<i>The road to wisdom? Well, it's plain
and simple to express:

Err
and err
and err again
but less
and less
and less.</i>

&#226;&#8364;" Piet Hein&#226;&#8364;S

While I'm not going to say the concerns raised by Gamers Nexus (and others) are incorrect, I will say they're overblown. I have my televisions (an LG and a HiSense) behind a layer-7 firewall on a separate isolated VLAN. I log (and selectively allow) only certain traffic. There is no open wireless network nearby.

The HiSense (with GoogleTV OS) makes dozens of requests to a huge number of Google-owned IP ranges any time it's powered on. It also attempts occasionally to contact AT&T. It's certainly possible HiSense is using GCP for hosting a monitoring application (I haven't bothered attempting to implement SSL decryption for the TV).

The LG TV regularly attempts hardcoded DNS lookups to 8.8.8.8 (I have DNS blocked except my internal server).

The VAST majority (>99%) of the blocks on my firewall are various Google services (DoubleClick, GoogleSyndication, etc.) but I occasionally see some oddball DNS names: int.viacore.site, int.dewrain.site, int.akisinn.info, prov-lg.alphonso.tv

I agree, it's pong. First game that really spread to the masses, continually referenced decades later.

If not pong then I'd have to say either Wolfenstein 3d or Descent for introducing FPS and true 3d environments respectively (unless you want to go all the way back to Elite).

In typical Google fashion, they aren't bothering to improve their existing product (Assistant) they're creating a competing product for something they already have (see messages / hangouts / wallet / music / etc...)

Sure, let's force a less-capable alternative on hundreds of millions of people, break all existing documentation, and tell them they should be happy to have it. That'll earn us $billions$ !

I've been thinking about this some lately, and I think the turning point will happen in about 5-10 years when an AI has a large enough knowledge base and context window to import an existing novel or short story and output a coherent video equivalent.

There are thousands and thousands of novels that would never be commercially viable due to either the length, detail, or even the actor salaries (assuming they're even still alive).

I can easily see importing some of the old Pocket Book STTOS novels and having a movie / series generated from that. There's more than enough content from TOS and movies to get the actors voices, appearance, and character mannerism's down, and if you never plan to distribute absolutely no reason you couldn't generate at home for your own personal viewing.

It would be amazing if some day in the future we could take novels that have no chance of ever becoming a movie, and generate our own versions of those. Or, novels that were turned into movies, but dropped 2/3 of the detail in the book. Perhaps filmmaking jobs will change more to prompt engineering and manipulation.

I have to disagree with you there somewhat -- I have a stack of old 4MM DAT backup tapes that I would like to restore, but I haven't been able to locate anyone in the Dallas / Ft. Worth TX area capable of doing so, and the only online services I've located charge an arm-and-a-leg. I'm literally speaking about being charged $4-5k for 10 tapes.

So while it /may/ be possible, it's not feasible for most people.

Unfortunately, due to some rather loud proclamations for the last 16 months from certain portions of the population, some people do blame members of certain regions whether it's fair or not. https://theconversation.com/do...

I'd be amazed if you actually got that kind of mileage since none of the vehicles I've ever owned were able to approach the rated mileage even when babying them on long-distance trips.

However, taking your statement at face-value means you're getting about 900 miles on a single fill-up. Awesome! However, I'm doubtful you're actually driving for 11+ hours in one shot. Not only is it poor for your health, but there are also good reasons it's illegal for professional (truck) drivers to drive for more than 8 hours without a break.

From personal experience I'd be grateful for the opportunity to recharge the battery every 4-6 hours just to rest my eyes and butt.

Hi! I was there for his first tour visit too (I was sitting to the left of the view screen). I agree completely, not only was he someone that seems to be still completely 'with it', but constantly on the search for the next project, next thing to learn about. I've read that he's afraid of dying, and while that may be the case, it doesn't seem to have effected his desire to fully participate in life, to hide and shelter away from any risk.

... and yet Texas Instruments is spending a few billion building a new fab across the street from my house in Texas.

So, let me give you an example of why I continue to shop on Amazon:

This morning, I needed to order some pool chemicals. Googled, and the first result was from Amazon (of course!) So, I went and looked at the product, and saw that it was available from various 3rd party sellers through Amazon.

I went directly to two of those company websites, and both companies were selling the exact same item for at least 10% more than were charging through Amazon, and I also wouldn't get free shipping.

Please explain what incentive I have to buy directly from the reseller instead of through Amazon?

Thank you, I was just about to post the same exact thing. An arrest -- even if you're completely innocent and let out later -- can destroy lives. If you can't pay bail, you're stuck until you can get a hearing and that's assuming a judge decides to let you out without bail, which could be days, or weeks, or months. Just having an arrest on your record can lead to job loss, reluctance to hire, etc. Doesn't matter if it was dropped, a company can just say "we've decided to move on with another candidate" and not run afoul of the employment laws.

I've seen FreeDOS in elevators and drive-through order screens, but I imagine most of those will be migrating to Linux.

Like you, I was playing on the PC well before Wolf3d, Doom, Quake, etc came out. Most current modern games (like the current iterations of Doom, Overwatch, etc.) are too flashy and have too many different colors, landscape and building details, and distractions for me to be able to focus well on the hunt. I'd recommend TF2.Half-Life, HL2 (and episode 1 & 2) are good as well. Also Portal and Portal 2.All of them use older, more simple engines that won't support all of the flashy effects, and as a byproduct make it easier for me to understand what's going on around me. Plus, they work well and don't need cutting-edge PCs as well. Now get off my lawn!