Misinformation is free expression, comrade.

Even older technology, like celestial navigation, can be handy if you're above the clouds. Our aircraft go a little too fast for sextants nowadays, but plenty of military platforms, especially those that frequently operate above the clouds, like the SR-71 or B-2, have computerized celestial navigation systems that nudge their INS, and this has been the case for at least fifty years. Lots of satellites have star-trackers for position awareness too. I have no idea what the state-of-the-art is for aviation, let alone whether it's available commercially, and if so, how big it is, how much it weighs, how much power it needs, or how much it costs. But the tech is out there, and not particularly new.

Why not? "Doc" Draper INS'ed his way from Hanscom Field outside Boston to Los Angeles in a B-29 in 1953. With only one planned human course correction en route, the INS was only 10 miles off after a 2,600 mile trip. JFK-CDG is 40% longer, so you should be good to within 15 miles... you are using a 70-year-old INS, right? If you can't flat-out eyeball the airport at that distance, any kind of beacon the airport itself has should be pretty helpful.

(Of course, Draper and his folks hadn't had time to test that version of the INS before their flight. And they made the flight to attend a top-secret conference the government was hosting with University of California researchers to discuss the possibility of inertial guidance... where Draper promptly ruined everything by explaining that it wasn't just possible; they had used it to get there.)

But now that big players are downplaying it, I'm not so sure any more.

Remember Steve Ballmer's "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share."

Remember "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

Hm.

I heard a piece on NPR's "Marketplace" last month about ChargerHelp, a startup that trains people to fix software glitches that make chargers stop working. That's a great idea, since having more chargers working more of the time means less waiting as things scale and build out. But there must still be some lag from a charger breaking to it being noticed to it being reported to a tech being dispatched to the charger being fixed.

I grew up mostly in a "full-serve" state, and even in the "self-serve" state where I now live, multiple gas stations in my town offer "full-serve" - sometimes exclusively - and do so at the same price as "self-serve" stations. So why not hire folks with associate's degrees in electrical / electronic / computing fields from local community colleges as "charging station attendants" and give them the training and tools to keep the chargers functional? They might also help maintain order at busy times (which would be less busy if all the chargers were functional) and help Granny plug in her car (while explaining that no, they can't check her oil).

The other faster-than-RAID solution I'm familiar with, MIT's Mark 6 VLBI data system, only does something like 16Gbps, I think.

On the face of it, this is terrible and we can all blame that individual.

But I have a suspicion that *many* people must've known that there was an issue and that at some point, it would be public. And in that context, I suspect that the CBE award was specifically so that that person could be thrown under a bus later?

Not that that individual doesn't have questions to answer for... but just I think there's prolly a lot of other people who are likely more culpable.

...and I see I need to update my signature here, since Perplexity did not say anything (this time) about my doing brain surgery while racing motorbikes.

I asked it "who is" questions about my wife and myself. It gave correct information about my wife, who's become much more visible online in the last several years.

I, on the other hand, have become less visible, and although my name isn't particularly common, there are a few other people around the world with the same name. So it decided that I was a freakishly multi-talented person who worked as a Wall Street trader, actor, astronomer, rugby player and writer. While amusing, at least 40% of this was wrong, but I didn't have the time to tell it that.

Hopefully the forces of evil will consult Perplexity on their way to my door, and be misdirected.

+1

Must admit, that I didn't expect much of interest from either page, but they were both very much worth reading!

Given how many companies, people and things I've never heard of are mentioned in this story, I must run right out and give a vendor some of my personal info to get such a device, then bring it home and put it on my WiFi, and... er, how about no?

It was launched before data roaming plans were a thing.

While I'm sure BAE has facilities in Hamsphire as well, this particular one is in NEW Hampshire.

Mention 23andme's shenanigans to your friendly local State Attorney General.
Mention 23andme's shenanigans to your friendly local TV News investigative / problem-solving reporter.
Both of these people would probably find the shenanigans extremely interesting.
And "all publicity is good publicity" for 23andme, right?

A Zionist friend has made this same argument, which I haven't dignified with a response in our chats since it's the least defensible of his arguments.
It's right up there with Sideshow Bob's "ATTEMPTED murder? Do they award a Nobel for ATTEMPTED chemistry?"

Trust me, if "you can't charge us with genocide because it wasn't successful" were a good argument to make, we would've heard it before.