Comment Re: Meaningless statements? (Score 2) 184
It doesn't need to do everything a brain can do. Autonomous driving doesn't need to get a boner when it sees noods for example. Maybe you're thinking of Turing completeness which is another story.
Submission + - What is BMW thinking? (theautopian.com)
schwit1 writes: BMW is pumping ads for movies into your car and trying to make it sound like they’re giving you some big treat.
I think that’s the part that bothers me the most, the couching of this all like we should be delighted that now there’s another place where we can’t escape the constant onslaught of advertising.
There’s something just so wrong about this all, a company treating the people who have bought their cars as just more marks, more targets to be advertised to, more chances to wring money out of those people unfortunate enough to choose to pay that company for their vehicle.
When you buy a car from BMW, do you actually own that car? I own a house, and I make payments to a mortgage company every month, and I’m pretty sure it would be illegal for that mortgage company to put a fucking Spider-Man billboard in my yard, facing my front windows. Is what BMW is doing any different?
Why is the ownership experience of a BMW the same as taking the cheapest tier of a streaming service, where you have to watch ads? If BMW wants to pump ads into cars, they should cut the price of their cars to compensate for the owner’s time! That’s not free, and I know they know that, because the value of that attention is what they’re charging Marvel for to run these stupid ads.
I think that’s the part that bothers me the most, the couching of this all like we should be delighted that now there’s another place where we can’t escape the constant onslaught of advertising.
There’s something just so wrong about this all, a company treating the people who have bought their cars as just more marks, more targets to be advertised to, more chances to wring money out of those people unfortunate enough to choose to pay that company for their vehicle.
When you buy a car from BMW, do you actually own that car? I own a house, and I make payments to a mortgage company every month, and I’m pretty sure it would be illegal for that mortgage company to put a fucking Spider-Man billboard in my yard, facing my front windows. Is what BMW is doing any different?
Why is the ownership experience of a BMW the same as taking the cheapest tier of a streaming service, where you have to watch ads? If BMW wants to pump ads into cars, they should cut the price of their cars to compensate for the owner’s time! That’s not free, and I know they know that, because the value of that attention is what they’re charging Marvel for to run these stupid ads.
Comment Re:When milliseconds count (Score 1) 207
There also has to be a breach of duty / trust for it to be illegal though (up to a judge to decide). And nobody has ever been successfully prosecuted for trading on things the president says before.
Comment Subscription model is a smart move.. (Score 1) 207
He can make it impossible to cancel by keeping them on the phone with one of his long rambling stories.
Submission + - Bill Gates was given a seat at the NIH's Covid policy-setting table (x.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Bill Gates had no official public health authority, yet he was given a seat at the table in high-level COVID briefings and played a direct role in shaping America’s pandemic response. Private billionaires should not be steering national policy behind closed doors.
Submission + - Trump administration drafting ban on Chinese data center devices (yahoo.com)
schwit1 writes: The Federal Communications Commission, which oversees the U.S. telecom industry, is working on the measure to bar imports of new Chinese optical transceivers, which allow data to travel over fiber-optic cables at the speed of light within data centers. Officials hope to publish it this year, when it would take effect.
The move, not previously reported, aims to prevent Chinese firms from stealing data, installing malware or disrupting service at U.S. data centers, which house the chips to train and run AI models.
The FCC could still modify or shelve the restriction, the sources stressed, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. But it is the latest example of the Trump administration trying to limit Chinese technological incursions into cutting-edge U.S. industries before they become embedded in the supply chain.
"Transceivers definitely pose a risk," said Divyansh Kaushik, an AI policy expert at Washington, D.C., advisory firm Beacon Global Strategies. "As the data center buildout scales up, you want to make sure the data center supply chain is secure from the get-go," he added.
A U.S. ban on new models of Chinese data center devices would likely hit China's Zhongji Innolight, one of the biggest global sellers of transceivers, which was added to the Pentagon's list of alleged Chinese military-backed companies in June. The list can be a harbinger of tougher action. Innolight did not respond to requests for comment.
A ban could also raise costs for American cloud firms such as Amazon Web Services, as it may force them to transition to other producers such as U.S.-based Coherent and Lumentum.
The move, not previously reported, aims to prevent Chinese firms from stealing data, installing malware or disrupting service at U.S. data centers, which house the chips to train and run AI models.
The FCC could still modify or shelve the restriction, the sources stressed, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. But it is the latest example of the Trump administration trying to limit Chinese technological incursions into cutting-edge U.S. industries before they become embedded in the supply chain.
"Transceivers definitely pose a risk," said Divyansh Kaushik, an AI policy expert at Washington, D.C., advisory firm Beacon Global Strategies. "As the data center buildout scales up, you want to make sure the data center supply chain is secure from the get-go," he added.
A U.S. ban on new models of Chinese data center devices would likely hit China's Zhongji Innolight, one of the biggest global sellers of transceivers, which was added to the Pentagon's list of alleged Chinese military-backed companies in June. The list can be a harbinger of tougher action. Innolight did not respond to requests for comment.
A ban could also raise costs for American cloud firms such as Amazon Web Services, as it may force them to transition to other producers such as U.S.-based Coherent and Lumentum.
Comment Reminds of old joke: Why is divorce so expensive? (Score 2, Funny) 171
Because it's worth it.
Comment Such a shame.. (Score 1) 150
This new tech is mostly being used to spy on young ladies in their undergarments. I know it's not what Sam Altman would have wanted.
(*wink* - he would have wanted young men in their undergarments, am I too cheeky?)
Comment Re: Just send it back (Score 1) 84
I give a shit about them if they can limit their problems to a few paragraphs or bullets. Otherwise they need to subscribe to a higher support tier which not available at this time.
Comment It's either this or view ads for free apps (Score 1) 31
Given the choice, most people would rather inconvenience someone else than themselves. So of course turning their TV into a botnet wins.
Comment Re:Hm.. (Score 1) 31
Steam games don't do it because they have a better way to monetize free games: in app purchases and DLC
Comment He's having a CEO AI moment, it will pass. (Score 1) 37
But not before massive layoffs from thinking they don't need humans anymore, followed by massive hire-backs from realizing they still do.
Submission + - Spain offers $1.14 Billion to get Thirty Meter Telescope moved to Canary Islands (behindtheblack.com)
schwit1 writes: TMT has been blocked because of local protesters in Hawaii — who apparently oppose the presence of whites in Hawaii as well as on the mountain Mauna Kea — and have been supported by the state government run by the Democrats. In response, the consortium building TMT had chosen the Canary Islands as its back-up location, but that choice meant that Japan pulled out of the partnership. In addition, the National Science Foundation has withdrawn all funding from the project. Thus, nothing could be built anywhere.
Since late last year TMT has been in serious negotiations with Spain. Apparently it wanted Spain to come up with more cash before committing to the move.
Spain has now done so. Whether TMT will accept remains uncertain. The Canary Islands is not as good a site for the telescope than Mauna Kea in Hawaii. And it appears there is also local opposition to the project. But considering TMT does not have the funding in Hawaii, it seems that either it accepts this offer or the telescope will never be built.
It seems a far better choice for TMT would be to get Spain to use that billion dollars to build a really good space telescope. The pay-off would be far better than building a ground-based telescope — no matter how large — that will have to look through both the atmosphere as well as the millions of satellites expected to be launched in the next decade.
Since late last year TMT has been in serious negotiations with Spain. Apparently it wanted Spain to come up with more cash before committing to the move.
Spain has now done so. Whether TMT will accept remains uncertain. The Canary Islands is not as good a site for the telescope than Mauna Kea in Hawaii. And it appears there is also local opposition to the project. But considering TMT does not have the funding in Hawaii, it seems that either it accepts this offer or the telescope will never be built.
It seems a far better choice for TMT would be to get Spain to use that billion dollars to build a really good space telescope. The pay-off would be far better than building a ground-based telescope — no matter how large — that will have to look through both the atmosphere as well as the millions of satellites expected to be launched in the next decade.
Submission + - Six Months Post-Maduro, Venezuelan Recovery Defies Critics (archive.is)
An anonymous reader writes: Representative Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, drew the parallel directly. “This is exactly the euphoria we felt in 2002 when our military took down the Taliban in Afghanistan,” Himes said, “in 2003 when our military took out Saddam Hussein, and in 2011 when we helped remove Muammar Qaddafi from power in Libya.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the architect of the administration’s Western Hemisphere strategy, was dismissive. “The whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan,” he said. “This is not the Middle East, and our mission here is very different.”
Six months later, the chaos never came.
For nearly three decades, the scenario Hugo Chávez and Maduro invoked to justify their grip on the country was American boots on Venezuelan soil. Now they are there, and Venezuelans are lining up to meet them. Shell signed a gas development deal. SLB, the world’s largest oilfield services company, returned following a lapse in the license it operated under in May 2025. At least 670 political prisoners have been released since January, and political parties have resumed public activities across the country. In May, Venezuela freed three former police officers who had spent 23 uninterrupted years behind bars, the longest-held political prisoners in the country’s history.
“The most tangible change for Venezuelans is that repression has diminished,” Gaby Arellano, a Venezuelan opposition figure and former National Assembly member who has tracked the transition closely, told Newsweek. “It has not disappeared, but it has decreased.”
Exiled opposition leaders, including Voluntad Popular’s Lester Toledo and Yon Goicoechea and former Petare Mayor Carlos Ocariz, have also begun returning home. Open-air television channels now cover news beyond the official government narrative, including the activities of opposition leader María Corina Machado, something that had not happened in years.
“We have seen all political parties reactivate their organizations, hold public events, organize street activities and assemblies,” Arellano said. “We have to remember that in 2024, any activity that was not authorized by Miraflores [Caracas] was considered a conspiracy.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the architect of the administration’s Western Hemisphere strategy, was dismissive. “The whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan,” he said. “This is not the Middle East, and our mission here is very different.”
Six months later, the chaos never came.
For nearly three decades, the scenario Hugo Chávez and Maduro invoked to justify their grip on the country was American boots on Venezuelan soil. Now they are there, and Venezuelans are lining up to meet them. Shell signed a gas development deal. SLB, the world’s largest oilfield services company, returned following a lapse in the license it operated under in May 2025. At least 670 political prisoners have been released since January, and political parties have resumed public activities across the country. In May, Venezuela freed three former police officers who had spent 23 uninterrupted years behind bars, the longest-held political prisoners in the country’s history.
“The most tangible change for Venezuelans is that repression has diminished,” Gaby Arellano, a Venezuelan opposition figure and former National Assembly member who has tracked the transition closely, told Newsweek. “It has not disappeared, but it has decreased.”
Exiled opposition leaders, including Voluntad Popular’s Lester Toledo and Yon Goicoechea and former Petare Mayor Carlos Ocariz, have also begun returning home. Open-air television channels now cover news beyond the official government narrative, including the activities of opposition leader María Corina Machado, something that had not happened in years.
“We have seen all political parties reactivate their organizations, hold public events, organize street activities and assemblies,” Arellano said. “We have to remember that in 2024, any activity that was not authorized by Miraflores [Caracas] was considered a conspiracy.”
Comment Officer was fired and given probation (Score 2) 100
Fired should be just the start. He should also be prohibited from having a LEO job any where in the US.
