Apollo Global?

I think we might have been co-workers in the past!

Hey, anything on the other side of the Cascades is "Eastern US"! /j

They're planning to replace them all with AI.

If a Reddit post amounts to a human-summary of a StackOverflow disussion, which itself is a complilation from a forum posts on a discussion board and a Wordpress blogger, who got *their* information from man pages and error outputs...who do you cite? Each of them validates the others in order to minimize the amount of "SEO Blogger Spam" that also ended up in the meat grinder somewhere.

The problem with the meat grinder is that the whole point is essentially to make it impossible to trace sources to the point where the actual answer came from.

More to the main point...the bigger issue is that Perplexity is looking to make money off their training data. Nobody was given the opportunity to opt-in to sharing, and none of the creators even get Spotify-amounts of profit sharing. On the one hand, I hope Perplexity loses because they're the most creepy of an inherently-creepy industry. On the other hand, just because I don't like them doesn't mean it's fair that Perplexity gets slapped with a lawsuit while OpenAI gets off scot-free because they managed to scrape Reddit first.

No, you would not. A hidden gem is HIDDEN.

These things kick ICE delivery vans' butts. When you're delivering one heavy object, driving a good distance on a highway, the benefits are small (aside from more ability to pass and to see traffic around you, and possibly a smaller crew since getting cumbersome things on and off these is easier than on ICE vans). But in a city, when you need to move into a stream of traffic, EV vans are massively better than ICE. They a low, and have a flat floor, so each and every delivery goes faster, with less injuries and damaged packages. Loading goes faster, too. They can deliver earlier in the morning without annoying people because they are almost silent. Each move from stopped to going to the next delivery goes faster, since they start up fast and get moving quickly -- so they more deliveries you make per day the more benefit you get from the vehicle. Each turn or merge goes faster (way more pickup than an ICE van), so your benefits go up when you're delivering in a complex traffic situation.

Hell, these things don't pollute at all, so they can theoretically drive deep into a poorly-ventilated warehouse to deliver to item to a row-end. And you can park and use them inside an air-tight, heated/air-conditioned building, so HVAC costs go way down, and people can work comfortably.

But did you see one commercial for it? Did you see it front and center at dealerships? Did you see influencers on Youtube talking about how much they improved their businesses? NO. Because they HID this gem.

(By the way, the Rivian van is also amazing. I recommend you look at the numerous videos made by Amazon workers on Youtube talking about how nice they are and why. I presume Amazon and/or Rivian paid them to make the videos. They are NOT hiding their gem.)

The guys at GM are, arguably, idiots. They are definitely good at making a part cost less -- removing fastener counts, reducing casting complexity -- they have massive talent there. But they're design for use has always been terrible, as have most of their marketing decisions.

The BrightDrop vans were odd, because they were a really nice design. They were more fit-for-purpose than any delivery van ever made by GM.

I completely agree with you that the guys at GM didn't want to do it. How do you shave costs off a fuel pump when it doesn't need one?
The folks at GM got good at making electric motors and the associated cooling for them cheaper, but there are so many fewer parts in an EV they had a lot less they could work their magic on. And the power-train was all new. New threatens jobs.

And then they didn't market it successfully. Of course. Because yeah, they probably wanted it to fail.

Aside from lower fuel costs,
    which do not completely justify the price difference,
and lower maintenance costs and lost downtime
    which actually probably tip the scales to making them more cost-effective,
you have the fact that these are designed from the ground up for deliveries.
    They speed up your workers. They reduce accidents and injuries. They save you lost time warming up, and seconds each and every time you start the vehicle moving. They have way more start-from-stop torque and thus get you moving into traffic rather than having to wait for a large hole between other vehicles, each time you're trying to merge or cross or turn. Your workers are happier because they are quiet, comfortable, require less straining, climbing, and lifting. They don't need to be left running and auto lock-unlock so you don't have the theft problems you have with older cargo vans. In a battle of inches, delivering package after package, moving around a city, these SMASH the ICE equivalents.

The real problem here is lack of imagination, lack of education, and pure laziness. Why change to something new which will improve productivity, employee health, your standing in the community, and profits when "meh, we're doing just fine."

I am an aware of them because I read. I have also seen videos of the inside of them. And I have seen them on the street, here in Chicago, because I look at things around me.

I think you're suggesting that the whole US has it's head firmly planted in the sand, just like you. I worry you are correct.

Your content has been removed because you look too much like Mr. Beast. If you think this removal is in error, we recommend plastic surgery to remedy the issue. Or you can file an appeal, but honestly, with the effort needed to succeed with that route, plastic surgery is probably less painful.

Might be because iCloud in China isn't the same iCloud everywhere else.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/111754

It's one of those things you have to do to sell in China. You have to give up your users privacy, and Apple was quick to offer that up for the Chinese market.

With blackjack! And hookers!

I'm in the Puget Sound area - you're certainly to the east of me.

(Actually a bunch of services at the University of Washington were down because of this... although admittedly UW is relying heavily on outsourced services nowadays)

the phones are NOT selling for $5,000

iPhones can go for around ¥5,000 (US$700)

Oofda, that was some brainfart-induced whiplash. I'm used to seeing ¥ used for Japanese yen, not Chinese yuan / Renminbi, and at first I was gobsmacked at what had happened to the exchange rate. Then in my foggy morning brain, I rediscovered this thing called "Context" and realized I was tuned into the wrong channel.

JPY ¥5,000 ~ USD $32.91, at ¥1 ~ $0.0066 (two-thirds of a penny)

RMB ¥5,000 ~ USD $702.02, at ¥1 ~ $0.14

... I should go get some coffee.

I think that's a big non-sequitur you've produced there.