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Comment Once again (Score 1) 47

I keep repeating this, because it keeps being borne out by news such as this.

Tech companies are bolstering their revenue streams by preventing right-to-repair and insisting that only THEIR employees and THEIR parts can be used, because they have adopted the position that the customer can never actually own the device they think they've purchased...they can only rent it.

See also: Sonos "smart" speakers, Second Sight retinal implants, and a laundry list of other products that have been bricked because the manufacturer either decided it was no longer cost-effective to support them, or outright went out of business.

This, of course, opens the door on a separate discussion regarding open-source vs. closed-source ecosystems, but by definition, that's going to be a separate discussion.

Comment Welcome to reapply? Not so much (Score 1) 144

An Executive Order issued Monday implemented a full hiring freeze on all Federal positions within the executive branch, except for military recruitment or positions related to public safety or national security. The positions cut within these advisory committees meet that definition.

That said, several departments are announcing broad exemptions to that hiring freeze. Whether these advisory committees meet the criteria to be exempted remains, as the saying goes, a game-time decision.

Comment Re:Same film, different generation (Score 1) 40

"Elsevier responded that the editors shouldn't be paying attention to language, grammar, readability, consistency, or accuracy of proper nomenclature or formatting."

What do they see as the editor's job, then? Because to me, it sounds like what they're saying is that editors shouldn't be...you know...EDITING.

Comment One of the draws (Score 1) 56

Users are moving to BlueSky, among other reasons, because "Block" means BLOCK. Once one user blocks another, there can be no further interaction between the two users unless the first user removes that block. Contrast this to the former Twitter, where a recent policy change allows blocked users to continue to view the blocking user's posts and comments, arguably creating a vehicle for cyberstalking...or worse.

In combination with a distinct lack of advertising, no algorithms that promote or demote individual posts, and the ability to read followed accounts' posts in reverse chronological order instead of scattered across the timeline by the previously-mentioned algorithms, the attractiveness of BlueSky becomes more apparent. In short, it's what Twitter was in the beginning, but with better guardrails.

Comment It won't matter (Score 1) 48

Trying to sue Amazon won't have any effect whatsoever, after last week's Loper-Bright decision by the Supreme Court. If Amazon lose, they will appeal and cite that case, and the courts will de-fang the FERC and let Amazon buy as much power as they want, because the courts are now the final arbiters of regulations, and the actual regulatory agencies are just decorative puppet theatre.

Comment Here we go again (Score 1) 136

More and more tech companies are sinking their teeth into the same approach: customers don't actually buy anything from them. The customers only rent the products. It doesn't matter if it's hardware or software; the overarching approach today is exactly the same. Even if one has physical media (which, by design, has become increasingly rare) from which to load and run software, if an online handshake must be performed to enable any of that software's functionality, the publisher can turn that handshake off at the drop of an accountant's whim, and you're left with what may be a rather expensive coaster.

That's as far as I go.

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