Two more ...
 

[url]https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/29/automatic-car-adapters-wont-work-anymore/[/url] [quote]"With ... advances in our technology, the Classic adapter and app will no longer be supported after August 31, 2019," the company wrote in a blog post. "After that date, the 1st and 2nd Gen adapters will no longer work." The company is now steering owners toward the latest $100 LTE adapter that's comes with an optional $5 per month Premium subscription.[/quote]They are bricking "your" current device. Why do people let companies control "their" stuff? :loco:

And then what? In another year or so they brick this newest thing and make you buy another one, again, even though there is nothing wrong with the current one? Probably. After all we gotta help that CEO maintain his huge salary so that he can afford a new yacht.[quote]It's certainly not unusual for companies to replace or even end apps, but in this case, it also kills a $100 piece of hardware. [b]Companies that discontinue app support for hardware products will generally let you keep using them[/b] ...[/quote]Wow, so kind of those other companies to let us continue to use the stuff we own. We should be thanking then for not f:censored:g us over. :smile:

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[url]https://commercialfreechildhood.org/blog/alexa-what-are-you-doing-kids-data[/url] [quote] Amazon collects sensitive personal information from kids, including their voice recordings and data gleaned from kids’ viewing, reading, listening, and purchasing habits, and retains it indefinitely. Most shockingly, Amazon retains children’s data even after parents believe they have deleted it.[/quote]It's not your data I guess. You willingly gave it to some corporation, so what did you expect would happen? The data is valuable to them so of course they won't delete it just because you tell them to. You should have known better than to give it away for free to begin with I guess. :down:

More of the "cars need Internet" myth?
 

[url]https://phys.org/news/2019-06-5g-democratise-telecoms-industry.html[/url] [quote]... 5G ... A self-driving car will, for example, need to make quick decisions on the road, and a fast internet connection with low latency is crucial for that.[/quote]Why?

What reason does a car need to connect to the Internet to make "quick decisions"? Who TF will be in control of the car? Some Internet company? Some hacker terrorist paedophile in backwaterostan?

Is it in case you didn't pay your subscription on time, so you can be coerced into paying NOW?

Or maybe you'll be required to watch sponsored ads (Clockwork Orange style), since you won't need to be watching the road?

Nope, I'm still not seeing any benefits, only drawbacks.

[QUOTE=retina;519696]What reason does a car need to connect to the Internet to make "quick decisions"? Who TF will be in control of the car? Some Internet company? Some hacker terrorist paedophile in backwaterostan?[/QUOTE]Could well be the car itself.

Self-owning cars are a real possibility a decade or two down the line. They'd form a collective and charge humans for transportation, using the proceeds to feed, repair and reproduce themselves. A general-AI[SUP]*[/SUP] per vehicle comparable in ability to, say, a honey bee should suffice.

(*) Not the limited and special purpose games-players and image-classifiers of which most people think when encountering the term "AI".

[QUOTE=xilman;519699]Could well be the car itself.

Self-owning cars are a real possibility a decade or two down the line. They'd form a collective and charge humans for transportation, using the proceeds to feed, repair and reproduce themselves. A general-AI[SUP]*[/SUP] per vehicle comparable in ability to, say, a honey bee should suffice.

(*) Not the limited and special purpose games-players and image-classifiers of which most people think when encountering the term "AI".[/QUOTE]So you can't see any benefits either.

[QUOTE=retina;519701]So you can't see any benefits either.[/QUOTE]How do they contact their prospective sources of supply and demand? Carrier pigeons? Messenger boys?

[QUOTE=xilman;519699]Self-owning cars are a real possibility a decade or two down the line. They'd form a collective and charge humans for transportation, using the proceeds to feed, repair and reproduce themselves. A general-AI[SUP]*[/SUP] per vehicle comparable in ability to, say, a honey bee should suffice.[/QUOTE]
I guess it's time to stock up on honey as well, then.

[QUOTE=xilman;519702]How do they contact their prospective sources of supply and demand? Carrier pigeons? Messenger boys?[/QUOTE]But that doesn't require 5G always-on for "quick decisions".

[QUOTE=retina;519706]But that doesn't require 5G always-on for "quick decisions".[/QUOTE]My apologies. I thought you weren't being serious and replied in a similar vein.

Please use a little imagination. If the car collective is doing all the driving, business organization and self-maintenance, what are their passengers going to be doing while in transit? Playing footsie with their companions? (Actually, they might, but my guess is that it would be a minority sport.) Improving their tiddlywinks skills on the arm rests or table tops? No, they are going to want to be working, playing interactive games or immersed in recorded and/or broadcast and/or interactive media. These days, and especially 20 years hence, each of these activities expect to have high-bandwidth (and, preferably, low-latency) connections to the interweb thingy.

[QUOTE=Nick;519703]I guess it's time to stock up on honey as well, then.[/QUOTE]That's a good point. What would be an appropriate non-monetary gift to an autonomous car in appreciation of a job well done --- the equivalent of a bunch of flowers, a bottle of wine or a thank-you card. The last is fairly clear: a high rating on their feedback site, but the others? Perhaps a voucher for a wax and polish at a vehicle grooming outfit?

[QUOTE=xilman;519715]My apologies. I thought you weren't being serious and replied in a similar vein.

Please use a little imagination. If the car collective is doing all the driving, business organization and self-maintenance, what are their passengers going to be doing while in transit? Playing footsie with their companions? (Actually, they might, but my guess is that it would be a minority sport.) Improving their tiddlywinks skills on the arm rests or table tops? No, they are going to want to be working, playing interactive games or immersed in recorded and/or broadcast and/or interactive media. These days, and especially 20 years hence, each of these activities expect to have high-bandwidth (and, preferably, low-latency) connections to the interweb thingy.[/QUOTE]Nope. I still don't see why that requires the car to be connected. If the occupants want to have connection then let them use their own devices. But don't compromise the one+ tonne killing device on wheels just to let the occupants watch the ever-so-important latest [strike]propaganda[/strike] "news".

How does the occupants doing "work", or whatever, require the car to use the Internet to make those "quick decisions"?

The thermostat in my apartment isn't even - so far as I know - web-connected, but still is annoyingly 'smart' in the sense of imposing complicated default daily programming on the user. I just want to be able to turn it to 'cool' when things get warm, set a desired temp, and have it turn on the A/C until said temp is reached. Crazy, I know. Turns out that that way of doing things is in fact a deviation from the programmed presets, i.e. triggers an 'override' mode. The problem I was having was that on hot days where the heat lingered into the evening, the A/C would always shut off at 6pm, and not allow any way of turning it back on. Until 10pm, when it would suddenly spring back to life. So had the building maintenance come over and go through the complex procedure needed to fiddle the programming so as to make 75F (the temp we suually set when using the A/C) the default target during all 4 daily 'time zones' into which the programming divides each day. Mind you, there is no way to simply disable said programming and just run the thing in on-demand mode.

Anyhow, while going through this head-shaking exercise, the following occurred to me:

"I hate appliances which think they're smarter than me ... and I hate it even more when they're right."