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Comment Re:Power failure (Score 1) 175

When the power goes out, I can start a gas generator and use my local library. Not so much if it is in the cloud.

I'm having a hard time seeing this as a problem with Kindle (as opposed to e.g. ownership of bought content).

Kindles have a long battery lifetime, measured in weeks. If it has run out, connect it to a powerbank and you've solved the problem for days. Content that you are reading or have read on the device is available, and if you have to get a new book - just connect it to your phone hotspot and download it. They're tiny.

Comment Re:GDPR (Score 2) 95

In Europe the company would have had to delete this info after the verification check.

Not necessarily - if they ask for and get consent they can store it. There's no sensitive data in what is listed.

However, what the app does - "let women anonymously share and search for information, advice, and photos of men they say they have dates with or are looking to date" - would be strictly illegal as they haven't gotten consent from the men in the database, The data would also contain information on the data subject's sexual life, which is a protected category of data. They'd also run afoul of the data subject's right to rectification of the information in the database.

Comment Re:"risk creating" (Score 1) 79

I hear the culture of fear is very real, and additionally has created a pretty uncooperative, hostile environment as everyone hoards knowledge. How about trimming executive salaries a lot? They're clearly worthless.

Another option is cutting back on $20-30 billion in share buybacks every year. Even cutting 15,000 employees saves just a small portion of the cost of the share buybacks. And the share buybacks constitute less than 1% of the total market capitalization, so they don't really have much of an effect on the share price. What's more baffling is that if the buyback money were instead spent on increased dividends, the current dividends could be doubled, and that potentially would increase the share price more than the buybacks.

The real problem is that the executives don't have common sense. Investing gobs of money in a future technology like AI. That's a risky bet, but at least one that is understandable. Buybacks are just throwing someone else's money at something that is known to not make a difference. Executives do the buybacks because it's not their money. Getting rid of employees does decrease operating expenses and increase efficiency, but that assumes that the executives know who to cut, which, of course, is unlikely given that the same executives hired these people in the first place.

It's strange that they don't separate investment in AI vs operating expenses in the rest of the company to keep and expand the markets they have. It's not like they're financially unable to do both - both AI and keeping the resources they need for operations(*). That said, buybacks are better for some than dividends because you pay taxes immediately on dividends while if the same money goes via buybacks you don't have to pay taxes before you realize the profits by selling the stock. Of course, if like most people you have mutual funds it doesn't matter.

(*) Which means more of a constant optimization up or down in the actual units, rather than large cuts everywhere.

Comment Re:Sold in 2023 with a 3 year warrantry (Score 1) 61

They shut down the "Wemo Mini Smart Plug" which was still sold in November 2023. It came with a 3 year warranty.

That is screwed up.

And why you should NEVER buy hardware that comes with a service sold by the same company.

If you buy hardware it should be usable with OTHER people's services. If they want you to get a service, it should include the hardware for free/included in the monthly service fee.

Well, then it should be easy - if it no longer works and it's covered by a three year warranty they'll have to fix it somehow, Or, failing that, they will probably think a refund is easier,

Comment Re:Apple computer (Score 1) 93

The cheapest Mac laptop is $999

High by almost a third, Apple’s cheapest laptop is a $650 model of the M1 MacBook Air sold only via Walmart.

You shouldn't buy that. Not only is it worse by almost every spec (cpu speed, graphics, memory, cameras, battery lifetime, external display support, wifi standard), but it will also have approximately 3-4 years less of updates from today. Per year, it will probably be more expensive than the cheapest M4 air.

Comment Re:Why are they selling the same thing (Score 1) 40

for less money in other parts of the world? That sounds like racism or a scam.

Price discrimination is a common strategy. Not only between countries, but also between different customer segments. "Student discounts" and "senior discounts" are other examples.

The tactic is especially useful for products where you have a large fixed cost and a lower marginal cost - e.g. software. Take one example, Matlab. The normal cost of a software seems to be above $2000. Obviously, the marginal cost is close to zero but they have large fixed costs - so if you can sell it to home users for a much lower cost, you're still getting more money total even if that price if applied to business customers would bankrupt the company.

Comment Re:Little subreddit dictators (Score 1) 103

I called it out on another branch of this discussion but I'm talking about things like, someone posts a question that goes something like this:
"Am I The Asshole for declining a second date with the chick I met on Tinder after she told me she was trans?"

Topics like this are ban honeypots because even getting too close to a verboten position will get you banned by Reddit.

I have seen it. I have been threatened with a ban for expressing the opinion that 8 year old children shouldn't be given sex reassignment surgery.

Reddit is toxic.

LK

Comment Re:Reddit is cancer and a fucking blight on the we (Score 1) 103

Presumably the OP is referring to any number of subs related to women, women who want to date women, or other subreddits where that discussion is completely germane, and yet here you are banging on about beekeeping as though it's somehow relevant in the slightest.

Or general relationship subreddits.

Someone will ask "Am I transphobic for not going on a second date after this chick I met on Tinder told me she was trans?"

It'll be a ban honeypot.

LK

Comment Reddit is cancer and a fucking blight on the web (Score 2, Informative) 103

It's a stupid echo chamber full of stupid people who are chasing stupid agendas.

It's a place where they will permanently ban you for suggesting that there is any difference of any kind between XX CIS women and XY Trans women.

It's a place where you'll be mod bombed into oblivion for saying that you wouldn't want to date a current or former sex worker.

It's a place where honest discourse goes to die.

Seriously, fuck Reddit.

LK

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