I would have killed for a Chromebook decades ago so that I could write essays in class (not on paper) in way that allowed for useful editing and reflection.

Other than that, I strongly prefer books on paper and taking notes on paper.

As a parent, my ability to control and monitor my children when they are using school issued devices is diminished. It's also a big lift for tech savvy parents to limit what kids can do on computers or devices.

My kids don't know the passwords to their iPhone/Apple accounts. Apps are only added with my grudging permission.

I think the Subaru has the model of XM radio that allow for free access to some channels (news).

I would take two pop up ads per year to get some free XM radio access.

Ideally the pop up's should happen when the car starts and not during my driving.

Crucial was also my reliable place to buy RAM for decades. They will be missed.

Does anyone remember the mismatched / repaired memory sticks (lowest grade) at Fry's back in the 1990's ?

Oh my goodness. How do I compete against this state sponsored competitor?

My nephew is a Sophomore this year in a competitive engineering program.

He showed up with AP calc BC completed plus a bunch of other AP and dual enrollment classes that his high school encouraged.

Other kids are starting off in college with pre-calc. No chance they are finishing that degree in four years.

Having a higher standard to enter college is perhaps what allows some countries to shorten their programs to three years.

A degree is some validation that you can complete 30 courses each with a dozen requirements to some level of satisfaction of the instructor.

I have had a co-worker or two without degrees that were less able to complete tasks that were not interesting enough to them. Then again I have had similar issues with other younger workers who did have degrees.

For some the degree may be training where they learn useful skills. For others the degree is a filter that they can't pass through.

All bow to the Capital Allocators !

While I do like to win. I also want to make sure that everyone has fun when playing a game in person.

My actions are somewhat tempered by my desire to have fun vs. beating everyone into the ground every round.

This burst of EV manufacturing capacity is similar to the overproduction of housing in China.

The big differences are: 1) EV's can be exported to willing buyers 2) EV's depreciate 3) EV's from bankrupt manufacturers will probably plumet in value due to the lack of support and parts

If an accusation by an AI bot requires that I hire an accountant and I prevail, then the IRS should cover the costs of my defense.

It's going to be great when you elderly parent clicks on some offer that replaces all the native apps on their phone with some AI enhanced data scraper that violates their privacy and breaks their routine.

Can't wait for that.

With enough compute power Walmart could also just pre-calculate the cost of delivering to every address in the US.

To a certain extent you are just trying to screen out unprofitable customers. You want to put those unprofitable into a review bucket and not accept local delivery orders until you figure out a solution.

Our oldest kid just went through the college application process. They received only one acceptance from schools that required an essay.

I suppressed my desire to hire a consultant to write down whatever it took to improve their odds of admission. In retrospect, I would have hired an admissions consultant 2-3 years ago to make the necessary adjustments in coursework, EC's or the essay.

If you dig a trench and install fiber that infrastructure can last for 100+ years.

If you give an LEO Internet provider some cash, those satellites might last 5-10 years.

I don't have an issue with rural folks subscribing to Starlink. I don't see why the government should want to subsidize their service.

The primary objective of having Starlink absorb fiber cash is to make sure that the fiber does not get built and those unimproved homes are stuck with Starlink forever.

The CPUC controls California's three major investor owned utilities (IOU's). Those utilities are largely helpless to fight against the laws of the state and the CPUC who implements them.

Grey Davis got recalled from office for being Governor when the power market got screwed up 20+ years ago. Newsome has somehow so far avoided this same fate.