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Comment Re:Here come the edge cases! (Score 0) 231

I'm glad you looked up the real number as I usually see estimates of 65% of USians or something like that living in apartments (zero of which have chargers installed in the parking lot of course).

But what you are saying is that no progress can be made on the other 66% who can install a home charger until absolutely every possible case is covered, which is not out of touch but simply pro-Big Oil propaganda.

Comment Re:Not cheap enough yet (Score 1) 231

Batteries are about to get significantly less expensive. CATL’s new sodium ion batteries are going into production next year. BDY’s Seagull is already about $11,000 in most of the world. Soon it will be less than $10,000. Huawei and Xiaomi cars won’t be far behind. Of course the USA will keep raising tariffs to protect the losers at Ford, GM, and Stellantis. But in the rest of the world Chinese EVs are going to dominate the market by some time in the 2030s.

Comment Re:Legacy auto is clueless (Score 1) 231

Beg to differ a bit: while GM made some missteps, particularly in handing the VOLTEC technology over to their PRC subsidiary and dropping it in North America, they took their time to develop a well-engineered and manufacturable EV platform for the next 10-15 years. The problem is their executive team is now living in fear of what a fascist regime could do to them if they don't toe the line and that has given the anti-progress faction at GM operations HQ the chance to counterattack and put anchors on EV marketing and sales. Really a shame and it will cost them dearly over the next 20 years [1].

[1] the anti-progress faction at GM will be well-retired to their backwoods Michigan cabins with their 2,847hp offroad pickup trucks by then

Comment Waking up 10 years from now (Score 1) 231

There's only one question in my mind: when the United States wakes up 10 years from now and realizes we have fallen 20 years behind in basic and applied science, EVs, public transportation, and re-creating our built environment to center humans instead of machines (ok, we're already 30 years behind on that last) WHO ARE WE GOING TO BLAME?!? SOMEONE DID THIS TO US - THEY MUST BE PUNISHED!!!

Comment Re:Just speculating. (Score 0) 231

"Electric vehicles are one of those things that are a really good idea in theory but out in the real world they are just simply unworkable. "

EVs are like the apocryphal bumblebee: they don't work in theory, yet millions of people use them every day with no more serious inconvenience than ICE vehicles experience from time to time (e.g. the mythical 'range anxiety' = running out of gas on a back road).

I've had people give me long lectures about the un-usability of EVs while I have driven them across the city, errands, and back on purely electric power in my PHEV.

Submission + - Big Tech Sues Texas, Says Age-Verification Law Is 'Broad Censorship Regime' (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Texas is being sued by a Big Tech lobby group over the state’s new law that will require app stores to verify users’ ages and impose restrictions on users under 18. “The Texas App Store Accountability Act imposes a broad censorship regime on the entire universe of mobile apps,” the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said yesterday in a lawsuit (PDF). “In a misguided attempt to protect minors, Texas has decided to require proof of age before anyone with a smartphone or tablet can download an app. Anyone under 18 must obtain parental consent for every app and in-app purchase they try to download—from ebooks to email to entertainment.”

The CCIA said in a press release that the law violates the First Amendment by imposing “a sweeping age-verification, parental consent, and compelled speech regime on both app stores and app developers.” When app stores determine that a user is under 18, “the law prohibits them from downloading virtually all apps and software programs and from making any in-app purchases unless their parent consents and is given control over the minor’s account,” the CCIA said. “Minors who are unable to link their accounts with a parent’s or guardian’s, or who do not receive permission, would be prohibited from accessing app store content.”

The law requires app developers “to ‘age-rate’ their content into several subcategories and explain their decision in detail,” and “notify app stores in writing every time they improve or modify the functions, features, or user experience of their apps,” the group said. The lawsuit says the age-rating system relies on a “vague and unworkable set of age categories.” “Our Constitution forbids this,” the lawsuit said. “None of our laws require businesses to ‘card’ people before they can enter bookstores and shopping malls. The First Amendment prohibits such oppressive laws as much in cyberspace as it does in the physical world.” The lawsuit was filed in US District Court for the Western District of Texas. CCIA members include Apple and Google, which have both said the law would reduce privacy for app users. The companies recently described their plans to comply, saying they would take steps to minimize the privacy risks.

Comment Re:Oh you sweet innocent child (Score 1, Interesting) 55

That's not what's happening. That's never what happens. Any time someone uses an ai chat bot as part of their work, they immediately turn into drooling idiots.

Yeah, who needs a chatbot when you can make unqualified claims as statements of fact. You don't even need citations, such as the ones you're claiming (without citation) they make up. (Which just to be clear, they do, a certain amount, although a casual interpretation of your words suggests you're implying "always".)

Look, there are lots of problems with LLMs, but I find it amusing to watch people launch into "what I say is true, because I said it, and it sounds true to me" when talking about LLMs being sources of inaccurate information.

Comment Re:Twice as much electricity? (Score 1) 167

China’s energy advantage is huge. All the big tech companies propping up the US stock market need more data centers. Data centers use massive amounts of energy. The US cannot provide that energy. The government won’t let anybody add large scale solar or wind projects. There is a years long wait for the turbines needed in natural gas plants. Nobody even knows how long it will take to build a new nuclear plant in the USA because it hasn’t been done in decades. This means that all those AI companies that need more data centers, all the cloud hosting companies, the social media companies, they’re all going to be unable to grow quickly in the near future because the US cannot provide power. But China has excess capacity, has been bringing new nuclear plants online every eight months for the last decade, will soon be deploying small nuclear reactors that are still years away in the US, and is deploying huge solar projects at a rapid pace. And Chinese companies are even building nuclear plants in other countries. This will allow Chinese tech companies to dominate AI, and other internet services, in all of the BRICS countries, the entire global south, and probably even Europe at some point. By the time the US tech industry finally has the power it needs China will be so far ahead that American business will never catch up.

Comment Re:China may or may not has overtaken (Score 4, Informative) 167

"This is Chinese propaganda"

Do a quick self-learn. The amount of solar panels China was selling to the US before exports was only around 20% of their total solar module exports. Their total solar exports are only about 7% of their total intl trade surplus. They sell as much capacity to Europe in a year as the US has installed *total, nationally*.

I'm not arguing they don't care about loss of business to the US, obviously it impacts them.

But watching the US self-elect to fall farther behind, checking of boxes down a veritable "how to" list of losing US hegemony is far more valuable to them.

In that sense - maybe it is propaganda, but reverse psychology style, because you're doing the lord's work for them.

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