You should watch his videos on solar panels if you like a rant, though it gets increasingly political as it goes.
The video may be primarily about solar, but he goes nuclear by the end.
Sony sold the PS3 at a pretty significant loss and had an “OtherOS” feature that allowed people to install Linux on it.
Between that and ots cell architecture, it turned out to be a super affordable way to build supercomputers. Sony eventually disabled the OtherOS feature to combat people buying them en masse and costing Sony their lunch, and they got a LOT of flack for it.
Valve is doing the opposite. They’re keeping the openness, but charging enough money it’s not financially viable to buy a bunch of Steam Machines to build cheap AI clusters.
It was basing standards on vehicle footprints. Starting in 2012, a Toyota Corolla had less-strict emissions and fuel economy standards than a compact truck, so they stopped making the compact trucks after 2011.
They brought back the Ranger, but it’s larger than some of the older F150s.
And as standards got tighter, it impacted more an more vehicles. All the compact cargo vans (Transit Connect, ProMaster City, and NV200) were discontinued in 2022 because they no longer meet standards at that size.
That’s an interesting example.
HL2 controversially required you to sign in to a new online service upon installation even though you had a physical disc. Everybody was super pissed about it at the time.
But now most PC gamers act like that service is the one good thing on earth.
My first car was a 1985 LTD that was pirpose built to scar. The seat belt, of course, but also fun little things like the controls and the metal bands in the steering wheel.
But it was also super easy to work on because the hood was the size of a small nation and you could get to anything. The big hood also gave the tires plenty of room, so it could turn on a dime. I swear you could rear-end yourself with that thing.
It’s how the pretend it’s a nutritious breakfast.
Ads aren’t always there to get you to buy something specific. In fact, an ad you don’t interact with is a better ad because they don’t have to pay for click-through.
You don’t want to buy brand A because they have ads, so you buy brand B instead, but both widgets are owned by the same holding company. Or they’re made in the same factory. Or they use the same components. Or they have the same shareholders. Any way you slice it, the same rich assholes are getting your money.
The goal of the Ads is to put a bug in your head and get you to buy something.
And that’s just the Ads. The tracking is also (increasingly primarily) about political manipulation and surveillance.
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