In my albeit anecdotal experience, these ‘very basic’ appliances suffer their own variant of faults. They take no modern design cues; they are more prone to reliability issues from bargain bin components; or they somehow cost only slightly less than their fancy feature rich counterparts.

Just because I don’t want off-white equipment in my kitchen, I shouldn’t have to buy an ‘AI’ oven. But the companies want to know when and what I’m cooking so when I go to the grocery in the middle of dinner prep, the AI price labels can adjust a bit higher because they know I need an ingredient right now for a meal I’ve already started making.

The variant of fault these normal appliances have aren’t truly a fault. It’s intentionally made to be less appealing, less reliable, and more expensive than it should be, so when we’re looking at a white oven in the store for $800, we’ll opt instead for the $1,000 Alexa powered stainless steel double range that’s sitting right next to it.

Oh and if you’re in a spot and need to finance your new appliance, sorry but our financing isn’t available for the budget tier.

This comment kind of went off the rails, didn’t it.

I’m adding this comment to the list of reasons I am thankful to not be in the job market.

Struck me as odd there were no hyperlinks to the vote or anything at all. Then I noticed this was written today about a vote that happened in 2022. The date is in the image. What a surprise an unnamed ‘journalist’ wouldn’t perform basic due diligence.

As with anything, nuance exists. Does a monthly / annual donation to a FOSS developer count as a subscription?

I have a few things I’ve paid once for additional function or even banner ad removal that don’t receive updates. Though at a glance I don’t see anything I have installed that has a recurring cost and receives no updates.

I suppose there’s a fine difference between what I consider a subscription, and supporting active development of something I use regularly, but that difference probably varies person to person.

Kill death ratio - or rather, kill save ratio - would be rather difficult to obtain and more difficult still to appreciate and be able to say if it is good or bad based solely on the ratio.

Fritz Haber is one example of this that comes to mind. Awarded a Nobel Prize a century ago for chemistry developments in fertilizer, used today in a quarter of food growth. A decade or so later he weaponized chlorine gas, and his work was later used in the creation of Zyklon B.

By ratio, Haber is surely a hero, but when considering the sheer numbers of the dead left in his wake, it is a more complex question.

This is one of those things that makes me almost hope for an afterlife where all information is available from which truth may be derived. Who shot JFK? How did the pyramids get built? If life’s biggest answer is forty-two, what is the question?

I’m not sure cost can be set aside from a price discussion when they’ve explicitly stated it won’t be a Costco rotisserie chicken.

With the number of consoles sold this generation, I’m not sure where the limit is for what people will spend to play the games they want. With console pricing has trailing budget gaming PC’s, I could see a number of people getting a Steam Machine in lieu of the next Playstation or Xbox.

What would be interesting to see in the future is the split between units sold to lifelong console players making a change, and pre existing Steam users with stuffed libraries buying one for the couch. If the latter make up the majority of sales, but they priced it like a chicken, that’ll be a problem pretty quick.

Hopefully it shakes out well and indie game developers reap some well deserved rewards.

Technically speaking

This joke is the first thing I thought of when I saw the headline.

As I commented in another thread, they chose this location because of Waymo access. No resident parking, sure, but not exactly car free.

In the defence of the powers that be, the bicycle industry hasn’t been lining political pockets for a century like the auto industry has. Cervelo has got to look through the cushions and buy an election or two.

Someone’s milk was spoiled this morning.

What you describe strikes me as reaping enjoyment from technical accuracy. I think of it like mastering Moonlight Sonata as opposed to riffing something jazzy with friends. Both enjoyable, but quite different.

I’m adding this to the list of things that I would have used if not for learning about it from a shutdown announcement.

I disagree they are bozos. I’m actually coming around on the idea. Not the mirror thing of course, but the VC grift using a flashy idea. Millions of dollars and the only thing you make is a slideshow? Brilliant.

This reminds me of the venetian shade idea. ‘Trillions of dollars’ hahaha okay let’s see who wants to pitch in.

The point was that it’s a shame the taxpayer is on the hook for this. Not that the mother is solely at fault and the administrator isn’t.

Fruit Ninja comes to mind.

That’s a convenient thought to absolve the mother.

While the administrator carries responsibility for the lack of action, they did not shape the child’s mind nor circumstance that led to this situation in the first place.

Could you elaborate on this comment?

Wouldn’t it be nice to just support human rights? The one thing all of these groups have in common is their humanhood.

Well at least until we reach a ‘body of Theseus’ point in technological augmentation. Then we may need to rebrand ‘human rights’ to ‘consciousness rights’ or something more catchy.

I’ll take a thin skinned billionaire that donates some of those billions to feel warm and fuzzy over a thick skinned one that laughs from a balcony as people lose their homes.