The needs being served by these companies (and gig jobs) will still certainly be there. However, if the cost of procuring a resource goes up then this cost will be passed to the end customer.

It is not a given that the customer will continue to pay such a cost; for example, if the cost of home delivery from Amazon increase to £5 but there is a cheaper option to pickup a package from a centralised point such as an Amazon locker, then suddenly a visit to the local supermarket becomes financially attractive for the customer.

Some will argue that 'no work' is better than 'underpaid work'. I haven't given this much though but it may definitely be a consequence.

Considering the reach of VBA - the number of people with this skill and the widespread nature of VBA-focused forums - the selection of language etc has already taken place.

Epic isn't an Apple competitor on iOS because Apple doesn't allow it. On open operating systems, Epic does compete against other application stores.

Whether this harm is legal is something which will no doubt be decided in the courts.

Good shout - according to Securi, their filing site seems to be running IIS 7.5, which comes included with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. A quick check in the browser confirms that the site is even secured with TLS 1.2!

You're welcome to make a case for the law not applying to private companies, but laws currently do apply to them.

The constitution does include an amendment which prevents Congress from passing laws against free speech, but I don't think it goes as far as defining a definition of 'free speech'.

Amnesty International has a good definition:
'Freedom of speech is the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, by any means.'

Apple, Google, AWS etc can legally engage in their censorious behaviour, but let's not pretend that - in a world where most speech occurs online - that they aren't limiting speech.

The digital crown is a surprising appearance on these headphones.

I get that it's a good way to navigate the UI on the watch, but I couldn't imagine it translating well to an iPhone due to the way our fingers and hands interact with the iPhone. Will it really be easier to use the digital crown on these headphones compared to 'normal' vol up/down buttons which double up as a 'hold for Siri' function?

PCs reached a point some time ago where they are pretty much appliances with an interactive operating system.

Think of the average user or organisation looking for a computer today; a laptop with 8GB RAM and an SSD which comes with Windows 10 & lifetime updates is neither high-end nor expensive. It will run a web browser, office and budgeting software and probably even some non-intensive games. Assuming no physical damage, this laptop will last a fair amount of time.

There will continue to be developments in computer hardware and architecture. Immediate things which come to mind include advancement of graphic card technology as well as better power management (this includes so-called 'Hybrid chips' i.e. improvement in CPU architecture). There are users who will benefit from the latest and greatest improvements - people working with graphics/media, big data experts, those working on AI and ML.

But the rest of us and the average user will simply pick up these enhancements when it's time to replace their appliance.

The appliance nature of the modern PC is the exact cause of 'PC malaise'. Who gets excited about the incremental improvements in their washing machine or their fridge?

I'm not overly familiar with Worldometer as a source, but the site suggests it refers to tests rather than the total number of infections. The distinction is obviously very important when talking about a "true mortality rate".

Given that recent estimates of asymptomatic cases range from as low as 17% to as high as 90%, we obviously can't derive a good number, but it does seem clear that significant majority of asymptomatic cases would not be tested and thus would be over and above the 12m number.

Same goes for with those who have mild symptoms and recover without medical intervention, but did not bother to get tested. We clearly don't know how many of these exist because they didn't get tested.

(Not sure what we're supposed to be playing btw, but thanks for playing too!)

Do you actually believe that Apple gets to control which websites a user visits in their web browser? And that Apple would be as stupid as to give the EU (and other regulatory authorities) the ammunition they need to destroy them?

To their credit, Ofcom are actually quite good at cracking down on hidden charges and other customer-unfriendly policies (albeit after the fact).

I think part of Epic's argument is that they don't want to business with Apple; they want to do business directly with Epic's users.

With Edge being a Chromium-based browser these days, I'm guessing it's not super difficult.
 
A full Office release wouldn't surprise me though, particularly as Microsoft is betting on recurring revenue via 365.

The 30% doesn't even include hosting costs associated with the subscription. Companies like Spotify/Netflix/Amazon would end up paying a 30% payment processing fee. Whatever a CDN costs - to actually serve up the content - is on top of this.

I shunted into the back of a car at a roundabout last year. Thought the other driver was going and I was looking at the oncoming traffic to judge if I could go, at the point where I put my foot on the gas to begin moving.

Despite my car having a front sensor with automatic braking, it turns out that using the gas pedal overrides this automatic system. I'm assuming that it's designed this way because the driver is assumed to have a better view of the bigger picture than a sensor mounted to the front of the car.

Perhaps advanced sensors like those in Tesla vehicles are far superior to human decision making in many cases, but it takes time for this kind of tech to filter down to low and mid-range vehicles. My car has adaptive cruise control, the things on the mirrors which detect overtaking vehicles, traction control and auto emergency braking, but I'm under no illusion that they are no substitute for proper driver awareness and control.

Another anecdote is a single vehicle crash I had 15 years ago. I misjudged a scenario involving a bend in the road and surface water, resulting in several spins, a crash into a wall and airbag deployment (I was physically OK after the crash). 12% of all accidents are from loss of control... even with more modern technology like traction control and high end tyres, I think level 5 automation is required before we get anywhere near the 99% range.