One of the real issues in open-source software (referenced above) is the fact that you can't really force unpaid volunteers towards tasks that are uninteresting, such as maintaining years-old software that might not be heavily used. Maintaining LTS releases is definitely important but not necessarily interesting. And finding that balance to keep volunteers helping can be very tricky.

Even Microsoft struggles with this: Part of the reason they made Windows 10 free were the costs associated with having to maintain however many flavors of Windows 7 and 8 and 10; better to get everyone on 10 and make their lives easier.

There are no easy answers and we shouldn't be quick to condemn KDE if you are not also willing to help maintain older releases.

Who is looking at their current 7.8mm phone and thinking "AHH! This is just too thick!" and is demanding a 1.8mm reduction? How about keep it at 7.8mm and improve battery life?

And who is using an iPhone in China without a case (because it represents such a huge investment)? So whatever number of mm you shave off is just being replaced by the case because everyone is scared to drop their $1000USD phone.

Exactly. Any modern polls have to deal with incredible selection bias issues. And that means that any poll numbers require extensive data manipulation or extrapolation based on the small numbers of folks who do reply, leaving themselves open to criticism about methodology, massaging data, etc.

I honestly believe that anything less than hooking random unwilling people up to lie detectors is mostly useless guesswork, or will have a variance of +/-10%, at which point they're useless results anyway.

Right now, the core software for Crowdstrike's Falcon run in ring 0, with kernel access. That software goes through Microsoft's quality assurance process. The problem is that this software reads configuration files on disk (such as anti-virus definition files) that don't go through that process.

It seems like it would be very tricky for Microsoft to have to cover all definition files with the same level as QA as the software itself. The turnaround times for things like antivirus definitions need to happen very quickly. Perhaps Microsoft can have some sort of fast-track QA and approval for these types of updates?

You are exactly correct. Price collusion wouldn't work if there was more inventory on the market. Otherwise it would be easy to "cheat" in the collusion and undercut prices to ensure your inventory gets cleared first.

At the end of the day, this legislation would be impossible to prosecute. "Algorithm" sounds fancy, but as long as someone can create an Excel file with attributes like square footage, price, etc and sort by prices descending/ascending, then landlords can use technology to better price their offerings. There's no way to regulate that.

Vehicles are being advertised with their estimated ranges (Model 3 at 272, Model Y at 320). But if you're now making the claim that 80% is full then you're now looking at 217 and 256 miles instead which is a HUGE difference. So you can't advertise longer ranges then get mad at folks who are trying to achieve those ranges especially at charging stations off highways.

Range anxiety is real and the best way to deal with this is not appeals to self-sacrifice for your fellow EV drivers; the answer is to add more chargers in more locations that are more reliable. And until that happens, it's entirely reasonable for folks to want to fill up because of range anxiety and the insecurity of knowing how crowded the next charging station will be OR if the chargers will be working at all.

Do we really need to return samples all of the way to Earth in order to analyze them? That seems incredibly complicated. Wouldn't it be better to send all of the necessary lab equipment to Mars and perform the basic analysis there (and just send the data back home?)

The cost of repairing cars for minor accidents is continuing to increase as well. Bumpers are no longer bumpers: They house all sorts of sensors and electronics for things like lane-assist, self-driving, cameras, etc.

There's also the crime factor: In my area, we're still getting hit with catalytic converter thefts. When my Honda CRV got ripped, it cost $2400 to get it fixed with a used part. Separately, there are smash-and-grab robberies as well as easy-to-perform thefts against certain Hyundai and Kia cars (which made the news).

And then, yeah, there's inflation. There's inflation for parts but also in labor costs. We had two years of 8-9% inflation, and now it's still above 3%.

I disagree. I think most of the changes (like the lack of Alia being born, or the death of the Baron) were all handled well.

I think this is probably the last Dune movie to ever be made. Personally, I hope he creates some sort of epic 3 hour that takes bit and pieces from books 2, 3 and 4. I think an ending showing the God Emperor of Dune with Duncan next to him would be a crazy way to finish up.

Book 2 is kinda not great, and not much happens. I hope he goes crazy.

A Microsoft researcher pretty much single-handedly just saved the world from the XY backdoor. https://arstechnica.com/securi... . Considering this was an open-source project poised to be included as part of Linux and it was found by Microsoft (albeit through luck), I think that's huge.

Microsoft also creates probably the only good and reliable antivirus software. And Microsoft has been very active in promoting the use of Rust, including contributing towards Linux. Microsoft is also a key contributor towards an effort to detect child porn.

I would argue that Microsoft's days of being a security laughing-stock are mostly over. Ever since they released a firewall as part of a Windows XP service pack, I think Microsoft has taken security extremely seriously.

There have been a flurry of articles recently about the failed charging infrastructure in the USA during this recent cold snap. What's not being talked about is what will be required in the future. Some states are requiring and all-electric fleet starting in the 2030's to 2050's.

This means that we will require MASSIVE increases in the charging infrastructure. Some articles were discussing "Why doesn't this happen in Sweden?" and the answer is that most Tesla owners have charging at their own houses.

What does this mean in the US? If you live in an apartment complex, it would mean one charger (at least) per apartment. Chargers at every office. Chargers at every restaurant. Chargers all over the place.

The USA is not even remotely close to being prepared to go all-electric and I think this winter has demonstrated that.

I probably sound like a boomer too, but who cares what your GPU or RAM looks like? It's inside of the case! You're never going to see it. I can't even imagine buying a motherboard with decorations on it THAT WILL BE INSTANTLY COVERED by wires and other components. Anyone who takes ASUS up on their generous offer to replace the motherboard should say no. Just deal with it and chuckle over the whole dumb situation.

While I'm sure there are some looking to trumpet the good news that core inflation is falling (which excludes food and energy), it's a good reminder this falling inflation does nothing to reverse the previous 2 years of high inflation. Two years of 8% inflation still impacts the prices we're paying today AND 3% is being added on top of that.

Unless your wages or investments have kept up with that, the fact that inflation is growing less rapidly is no comfort.

If there was adequate housing supply in DC, then collusion would be impossible. In fact, if there was an oversupply, they would be competing to lower prices.

The problem here isn't collusion; the problem is that it's impossible create the necessary amounts of housing. Instead, the government spends time trying to control rents.

There WAS AI used to generate this song, although it's subtle. There was a demo recording of John Lennon of him accompanied by a piano. The audio quality was garbage, however and it was all on a single track. They used AI to separate Lennon's voice from the piano part, and then kept just his voice. Machine Learning was used to ensure that his vocals matched Lennon's voice.

So some amount of generative AI was used to subtly fill in his vocals when they conflicted with the piano in the demo. But it's not like they used AI to generate Lennon vocals wholesale. It was just used to extract his vocals from a crappy demo tape.