Well, the reason datacenters use 48VDC is because that's what central offices used already, so the infrastructure was there, and they made hardware to fit.

The reason for that, though, is some combination of it being a high enough voltage to reach phones a few miles from the CO, without being so high that it would kill people. Now, why 48V instead of 50V... I guess is that it is an even number of lead acid cells (24, in this case). If you've ever been in a exchange, they've usually got the basement full of 48V batteries. (which is why the phone works when the power goes out).

Universal motors have that name for a reason, they're brushed and comfortable with AC or DC. (things like hair driers, angle grinders, food processors, etc. If it's small and noisy as shit, it's probably a universal. Generally for short intermittent uses, as efficiency and life is poor). Induction motors won't work though, as they need AC.(eg. furnace fan motors, compressor motors in your fridge, etc).

Every LED light I've ever seen has a internal SMPS, it should likely be fine with DC. So will SMPS wallwarts (phone charger) and computer power supplies (well, in 230V countries, or ones with universal input. (older, mostly?) ones with 120/240 switch won't work, as it uses voltage doubler for primary voltage... which doesn't work on DC).

I imagine he'd just install schuko sockets..? That's what I'd do anyway.

Impeccable logic.

But they are already under direct government ownership. It's going from being a direct government agency, to a (presumably somewhat less directly controlled?) state corporation. Maybe they will sell 49%.

"And the Dark Lord made Orcs in mockery of Elves, and Trolls in mockery of Ents; and he made DOS in mockery of CP/M, and Windows in mockery of Macs, and NT in mockery of Netware; and he made Excel in mockery of VisiCalc, and Explorer in mockery of Navigator, and Word in mockery of WordPerfect; and he made MSNetwork in mockery of America Online; and on every side his foes fell reeling, defeated one by one as he crushed them by sheer weight of numbers, his hosts darkening the plain; and in the twilight years of the Second Millenium the Free Peoples of the West said, Lo, let us face this pestilence and destroy it, lest he turn all of Middle-Earth into a nest of foulness. And they forged the One OS, and they called it Copland; and they gathered their allies, the IBM Host and the Riders of Motorola, and they prepared for the final battle." Unfortunately, we lost the final battle, and the Darkness of Microsoft has swallowed up the land.

Last I checked, Iceweasel is just Firefox without any encumbered logos. Everything else is the same. The one in testing has shit australis UI, for example.

I still use an E71 (from.. 2008?). Candybar with qwerty. Symbian so it's not as dumb as S40, but it's dumb by modern standards. I still get close to a week of battery life (on the ancient original battery).

Makes good quality calls, has reception where all of my friend's iphones and androids don't... has real buttons.

I kinda prefer the 500 (like 2500 but dial), little more classy. Not very good when calling a robot that needs you to press "1" for something, though.

Still have one, but killed the landline some years back now...

There isn't a "EU" ban, it is up to each country. Greece has a ban, but it is not really enforced.

I have a Rolex. I've seen an Apple Watch. They're not competing...

Yep. The only data they've got on me is that my name is Larry Talbot, and that I live at 1313 Mockingbird Lane....

I'm pretty sure heat death was programmed in C.

Of course robot driven cars will need windows, windows that will open. How else can you roll down the window and throw things at pedestrians?

There is water at the bottom of the ocean!