US labor can’t really compete with the low cost of Chinese labor. On the other hand, it’s not like US automakers are making small affordable EVs, even though there is a demand for them. Imported Chinese EVs fill that niche and also contain things like strategic metals, rare earth magnets, and lithium battery tech. All of that is recyclable, and they want to sell it to America for super cheap prices. If we were smart, when these cars are done being cars, we’ll reuse and recycle these materials right here in the USA. That could be a growth industry unto itself.

That was the original plan. I was going to just extend the existing roof outward, but it would shed rain directly where you have to walk to get to the cars. You’d basically have to walk through a waterfall.

A flitch beam sounds interesting. The problem with 2-by timbers, like 10x2 or 12x2, is their thickness. A 12x2 would drop down 12 inches, and the highest point of my carport is only 8-feet high. In its 16-foot run, it has to drop at least 4 inches in order for water to run off. I can’t be using material as thick as 12x2. That’s why I was considering doubling or tripling some engineered wood. But at that point it seems like steel would be the same cost and better performing. I dunno. Like you said, I may have to talk to an engineer.

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Supposedly a Cisco software update went wrong and took everything down for a while. That’s the rumor.

FFS lay off the artificial intelligence bullshit. I don’t want or need machine learning in my fucking browser. I tell it where to go, and it goes there. This is not a problem that needs solving. There had better be a way to turn this garbage off.

Just checked the website. VoLTE is not supported at all, and there’s no aGPS, so I don’t see much of a reason to use this as a phone operating system. Maybe for just a mobile data device.

Good questions, particularly about the LTE. If you’re in the USA and not running a stock ROM, and not using a Pixel phone, there’s a good chance that VoLTE is not going to work. So you’ll have 4G data, but no voice calling.

Can’t find it now, but I believe I originally read about it in here: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1alzzep/exclusive_mozilla_names_new_ceo_as_it_pivots_to/

Probably. And that’s why I hesitate to use it.

They subcontract it out to a third party, who’s name I’m forgetting, that doesn’t have a great reputation.

This is helpful. Thanks.

And yet the fediverse has the opposite problem. You can never trust that something you deleted has actually been deleted on other servers.

I take my ill-gotten gains and fuck off to another country, perhaps the USA, and buy up a small little-known automotive start up that has some promising IP. When my car company is bigger than all the others combined, I don’t spread the love around, but instead allow them all to stew in the juices of their mistakes. While I’m at it, I might buy a social media company and do everything possible to run my entire empire into the ground.

I have a fantasy where I’m a powerful executive at Volkswagen. I’m in a meeting where this idea is presented. I ask who thought of it. Someone raises their hand. I smile broadly. I ask who else thinks it’s a good idea. Others raise their hands. I call security and have all those people escorted out of the building. Those of us who remain set about manufacturing small, efficient & affordable electric vehicles with manual windows & door locks, and a not a single touchscreen anywhere. The End

What an absolute shitshow this is going to be. If I want a digital assistant, I’ll get one. Keeping concerns separate is what has always worked. This reads like Elon wanting X to be the “everything app”. That ship has already sailed. The web is the everything app. Back when the web was new, you had AOL and Yahoo wanting to be the “gateway” to everything. How did that work out? My gateway to everything is my bookmarks folder. I don’t want AI in anything I use locally unless I explicitly enable it and ask for assistance. IMHO, this is the reason so many digital assistants have failed (especially Microsoft’s); because they tried to anticipate your needs rather than STFU and stay out of the way.

I’m old.

/rant

Got it.

Didn’t know I could do that. Gonna change it now.

I use Brave Browser (with Ublock Origin and AdBlock) and rarely have any issues.

You don’t have issues because Brave is based on Chromium, which is basically Chrome.

I seem to remember reading that Google is purposely degrading the YouTube experience on Firefox. Don’t know if it’s true, but it sure seems that way.