Posts by Preston Crow

Annoying but not unexpected

We've seen issues like this several times over the past few years. Every Tesla owner should be aware that relying on the app to unlock and start the car isn't safe. If the car is in a spot that doesn't have coverage, you're out of luck. If the backend servers have problems, you're out of luck. If AT&T messes things up, you're out of luck. All of those have happened.

What most owners agree on is that the app should be able to use Bluetooth to talk to the car directly if you're right outside it.

Yes, it is annoying when you have software glitches, and doubly so when they are from a very expensive purchase. Tesla has had more than its share of glitches, but on the other hand, Tesla is much more aggressive about rolling out updates that benefit owners, so taken as a whole, they're still doing it right.

Google Voice Lite

At least in the US, you don't have to use the voice mail provided by your carrier. I've set mine to use Google Voice Lite (essentially just the voice mail part of Google Voice). This gives me free speech-to-text, which Verizon decided to charge extra for. It also means that it's protected by my Google password (which my phone app has saved, so I'm out of luck if I lose my phone). Good luck hacking it without guessing my password.

Unfortunately, Google Voice is only available in the USA right now, so you need to find some similar service elsewhere. (I hope they'll expand it, but they seem to be instead cutting it back and integrating it with Hangouts, much to the dismay of those who use an adapter to get free home phone service through them.)

Memory prices to drop

One thing that will be interesting are the secondary impacts of the drive shortage. As PC sales drop due to shortages or increased prices for hard drives, we can expect a surplus of other components. For non-comodities, such as CPUs, this will have little impact on the price, but for memory, this could drive the price down.

I doubt that memory makers are flexible enough to shift production over to flash fast enough to take advantage of the increased demand for alternatives to hard drives and at the same time avoid a glut in the DRAM market.

Upgrades?

Will this run all phones that currently have WM6, or did they raise the requirements?

I might be willing to do an OS upgrade to get a better browser, which might postpone my jumping to a Google or Apple phone.

Similar Lawsuits

This sounds a lot like the lawsuit that Data Domain investors filed when their board didn't try to get a bid from EMC before agreeing to the NetApp deal, except in that case, there plainly was another party interested in purchasing the company, while it's less clear here, making it harder to claim specific damages.

Factoring problem

This sounds like a chemical version of the traditional mathematical problem of factoring. It's much easier to put two things together than to take them apart. That's the basic concept behind RSA encryption. It's also the same idea here. It's nice to see the same concept showing up in multiple realms.

Efficiency?

How efficient is this technology? I hooked up my Kill-A-Watt to my cell phone charger, and it reports 0 watts when the phone isn't connected, and between 1 and 2 watts when it is. That said, I do use a similar system for recharging my Wii controllers, so this isn't some theoretical technology, just another company pushing something that already exists. And the good news is that if it takes off, everything needed to support it on the device will be built-in in the future. So given that they don't talk about efficiency, I assume there's a big downside there.

Yes, but not at Walmart

"What, don't progressives, libertarians, and Greens also want to "Save money" and "Live better"?"

Yes, but not at Walmart. Progressives and friends shop at Target, the Walmart for people who don't want to shop at Walmart.

A New Network

Perhaps the coalition should set up their own network.

Many devices need this.

I had an electric hedge trimmer that became useless when the battery stopped holding a charge. I've had electric shavers with the same problem. This is not a new problem.