Best Buy has been in a downward spiral ever since physical media disappeared.

This is what mostly killed both Circuit City (DIVX really) and Fry's.

The only one I know that is still doing ok is MicroCenter and they have gone more the "geek" route, with desktop components and things like Raspberry Pis and Arduinos. They also haven't focused on TVs, which you can buy much cheaper at Costco, Sam's Club, or even Amazon.

The "center" of Best Buy (where the media used to be) has become almost like an "as seen on TV" section (a bunch of cheap, overpriced junk)

For the rest of the stuff, they mostly have the same things as Amazon, but with a 20% - 30% markup.

Did anyone forget that the original idea of these apps was ride-sharing?

I'm not sure this was ever intended to be a "job" for the drivers.

The original idea of these apps was ... Going "downtown"? You can pick up someone else who's going that way, save the environment, and maybe make a buck or two to pay for your gas.

Again, I understand that these are treated differently now, and it seems like the companies behind the apps are also instating policies that indicate they are treating it as more than that.

But, if they are going to make companies pay extra for every driver then it kind of eliminates the original idea altogether and kills the idea of doing it as a "gig".

Google announced that the Pixel 7 phones would get 5 years of security updates and monthly feature upgrades.

I can think of some very specific use cases, like security vehicles in large complexes (think industrial plants, warehouses, and similar facilities).

It would still be fairly expensive, but I imagine if a company was running EV delivery vans (such as Amazon), this might be an enticing technology.

One would assume that "ripping up a perfectly good roadway" is only being done as a proof of concept. This means this is not part of the real cost of the product.

In the future, roadways would be replaced as necessary, and this technology would be incorporated into the new surface (such as rumble strips).

I think the bigger question for this is how would you pass the cost of the electricity used to the owner of the vehicle?

I could see this technology used more in the parking lots of office buildings and/or as part of a garage floor. I see this as a better alternative than everyone having to plug into a charger that can be easily damaged.

This is more a case of a new, big player that has changed with the market buying an old player that hasn't changed with the market.

That's the case with at least half of these recent mergers.

The other ones are companies that have botched a project or two and were in a position to be bought (mostly the Microsoft purchases).

The only one that seems backward was AT&T buying Warner, but that's going away anyhow and I think that was more AT&T throwing around their money to try and buy into a market.

We will likely see more of these as the migration from movie theaters and cable tv to streaming happens (Covid really sped up the movie theater thing though).

And, while it's always sad to see these old companies be absorbed, this actually happens in a healthy market. (i.e. the automotive industry)

I think the Russians have this figured out.

Their trains are dual-power.

They can use diesel to generate electricity if needed, but they also have a pantograph to use overhead lines where it is available.

This solves the issue of electrifying rarely used sections and also gives them a backup if the overhead lines are not working.

I have a T430, but the biggest problem is you get an 1802 error if you try to upgrade the WiFi to anything newer than an 802.11n card.

It looks like the Peacemaker UAV from the 1983 classic "Deal of the Century"?

I thought we already knew this. I recall watching a documentary maybe 10 years ago that said this is the most likely explanation for these disappearances.

Also, the fact that it's over open water explains a number of small airplanes going down in the area.

A lot of blackberry users rely on their email to run multi million dollar corporations. These companies would never rely on a rebranded free solution like G-Mail for important emails. And, if they do, they deserve to go without services when an outage like this hits.

And, it's not just email that is effected. As it sits, there is no conceivable way for a global outage of Android services, but from what I'm told, this included contacts and events as well.

Their customers will do it for them. Netflix doesn't need to "fight" the cable companies. Once they have enough that their customers want to watch their content, their customers will demand fair treatment.

Even if the guy only gets ~12 pounds out of the deal, as the article suggests, he can easily make that up by buying materials in bulk and following the letter of the deal. 12 pounds equates to ~$20 usd.

1) You can bet the framed photo in the deal is for a cardboard photo frame...a box of 350 of these cardboard frames can be bought for $250, or the equivalent of $0.71 per frame. These are 8x10 (I couldn't find 12x10 frames), so lets add some more to that and make it $1 each for the cardboard frames.

2) Even the 8x10 photo paper can be bought for $0.20 per sheet. Assuming that all of the paper stock can be bought for about the same price (the larger sizes might cost more, but the smaller ones will definitely be less), He's at ~$3 for the paper stock.

3) Add another $2 or $3 for the cost of printing...which is probably a huge overestimate for bulk ink/toner/etc for only 11 prints.

4) The DVD+Rs can be bought in bulk for about $0.50 each (the guy never said he would include a case, so I would assume he will simply put it in a paper or cardboard sleeve, which will cost less than $0.50.

I'll even throw in $2.00 for extras. That still leaves us at $10 for the work put into the photo shoot and photoshop. The guy is keeping the copyright to the photos, and even if he has to drive to the site and setup lighting, there's the whole "subject to availability" thing. Which means this guy isn't going out of his way for someone that's only paying $50 for his services.

Other things to think about. He doesn't mention what resolution he is using in his coupon, only "high resolution". He could provide the photos on the disk at 2MP under the deal. A quick photoshop job on 20 photos shouldn't take an hour to do...if you have to remove someone's hairy mole from 20 photos, that's 20 "air-brushed" photos. If he's smart, he can offer to do a better job on 1 or 2 photos instead of the quick job he would do for the full 20 photos. He also doesn't mention that the 20 "air-brushed" photos will be included on the CD/DVD which could mean that he will offer to sell these along with an extra photo-retouching service.

I can only conclude that this guy is not losing money (if he's smart) or at the very least is building his portfolio and making a little money to boot...even $10 for 2 hours of work and a potential referral is better than $0 for no work when you are self-employed.

Actually, the correct answer is that Windows Phone 7 is the Zune HD OS (which was not Windows Mobile) reworked to act as a smart phone OS. This is the biggest problem that Microsoft has with Windows Phone 7. They gave up all of apps made for Windows Mobile phones and worst of all they seem to have forgotten some of the lessons they learned with the Windows Mobile line.