n/t

"Costly wire"

RG-59 installed 30 years ago is still viable for gigabit DOCSIS 3.1 over distances similar to those that 5G can hope to serve it (curb your home). 30 year old data radios have been in the scrap heap for 20-25 years.

Investing in fixed line service is the best long term use of money... but that isn't what carriers care about.

It's new so it gets hot, this is the same pattern we find again and again. Why it gets hot is likely not the reason the author suggests.

In any case, IMO, this is a technology update that probably benefits carriers more than consumers for now.

The average consumer already hits reasonable speeds on 4G/LTE (at typical densities, but maybe not crowded-stadium densities) -- anecdotally, I often find my LTE speeds beat any public space WiFi options I may have.

Speed gains help to future proof, but with a 2-4 year life on phones, the average consumer adopting 5G today just has speed bragging rights for now, but a limited amount of tangible benefits (aside from specific cases like high bit rate streaming, or being on a low usage network, etc).

This isn't an iPhone-intro situation where lack of 3G technology (at the time) was an obvious hamstring with clear negative impact on usage. Buying a non-5G phone today is not a deal breaker for me, and I suspect also true for many others.

Combine that with turmoil in technology availability and we find that 5G has burst through the wall, only to fall over... and now will be adopted mostly as part of incidental upgrades by consumers and not be a direct "I must have 5G" driver of sales.

Overhype was another killer, no one believes you when every carrier claims to be the top carrier and every carrier talks about the latest network technology as though it's a game changer.

He needs prison, real prison, for a long time.

In other words, don't complain overly about taking it up the ass because there's some smuck somewhere that will accept it deeper before they too complain ?

This is what the "free market" (and capitalism) is at its core.

I don't want socialism, but I do want a regulated workplace with rights and strong protections for those rights.

If it's "everyone for themselves" all the time then we'll be in the dark ages of workers rights. The slipping of benefits, pay, etc, has been happening for years -- yes, some few are CRAZY well paid, but the majority of others get squeezed more and more but costs that are constantly rising and with wages that aren't keeping pace.

Jeff needs a bigger yacht

Exactly...

It's the same level of reasoning that made it "fact" for years that the sun revolves around the Earth.

Observations were made, and then without full understanding of how something works, declarations of fact were made based on his incomplete and myopic view point.

I really hope this is a Logo reference.

30 years ago my school system taught programming as an equivalent to foreign language, I was one of a handful of students that went through our high school with a foreign language requirement fulfilled by Pascal (our maths teacher knew it, so that was all that was offered)

At the time I think it was simply a way to enable it to be taught without disrupting a rigid structure of classes which didn't permit free time or flexible schedules... but in time I've decided that it makes sense to teach programming to kids like a foreign language--

French lessons teach you to understand French people -- their language, culture, values, etc...

Programming lessons teach you to understand computers in a similar way. If you truly want to be able to "converse" and live in computer development culture you need to know the languages, syntax, and the motivations.

I don't see any issues at all w/ starting kids on this early in life, just like I don't see any issue with teaching second languages at an early stage. IMO one of the greatest weakness in US education is that in most public schools a second language (and culture) option isn't even usually available until high school.

As with everything in life, moderation is key... as is understanding when a child has an aptitude and when they do not, then adjusting their education plan accordingly to enable them to succeed at what they're good at, while still receiving the basics and a rounded education.

I've got my "Netflix for Wii" disc... refuse to plug in the Wii because the toad man will tell me it's been 1700 days since my last Wii Fit workout.

Special features aren't usually available with streaming options -- commentary tracks, behind the scenes features, deleted scenes, etc...

My assumption is that discs are a dying option because pirating them is trivial and storing the copies is getting cheaper.

I've noticed that too, I suppose that their license agreement for discs is not that far off from streaming ... physically possessing the discs doesn't give them a right to rent them.

I've also seen a transition to what appears to be mostly self printed discs lately. 10-15 years ago most of the discs from them were the same as the ones I'd get in retail, lots of my discs arrive with heavy wear too.

I still have the 3 at once disc plan --

Much more content available by disc vs Netflix/Prime streaming.

I love Amazon's digital "purchase"* options and "own" a few dozen movies and shows that way, but they are also often horribly overpriced vs disc purchase options -- most of the 20-40 year old movies I want can be bought for $5-10, but their streaming versions are still $15-20, or $4 for a 24-48 hour rental. Meanwhile for $15/mo I generally turn over 8-10 discs a month from Netflix DVD, and I can hang on to ones I need longer to watch or rewatch, so it's much more cost effective and shipping would be similar to buying (and still cheaper tho I don't own the disc)

If Amazon dropped their streaming purchase* prices to match their disc purchase prices I would probably consider a swap over from mail DVDs, just simply because I'd have immediate access.

*Digital purchases from Amazon are a right to view their version, I recognize if Amazon streaming were to go away I'd have nothing, but similarly if my purchased disc fails I have nothing too. I hope Amazon's streaming offering is around for a long time, but it's also tough to imagine being in 2040 and watching a movie I bought via them back in 2020... yet today I routinely watch discs bought around 1999, so that's what parity would be...

I have a Realistic Clarinette 119 from 1986 that still works, better yet, it includes a manual that has a full schematic printed in the back. I have a GE record player from the mid-1960s, complete with tube amplifier, also still works and includes the schematic printed inside the electronics access panel.

Now to your memory device--We're building more and more into single package ICs (both single and multiple chips inside)... it's just impractical to even consider providing functional data with the devices those parts are used in, let alone the parts themselves, and in many cases the data isn't even publicly published for competitive reasons. The semiconductor company I used to work for produced audio components, we had cryptic markings on the chip and produced an absolutely minimal data sheet (for public consumption) because the part wasn't available for low volumes and where the volumes made sense for us to sell, we hand-held companies on the designs. These products are all disposable, not only because it's impractical to repair or reuse, but because no manufacturer would want it due to reducing future sales. So of course durability is hardly a factor for most products.

Now consider just how little is being printed today? It's always fun (for me anyway) to find or read old newspapers--what was going on that day 50 years ago? In 50 years no one will have a clue what was posted to a news website on a particular day. You'll have to hope someone added it to Wiki or that whatever news conglomerate is running the news has a search history that goes back that far.

What about old pictures? We used to cherish them, buy special enclosures for them. Now we take a picture, upload it, and hope it stays somewhere. Maybe we print it, but the paper and inks are less durable. If you keep it digital after a few years you've moved on to the next storage as a service provider and your stuff may stick around, but it's effectively in a digital landfill unless you take care of it. Moving your digital stuff ought to be easier than your physical stuff, but if you put a photo album on a shelf for 20 years it will still be there as long as you don't move. What digital medium can you say the same about? Even CD/DVD degrades relatively quickly--and that's assuming you still have a reader... My Mac laptop hasn't had a CD drive in years.

Everything has become disposable, even our information.

I predict that in 100 years we'll have more persistent informational "artifacts" from 1950 then 2050 because we'll continue down our path of disposable information, people will give less and less concern to the gigabytes and terabytes of information they generate year after year.

/ end grandpa rant

37... 6 year old Subaru, no kids, and 1 BR apartment and I still don't really have much... I'm definitely doing something wrong.