I am very confused; don't movie studios use artificially generated characters frequently for special effects? Isn't it almost certain that especially over the past few years they've used AI to do that? How would this be something new?

You really need to drive here.

Like most of the US, the population density simply isn't enough for mass transit to be practical.

Buses run every 15-30 minutes on the main grid streets, nominally a mile apart. Most aren't particularly full, and there aren't enough transit police to enforce basic civility, such as the blaring music from multiple speakerphones.

A planned light rail has been replaced with an expansion of the bus line on Maryland parkway.

There are more bike lanes with spacing than there used to be, but there is *no* way I am going back on to the roads with the drivers around here.

Underground tunnels with regular small automated cars would seem to be a possibility, but only if monitored well enough. I have no idea whether it would be financially viable, though.

oh, no.

It doesn't even *compare* to the uselessness of the Las Vegas monorail and its multiple bankruptcy.

It goes to something like five resorts and the convention center.

Due to the juice that the taxi companies used to have, it was blocked from going anywhere useful, such as the airport.

And the fair for those short hops is something like $9, although only a dollar for locals.

I haven't heard of any extensions of the boring loop in at least a couple of years, though. It will *supposedly* reach the airport and downtown, but I'll believe it when I see it.

And I'm not sure that there's any point in the current form in which it needs drivers in passenger cars. But next to the monorail, it's downright brilliant! [insert eyeball here]

>When the power goes out, I can start a gas generator and use my local library.

when power goes out, my local library closes, and its servers go down . . .

Here in Las Vegas, we don't have an imaginary one, but we do have a *real* tunnel built by said ketamine junkie . . .

On the bright side, now we know what *really* happened to the dodo!

It wasn't hunting; but rather that they annoyed the peacocks and suffered the consequences . . .

He's wrong about the Facebook part. The SocialFixer extension for Firefox does a huge amount of stuff for the Facebook experience and it's still active and usable. I couldn't use FB without it. You'll see like 10 'suggested' items blocked and minimized, and then actual friends' posts. It's so helpful. I'm reminded of what a garbage dump FB is when I occasionally use the app on my phone, which is the full unfiltered experience the way they want you to see it. It's all ads and suggested posts. SocialFixer allows me to continue using Facebook as a place to connect with friends and groups with shared interests, as it was in the earlier days.

>Big announcements were made for sub-10kg laptops (22lbs).

I had a backlit Macintosh Portable (actually, I still have it, but it needs recapping). In its carrying case, and with power supply and spare battery, it came to 26 pounds.

Which was the same weight as the desktop Macs of the time.

I actually hurt my shoulder lugging it through an airport once.

I think it was the powerbook 180 that replaced it on which I had a problem with airport security--they wanted to see a C: prompt. I think it was finally a manager that told him to let me through.

better yet, set an activation time at which a few weeks worth of drones will simultaneously activate and attack a range of Russian sites . . .

uhm . . .. let's see . . . "In soviet Russia, the data backs *you* up!" ?

"According to the video, officials are not required to disclose what exactly the charges are or who has brought them until the initial investigation is complete under Italian law. "

Then why does the title say he's being charged for reviewing games?

Mazda's legacy button layouts plus the dial are really great. I have a 3rd Gen Mazda3 and it's nearly perfect. There is a touch screen but it's never used. The dial turns and also pushes for select, and there are some other buttons around it for getting back out of menus and a home button, and some shortcuts for various things. All within comfortable reach just between the gear selector and parking brake (real mechanical parking brake handle!) without having to raise your arm and glance away from the road to make sure you're finding a button. It's all done by feel.

On the steering wheel is volume, track skip (which works in Spotify for it's normal 15 second skip function forward or backward to skip through commercials) and cruise control. Also a phone answer and hang up button.

About the only complaint I have is the A/C fan speed is two buttons rather than a knob, but at least the temp adjust is a big fat knob. They gave up room for a fan knob in exchange for dual temperature knobs for passenger and driver.

The Gen 4 Mazdas are similar, with better Android Auto / Car Play integration and a nicer screen, and are still fairly new, a lot of low mileage cars still available through CarMax, etc.

If they are going to rely on voice commands I'm done. I don't talk to machines. If it's still usable via buttons, fine.

My wife has a Tesla and the UI experience is awful. Absolutely awful. The only good thing about it is the drivetrain. It's like owning a supercar in terms of acceleration. Other than that, I would consider Teslas to be actively driver-hostile. I avoid driving it as much as possible. I hope they will eventually be considered a quirky novelty relegated to the dustbin of history, while more traditional button interfaces make a comeback.

First of all, the amount of money that gets back to the creator is vanishingly small compared to what's kept by the cartel. While you think you're supporting the creators when you pay your license, you're really just supporting a vast army of middlemen leaching the money out. I'll say that to the apologists in this thread.

Secondly, they'll hit you up for a license even if you're just playing over the air radio. A radio station that's already paid a license and is playing advertising to pay for it. They will blatantly double dip. This happened to me when I owned a cafe / art gallery a long time ago.

I'm all for supporting the aritsts, but the system as it exists is seriously broken.

rat and roach, I see. what are the others?

yeah, don't do that.

I find most food too disgusting eat even a second time, let alone every day. At best, it would be wilted. Probably at least soggy, and, well . . .

cats & dogs have a different notion of how many times to eat the same food, though.