I'm not sure if /. covered it and I just missed it, but apparently Tesla pushed out an updated version of their self-driving software and it doesn't support their older hardware platform. "Older" being like sometime in 2023 and earlier, IIRC.

Now, if my $40k+ vehicle was obsolete in a mere three years, I'd be absolutely furious. It's probably stuff like this that contributes to the statistic of EV owners who claim they're going to switch back to ICE. It'd be pretty damn insulting if instead of getting the latest self-driving software, you just get a silly Tron UI skin.

What is there really to say about it? It makes a few visual changes on the infotainment screen, which you're really not supposed to be staring at while you're driving anyway. So, maybe it's a neat thing if you've got a Tesla and young children who also happen to be fans of Tron?

The EV tax credit did just recently go away, so I think this is probably more Tesla trying to stay relevant than the other way around of Disney attempting to market their film to something like 0.7% - 0.8% of vehicle owners (Tesla has a large chunk of the EV market, but compared against ICE their marketshare is still miniscule).

They've also nerfed it rather hard lately. Even attempting to generate rather generic sounding things like dancing cartoon hamsters will run into the "This content may violate our guardrails concerning similarity to third-party content." error.

I've already seen plenty of videos go viral on X with the Sora watermarks still intact. We're truly living in a post-fact era, where people choose what they'd like to believe even when it's plainly obvious the video is AI.

It's like the saying goes: You can't fix stupid.

The seasonal section of my local Target is already loaded with tons of his disgusting chocolate bars. I also seem to remember something involving some equally disgusting hamburgers.

I'm guessing his other ventures haven't been as profitable as posting clickbait on YouTube?

Remember how awhile back Facebook added a bunch of pre-selectable backgrounds for text posts, because they wanted to encourage people to still post written content rather than just images and videos? That's kind of like what Sora 2 is intended for - it lets people who'd rather write a prompt than film something, create content for TikTok. Yeah, there's a certain irony in it being flooded with AI slop right around when it's supposedly coming under new ownership.

I think the initially lax guardrails are because it'd be really difficult to prove that the content being produced is infringing (as 10 seconds isn't even long enough to generate the average length TV commercial), and the brief "wild west" approach certainly got the hype train rolling. I think most of the lawsuits with any likelihood of gaining traction are going to be the ones argued from the point of misuse of copyrighted materials to train the models, not the hilariously short clips of Pikachu fleeing from the police.

At any rate, they are tightening the guardrails, which probably is a good thing anyway, because that means people who actually understand the basic concepts of screenwriting will probably stick around to make their original content, while the "South Park but Rick and Morty show up and make derp faces" crowd get an error message and leave in a huff.

There actually is going to be a new Bolt released soon, but since the tax credit is gone, it was probably better to go with the Equinox EV.

While there's certainly a vocal minority of folks who claim to have 300 mile daily commutes, most don't. That's why it's called "range anxiety", because for the majority of use cases running out of juice is an irrational fear.

Where I will agree though, is that since the current administration killed the EV tax credits, hybrids are now looking a lot more cost competitive. It's why I'm still kind of surprised Elon was all for this, because it is going to totally screw over Tesla's sales. The rest of the major automakers aren't all-in on EVs, so they can just scale back production of EVs, letting their ICE lineup continue to be their cash cows.

My navigation app is on my phone, and my car's display is just a second screen for it. That's the way I prefer it.

That was more something inferred through Trump briefly holding a rainbow flag with "LGBTs for TRUMP" crudely scribbled on it, than an actual change in platform policy. It's probably most accurate to say that Trump is personally neutral on same-sex marriage, while the majority of the GOP is still in opposition.

Trump gave away quite a bit of stimulus money away during Covid. The thing is that political parties do change, and polices that were once viewed as belonging to one side can transfer across the aisle. The idea of reducing our dependance on foreign energy, for example, was a core tenet of conservative principles, and now if it's being accomplished via green energy and EVs, it's considered "woke". That's why it's not always as simple to look at a leader from the past and say "Well, this is what they'd be considered now."

President Ronald Reagan signed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) into law on April 7, 1986. The law requires hospitals to provide emergency medical care to anyone who needs it, regardless of their ability to pay.

Today, such a position would be attacked as "you're providing healthcare for illegals!" Oh, let me rephrase that: Today that is being attacked as "you're providing healthcare for illegals!"

Thankfully, Kodi is at least still in the official Play store. Though, if it ever really came down to it, even a Raspberry Pi doesn't do a half bad job running Kodi.

These new Amazon sticks though? Useless garbage.

Actually, I think the solution is just don't steal stuff.

So, buy an expensive drone and you might be able to catch shoplifters who live relatively close to your store.

Seems like just having good old fashioned outdoor closed circuit cameras in the parking lot would accomplish the part you actually need (identifying the suspect's vehicle), and then you just let the police handle the rest.

You know what grocery store is sort-of within walking distance of where I live? Walmart.
You know what jobs are sort-of within walking distance of where I live? Fast food joints, and also, obviously, Walmart again.

So no, that doesn't work for me.