At this point it's a well known fact that HP does crap like this so why do people keep buying HP printers?

The problem in the US is that there are powerful vested interests who profit off people being in jail so anything that means less people go to jail (or return to jail after getting released) means less profits for them and less "campaign contributions" for their bought and paid for politicians.

Ask Linus Sebastian (of Linus Media Group) how well that "IP68" rating works to protect your phone from liquid damage...

If you ever wanted proof that the music industry stopped caring about anyone but themselves, look at the recent decision by Universal Music to pull their music from TikTok. That move has actually HURT Universal Music artists (who can no longer use TikTok to promote their music)

But there is almost certainly a law that would probably apply if a manufacturer sold a TV that was previously receiving over the air broadcasts just fine but after a software update was no longer able to do so.

My current TV is a 32" Samsung dumb TV. It works just fine for watching over-the-air TV (which is all I use it for). All my other content watching (YouTube, Disney+ etc etc) is done on my PC.

If the relavent authorities had the guts to stand up to the NIMBYs and vested interests and pass laws that take away their ability to stop new housing being built, so many of the problems plaguing the bay area could be solved.

The "this is for security" argument is BS IMO.

A home screen web app is simply an icon on the home screen that, when pressed, triggers a "load this URL in Safari and pass it this special flag" action. Safari is the one that interprets the special flag and displays the app in the special full screen mode or whatever it is.

All Apple would need to do is to add a method for icons to go on the home screen that would (when activated) trigger Firefox or whatever along with the same special flag. What the individual 3rd party browsers do when they get the information is up to them.

Make it so that the API involved triggers a UI confirmation prompt (so that users know that what icon is being added, which browser it's going to open in and what URL the icon will go to) and there shouldn't be any real security problems.

Basically no CEO is ever going say that their competitors product is better than their product.

If fuel cells made sense as a power source for road vehicles, someone would have figured it out by now (the technology has been around since the 60s if not earlier).

They make great electrical power sources for spacecraft (NASA has used them since the 60s) but they can't beat either internal combustion or batteries as a power source for road vehicles.

As an Aussie I can confirm that it is in fact possible to get caught out by a dangerous animal but you would probably have to be doing something stupid (or hit a very rare circumstance) for it to happen.

I live in suburbia and the last time I saw a snake or kangaroo was at a zoo, the last time I saw an octopus was at a fishmonger and spiders aren't a problem if you leave them alone (or hit em with the bug spray :)
Snakes can show up in suburbia but if you leave them alone you should be fine.

The biggest pest around here is probably the occasional swooping plover.

Air source heat pumps deliver much greater efficiencies than natural gas because they move heat from one place to another rather than creating new heat.

Ground source (i.e. geothermal) heat pumps are the right answer for areas where it gets too cold for air source heat pumps (aka reverse cycle air conditioners). Not fossil fuel powered boilers or furnaces.

Its not just tech, lack of competition (and unwillingness to stop mergers that reduce competition) is a factor in many industries.

The massive Kroger-Albertsons supermarket merger in the US is a perfect example of a merger that is absolutely anti-competitive and should not be allowed to go ahead but unlike tech, no-one who matters really wants to talk about how bad that merger is.

Or the talk about a possible merger between Paramount and Warner Bros, that absolutely should not be allowed to go ahead given how big both entities already are.

The root cause of all this mess is the way that "do it fast" is more important than "do it right" at Boeing and its contractors.

The FAA needs to stop giving Boeing a pass on this and force them to stop prioritizing speed and cost over doing things properly (and having proper QA in place to verify that things are done properly)