Often the hardware is the same, but they have software locks in place to e.g. stop you using WiFi bands that are not legal in the US. On top of that they have to provide support for new firmware, and TP Link often replace devices that are out of warranty but which were bricked by a firmware update.

They can't win. If they don't pay they get sued by students for not securing their data. If they do pay they encourage further attacks.

The time to win was before the hack. Now all they can do is pay, and hope they picked the cheaper option.

Android has had this for years. I'm not sure if it's the same on every phone, but on Pixel long press the bar at the bottom of the screen and it opens Google Lens or whatever it's called now. From there you circle what you are interested on screen, and it invokes Gemini AI on it. It can also do stuff like copy text or translate it for you, which is handy when you need to use an app in a language you don't read.

Chromebooks are great. They just work, they are cheap, and they cover many people's needs easily. My mum is on her second one and went from monthly tech support issues with Windows to smooth sailing for years.

How many of these companies will bother making updates for US models after they get banned from sale anyway?

Same thing happens with humans.

It's worth figuring out what your threat model is. There probably are ways that some government agencies can get into iPhones or decrypt these messages, and they probably are collecting all the encrypted data in case quantum computers can decrypt it later.

But are they going to waste any of that on you? Unless you are a high value target for them, and unless they intend to avoid any judicial process where their capabilities might become public, they probably aren't going to use their best tools to help the local cops break into your phone.

In Europe, Ford is not a prestige badge. They are competing with the likes of Renault, VW, Nissan, and Honda. And now of course the Chinese brands like MG, BYD, Jaecoo, Sonoda, Cherry, Omoda, and others.

They just aren't offering much for the European market. We aren't keen on light trucks, and most of their EVs are shitty fossil conversions. That just leaves the dwindling fossil market for them.

Could also be a warranty issue. Some poor designs rely on firmware to enforce limits and prevent damage.

It's bizarrely common with EV cars already. Some have fake engine noises, and some even have a whole fake clutch and gear shifting system. The silence and instant, uninterrupted torque are the best things about EVs.

Electric motors have instant torque without the spinning mass and gyroscopic effects.

Hopefully as well as the simulation mode, they work on creating entirely new ways to control the bike that take advantage of it being electric.

Europe has ARM, Linux was created here, and there is plenty of domestic enterprise grade hardware in things like telecomms.

China has been transitioning away, and shows it is possible. They have domestic CPUs, RAM, storage, motherboards... Europe can catch up.

It's probably the biggest single transfer of wealth from you to corporations in US history.

That's why it's best to use 2FA that is more automated, e.g. a security key. That way the domain name of the site requesting the 2FA authentication determines the response, so phishing sites won't be able to get usable codes.

It's the age old conflict between security and cost. Properly hashes passwords are not cheap, they incur a cost for the server every time someone logs in. There is a disincentive for businesses to implement them.