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Comment Re:You need a bit of critical thinking here (Score 2) 98

The 'fix' for student loans if for the schools to 'co-sign' the loan with the student. The student can only discharge the dept back to the school after X number of years of paying Y% of their salaries towards the loan. You figure out the X and Y with some negotiations but the end result is if you go into a field where there is no way to pay off the loan in X years paying Y% of the salary then the school should never have loaded you the money in the first place. One of two things happen, schools either don't give out loans for those majors anymore or they reduce the cost of the major. No longer are kids getting 100's of thousands in student loans for art history because the school will end up eating that cost in X years.

Comment Embedded tags (Score 1) 76

Can Youtube embed tags in the videos, so that if someone downloads it off one channel then tries to upload it elsewhere that this information is automatically detected as a fraudulent video? Either that or have watermarks on every video with the channel name, so the same issue would apply, youtube could detect any existing watermark in the video being uploaded and know to automatically nix the upload? There has to be a technical solution that would prevent duplication by bots or spammers.

Comment Re:Only in America (Score 1) 307

How is this any different than eBay? They take a 10% cut of the entire total not even the difference between ask / bid. They're providing a service in creating a marketplace for transactions to occur. They've decided to take a cut out of the 'created' value for the individuals rather than taking a lump sum % of total rent. If you get a management company to run a property they take 10% plus first month of any new tenet.

Comment Re:Only in America (Score 1) 307

But they did 'create value' by getting you more than you asked for in rent. If I'm trying to rent for 1200/mo and end up getting 1400/mo they created 200/mo in extra value for me. So they're going to take 25% of that difference, I'm still getting the other 75% more than I expected.

On the other hand if it goes for less I ask for 1200/mo and only get 1000/mo then the renter got a good 'deal' of 200/mo off and will have to pay them 25% of that discount. They still got a good 'deal' that they wouldn't have otherwise.

Meanwhile this all assumes a difference in expected value by the landlord not understanding the market themselves.

Transportation

Apple Will Use Drones To Improve the Quality of Apple Maps (bloomberg.com) 44

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Apple plans to use drones and new indoor navigation features to improve its Maps service and catch longtime leader Google (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternate link), according to people familiar with the matter. The Cupertino, California-based company is assembling a team of robotics and data-collection experts that will use drones to capture and update map information faster than its existing fleet of camera-and-sensor ladened minivans, one of the people said. Apple wants to fly drones around to do things like examine street signs, track changes to roads and monitor if areas are under construction, the person said. The data collected would be sent to Apple teams that rapidly update the Maps app to provide fresh information to users, the person added. Apple is also developing new features for Maps, including views inside buildings and improvements to car navigation, another person familiar with the efforts said. Apple filed for an exemption on Sept. 21, 2015, from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly drones for commercial purposes, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg News. At that time, exemptions were required to commercially operate drones. In a response dated March 22, 2016, the FAA granted Apple approval to "operate an unmanned aircraft system to conduct data collection, photography, and videography," according to one of the documents. Apple's application told the FAA that it would use a range of drones sold by companies such as SZ DJI Technology Co. and Aibotix GmbH to collect the data. Apple has hired at least one person from Amazon's Prime Air division to help run the drone team, one of the people said.

Comment Re:Good! (Score 1) 239

This is probably a very regional thing. In my neighborhood the UPS, USPS and Fedex people take turns screwing up royally. I'm still not sure how USPS can deliver to the wrong house in a neighborhood (giving my packages to neighbors instead of me) when they come to the house every damn day. UPS is generally better but have the same problem on occasion and Fedex is just plain awful here.

Comment Bring back Home Ec (Score 1) 908

Screw statistics, if you want practical bring back Home ec and teach basic accounting, teach about credit cards, checking, saving, mortgages, etc. That's far more useful to force upon everyone. That said if you can't get through Algebra II with at least a C in high school you probably aren't cut out to tie your shoelaces let alone become any of the professions the article mentions.

Comment Underwhelming Apple TV Rumors (Score 1) 244

The rumors of the new Apple TV don't even sound compelling. As of the latest rumors I've seen there is no HDMI 2.0 or "4K" support. So if they don't upgrade again for 2-3 years then thats a long time ignoring 4k content which they could charge a premium for streaming 4k content now as its still not mass market.

They seem to be pushing IoT and making the Apple TV the smart hub for the house. That 'could' be interesting, but it also could be a completely unused feature for 99% of customers and go no where.

Comment TV is better now (Score 1) 400

People seem to forget the other angle. In fighting for our entertainment time, TV has gotten much much better in the last 10 years. Instead of just dumb sitcoms there are now amazing shows like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and many many others that are as good or better than anything hollywood has been doing with movies. So now we have a choice of watching amazing TV shows for free/marginal cost or the huge cost of going to a theater with all the detractors that have been listed time and time again on here. How many get a Netflix subscription for watching movies? I almost exclusively use it for TV shows (House of Cards is another amazing example).

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