It was not that they did not trust C++ (itself) but it is easier to verify the rust implementation (because rust does a lot of the memory safety checks at compile time), and there is a long long long history of codecs having memory safety issues. One less potential future exploit is always a good thing (one should note that rust does not protect against logic errors, so the code may still be wrong, just potentially less wrong).

Were these 3rd party drivers certified as WHQL compliant? Or did the users just click install when the warning message popped up about the drivers not being certified?

There are videos of birds attacking drones, and while not exactly common, it certain does happen. I would be surprised if Amazon has not worked with ornithologists (I would guess even have a few on staff) to learn how to minimize such attacks.

I believe he lives in Berkeley, so he probably drives, or is driven, or takes Bart, to the Oakland courthouse every day (the courthouse is a 1 or 2 minute walk from the closest Bart station).

In one of his interviews, he stated that he never expects to be able to find employment in his field ever again. Advocacy roles (in various non-profits), on the other hand, may be his future.

They should have addressed the eventual charge for executing the payment up front and earlier by making it clear it was all an initial experiment. No one of any intelligence imagined that there is not a small cost to the banks to execute the transaction itself, although it is likely a very small amount per transaction (probably only a few rupees) for values under the various reporting thresholds (where the costs of the transaction goes up due to the additional overheads at the bank).

Charging now, for something that was free so long, is going to be hard.

There are likely special cases (loss of job, emergency medical expense for yourself or loved one, money tied up for a short time) where the money is not available today, but can/will be in the near future. For some people, they might choose to use a credit card in those cases, but not everyone who lives a paycheck to paycheck lifestyle have a credit card, so buy now, pay later, is their only option (a bad option, but perhaps their only option).

The interesting thing is that the California's own official mDL app incorporates the ability to read a drivers license. I guess California has not provided the needed tech to their own police agency officers.

A primary use, today, is at the airport, as TSA will accept (or at least try to accept) the digital ID QR code, and that can make moving through the lines a bit faster for everyone. If you have never flown, nor mind longer lines, this is would be uninteresting to you.

Some states also add in various age verification QR codes, that, maybe, eventually, mean that retailers and bars can use those to verify you are sufficient old to buy that beer, and equip police (and other agent staff) with readers that can just read the QR code that you display on your phone rather than you needing hand over your physical ID (in no case do you have to hand over your phone, the QR code provides the needed data).

Various PostgreSQL variants (with additions) is already quite close to Oracle DB, but many enterprises want to be running a DB certified for their (for example) ERP solutions, and have been willing to pay (Oracle) for that extra paperwork. Sort of like no one likes VMWare, no one likes Oracle, but the cost to get out is higher than what many enterprises are prepared to spend today for a future reduction in costs.

Well, yes, increases in prices are to be expected year over year due to inflation in general (and not just because it is software), but this year the increases were reportedly in the 7-10% range, which is somewhat higher than in some previous years with somewhat equivalent inflation numbers. And for manufacturers, who only pay $50-80/device, that is not a huge increase, but when your margins are being cut all across the board due to other cost increases, every dollar increase in your licensing costs makes a difference, until you have to raise your prices to the end user.

While stations vary, most local PBS stations simply do not have the money for that level of IT staffing (and after recent reductions in funding, even those that may have had such staff, have probably had to let them know). Of course, if you want to volunteer your time, and the time of your backup, and the time of your backups backup (all for depth and redundancy) to your local PBS station, perhaps that can change.

Whether Russia, China, Iran, or North Korea (pick your favorite country), chips leak all the time, in smaller quantities (unless you are going to implement extensive and intrusive export checks of every package, suitcase, backpack, or pants pocket, you simply can't stop it). As long as there is advantage (usually money) to be made, someone will find a way.

Uber famously went public while still losing money (and so did Amazon as I recall). As long as you have a good story, and someone believes it, you can get investors.

For electron/positron accelerators (which is what we are talking about here) there is a proposal for FCC-ee at CERN, but at best it will not come online until the late 2040s (and note that "at best" requires funding, which is not yet available). The ILC (International Linear Collider) and CLIC (Compact Linear Collider) are working together with LCC (Linear Collider Collaboration) to coordinate future research on such accelerators, but, again these are currently proposals, not funded projects.