goldcd

J Michael Straczynski autobiography "Becoming Superman" is definitely worth reading/listening to.

Still hope he made some of it up though..

I think it's just that the bristles are all nicely aligned on a new head - after a while they start splaying, so pressure is going in more directions over a larger area.

I do love the feeling of a fresh sonicare brush.

But if you look at it as a "unified notification framework with powerful management tools and wide API access" - it's a market-conquering monster.

Can I call you a paedophile here then?

Maybe suggest that anybody who took the time to view your post history would clearly see this?

I'd like to stress I'm not accusing you of anything - and wouldn't want to be responsible for the conclusions others might arrive at.

They missed the larger Netflix pivot to making and owning their own content - without this they'd have been dead years ago.

You're over-estimating my intellect...

I do occasionally get through some french youtube with subs and I'm getting better at roughly following - I'm not just relying on Duo. (I also have a grammar book to hand as well)

Just starting my second paid year - I didn't put up with the adverts for long.

Works far better for me without the hearts. Less time staring at sentences trying to make them perfect - more quick failing, learning why, iterating and drilling it into my head.

Also much more likely to spend longer in the app, maybe a couple of times a week.

"Ssssh! The owl might be listening"

glances at phone with panic in his eyes

Came here to say the same about the CPC price.

All manner of fascinating stuff in Amstrad history. e.g. the 3" disc drive (not 3.5") Seemingly he found a cheap supply - so we got them on the spectrum, CPC and the PCW.

A PCW was what my father brought home from a computer fair, instead of the anticipated Amiga or PC. Even more integrated than the CPC with computer & drives built into the monitor and shipping with a printer. A predecessor of the iMac (made in a hell-dimension)

Most people probably don't need a faster dishwasher - but it's a handy feature to have to sell dishwashers. "Cleans just as well, using the same water & power, in half the time?" - well that sounds like you've just created a premium dishwasher you can sell to people who want to own a premium dishwasher.

I think it's much the same with all the wifi-enabled, app controlled appliances. Their purpose isn't to be sold as useful features - they exist to add a half-dozen bullet points next to that item, that the other nigh-identical products you're comparing it against (or god-forbid, already own) don't have. $5 of extra parts that can be sold to you for $100

Decades back all appliances where white powder-coated. Then we decided they should all be built in and hidden. Then we decided they all needed to be brushed -aluminium feature appliances... except we didn't all decide this. The manufacturers are just always looking for differentiators.

Of course you can opt out of this obvious cash grab, and kit out your kitchen with Miele 'quality' and the like (Did you know Miele is one of the few remaining brands that doesn't outsource manufacture to a Turkish third party? I did, I'm special) Or reject all this modern stuff and buy a Speed-Queen (When pick-up truck owners get to decide what laundry brand to buy and maintain with the same set of spanners)

In the UK we've had ISPs being forced to block sites for a while.

Fortunately, it provides a handy list of providers to use with your VPN. e.g. https://www.virginmedia.com/help/list-of-court-orders

Just need to download the 90 gig client, then I'll join your Teams 2 call.

Unlike a lot of tech companies, I still like Netflix. From "DVD in the post" to "We need to make/own our own shows" was a massive pivot that paid off for them, and launched dozens of wannabes. I genuinely can't think of another company that managed anything so large.

Previous peers like spotify are still struggling to get out from under their publishers (still no HD music available) and they had to side-step to podcasts to own their own content.

Apple's got some good stuff they've paid for handsomely, but a lot of shit. Disney came in with a huge catalogue and had to buy Fox, and aside from a few star-wars spin-offs, hasn't managed to grab the zeitgeist and Marvel seems to be slowly dying.

Netflix is sitting on so much content and so many subscribers, they could cut back on new programming and introduce cheaper ad-supported tiers, and ride out the recession on their back-catalogue. Plus (and maybe uniquely amongst the streamers) they've got franchises like "Nailed it" that are cheap to make but will keep fans watching. And as my final "Netflix is going to win" point, they've successfully commissioned local programming and got the world to watch it. I can't think of any equivalents to say Money Heist, Squid Game or RRR from any of the other streamers. I mean just the other day I wandered into the living room and found my wife engrossed in "some turkish zombie series".. only on netflix.

You could ask what's the average PTO taken. HR should know this and if they need to check, take it as a bad sign.

Yep - my (somewhat dull and conservative) employer did this as well.

I was cynical, but year later I'm pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong - I think we collectively all took 15% more holiday. Not a mind-boggling change, but not the "we'll all be bullied to stay at our desks" result I'd anticipated.

Anecdotally I think the largest change is people get less precious over guarding their holiday as a precious resource, even if they've no idea how they'll spend it. You finish your week's work on Friday morning? Ask if anybody needs anything from you and then just take the rest of the day off. No compulsion to find some busy-work and protect 4 hours of vacation.

If you want a decent coffee maker that'll outlast you - https://www.moccamaster.eu/

Made out of extruded aluminium and a copper element, handbuilt in Netherlands, been making then for decades, spare parts available, makes good coffee.

Not going to change your life - but one less thing to worry about. Makes me 0.1% happier every morning.

And DrSbaitso

But you know that's simply not true. I was a smoker in my 20s and quit finally in my 40s. Are you suggesting my f'ed up choices were in some way better than taking a load of selfies in my twenties and growing out of it in their thirties?

I was about to wade in and call out today's youth as pansey-ass-snowflakes.

Then I read: "I like to describe it as some kids are growing up developmentally delayed, today’s 18-year-olds are like 12-year-olds from a decade ago. They have very little tolerance for conflict and discomfort, and COVID just exposed it.” " and I suddenly realized that I was just being pandered to.

I try to keep an open mind.

e.g. I was not holding out much hope when "Damon Lindelof producer of Lost, decided what we really needed was for him to create a new TV series in the Watchman universe"

Whether Neuromancer works out, I have no idea. There's no end of money being wasted by the streamers on prestigious properties - but occasionally you'll get a Watchmen or Good Omens or Sandman.

Other positive is that we're living in a time where these can be "done justice". If it needs to cost $15M an hour to make and run for 10 hours to tell the story properly - well it now can be made.

It might not be told well, it might make bile spew from my very core - but somebody can have a crack at it.

Yep - they're not quite keeping up though. Original 2019: "the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended <i>last week</i>"

Then at some point it was <i>last year</i> - and they've just left it like that for new next couple of years.

Only other real change is that the author used to work for "Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets" - and now doesn't.

Because the purpose of police cars and and speed cameras, is ostensibly to make you slow down to the speed limit. Marking these on your map, makes you slow down.

This probably varies country by country, depending on whether it's a money-making exercise (where the police try to hide) or safety (where cameras are painted bright yellow and the police are clearly visible)

I'm not sure it affects install rates - but I know when I've been cleaning up my phone the apps that seem to occupy orders of magnitude more than their function would suggest, get culled first.

Makes me feel old. I'm sure 20 years ago I could have told you say what app/game had been installed from floppies and which was "CD ROM only" My phone apps? Couldn't even guess as to their storage requirements. Probably a good thing that storage is so plentiful we normally don't care - but cynic in me thinks that a company selling storage with a massive markup, maybe doesn't have aligned interests.

If 0.1% of people install an app, and it consumes a gig rather than 500Meg - and we sell millions of phones. That does turn into a real money pretty fast.

It's excellent. Had only been vaguely following the details, but more you learn the angrier you get.

Yes, this. If I was to switch from Android to Apple, I'd first re-buy the apps I currently own. I wouldn't be rebuying them because Apple had brokered the interaction in some way - I'd just be using the single option I have to get the apps I want onto the phone in my hand. There might be some new smart-phone user out there that buys apps based solely on recommendations from the store, but this is a minority (and maybe an argument for allowing paid promotion of apps, like everywhere else).

Stepping back to the point, I'm guessing 99%+ of Telegram users decided to use Telegram for reasons outside of the App Store. Seems ridiculous that Apple has any claim to the income those apps generate.

Maybe if US or EU wanted to fix this (without forcing apple to allow 3rd party installs), a solution might be to just get rid of 'free' apps. Say every app costs $1 to install (if kept for 12 months) and 10c a year to provide updates - and then it's up to the app dev to cover the costs to Apple if they want it to be "free" to the user.

They key to bluffing, is to not say you're bluffing.

Hold up a moment..

My very quick digest from skim-reading that:

1) Some recent franchise films have altered the demographic of the previously presumed cast

2) This was received very badly by a minority of the public

3) Who acted like complete and utter cunts and started whipping up controversy and abusing all people involved BUT!! (and this is the important revelation here)

4) This was all deliberate by the movie studios, so they're the bad people, not those covered in #3 as we'd all assumed (based on the self-incriminating evidence they love to push out under their own names)

I can only hope some sort of class-action suit is launched to provide restitution to all those innocents who've damaged their throats after being forced to spew so much bile against their will for so long.

The nVidia/Board-partners relationship seemed to go completely sideways around the launch of the 3xxx series. If you remember back to the launch, they just hurled chips at them with late notice (so some glitchy 3rd party boards shipped) and pricing they couldn't compete with nVidia's own boards on.

No idea when crypto took off and supply was constrained, who was taking the profits - but I'd guess nVidia. Now the partners are left holding huge numbers of boards as the prices crash. My guess is to get allocation from nVidia they had to commit to volume and price, but retailers can just return un-sold stock as sale or return (or just demand to pay less, as they drop prices)

I can see why if you survived that, you might just want to step aside from the market - as next time it might take you down. Especially if you're EVGA and prided yourself on premium products/support - and smell a race-to-the-bottom coming.

As majority of what you pay goes on the GPU itself (memory is at least a commodity) - there's probably not a lot of meat left for the partner that's taking the risks.

Does make you wonder what quality's going to be like on 4xxx.

Yep - if they're your bank, you're not checking in the supermarket to see if you're about to hit your overdraft.

I think that's "more of a feature, than a bug"

When you subscribe to something it doesn't "lock in the price" - prices go up and down month-to-month.

On the amazon side, there seems to be a bit of flex built in, when they'll still tell you the item is in stock, and tell you the price before the re-buy kicks in.

A lot of the items I "get told are unavailable, would I like to go with the alternative?" are still available, just for a higher price.

i.e. I think a lot of the "annoyance" is actually amazon bulk negotiating on your behalf. If say P&G decide to raise their price on their detergent, amazon has the power to decide whether 90% of their customers swallow the increase, or they all find an alternate brand. My guess is that amazon decides not to provide P&G detergent to a few hundred thousand subscribers in a month, that helps 'focus' the P&G rep in getting the price back down the next month.