Skip Navigation

InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)P

partial_accumen

@ partial_accumen @lemmy.world

Posts
2
Comments
1754
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Elon Musk Is Charging Starlink Customers Gigantic Bogus Fees Because Its Network Is Being Crushed by “High Demand”

    Jump

  • Give them internet via a geo stationary satellite.

    We have that already. Its comparatively very expensive, and also very very high latency simply because for the speed-of-light. The satellite at GEO sits at 20k kilometers. That by itself introduces 250ms of latency each way. So a 500ms latency is not uncommon for GEO satellite internet. Also, GEO satellites are very expensive because of how much energy (deltaV) it takes to get the satellite out that far and for how long they have to operate to make that money back.

  • Elon Musk Is Charging Starlink Customers Gigantic Bogus Fees Because Its Network Is Being Crushed by “High Demand”

    Jump

  • First, Musk is a nazi-saluting asshole. Now that we have that established, this article is mostly rage-bait with selective truths on the Starlink service. I'm all for calling out bad behavior a company (and there is a little bit here, but not much regarding the customer billing concerns). This (mostly) rage-bait article is (mostly) distracting focus from the very important problem with Starlink regarding Musk's influence on the government entities that are supposed to protect us from oligarchs. Not only does this include the FCC, but the SEC that let musk bend and break rules to IPO the SpaceX stock enriching himself at the cost of the American people

    The narrative of the article is "Starlink has massive hidden fees! Look $1500 charge! Look $500 charge! Look $1000 charge!"

    There's three different reasonable explanations for the situations all three these.

    1. $1500 charge - it was a billing software bug, not a policy change, and Starlink reversed the charges costing the subscriber nothing. Yes, I agree customer service could be better and faster.
    2. $500 charge - Subscriber was trying to skirt the rules to save themselves money by subscribing to the [long term plan] for [short term] use. When a subscriber signs up for [long term plan] the extra charge is clearly shown before the service is subscribed to. Yes, the fee is there, but its not hidden. Yes the fee is high, but the prior version of how subscription works meant that the customer would simply be told "we're at capacity for your area, no service for you at all". Instead if service is that important for a user they can choose to pay the fee. Yes, there should be an extra warning when someone is changing their address for [long term plan] but this should be a minor edge case and the poster would not have even run into an issue if they had been subscribing to the appropriate [short term plan].
    3. $1000 charge notice - See detail from the $500 charge explanation why this particular $1000 charge notice exists. The alternative is a possibly customer would just be told to go away with no recourse when they may desperately need the service even with the high priced fee. The fee was clearly labeled before purchase and the customer chose not to go forward, which is entirely their right if they don't see the value.

    Don't be distracted by the rage-bait from the important concerns of Musk's government influence.

  • Is a FOSS decentralized peer-supported backup service feasible?

    Jump

  • Where, similar to torrent tech and PeerTube, you allocate some storage on your PC to someone’s backups, and can publish your data on the network in return, so that data would be distributed between computers and could be requested on demand?

    I appreciate your goal, but this sounds like a privacy nightmare and extremely dangerous legal minefield. Most data worth backing up is important to keep private. If whatever encryption you're using is discovered to be vulnerable to realistic decryption by a third party, then you'll have the seeds (no pun intended) planted for your data theft even before knowledge of the vulnerability exists.

    The legal angle is even more worrisome. Imagine if the person you gave backup space to on your network decided to store legally objectionable material in your house on your machines. You would be subject the penalties. Big companies get around this legal landmine by having Service Agreements and attestation that you won't be storing that kind of data.

    The cheapest method for off-site secure personal backups would be to get a bank safe deposit box and an external hard drive.

  • Florida bans local governments from pursuing net-zero emissions goals

    Jump
  • Deleted

    Permanently Deleted

    Jump

  • A couple of case screws and an old EVGA power supply and I’m yours for the night.

    A plastic snap-case from the 90s, and old EGA video card, and a power supply is the best I can do.

  • This might even some violate international humanitarian laws

    Jump

  • "That's them, officer, right over there"

  • New names are hard, ok?

    Jump

  • Ohio also has a town named Versailles. Imagine the worst way to pronounce the name of the historical palace in France. That's right, they pronounce it (VUR - SAY- els).

  • Your EPUB Is Fine. Kobo Disagrees. Blame Adobe - André Klein Dot Net

    Jump

  • The only way Kobo really locks you down if you buy books from their store, which I wouldn’t recommend with any eReader.

    What do you do when there's a particular book you want to read (and you want to buy it to make sure the author is compensated for their work), but its only available from one of the big 4 ebook ecosystems (Amazon Kindle, Kobo shop, Apple Books, Google Play (or whatever the hell they renamed it to this week))?

    I had one such book recently and specifically chose Kobo shop as it seemed like the least evil choice between those four.

  • Older tech workers are tapping out, taking early retirement

    Jump

  • $110k/year and still paycheck to paycheck with an unreliable car?

    BI and Data Governance are generally pretty good career paths right now in the IT space.

    Do you live in a HCOL area? Have you explored the differential about moving to a MCOL or LCOL area and how much impact that would have on your potential salary?

  • Older tech workers are tapping out, taking early retirement

    Jump

  • But I’ve also never understood why anyone works longer than they need to if they have the means to live comfortably in the first place.

    In the USA one of the best reasons to keep working is the healthcare gap before Medicare kicks in.

    Also, when you're approaching "early retirement age" you're likely at the peak of your earning potential. Working 1 more year could be equal to 3x or 4x a single year of retirement spending.

    Another thing happens when you're still working but you don't absolutely need to. You recognize working is optional and you can take the risk and push back on work you don't like. It gives you the power to take the risk. If you get fired, you're already set up to continue life without working. This makes the work itself usually much more pleasant/tolerant so there's a lower desire to quit early.

  • Older tech workers are tapping out, taking early retirement

    Jump

  • High end IT in the last 20 years has paid exceptionally well. Lots of these workers saved enough and simply don't need to work anymore.

  • Feds Killed Polestar and Spared Volvo. That Should Terrify You

    Jump

  • The price point for electric cars in America is 25-30k. 70K is mentally ill

    Chevy Bolt MSRP is $28,995.

  • Feds Killed Polestar and Spared Volvo. That Should Terrify You

    Jump

  • Being an American wanting an electric car must be a nightmare! Not many options, and all of them are too expensive,

    Chevy Bolt MSRP is $28,995.

  • A Plastic Motor Just Defied a Century of Engineering Assumptions

    Jump

  • Though given how it scales with voltage I can’t think of of any use cases where weight saving is that desperately needed where it would be viable…

    It may not be a weight savings benefit but potentially cost savings. Copper prices are volatile and currently pretty high. If this new technology can be scaled to be produced cheaply, it could replace some expensive copper is specific applications.

  • "We Listened" - Commodore Reduces The Price Of Its Forthcoming Callback 8020 'Dumbphone'

    Jump

  • I already have almost a dozen original and remake Commodore 64s. Also Plus/4, C128, and so on.

    We're similar then. I am a long time user of VICE, built parallel port (IEEE 1284) to 1541 interfaces to read my old floppies onto PC in the 90s, and even bought one of the c64 Minis when it came out. I also have 3 original C64s (in various states of function).

    All of the "modern" c64s have always been just a bit off from the legacy hardware experience. I still love them, but they don't compare to the experience on the original hardware.

    I don’t know who the target market of the new Commodore is

    Well, me, I suppose. I bought one of the new Commodore Ultimate units (breadbin model). There are absolutely hardware limitations to the legacy c64 experience using in with modern computing in 2026. Sure there are workarounds for most of them, but those workarounds add up in cost, and even then aren't always the best solutions. Even then SID chips were never all identical, and many continue to fail with age. Certain revs of original hardware have specific bugs (which sometimes are beneficial) so having the option to use or avoid those would mean owning multiple original hardware in working order. That still won't get you HDMI, Ethernet, USB or flash storage access without lots of extra addon hardware.

    The Commodore Ultimate has on that baked in. Currently I'm still using my original hardware more because of some projects I'm working on that require the TTL signals of the USER Port, but more regular use I am glad to have the Ultimate for better interoperability and maximum compatibility to the original 6510 CPU and SID (from its FPGA).

    The new slimline Ultimate units are actually made from the original CBM case molds which were found in a warehouse!

    , but it doesn’t feel like its me.

    Thats certainly fine. This is a hobby after all, and there's no requirement to buy something you don't find interesting.

  • "We Listened" - Commodore Reduces The Price Of Its Forthcoming Callback 8020 'Dumbphone'

    Jump

  • I want a retro computer with new Herdware in it.

    You're in luck! It was their first product of this reborn company. They sell that right here: https://commodore.net/computer/

  • Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat loses primary to Mamdani-backed Darializa Avila Chevalier

    Jump

  • Compared to trump? Absolutely.

    But picking one specific even to try to define an administration isn't very helpful. By your same measure you could define Carter as a right wing extremist for overthrowing the democratically elected leader of Iran in 1979.

  • Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat loses primary to Mamdani-backed Darializa Avila Chevalier

    Jump

  • I'm not following you. Are you saying Bill Clinton was a left extremist?

  • Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat loses primary to Mamdani-backed Darializa Avila Chevalier

    Jump

  • Both Republicans and Democrats would run to the center for success. Bush Senior and Bush Junior were also centrist. It wasn't just a Democrat thing.