The point was due to reports of new AI datacenters that are using generators because they're not able to otherwise get enough power. So if they need to use generators on a regular basis, that's not an emergency. So, yeah, probably only when the power goes out.

Maybe we should consider requiring new renewable power generation before allowing new datacenters to connect to the grid (and ban generators for non-emergency use). There would be a market for renewable power installation credits, so new datacenters would drive the greening of the grid instead of increasing carbon output.

This doesn't solve the water use for cooling issue, though.

I'm not ready to turn over major code development to AI, but I would be perfectly happy to have it scan the code base for suspicious code. Just the other day I had a small bit of code in a language I'm just learning, and I pasted it into an AI and asked it to explain it. The explanation was good, and it pointed out that what the code actually did did not match what the comment said; that's a big red flag. It was also able to fix the code to match the comment. Since I'm just learning the language, it saved me a good bit of time (but probably slowed down my learning of the language).

But it would be great to have it look over the whole code base and report issues that may need attention.

This is about cheaper batteries, not about range. We already have cars with over 400 miles of range. They're just expensive. All that matters here is the lower cost per kWh. If they're saying a 30% cheaper battery, then that means automakers have options to reduce prices or extend range (or increase profits for a few years until other companies get similar technology). And is 30% the real number? I'm not clear on that, and even if that's the claim, it's hard to be sure they're not cherry-picking price points on existing batteries to make their tech look good.

So perhaps this means your standard 300+ mile range car can move to 400+, but more likely it means a price drop, though perhaps with pricier longer range versions. Except for trucks where towing kills the range.

Speaking of trucks, the other thing to look at is weight per kWh. How much weight does this drop from a 500-mile semi? That's significant, as it means more cargo.

That's also the class that has legal requirements for a minimum passing distance. In many states, you have to have at least a 3' separation. Massachusetts didn't have a specified distance until recently, but set it at 4'. That's for pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, electric unicycles, horses, and pretty much anything else without a license plate. It's a legal category, so it makes sense to use the term when discussing regulations, safety criteria, and such.

If the numbers in the summary are correct, the system pays for itself in five years. Maybe six or seven if the estimates are optimistic and the builder adds a profit margin to the added cost. Still the total cost of ownership for the home goes down. Yes, you pay a little more in monthly mortgage payments, but you pay less in electric bills, so the overall expense is lower. Banks will need to take that into account in determining whether people qualify for a mortgage, but assuming they do, this should make homes more affordable, not less.

People who charge at home often get in the habit of plugging in every time the get home so they never have to think about it. In those cases, they should be fine. People who can't charge at home and have to plan a charging stop may be impacted, but people with petrol cars may also have a challenge finding stations with generators that are still operating.

That's a good point. Any mission to this orbit would have a new upper stage in that orbit. But today I think most missions leave enough fuel in the upper stage for it to do one more burn to deorbit. So the answer is, hopefully, no new debris would be left behind.

Apparently the upper stage of the launch vehicle is also still in orbit. Perhaps leave the satellite and bring back the upper stage. It's also probably a lot larger, so there will be more to study. And it's probably also a lot harder to bring back, so we may learn more about how to do things than just bringing back a tiny satellite; an astronaut in a Dragon could just climb out and grab the satellite.

Years ago FreeNAS went commercial, and there was an open source fork called NAS4Free, which eventually rebranded as XigmaNAS. I've been running that for many years, and it's been rock solid, but I'm not pushing it hard. It's also managed with a web GUI, and has support for a crazy long list of features. I just use it for NFS and TimeMachine.

It might pay to upgrade, though likely not in this case. It would be worth measuring the actual power draw, multiply Watts times 24*365.25 / 1000 * (cost per KwH from your power bill).

Let's do the math:

I see someone reported a 2012 Mac Mini drawing 9.1W, and power at $.16/KwH (national average), that comes out to only $12.76/year. So you're not likely to be able to save enough to pay for an upgrade. But if you were in Massachusetts at $.28/KwH with a home-built server drawing 65W, that's about $160/year, so upgrading to a lower-power system could pay for itself.

I would love to see Apple sell laptops with their M4 chips that are designed for running Linux or Windows. Perhaps using a new separate brand. Right now, I'm running Linux on a PowerBook M3 using UTM for virtualization, and it's the fastest Linux I've ever run.

Clearly the other streaming services just don't care. Bandwidth is too low on their cost matrix for even a significant savings to matter to them. They just don't want to bother with the complexity of setting up another encoding system. It's not like they have to switch; they just need to encode shows in both, and then stream to customers with hardware that supports the new codec. If they just did this for their top hits, they could save a ton of bandwidth with minimal effort.

Smoke detectors always have a 10-year life, so it's not just Nest. But your point is valid. I just don't see the point of a smart smoke detector. Now if you really what to be alerted to an alarm when you're away, they could make a smart device that hooks into the wiring for wired smoke detectors and sends notifications of any alarms. Someone really should do that.

Since when did someone have to accept a pardon? There's nothing about that in the Constitution. The President pardons people whether they like it or not.