after they've purchased their item, right?
maybe it's because amazon is feeling left out of all the creepy shit that google and facebook get to do with our online habits -- so they wanted to get a head start on being creepy, invasive, and just plain evil in the physical world.
they're wrong about vinyl records, and they'd be wrong about this one too.
Ceding control over something as fundamental as how you get from point a to point b, and leaving it in the hands of people who's vested interest is either in selling shit to you, or controlling you -- is just an incredibly bad idea.