That's why I would never lock myself into a limited smart tv. Id rather grab an old laptop and use that.

Or just get a streaming "box" like FireTV or AppleTV....those generally seem work fine, have a remote and an easy to use interface.

Huh. I coulda sworn mine had the crank. On the other hand, maybe they only promised it for later delivery and I barely used it after a few days experimenting, since it was so limited, and eventually tossed it along with a lot of other eWaste.

Many many years ago, I bought an OLPC, actually a pair, one for me, the other they sent to Africa or some other place. I do not remember the year even vaguely. I do remember it had a crank to windup and charge the battery. I bought the two because (from memory) the purpose of the laptop was strictly limited:

* Carry all textbooks on one laptop, instead of having to walk miles to school and back with a heavy backpack.

* Have modern eBook textbooks, not fifth generation hand-me-downs which had been written in a different language for a different country. This was certainly important for indoctrination in local history and culture, but it even applied to math textbooks, whose examples could well use cultural aspects which were literally foreign.

* Be rechargeable with that windup crank for kids whose homes had no electricity.

* Use a screen to read those books instead of having to stop using them after dark or by candles or oil lamps.

In particular, I had never heard that they were meant to teach computer science. It might have been a nice side effect, but I did not think it was any kind of a primary goal. The primary goal was to help young children learn.

I'll stick with them, as long as they aren't that iPhone17 orange abomination.

I'm with you on this one....WTF was up with that orange color???

That AND...no Space Grey or Black?!?!

That's pretty much one of the only things keeping me from upgrading my 12 pro max to the 17 pro max.

I'm hoping in a few months maybe they'll offer better colors....?

I tend to buy top of the line loaded ones....I'm currently on the iPHone 12 Max Pro...loaded storage available at the time...I think 1 TB?

Before that I had the iPhone 6 Plus (did they have a pro?)....and IPhone 3GS before that....

Right now, not seriously in the market....my phone still had plenty of space on it, runs as fast as I need, I don't see any speed or battery degradation on it yet.

I will admit I'm looking at the 17's camera and ability to shoot RAW video...that is starting to tempt me.

I guess my phones are not well over $1K, I generally just put it on Apple Pay, get my 3% cash back and pay it off interest free over 12 months.

I have the cash, but figure why not use "free money" if given the opportunity, eh? I keep may cash for it in an interest bearing account or invested, etc...

I frankly don't give a fuck what anyone thinks of my phone, if they think anything at all.

As I'd written earlier, I think in the US, phones are such a commodity, no one looks at them as any sort of status symbol and hasn't for a long time now...

In fact you HAVE to use external storage if you want to shoot video in RAW format.....

HTH.

Really? I would expect the opposite.

- Owners of flagship devices concerned with their image and having the latest tech would be more likely to replace devices more often to get access to the latest gear, perhaps handing the old device down to a spouse or child if they aren't getting a trade-in credi

I can't speak for places outside the US, but here....the cell phone has become some a commodity that no one here really uses or sees any of the phones as a "status symbol"....

No one pays attention to what phone you have....at least not in most of the US.

Maybe remove tariffs and have more good paying jobs, then Americans will be excited about buying a new phone, new laptop, and new car.

How about in parallel to tarrifs we have federal incentives (maybe from tariff revenues) to help businesses set up and manufacture back in the US again,with US workers with good paying jobs?

Kill two birds with one stone.....

May I ask why the fuck you seem to give as much of a damn as you do on how we live our lives here in the US?

And yes if we want things we get them.....CA wanted something...BUT they apparently didn't want it enough to secure the rights and to properly guard against overspending, etc. It looks to me that the politicians in CA wanted a boondoggle to funnel money from the public coffers more than they wanted a high speed rail system.

But that latter part is just my opinion.

But again....why are you so hyperbolic about how the US does things if you're not over here and part of us?

Live your own life...we really don't give a fuck how you want to do it....just leave us alone, you know?

If the server logged a decent amount of data, then this is potentially a useful ad hoc experiment.

Maybe remove tariffs and have more good paying jobs, then Americans will be excited about buying a new phone, new laptop, and new car.

Anything article that isn't about AI is at least holding back the horde.

With the widespread introduction of the farm tractor, we saw an increase in productivity and a decrease in the need for labor in the fields, and a general increase in wages among farm workers. And we are at the point where expert systems and AI are assisting the operation of those tractors, harvesters, planters, and other farm equipment.

But when you look at the AI bubble that is driving PC component sales, and holding the US economy like a tightrope over a great chasm of recessions, one must ask: Who benefits and in what way? When someone is trying to convince you to buy into AI. Be it a startup or a major corporation. What ultimately do they want in return?
Money. But would an end-user pay for AI to the degree to support the approximately $38 billion spent on AI data centers this year?
Of course not. While it's hidden behind B2B transactions, the root of it is that the payoff for AI is mainly going to in advertisement and marketing.
These data centers are going to suck up all the components and electricity so that it can cold call you all day long, so that it can analyze your spending or browsing habits, send you convincing emails and texts that you respond to or click on, or simply organize a social media site to keep your child's eyeballs glued to it.
All the data collection and processing is done so that it can ultimately drill down on exactly how to sell you anything, and the owner of that data will be able to sell it 1000 times over.

Conclusion: AI means you will get more spam. Exponentially more spam. I think 100's or 1000's of times more is a realistic guess.

It doesn't. What it means is cutting through a lot of big parcels whose owners have big money, so they can be big impediments. There has to be a happier medium than this between respect for individual private property ownership and the needs of the many, but we are clearly uninterested in finding it in this country.

The greater good...for who?

I mean, in an example....high speed rail from NYC to LA.

I don't know exactly which states they'd pass through, but let's just pick Iowa for shits and giggles.

Now...to keep things "high speed" that means you're NOT going to be stopping much at all between the two end points.

So, this would benefit people in CA and NY, but it gives NO benefit to people in Iowa who would have cities, farmland,all sorts of private properly they'd have to give up for the system.

Why the fuck would anyone in Iowa vote to give things up for this rail system they do not benefit from and actually gain hassle from...?

I wonder if HSR could be placed on parts of the existing interstate highway system to save costs and time.

You're going to just piss off the majority of people that currently use those to drive....those people are also known as "constituents" and can get a politician fired pronto.