“So what does the #physicist bring to #Ferrari? “I think a few things. In #physics, one of the first lessons is that you need to keep in mind that all the points of view are important to understand reality.”

“Vigna is one smart cookie. At European tech company #STMicroelectronics he led the team that developed the 3D motion sensors that allow mobile phones to do so many clever things. Vigna has filed more than 200 #patents. Yet, curiously, he opposes the digital-first approach.”

“In the last, let’s say 15 to 20 years, too many cars became too difficult to be used. The reason why the car became so digital, with so many #TouchButtons instead of #MechanicalButtons … is because they are #cheaper.”

#BenedettoVigna / #engineering / #electrics <https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/cars-bikes-and-boats/pizza-pasta-and-science-with-the-physicist-electrifying-ferrari-20260310-p5o947> (paywall) / <https://archive.md/fbk8b>

Green tech made my home more comfortable and cheaper to live in

https://misryoum.com/us/economy/green-tech-made-my-home-more-comfortable-and/

Three years ago, I used a hefty chunk of my savings to make my home as green as possible and fully net zero-compatible. Solar panels, a battery, a heat pump, and a chunk of additional insulation all went in,...

#Green #tech #made #home #more #comfortable #and #cheaper #live #US_News_Hub #misryoum_com

I made MCP cheaper in one command

https://kanyilmaz.me/2026/02/23/cli-vs-mcp.html

#HackerNews #MCP #cheaper #CLI #command #innovation #tech #productivity

安かれ悪かれ　不管是好是坏
品質が悪くとも、安かれば良い。
即使质量不好，如果能便宜点就更好了。

https://note.com/poison_raika/n/nccc0dd19942f

<>

#reality #world #evil #bad #services #better #only #products #quality #greed #mentality #worse #arrogance #cheaper

Alphabet Is Preparing Its Death Blow to Cable TV as We Know It – The Motley Fool

Markets, GOOGL -1.09%

Alphabet Is Preparing Its Death Blow to Cable TV as We Know It

December 15, 2025 — 12:05 pm EST,
Written by James Brumley for The Motley Fool->

Key Points

• Alphabet’s YouTube TV will soon be rolling out several different genres of skinny cable-television bundles.
• This is a strategic shift that studios and cable channels have been especially hoping to avoid.
• Alphabet can afford to offer these bundles because it doesn’t necessarily need them to turn a direct profit.
• 10 stocks we like better than Alphabet ›

The U.S. cable television industry was already hanging by a thread. Technology giant Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) may be about to completely snip it.

This is the likely outcome of a move that Alphabet’s cable-television alternative — YouTube TV — recently announced it would soon be making. Although details are still scant, the company plainly said, “Early next year, we’ll launch YouTube TV Plans, bringing more choice and flexibility to our subscribers with over 10 genre-specific packages.”

And yes, all-important sports is one of those genres. This sports option will include programming from at least Fox, Comcast‘s NBC, and Walt Disney‘s ESPN — brands that are also trying to build stand-alone sports entertainment services outside of cable television with much of the same programming content that YouTube TV’s sports-centric bundle will offer. They’ll now be competing with their own distribution partner.

It’s the cable companies, however, that have the most to worry about here. The launch of YouTube TV’s new offerings may well mark the beginning of the end of the cable business as we know it today.

Already vulnerable

It’s certainly no secret that the country’s cable television business has been on the ropes for over a decade now. Just since early 2018, industry stalwarts Xfinity, Spectrum, and Altice have shed 16.6 million paying customers. That’s a loss of nearly 40% of its total customer base during that seven-year stretch, matching the pace of attrition other names in the business have also experienced.

Data sources: Comcast, Optimum Communications, Charter Communications. Chart by author.

Blame the rise of streaming, of course — it’s just cheaper. Then again, so is cable-alternative YouTube TV. Although still relatively more expensive than a wide lineup of multiple streaming services, its starting price point of $82.99 per month is also considerably less than the nation’s average cable bill after local taxes and fees are added to the mix. That’s how YouTube TV has amassed on the order of 10 million customers just since its limited launch in 2017, followed by its nationwide availability as of 2019.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Alphabet Is Preparing Its Death Blow to Cable TV as We Know It | Nasdaq

I #volunteered at my local Repair Cafe again today. I had fun again, though still not much actual #electronics work - more small appliances and such, and a laptop.

But a lot of small #appliances are like any other consumer-electronics item these days. They're not designed for #serviceability [1] and the electronics in them are generally a weak point - everything's consolidated onto one circuit board, with most of the functionality on one microcontroller or custom chip (depending on the device type and its price). It makes the overall #production cost of the unit #cheaper, but failures tend to be an all-or-nothing affair. Some critical component leaks its #magic #smoke and the side-effect of that is to blow up something else on the board, and the board is not easily available as a spare part. I certainly won't have a spare one in my box of components, unlike whatever the failed #component was if it had been a separate, standardized part.

So there were a couple of "See, here's what blew up, I can't fix it, and a new one will be cheaper than trying to find a parted-out replacement for the failed board".

The lady with the laptop was thrilled with a fairly simple #reassembly of a display bezel that popped its clips when she wiped out on some ice. That felt good.

[1] Getting into them is usually the hardest part, the #newer it is, the #worse it gets. One-way clips that take ages to finangle into releasing. "YOLO engineering" - "no one will ever open this!"

#RepairCafe