Posts by vichardy

Epic lawsuit's latest claims: Google slipped tons of cash to game devs, Android makers to cement Play store dominance

Wasn't Google's initial call to goodness: "Do no evil"?

Now that's rich!

More Boots on Moon delays: NASA stops work on SpaceX human landing system as Blue Origin lawsuit rolls on

Being from Seattle, my opinion of Bezos was low anyway, but this stunt is old aerospace sour grapes. I think he's getting bad advice from his old aero managers. He should put his head down and do what Musk does; work hard, take risks and perform. it's not like he doesn'at have to money to hire good leaders.

Senators urge US trade watchdog to look into whether Tesla may just be over-egging its Autopilot, FSD pudding

I'd be more concerned that a Tesla charging in your garage catches on fire at night when you're sleeping (happened recently).

I've test-driven three Teslas and their capabilities for self-driving really are impressive; AFAIK, nobody comes close. A recent test drive from LA to SF was accomplished with the safety driver never touching the steering wheel. It pulled out of the parking lot, negotiated stop signs and traffic lights, pedestrians etc, got on I5 and made the trip. Truly amazing. The first time I drove one I put on the left turn signal and it (to my surprise) changed lanes for me and a chill went up my spine.

But then a few minutes later in the rain and in a curve it lost the lane makers and quickly headed for a brick wall on the right. That got my attention and I realized that you have to be 100% engaged and looking at the road. In that respect, if you're doing your job it can be more stressful than turning it off.

I'm dubious that 100% reliable self driving cars (or worse, trucks) will ever pass muster and all it will take is one accident at speed where many people lose their lives and that will be it. There's a lot of money being poured into this (recent 60 minutes show about S/D trucks is chilling) for obvious reasons but the industry is still a long, long ways off imho.

Re: Common sense and responsibility

You can die in 15 seconds. I recently purchased a new Acura MDX that has a lane keeping feature and it works pretty well, until it doesn't. It shows a display of a left and right lane marker which is lit when it sees them and unlit when it loses 'lock' on the lane. At that point, it can and usually will head straight ahead as the road curves and this happens very fast.

This can be stressful as I realized that in this mode I really am a safety driver and I have to participate in the driving. I cannot take my eyes off the road for more than a couple seconds or I'm at risk. Now I have it dialed in and only use it on the freeways at speed with moderate curves and it does better.

I've driven several Teslas over the last year and I'd guess their lane keeping/self driving is second to none and probably loses lane lock a lot less than my car, but anybody who is lulled into thinking they can take their hands off the wheel and not engage with the driving is rolling the dice.

I think in this regard the Tesla system is almost too good and people put too much stock into it's reliability, like the guy who was playing a video game when the car slammed into a truck.

Re: I am kind of surprised...

There must be some sort of national database that all states and municipalities have to input to. Google is usually spot on when you pass a new sign, and waze also. New construction not so much.

US boffins: We're close to fusion ignition in the lab – as seen in stars and thermonuclear weapons

Re: I guessing ...

I remember hearing that 20 years ago.

Zoom incompatible with GDPR, claims data protection watchdog for the German city of Hamburg

Let's just hire every person in Europe to be a bureaucrat

The European bureaucracy just seems to know no bounds when it comes to regulations. Maybe this is worthwhile, maybe not but its another reason why the business climate across the pond is subdued compared to the US. Way to many regulations and regulators.

Blue Origin sues NASA for awarding SpaceX $3bn contract to land next American boots on the Moon

How can he be that stupid?

He must be getting bad advice. You would think that after the ill-advised protest (which he lost) he would just drop it and work to better. Poking your customer in the eye is really dumb.

Starliner takes off ... back to the factory and not space

i wonder if Boeing is paying for all this drama or does their contract have a way for Uncle Sam to fund it. The hallmark of old aerospace is that you do nothing unless paid for it and reap the 15% profit on anything spent, also known as 'cost plus'. The finance people abound with these kind of contracts.

SpaceX has invested in its own future and is focused on innovation, and it shows.

The UK is running on empty when it comes to electric vehicle charging points

Re: Slow AC charging and rapid DC charging

"...and EV owners want to charge for 10 - 30 minutes and then continue their journey" Here in the US I would guess most people don't want to spend 30 recharging/refueling as right now with gasoline you can fill your tank in 5 minutes. Sure, a bio-break maybe but charging times will be a barrier to wide-spread adoption for sure. That is unless you have a law that prohibits ICE sales like the UK apparently does.