Turn on the AC or heat in a Tesla and see what it does to the range. Cuts it by a solid 40-50%. Now tell me how often you can sit in traffic in China without AC or heat...
If you can't read the Wiki link (high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) frequency response within the human hearing range) then there is no hope for you. But then, we know you're an Apple fanatic, so there was no hope to begin with, so... Perhaps you should check reviewsother thanApple Fanboi sites. Seriously, anyone who thinks a HomePod sounds better than a SONOS Play:1 is either deaf or a dyed-in-the-wool Apple Cultist.
OK, go ahead and claim the HomePod is high fidelity. That says a LOT about the standards you hold! HomePod is a gimmick, an also-ran, a distant 4th - behind Amazon, Google, and SONOS. Enjoy your 4th rate sound!
BAIC EC 180 is not just the best selling EV in China, it is in the world. And it has an NEDC range rating of 160 km. Of course, that's without AC or heat running. Try that for 10 months out of the year in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen. Real world? Expect 50 to 80 km before recharge time. And that's for a vehicle about the size of a Chevy Spark, with a top speed of 100 kph. This is from experience, having actually driven them (yes, I have a Chinese driver's license, earned whilst living there in the 2008 to 2012 timeframe) and used one regularly over the last year (factory car).
The best selling EV in China (and the world) is the BAIC EC 180. You see quite a few of them here, on the streets of Shanghai and Guangzhou and elsewhere. It's about the size of a Chevy Spark/Smart Car. Not a lot of room to put more batteries inside. And since you get 63% of the cost rebated by the Chinese Government, it sells like hotcakes (it's about $9000 / RMB58,000 after rebates).
The best selling Chinese EV is the BAIC EC 180 (it's also the best selling EV in the world). It has a real-world 60-80 km range (most range tests do NOT use the heater or AC, neither of which is realistic for 90% of China - if you've ever lived there, you would know). And it's the best selling because the 158,000 RMB vehicle is only 58,000 RMB after Government subsidies. Top speed is 100 kph, it is about the size of a Chevy Spark, and it has a small range with a 7 hour recharge time. Seriously.
And 99% of those Chinese EVs have a range less than 50 km. Now, let's look at the ~1.3 BILLION ICE vehicles on the road. Electric is 0%, rounded to the nearest 0.5%...
Merriam Webster defines high fidelity, and Wikipedia does as well. The HomePods are NOT high fidelity. Walk into any stereo shop and ask... But hey, this is the company that pushes their crappy "earpods" and owns Beats - what do we expect about audio quality?
And for those of us who are not 65 of older, or destitute - we don't get any of that spending. We spend massive amounts, Federally, already on health insurance for poor coverage and poor results. And people want to EXPAND that, as they think it will lead to better results? When we're spending more per capita than the UK, but only spending that on ~20% of the people, what makes you think the Federal Government can handle the other 80% for really no increase in spending?
We were a Federation, unfortunately the creeping hand of the Federal Government has continued to grow, and is heavily supported by a sizable chunk of the US.
Our Federal Government already pays more per capita than most other countries, and it doesn't work. That's why people buy private insurance on top of public spending. Get rid of Federal healthcare spending in the first place.
Our Federal Government spends about $1.2 trillion a year on healthcare already - they already spend as much as other nations spend, per capita. Yet how many actually get by with just the Federal Government spending? Vanishingly few. We end up buying private insurance (or extended insurance) because that already provided is basically worthless.
Best way to equalize it is to make everyone pay. You pay $3K for health insurance of your $50K income, and you can cut your AGI to $47K - full deduction. Just like businesses get. Right now as a private individual until you are well over 10%, you don't get to deduct anything.
No, I'm thinking a straight deduction. You make $60K gross income, you spend $10K on insurance/health costs, your gross is adjusted down to $50K. Just like for your employer, every dollar spent on health insurance/healthcare is 100% deductible from their gross income.
I can purchase insurance that works for me, like a high-deductible catastrophic plan. I cover everything up to $10K or so, and everything above that is covered 100%. Works for me, and I used to have that kind of plan until ACA and it was effectively banned. So now I pay about 4X the costs, for really no more use than before. Why should we have one-size-fits-all healthcare (because it certainly isn't insurance - insurance is used when you have a larger expense, like automotive or home insurance - not for regular maintenance).
How is removing insurance companies and inserting Government going to be cheaper or more efficient? At least now, insurance companies have to offer some level of service, or they lose clients. With single payer - you have, effectively, a single insurer who does not have to answer to anyone.
Having listened and measured a HomePod, it's doing a bit more than the 901 - but not much, in terms of final results. Wave field synthesis is a pretty well-established field, and the biggest issue is always the tradeoff between image accuracy and image size. HomePod pushes way too far to the image size at great expense of image accuracy. A pair of them will most likely end up with a big image - and one that has no definition inside of it. Much like a modern 901.
All it takes is allowing people to fully deduct the cost of their own healthcare. As it is now, it's a tax benefit for consumers to have healthcare paid for by their employers. Change it so consumers can deduct the cost of health insurance/healthcare and there will be zero reason to stay with the existing approach. And a side benefit is they employee will now be in direct control of the expenditure on their own healthcare, most likely resulting in reduced expenditures on healthcare.
You could also go the SONOS route; get some small Play:1 speakers for the garage or bathroom. Bigger speakers/systems for other places, or a Connect for use with regular stereos. And have the ability to "stream the TV" from your Playbar/Playbase to all other speakers in the house, if you want (for big football games, for instance).
Arrange your twiddlers around the periphery so that only one points forward. HomePod - bringing the Bose 901 "blur of audio-something generally over-in-that-direction" to the 21st century!
For those not aware, Bose calls their wideband midrange/tweeter transducer a twiddler.
The inference of the current story is that Apple has now figured out how to invite strangers into this element of its technology in such a way as to provide end user convenience while maintaining a consistent user experience and high degrees of security and privacy.
Before Apple, it never worked, it was tough to use, inconsistent, and insecure. Now Apple - courageously - has solved all those issues! Hurray!
Slashdot Mirror
Turn on the AC or heat in a Tesla and see what it does to the range. Cuts it by a solid 40-50%. Now tell me how often you can sit in traffic in China without AC or heat...
If you can't read the Wiki link (high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) frequency response within the human hearing range) then there is no hope for you. But then, we know you're an Apple fanatic, so there was no hope to begin with, so... Perhaps you should check reviews other than Apple Fanboi sites. Seriously, anyone who thinks a HomePod sounds better than a SONOS Play:1 is either deaf or a dyed-in-the-wool Apple Cultist.
OK, go ahead and claim the HomePod is high fidelity. That says a LOT about the standards you hold! HomePod is a gimmick, an also-ran, a distant 4th - behind Amazon, Google, and SONOS. Enjoy your 4th rate sound!
BAIC EC 180 is not just the best selling EV in China, it is in the world. And it has an NEDC range rating of 160 km. Of course, that's without AC or heat running. Try that for 10 months out of the year in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Shenzhen. Real world? Expect 50 to 80 km before recharge time. And that's for a vehicle about the size of a Chevy Spark, with a top speed of 100 kph. This is from experience, having actually driven them (yes, I have a Chinese driver's license, earned whilst living there in the 2008 to 2012 timeframe) and used one regularly over the last year (factory car).
The best selling EV in China (and the world) is the BAIC EC 180. You see quite a few of them here, on the streets of Shanghai and Guangzhou and elsewhere. It's about the size of a Chevy Spark/Smart Car. Not a lot of room to put more batteries inside. And since you get 63% of the cost rebated by the Chinese Government, it sells like hotcakes (it's about $9000 / RMB58,000 after rebates).
The best selling Chinese EV is the BAIC EC 180 (it's also the best selling EV in the world). It has a real-world 60-80 km range (most range tests do NOT use the heater or AC, neither of which is realistic for 90% of China - if you've ever lived there, you would know). And it's the best selling because the 158,000 RMB vehicle is only 58,000 RMB after Government subsidies. Top speed is 100 kph, it is about the size of a Chevy Spark, and it has a small range with a 7 hour recharge time. Seriously.
And 99% of those Chinese EVs have a range less than 50 km. Now, let's look at the ~1.3 BILLION ICE vehicles on the road. Electric is 0%, rounded to the nearest 0.5%...
Merriam Webster defines high fidelity, and Wikipedia does as well. The HomePods are NOT high fidelity. Walk into any stereo shop and ask... But hey, this is the company that pushes their crappy "earpods" and owns Beats - what do we expect about audio quality?
And for those of us who are not 65 of older, or destitute - we don't get any of that spending. We spend massive amounts, Federally, already on health insurance for poor coverage and poor results. And people want to EXPAND that, as they think it will lead to better results? When we're spending more per capita than the UK, but only spending that on ~20% of the people, what makes you think the Federal Government can handle the other 80% for really no increase in spending?
We were a Federation, unfortunately the creeping hand of the Federal Government has continued to grow, and is heavily supported by a sizable chunk of the US.
Our Federal Government already pays more per capita than most other countries, and it doesn't work. That's why people buy private insurance on top of public spending. Get rid of Federal healthcare spending in the first place.
Well, you won't get me to argue that a 901, even a 901a, is anything LIKE a high-fidelity speaker system.
Likewise, you don't get to argue that the HomePod is anything LIKE a high-fidelity speaker system. Because it is most definitely not.
Our Federal Government spends about $1.2 trillion a year on healthcare already - they already spend as much as other nations spend, per capita. Yet how many actually get by with just the Federal Government spending? Vanishingly few. We end up buying private insurance (or extended insurance) because that already provided is basically worthless.
I wonder if you realize the Federal Government already spends about $3600 per year on healthcare for every man, woman, and child in the US? Shall we turn over the other 40% of our national spending on healthcare to that entity?
Best way to equalize it is to make everyone pay. You pay $3K for health insurance of your $50K income, and you can cut your AGI to $47K - full deduction. Just like businesses get. Right now as a private individual until you are well over 10%, you don't get to deduct anything.
No, I'm thinking a straight deduction. You make $60K gross income, you spend $10K on insurance/health costs, your gross is adjusted down to $50K. Just like for your employer, every dollar spent on health insurance/healthcare is 100% deductible from their gross income.
I guess you don't realize we pay about $2 in Federal healthcare spending for every $1 in defense spending already. And you want to INCREASE that amount, even though the Federal Government dominates healthcare spending now - and drives most of the cost structure?
I can purchase insurance that works for me, like a high-deductible catastrophic plan. I cover everything up to $10K or so, and everything above that is covered 100%. Works for me, and I used to have that kind of plan until ACA and it was effectively banned. So now I pay about 4X the costs, for really no more use than before. Why should we have one-size-fits-all healthcare (because it certainly isn't insurance - insurance is used when you have a larger expense, like automotive or home insurance - not for regular maintenance).
How is removing insurance companies and inserting Government going to be cheaper or more efficient? At least now, insurance companies have to offer some level of service, or they lose clients. With single payer - you have, effectively, a single insurer who does not have to answer to anyone.
Having listened and measured a HomePod, it's doing a bit more than the 901 - but not much, in terms of final results. Wave field synthesis is a pretty well-established field, and the biggest issue is always the tradeoff between image accuracy and image size. HomePod pushes way too far to the image size at great expense of image accuracy. A pair of them will most likely end up with a big image - and one that has no definition inside of it. Much like a modern 901.
Or, as most of the rest of the world puts it, Apple faithful making everything Apple-centric.
All it takes is allowing people to fully deduct the cost of their own healthcare. As it is now, it's a tax benefit for consumers to have healthcare paid for by their employers. Change it so consumers can deduct the cost of health insurance/healthcare and there will be zero reason to stay with the existing approach. And a side benefit is they employee will now be in direct control of the expenditure on their own healthcare, most likely resulting in reduced expenditures on healthcare.
You could also go the SONOS route; get some small Play:1 speakers for the garage or bathroom. Bigger speakers/systems for other places, or a Connect for use with regular stereos. And have the ability to "stream the TV" from your Playbar/Playbase to all other speakers in the house, if you want (for big football games, for instance).
Arrange your twiddlers around the periphery so that only one points forward. HomePod - bringing the Bose 901 "blur of audio-something generally over-in-that-direction" to the 21st century!
For those not aware, Bose calls their wideband midrange/tweeter transducer a twiddler.
The inference of the current story is that Apple has now figured out how to invite strangers into this element of its technology in such a way as to provide end user convenience while maintaining a consistent user experience and high degrees of security and privacy.
Before Apple, it never worked, it was tough to use, inconsistent, and insecure. Now Apple - courageously - has solved all those issues! Hurray!