FireTV devices are probably sold at a loss - the goal is to addict you to Amazon services so you'll purchase them. It's why Amazon Prime Video has special offers with practically every streaming service so if you subscribe through Amazon they get a cut.

Of course, pirate apps hurt this business model - they want you paying for Amazon Prime Video, not getting a cheap media plyer.

No, chances are it went to Tata has they were one of the few companies able to actually build the iPhone. Remember, many countries have laws saying if you want in on the market, you have to spend a certain amount of money in the market. If Apple wanted to sell iPhones in India, they would have to make investments in production with Indian companies.

Chances are Foxconn or other Chinese contractors introduced Apple.

How does that make sense? They almost did something illegally anti-competitive but then didn't. What's the settlement for? If you spend 3 months planning a bank robbery and then call it off, you didn't commit a crime. Likewise, they didn't ship the offending code.

Actually, if you planned the bank robbery with anyone else, you can still be charged in a criminal conspiracy, even if the bank robbery never happened.

And the code DID ship. It didn't ship in the final retail build that customers bought, but many customers did get a hold of the beta version that did have the code. That's why that information was public.

Finally, it's partially true in the end there were incompatibilities. You might not realize it, but Windows isn't just a graphical shell In Standard Mode, yes it was a graphical shell on top of DOS - using DOS to provide all the system support functions like file handling.

But in 386 Enhanced mode (which existed as Windows/386 in previous versions), Windows actually became an operating system. It hoisted the current MS-DOS into its own VM (similar to how VMWaare worked where the booting Linux kernel gets hoisted into a VM to serve as the administrative console). In the meantime, it also meant that Windows needed to "extract the brains" from MS-DOS so it reached down into MS-DOS memory and copied all the open file lists and statuses from MS-DOS into its open file handle list. Everything that could was then converted to VxD drivers which were native Windows drivers, and everything that couldn't ran in the MS-DOS VM with Windows moderating between it and the BIOS calls.

It's what Windows 9x would later call "compatibility box" mode or if it could be completely virtualized in enhanced mode.

Things like CD-ROMs wihch in MS-DOS were handled with a network redirection (CD-ROM drives were "network drives"), disk caches like smartdrv.sys, and other things that would interfere with Windows is what the Windows launch code had to extract and take over - disk caches needed to be flushed and disabled, memory managers need to be disabled (but they also need to be examined to make sure DOS drivers weren't missed), etc.

It doesn't help we're Making Parasites Great Again https://farmpolicynews.illinoi...

One needs to remember that USAID was actually the agency keeping screwworm at bay. It was listed as agricultural aid - and that aid was in keeping the parasites from spreading. Sure, it helps the other countries, but it also means the parasite doesn't hit US soil.

This is likely to cost US beef ranchers way more than what USAID cost to run, and even if you funded USAID now, it will take years to eradicate.

And I want to be clear in the above: I fully acknowledge the irony, in that the US tech industry has been a powerhouse. There seems to be a massive disconnect in the US between tech innovation and tech infrastructure. The US is a world-leader in the former. It's consistently a deep laggard on the latter. The reasons why the US has so much trouble getting its act together on infrastructure and systems are complex, but it is remarkable to see, as someone who has spent their life in a mix of the US and Iceland. And it's not just Iceland that has it's act together on these sort of things - it's most of the developed world, and even surprising amounts of the developing world.

The problem is, infrastructure is hard, and the US has chosen to be more laissez-faire about the matter. In a way that's good - you're trying to let the market decide the best outcome. In another sense, it's bad, because you get siloed, incompatible infrastructure.

A lot of the infrastructure either came about through monopolies (e.g., the electric grid, or the telephone) which is why everything in those domains is fairly standardized. Everything else is a crapshoot.

Add to that the fact that the US was founded wit ha heavy distrust of government. It's why the US doesn't really have a universal ID card (other than social security). They have a mishmash of various cards that could also serve as ID, but are otherwise unique. Few people trust the government with anything.

Your health records being in a centralized system required likely a lot of work to implement - just so you could get any pharmacy to dispense, and in the US, there are 3 major EHR companies who are producing systems that are incompatible with each other, and often have features the others don't, making it next to impossible to share data.

Yes, it's backwards, but it's also because the US likes to pit various technologies against one another and see what comes out. Which in a way is also good to make sure we have competing systems rather than just picking a default one that might satisfy no one.

(One also needs to realize the scale and size of the US - the complete European continent is about 10% larger by area than the US - and I'm sure your systems don't work seamlessly from the UK through Russia and Turkieye and the Stans. And in some ways, a smaller country is easier to standardize - because Canada has some standard ways of sending money because that's all we had and by the time the US got interested it was too late to beat e-transfers.

Given the economic opportunities that grades open up, I don't think it is fair to say "they are only cheating themselves." They are cheating others out of work and/or scholarship money, too.

Well, maybe. It really depends on how much the grades count. But yes, that is also a factor, agreed.

Well, if we realize that the North American system of education is rather unusual in that your future is really put in the hands of the student, and go with the system used around the world where they have a major test at various points of their academic career that determine their future. A common one is a major test at the end of what we would traditionally call high school, though there are often a smaller test going from elementary to middle, and middle to high school. But generally speaking, the high school test is the major one that really matters.

That one test often determine's a person's role in life. Do well, and you can get a full ride scholarship to an overseas university - including a stipend for rent and living expenses. And usually, it's any university you want - a prestigious university at any country you want - US, Canada, or Europe. You'd just have to apply and qualify to get in (but usually you're a shoo-in if the country is paying your way).

Do reasonably well, and you might get a scholarship to a local university. Not as good, but hey, it's still a university education. If you don't do as well, you get an opportunity to go to university.

But bomb the exam? Your academic career has come to an end. If you're lucky, maybe you can find a trade school that will take you in so you can at least get a job in the skilled trades. Otherwise you're now on your own - get a job with a basic high school education and no experience. Maybe you can find a job as a laborer and if you're really lucky, the company will provide advanced training so you can climb the corporate ladder from the very bottom.

Note that I did say "on your own". It isn't unheard of for families to basically disown their kids who end up in this bucket. It's also why many of these countries have extremely high rates of teen suicide - the amount of pressure imposed has cracked many young people. It's not just the one test to rule them all, the family often puts immense pressure on their kids to do well. Especially if the parents belong to some high class occupation - doctors, CEOs, etc., Either they crack from the pressure - the intense studying after homework, the weekends spent getting tutored, and the build up to the big day. And if they feel they bombed it, well, their parents might see them off to school for the test, but they never show up at the end of the school day.

Countries often have special restrictions on exam day - many prohibit being on the roads unless it's an emergency to ensure the roads are clear for students to get to the exam center. They may also prohibit flights and heavy traffic so the street noise is suppressed, etc. Companies also know it - release dates of products are often scheduled after exams - the PS2, for example, was released after exams in Japan to encourage students to do well so their parents would reward them with one.

The incentive to do well on the exam encourages cheating. They may be cheating themselves, but given the amount of "fake it until you make it" going around, especially among the billionaire and trillionaire class, they figure it'll be something they worry about if they get through.

Contrast that with the American education system - if you don't make it, but still want it, you can try again, or try alternatives - your future is not decided by a single test, but is completely open and many career paths can lead to the same outcome

who said I know the material I just have trouble adding and subtracting...

At which point you should be slapped and your engineering creds revoked. Because that's where you break out your HP (calculator) and do all the addition and subtraction (using RPN, you are in engineering, right?) on it.

Everyone should be comfortable with a basic HP-12C. Fancy people have an HP 48, 49, 50, and even an HP Prime.

LMAO....Gartner senior principal analyst Nitish Tyagi explained that it's important to note that Gartner's prediction is based on a global average salary of $2,000 per month; What was he smoking to come up with that lowball # ???

The global average income is around $13-15k USD per year. That includes the trillionaire to the person working the paddy fields for 10 cents a day.

That's the problem with averages.

But it also includes high-tech workers in India, who may make half that, as well as plenty of entry level people in China who contribute a good 25% of the world population. And many high-tech companies in Asia pay less than that as well.

If you looked at vibe coding job listings, they pay around... minimum wage. Which is $10-15/hr for 40 hours.

It's why people were outsourcing to India and Asia - because a software developer in the US earning $100K could easily pay the salaries of 4-5 Indians/Chinese/Taiwanese/etc.

This pet peeve is never going to get solved, because the units are the "wrong" way around: The unit of power doesn't include any hint that time is involved, but the way we express energy does. It's exactly opposite compared to the units that laypeople use most often: distance and speed. That's why you see kWh written as "kW/h". It makes no physical sense*, but to someone who just needs to adorn a number with a "unit", it absolutely does make sense. We like to dump on AI for not "understanding" and instead just using probabilities, but most people don't do much "understanding" either.

kW/h is how many kilowatts are moving per hour, or the change in energy movement over time. Its got a final unit of kilojoules/(second-hours).

kWh is the correct unit - but also wrong (it's not SI) However it is a proper unit of energy with a final unit of Joules. It's a bad unit because you have seconds in the denominator and hours in the numerator so the time units don't immediately cancel.

This is annoying because natural gas is sold in units of MJ - direct energy units, and it's not entirely obvious that you can compare MJ and kWh directly through some constant conversions. (1 MJ = 3.6 kWh).

Also annoying as gasoline is sold by volume rather than energy content (1 litre of gasoline is between 31-35MJ).

And some units are annoying but make comparison easy - the miles per gallon is an awful unit because the scale isn't linear, but the SI equivalent is just plain strange of litres/(100km). Yet it's far more easy to compare a car getting 8L/100km against one getting 5L/100km (~29mpg to 47mpg). You're saving gas, but the SI unit tells you how much you're actually saving which you can then compute using gas prices to see if upgrading is worth it.

One needs to remember France is very close to the US-Canada border in terms of latitude - and in general it's very temperate with temperatures exceeding 30C on the rare side. It's probably closer to Vancouver, Canada as climate. The only difference was, AC was controversial in Vancouver 30 years ago. Sure, you could expect commercial buildings to have AC purely because of the flexibility it enables for design, but older heritage buildings it was iffier.

Home AC was around - we had it installed in the 80s, but was highly uncommon. Car AC was uncommon back then and something we rarely used as it was almost always needing service due to the infrequent use.

These days it's not unreasonable - you can retrofit AC using mini-splits if you don't have central heating. Or even if you do, a mini-split is easy. Though they're often doing it as heatpumps because why go for AC and 95% of a heatpump when you add a couple of parts (a reversing valve mostly) and have a heatpump that works in both summer and winter.

The general issue is the housing was built to retain heat - keeping warm was generally the goal and heating was a huge expense. In the summer you open the windows and the cool air flows through. Of course, when it's 35C outside, the "cool air" is more of a hairdryer.

I would say Europe is about 30 years behind Vancouver in the adoption of AC. Even today you still have objections to AC from various places (usually landlords, often strata councils).

It's also why British, French, and Italian vehicles generally have terrible climate control systems - with such mild climates, AC is hardly used so the technology is decades behind what hotter places like Japan, Korea or the US have and thus those cars have ACs suited to the climate. Nothing is more disappointing than trying the AC and wondering if you were better off opening the window.

The fact that fine art is "worth" hundreds of billions also allows crooks to move money around. As confirmed by the master artist, Hunter Biden.

Art is also subject to wash trades all the time to maintain value. Andy Warhol art, for example, is controlled by a couple of billionaires. If a new piece is discovered, it's immediately bid up to maintain the value of the collection. It doesn't matter if it was a sketch on a napkin only worth $10,000, they will ensure it won't go for less than $200,000.

And they'll exchange art between them with values of millions even though no real money changes hands just to keep the illusion of high prices up.

But also therein lies the difference. Because art can be appreciated, commented on, and other cultural things means there's an inherent value to it. Bitcoin lacks that. A crook trying to offload a dozen Warhol paintings for a million dollars will raise eyebrows. A drug dealer using Bitcoin doesn't care if Bitcoin is $100K, $120K, $20K, $1 or whatever price it is as it's rapidly exchanged to more useful currencies. Bitcoin is a means to facilitate the exchange, and that's it If Bitcoin falls 50%, prices double automatically as they're likely priced in US Dollars.

See?

Now this is where I assume that most people are like myself and try NOT to stand in front of a truck....

Self preservation and all that...common sense some folks call it.

Until you recognize those tall hoods have a huge blind spot in the front and many people do not realize how big it is. On a pickup, it's about 21 feet. Yes, feet. And yes, Europeans know they can park 3 normal cars in that blind spot.

You also see it with cars that stop a huge distance away from the stop line at a traffic light they stop line disappears and they stop, not knowing there's a rather large blind spot in front of them.

Pedestrians and other traffic make use of those spaces and now are inadvertently in a place where the driver really cannot see them, but they don't know that because it's something that doesn't apply to normal vehicles.

It's why semis may have long tall hoods but they are extremely narrow to minimize the blind spot

And yes, the blind spot is so big other cars can zip in especially sportier lower slung cars.

All it would take to fix it would be a requirement for the blind spot to be reduced to say, 3 feet - if you want the tall hood, you must have a camera or radar system in the front that be unobscured in all weather conditions.

It's why Europe likes cabover trucks - when you're navigating around tight roads, not having a blind spot really helps. But even the long nose preferred in North America really tries to minimize the blind spot.

For those who don't realize it, 40 years ago the Mac has existed for 2 yeras. This is well into the era of 8-bit Commodore 64s and Apple IIs, alongside 16 bit machines like the IBM PC. Console wise, we're in the NES era.

The years of the old 8-bits like the VIC-20 and TRS-80 have started to wane, as had hobby computers you built yourself. Perhaps it's the era of modern computing as we know it today where people just bought boxes off the shelf for their computers more so than soldering computers together.

Anyone who remembers building their own PCs for burning ROMs for them is officially old.

GHG went up because of all the gas turbines deployed in a rush during the wind/solar rollout blitz. But it should not be ignored that making the cement for both the nukes and the wind turbines generates huge amounts of GHG. Why I excluded the material fabrication emissions in the discussion. Sadly, no free lunch.

Nuclear cannot replacce gas turbines. Gas turbines are dispatchable power, nuclear is not. A nuclear plant takes hours to ramp up and ramp down production - so it works the opposite of solar and wind, which are also non-dispatchable power sources.

Dispatchable power sources accommodate changes in load instantly (within minutes) - battery, hydro, and gas turbines are dispatchable as they can be brought online and their output adapted within minutes (or in battery, seconds).

Nuclear is called "base load" because they can only run below demand - if demand suddenly drops below a nuclear plant's output, disaster will happen because there will be too much power.

Of course, the problem is using gas turbines for base load power - that is polluting and expensive.

Where Canada has an advantage though, is that they've been able to deliver new nuclear reactors on time, on budget. Canadian built reactors are coming online on time or early, on budget or less. Canada has a demonstrated capability for this - all other nuclear projects are late, really late, and way over budget.

Nightmare Eclipse showed us Bitlocker is a joke. It's not remotely real encryption and easily breakable .. on Win11/2025 server, NOT Win 10. This wasn't an exploit. It was a backdoor. Meanwhile Veracrypt needed a public backlash to get their dev signing keys reinstated so people could get their updated kernel drivers on Windows (and remember, TrueCrypt its predecessor mysteriously disappeared in 2012 with the former author telling people to use BitLocker instead!)

No he didn't. He didn't break Bitlocker. He found a set of circumstances where Windows unlocks the disk and dumps you to a shell prompt without authentication. Yes it's a fault, but it's just like a lock screen bypass on your phone.

But it's a problem that affects all disk encryption - if you encrypt the OS, you need to decrypt to boot. Now some early systems required you to enter your password on startup - they needed to unlock the key. Of course, it also means every reboot must be attended - you could not reboot a system because someone must be there to enter the password.

Then PCs started getting TPM devices, and this allowed them to unlock the disk by encrypting the disk key with TPM keys kept on the chip. But the problem now is that the disk is unlocked. So any authentication bypass will get you access to the encrypted disk, and that's what Nightmare Eclipse found. (The problem affects everything).

Of course, if you steal a drive from a PC, none of Nightmare Eclipse's vulnerabilities would work - because the disk needs the Bitlocker key to unlock, which is contained in the TPM module of the original PC, so it's only useful if you take the whole machine.

But what it is is an authentication bypass - which means it's just another way to bypass the login dialog. Bitlocker unlocking comes as a side effect.