DDR4 prices have gone up as well, over 400%. Even DDR3 prices have spiked. Same with storage, HDDs are up 200-250%. People who can't afford the latest hardware have already turned to older tech.

>"Entangled quantum particles do not allow for faster than light communication"

My understanding is that you also cannot use entanglement for communication at all (for example, by separating entangled particles and relaying state information between them). You can't set or control what is being sent, there can be no information exchange.

https://www.researchgate.net/p...

No, the worst part about ads is that they exist at all in a form that intentionally disrupts your attention.

That fundamental issue is then exacerbated by the current societal tolerance for lies, and you get intrusive advertisements that are deeply misleading.

So, why are you tolerating current advertising at all when there are tools that effectively eliminate it?

The assumption is that using your phone / infotainment system to search for, possibly purchase, and play a new release is an attention-demanding task that takes substantial time. The consensus above is that Spotify's UI, in particular, is poor, and thus requires extra interaction, and thus attention off the road, exacerbating the problem. We know that attending to a phone, even briefly, is mutually exclusive to attending to the road. That alone is an explanatory mechanism for the increase in fatalities.

But then we augment that supposition by the additional effects that new music is also a distraction, albeit much lower grade than operating a phone. It might be a lesser effect, but listening to a song or three is also expected to span longer time than interacting with a phone, so might have substantial cumulative impact.

An additional effect that I have not seen mentioned above is the expectation that the demographic listening to top releases is likely to skew younger, and thus contains drivers with less experience than the population. Less experienced drivers are at far greater risk of accidents of any sort, and are more sensitive to distraction.

And, as a parent of teenagers, the solution is clear to me: do not frelling use your phone when driving, period.

We might see some Chinese companies filling the gap. We can only hope.

It's a start, though I wasn't aware of the requirement to have the meter changed. It's not needed here, the inverter is supposed to handle the cut-off.

The benefits do go to the tenant, that's been the problem of getting this stuff financed. The landlord pays for better insulation, solar panels, heat pump and perhaps a battery, but it's the tenant who reaps the benefits in the form of a lower utility bill. In the Netherlands we can at least charge more for energy-efficient rent-controlled homes, but financially it is still rarely worth it... the housing market being what it is, you can charge €1000/month for a leaky bicycle shed. It seems that the Belgian solution is to simply force landlords to make the upgrades.

"The fact that Grand Theft Auto VI will be a purely digital release has not caused its price point to budge."
Yeah, what did you think was going to happen?

>"That's complete bullshit. I have been using it [Linux] as my daily driver for years as have a number of people I know who aren't particularly technical."

Yep. Classic 80/20 rule. I estimate at least 80% of MS-Windows users could do everything they need in Linux.

>"Unless your jam is just computer gaming"

Even that is now not a barrier. Linux is "gaming" just as well or better than MS-Windows, thanks to Steam.

>"or you have an application that you MUST use that only runs on Windows"

That is a legit problem. But many will not consider alternative apps that work just as well or almost as well. Yet some users will have specific needs that, understandably, require staying on MS-Windows (and where tricks like WINE don't work, or are too unstable/complicated).

>"Linux will do pretty much anything Windows can without the licensing merry-go-round."

And while using less RAM, less storage, less CPU, on far more machines, with way more autonomy, far better privacy, and better security as well. But MS-Windows has a long and entrenched stranglehold in most organizations.

>"They should wipe the drive and install Mint, and take MS up on their promise for a refund, as stated in their license agreement between them and the purchaser."

Agreed. Although getting a "refund" is probably folly. Some companies now allow you to omit the MS-Windows while buying and offering a discount. That would be the better way. Most get kickbacks from forced bloatware, so they are happy with the status quo...

In any case, I have hundreds of machines running Mint (and some other Linxen). All are machines that never paid MS at all, and continue to not do so each year with updates and OS upgrades. And the vast majority are considerably old (10+yrs) and run just fine with older processors, less RAM, and less storage. Because Linux uses far fewer resources.

This horrible situation with RAM and storage pricing and availability can be and should be a great boon for Linux adoption. And that is on top of the extreme hostility and disdain Microsoft has for its customers. Plus system autonomy. And privacy. And security. Home users and companies can extend the life of their existing machines for many years to come, if they are finally willing to put some effort into switching.

>"I speak of Twitter/X like it is a weapon. It is but one that destroyed trust, empathy and identity"

Twitter was a weapon, destroying those long before Musk bought it. A lot of the stuff going on just wasn't noticed (at least by the main-stream).

None of these companies have any great morality. Their motivation is primarily "engagement" and nothing engages more than stirring up conflict.

>"X algorithm changed in July [2024] to boost right-wing accounts, study finds [cybernews.com]"

How quickly we forget the down-ranking and bans on right-wing accounts. Or did you agree with that?

https://nypost.com/2022/12/08/...

>"Cambridge research confirms rude, disrespectful, and false content sees greater amplification."

I don't participate in social media. But what I do see is just as much rude and disrespect from the "left" as the "right". And "false content" is often based on the eye of the beholder, applies across the board, and is a red herring.

>"The platform isn't just allowing extremism. It's designed to promote it."

Welcome to social media. Again, I am glad I never participated.

>"I'd not trust them to actually give you the complete real deal and there's no way whatsoever to validate that the code they release is really it."

Oh, you mean kinda like Chrome?

You know, that popular browser by Google.... the one that is binary and you don't really know what they are doing. They release the code as Chromium. And don't really let the community steer it in any meaningful way, they have 100% control over the code. Then they take it and do mysterious stuff on/in it and produce a binary that people run.

So yeah, run Firefox, where you can compile it yourself, or run a trusted binary by a third party, or run a fork like LibreWolf, Waterfox, or Palemoon.

At least what X is doing is a zillion times more transparent than what Twitter was doing. And infinitely more transparent than Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Shapchat, Pinterest, Threads, Discord, Twitch, or TikTok. And they promise they will accept feedback and will be releasing more code as open.

I proudly have never even had an account on any of those. (Technically my Android account is an account on YouTube, but I have never used YouTube as "logged in"). I suppose Slashdot is the closest I have ever come to "social media."

Except that App Store is now mandatory for any business app.

Agreed. It should be more like $25. $100 is _way_ too much.

Also don't forget having to use Apple hardware to do the development.