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Comment Lidar is nice, not required (Score 2) 178

I think the Rivian approach is the best. They're basically copying the Tesla model of having their fleet send the sensor recordings back and then using them as training data. While they're far behind right now, they'll catch up quickly, as they can copy a lot of the basic technology that's now established instead of having to invent everything from scratch and make wrong decisions along the way. The difference is Rivian is including lidar, so they just include the matched video and lidar recordings as a larger training data set. I'm convinced that if the price of lidar was more like it is today back when Tesla started selling FSD in 2016, then that's exactly what Tesla would have done, but Tesla is now stuck with their solution with ten million cars already on the road.

But in clear weather conditions, I don't think lidar really helps that much. Most human accidents would be avoided if drivers had better situational awareness and didn't have gaps in paying attention, and the cameras solve that.

Comment Defy FUD, Meet Expectations (Score 5, Insightful) 110

I don't know what expectations these are defying unless they're from those created by anti-EV FUD. I thought it was pretty clear that EV batteries usually last longer than the cars themselves. If 250K is exceeding expectations, then the expectations are wrong and haven't been supported by the data for a long time.

Comment Self-Hosting (Vaultwarden) (Score 1) 70

I love that I can self-host Bitwarden, and I do it with Vaultwarden, which is open source, so I have no fear of it going away. But if the company got really obnoxious and blocked self-hosted servers from the browser plugins, then I would be in big trouble. I don't think the changes listed suggest that they're going to do that anytime soon, but it's something I want to keep an eye out for.

Comment Virtual Power Plant (Score 2) 59

I have Powerwalls, and also happen to live in Massachusetts. I participate in the virtual power plant program, where the batteries dump to the grid for an hour or two during peak demand in the summer (typically 5-7pm on hot days). I get paid nearly $1000/year for each Powerwall. Car batteries are much larger. I would love to be able to have my EVs participate in this, as well, but our cars don't support bidirectional charging. If they did, we would love to be part of this, assuming the terms are similar.

Comment Samsung DEX (Score 1) 24

How does this compare with Samsung DEX that has been on Android for years to provide a desktop experience? I played with it a bit when work started requiring us to be in-office but without assigned cubes and static equipment, as I could, at least in theory, do everything I needed with a keyboard, mouse, screen and my phone driving it all with a VNC app to do my real work on a Linux server.

I rather liked it, but it had some glitches where it wouldn't always recognize the monitor from the docking station, and it couldn't make use of a second monitor.

With so many workers now in this situation, and phones having so much processing power, this seems like an obvious solution.

Comment Star Wars for $4B was a gift (Score 1) 109

When Lucas sold Star Wars for $4B, it sounded like a ridiculously low number. Even without the rights to make new content, that was worth well over $1B. If he were shopping around instead of giving it to Disney, it probably was worth closer to $10B. With honest accounting, that's probably in the range of value Disney has received, and that's with having produced the worst possible sequels.

Comment Mergers Have to Merge (Score 2) 75

Dell has made lots of acquisitions over the years, and each one had their own systems. Dell acquired me at one point (I'm sure that was their intent, and they just got EMC thrown in with the deal), so I've certainly seen this. It took a long time to really merge the companies, and I'm sure they still have many separate systems. Eventually it makes sense to move everything to the same enterprise management system; at least everything that they aren't keeping separate for an easy future spinoff.

While the obvious answer is to move everything to Dell's existing system, or possibly EMC's, they may well have realized that none of the existing systems were adequate, so it was time for a new one. Might as well rip the bandaid off quickly all at once and be done with it.

Comment Re:I remember the last time they tried that (Score 1) 75

Catalyst was the project name.

Or was Catalyst the replacement for the one that failed?

As I recall, the failed one customized everything for how EMC did things. The replacement changed how EMC did things to match the default, as it was easier to change the company than customizes the software. The only pain point I remember on the engineering side was all the part numbers changing to match the new standardized format.

Comment Real Service (Score 1) 107

Most of the repairs I've needed on my 2015 Tesla Model S are done at home. Things like replacing faulty door handles (they finally have a design that doesn't fail) and other minor but weird things are done at home--Tesla drives out to me. Same with window replacement.

The only real roadside repairs we've had have been for flat tires or a broken axle (massive pothole). Those usually involve a tow, though we did have Tesla stop by and install a spare replacement wheel and tire for a flat once, which was nice.

We've never run out of charge while driving.

There's just much less that can go wrong that would require immediate service. My car recently warned that the 12v battery was starting to fail, so I got it replaced before it caused a problem, so even that is no longer a sudden critical problem.

Comment Re: Combine with Distribution Warehouse (Score 1) 41

I'm thinking combining the retail space with a real distribution center where packages are already sent out from. Or maybe have it near enough with dedicated trucks going back and forth, though that would be less efficient. I'm assuming it's effectively a separate building apart from the merchandise moving, and certainly the retail parking would be separate from the delivery truck parking.

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