Note validating the destination server name is not the only purpose of an SSL cert -- it also encrypts the traffic between the browser and the server, which could otherwise contain potentially unencrypted usernames, passwords, or credit card information.

Anyone in between you and the server can potentially snoop on the data packets in transit, but it is far less likely that they can decypher it when you use SSL than with plain unencrypted HTTP. Yes, you can access a server by IP that uses an SSL cert associated with a domain name or self-signed certificate instead, but your browser would always complain that the name doesn't match or that the issuing authority is untrusted.

Even if it works, depending on 1970s hardware is a really bad idea if for no other reason that replacement parts are near impossible to get, and parts WILL be failing left and right. Even Ebay will only be able bail you out for so long.

If a car's LIDAR system can permanently damage camera sensors, then Tesla may have a serious problem on their hands in the near future.

All of Tesla's self-driving systems depend 100% on optical cameras, as a cost-saving measure. But the more other brands start deploying LIDAR based cars, the higher the likelihood that one of those LIDAR emitters would be literally two feet in front of or behind a Tesla at a stoplight, slowly frying its cameras the entire time you're waiting for the light to turn green. The more damage to the sensor, the more difficult it will be for those affected Tesla's to make the right decisions in self-driving mode.

Traffic cams could be impacted as well, albeit to a lesser extend since they would generally be positioned much higher and further away.

They better figure out a way to implement easily user-replaceable batteries as well, since 2027 is the deadline the EU requires those by, for all cellphones on the market.

Adding fuses to a laptop costs money.

Schools tend to by the absolute bottom of the barrel Chromebook models where the vendor cut every single corner there was to cut and then some, to get the price down as low as it can possibly go. If there is one thing public schools don't have, it's spare money.

Economy of scale. When you deliver letters to almost every house, often multiple letters to the same house, it is FAR more economical to deliver them than delivering one-offs spread out across a large neighborhood.

It would take a delivery person 30 seconds to drop 5 letters in your mailbox and five in your neighbors slot, which would be more than covered by the price for 10 stamps. If it takes several minutes to hand deliver your single letter and drive two blocks to deliver another single letter to the next person, the cost of those two stamps will NOT cover the salary+benefits for the person who had to take the time to do the delivery.
And those costs really spiral out of control once you start including rural areas where the distances between houses are much larger.
virtually no one would be willing to pay the true cost of those deliveries, which means that it simply isn't economical to continue delivery once the volume gets too low.

You won't have to, the digital tickets just mean that you wave the barcode on your screen in front of a scanner at the boarding location. No need to hand over your phone to anyone.

Is that despite plans for AI powered serarch, or because of plans for AI powered search?

Once Apple is forced to remove it from their appstore, the # of users is bound to dwindle over time.

Federal net neutrality laws would have meant one set of rules.

Now the big providers get to follow 50 separate set of rules.
Congratulations, you played yourself.

But it brings a different issue: with a barcode, all they know is you buy product x, not which individual can you grabbed. With qr code, they will know the exact can and it's expiration code, but only if the register scans each and every can individually. No more *beep* x 10 as they do with barcodes, but having to scan all 10 cans individually. If they don't, current inventory expiration dates will still be completely unknown because you have no idea which dates the other 9 cans had that you grabbed without scanning every single one individually.

this is a survey counting people who *admit* they don't know how. Actual numbers could vary drastically.

Those numbers can go up really quickly if you have things like eReaders, Steamdecks, other handheld gaming devices, smart watches, security cameras, birdfeeder cameras, smart TVs, smart speakers, VOIP adapter for landline phone, DVR, tablet, gaming consoles, smart power plugs / LED lights /etc, smart thermostat, wifi-enabled toys (drones, etc.), smart appliances (washer, dryer, oven, dishwasher, refrigerator, airfryer, microwave, pressure cooker, coffee maker, all are available in wifi-enabled versions right now to either allow you to schedule operations, adjust them on the fly, or alert you when they are done). Robot vacuum, robot lawnmower, smart litterbox for the cat, smart cat/doggie door, smart locks, smart toilet, smart pet food dispenser, etc. etc. etc.

And most people that have smart lights don't have just one, they have a whole bunch of them, each connecting separately to wifi.

Pretty much every single thing that plugs in or uses a battery will come in a wifi-enabled version these days, whether it makes sense or not. You can even get a wifi-enabled toothbrush for crying out loud, which can track your (or your kids') brushing habits.

...and then multiply that in multi-person households.

"Age verification" ("to protect the children!") basically equates to "send in government ID to identify yourself to the internet".

Twenty minutes after this appstore age verification becomes law, it is pretty much guaranteed to become mandatory everywhere else -- after all, "the infrastructure is already in place! Only terrorists could possibly object!"

Slippery slope: Pornography, or even searching for information that is deemed "questionable" by the wrong person in the wrong seat could be a mess. Information about abortion? Gender-confirming healthcare? LGBTQ?

Don't think it won't happen. They'll know where you live.

Even if Google sells off and divests Chrome, there likely would be little to stop them from taking the chromium codebase and release EvenChromier a week later and do it all again.

Just look at how well the forced AT&T breakup worked out, a few years later and it's all back to the same anyway.