On the other hand, the average gas price in the US has increased from $2.98 to $3.98, an increase of 33%.

"For automakers, the new system promises less expensive software development costs and an opportunity to focus on what matters most to them: branding."

It seems like this statement is not true. Instead of providing a thin client for the phone, the car makers are going to duplicate the phone software in the car. This sounds far more expensive in terms of software development costs. Also, this has no effect on branding. The car is already heavily branded with the car make. I don't think the car makers care about sharing branding with Google. Instead, what matters to car makers is on-going subscription revenue, because that is what will justify the additional development costs.

If the complaint is a lack of developer control, does that mean that if Nvidia can install knobs in DLSS for developers, then you'd no longer have a beef with it?

Does this thinking extend to the stock markets, which are arguably another form of gambling this is now heavily regulated. Are you arguing for the pre-SEC days where there were no required public disclosures and no prohibitions on insider trading?

Imagine what the tobacco settlement would have been like under the current MAGA government. Instead of a deal to essentially heavily tax cigarettes and allow the evil to continue (i.e., a win-win for everyone except for the people that are killed by cigarettes), the tobacco settlement would have been replaced by a government protection law with only a one-time lobbying cost. That would have also resulted in a win-win, where the tobacco companies get to avoid the settlement tax and the politicians get to pocket the lobbying bribes as well as the insider trading jackpots. Of course, more people would get killed by cigarettes and state taxpayers and employees paying health premiums would all lose, but they don't matter.

The answer is that everyone is already doing exactly what you said. Groq is now essentially Nvidia, so even Nvidia is expanding their product portfolio. They offer GPUs (Blackwells and Vera Rubins), inference systems (Groq), CPUs (Vera), and networking (including InfiniBand and ethernet, where Nvidia now has higher data center networking revenue than Cisco). Currently about 70% of Nvidia data center revenue is from GPUs, and that percentage will drop when the Groq systems ramp up.

Yes, the AI customers don't have the money for all the data centers. Even the money-rich hyperscalars don't have the money and have to borrow. However, these hyperscalars are self-funding for the most part and borrowing is only for around 10-20% of their spending. They are being stretched, but a case could be made that they can "handle" the financial strain. Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta have a combined annual profit of over $350 billion, and their actual operating cash flow is over $500 billion.

It's the newcomers (OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI) that don't have the huge profits and cash flow. They have to depend on venture capital, private equity, circular "partnerships," etc. However, their levels of spending are far lower than for the hyperscalars, "only" in the $20-30 billion (each) range.

"In its release regarding the changing product plans, Honda was shockingly blunt about its situation, saying that it was simply unable to deliver products that offer a better value than that of newer Chinese manufacturers."

This makes no sense. The only reason to build cars in the US is to sell to the US market. While there are a few minor models available in the US that are made by companies with Chinese owners, there is essentially no Chinese competition in the US market because the all major Chinese models are blocked. So, Honda should have absolutely no worries about competing with Chinese manufacturers today, and with likely future US politics, the same can probably be said many years in the future.

What's sort of interesting is that one of Trump's main failings with his executive orders or other edicts is an obvious lack of due process. Yet, his cronies on the Supreme Court use the shadow docket to act as wingmen to validate the lack of executive due process by essentially using judicial lack of due process. It's actually sort of fitting.

Can Sweeney qualify all his public statements praising the arrangement by saying that he is contractually obligated to praise the arrangement? If he's allowed to do so, that's the equivalent of commercials with annotations saying that the actors were compensated for their portrayals.

Trump's Board of Peace, aka the Ministry of Peace or Minipax. It has a great slogan.

Yes, you are correct, and my statement is incorrect.

I think I missed that SOG analysis because in Figure 1, the SOG (solar off grid) costs are so low. I had expected them to be much higher. In the study, the household car is associated with a 2.5 kWp system with an associated 6 kWh battery. That means that the SOG can provide an average range of somewhere around 30 miles per day.

The costs in Africa are also far cheaper than in the US. A 5kW solar PV system with 5kW of stationary battery storage is quoted at USD $3,234 – $5,390, which is far below the US cost, which is likely around 5x the cost.

"Still, Wednesday’s report also shows that not nearly as many jobs were added in 2025 as thought and last year will go down as the worst year for hiring since 2020, or since 2003 outside of a recession."

Furthermore, most of the jobs added last month were in health care and social assistance which are generally regarded as less susceptible to economic cycles.

The question is whether this is simply reflective of the trough of an economic cycle or more fundamental, lasting shifts due to tariffs, geopolitics, or technology/business shifts (like AI).

I don't think the US invasion talks are serious. If you think TACO is a real thing, saber rattling about Greenland is orders of magnitude beyond TACO. Trump likes to talk without thinking things through, and his yes-men have no choice but to amplify his non-thought out thoughts.

The previous slight saber rattling about Greenland already led to visible opposition, even from Republicans. The Republicans are already facing the real possibility of losing the House. If real moves toward a Greenland invasion actually happened, the Democrats would send a love letter to Trump, as that would essentially hand the House to the Democrats. There has been relative quiet about Greenland lately to calm Republican restlessness. If Trump revived the focus on Greenland again, moderate Republicans would have no choice but to speak out against the idea because to do otherwise would be political suicide for the midterm elections.

I remember visiting Google with a friend in the mid-2000's. The food in the cafeteria was great, even better than it is now. My friend and I would sit in the outdoor cafeteria area of the Googleplex and enjoy our lunch. However, I was stunned that almost every Google employee would spend about 30 minutes enjoying their high-end food and then return immediately to work. By 1pm, the eating area was almost empty. This was an example of Google culture, and it happened entirely without AI. From the article's descriptions, it sounds more like a small company culture thing and not an AI thing.