No. Not here in the Netherlands at least. There's a few new data centers here (not AI related), but all this growth - and the shortcomings of the grid - were predicted 10-15 years ago. The grid operators warned that billions were needed to modernize and beef up the grid in order to meet the predicted demand. Governments didn't want to spend the money. Same for much of our other infrastructure, there's about €50B worth of work that should have been done already, concerning rail, roads, bridges, waterways.

Actually, my Roomba did a good job keeping my old place tidy, with a wall to wall carpet in the living room, and a rather fluffy cat. I'd use a proper vacuum once every couple of weeks to properly deep-clean the carpet and get the dust in the corners. But the Roomba did the rounds daily and took care of the hair and most of the dust. These robot vacuums also do a better job cleaning under sofas, cupboards and beds.

The problem with iRobot specifically is that they stopped innovating and improving their products. Other companies improved their vacuums, better cleaning, added LIDAR, while Roombas were still trundling randomly around the room on crappy NiMH battery packs.

China wanted to lead on science, and made the effort. Now that's paying off, and relatively fast as well it seems. China sent out promising students to foreign universities, to return with valuable learning. They court scientists to move to China, and fund a lot of research. And they have a decent school system with highly motivated students. They have plans and policies in place that work.

What does the West have? Science is beginning to have a bad name here. They tell you you're a sucker if you take a STEM major in college, except perhaps if you study to be a doctor or a dentist, or "something something AI". You're even dumber if you actually pursue a career in academia. Meanwhile we have New Math (a US thing, I know, but here in Europe schooling in mathematics is just as dire), or whatever new nonsense they cooked up. In my country, they are again lowering the nr. of hours per week spent on STEM subjects in high school. More focus on humanities and civics... as they say: "teaching children to be good citizens". Dumb AF, but... good citizens, sure. Taught to challenge everything, and not given the tools or knowledge to do so effectively. One in three kids aged 15 here is functionally analphabetic. Because even reading comprehension and accurate spelling are now optional. Chinese kids work and study hard, ours are taught that being on time is a "white construct", and that STEM education needs to be "decolonized".

No, we're not going to catch up with China. Unless we change our focus.

Plus on many chains, the transaction fee is significant.

That's what the second bill is for, apparently. Isn't this already covered in US laws though? Here in the Netherlands we have had "portrait rights" for over a century, basically it means that you have a say in how your likeness is being used in publications, and you can forbid publication if you have a good reason. Reasons include protecting one's reputation, but also the use of a famous person's likeness without their permission. The law also protects persons after their death, but only for a period of 10 years. Because of AI, they are now considering extending that period.

Why would you want to require humans be used in the creation of media? Should we ban robots in factories as well?

I disagree, I am glad that there are ways to make money with or on the internet, and that there are many useful services available, either paid, or paid for by ads. Sure, there's a lot of slop, nefarious data harvesting, or downright fraud, but with that comes a lot of good as well. Well beyond the things at our disposal back when it was still largely a thing of academia.

To be fair: I don't think it is unreasonable to show a notification to make drivers aware of this offer. But it most certainly should not appear when driving, or get in the way. I would be okay with it if the screen showed a simple message: "Hey, you can use SiriusXM for 2 weeks, on us", when starting the car, and only once.

Other than that I would want an anti-enshittification law: the number and timing of ads on owned equipment and any online servces required to enjoy the equipment, and the available functions on that equipment or associated services, shall not significantly change after the service or equipment is purchased, unless a full refund is offered.

Hell no. In fact California ought to sue the FDA for not banning these dangerous foods. And residents should sue the state of California for not suing the NDA sooner. Then the FDA can sue universities for not doing timely research on this, and the universities can sue the food manufacturers. It's lawsuits all the way down.

I am seriously confused about the rationale here.

You thought Dell was a good fit for your next purchase. You've done some research, and Dell appears to have met your needs for quality and price.

The owners of Dell pledged $625 billion to a system that should help children in various ways. There have been a lot of complaints recently from young people about how the system has failed them: housing is too expensive, not enough high paying jobs, they can't afford to get married, own a home, and have kids.

This donation seems like it would be a start towards fixing this. Perhaps other high-end donors will add to the accounts.

Having an easy way to add to your children's future over time seems like it would help fixing this, it's simple and a "no brainer" for parents: they don't have to learn financing or do research or set up accounts, everyone online will be analyzing the accounts and tell whether they are a good idea. Parents can focus on parenting and rely on expert analysis for whether this is a good idea.

And you are so miffed at this that... for some reason... you've decided to boycott Dell and spend your money elsewhere?

I'm completely at sea here. In what universe does your decision make sense?

Addendum: Looking over the edit page of this post, it occurs to me that there is a universe where "jacks smirking reven" is not a US citizen, and is just making troll posts to foment divisiveness in America. I've seen a lot of really funny news accounts (example) of political shitposters on X being from foreign nations. Are we in that universe?

And will Slashdot ever add the "account based in" feature?

(BTW, I'm from the US, I promise :-)

The project was doomed to fail from the very beginning.

Apple is too privacy focused. To make AI competitive, you have to be willing to share private data with it.

Right now, Gemini Live on Android sucks terribly, but I am more hopeful for it..

My (otherwise excellent) network provider to this day does not support IPv6

I'm not the original poster.

Nexperia, I don't know. But the US did have issues with China having access to the technology from its Dutch sister company ASML.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news...

So it's not far-fetched to think that the US has something to do with this issue with Nexperia as well.

That couldn't possibly happen!

Foreign companies (Tesla excepted) are not allowed to own more than 49% of Chinese-based companies/joint ventures.

To be fair, (with the exception of Tesla), foreign companies are not allowed to own more than 49% of Chinese companies.

So if international law was truly applicable, then there would be parity between nations about foreign majority ownership.