See, here is the thing.. even if its shot down.. the amount of information that will shared (and a lot of it publically).. is going to turn some heads and ultimately thats the right aim.. to drag this issue into the light.

That's gonna be a spicy meatball..

Well, at least we know our alien overlords will love us.. (with some Marinara sauce and a little cheese on top).

That's gonna be a spicy meatball..

Well, at least we know our alien overlords will love us.. (with some Marinara sauce and a little cheese on top).

Just like how we have ratings on TV shows and movies.. its up to the consumer to set policies and restrictions... the ratings are there more for guidence.. and the issue isn't ratings.. the issue is the same issue as it is with "porn" validating ages.. how do you it in a way that doesn't harm the company by collecting unreasonable information.. and if say someone steals a CC/ID to submit.. the company is often going to be held to blame.. thus making doing any business even that much more difficult/costly..

And since apple doesn't allow for "adult" content on their platforms (as far as apps go).. there really isn't a need for this other than government intrusion/overeach...

Rest assured, they (the government) knows the only real way to validate is to collect the ID's of everyone using their platforms.. and how long do you think it will be before they (same government) start to collect that information from companies (like apple/google).... they will claim its for "validation" but its really going to be more to do data correlation.. Oh.. we know "Bob Smith" is anti-XXX (whatever the issue).. and we know his phone, and can "prove" its him that acquired the app and used it.. which means, we can now go after "bob smith".. under whatever pretext/reason we want to use/make up..

Apple has historically kept their products the same price across countries/regions so there is little incentive to go region chasing.. (you are chasing availability or features rather than price).. which means the sales numbers per region aren't skewed by "vacation shoppers".. (in the US its a little different since there are statewide shifts.. like buying in no sales tax states and moving it to a sales tax state)..

So because of this, any fluctuation is leveled out by the world as a whole.. rather than region specific.

You would.. but lets also be honest... a meat only diet would kill the majority of people over time.. in fact, if you look at history..most of our "shorter" lifespans early on was the total lack of variety in the diet.. (some meat, some fruit, some veg, some starches in some manner).. Meat rich diets only really work with periods of extreme physical activity because its nutrient dense.. Modern lifestyles demands lower or more tailored diets.. or if you are aiming for a meat rich diet, then you scale back the quantity of consumption or you amp up the physical demands.. (if you look,, environments that are cold/cool tend to favor more meats/fats in the diet because they need the extra caloric density because they are burning a lot more calories to maintain body heat (and physically larger)... and if you look at very warm climates they tend to be more veg/fruit/seafood diets because their caloric requirements are a lot lower. (you will also notice they tend to be more ectomorphic body shapes (leaner/slender).

In short, there is no one diet fits all.. for all climates and even bodies within that climate.. So having enough agricultural diversity is important because it ensures you are not killing off segments of the population in favor of simplicity.

Yes.. but that was also a period when construction paid well and they didn't "care" so much about risks.

Now, companies are risk/injury adverse and so wouldn't take on someone.. The reason they don't mind hiring "illegals" is if they get injured the chances of it turning into a multi-million dollar lawsuit is slim to none..

So basically a lot of work students could do, they are essentially priced out... (both from the fact that the costs have risen, but also college friendly jobs (ie: those that work odd-hours or don't impact class schedules) are in high competition with everyone or simply don't exist.. And before someone says "just start your own business".. That in of itself can be a time sink (thus extending your college time and cost) and definitely requires capital to start with (at the very least, licensing)

With the rigged courts in the US right now?.. Yes..

With the international courts still having some sense of reality?.. No..

In short, by claiming this, its also giving other countries legal rights to sue US companies on "likely violated" laws.. (tit for tat).. and China owns a ton of 5G patents (in fact for 5G and 6G technology, China has the MOST patents and controls of any country in the world).. So they COULD sue the US back to the stone age.. (who needs a bomb when lawyers are just as destructive but without all the mess

This is not going to be for ever use case.. but a common use case for the super dense hard woods is flooring, and commercial wall spaces where aesthetics matter.

Also I can see some framing work (depending on the cost (US uses a lot of wood in residential framing.. (because wood can be adjusted on-site..)).. So its not going to replace "concrete/steel".. its just a stronger wood that would be used in places where wood would normally be used anyway.. but instead of it being super rare woods (like iron wood or some species of teak) you can now take cheaper/more abundant woods and give them the properties of the more exotic species.

The reason there are not many ASOP clients is because its being implemented at the OS level and not the application level.. And thus very little reason work on a 3rd party one. Also while the RCS is an OIS (Open Industry Standard).. it doesn't mean everyone is going to spend thousands of hours on developing a 3rd party client (for what purpose?)..

So yes, its open.. but like Ethernet, USB, Bluetooth and a number of open specs, to actually be compatible and validate the intercommunication isn't for the weak. And again, because RCS has access to literally billions of clients/customers, its not phone companies are going to say "sure, just run your own server and talk with our billions of customers for free" The SPEC is open.. the access to USE the spec with with others is not.

Google and Apple get away with things because they own either the OS and/or the platform... and even their devices/apps spend years (and often millions of dollars) in carrier testing/validation/approval (YOU the hardware/software provider PAY to test/validate against their network).. and each carrier often times each country have their own process for testing/validation).

A lot of people (especially our tech community) consume "open source" (which is the ability to use/change as they see fit without any restrictions) with "open standard" which says, while the specification is open and thus usable by any one.. the PRACTICAL use of it with other devices in the field is still limited to a carrier's implementation/support/validation/testing and THAT is not "open").

Sorry, but no.. RCS isn't forcing path to google's services..

The reason google wants RCS is it makes it feature parity between iphone and android and thus less of a reason for some people to stick with iphone (ie: if everything is "even" meaning cross device communication, then the ecosystem you choose is based on preference rather than a lack of feature) which actually provides a larger device footprint (which DOES benefit google and by extension android phone manufacturers).

Because RCS is an OPEN STANDARD it means then android can provide a lot of imessage like features to everyone.. (not just other android users of a particular generation).

It also REMOVES control of messages from the phone companies (SMS is a carrier controlled method) or iMessage (which is apple controlled) into one that is more democratically controlled.. (ie: a common standard that all carriers and devices can use). Yes Google is ONE server, but RCS means other groups/carriers can use their own servers and still provide the same level of functions/features.. (which currently isn't the case.. SMS is pure text and doesn't always translate other languages very well depending on the carrier), MMS mostly carrier dependent based on how complex/large a "package" can be.. but RCS is pretty much data and so can support a wider range of languages/content and devices (don't have a phone but have a tablet?.. no problem.. have a computer? no problem..)

The problem is, Cheato has already proven himself to be an "oath breaker".. which means China has no reason to accept a "deal" from them.. oh, they will make nice..but ultimately they will focus on divesting themselves of the US market as much as they can.. They won't ignore it completely.. but it won't be a priority.. Deals work best when both sides are known for KEEPING TO THEIR WORD.. But... well..... you know..

Costs for Cloud infrastructure RISE over time.. as well as their needs I'm sure grew.. the problem is, adding another TB on-site is relatively cheap (assuming you purchased with capacity to grow) and don't usually go up annually.. vs. cloud infrastructure continues to rise in cost as companies like AWS/Azure dice the pie finer and finer on what is included in base costs vs. addons and escalating costs in initial growth. (23% annually).. vs. on-prem tends to be relatively fixed cost with annual increases being in the 3-5% range not close to 30.

So sure, it sounds great initially but overtime cloud can be its own trap.. (since customers also have to consider the cost to exit which sometimes exceed the cost to continue (ie: trapped).. in their case, the annual cost far exceeded the exit cost so its a no brainier to cut and run), but most customers are close or slightly exceeding the "break point" and thus risk adverse CTO's tend to stay..

At the size of MS there is never really innovation because innovation costs money and often doesn't lead to a marketable product or is in competition with another product they either already own, or are partnered with.. Small companies innovate all the time because they NEED the "new" or "different" to distinguish themselves from the MS of the world.

Large sized companies CONSOLIDATE.. (which by extension means the control/elimination of the SMB competition)
Medium companies expand the market by merging products into solutions..
Small sized companies innovate for new products/solutions because its their way into market.

You do know there is a huge difference between the "cheap" stuff (everywhere) and the "good stuff" (everywhere, even in China).

The stuff that's imported into the US from China is mostly the lowest cost (and thus the lowest quality) goods because companies in the US focus on price first and quality second. The domestic products in China have about the same high standards as everywhere else. In China, reputation matters and people talk QUICKLY.. so a bad product in many cases will DOOM a company (legally, financially, and socially).. vs. in the US, the attitude is very much "buyer beware and if your building blows up, shame on you for making it so flammable"