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Comment Re:Kin Birman is an idiot. (Score 1) 99

I used to work for a company that did all those things. We contracted with multiple geographically diverse datacenters, each of which had multiple redundant ISP connections, diesel generators the size of garbage trucks in case grid power was out, we ran replication software to keep the backup DC servers in (as close to) real-time sync with servers in the primary DC. At our office, we installed our own generator to power the entire office if necessary. Each server had 4 copies (primary in primary DC, backup in primary DC, primary in secondary DC, backup in secondary DC). The setup was HIDEOUSLY expensive to build out and to maintain, but we were in the financial industry and partnered with banks, so it was necessary.

I'm not arguing against cloud hosting, it can be useful and (economically) efficient for many companies. I'm just saying that I find it worrisome that AWS is so big that when it has a problem, it takes down a significant portion of internet-based services. Isn't that kind of the opposite of what the original internet design (DARPANET if you want to go back that far) was supposed to protect against? One node failing causing a cascade failure?

Comment Does anyone else remember (Score 1) 71

all the time Amazon asked for tax breaks from municipalities in order to build facilities there, and the trade-off was supposed to be "but we'll be bringing lots of jobs, and that'll offset the tax breaks you give us?" I sure do. Turns out it was all a scam. Like we thought, but politicians gave them the tax breaks anyway.

Comment Re:Lets be Clear (Score 1) 70

This would mean a landlord wouldn't be allowed to own multiple buildings either because they would be setting the same price in the same method in multiple buildings. The only problem is when the are colluding to fix the price with a MAJORITY of the market, essentially holding a monopoly. Price fixing doesn't work without a majority.

It absolutely does not mean that. An INDIVIDUAL (such as a single landlord owning multiple properties in your example) by definition cannot collude alone. The definition of collusion when it comes to legal matters is when two or more parties secretly agree to defraud a third-party of their rights or accomplish an illegal purpose. It does require at least 2 parties to be involved, but does not require a majority.

Comment Re:Good luck enforcing that... (Score 1) 70

Good luck enforcing that. All it takes is some software, likely out of state or offshore that posts "recommended" rents, and all the landlords just move to that.

It wouldn't be that difficult to detect or prosecute. If all the landlords are charging the exact same rent, it's highly unlikely that they all independently came up with the exact same figure. It's not about prosecuting the software manufacturer, so they could be anywhere. If multiple landlords use ANY method whatsoever to agree on non-competitive pricing, that's collusion. It doesn't matter if that method involves direct communication, or communication via a 3rd party human, or communication through a piece of software. It's the agreement on non-competitive pricing that's the illegal act.

Comment Re:Lets be Clear (Score 1) 70

It actually has nothing to do with AI. If multiple landlords all decide to agree to a 3rd party's figure as to what to charge for rent, then that's collusion, even if the landlords don't directly talk to each other. They're all agreeing on the same price, and that's what's illegal. Whether the 3rd party is a piece of software or a human individual is irrelevant.

Comment Re:Lets be Clear (Score 2) 70

It's not outrageous at all. Just because there's a third party involved (the software), who is telling the main parties (landlords/property managers) what to charge doesn't make it NOT collusion.

If the 3rd party was a human person, who was contracted to tell the landlords what to charge, then they charged those prices, that would be collusion, and just because they're not directly talking to each other but through an intermediary, doesn't make it any less so.

Just because it's a piece of software and not a human acting as the 3rd party doesn't change that.

Comment Re:Who needs artists (Score 2) 17

"Most pop music is pretty rubbish." is a thought that every generation has had. People thought that about Elvis, the Beatles, etc., at various times. Now, I'm in my 50's and while I don't care for most contemporary pop music, I won't fall into the trap of thinking that it's *all* or even overwhelmingly rubbish.

I am very cynical when it comes to corporations, so I'm going to come down on to the side of the music industry embracing AI to make more profits (either by increasing sales or reducing costs by paying artists less or both). As with anything else, follow the money.

Comment Re:the industry may have embraced it, (Score 1) 50

I personally never cared for it, it was always felt awkward to me unless it was a 2-in-1 folded over and I was using it like a tablet. I was just wondering how big the demand was, I don't think it's as big a demand as Apple management might think.

BTW, typing this on an LG Gram 17 (from a few years back). Love it. Super light (less than 3 lbs), tiny bezels, packs a 17" screen in a laptop only marginally bigger than most 15.6"ers. And with a numeric keypad.

Comment Re:Gee (Score 3, Informative) 62

The main increase in datacenter power consumption right now is due to AI, which is what I was referring to as "power hungry and hasn't proven to be truly useful."

As far as your second sentence, I don't subscribe to the "too big to fail" theory for anything. I'm sure people said the same think about tulips back in the 17th century. It wasn't true then, and it isn't now.

Comment Re:AI compared to Fly By Wire (Score 2) 76

You can't even use proper English grammar or spelling when writing it. Maybe you should have used your AI to "alivead typos and misspelling" (sic) for your post. What does the sentence "how do entry level coders make to being a program are software architect" even mean? I also don't believe for a split-second your clain of being 8x more productive. Thanks for playing!

Oh, and the proper acronym for fly-by-wire is FBW, not FBY.

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