The problem is the same as it always have been. The skills needed to acquire power do not align with the skills needed to exercise power

You can't have a wifi device that doesn't phone home because the manufacturer keeps the price down by selling your data. While the fee per user may not be much, in aggregate it allows them to reduce prices enough that nobody can compete without doing this. It's been tried quite a few time with seversl different types of device, but the increase in price to pay for not selling your data is more than most people are willing to pay and so none of these attempts were successful. So if you want a wifi thermostat that doesn't need an internet connection you'll have to make one yourself because nobody can make a profit from making one for you.

Similar to third party car insurance in many countries that is obligatory

Excel is very similar. Loooots of business processes run in Excel Spreadsheets

I just sent a bill to my client doing exactly that.
They have a junior dev who used to a hardware gal and then configured networks and somehow became a code. Boss spent lots on money to build an app that the AI basically copy-pasted all over the place. She could not cope (but then she is scared of git and refuses to write tests since they are boring) I was brought in to fix the mess

Ka-Ching!!!

All the stories I've heard from friends, family members and colleagues that worked with or interacted with him professionally boil down to, "he was a dick to me" or "he was a dick to me but less of a dick than he was to other people and this makes me blind to his dickishness"

Too many homes let the heat out and just pay for more to keep it warm ana cozy all winter. And, or course, some of that power comes from solar panels that take light in and reflect almost none of it back out to space.

Mod parent up, very insightful summary.

Just wait until you wife asks "Does this pant make by butt look fat?" and see what happens if you are honest.

BTW, My standard answer is "I am not Karl Lagerfeld and you have two daughters that have a fashion sense, go ask them"

My wife works in Switzerland and if I pass through her social circle I get kissed on the cheeks all the time. Can't say I dislike it! But, I have to add, that would be the French speaking part. In the German part not so much.

I don't think it's entirely that. It may be for things like NASA projects where innovation is much more prevalent, but there are other factors in Government projects as a whole. I suspect there's a large element of costs and time frames being deliberately underestimated. If the true costs were stated up front it may be more difficult politically to get something approved. HS2 here in the UK seems to be an example of that. The originally stated costs and time frame were ridiculously low and have risen steeply since, but if the full price had been stated upfront it's doubtful it would have ever got approval. That may well have been a good thing, but that's a discussion for another time. I suspect (but obviously can't prove) that underestimating such things is common in Government projects across the Democratic world so that things get started, then the later rise in costs is easier to sell and often becomes Someone Else's Problem anyway.

It's a great feature but what's weird is that "Live Translation with AirPods is not available if you are in the EU and your Apple Account Country or Region is also in the EU." https://support.apple.com/de-d...

Sorta like the equivalent of explorer.exe in Windows but for your Android device. It provides the UI elements and interface to lay out your app icons and, well, launch them. I also like to think of it as the desktop interface to your Android device.

It's even worse here in the UK than the US. At least your Government and President campaigned on the platform they are governing on. Nobody there can truthfully claim they didn't know what to expect when they voted Trump in. Labour campaigned on a platform of progressive change, promising to govern for the people. The second they got in power they started clamping down on free speech and banning peaceful protest. It's a coup. They don't have a mandate for this.

The problem with this specific law though is that it wasn't this current Government that brought it in. It was passed by the last lot, who are now claiming they are against it. And the Far Right ReformUK also voted for it but are now pretending they didn't. Vote for Center Left get Far Right. Vote for Center Right get Far Right. Is it any wondser that the most likely next Government is a blatantly Far Right one? We get that whatever we vote for anyway, why bother voting against it?

An android is by definition male. The clue is in the etymology. Andro-id, meaning male being. A female version would be an ogynid. Asimov discussed this in a conversation about I Robot.