I don't think it was a blunder, it's just that the technology does not seem to be ready. Which is kind of interesting. Right now this looks like a device for commercial/professional use (and yes, military ... sorry). Certainly for the price.

Strange, I would imagine that if Steve Jobs were still around, he probably would have said the same thing: "too bloody heavy, make it lighter!". Sometimes being OCD is a good thing in product development.

Well, they make me motion sick anyways, so I'll just move along.

Battery lifetime has been my #1 complaint about laptops. Same for cars.

Just looked at my spouses computer, which is starting to get a bit slow at times (it's actually the drive and RAM that is slow). 12 years old, zero hardware maintenance required so far. Half the price, twice the lifetime of a comparable laptop, if not 3x the lifetime.

Same with cars, I keep my cars 15-20 years. So yeah, big deal - especially, if this "change" is essentially free. Of course, industry is not interested. Rather build devices with failure designed in and chase "AI" for billions of dollars ...

And don't tell me building stuff that lasts is no valid business model. Toyota?

Seems clear to me that we cannot wait out the development of "AI". But I am not sure what really needs to be done ...

One way would be to identify obviously bad "behavior" and regulate (or temporarily ban??) them. Examples: running AI systems to make decisions that are not checked by humans and/or that do not follow established rules yet greatly impact human (or animal) life (say, health care decisions, financial decisions, hiring decisions, AI in warfare). Especially societies that are overly sympathetic (or naive) about technology need to look here (Looking at you, USA). AI's do not presently reason, so for better or worse they do not care because they cannot care. I am not even sure I want them to care, either.

At the same time, just being a Luddite is not helpful either.

I wish I had answers ...

Still a hype, as far as Tesla is concerned - FSD is still a "need fairly decent conditions only" proposition. Not saying it can happen one day. But I won't live long enough to benefit from it, and it certainly will not be achieved by Tesla.

Just under half of all traffic fatalities are traced to any combination of three factors: impaired by alcohol, speeding, not wearing seat belt. In fact, not wearing seat belt is the single largest contributor in that category (just go to the NHTSA and research; I did not check for distracted driving - separate category). If people were to wear seat belts (drunk or not), you'd drop traffic deaths by at least 1/3. And it would be **cheap** to do so. And could happen yesterday. Will be interesting long term whether more passengers die inside self driving vehicles than in human driven cars when involved in an accident.

All that "FSD makes driving safe" is a smoke screen especially if we all are involuntary beta testers of software that has no place on our road unsupervised.

Moving on now, nothing to see here.

I'd say this now also outlaws coal rolling. The bill says: "The intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight is prohibited." Can't tell me this does not apply.

Pay dirt ...

I read my employers rules on having work related software (any software, incl. email) on a personal mobile device, and the security policy stated essentially that they would not ever wipe my device (e.g., when lost) without my permission - unless they would decide otherwise. Not kidding! Excellent, you just told me to never let you on my personal devices. And since they won't pay for a work phone, I have no problems. I am pretty much the only one I know who does not have email, Teams etc. on their personal phone. Problem solved. Pays to read the EULA, so to speak.

Seems to me that in order to make intelligent use of the data we have as to create actual, real, new, and valuable knowledge AI would have to be ... intelligent? What a concept!

I grew up on manual, and drove shift exclusively half my life. Automatic is great most of the time, but in snow and in the mountains I still prefer manual.

(1) In certain situations being able to "force" or maintain a specific gear is an advantage (snow; downhill), and automatic is either clunky or cannot even do it. I could see EV dynamic breaking being quite good here downhill. I could also see some towing scenarios being easier with manual (and others likely being harder).

(2) In certain dicey situations being able to disconnect the engine and its dynamics (drag) in a split second without having to take your hand or eye off the action can be critical. My father taught that to me, it's become reflex. Sometimes it is best if you just have to deal with your rolling car and not the additional (and sometimes unexpected) dynamics and load shifting that comes from the engine remaining attached. To this day that is why I hate driving in the snow with auto, even with all the modern technology.

For an EV with the motor directly at the wheel, yep, manual will go away. It won't die before I do, so I m fine. But aside from the fun factor, manual sometimes still beats auto. Each their own.

On a side, it's a lot of fun to drive a slow car fast - but you really need manual for that (in an ICE vehicle). Nothing worse than a slow car with auto (or CVT).

To me the hype around AI is rather amusing. Never mind, it *is not* amusing, considering how much harm AI already is doing (try credit or job applications), and will do in the future. It overpromises and underdelivers, yet people trust it. But then again, I live in a country where lie detectors are used to fast track people to security clearances. Yeah, "science" baby!

Basically, I would think there are many worthwhile, sane, useful, and non-harmful applications for AI in general and even smart (!) chat bots. Mostly in areas that in "ye olde times" we would have called "expert systems" (oh, do go to Wikipedia and marvel at a Lisp system... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expert_system). But with today's tech messiahs, sales gurus, and rich people in overdrive (What to do with all that money? Need more money!), we are slapping AI on pigs ... they are still pigs. Still don't fly, either, unless you order an AI-generated video.

AI chat bots are especially amusing. They seem worse than even your first line of defense real humans reading off a script. "Let me take you through all the steps you have already done thrice, but we need to do it, because my script says so ... Did you reset the device?" and so on. What a brave new world we live in.

Classic "I was bad, but the other one was badder!" defense. Had a good laugh ...

I will never understand what people bang on about H1B. There are about 600,000 H1B visa holders in the US. 510,000 can be in the tech sector (since new H1B are capped at 85,000 total - 20,000 of which are for Master's degree recipients; and the max duration is 6 years). The "discrepancy" comes from exempt areas like (STEM) academy, where there simply does not seem enough interest by Americans to fill those jobs.

There are maybe 12+ million tech jobs in the US. So H1B represents at best 4-1/4 percent of the work force. Spouses are not allowed to work under their own H4.

Are there abuses? Well, there are legal wage requirements, but I am sure there are enough companies that underpay their H1B workers yet do not get audited. That is an enforcement problem. Likewise, status is tied to employment, and you have to leave after being 30 days out of employment.

In short, abuse opportunities exist and undoubtedly are being exploited, but it seems doubtful to me that H1B is at the root of the problem. Seems more like a lazy (I am being very kind here) "bash the foreigners" argument.

.. in the amount of energy needed to make this all work.

So I need an AI to ask an AI to give a satisfactory question? What's next? An AI to train an AI to ask an AI ....?

The idiocy cycles are getting shorter, indeed. I wonder (a) how we will actually make LLMs work reasonably and reliably well, and (b) where all the energy will come from for all the data centers needed to be built to support this ... progress? ... revolution??

At least in the short term we will run out of energy / grid capacity (temporarily, I suspect) before Skynet can take over.

I still like the characterization of LLMs as highly compressed JPEGs â"Âthey contain the main information, but the details have been lost (potentially even altering the main information).

Use with care. But people (including smart people, "decision makers", business leaders etc etc.) seem so incredibly gullible ... It just scares me how much power is given to often shitty "tools".

From my own experience, the heat seems easier to deal with as long as you can stay/work/live inside. Then it is definitely easier / less annoying. But if the electricity goes out? I'd rather be in the cold and start a fire than in the heat and can do ... nothing. I have experienced both multiple times. Normal living is easier in the hot states, but emergency living is more survivable when its cold. YMMV

Both suck if you lack resources, or lack the ability to help yourself otherwise (e.g., old age, physical limitations etc. etc.).

And that is why you have so many "snowbirds" in the US ...

Seems a bit jaded. The safe "unprotected range" where humans can survive w/o shelter and other mitigation techniques is geared towards warm. Hence, much easier to survive +40 C than -40 C. It seems ironically easier to protect yourself *from* the cold than from the heat if you have to be outside and have resources available. It's effort, though. I have schlepped furniture in +48 C outside and gone hiking in -42 C outside. And you many guess which one I liked more. Almost passed out in the heat after a half day of schlepping ... It was much easier to mitigate the cold.

In a way this is moot - it is getting hotter. If you can be inside and heated/cooled .. it does not matter.

Like a colleague used to. say: "I never had to shovel heat."