... is going. I read that as Phoebe Cates.

My guess: It's a scam, built on pre-existing 'bot technology.

When it's all done with, the "investors" will have a huge tax write off for their losses plus some neat new data centers, high end servers and utility resources to go into Bitcoin mining big time.

In related news, Netflix turns a failed $11 million investment into a $55 million tax loss.

Bialystock and Bloom have nothing on Netflix.

You bought The Bible?

Then who remains to buy iCrap?

Yes. And no.

Free apps will continue. As long as they are actually free. Anything that owes (owed?) Apple that 27% of in-app sales or other revenue sources is either not free. Or written by a very generous developer. Apple gots ta' get paid.

What do you think the current 27% fee is? Maybe replaced with a fee for Apple Store server space and installation bandwidth. That's what the now defunct Apple Tax supposedly covered. But the in-app sales revenue stream doesn't necessarily run through Apple systems. And presents no cost to them.

Time to stop coddling US industries with tax write-offs for phony R&D investments and generous depreciation allowances for capital investments. Either get to work actually innovating and building stuff. Or go out of business.

Probably true.

I'm using my converter to "rescue" older displays. Which don't do the full spec performance. So down conversion isn't an evil I must put up with. It's a necesity. I suspect many converters are on the market for exactly this reason.

The whole bugaboo over display performance and human visual accuity is best left for a flame war in another thread. But suffice it to say, the HDMI Forum and Blue Ray Disc Association are wasting a lot of energy over the insoluble issue of content piracy. The market for illicit movie copies, which is well satisfied with garbage filmed in movie theaters by people with cell phones, intersected with the set of people who insist on pristine 4K HD copies is pretty much the null set.

It's like Prohibition. Many people will be satisfied with the booze distilled in automobile radiators. Even if they do go blind. Crap movie copies will always be with us.

Damn... another botched Windows 11 update from Microsoft? :-)

I guess, given the recent social media ban for under-16-year-olds in Australia, these kids can't apply to enter the USA now... hahaha!

... give a little ground on the opensource drivers.

In my experience, some Linux systems still need binary drivers for stuff like WiFi or cellular. Just hold your nose while you download the Windows driver and load it with NDISWrapper.

And you thought it was bad when your cloud-dependant IoT device or game bit the dust when the server went away? Imagine a data center or AI based business going dark when Nvidia decides it's time for them to upgrade.

My laptop looks like crap compared to a TV monitor. Even an older generation TV set.

Really? The Chinese have it*. And I bought a Chinese converter to rescue a few older but still good plasma and even CRT TV sets.

*Probably due to the fact that this is where our Windows machines come from.

Not "used to", "have to". The inhabitants bought into the "no car, depend on mass transit" lifestyle. Now they can't shop at the big box grocery stores, let alone drive to the one a mile farther away to take advantage of a good sale. So far, working exactly to local merchant's plans. Soon, the big box stores will close (they need to draw customers from a larger area to survive) and everyone will depend on the corner bodegas for beer and ultra-processed junk food.

Welcome to the food desert. I hope Mamdami's plan for government-run stores pans out.

Doesn't matter. That sort of thing is lost on the majority of the public. The climate change folks need to put a better spin on their marketing pitch.