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Comment I want an app that does what I want. (Score 1) 170

If you're just looking for a laundry list of note-taking apps, I'm sure Google can help. If you want real advice you need to provide more information. You're obviously in the habit of taking notes with pen and paper, so why have you failed miserably to keep a digital journal? What part of it doesn't work for you? Your list of requirements is missing that bit of information. You want a "single file or cloud app where I can organize personal notes on projects, configurations, insights, ideas, etc.,". Well, that about covers every single note-taking app ever written, as well as every text editor from the dawn of time. Try to narrow it down a little. Or, stick with pen and paper if it's been working for you. What do you hope to gain by going digital? Knowing that will help point you in the right direction.

Comment Re:Student Loans (Score 1) 390

US student loans have various humiliating processes you can use to get some deferments, but if you never actually start making money with or without your degree you still have to pay them back eventually and they never go away and if you have outstanding student loans you can't close escrow on a home, or do some other important things.

Comment Re:Porsche Boxster E (Score 1) 360

Luckily Audi has a lot of experience dealing with corrosion, having produced an all-aluminum car in 1994 with the A8. Lots of warnings in all the service documentation about not using the wrong fasteners, about only using tin-plated ring terminals, etc. Unintentional grounding is a problem anyway... but only if you're not intentionally grounded, through a compatible terminal.

Comment Re:Bullshit (Score 1, Informative) 397

The article is sensationalism. You don't have to install at each brewery. Someone builds one processor, and inserts it between the many breweries and the many farms.

So now you want the breweries to pay to have it sent to a processor, and have the cost go up dramatically, even though this stuff is food which was approved for human consumption and it's been boiled, so there's just no reason for that to happen. The breweries can legally make it into bread on the premises and sell it to humans but you don't want it to be fed to animals.

Comment Re:Porsche Boxster E (Score 1) 360

You'd probably want to use a pretty fat piece of fiber, because automotive cables get flexed and abraded and you'd want protection. Ideally, you'd make a loop, and it would be fault-tolerant. On the plus side, you don't need much in the way of data rates; infotainment needs to be on a separate bus anyway. But it's a great idea, for sure. I'd prefer one fat wire for power, though. Everything can ground through the chassis since all the signals are going through the fiber.

Comment Re:Porsche Boxster E (Score 1) 360

The sad thing is that there's an easy way to save weight on wiring. It's called moving to a higher voltage. Audi is already unafraid to make your battery expensive. A simple regulator provides 12V power to systems that require it, and moving literally all of the lighting to LED solves the lamp availability problem and is long overdue in any case, on any vehicle where it is not present.

Another way would be to distribute networked controllers more throughout the car. This just doesn't have to be expensive any more. It does complicate repairs, but Audi is unafraid to complicate repairs, as well.

Comment Re:WTF? (Score 1) 188

But we were talking about mitigating measures. That is almost never patch and recompile, it's things like turning off a service, changing the firewall rules

But we're talking about this in the context of Heartbleed, where pre-patch mitigation involved disabling critical services... A patch is what was needed here, and nothing else would suit.

Comment Re:Porsche Boxster E (Score 1) 360

Out of curiosity, what do you think of Audi's recent decision to save weight by switching from copper to aluminum wiring? Every instinct I have tells me not to trust it.

I have found a shitpot of broken COPPER wires on my 1997 A8, in places like the wiring leading to the left side knock sensor which doesn't even flex much since it's attached to the fuel rail. I guarantee you that it will go badly.

Comment Re:Myopic viewpoint (Score 1) 360

Mercedes have produced a few concept EVs over the years, like their all-electric AMG, but nothing serious. They clearly viewed it as a far off technology, much like many of the people on Slashdot who still can't quite accept that it works and actually makes pretty much the best luxury performance sedan you can buy.

Well, as I've stated above, the problem is selling them. The kind of people who buy their cars aren't buying the arguments about electrics, it doesn't matter if they're right or wrong. They're the ones with the money.

If Mercedes became convinced tomorrow that they could sell more EVs than dino drinkers, that's the direction they'd head. If they can make balls-out concept EVs, then they can make an actual car.

I just (yesterday) found a module with a bright sticker that says PROTOTYPEN in the E-Box of my A8... egads!

Comment Re:Myopic viewpoint (Score 1) 360

I don't find it to be ugly, it just looks like another car to me. If you compare it only to the insipid selection of blandmobiles that we get here in the USA, I suppose it looks a little fruity. However, it is definitely better kitted than a base econobox. You can get all the same features on your shitpile, but it will cost more than 10k.

Comment Re:Mercedes (Score 1) 360

Let's be honest, if you have an S Class, you would likely travel by plane/first class, not sit 10 hours in an S Class, as comfortable as it is, it's a matter of time lost.

Actually, a lot of people buy an S Class (or the equivalent Audi, a well-kitted A8L) and then put many, many miles on them. It's not a coincidence that there's a bunch of 80's S-Classes with over 300k on them, and 90's S-Classes and A8s with over 200k. These are being driven by businessmen who will be able to write off much of the significant recurring expense of putting many miles on a german car.

In short, these cars are not made worth a fuck. They use components guaranteed to degrade when components which would hold up just fine are available. Rubber bushings (not sure of the material) and EPDM vac hoses when they could be made of polyurethane and silicone respectively and last the life of the vehicle. And everything is crammed into as small a space as possible, because that's how it is today. I have big fat meaty hands, a lot of these cars require me to take some stuff off so that I can take some other stuff off before I can get at a third thing. Even if you have a lift you're best off removing the engine in many cases because you still can't get access otherwise. But sadly, they don't have an engine harness, so you have to disconnect forty things to pull the motor. Perhaps literally; just the coil packs and injectors account for sixteen connectors on a V8.

S-Class and similar are for people with lots of money, and/or people who are playing games with taxes. Not for the plebes. You can own one only if you are a mechanic. The saying is that there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes. The same applies to VAG cars. You can't afford to own an old Audi if you don't turn your own wrenches.

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