https://www.cehrp.org/dissection-of-flock-safety-camera/
This article may be out of date, but it is quite clear that Flock just ordered a bunch of parts off AliBaba, slapped them together in an injection moulded enclosure, added some vibe-coded software and pumped them out after greasing some palms.
They are free electronic components and modules that can be used for your own projects. Just make sure they are completely erased and serial numbers removed before reusing.
I reckon the Strait of Hormuz situation is a fabricated excuse to explain a diesel shortage due to Data Centre generators.
You will probably find most people in Lemmy are Atheist or agnostic, IMO, but you do need to find your own belief system.
While having your own belief system is unusual in our conformist society, it is not weird. What is weird is that so many people blindly follow someone else’s belief system.
But it doesn’t work! You hear all sorts of anecdotes about a business who retrenched their workforce to replace with LLMs, everything comes crashing down and they have to rehire all their workforce at higher rates.
It would be interesting to see actual verified numbers. I am sure that a lot of useless people can be replaced with computers, but most of the time, all it requires is a very small sh script, it doesn’t need a monstrous data centre that uses more water and power than a human.
IIRC they are common SBCs and components. They can be broken down and components resold.
A lot of manufacturers sell vehicles at cost price in the hopes of making it up in after sales (parts and servicing). Most EVs require very little regular expense (cabin filters, brakes and tyres), so they try to make up the difference in subscriptions and “value added” services.
Sometimes those “value added” services aren’t adding value to their customers; they are “adding value” for business partners.
You would think that a car that is sold at a premium price would be exempt from these nasty little scams.
Reading the article makes me feel like it should be in Not The Onion.
It is interesting that they couldn’t replace sex workers with their unskilled robots, but they think they can replace teachers!?
These companies are so out of touch with reality that they deserve to go bankrupt. Their investors are so out of touch that they deserve to loose their investment.
Consumer preference is for a device that works the same as my old phone. We don’t need GenBS leaching all my personal data and corrupting all the data I do have?
Crack it open and take out the GPS and cellular module.
Or relocate the entire unit to somewhere it will actually provide civic good like somewhere prone to Illegal Garbage dumping or as a trailcam for wildlife.