All I hear about is how the EU goes after companies, fines them, and then the appeal, and of course the appeal goes down in flames. So in the end, the EU gets to take a bunch of money, company XYZ is frustrated, and life goes on.
Sooo, is there ever times when the EU antitrust commission investigates and finds out, hey these guys are ok! Does this happen or is this just the money printing machine it appears to be?
Then you need better news sources.
The EU brokers international disputes amongst the EU, enforces humanitarian laws, reduces trade barriers between member states and negotiates international trade deals that are backed up with the power of the worlds largest trade bloc. The EU are pretty much the only ones who can and do stand up to the bullying tactics of China and the US.
The only reason you "only" hear about the EU anti-trust commission is because you actively ignore the rest of the information... Also the EU stands up for a free and fair market, hence why they have such an active anti-trust commission, also the EU clears things all the time, like recently clearing McD's of tax evasion in Europe (the deal Luxembourg offered them was legal under EU law).
all building a single OS for IoT with security built in
You think "security" is something that can be "built in." Security in software development is a mindset. How does having a secure operating system help when the web frontend developer doesn't understand how to correctly validate passwords.
Security in everything is a mindset... However a good mindset on it's own is useless. You need to give the user the tools as well.
What we have needed for years in connected home appliances is for the first configuration screen to be "Change this default password before the device becomes usable". Laws here in the UK have meant that ISP's aren't permitted to hand out devices with generic or default passwords, so every router you get has a sticker on it with your individual password.
Dude have you ever seen a single chick flick in your entire life. If teenage boys are simply self centred then teenage girls are frankly sadistic in comparison.
Genders are not self centred... Individuals are.
The problem is that in American teen society, being self centred is rewarded, the quarterback and homecoming queen are positions held above all else. Meanwhile being kind and helpful ends up with you being abused.
Popular media has simply picked up on this and ran with it.
The words are: shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.
This list is dated and US-centric.
"Piss" is no longer considered impolite. Even my mom says "The cat pissed on the carpet."
Australians use "cunt" as a casual gender neutral pronoun.
In Australia you're not really mates (friends) with someone until you can call them "cunt" as a normal greeting.
In Britain, tits are birds, what an American would call a chickadee.
In the UK Tits are birds and birds are women. English is strange. Chickadee sounds like a brand of chicken nuggets. Tit is also a minor curse for someone who's a bit of an idiot or unlikable Swearing and cursing in En_UK is a very complex topic.
So.. you didn't read the part about the 27 cameras? Good luck with your plan buddy.... Hope none of your friends need that reward money...
Erm... 27 cameras... for a 1,900 sq ft store... There will be blind spots everywhere.
Also what do they expect the cameras to do... have the speakers shout "stop or I'll have to say stop again". The number 1 deterrent in shop theft is the human you'll have to look at before leaving. Just recently UK supermarkets found out they'd sold more carrots than they ordered because people were putting through more expensive items like avocado's through as cheap carrots.... because no one watches the self service tills.
"As many as 16 percent of online reviews are fake, according to research by the European Parliament," reports CBS News. Yet they add that when it comes to accountability and consumer safety, many Americans believe online reviews are more effective than government oversight.
That's not a contradiction because:
(1) people are pretty good at spotting fake reviews
(2) government oversight is often nearly useless and at times simply corrupt
I'm pretty sure #1 is due to more and more people inherently distrusting review sites, they're usually writing the fake reviews themselves. Trip Adviser is one of the worst. They'll actively insert and highlight negative reviews for businesses that aren't willing to pay up. It is essentially a shakedown for the hospitality industry... it's a nice restaurant you have there... it would be a shame if someone were to give it a bad review.
2. Fraud is well within the governments mandate to regulate, preferably by sticking the fraudsters in a government run holiday home and they're getting quite good at it.
I don't use LinkedIn, I just have an account. That's because you're discriminated against if you don't. But I've never used it and I've never heard of anyone else who does. It's cyberbling.
This (apart from the cyberbling comment... that makes no sense).
The first thing a perspective employer will look for is your Linkedin account. Mine contains minimal information, it's just there to be found when I'm applying for roles, in fact the last time I updated it was the last time I applied for another job... I wont touch it again until I apply for my next one.
Fortnite is not special, neither is alcohol nor weed nor pills nor social networks. The only thing that IS special, is that our reality is intolerable for more and more people, and they find forms of escape. Can you blame them?
Actually I do blame them, because I’m old enough to remember how much worse life was fifty and sixty years ago compared to today. Racism everywhere, huge wars being fought over totally pointless causes (Ask your nail girl to describe her childhood), three billion people starving to death in India and China, massive urban air pollution, and the threat of thermonuclear annihilation hanging over our heads.
Those who forget the past are condemned to bitch about the present.
I remember being a poor kid in 80's Australia (we still had a lot of racist dickheads back then, particularly in poor white neighbourhoods). Apart from the better music and maybe a nice manual MKIV Supra RZ (unmolested, they're as rare as hens teeth now), I don't really want to go back.
However I don't blame people for wanting play Fortnite, games are fun. Who I blame are the people trying to call it an addiction. If people are getting divorced because one party is playing too much Fortnight then that's a failure of both parties to sort out their problems. Fortnite was just the catalyst, not the cause of the divorce, even without Fortnite the divorce would still happen.
and if they are a man, knowing that they are never allowed to cry or express frustration
What? Has there ever been a point in history where the male role has been less macho? In fact, many men struggle to find the balance between still being a gentleman and not behaving in a way a modern woman finds condescending. And how to functionally date when it's not like I'll wine and dine you and you'll sleep with me. And use #metoo as an excuse to say that ordinary flirting and dating has become impossible, as if "grab her by the pussy" is ordinary dating behavior. If you think that, maybe that's the problem...
Yes, most of history.
The idea of "machoism" is a very modern one, previous to the 1900's and a romanticism about the wild west, Nelson's navy and other things that are falsely portrayed, people were broadly divided into the ruling elite who were quite effeminate (see: fops v dandies) and the working class who were quite submissive.
Prior to the 1800's systems were existed to enforce gender roles, I.E. women weren't permitted the vote or in many countries simply to work. The idea of universal suffrage is still extremely new. The first country to give women the full vote was Australia in 1902. Fortunately today no such systems exist in the west, but some people desperately want to bring them back.
However that is besides the point, if you think your manhood is threatened by powerful women, that is not a failure of males, that is a failure of your own fragile ego. If you have trouble getting a date, that is also likely due to your fragile ego. I am not Brad Pitt, I don't have the moves like Jagger but I do have a girlfriend (who is far too good for me, never be afraid of punching above your weight class). I'm pretty sure she likes me because I'm nice and because I can talk about issues that are bothering me (and/or her).
However I await the inevitable mod down for suggesting that the Kjella has created his own problem and there is no systemic conspiracy against men. Hell, I'll go one further and say the GP has hit the nail right on the head (speaking of nailing, if you really want to feel manly, get a hobby like wood or metal working, if building something with your own two hands doesn't make you feel like a man then you have serious mental issues) a big problem in western societies is that we're expected to conform to some outdated notion of being a man that never really existed, this notion means you're not permitted to have emotions, let alone express them. The idea that we all have to be macho men is causing the problem, not fixing them. I do not feel emasculated by women as I don't need validation their validation, I also don't hate them.
Some people I know set their car clocks a few minutes ahead to help them arrive on time. Every now and then I'll forget the quirk and think I'm late somewhere with them.
Stop setting your clocks incorrectly and leave when you need to like an adult.
I set my clocks 8 and 1/2 minutes late so that I can get to my train on time.
I don't think Damore crumbled -- I think he was fired for expressing a view that didn't match Google dogma.
Face it, Damore crumbled.
He tried to sue Google, realised that if he went ahead the real reason he was dismissed would come to light and that would destroy his argument that he was fired for political reasons, so he dropped the suit. Thus crumbled.
His argument was so bad that the psychologist he based it on came out and said it was wrong.
California has very good employee protection laws, even nearing European levels of protection so if he had a case at all, he would have won it.
An employee has very little control of what they do. In Canada the measure of employee vs contractor considers:
who sets the hours
who sets the specific tasks and how they will be done
freedom to work for other people
who provides the office and equipment
Uber drivers have complete freedom in all those thing except the specific tasks (even then, they could chose the route). Most of the "contractors" I know in high tech fail all those tests.
Contractors also receive significantly higher pay to compensate for the lack job security and beneifts like paid holidays and sick days afforded to salaried workers. They're also paid significantly more as they have to pay their own tax in most countries unless the employer and contractor agree to have the employer pay tax on their behalf.
That's where the contractor argument falls down for Uber. They want to pay them like min wage slaves... but treat them as if they were highly paid contractors.
A headphone jack takes up a neglible amount of space compared to its use
Maybe for you but that's not universally true.
Nope, he's right, the space it takes up is negligible compared to its use. In fact I'd go as far to say it takes up no space what so ever in a device with a 4" screen. Here's a teardown of a Nexus 5x... the "massive" headphone jack is right next to the guy's thumb... and the guy isn't gigantrathor, that's a normal sized thumb. That big thing he's taking out it he battery (which still lasts a day or 2 on my 2 yr old Nexus 5x)
I'm flying LHR to LAX (11 hours) next week. LHR-SIN (14 hours) next month, LHR-BOG (12 hours) in November and I'm thinking about a jaunt to Boston over the Christmas break (LHR-BOS 7.5 hours). No set of bluetooth headphones could last the duration considering that they'd also end up getting an hour or so use at LHR because security there is so bleeding efficient and customer focused. Add to this that a set of normal plug-in headphones will work on any 3.5mm jack. No worrying about bluetooth versions, compatibility, setup or any other bollocks, they just plug in and work.
Plus when it comes to hands free, anyone on bluetooth sounds like their in a lavatory at best. Some are down right shocking.
You should have another look at the summary. The piece is from the TUC, a UK union group.
Workers in the UK have proper healthcare regardless of how many hours they work, or who they work for, they don't have to go cap in hand to their overlords hoping to avoid bankruptcy if they or their children get sick.
It's what civilised countries do.
Yes, but I don't see why the TUC (Trades Union Congress, for Johnny Foreigner playing along at home) would want to increase the working week of the average British tradesmen to 4 days.
Until Brexit all laws voted apply to UK. And if you think for a SECOND that the UK government will remove that particular one post-brexit, when they will be lobbied left and right to keep it by content holder, I have a bridge to sell you in London. Cheap.
This.
If you want to see madness coming out of a parliament in Europe, look no further than Whitehall.
My take on this is that it will become yet another EC regulation that isn't at all enforceable because the internet does not operate solely within the EEC. Just a bit of legislation that has been passed at the behest of some special interest group or another that no-one will bother enforcing.
Meanwhile the coming economic disaster that is Brexit will mean that Britons wont have enough money to have the luxury of worrying about what European laws we do or don't keep. The Tories will fiddle whilst London burns.
Smearing greasy prints on a screen, waving your shit around like an idiot, screaming at your word processor that you mean your, no, not yore, no not you're, no for fuck's sake!, or literally walking through a filesystem... All cute gimmicks that last about ten minutes.
And then you pull out the keyboard and get real work done.
Nobody has yet come up with a remotely serious idea that even has a chance at ousting the PC.
And all of this were things most people knew. We were never entering a "Post-PC" era, we were never close to it. The whole idea of "Post-PC" was a brain fart by everyone's favourite delusional cult of personality, Steve Jobs. Propagated by his fanboy army but ultimately believed by no-one. Restricted access tablets and phones were never going to supplant PC's, the only thing that will replace PC's will be a smaller PC. Maybe, eventually distributed computing where everything has a general purpose microprocessor so your personal OS runs across distributed compute network, but basically that's just running a PC on a hypervisor that runs on your fridge, toaster and washing machine, but I digress, PC's are so widely used because they're not single purpose devices, rather can be used for a variety of purposes.
Awaiting the inevitable mod down for daring to question THE JOBS (let alone pointing out he was wrong).
Fool. The user is always supposed to have ultimate control over the device. Fuck off with your scare-mongering as an excuse for sloth and apathy. If a user refuses to learn, they deserve what they get. Dont bust out the golden shackles and try to tell me its jewelry.
There are a LOT more users that don't give a shit about having "ultimate control" than you assume. What you call golden shackles the average user calls blissful ignorance; and they're quite happy not knowing or being responsible for their hardware.
These users don't give a shit until they need power over their devices... Then they give a lot of shits. See Facebook for a good example, 2008 "Oh no one cares, so what if they collect data, not like they're gong to do anything with it." Fast foward to 2018 "Waaahhhhhhh Facebook, STOP SPYING ON ME" and in the mean time I'm there saying... I told you so Karen, I told you so.
So the entirety of end users are dependent on us few geeks who care enough about maintaining control that in 5 or 10 years they don't wake up and realise they lost something important. Its a thankless task, one that you're not helping with but we like martyrdom.
This is why I'm glad Apple never gained control of the smartphone market. When people wake up and realise that their access has been restricted they have a way out, we've made sure of that (not that I expect to be thanked for it, its a terrible life, probably have terrible death, but at least is consistent).
Wake me up when US tech companies' activities cause a meltdown of the US economy;
It already happened once, in 1999. The dot-com crash rippled through the economy, and the sector is much larger now, and just as prone to bubbles.
And it's getting ready to happen again. There is simply too much money flying about and not much to show for it.
The big boys like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, et al. I suspect will come though completely unscathed. Its the companies with no plans for profitability, in fact no business plan beyond "be disruptive and be noticed" like Uber, Tesla, et al, who'll go bust. The good news is it'll only hurt those invested heavily in these businesses, either financially or emotionally.
The biggest issue we'll have is what to call it, DotBomb 2.0 seems a little cliche. We could have DisruptaBust, TeslaBurst, what about UberFail?
The notion that self driving cars can be classified into 5 levels of self driving prowess has reached quite a large mainstream audience. Perhaps that concept can be extended to all 'AI'.
We already have classification for different types of AI, weak AI and strong AI.
Weak AI scope is narrow, it can perform assigned tasks but requires tasks to be assigned. It isn't capable of learning or behaviour modification on its own.
Strong AI or Artificial General Intelligence is AI that is self learning and self directing. It can apply intelligence to any problem, rather than just the problem its designed for.
I've always found the autonomous car "levels" to be a bit daft and probably wont reflect what happens in reality.
i'm also a bit curious what the "SIM only" thing is...?
1. A Punter in this context clearly means customers or potential customers. Traditionally "punter" meant gambler, I.E. to punt on the horses.
2. SIM only is a plan that only provides a SIM. So you provide your own phone. SIM only plans are usually cheaper, I'm paying £6 a month for 100 mins, unlimited texts and 1.5 GB of data. I'm still using my old Nexus 5X because nothing better has come along.
The idea that you rent a handset for ridiculous prices is dying.
It would stop the DA from throwing every charge at you hoping something sticks. When I was arrested for my crimes one of the charged was 'kidnapping' it was added to try to scare me, and to make sure bail was higher than any normal person could ever afford. That should be illegal.
That's why I'm glad in my country it is.
Here if the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) wants to charge you with a crime, they need sufficient evidence that there is a legitimate cause to believe you actually did it. Why... Because if I'm falsely accused of a crime just to scare me, I can sue the accuser and they will have to pay me and my legal costs. This includes the CPS.
Ordinarily yes, but you're clearly not familiar with BA, who are worse than Ryanair in regards to weaselling out of their financial obligations. When they clearly owe you compensation (either due to European statutes or financial cost incurred by you due to their failure) then you are told to go to your travel insurer, if you refuse you're given the run around until you give up or manage to get to an authority that has power over BA. They are worse than American airlines (as in airlines operating out of the US, not American Airlines specifically).
BA/Iberia (they're the same company) are really the second worse airlines you can fly (only QANTAS are worse).
I'm 4 months into a lost baggage claim with Iberia... They're still hoping I'm going to give up. If anyone can avoid their financial obligations, it's BA.
It's a perfect recipe for gaming the ratings system with quid pro quo. Drivers are punished for ratings lower than 4.6, passengers are punished for ratings lower than 4. Both parties are now incentivised to give each other 5 star ratings, and both have leverage against each other to prevent lower ratings.
The only thing this can possibly accomplish is to further devalue the ratings system, itself. I guess it will make middle managers happy with the metrics to see that 100% of drivers fall within the top 10% of drivers, and 100% of passengers fall within the top 20% of passengers. Those are really great numbers.
However it's doomed to failure as it essentially the Prisoners Dilemma as neither side knows what the other will do.
"Star" rating systems have pretty much gone the way of the old percentages score for video games. When 80% became the lowest score, 90% stopped meaning anything special.
However this move will just force customers back to traditional taxis, thus hastening their inevitable demise.
Slashdot Mirror
All I hear about is how the EU goes after companies, fines them, and then the appeal, and of course the appeal goes down in flames. So in the end, the EU gets to take a bunch of money, company XYZ is frustrated, and life goes on.
Sooo, is there ever times when the EU antitrust commission investigates and finds out, hey these guys are ok! Does this happen or is this just the money printing machine it appears to be?
Then you need better news sources.
The EU brokers international disputes amongst the EU, enforces humanitarian laws, reduces trade barriers between member states and negotiates international trade deals that are backed up with the power of the worlds largest trade bloc. The EU are pretty much the only ones who can and do stand up to the bullying tactics of China and the US.
The only reason you "only" hear about the EU anti-trust commission is because you actively ignore the rest of the information... Also the EU stands up for a free and fair market, hence why they have such an active anti-trust commission, also the EU clears things all the time, like recently clearing McD's of tax evasion in Europe (the deal Luxembourg offered them was legal under EU law).
You think "security" is something that can be "built in." Security in software development is a mindset. How does having a secure operating system help when the web frontend developer doesn't understand how to correctly validate passwords.
Security in everything is a mindset... However a good mindset on it's own is useless. You need to give the user the tools as well.
What we have needed for years in connected home appliances is for the first configuration screen to be "Change this default password before the device becomes usable". Laws here in the UK have meant that ISP's aren't permitted to hand out devices with generic or default passwords, so every router you get has a sticker on it with your individual password.
Come on, Tesla Model 3 is the fifth best selling car by units and the number 1 selling car by revenue in August.
Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity.
Sure they made less than Honda or Toyota, but Honda and Toyota made money from their sales.
Dude have you ever seen a single chick flick in your entire life. If teenage boys are simply self centred then teenage girls are frankly sadistic in comparison.
Genders are not self centred... Individuals are.
The problem is that in American teen society, being self centred is rewarded, the quarterback and homecoming queen are positions held above all else. Meanwhile being kind and helpful ends up with you being abused.
Popular media has simply picked up on this and ran with it.
The words are: shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.
This list is dated and US-centric.
"Piss" is no longer considered impolite. Even my mom says "The cat pissed on the carpet."
Australians use "cunt" as a casual gender neutral pronoun.
In Australia you're not really mates (friends) with someone until you can call them "cunt" as a normal greeting.
In Britain, tits are birds, what an American would call a chickadee.
In the UK Tits are birds and birds are women. English is strange. Chickadee sounds like a brand of chicken nuggets. Tit is also a minor curse for someone who's a bit of an idiot or unlikable Swearing and cursing in En_UK is a very complex topic.
So.. you didn't read the part about the 27 cameras? Good luck with your plan buddy.... Hope none of your friends need that reward money...
Erm... 27 cameras... for a 1,900 sq ft store... There will be blind spots everywhere.
Also what do they expect the cameras to do... have the speakers shout "stop or I'll have to say stop again". The number 1 deterrent in shop theft is the human you'll have to look at before leaving. Just recently UK supermarkets found out they'd sold more carrots than they ordered because people were putting through more expensive items like avocado's through as cheap carrots.... because no one watches the self service tills.
That's not a contradiction because:
(1) people are pretty good at spotting fake reviews
(2) government oversight is often nearly useless and at times simply corrupt
I'm pretty sure #1 is due to more and more people inherently distrusting review sites, they're usually writing the fake reviews themselves. Trip Adviser is one of the worst. They'll actively insert and highlight negative reviews for businesses that aren't willing to pay up. It is essentially a shakedown for the hospitality industry... it's a nice restaurant you have there... it would be a shame if someone were to give it a bad review.
2. Fraud is well within the governments mandate to regulate, preferably by sticking the fraudsters in a government run holiday home and they're getting quite good at it.
I don't use LinkedIn, I just have an account. That's because you're discriminated against if you don't. But I've never used it and I've never heard of anyone else who does. It's cyberbling.
This (apart from the cyberbling comment... that makes no sense).
The first thing a perspective employer will look for is your Linkedin account. Mine contains minimal information, it's just there to be found when I'm applying for roles, in fact the last time I updated it was the last time I applied for another job... I wont touch it again until I apply for my next one.
Fortnite is not special, neither is alcohol nor weed nor pills nor social networks. The only thing that IS special, is that our reality is intolerable for more and more people, and they find forms of escape. Can you blame them?
Actually I do blame them, because I’m old enough to remember how much worse life was fifty and sixty years ago compared to today. Racism everywhere, huge wars being fought over totally pointless causes (Ask your nail girl to describe her childhood), three billion people starving to death in India and China, massive urban air pollution, and the threat of thermonuclear annihilation hanging over our heads.
Those who forget the past are condemned to bitch about the present.
I remember being a poor kid in 80's Australia (we still had a lot of racist dickheads back then, particularly in poor white neighbourhoods). Apart from the better music and maybe a nice manual MKIV Supra RZ (unmolested, they're as rare as hens teeth now), I don't really want to go back.
However I don't blame people for wanting play Fortnite, games are fun. Who I blame are the people trying to call it an addiction. If people are getting divorced because one party is playing too much Fortnight then that's a failure of both parties to sort out their problems. Fortnite was just the catalyst, not the cause of the divorce, even without Fortnite the divorce would still happen.
and if they are a man, knowing that they are never allowed to cry or express frustration
What? Has there ever been a point in history where the male role has been less macho? In fact, many men struggle to find the balance between still being a gentleman and not behaving in a way a modern woman finds condescending. And how to functionally date when it's not like I'll wine and dine you and you'll sleep with me. And use #metoo as an excuse to say that ordinary flirting and dating has become impossible, as if "grab her by the pussy" is ordinary dating behavior. If you think that, maybe that's the problem...
Yes, most of history. The idea of "machoism" is a very modern one, previous to the 1900's and a romanticism about the wild west, Nelson's navy and other things that are falsely portrayed, people were broadly divided into the ruling elite who were quite effeminate (see: fops v dandies) and the working class who were quite submissive.
Prior to the 1800's systems were existed to enforce gender roles, I.E. women weren't permitted the vote or in many countries simply to work. The idea of universal suffrage is still extremely new. The first country to give women the full vote was Australia in 1902. Fortunately today no such systems exist in the west, but some people desperately want to bring them back.
However that is besides the point, if you think your manhood is threatened by powerful women, that is not a failure of males, that is a failure of your own fragile ego. If you have trouble getting a date, that is also likely due to your fragile ego. I am not Brad Pitt, I don't have the moves like Jagger but I do have a girlfriend (who is far too good for me, never be afraid of punching above your weight class). I'm pretty sure she likes me because I'm nice and because I can talk about issues that are bothering me (and/or her).
However I await the inevitable mod down for suggesting that the Kjella has created his own problem and there is no systemic conspiracy against men. Hell, I'll go one further and say the GP has hit the nail right on the head (speaking of nailing, if you really want to feel manly, get a hobby like wood or metal working, if building something with your own two hands doesn't make you feel like a man then you have serious mental issues) a big problem in western societies is that we're expected to conform to some outdated notion of being a man that never really existed, this notion means you're not permitted to have emotions, let alone express them. The idea that we all have to be macho men is causing the problem, not fixing them. I do not feel emasculated by women as I don't need validation their validation, I also don't hate them.
Some people I know set their car clocks a few minutes ahead to help them arrive on time. Every now and then I'll forget the quirk and think I'm late somewhere with them.
Stop setting your clocks incorrectly and leave when you need to like an adult.
I set my clocks 8 and 1/2 minutes late so that I can get to my train on time.
I don't think Damore crumbled -- I think he was fired for expressing a view that didn't match Google dogma.
Face it, Damore crumbled.
He tried to sue Google, realised that if he went ahead the real reason he was dismissed would come to light and that would destroy his argument that he was fired for political reasons, so he dropped the suit. Thus crumbled.
His argument was so bad that the psychologist he based it on came out and said it was wrong.
California has very good employee protection laws, even nearing European levels of protection so if he had a case at all, he would have won it.
An employee has very little control of what they do. In Canada the measure of employee vs contractor considers:
who sets the hours
who sets the specific tasks and how they will be done
freedom to work for other people
who provides the office and equipment
Uber drivers have complete freedom in all those thing except the specific tasks (even then, they could chose the route). Most of the "contractors" I know in high tech fail all those tests.
Contractors also receive significantly higher pay to compensate for the lack job security and beneifts like paid holidays and sick days afforded to salaried workers. They're also paid significantly more as they have to pay their own tax in most countries unless the employer and contractor agree to have the employer pay tax on their behalf. That's where the contractor argument falls down for Uber. They want to pay them like min wage slaves... but treat them as if they were highly paid contractors.
A headphone jack takes up a neglible amount of space compared to its use
Maybe for you but that's not universally true.
Nope, he's right, the space it takes up is negligible compared to its use. In fact I'd go as far to say it takes up no space what so ever in a device with a 4" screen. Here's a teardown of a Nexus 5x... the "massive" headphone jack is right next to the guy's thumb... and the guy isn't gigantrathor, that's a normal sized thumb. That big thing he's taking out it he battery (which still lasts a day or 2 on my 2 yr old Nexus 5x)
I'm flying LHR to LAX (11 hours) next week. LHR-SIN (14 hours) next month, LHR-BOG (12 hours) in November and I'm thinking about a jaunt to Boston over the Christmas break (LHR-BOS 7.5 hours). No set of bluetooth headphones could last the duration considering that they'd also end up getting an hour or so use at LHR because security there is so bleeding efficient and customer focused. Add to this that a set of normal plug-in headphones will work on any 3.5mm jack. No worrying about bluetooth versions, compatibility, setup or any other bollocks, they just plug in and work.
Plus when it comes to hands free, anyone on bluetooth sounds like their in a lavatory at best. Some are down right shocking.
I've encountered several who were more productive when they didn't come in at all.
I've encountered a few that make others more productive when they didn't come in.
You should have another look at the summary. The piece is from the TUC, a UK union group.
Workers in the UK have proper healthcare regardless of how many hours they work, or who they work for, they don't have to go cap in hand to their overlords hoping to avoid bankruptcy if they or their children get sick.
It's what civilised countries do.
Yes, but I don't see why the TUC (Trades Union Congress, for Johnny Foreigner playing along at home) would want to increase the working week of the average British tradesmen to 4 days.
Until Brexit all laws voted apply to UK. And if you think for a SECOND that the UK government will remove that particular one post-brexit, when they will be lobbied left and right to keep it by content holder, I have a bridge to sell you in London. Cheap.
This.
If you want to see madness coming out of a parliament in Europe, look no further than Whitehall.
My take on this is that it will become yet another EC regulation that isn't at all enforceable because the internet does not operate solely within the EEC. Just a bit of legislation that has been passed at the behest of some special interest group or another that no-one will bother enforcing.
Meanwhile the coming economic disaster that is Brexit will mean that Britons wont have enough money to have the luxury of worrying about what European laws we do or don't keep. The Tories will fiddle whilst London burns.
Smearing greasy prints on a screen, waving your shit around like an idiot, screaming at your word processor that you mean your, no, not yore, no not you're, no for fuck's sake!, or literally walking through a filesystem... All cute gimmicks that last about ten minutes.
And then you pull out the keyboard and get real work done.
Nobody has yet come up with a remotely serious idea that even has a chance at ousting the PC.
And all of this were things most people knew. We were never entering a "Post-PC" era, we were never close to it. The whole idea of "Post-PC" was a brain fart by everyone's favourite delusional cult of personality, Steve Jobs. Propagated by his fanboy army but ultimately believed by no-one. Restricted access tablets and phones were never going to supplant PC's, the only thing that will replace PC's will be a smaller PC. Maybe, eventually distributed computing where everything has a general purpose microprocessor so your personal OS runs across distributed compute network, but basically that's just running a PC on a hypervisor that runs on your fridge, toaster and washing machine, but I digress, PC's are so widely used because they're not single purpose devices, rather can be used for a variety of purposes. Awaiting the inevitable mod down for daring to question THE JOBS (let alone pointing out he was wrong).
Fool. The user is always supposed to have ultimate control over the device. Fuck off with your scare-mongering as an excuse for sloth and apathy. If a user refuses to learn, they deserve what they get. Dont bust out the golden shackles and try to tell me its jewelry.
There are a LOT more users that don't give a shit about having "ultimate control" than you assume. What you call golden shackles the average user calls blissful ignorance; and they're quite happy not knowing or being responsible for their hardware.
These users don't give a shit until they need power over their devices... Then they give a lot of shits. See Facebook for a good example, 2008 "Oh no one cares, so what if they collect data, not like they're gong to do anything with it." Fast foward to 2018 "Waaahhhhhhh Facebook, STOP SPYING ON ME" and in the mean time I'm there saying... I told you so Karen, I told you so.
So the entirety of end users are dependent on us few geeks who care enough about maintaining control that in 5 or 10 years they don't wake up and realise they lost something important. Its a thankless task, one that you're not helping with but we like martyrdom.
This is why I'm glad Apple never gained control of the smartphone market. When people wake up and realise that their access has been restricted they have a way out, we've made sure of that (not that I expect to be thanked for it, its a terrible life, probably have terrible death, but at least is consistent).
Wake me up when US tech companies' activities cause a meltdown of the US economy;
It already happened once, in 1999. The dot-com crash rippled through the economy, and the sector is much larger now, and just as prone to bubbles.
And it's getting ready to happen again. There is simply too much money flying about and not much to show for it.
The big boys like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, et al. I suspect will come though completely unscathed. Its the companies with no plans for profitability, in fact no business plan beyond "be disruptive and be noticed" like Uber, Tesla, et al, who'll go bust. The good news is it'll only hurt those invested heavily in these businesses, either financially or emotionally.
The biggest issue we'll have is what to call it, DotBomb 2.0 seems a little cliche. We could have DisruptaBust, TeslaBurst, what about UberFail?
The notion that self driving cars can be classified into 5 levels of self driving prowess has reached quite a large mainstream audience. Perhaps that concept can be extended to all 'AI'.
We already have classification for different types of AI, weak AI and strong AI.
Weak AI scope is narrow, it can perform assigned tasks but requires tasks to be assigned. It isn't capable of learning or behaviour modification on its own.
Strong AI or Artificial General Intelligence is AI that is self learning and self directing. It can apply intelligence to any problem, rather than just the problem its designed for.
I've always found the autonomous car "levels" to be a bit daft and probably wont reflect what happens in reality.
What is a "UK punter"?
Is that some sort of soccer term?
i'm also a bit curious what the "SIM only" thing is...?
1. A Punter in this context clearly means customers or potential customers. Traditionally "punter" meant gambler, I.E. to punt on the horses. 2. SIM only is a plan that only provides a SIM. So you provide your own phone. SIM only plans are usually cheaper, I'm paying £6 a month for 100 mins, unlimited texts and 1.5 GB of data. I'm still using my old Nexus 5X because nothing better has come along. The idea that you rent a handset for ridiculous prices is dying.
It would stop the DA from throwing every charge at you hoping something sticks. When I was arrested for my crimes one of the charged was 'kidnapping' it was added to try to scare me, and to make sure bail was higher than any normal person could ever afford. That should be illegal.
That's why I'm glad in my country it is.
Here if the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) wants to charge you with a crime, they need sufficient evidence that there is a legitimate cause to believe you actually did it. Why... Because if I'm falsely accused of a crime just to scare me, I can sue the accuser and they will have to pay me and my legal costs. This includes the CPS.
Ordinarily yes, but you're clearly not familiar with BA, who are worse than Ryanair in regards to weaselling out of their financial obligations. When they clearly owe you compensation (either due to European statutes or financial cost incurred by you due to their failure) then you are told to go to your travel insurer, if you refuse you're given the run around until you give up or manage to get to an authority that has power over BA. They are worse than American airlines (as in airlines operating out of the US, not American Airlines specifically).
BA/Iberia (they're the same company) are really the second worse airlines you can fly (only QANTAS are worse).
I'm 4 months into a lost baggage claim with Iberia... They're still hoping I'm going to give up. If anyone can avoid their financial obligations, it's BA.
It's a perfect recipe for gaming the ratings system with quid pro quo. Drivers are punished for ratings lower than 4.6, passengers are punished for ratings lower than 4. Both parties are now incentivised to give each other 5 star ratings, and both have leverage against each other to prevent lower ratings.
The only thing this can possibly accomplish is to further devalue the ratings system, itself. I guess it will make middle managers happy with the metrics to see that 100% of drivers fall within the top 10% of drivers, and 100% of passengers fall within the top 20% of passengers. Those are really great numbers.
However it's doomed to failure as it essentially the Prisoners Dilemma as neither side knows what the other will do.
"Star" rating systems have pretty much gone the way of the old percentages score for video games. When 80% became the lowest score, 90% stopped meaning anything special.
However this move will just force customers back to traditional taxis, thus hastening their inevitable demise.