I think the Chinese government needs to severely cull the number of EV manufacturers down to four at most: BYD, SAIC, Geely Group and Chery. And give them unlimited resources to make their EV's truly world-class vehicles that comply even with the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

But much of what was learned from the iPhone Air will go into the iPhone 18 models arriving in March 2027. This means:

1. The back looks like iPhone 17 Pro but with only two camera sensors.
2. Larger camera plateau will mean most of the electronics will be inside the camera plateau.
3. Will use stainless steel chassis but will be a bit thinner than iPhone 16/16 Plus models from 2024.
4. Wraparound antenna will be stainless steel.
5. Will come in 6.1" and 6.6" screen sizes with just about no bezels, so the 6.1" model will be about the size of the 2017 iPhone X and the 6.6" model feels like a thicker iPhone Air.
6. Full MagSafe support including Qi2.2 support for 25 watt wireless charging.
7. Apple A20 SoC with 12 GB of RAM.
8. New silicon-carbon battery with 3,900 mAh on the 6.1" model and 4,500 mAh on the 6.6" model.
9. C2 radio modem, including mmWave support for US models.
10. N1 (or its successor) I/O chip.
11. Return of better-quality speakers.
12. USB Type C port with up to 40 watts initial charging speed and possible USB 3.2 1x1 5 gigabit/second data transfer speed.

In short, it looks like the current iPhone Pro but with only two camera sensors in back, stainless steel chassis and thinner chassis (but not as thin as iPhone Air). It will be available in multiple colors, including the colors supposed claimed for the iPhone 18 Pro models. Note the rumored haptic touch buttons won't arrive until 2028.

A big factor driving EV sales recently is the introduction last year and this year of new, lower-cost (but 200 mile range and under) EV models from the likes of Hyundai/Kia and Renault. Renault, especially with the 4 E-Tech and 5 E-Tech models and the upcoming Twingo E-tech, models well-suited for the narrower streets of Europe.

The southwestern quadrant of the continental USA has some of the best climate conditions in the world for solar power. Much of Australia and lands along the Mediterranean Sea are the same way. Indeed, that's why there are large solar farms in Spain itself.

But do we REALLY need gigabit broadband for everyone? I think for most Americans, 256 megabits/second download speed is more than sufficient for most uses including working from home.

Maybe the standard for everyone should be 256 megabits/second download and upload.

Correct. Air pollution is definitely a defining factor. We still have many who grew up when air pollution from automobiles was still a serious issue, The long list of air pollutants from the exhaust of gasoline or diesel fueled engines can be quite long.

Here's the problem: one bad winter and all that renewable power goes out the door. And Europe north of the Alps can experience harsh winters.

...Solar power is viable because the Mediterranean climate is high conducive of solar power installations. I can see a lot of them in Spain, Italy, the Balkans and Greece.

But northern Europe? Not so much. In winter, shorter daylight hours and harsh winter weather makes solar power much less viable.

Because this report is almost telling use to just stop eating meat from cattle, pigs and even chickens, let alone seafood. It almost sounds like they want us to switch to an insect-based diet, which may or may not be a good thing given that we haven't really tried to harvest insects for food on an industrial scale. Besides, the phrase "everything in moderation" makes way more sense for a health perspective.

Those hybrid systems found on many Toyotas sold outside the USA aren't the sophisticated hybrid systems like we see on Prius or the current year Camry models. I do think we'll see much more advanced battery packs on the US market Toyotas with hybrid drive to improve fuel economy and/or offer even more range on inital battery power (maybe over 100 km or 62.1 miles) by 2028.

I expect that to drop dramatically because Toyota just recently opened a new battery plant for their hybrid models. And I wouldn't be surprised that Toyota will start sourcing battery packs from third parties for their burgeoning hybrid lineup.

Also, all these battery plants could be supplying hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles out there. Toyota is aggressively pushing hybrids, Honda is starting to do so, and I expect Nissan to go that way (if they survive).

But given the sometimes-wonky nature of EU regulations, good luck growing a tech company in Europe.

THIS is why I bought into a YouTube Premium account. That way, I don't have to frustratingly deal with ad interruptions all the time, especially on longer videos. Yes, I know it's US$13.95 per month, but given the cost of a premium Starbucks drink or even a fast food meal nowadays, it's definitely worth it.

Unfortunately for Google, iMessage is so entrenched nobody wants to really switch to RCS, even with the GSMA working on an open end-to-end encryption standard. Most everyone in the USA are either on Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp as their primary messaging platforms.