qubitcoder

I would be surprised if any of my male and females friends from Georgia Tech ('07) couldn't identify and accurately describe every technical word in great detail, or even talk about them for hours on end. The same apples for colleagues I work with daily.

Among the general populace, I'm guessing that's less likely.

Even as a gay man (and software engineer), I only barely recognized a couple of the female words from studying French. Otherwise I was clueless. I knew 100% of the male words, and use most of them regularly given my hobbies and interests (excluding the Japanese words and "shemale", which seems like slang uttered by young people, if I had to guess?).

And, no, I've never shopped for textiles. "Jacquard" is certainly very familiar given its relation to computing--and having lived and worked in Lyon. My parents even worked in textiles growing up, but I was nonetheless clueless.

TIL that I own a few nice Chambray shirts, courtesy of Google ;-)

I'm surprised you haven't seen this before. Even as a consultant way back in 2012, many basic rental cars had this feature. It shows album art and other metadata about the currently playing track or show. I believe it's part of HD radio.

At least that's the case in the USA. I seem to recall seeing the same in European vehicles as well.

You are behaving dangerously. Accidents are caused by speed differences (one reason). People changing lanes to pass you introduces all sorts of additional complexity, increases speed deltas, reduces reaction time, limits visibility, requires quicker maneuvers, forces other drivers to double and triple check that others aren't trying to pass simultaneously, increases the risk to pedestrians and cyclists, etc.

Deliberately going the speed limit when it results in other drivers constantly passing you increases the danger to to everyone else around you significantly.

Please give this some thought.

Ideally, the German model would be enforced. Slower traffic keeps right, left lanes are for overtaking. And many places are unrestricted, meaning there's no speed limit. The system works quite well, and the flow of traffic is _vastly_ more predictable, and feels a lot safer than the US interstate system.

I have FSD Beta as well. Even in Assertive mode, I've never actually seen it do a rolling stop, including rural areas with nothing around. I'm not saying it doesn't happen. In fact, I'd prefer it didn't--or at least provide an option to toggle it on and off.

At least in Georgia, there's at least one yellow light with a speed limit sign attached. During active school hours, the yellow light will flash on and off.

On my daily commute, there's two overhead flashing yellow lights. Previously, my Model Y would begin to brake and then speed back up, thinking it's a normal traffic light (prior to FSD). With FSD, it's at least smart enough to know not to brake; but it certainly doesn't read the speed limit from the sign, as it normally would.

This doesn't really mirror my experience. I scheduled a test drive for a Model Y online. I drove to the nearest Tesla location in Alpharetta, Georgia (about 1.5 hours away). And then later placed an order online. A couple weeks later, I went back to Alpharetta to pick up my vehicle. This wasn't at the Tesla store, but the service center down the road.

During that time, I had ample time to inspect the vehicle and drive it. In fact, the Tesla rep went out of his way to do a thorough walk-through and inspection of the vehicle. I noticed a small smudge on the front, and they took care of it on the spot.

From reading forums, it's pretty common knowledge that if you notice any issues, so long as you note it upon pick-up (or in the first days or so), Tesla will happily take care of it free of charge.

I haven't used it, but the mobile app also makes it trivial to schedule service if needed (along with other options like roadside assistance).

Very true. Many older people I've met use Siri or Google as the primary means of device interaction.

For example, my mom has used an iPad daily for many years now. She's never used a laptop or desktop. Rather, she navigates and interacts with an iPad exclusively using Siri and Google voice search--rarely, if ever, touching the keyboard. And she's a (relatively) advanced user.

Granted, to tech savvy users, these interactions are often quite funny. For example, opening the YouTube app, and then doing a voice search for "YouTube videos for how to make chocolate icing YouTube please". :-)

I do on _very_ rare occasions.

Why? I'm fortunate enough to have gigabit symmetrical fiber, so streaming isn't an issue. That said, when viewing content on higher quality TVs and sound systems, there's a very perceptible improvement in both video and audio quality compared to streaming. For example, on my 65" LG C9 OLED with a Klipsch Atmos system, the difference is immediately noticeable.

Even with dedicated streaming hardware like new generation Apple TVs, which offer 4K streaming with Dolby Vision/Atmos, it still doesn't quite compare to physical media. Ditto for the native LG apps with identical options.

Of course, there are downsides. Good luck finding UHD content on physical media. Redbox doesn't offer 4K discs in my area, and local stores rarely have physical media in stock. Even with physical media, there's other annoyances--e.g. the Xbox One X produces a loud hum as the disc spins, not to mention the delay when seeking/skipping around.

That said, for rarified material such as Blue Planet (or anything by Attenborough)--or movies known for their sound quality like Mad Max--physical media can be sublime.

The Three-Body Problem certainly takes a _while_ to get going. I gave up the first time reading it on my phone. But I kept hearing others sing its praises.

Years later, I started playing the audio book on a roadtrip. At some point, I couldn't "put it down", so to speak--especially as the plot twist is gradually revealed. The sequels are extraordinary, and perhaps among the best sci-fi ever written.

I'm with you on detesting car maintenance when owning a vehicle.

To be fair, most of those maintenance options do go away with fully-electric vehicles. For example, you could lease a Tesla Model 3/Y. The process is impressively streamlined: pay $100 using Touch ID and Apple Pay, then select a pick-up date on the calendar. Now you have a vehicle with basically no maintenance, apart from topping up wiper fluid. All managed with an intuitive and highly-polished mobile app. In 3 years, repeat process.

My intention isn't to advertise for Tesla. I'm just pointing out that options exist nowadays for people who dislike the entire hassle of vehicle ownership (dealing with dealerships, negotiation, financing, scheduled & unscheduled maintenance, etc.)

The position being put forth here is frankly rather horrific and abusive, and on multiple levels. Normally I'd aim to provide a more substantive response, but I'm not even sure where to begin.

Is this satire? Even as a millennial, I cannot fathom buying a smart toothbrush that presumably relies on bluetooth--and for what, a timer? I'm hoping this is a joke :-).

If I have to wait in line at all, it's 99% a no-go. Add convenient self-checkout with wireless payments, and you've got my business. I wouldn't normally stop at CVS, but find myself doing so regularly. Why? Because there's no line. I can walk immediately to the items I need, then quickly scan them, tap my watch and walk out. It's easy, fast, and efficient.

Nowadays, waiting in line is a frustrating anachronism. The exceptions would be higher end stores like Publix that actively guide customers into the fastest checkout lines. But when purchasing a smaller quantity of items, self-checkout is most certainly preferable.

This doesn't match my experience. I live in a small town in north Georgia, and I typically see 3-5 Teslas when driving nowadays, including small country roads.

For what it's worth, the Tesla wipers are by default in automatic mode. They work so well that I didn't even realize they were automatic until about 10 minutes of driving in the rain.

Unlike other auto-wipers I've used in the past, the wipers on my Telsa Model Y are fantastic. By that mean, in nearly a year of driving, I've never once manually adjusted the wiper speed (or even thought about it). That includes extremely heavy downpours. The only time I interact with the wipers on the touch screen is to disable them before going through a car wash.

I believe they use the optical cameras for rain detection, unlike traditional sensor-based approaches (which were genuinely terrible).

This is why I've been using Spacemacs as my primary editor for years now: cross-platform support, automatic language detection, package installation, well-designed key bindings, great documentation, etc. Not to mention significant productivity gains from packages such as magit (it's always fun when people see Git time machine in action--using the n/p keys to move backwards and forwards in time to see every change to a file, along with the commit message).

And it works across all major OSes. Just copy your .spacemacs file to a new laptop, and wait for everything to install itself.

To be fair, I use VS Code pretty regularly as well. But more of a nicer alternative to TextEdit/Gedit/etc. to capture notes as I work in Spacemacs (of course, there's also the helpful scratch buffer).

[0] https://www.spacemacs.org

That’s why the MacBook Pro M1 has fans. It’s designed for harder workloads where you’re maxing out the cores (multi-core compilation, video encoding, etc) for extended periods. This was well-documented and discussed previously. The tradeoff is increased heat, power consumption, and fan noise.

Realistically, those aren’t typical workloads for most people, especially for 10+ minutes (and especially on an ultralight and portable laptop). So I wouldn’t lose sleep over thermal pads.

Yes, but Starship is a prototype at the moment. And it'd require the Super Heavy to even reach orbit, which will soon begin testing [0].

Additionally, the engineering requirements for long-term life support are significantly more involved than the Dragon capsule.

There's also the testing and certification process for crewed-missions; in non-Elon time, this is likely several years, conservatively speaking [1]. (I'd love to be proven wrong, however!).

[0] https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-super-heavy-booster-ro...

[1] https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/04/five-reasons-why-nas...

Yes, I can't imagine spending $10k on the promise of some half-baked FSD--especially when regular Autopilot is a reality today, and it's freaking fantastic. I, too, use it daily.

Absolutely. All the features you mentioned are standard and work independently of Autopilot [0]

It probably has the best and most intuitive lane keeping, adaptive cruise control, blind spot alerts, collision detection warnings, etc. out there (at least from the cars I've driven). For example, other intelligent cruise control systems I've used will rigidly and aggressively maintain a fixed distance from the car in front of you, like a robot--with only 3 options: awful tail gating, kind of acceptable, and piss everyone else off as you stay a mile away.

Whereas Telsa's have some 8 levels of distance options--easily adjustable by pushing the right steering wheel button left or right, which shows a visual indicator on the screen. And more importantly, it isn't some rigid algorithm that will "always maintain 8 car lengths", instead its behavior is based on current conditions.

Autopilot is a fantastic driver-assist tool, and makes driving so much more enjoyable and less stressful. Part of the problem is that even technically inclined people, as witnessed here, have trouble with the distinction between "Full Self Driving", and "Autopilot". Autopilot is basically cruise control with steering. If you wouldn't use cruise control normally, certainly don't use Autopilot. And when using it, keep your hands on the wheel, and be prepared to take control immediately, just like it says--especially whenever there's an upcoming change to road conditions (e.g. a new lane appears, an intersection, a merger, etc).

It's also really easy to take control if it starts to veer into, say, another lane that appears. When I first got a Model Y in January, there were a couple places on my daily drive where it'd tend to rather aggressively steer into an an emerging turn lane with poor/non-existent markings. However, it would ultimately make the right decision, even if it was a little unnerving.

But with the latest software updates, those edge cases have been addressed; at most, it'll gently and momentarily steer in that direction, and then gracefully correct to maintain its previous heading (as you'd expect).

Autopilot doesn't have a detailed understanding of the road path, stop signs, intersections, etc. It's literally just using onboard sensors to figure out its surroundings.

Full Self Driving is a totally different animal.

And I think everyone would agree that Telsa has done a rather poor job communicating these distinctions and limitations.

[0] https://www.tesla.com/support/autopilot

[1] https://cleantechnica.com/2021/04/18/tesla-autopilot-is-just...

Check out the audio books. The narrator, Jefferson Mays, does a masterful job at patois/Belter-speak, along with all the other character for that matter.

I suspect the Expanse series used his work as inspiration, since the patois is virtually identical on the show. Mays is in a league of his own. [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Mays

Welcome to the world of USB-C! My general approach, and recommendations to others, is to purchase only Thunderbolt 3 cables.

Yes, they're more expensive. But they'll essentially handle everything you throw at them, and behave as expected (due to the large protocol support [0,1]).

Of course, this won't always be the case. But it's generally a safe assumption for now.

[0] https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/io/thu...

[1] https://thunderbolttechnology.net/sites/default/files/Thunde...

Same here. This is one of the biggest selling points for macOS as a power user. I've used Windows and linux for years, and continue to do so on a daily basis. But on macOS, one can absolutely fly due to the consistent keyboard shortcuts.

- Standard keyboard shortcuts across all apps: done

- Standard Unix/bash shortcuts for moving the cursor/manipulating text: done

But, to the OP's point, unless you invest the time to learn how they work in macOS, they'll largely remain hidden and unknown.

When helping friends and colleagues transition to macOS, explaining how keyboard shortcuts work (and how powerful they are!) is the first thing I do--followed by the window/app paradigm, and then Finder.

As far as discoverability, you can use Command+Shift+/ pretty much anywhere. That keyboard shortcut displays the Help menu for the current application, with the search box already focused.

So, for example, in the Mail app, if you wanted to forward an email:

  Command+Shift+/. Start typing "forward"

Then hover your mouse over the "Forward" result. You'll immediately see the location in the menu bar, along with the corresponding keyboard shortcut: ⇧⌘F (Shift+Command+F), in this case.

And, of course, Command+; will open the Preferences for any application.

Apple actually has fairly great documentation on standard keyboard shortcuts [0].

[0] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

To be fair, I don't think I've ejected something by dragging it to the trash can in eons (well, at least it was so long ago that I don't remember).

The home directory is one of my most frequent destinations in Finder, and the first thing I enable in Finder (Preferences > Sidebar > <username>). And then I move it to the very top of the sidebar.

I'd argue that removing the home directory by default results in more confusion (as I've encountered multiple times now when helping others switch to macOS).

For 1):

In Finder, you can go to _View > as Icons_ (or simply ⌘+1).

Then you can use ⌘ +/- (command plus/minus) to zoom in and out, respectively.

Same here. I just learned about Cmd+down today after using macOS for nearly two decades. I've always used Cmd+o (as in, "open").

But it makes sense. Especially when considering that an Application on macOS is basically a folder (e.g. right click on an app, and select "Show Package Contents"), so navigating "down" into an app would open it.

Try closing Finder and report back ;-).

And that was definitely a bug at one point. Whenever I encountered it years ago, I was always bemused thinking about how a typical user would ever figure out how to open Finder and get to their files. No matter how many times you clicked the dock icon, the window would never appear. Of course, I know to use Cmd+N; and nowadays, a new Finder window opens as expected when clicked.

Yes, that's probably the first thing I do in Finder on a new macOS device. I struggle to understand the reasoning behind hiding it by default, since it only contains the standard folders like Documents, Downloads, Movies, etc.

I suppose it's an attempt to conceal/abstract away the underlying file system structure, which probably makes sense if those folders are already on the sidebar.