If we were to get vehicles at near China's prices its hard to argue that demand for evs wouldn't improve.

Not necessarily.....most of the folks that want and EV, have one.....there just is NOT the demand for them here in the US that you have in other parts of the world.

A lot of this is due to the recharging infrastructure not being in place unless you live at the extreme west and maybe the east coast too.

I live in the New Orleans area....and from the maps and charging station finders I've seen we Still have precious few public charging stations anywhere in this area....

This is typical for most of the US.

With that comes range anxiety, and there's a TON of people, about 1/3 of the nation's populace that can't charge at home due to being in apartment complexes with large parking nots and no chargers or renting homes without chargers out side or no off street parking.

Unless you own your home and can charge at home, it's just a PITA to deal with and EV over here for a significant % of the populace.

I don't want one.....wouldn't work for me.

Never mind that their FSD is more capable than any current system on the market today.

What is "FSD"? New term to me....

And it should be absolutely fine to reproduce the lyrics verbatim and in full. Copyright as gotten completely out of hand.

Countries trying to lure in top academics don't just offer money, but also facilities, research grants and such. Compensation is only part of the picture, and scientists might want to choose the country were they are going to get the most science done, not necessarily the one that pays best.

You were comparing manned missions to automated missions. The only practical result of either is science; it will be a long while before we'll see something practical being done in space. Manned mission are more expensive but they can yield way more science as well. I think we ought to at least try and get something of a moonbase established. That is attainable, and will give us a much better idea of what we can expect should we want to venture further out in a manned mission. That experience in itself is worth attaining.
If you want practical, however, space exploration has little to offer anymore, except some spinoff tech perhaps.

There is a huge difference between having a little robotic rover trundle over the Lunar service, and having some scientists present, with a lab. Though I imagine a lot of that research will mostly be useful for further human exploration of them Moon or space, so it might seem a little self-serving. But it may well drive down the cost of human space exploration.

No violence to sea creatures is to be expected. Well, except maybe the tasty ones. We'll have to find out which those are... SCIENCE!

Professional, or soulless corporate?

Pro tip: walk the store in the opposite direction. When you walk like everyone else, you'll be trying to overtake slow walkers, couples with a stroller who somehow manage to block the entire 5m wide aisle, groups. Walk against the flow, and you'll be parting the crowds like Moses did the Red Sea. And if they appear not to make way, look slightly to the side as if you are not looking at them. They'll move.

As a former landlord I have spent a considerable time in Ikea...

Matter is just an application layer comms protocol, and yes it's open. Often combined with Thread, a low power radio comms network (The new Ikea stuff uses it), in which case you need a Thread hub, or a Thread border router that acts as a bridge to your LAN and by extension to the Internet. Matter devices may or may not require the cloud.

I have a bunch of thermostats and TRVs (Tado brand) that use Matter, and can be added to my own Matter hub (Home Assistant), to the manufacturer's cloud, or both. There are several brands that follow this model even if they don't use Matter. The good news is that you can continue to use these devices or add new ones even if the manufacturer has gone out of business or shut down their cloud. The bad news is... many of these devices need some configuring; often highly specific settings that can only be done through the manufacturer's app. They'll continue to work but you won't be able to reconfigure them.

Matter allows devices to expose device settings, but it seems that not all manufacturers bother, or they are too specific to fit into the generic Matter types (for instance: heating schedules)

Well, also, if you're shooting 120 medium format film or even 4x5 or larger films...the depth of field and looks just aren't something you can readily get from digital sensors.

I guess if they actually started making medium format sized sensors (ie the size of MF film) or larger then it might work...but those would be insanely expensive.

If they wanted to make me happy....start selling 400ft spools again of their Vision3 35mm cinema film that I can respool to shoot stills with.

The new stuff they're releasing for motion pictures without the old remjet backing that had to be "washed off" before processing sounds exciting....and would make life easier for those developing at home with either C41 or ECN-2.

Hell, really make me happy and start selling a version of the Vision3 films in 120 medium format and PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY.

With everything going on with air traffic based issues since Trump started destroying the FAA and all other government agencies

What are you talking about ? If the Dems in the senate...as few as 5 of them would vote to pass the CLEAN Continuing Resolution, the govt would open and things would go to normal.....

This is the same CR that they have all voted on numerous times.....it isn't Trumps fault here, it's the Dems holding the US hostage here...

the ends do not justify the illegal and unconstitutional means.

Exactly what illegal and unconstitutional means do you propose are happening exactly?

There are several brands that work totally local (ZWave, Zigbee)
There are also some that can use either the cloud but also work locally. Your story shows why one should be ware of such devices. Some still require the cloud to function, or to change settings, even if they can be operated without the cloud. So you keep them online, there's an update, and something gets broken. Philips Hue will no longer function without registering ab account with the company. Tado removes functionality (allowing thermostatic radiator valves to demand heat for a room even if there's no wall thermostat) for newly added devices: that now requires their monthly subscription. Support for certain APIs get dropped. And so on.

I don't say it often but there ought to be a law, regarding services tied to physical devices owned by the end user. No diminishing functionality when a device is updated, no hiding formerly free functions behind paywalls or subscriptions. And cloud service guaranteed for the reasonably expected lifespan of the last device sold officially (not of of clearance or second hand)