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Comment Demand for bandwidth (Score 1) 102

The problem is that as soon as more bandwidth is added at a cell tower, it is almost instantly consumed. There is way more appetite for bandwidth than carriers can add, and any order-of-magnitude increases in bandwidth are usually quickly met with new, more bandwidth-hungry apps. There were online radio stations, then grainy YouTube videos, then Netflix, and now 4K streaming over the internet is coming as soon as more bandwidth is commonly available. Net Neutrality can't do anything about this, because carriers won't add more bandwidth if it won't pay for itself before the equipment has to be replaced for the new hotness. They'll add as much as they need to to stay competitive with comparable carriers.

Comment No Surprise (Score 1) 157

Distracted driving is distracted driving. It is a pet peeve of mine that hand-held cellphones and texting is singled out, vilified and viciously punished, while other forms of distractions are entirely passed over. Talking on the phone, whether holding it up to your ear or not, is still talking on the phone, and equally distracting done either way.

Comment Re:HUD (Score 1) 375

It is because politicians need a constant stream of menaces to show the people "they are working to do something about it". Why such viciousness and vitriol against talking on the cellphone and driving? Is it any more distracting than fiddling with the radio, tapping the GPS, arguing with your girlfriend, yelling at the kids in the back, drinking coffee, disciplining your lapdog, or putting on your makeup? Texting will get you into hot water, but even if you have an accident while doing any of the other distracting things, it's just an unfortunate accident that could have happened to anyone.

Distracted driving is distracted driving. We don't need a slate of new laws for every new technological advance or activity people manage to do behind the wheel.

The same holds for impaired driving. Drunk driving is vilified, but if you wrap your car around a telephone pole because you were too tired, or sleepy, or drowsy, or emotionally distraught, again, just an unfortunate accident.

Comment Re:I thought MY US ISP sucked donkey schlongs... (Score 1) 150

Shaw actually has pretty crappy caps, and they DO enforce them. My Telus internet usage has recently, in the last 4-6 months, been removed from their services page, so even if they measure it, they can't enforce caps, because users can't check their own usage. Also, Shaw fairly strictly throttles P2P, and is happy to serve copyright infringement warnings.

That's not to say either one is particularly great.

I used to have ETTS from Novus, and that was very nice for a residential service, but it is only offered in multi-unit buildings pre-wired for it.

Comment Re:Does Broder not know how to fill'er up????? (Score 1) 609

The point about the charge levels is exactly that an electric car is not like a regular car. You can fill up a regular car in seconds, so going only 1/4 full is dumb, unless you're having money problems. Spend the extra 30 seconds and fill it up. With an electric, it isn't like that. Charging at a regular power outlet takes HOURS. So you only charge it up enough to get you to a supercharge station. Further complicating matters was the fact that a cold battery will read lower, and go up as it warms up. So it seems like a very difficult problem to estimate range, or how much charging you need to get to where you're going. Again, charging = time. According to the story, the Tesla rep told him the range would increase as the battery warmed up, so after charging for an hour as advised, he left even though the range estimator still showed him short. (*)

Also, the charging speed is not linear. The first 50% goes quickly, but to go above 90% would take a long time even at a superstation.

(*) This is where the story breaks down. Instead of "following orders" blindly, he should have stayed where he was, and kept charging as the battery warmed up, until the range reading allowed him to get to the charging station. Had he done this, there would be no story.

Tesla is just being dumb here. They are hyping up this car as the vehicle for Joe Everyday, when it's clearly not ready for prime time, and is nowhere close to being a replacement for all common use cases. For example, as much as I think electric cars are sexy, it would be pointless for me to get one. I barely drive around the city (I work from home), and regularly take long trips (600-1000km each way), so a 200-300km range electric car is teh fail for me. Call me when battery technology makes the next leap to power a vehicle 1000km+ on a single charge.

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