Comment Been there done that (Score 1) 144
Michigan is about six years behind Kentucky
https://www.usatoday.com/story...
Feed Google News Sci Tech: FINALLY a Pixel 6 Camera Upgrade, Apple Watch Series 7 Redesign & more! - Pocketnow (google.com)
- FINALLY a Pixel 6 Camera Upgrade, Apple Watch Series 7 Redesign & more!Pocketnow
- Apple Watch Series 7 New Design Revealed — Here Are All The Biggest ChangesScreen Rant
- Apple announces a slew of accessibility updatesThe Verge
- Apple Watch Series 7 Renders Show Some New Design ElementsGizchina.com
- Apple Watch Series 7 - EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK! Redesign! Flat sides, colors, and more!FRONT PAGE TECH
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Comment Re:Because it's not (Score 1) 144
This is just tech companies trying to drive down wages. Computer programmers are some of the few who are still paid OK with decent benefits. That cannot stand.
While off topic, your comment implies that the supply of humans has grown to the point where we don't know what thing of value to demand from them, that is to say, human life is of little value. To directly tie this back to the topic, it seems that as we compress the overall # of languages on earth, the value of knowing additional languages will also become of less value. France is trying to retain a monopoly/home country advantage by keeping French relevant, but most have succumbed to English dominance over the last 300 years, just as Latin before it. It isn't clear that France has succeeded in protecting their language given the internet. Protectionism to increase market value can work, but it also can be costly if you're not big enough to enforce it. This is why people in the US don't need multiple languages, we have 3000 miles of population with a single language and that forces others to know English.
In effect, when languages are well known they become more like commodities, not worth much, with the exception or until a particular obscure language is discovered to be needed (think Arabic post 9/11 or COBOL with unemployment check issues). As long as populations are small enough, you have in-built protectionism, security via obscurity as it were. Protectionism as I understand you'd like to retain value via some other scheme (e.g. licensing), but if the demand is great enough but you run the risk of being worked around. The techno-utopians think we all need to be rational coding robots for our flying car taxi future while the cynics say it is an economic ploy to lower the value of the skill. The best way to divide that baby is licensing, but that would take collective agreement, something our profession does not appear ready for.
Feed Google News Sci Tech: Ford F-150 Lightning to Cybertruck and Rivian: Every electric truck on the way - CNET (google.com)
- Ford F-150 Lightning to Cybertruck and Rivian: Every electric truck on the wayCNET
- Ford selects Sunrun as installation partner to make new F-150 Lightning backup power sourcePV-Tech
- Ford's electric F-150 Lightning: We had 20,000 orders right when we launched, Ford CEO saysYahoo Finance
- First impressions: Ford's electric F-150 Lightning offers speed, grunt and a big frunkThe Detroit News
- Tested: 1993 Ford F-150 Lightning vs. Chevrolet 454SSCar and Driver
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Comment Re:Because it's not (Score 2) 144
This is just tech companies trying to drive down wages.
... or it's idiot politicians being idiot politicians. They'd like to help prepare America to compete---they just have a poor understanding of what's needed for that to happen.
But I agree that these skills are completely different and legislation like is a terrible idea. At least there's some opposition that has an understanding of the problem.
Comment Because it's not (Score 5, Insightful) 144
the two skills have completely different utilities in life.
Programming is math and/or instructions. Language is communication. There's a wide gulf between the two.
This is just tech companies trying to drive down wages. Computer programmers are some of the few who are still paid OK with decent benefits. That cannot stand.
Programming is math and/or instructions. Language is communication. There's a wide gulf between the two.
This is just tech companies trying to drive down wages. Computer programmers are some of the few who are still paid OK with decent benefits. That cannot stand.
Computer Coding Could Count For Foreign Language Credit Under Bill (mercurynews.com) 144
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Mercury News: Instead of learning a foreign language, Michigan students could take computer coding classes to replace the high school graduation requirement, under a bill that passed the state House Tuesday. Currently, the Michigan Merit Curriculum, which dictates the state's academic standards for graduation, requires students to take two world language credits to receive a high school diploma. Before the bill passed a vote, bill sponsor Rep. Greg VanWoerkom spoke about the value of coding in Michigan's prominent auto and tech industries, as well as it being a good alternative for those kids who struggle with traditional language classes.
"Besides being a hard skill, that employers actually want, coding. helps build soft skills. Coding promotes the use of logic, reasoning, problem solving and creativity," the Norton Shores Republican said. "Any professional coder will tell you that to be fluent in coding takes years of practice and a deep understanding of the language." In opposition to the bill, Rep Padma Kuppa said though she understands the importance of adding more technology education to curriculums, having had a career as a mechanical engineer, coding is not a foreign language. Students need both computer and tech skills and foreign language skills. "As technology helps the world become more interconnected, our ability to understand and work with others on technical projects around the globe is not only related to the ability to code, but to understand one another," the Troy Democrat said.
"Besides being a hard skill, that employers actually want, coding. helps build soft skills. Coding promotes the use of logic, reasoning, problem solving and creativity," the Norton Shores Republican said. "Any professional coder will tell you that to be fluent in coding takes years of practice and a deep understanding of the language." In opposition to the bill, Rep Padma Kuppa said though she understands the importance of adding more technology education to curriculums, having had a career as a mechanical engineer, coding is not a foreign language. Students need both computer and tech skills and foreign language skills. "As technology helps the world become more interconnected, our ability to understand and work with others on technical projects around the globe is not only related to the ability to code, but to understand one another," the Troy Democrat said.
Comment It's really not that uncharted (Score 1) 194
see here. The tech goes back 10 years. It's just the first one to be brought to market. That's more likely due to profitability and general slowness of new drugs than any actual safety concerns.
The problem is our media doesn't talk about this. You've got to dig through google search results to find the information. You're right about the politics. One side made it a wedge issue to win votes. Like guns or abortion. Sadly it's a good strategy.
The problem is our media doesn't talk about this. You've got to dig through google search results to find the information. You're right about the politics. One side made it a wedge issue to win votes. Like guns or abortion. Sadly it's a good strategy.
Comment What do devs use to make console games? (Score 1) 99
Consoles are effectively hackproof, so might as well use the same tech to ensure devices and PCs are not breachable.
What do developers use to make games and other apps for consoles? And what in your answer will change once PCs are not breachable?
Comment Re:Tech Giant? (Score 0) 29
They have lots and lots of online services to end users. The fact that you're unaware of them doesn't mean they don't have them.
Digital content, Amazon Video, Delivery services, Amazon Business, Amazon Drive, Amazon Publishing, etc etc. All end user services.
Most of the services on that list are retail product sales, or at least very closely tied to retail product sales. Even their publishing services (which I have used personally) are still principally designed for enabling vendors to sell products to consumers, whether physically, digitally, or both. They're a retailer, just with more vendor support than average.
The remaining services (Drive and Amazon Business) are almost certainly internal tools that they built to support their primary business (retail sales) and then decided to make more broadly available to make a little extra money. There are plenty of other companies that could do that, but don't. Do you have any idea how much software Walmart, UPS, FedEx, and other companies with big logistics operations have written internally? But none of those are tech companies, either.
They also do in-home stuff for end users, like in-home assembly services (chairs, desks, treadmills, cribs, nightstands, wine racks, TV wall mounting, etc etc)
So do Sears and Home Depot. That doesn't make them tech companies.
Feed Engadget: The Dyson V15 Detect's laser proved my apartment was never really clean (engadget.com)
Dyson’s newest vacuum isn’t one for subtlety. It has a laser strapped to the front of it for the purpose of highlighting where your dust is hiding. The Dyson V15 Detect is the company’s newest, top-of-the-line cordless vacuum in its line of stick vacuums, at a cost of $699. Are these high-tech additions gimmicks or truly helpful upgrades for a cleaner home?
Comment Re:Tech Giant? (Score 2) 29
They offer almost exactly zero online services to end users
I'd like some of whatever you're taking, but in a smaller dose.
They have lots and lots of online services to end users. The fact that you're unaware of them doesn't mean they don't have them.
Digital content, Amazon Video, Delivery services, Amazon Business, Amazon Drive, Amazon Publishing, etc etc. All end user services.
They also do in-home stuff for end users, like in-home assembly services (chairs, desks, treadmills, cribs, nightstands, wine racks, TV wall mounting, etc etc)
They're a tech company and they're also a company that does indeed provide services to end users, both online and physically.
Feed Techdirt: G7 And Technical Standards: Blink And You Might Have Missed The New Battleground (techdirt.com)
Amid all the news about the third wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the politics behind the vaccination roll out, you might have missed the Ministerial Declaration from the G7 Digital and Technology Ministers’ meeting. As per tradition, the G7 Digital Ministerial provides the opportunity for the seven richest countries of the world to declare their commitments and vision on the type of digital future they would like to see. The document is non-binding but it has the tendency to provide some useful insights on the way the G7 countries view digital issues and their future positions in multilateral fora; it is also informative of other, more formal, multilateral processes. On 28 April 2021, a statement was made addressing key technology issues and opportunities including security in ICT supply chains, Internet safety, free data flows, electronic transferable records, digital competition and technical standards.
Yes, you read that right - technical standards. In the last several years technical standards have moved from the realm of engineers into wider politics. News stories have been replete with China’s efforts to become a competitive force on 5G, AI and facial recognition standards and its wish to be developed internationally based on their national rules, culture and technology. But the public eye turned more closely to China when it was discovered that the facial recognition standards being developed by China in the UN system were from countries on the US sanctions list and used by China for monitoring Uighurs.
None of this is new. For the past few years and for anyone who has been paying attention, China has been strategically positioning itself in various standards bodies realizing that shifting from a unipolar to a multipolar world order cannot happen unless it is capable of demonstrating a more strategic and competitive approach to the domination of the west. What was the tipping point, however, that made the seven richest countries in the world offer explicit language on standards inserted into their declaration? Everything seems to be pointing to the "newIP" standard proposal, recommending a change in the current Internet technology, that was put forward by Huawei and supported by China in the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Although this new standard did not manage to pass the ITU’s study group phase, it did raise the eyebrows of the West. And, rightly so.
Historically, Internet standards have paved their own path and have majorly managed to stay outside of politics. In one of the earliest Requests for Comments (RFC), the definition of a standard was specific and narrow: a standard is “a specification that is stable and well-understood, is technical competent, has multiple, independent and interoperable implementations with operations experience, enjoys significant public support, and is recognizably useful in some or all parts of the Internet”.
Traditionally, governments have had a hands-off approach in the development and deployment of standards related to the Internet; their development was part of the consensus-based, community-driven process developed and nurtured by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and their deployment was left to the market. A standard’s life has always depended on its utility and contribution to the evolution of the Internet.
This seems to be the case less and less. Over the past years, governments have shown increasing interest in the development of standards, and have sought ways to inject themselves into Internet standardization processes. There are two distinct ways that this trend has emerged. First, there's China, which actively seeks to displace the current Internet infrastructure. That was clear in the attempt with the “newIP” proposal. China has been strategic in not directly suggesting a complete rejection of the Internet model; instead, its claims have been that the Internet cannot meet future technologies and needs and, therefore, a new infrastructure, developed and nurtured by governments, is necessary. The second trend continues to support the open, market-driven standards development processes, but seeks ways for governments to be more actively involved. This, so far, has mainly been interpreted as identifying ways to provide incentives for the creation and deployment of certain standards, often those deemed strategically important.
Even though these approaches reflect different political and governance dimensions - China supports a top-down approach over the West’s bottom-up model - they do share one commonality: in both cases, politics are becoming part of the standardization process. This is entirely unlike the past 30 years of Internet development.
This could have significant implications in the development and future of the Internet. There are benefits from the current structure: efficiency, agility and collaboration. The existing process ensures quick responses to problems. But, its main advantage is really the collective understanding that standards are driven by what is “good for the Internet”; that is, what is required for the Internet’s stability, resilience and integrity.
This doesn’t mean that this process is perfect. Of course, it comes with its own limitations and challenges. But, even then, it is a tested process that has worked well for the Internet throughout most of its existence. It has worked - despite its flaws - because it has managed to keep political and cultural dimensions separate. Participants, irrespective of background, language, and political persuasion have been collaborating successfully by having the Internet and what's good for it, as their main objective.
On the contrary, intergovernmental standards are driven by political differences and political motives. They are designed this way. This is not to say that governments should not be paying attention to the way standards are developed. But, it is crucial to do so in ways that do not seek to upend a model that is tested and responsive to the needs of the Internet.
Dr. Konstantinos Komaitis is the Senior Director, Policy Strategy and Development at the Internet Society.
Dominique Lazanski is the Director of Last Press Label, and a Consultant in International Internet and Cybersecurity Standards and Policy.
Comment It's the best time for chip tech announcements! (Score 1) 70
What better times could you ask for than the current time to make big, bold claims regarding new exciting chip technology! After all, you don't really have to deliver anything in the next years, you can always blame the "chip shortage" eating up all the capacity you would have needed to turn your exciting new technology into actual products on the shelves. So I expect more, and even bolder claims in the weeks and months ahead.
Comment Re:Ahem (Score 4, Insightful) 70
TSMC makes a lot of chips for the entire world. TSMC is also a technology leader. What fab in the US could MIT work with on 1nm tech?
Comment Re:Tech Giant? (Score 0) 29
Like AWS itself, those are quite literally all tools that were created for internal use at a company whose primary business is selling goods.
Releasing your internal tools to the public does not make you a tech company, no matter what those internal tools look like, no matter how many people use them.
As best I can tell, only about five or six percent of Amazon's employees are employed writing code, and about that many work in other parts of their corporate offices. That leaves somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% of their employees working in warehouses, trucks, etc. delivering physical products to customers. Amazon is not a tech company. It is a retailer that uses a lot of technology to streamline their retail business.
The fact that they export some of their tech is incidental.
Taiwan's TSMC Claims Breakthrough On 1nm Chips (taiwannews.com.tw) 70
Hmmmmmm shares a report from Taiwan News: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), National Taiwan University (NTU), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have made a significant breakthrough in the development of 1-nanometer chips, reports said Tuesday (May 18). The joint announcement has trumped IBM's statement earlier in the month about the development of a 2nm semiconductor, British website Verdict reported. While at present the most advanced chips are 5nm, TSMC's find was likely to lead to power-saving and higher speeds for future electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, and other new technologies.
The discovery was first made by the MIT team, with elements optimized by TSMC and improved by NTU's Department of Electrical Engineering and Optometrics, according to a report in Nature Magazine. The key element of the research outcome was that using the semi-metal bismuth as the contract electrode of a two-dimensional material to replace silicon can cut resistance and increase the current, Verdict reported. Energy efficiency would thus increase to the highest possible level for semiconductors.
The discovery was first made by the MIT team, with elements optimized by TSMC and improved by NTU's Department of Electrical Engineering and Optometrics, according to a report in Nature Magazine. The key element of the research outcome was that using the semi-metal bismuth as the contract electrode of a two-dimensional material to replace silicon can cut resistance and increase the current, Verdict reported. Energy efficiency would thus increase to the highest possible level for semiconductors.
Submission + - SPAM: Computer Coding Could Count For Foreign Language Credit Under Bill
An anonymous reader writes: Instead of learning a foreign language, Michigan students could take computer coding classes to replace the high school graduation requirement, under a bill that passed the state House Tuesday. Currently, the Michigan Merit Curriculum, which dictates the state’s academic standards for graduation, requires students to take two world language credits to receive a high school diploma. Before the bill passed a vote, bill sponsor Rep. Greg VanWoerkom spoke about the value of coding in Michigan’s prominent auto and tech industries, as well as it being a good alternative for those kids who struggle with traditional language classes.
“Besides being a hard skill, that employers actually want, coding. helps build soft skills. Coding promotes the use of logic, reasoning, problem solving and creativity,” the Norton Shores Republican said. “Any professional coder will tell you that to be fluent in coding takes years of practice and a deep understanding of the language.” In opposition to the bill, Rep Padma Kuppa said though she understands the importance of adding more technology education to curriculums, having had a career as a mechanical engineer, coding is not a foreign language. Students need both computer and tech skills and foreign language skills. “As technology helps the world become more interconnected, our ability to understand and work with others on technical projects around the globe is not only related to the ability to code, but to understand one another,” the Troy Democrat said.
Link to Original Source
“Besides being a hard skill, that employers actually want, coding. helps build soft skills. Coding promotes the use of logic, reasoning, problem solving and creativity,” the Norton Shores Republican said. “Any professional coder will tell you that to be fluent in coding takes years of practice and a deep understanding of the language.” In opposition to the bill, Rep Padma Kuppa said though she understands the importance of adding more technology education to curriculums, having had a career as a mechanical engineer, coding is not a foreign language. Students need both computer and tech skills and foreign language skills. “As technology helps the world become more interconnected, our ability to understand and work with others on technical projects around the globe is not only related to the ability to code, but to understand one another,” the Troy Democrat said.
Link to Original Source
Verizon Forces Users Onto Pricier Plans To Get $50-Per-Month Government Subsidy (arstechnica.com) 31
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Verizon and other Internet service providers are preventing some low-income customers from getting new $50-per-month government subsidies unless they switch to different plans that are sometimes more expensive. Over 825 ISPs nationwide are selling plans eligible for the new subsidies that the US government made available to people who have low incomes or who lost income during the pandemic. Verizon stands out among big ISPs in its use of the subsidy to "upsell" customers to pricier plans, according to a story yesterday by Washington Post tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler.
"Soon after the EBB [Emergency broadband Benefit program] launched, I started hearing from Washington Post readers about their frustrations signing up with certain ISPs," he wrote. "Verizon elicited the most ire from readers." Instead of letting people enroll online, Verizon requires them to call a phone number to sign up and then "tells some customers the EBB can't be used on 'old' data plans, so they'll have to switch," the Post article said. Verizon is limiting the plans available on both mobile and home Internet service. The EBB is temporary, lasting until the $3.2 billion in program funding runs out or six months after the Department of Health and Human Services declares an end to the pandemic. Verizon customers who have to switch to a more expensive plan in order to get the $50 monthly discount would have to pay the higher rate after the subsidy expires.
"At the end of the program, you will either continue on your plan at the price without the EBB discount or you will end your Internet-related services with Verizon," a company FAQ says. "We will give you an opportunity to decide this at the beginning of your enrollment into the EBB program and again before the end of the program. If you do not affirmatively choose to keep your Internet-related services, the FCC requires that we disconnect those services at the end of the EBB program." Verizon defended its implementation of the subsidy program yesterday, saying it has enrolled nearly 1,000 customers in less than a week. But that's just an average, and yesterday's Washington Post story makes clear that some customers would have to switch to more expensive plans to get the subsidy. Earlier today, the FCC said that more than one million U.S. households have signed up to take part in the broadband subsidy program, which is being accepted at over 900 broadband providers. Some providers estimate the program could run out of money in four to six months.
"Soon after the EBB [Emergency broadband Benefit program] launched, I started hearing from Washington Post readers about their frustrations signing up with certain ISPs," he wrote. "Verizon elicited the most ire from readers." Instead of letting people enroll online, Verizon requires them to call a phone number to sign up and then "tells some customers the EBB can't be used on 'old' data plans, so they'll have to switch," the Post article said. Verizon is limiting the plans available on both mobile and home Internet service. The EBB is temporary, lasting until the $3.2 billion in program funding runs out or six months after the Department of Health and Human Services declares an end to the pandemic. Verizon customers who have to switch to a more expensive plan in order to get the $50 monthly discount would have to pay the higher rate after the subsidy expires.
"At the end of the program, you will either continue on your plan at the price without the EBB discount or you will end your Internet-related services with Verizon," a company FAQ says. "We will give you an opportunity to decide this at the beginning of your enrollment into the EBB program and again before the end of the program. If you do not affirmatively choose to keep your Internet-related services, the FCC requires that we disconnect those services at the end of the EBB program." Verizon defended its implementation of the subsidy program yesterday, saying it has enrolled nearly 1,000 customers in less than a week. But that's just an average, and yesterday's Washington Post story makes clear that some customers would have to switch to more expensive plans to get the subsidy. Earlier today, the FCC said that more than one million U.S. households have signed up to take part in the broadband subsidy program, which is being accepted at over 900 broadband providers. Some providers estimate the program could run out of money in four to six months.
Comment Re:'Linux' as in some curated version?? (Score 2) 32
Wipe and replace Googlized UEFI with actually serious UEFI: https://mrchromebox.tech/. Then should be able to install at least some distros. Do check "Supported Devices" for UEFI first, though.
Comment Re:Tech Giant? (Score -1) 29
That's exactly what I was thinking. Amazon isn't a tech company. It's an online retailer.
Amazon's total tech footprint, beyond its internal logistics and its website, is its Kindle, Fire, and Amazon Basics stuff, which makes it only slightly more of a tech giant than Barnes & Noble, and exactly as much of a tech company as Walmart.
By any chance have you heard of Amazon Web Services?
The AWS division itself would also not qualify as a tech company. It's an ISP. BTW, Walmart was also an ISP there for a while, albeit on a more dialup scale.
And Walmart has their own AWS-like system; they just don't make it available outside the company. AWS exists only because Amazon's IT department needed giant server farms for their own needs, and somebody higher up realized that they could make a quick buck by leasing their excess capacity to other companies.
Amazon is not a tech company. They offer almost exactly zero online services to end users (not including their store website), they do not sell software (now that they shut down their failed game studio), and their hardware is a negligible percentage of their revenue, their staffing, etc. Nearly all of what Amazon does, whether you look at it from a revenue perspective, a staff size perspective, a building footprint perspective, or a carbon footprint perspective, is sell physical goods. Amazon is a retailer.
Submission + - SPAM: Verizon Forces Users Onto Pricier Plans To Get $50-Per-Month Government Subsidy
An anonymous reader writes: Verizon and other Internet service providers are preventing some low-income customers from getting new $50-per-month government subsidies unless they switch to different plans that are sometimes more expensive. Over 825 ISPs nationwide are selling plans eligible for the new subsidies that the US government made available to people who have low incomes or who lost income during the pandemic. Verizon stands out among big ISPs in its use of the subsidy to "upsell" customers to pricier plans, according to a story yesterday by Washington Post tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler.
"Soon after the EBB [Emergency broadband Benefit program] launched, I started hearing from Washington Post readers about their frustrations signing up with certain ISPs," he wrote. "Verizon elicited the most ire from readers." Instead of letting people enroll online, Verizon requires them to call a phone number to sign up and then "tells some customers the EBB can't be used on 'old' data plans, so they'll have to switch," the Post article said. Verizon is limiting the plans available on both mobile and home Internet service. The EBB is temporary, lasting until the $3.2 billion in program funding runs out or six months after the Department of Health and Human Services declares an end to the pandemic. Verizon customers who have to switch to a more expensive plan in order to get the $50 monthly discount would have to pay the higher rate after the subsidy expires.
"At the end of the program, you will either continue on your plan at the price without the EBB discount or you will end your Internet-related services with Verizon," a company FAQ says. "We will give you an opportunity to decide this at the beginning of your enrollment into the EBB program and again before the end of the program. If you do not affirmatively choose to keep your Internet-related services, the FCC requires that we disconnect those services at the end of the EBB program." Verizon defended its implementation of the subsidy program yesterday, saying it has enrolled nearly 1,000 customers in less than a week. But that's just an average, and yesterday's Washington Post story makes clear that some customers would have to switch to more expensive plans to get the subsidy.
Link to Original Source
"At the end of the program, you will either continue on your plan at the price without the EBB discount or you will end your Internet-related services with Verizon," a company FAQ says. "We will give you an opportunity to decide this at the beginning of your enrollment into the EBB program and again before the end of the program. If you do not affirmatively choose to keep your Internet-related services, the FCC requires that we disconnect those services at the end of the EBB program." Verizon defended its implementation of the subsidy program yesterday, saying it has enrolled nearly 1,000 customers in less than a week. But that's just an average, and yesterday's Washington Post story makes clear that some customers would have to switch to more expensive plans to get the subsidy.
Link to Original Source
Comment Re:I'm getting tobacco deja vu (Score 0) 100
Not until after they realized they were about to lose in court and entered in agreements with 46 states' attorneys-general: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
This is what we need to do to the tech companies. For the last decade or more, they have displayed the same sociopathic greed as big tobacco. The Zuck, et al., don't give a damn about anything other than their wealth.
This is what we need to do to the tech companies. For the last decade or more, they have displayed the same sociopathic greed as big tobacco. The Zuck, et al., don't give a damn about anything other than their wealth.
Comment Re:Tech Giant? (Score 4, Insightful) 29
That's exactly what I was thinking. Amazon isn't a tech company. It's an online retailer.
Amazon's total tech footprint, beyond its internal logistics and its website, is its Kindle, Fire, and Amazon Basics stuff, which makes it only slightly more of a tech giant than Barnes & Noble, and exactly as much of a tech company as Walmart.
By any chance have you heard of Amazon Web Services?
Comment Re:Tech Giant? (Score 0) 29
That's exactly what I was thinking. Amazon isn't a tech company. It's an online retailer.
Amazon's total tech footprint, beyond its internal logistics and its website, is its Kindle, Fire, and Amazon Basics stuff, which makes it only slightly more of a tech giant than Barnes & Noble, and exactly as much of a tech company as Walmart.
FTC is Prodding the Tech Giant To Punish Fake-Review Schemers (vox.com) 29
An anonymous reader shares a report: Amazon recently banned some sellers of large Chinese electronics brands like Aukey and Mpow that reportedly do hundreds of millions in sales on the shopping site each year. The bans followed a database leak that appeared to tie some of the brands to paid-review schemes, which Amazon prohibits and says it strictly polices. But while some press coverage implied that Amazon took these actions in response to the database leak, internal employee messages viewed by Recode show that pressure from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) led to at least one of the notable bans.
Communications between Amazon employees viewed by Recode also appear to expose an inconsistent punishment system in which employees need special approval for suspending certain sellers because of their sales numbers, while some merchants are able to keep selling products to Amazon customers despite multiple policy violations and warnings. The leaked internal messages also revealed several other instances in recent months of FTC inquiries pressuring Amazon to take action against merchants engaging in fake-review schemes. Amazon has long said that it aggressively polices fake reviews, but the frequency with which the FTC has pressured the company to police merchants that run paid-review programs has not been previously known.
Communications between Amazon employees viewed by Recode also appear to expose an inconsistent punishment system in which employees need special approval for suspending certain sellers because of their sales numbers, while some merchants are able to keep selling products to Amazon customers despite multiple policy violations and warnings. The leaked internal messages also revealed several other instances in recent months of FTC inquiries pressuring Amazon to take action against merchants engaging in fake-review schemes. Amazon has long said that it aggressively polices fake reviews, but the frequency with which the FTC has pressured the company to police merchants that run paid-review programs has not been previously known.
Feed Google News Sci Tech: 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning is an electric pickup that can power your house for days - CNET (google.com)
- 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning is an electric pickup that can power your house for daysCNET
- Ford F-150 Lightning revealed: an electric truck for the massesThe Verge
- Ford selects Sunrun as installation partner to make new F-150 Lightning backup power sourcePV-Tech
- First impressions: Ford's electric F-150 Lightning offers speed, grunt and a big frunkThe Detroit News
- Fact Check: Was Joe Biden Fake Driving a Car With Two Steering Wheels?Newsweek
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Comment Re: That's actually good news for bitcoin (Score 0, Troll) 125
No, your claims seem to be FUD.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/t...
https://www.theguardian.com/te...
https://www.nature.com/article...
etc. etc.
Just type "is bitcoin carbon neutral" into google and do a little surfing, and the answer given is: no, not even close.
I mean, what in the world would be the rational behind it being carbon neutral?
Feed Google News Sci Tech: Dow Jones Up 240 Points As Stock Market Rallies On Jobs Data; Tech Stocks Rebound - Investor's Business Daily (google.com)
- Dow Jones Up 240 Points As Stock Market Rallies On Jobs Data; Tech Stocks ReboundInvestor's Business Daily
- 5 things to know before the stock market opens ThursdayCNBC
- Stocks climb as jobless claims dip, crypto stabilizesFox Business
- Dow Futures Lower, Nasdaq Turns Positive As Bond Markets Ignore Taper TalkMSN Money
- Futures fall as Fed hints at 'taper talk'; jobless claims data eyedReuters
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Feed Techdirt: Parler Was Allowed Back In The Apple App Store Because It Will Block 'Hate Speech,' But Only When Viewed Through Apple Devices (techdirt.com)
Last month we noted that Apple told Congress that it was allowing Parler's iOS app to return to its app store, after the company (apparently) implemented a content moderation system. This was despite Parler's then interim CEO (who has since been replaced by another CEO) insisting that Parler would not remove "content that attacks someone based on race, sex, sexual orientation or religion." According to a deep dive by the Washington Post, the compromise solution is that such content will be default blocked only on iOS devices, but will be available via the web or the sideloaded Google app, though they will be "labeled" as hate by Parler's new content moderation partner, Hive.
Posts that are labeled “hate” by Parler’s new artificial intelligence moderation system won’t be visible on iPhones or iPads. There’s a different standard for people who look at Parler on other smartphones or on the Web: They will be able to see posts marked as “hate,” which includes racial slurs, by clicking through to see them.
Hive is well known in the content moderation space, as it is used by Chatroulette, Reddit and some others. Hive mixes "AI" with a large team of what it refers to as "registered contributors" (think Mechanical Turk-style crowdsourced gig work). Of course, it was only just last year that the company announced that its "hate model" AI was ready for prime time, and I do wonder how effective it is.
Either way, this is interesting for a variety of reasons. One thing we've talked about in the past with regards to content moderation is that one of the many problems is that different people have different tolerances for different kinds of speech, and having different moderation setups for different users (and really pushing more of the decision making to the end users themselves) seems like an idea that should get a lot more attention. Here, though, we have a third party -- Apple -- stepping in and doing that deciding for the users. It is Apple's platform, so of course, they do get to make that decision, but it's a trend worth watching.
I do wonder if we'll start to see more pressure from such third parties to moderate in different ways to the point that our mobile app experiences and our browser experiences may be entirely different. I see how we end up in such a world, but it seems like a better solution might be just pushing more of that control to the end users themselves to make those decisions.
The specific setup here for Parler is still interesting:
Parler sets the guidelines on what Hive looks for. For example, all content that the algorithms flag as “incitement,” or illegal content threatening physical violence, is removed for all users, Peikoff and Guo said. That includes threats of violence against immigrants wanting to cross the border or politicians.
But Parler had to compromise on hate speech, Peikoff said. Those using iPhones won’t see anything deemed to be in that category. The default setting on Android devices and the website shows labels warning “trolling content detected,” with the option to “show content anyway.” Users have the option to change the setting and, like iOS users, never be exposed to posts flagged as hate.
Peikoff said the “hate” flag from the AI review will cue two different experiences for users, depending on the platform they use. Parler’s tech team is continuing to run tests on the dual paths to make sure each runs consistently as intended.
Of course, AI moderation is famously mistake-prone. And both Parler and Hive execs recognize this:
Peikoff said Hive recently flagged for nudity her favorite art piece, the “To Mennesker” naked figures sculpture by Danish artist Stephan Sinding, when she posted it. The image was immediately covered with a splash screen indicating it was unsafe.
“Even the best AI moderation has some error rate,” Guo said. He said the company’s models show that one to two posts out of every 10,000 viewed by the AI should have been caught on Parler but aren’t.
I do question those percentages, but either way it's another interesting example of how content moderation continues to evolve -- even if Parler's users are angry that they won't be able to spew bigotry quite as easily as previously.
Feed Engadget: Snapchat shows off new AR features and more ‘inclusive’ camera tech (engadget.com)
Snap showed off new AR features, announced partnerships with YouTube, and previewed a new more “inclusive” version of its cameras technology.
Feed Google News Sci Tech: Dow Jones Today Lags, Nasdaq Leads As Jobless Claims Decline; Virgin Galactic Spikes, Cisco Tumbles On Outlook - Investor's Business Daily (google.com)
- Dow Jones Today Lags, Nasdaq Leads As Jobless Claims Decline; Virgin Galactic Spikes, Cisco Tumbles On OutlookInvestor's Business Daily
- Stocks climb as jobless claims dip, crypto stabilizesFox Business
- 5 things to know before the stock market opens ThursdayCNBC
- Dow Futures Lower, Nasdaq Turns Positive As Bond Markets Ignore Taper TalkMSN Money
- Tech Stocks Lead Rebound After Jobless Claims DropThe Wall Street Journal
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Comment Re:Gave Up (Score 2) 32
While this is no guarantee that Linux will run well on the machine (drivers/hardware issues), it is likely possible to completely replace ChromeOS and turn your Chromebook into a "standard PC" with a firmware update:
https://mrchromebox.tech/#devi...
You'd have to open it up and remove a write-protect screw and put it in developer mode.
And according to GalliumOS (a light version of Linux), there might be issues with getting the audio to work:
https://wiki.galliumos.org/Har...
Obligatory: make backups of everything you want first.
I've had pretty good success with this firmware on older Chromeboxes.
Comment Too late. (Score 1) 32
I already bought my kids full laptops to replace their school-issued Chromebooks because they were too limited. The tech-giants are getting a little too slow.
Comment Re: Sell TSLA (Score 1) 401
While we will never know for sure, I kind of have a feeling the people pre-ordering these things aren't exactly people towing campers or even people doing commercial work.
This is for some tech bros to buy. If it makes them happy, have at it.
I'd personally go with the Ford if I could only pick between the two but neither would get my vote in real life.
Comment Re: Pumped (Score 1) 185
Yeah, if you bought at $20k during the last bubble and sold at this recent bottom of $31k, you're still over 50% up in under 4 years. That's not as good as tech stocks, but it's not shabby.
Comment Re:Brilliant but⦠(Score 4, Insightful) 87
Seriously? The Soviets and later the Russians cooperated all along with the Chinese, their first manned mission was carried out in a craft differing only slightly from the standard Soyuz.
And seriously, do you expect every other country on the planet to develop all their tech from scratch and duplicate all that effort for no reason? SpaceX's rockets are evolutionary developments based on work by NASA, Roscosmos, Sergei Korolev, Robert Goddard, Werner von Bruan, etc. all the way back to the gunpowder rockets the Chinese used to scare Mongolian cavalry. If the Chinese want to build an airplane do they first have to re-invent the airfoil? If not then they're "stealing" from the Wright brothers, right?
Good grief.
Comment Been running straight xubuntu for years now (Score 2) 32
My Samsung chromebook 3 (DO NOT get this model, btw, unless you just LOOVE issues) has been running straight up XUbuntu for several years now.
You can get these things to run windows if you really want to.
That Google has enabled a "blessed" chroot is nice and all, but that is still all it is. You do not get to control what kernel you are using, etc. Choice is still very much hobbled with Google's offer.
Instead, go straight up for the "blessed" "Chrome OS on x86" fork, and MrChromebox's UEFI.
https://www.engadget.com/googl...
Then you can still dual boot with chromeos, AND have a **REAL** Linux.
Comment Re:Which is better for a Zombie Apocalypse (Score 1) 401
Well, to keep your gas vehicle going, you'd need to get gasoline from a refinery that you feed with crude oil. And it's unlikely you're both a refinery tech and an oil worker and happen to be located in a productive oil field. You could theoretically make biodiesel or ethanol if you've got the right engine, but now you're having to turn a large quantity of your food production into making fuel.
With electric, you need...any method of generating electricity. Solar panels, windmill, water mill, stationary bike attached to generator, or that same ethanol or biodiesel in a generator.
So, EV wins in terms of something that can keep moving. Especially when you add in the much lower demand for maintenance and replacement parts.
Comment Re:I don't drive (Score 1) 94
And, apparently, neither does the Biden admin. He commissioned a study by some outfit called the Environmental Justice Committee. Their report was just delivered ( https://thehill.com/policy/ene... ) and it specifically forbids spending any monies that would reduce CO2 impact. Yes, that means that if someone comes up with a tech that sequesters CO2 this bunch would oppose that.
Such groups do not care about the environment, they only care about telling you what to do.
Feed CNET Tech: Audi wants V2X tech to make school buses safer - Roadshow (cnet.com)
The automaker teamed up with public and private partners to expand its vehicle communication tech to children trying to get home safely.
Comment Re: Do you want CO2 seeping back out? (Score 1) 94
It's not farts, it's burps. The rest of us know this, and if you knew anything about this, you'd know it too.
If you bothered to read, I mentioned burps in another reply. I mentioned farts because that's what gets written about. But I took care to mention burps long before you decided to reply.
The idea that methane is a small problem because it is short-lived is both false and stupid.
The IDEA is that the livestock methane came from plants, which absorbed the CO2 from, ultimately, the air. The methane that gets released by animals do not come from some magical breaking of the conservation of matter. I'm talking about methane in the context of livestock, not methane in general, and to not take that into account is illiterate and stupid.
The short livedness of methane means it is not a problem in the context of animal produced methane. The methane pumped out by livestock is less than energy production, or decomposing waste products. Being short-lived also means it's harder to accumulate than CO2, specifically methane from livestock, since the methane from livestock comes from plants, which extract CO2 from the air. The methane from livestock is merely recycled carbon, and if you want to reduce carbon greenhouse gases, it makes more sense to go after the sources which come from the ground that was captured over millions of years.
If you bury the trees then they tend to decompose anaerobically and they release most of their carbon anyway.
The carbon goes into the soil. https://www.nature.com/scitabl... As long as we don't disturb that soil unnecessarily, it won't be released in meaningful amounts.
You don't have to treat the wood to make it less biodegradable
You don't have to, but it's better if you do. https://www.newscientist.com/a...
Feed Google News Sci Tech: U.S. Stock Futures Point to Fourth Day of Losses - The Wall Street Journal (google.com)
- U.S. Stock Futures Point to Fourth Day of LossesThe Wall Street Journal
- What's Driving the Rotation Out of Tech Stocks?Bloomberg Markets and Finance
- Why Is the Stock Market Falling? Here Are 3 Reasons.Barron's
- S&P 500 Slips as Signs Bond Tapering May Enter Fed's Thinking Halts Rebound By Investing.comInvesting.com
- Are We At The Beginning Of A Multiyear Boom?Zacks.com
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Feed Techdirt: As The US Press Withers, Glorified Marketing Aims To Take Its Place (techdirt.com)
More than 16,000 journalists and editors were laid off last year, a tally that excludes broader media jobs and freelancers. While COVID certainly played a role (read: advertisers not wanting the brands to appear in ads next to stories telling people the truth about a pandemic), the layoffs were part of a broader trend in which the unprofitable business of delivering the factual reality (usually) continues to wither on the vine.
Mindless media consolidation has created vast news deserts where local news of any quality literally no longer exist. Incompetent but wealthy new media CEOs, free from anything vaguely resembling accountability, fire their entire newsrooms on a dime at the slightest hint of unionization, a threat that wouldn't be so pronounced if we'd managed to pay reporters a living wage. The US press feels broken, a consensus on how to fix it remains elusive, and bad ideas seem to outnumber good ones by a wide margin.
Into that vacuum has stumbled all manner of terrible beasts, ranging from phony "pink slime" local news, a steady parade of foreign and domestic propaganda artists, and consolidated broadcasters for which truth is a distant afterthought. Just this week, OAN, a "news" channel found on most mainstream cable lineups and pumped into millions of American homes, not only trumpeted the bogus election "audit" in Arizona, it was happily fundraising off of it with zero repercussions whatsoever:
"What’s more, one of those reporters, Christina Bobb, is the network’s most visible correspondent covering the very “audit” that she is helping scare up money for on OAN’s airwaves, while she and the network enjoy unique access to the process where private contractors and volunteers are searching for fraud and have examined ballots for nonexistent watermarks and “bamboo fibers.” OAN has a deal as the exclusive livestream partner for the audit."
At the same time, wealthy individuals and organizations also have an eye on using their vast fortunes to reshape the news industry in their interests. Silicon Valley venture capital giants like a16z have begun building their own news empires to counter what they believe are overly critical media narratives (aka the truth about things like environmental harms, unfair labor practices, and anti-competitive shenanigans). And this week, cryptocurrency giant Coinbase announced it too would be building a new media arm. With a notable caveat:
"Unlike a typical newsroom, that person would report into Coinbase's marketing team."
Granted it's not entirely impossible Coinbase could build a quality news operation, though past efforts like this traditionally haven't gone that well. Without an adequate firewall between marketing and news, you wind up with bungled experiments like Verizon's short-lived Sugarstring news venture, which quickly collapsed after the journalists they hired were banned from writing about issues Verizon clearly had a stake in (most notably, surveillance and net neutrality).
Not too surprisingly, Coinbase's jump into news was met with the sort of skepticism you'd expect:
"Unlike a typical newsroom, that person would report into Coinbase's marketing team."
Ok. So not a media arm, a corporate propaganda arm. https://t.co/hPoxB5YOqi
— Aram Zucker-Scharff (@Chronotope) May 19, 2021
No offense to anyone but this is just content marketing https://t.co/Vpz48FjQaT
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) May 19, 2021
I spent much of February talking to as many media scholars as I could for a piece on how we fix the country's news and disinformation crisis, and found there's still nothing even close to a consensus on how to proceed. There's not even a real sense among many academics that there's a serious problem taking root. Policy and legislative solutions, many admittedly terrible (fairness doctrine 2.0!), will never survive free speech concerns or a rightward-lurching court system. There's some scattered suggestions (forcing a la carte cable to reduce revenue to dodgy channels like OAN, require more transparency in ads), but nothing that comes close to comprehensive.
That leaves finding ways to creatively-fund and amplify trustworthy news outlets, something that's not really happening at any scale either. Often, it feels like we've found creative ways to fund everything but journalism. White supremacist chat rooms? Check. Hot tub influencers? Sure! Meme-based joke cryptocurrencies? Why not! Gamers watching gamers watching gamers? Of course! Ridiculously speculative blockchain-based art? Yep! Journalism, a purported cornerstone of democracy? Meh. Education? Whatevs.
Instead, the journalism industry seems content to pat itself on the back for reinventing the newsletter for the umpteenth time, as genuine journalism and expertise slowly gets swallowed in a sea of COVID-denying influencers, bullshit-artists, billionaire ego projects, trolling Substack opinion writers, timid "view from nowhere" journalism, and just rank political and corporate disinformation. There's surely a path out from the current US information apocalypse, but it's anything but obvious what it looks like at the moment.
Comment Re:Meanwhile, In Australia... (Score 1) 192
Those countries could give a flying f about whether you trust them or not. If they have the tech base to develop nuclear power they will.
Feed Engadget: Toyota’s 2021 Mirai fuel-cell sedan looks great, trapped in California (engadget.com)
For 2021 Toyota gave its hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, the Mirai, a design and tech makeover. It's more efficient and stylish, but one thing Toyota hasn't fixed is the US' hydrogen fueling infrastructure.
Comment Re:I'm shocked! (Score 1) 50
Local ISP sells dedicated bandwidth. If you have any performance issues in their network, to their transit network, or through their transit networks, they will get it fixed. They pay for guaranteed bandwidth in their transit networks. I was paying $90 for 100/100, they they started to alter the tiers and dropped it down to $40 for 150/150 with a 6month half-price intro. For 6 months I was paying $20/m for 150/150, then it went up to $40. I could get that 150/150 to nearly everywhere in the world that I cared, and even decent performance to more poorly connected places like India, Africa, New Zealand, parts of Australia.
And when I say "guaranteed bandwidth in their transit networks", I mean it. Their routes continued to work during BGP outages. Even with national outages and routing problems from those Tier 1 providers, our connections still worked and remained low latency and high bandwidth. There was once a time where some major fiber was cut causing performance degradation for that Tier 1. Even during that time, our route was altered resulting in slightly higher latency, but bandwidth was still spot on even while other customers of that Tier 1 where reporting performance issues over the same route.
I have 400Mb symmetrical fiber these days and get my provisioned speed pretty much everywhere. It's been a while, but at one time I did a month long high ping of 10 pps to an arbitrary datacenter in Europe. Max-Min was less than 10ms, std-dev of jitter was 0.1ms, and fewer than 200 packets lost. At one time AWS Paris was "3 hops" from Midwest USA for me.
Now days their tiers are like this. $50 250/250, $80 400/400, $120 600/600, $180 1Gb/1Gb. No installation cost, no contracts, no fees of any kind, no tax. You at-most pay exactly what is advertised. I can't go back to Charter.
The cherry on top. They have anti-bufferbloat. I can literally saturate the connection up and down at the same time with BitTorrent and none of my other connections are affected by loss, latency, or jitter. The only way I ever got the latency to go up was when I used a DDOS testing tool and had it send 1Gb/s at my 100Mb connection and it caused my latency to my first hop to go from 0.014ms to 18-20ms with ~90% loss. But even at a DDOS of 110Mb/s and my router claiming exactly 100Mb/s of ingress, I still had sub-1ms latency and 0 loss. Statistical flow isolation. They seem to have similar tech in use on their trunks as well. I had to report an issue about reduced bandwidth but unaffected ping and loss. Turned out they had an active DDOS attack against them sending several times their trunk bandwidth and their alarms didn't go off because they monitored latency and loss, which were unaffected. Even with a volumetric DDOS against the ISP, I could still play video games unaffected. The only issue I was having was 4k videos took a few seconds to start. I was used to instant buffering.
And when I say "guaranteed bandwidth in their transit networks", I mean it. Their routes continued to work during BGP outages. Even with national outages and routing problems from those Tier 1 providers, our connections still worked and remained low latency and high bandwidth. There was once a time where some major fiber was cut causing performance degradation for that Tier 1. Even during that time, our route was altered resulting in slightly higher latency, but bandwidth was still spot on even while other customers of that Tier 1 where reporting performance issues over the same route.
I have 400Mb symmetrical fiber these days and get my provisioned speed pretty much everywhere. It's been a while, but at one time I did a month long high ping of 10 pps to an arbitrary datacenter in Europe. Max-Min was less than 10ms, std-dev of jitter was 0.1ms, and fewer than 200 packets lost. At one time AWS Paris was "3 hops" from Midwest USA for me.
Now days their tiers are like this. $50 250/250, $80 400/400, $120 600/600, $180 1Gb/1Gb. No installation cost, no contracts, no fees of any kind, no tax. You at-most pay exactly what is advertised. I can't go back to Charter.
The cherry on top. They have anti-bufferbloat. I can literally saturate the connection up and down at the same time with BitTorrent and none of my other connections are affected by loss, latency, or jitter. The only way I ever got the latency to go up was when I used a DDOS testing tool and had it send 1Gb/s at my 100Mb connection and it caused my latency to my first hop to go from 0.014ms to 18-20ms with ~90% loss. But even at a DDOS of 110Mb/s and my router claiming exactly 100Mb/s of ingress, I still had sub-1ms latency and 0 loss. Statistical flow isolation. They seem to have similar tech in use on their trunks as well. I had to report an issue about reduced bandwidth but unaffected ping and loss. Turned out they had an active DDOS attack against them sending several times their trunk bandwidth and their alarms didn't go off because they monitored latency and loss, which were unaffected. Even with a volumetric DDOS against the ISP, I could still play video games unaffected. The only issue I was having was 4k videos took a few seconds to start. I was used to instant buffering.
Comment Re:Brilliant but⦠(Score 0, Troll) 87
"would it not be better for the nations to cooperate?" We did, unwillingly. The tech behind China's space exploration has been stolen by spies for 30+ years.
Feed Google News Sci Tech: Dogecoin: Why did it drop so fast in 24 hours? - Deseret News (google.com)
- Dogecoin: Why did it drop so fast in 24 hours?Deseret News
- Stocks struggle as taper talk, crypto crash put markets on edgeReuters
- Tesla Stock Is Dropping Again. Blame Europe Not Bitcoin.Barron's
- Bitcoin: Why did it drop so fast? Did Dogecoin drop, too?Deseret News
- What to watch today: Stock futures sink as tech names slide, bitcoin plungesCNBC
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Comment Re: Let me choose (Score 2) 99
Exactly. You don't ask Volvo for a button on the dashboard that disables the warning when you're not wearing the seatbelts, disables the crumple zones, disables the auto-break-on-collision-detection, lets you drive with the lights switched off, lets you operate the navigation system while driving, disables the "maybe it's time to take a break" warning when it detects that you're not paying attention to the road, etc. Instead, you decide "This Volvo which does as much as possible to keep me safe is limiting my freedoms as an adult, so I will choose a different brand." In 2008, Volvo set their "Big Hairy Audacious Goal" that by 2020, "nobody would be killed or injured in a Volvo". Set aside whether they reached this goal or not, it is *their* angle at the market.
And Apple has carefully crafted their brand around "premium good-looking tools which just work". Again, set aside whether they actually "just work" or not - this is their angle at the market.
Come on, we're on a tech site. We *all* had to support family members with their computers, and our first question when we saw their computer riddled with malware would be "did you run anything suspicious?" And every time they told you "No, not at all, I never run things, I just open icons." I put my family on Macs because these are significantly harder to fuck up.
Having a separate app store on a phone opens the floodgates for this situation. Even if you put up a big flashing warning sign. Because the installer of MalwareInfestedFlappyBird will *tell* the user "Halfway the process, you'll see a big red button. Click it to continue installing." And since even "reputable" companies will ask for this (so they can control their own store), it will become yet another "annoying alert to click away."
Do we *really* want to go back to the Java Installer Updater Downloader Manager?
