(Part 2) Best products from r/technology

Yep, here's some info to spread for ignorant friends or family:

Net Neutrality is extremely important, but it's not yet established.  If you don't want to pay more for less service read on further, or jump down to WHAT YOU CAN DO!

Wiki definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality
Comic for picture learners: http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=8799039

Basically, ISPs (Comcast, TimeWarner, Cox, Verizon, etc.) will be able to control the type of content you have access to and charge services you love (Netflix, Pinterest, Steam, Facebook, your website) more in order to get "preferential" treatment - in other words, they will have to pay the ISPs to not be blocked or slowed down to a useless crawl when you use those sites when they don't want you to.  This will result in ALL OF US having to pay more (once simply to gain internet access, and again to then access sites we love quickly and clearly).  And as the quality and scope of technology continues to become more prevalent in our lives, we'll need more broadband usage in the future.

The FCC recently proposed a "fast lane" option - named after the lanes on the highway where, after you already payed to build and maintain the highways in taxes, if you have more money, you can avoid other traffic and go faster (http://gizmodo.com/to-be-honest-this-is-the-way-pricing-should-work-und-1523927357). DATA IS NOT A FINITE RESOURCE, unlike water or oil.  To compare the internet to a highway again, the telecom companies are trying to squeeze more(data) traffic onto (broadband cable) roads that they did not completely pay for to gain more profit.  And instead of building or improving current roads (broadband networks) that they got at a discount, they are just trying to squeeze the public for more money.  The internet is destined to become a nightmare metropolitan traffic jam where telecoms are the toll collectors with little to no restrictions on who they collect from and why.

How it started: http://www.wired.com/2013/11/so-the-internets-about-to-lose-its-net-neutrality/
Quotes from the article (emphasis mine):"The CEO of AT&T told an interviewer back in 2005 that he wanted to introduce a new business model to the internet: charging companies like Google and Yahoo! to reliably reach internet users on the AT&T network. Keep in mind that users already pay to access the internet and that Google and Yahoo! already pay other telecom companies — often called backbone providers — to connect to these internet users. [Disclosure: I have done legal work for several companies supporting network neutrality, including Google.]
But AT&T wanted to add an additional toll, beyond what it already made from the internet. Shortly after that, a Verizon executive voiced agreement, hoping to end what he called tech companies’ “free lunch”. It turns out that around the same time, Comcast had begun secretly trialing services to block some of the web’s most popular applications that could pose a competitive threat to Comcast, such as BitTorrent."

"...the FCC would be unable to stop cable and phone companies from taxing innovators or providing worse service to some sites and better service to others. Since we know internet users tend to quit using a website or application if it loads even just a few seconds slower than a competitor’s version, this no-blocking rule would essentially have enabled the phone and cable companies to discriminate by picking website/app/platform winners and losers."

The reality is that much of the infrastructure for internet was payed for and subsidized by taxpayers, but then exploited by telecommunications companies. It was intended to bring quality access and affordability to rich, poor, urban and rural communities.  Short Summary of how WE payed for the internet they are now charging us more for: http://www.newnetworks.com/ShortSCANDALSummary.htm. Many of you have already conceded to your wireless provider (Verizon, AT&T, etc.) that you're willing to pay more for less internet access (how often do you have to decide whether to use the $200+ phone and service you already paid for, or wait until you get home to use the $400+ computer and internet that you already paid for?  How much more are you willing to pay just to decide which one you'll have to use less?). 

Bandwidth caps aren't meant for what they say: http://socialmediacollective.org/2011/12/05/bandwidth-hogs-dont-exist/ & http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130118/17425221736/cable-industry-finally-admits-that-data-caps-have-nothing-to-do-with-congestion.shtml. What you need to know is that bandwidth caps (overage charges past a certain number of GB of data you use) are not in place because it costs the ISPs more money, it simply MAKES THEM MORE MONEY.  Just like text messages (which cost them almost NO money, but cost us A LOT of money: http://www.topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/13868-t-mobile-accused-destroying-evidence-text-pricing-collusion/)
A book on the matter: http://www.amazon.com/The-300-Billion-Broadband-Scandal-ebook/dp/B003EEN1VY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392356378&sr=8-1&keywords=Bruce+Kushnick & some snippets: http://www.newnetworks.com/broadbandscandals.htm
PBS interview: http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070810_002683.html
More here: http://gigaom.com/2012/10/01/data-caps-chart/
Tired of deciding whether google maps or your email is more important when you're running out of data? Go here: http://stopthecap.com/

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?:

The internet in its current form is mostly free and open.  Just as everyone needs a phone line to participate in our modern society, everyone needs access to the internet to function as well.  If we don't work together to establish better rules for the internet then our middle class, low income, rural, small businesses, churches and more will have less access to the vital communications and services that the internet currently offers. Everyone will simply be charged MORE for LESS service.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Sign the Petition to tell the FCC that "fast lanes" won't work for net neutrality (you'll have to sign up with whitehouse.gov - a good thing for future issues!): https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/maintain-true-net-neutrality-protect-freedom-information-united-states/9sxxdBgy

Then email current FCC leadership and tell them about your issues (quote above if you need to): http://www.fcc.gov/leadership

Most importantly contact your elected officials and tell them we need common carrier status for ISPs (search by state and area): http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
More on common carrier status: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/01/drop-regulatory-hammer-on-internet-providers-says-former-fcc-commish

WHAT YOU CAN WRITE:

To your representatives:
My name is __ and I am from ___.

Protecting Net Neutrality is important to me because I believe that internet access is a necessity for modern life, but will be restricted if we don't establish common carrier status for ISPs.  Data and information are not finite resources, and we need to keep access to them open and affordable to all.
Recently, the FCC has proposed to allow a "fast lane" for Internet Service Providers to charge more for services that are currently included in most data packages.  This will cripple many people's ability to get the content and communication they need for everything from building small business to improving community involvement.  ISPs were subsidized by taxpayers for a broandband infrastructure meant to provide access and affordability to all citizens, however, they are now strangling taxpayers to pay again for services businesses and citizens have already paid for.  Companies already pay for the bandwidth they use, consumers already pay for internet access, and now ISPs are trying to get consumers and companies to pay double because they are unwilling to invest their large profits in their own networks.
Ending net neutrality will do irrevocable damage to economic and social growth in America.  I urge you to reject the FCC's "fast lane" proposal, and instead begin the process of establishing ISPs as common carriers just like phone service and public utilities.  Ignoring this problem will devastate the public's ability to communicate and contribute to your campaign, and any number of other public goods.
Thank you very much for your time, and again, I urge you to defend and protect net neutrality.

Classical liberalism isn't the only ism concerned with evidence and reasoning, but since it's apparently one of the reference points you happen to be familiar with you're just assuming that must be what I mean. Instead, I'm talking about the kind of modern liberalism described books such as Fear Itself by Ira Katznelson. You seem to be talking about the caricature of modern liberalism typically advanced by the likes of Jonah Goldberg which tends to be laughed out of the room by serious historians.

Modern liberalism is what we got with Roosevelt's reimagining of the role and purpose of government in managing civil society as he dealt with the after effects of the Great Depression and a World War, and the post Roosevelt task of establishing the post-world War II order. In Roosevelt's time liberal democracies were in competition with ascendant autocratic and authoritarian regimes around the world, and there was very much a sentiment among public intellectuals that democracy might not be able to compete with these other forms of governance. This liberalism uses institutions to effectively deal with large-scale demographic and economic trends, effectively support integrate technology into the modern world, and carefully manage international norms.

All of which requires careful, nuanced engagement with empirical realities and academic research, and requires fostering an environment respectful of the rule of law. And you can see expressions of this liberalism in the post-world War II order we helped establish in democracies in Western Europe, often cited as ideals by liberals that we should move toward. In short, it's a bit more nuanced than regulation loving terrorist sympathizers.

Meanwhile, during the same time conservative Democrats in the South were happy to make common cause with Roosevelt because New Deal programs meant the transfer of resources from wealthy Northeastern states to the South, which is fine with them so long as it could be executed in a way that didn't interfere with the prevailing racial order, which is why states rights was such a point of emphasis. Any federal administration of programs brought with it the possibility of sharing economic opportunities not just with poor white people but also poor black people. Once it became clear that the Democratic party was aligning itself with the civil rights movement, conservatives rebelled and embraced the Republican Party and gradually rolled back the New Deal and crushed the labor movement, allowing a constantly evolving structure of business and industry groups to become the animating forces of politics, especially on the Republican side.

The various forces of racial identity politics and business interests consolidated over a gradual process that spanned decades and culminated in the election of Reagan and the emergence of anti-intellectualism. The business-friendly nature of the party has made conservatives disdainful of research showing the hazards of smoking, and later dismissive of empirical research about the dangers of climate change or the truth of evolution.

And conservative leaders whipped up the passions of their base by stirring up animosity toward immigrants, foreigners, poor people who aren't white (eg welfare queens), and playing up fears for political advantage during the Cold War and War on Terror. The obsession with security, fear of some sort of apocalypse or world war or terrorist attack always on the verge of happening has indicated a desire for strong leaders, a strong sense of tribal patriotism, and a worship of strength and especially military leaders. Or authoritarian tough guy leaders in general such as Trump.

In a superficial sense it's true that anyone of any ideology could hypothetically be sympathetic toward authoritarianism. But it also ignores the facts on the ground about the dominant political passions that animate the two ideologies in the United States at the moment, which clearly indicate a strong desire for authoritarianism on the side of conservatives which simply isn't matched even remotely on the liberal side.

Further reading:

• Fear Itself
  
• Anything by John Dean on Authoritarianism
  
• The Republican Brain
  
• Anti-Intellectualism in American Life
  
  

I got you fam

Pinzon 400-Thread-Count Hemstitch Egyptian Cotton Sheet Set - King, Light Grey https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009C4NUU2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_dM.Jxb6MVHSFB

For real though, these sheets are awesome and hold up well. Had them for over a year now. Super soft, look great, breath great, reasonably priced.

Bonus duvet cover, use it with out a filler for year-round comfort and good weight.

Pinzon Heavyweight Cotton Flannel Duvet Set - King, Graphite https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007NE88UU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_9N.JxbR63BZQN

Eventually we will. Your point? Just because something has been around for ages doesn't mean it's the best solution. Do I think removing it and using lightning is the best? No, but I think that Apple has enough influence that it could be a step towards better audio integration in our digital age.

Take headphones for example; with your logic, they worked just fine in the past so why do we need badass mx50's?

Our outlets have changed a lot. The way we connect and interact with AC power has definitely changed.

With your same logic, I guess we should never have replaced all our 8 track players, right? They worked just fine! We should have never replaced DVD's with Blu-ray! Why did we replace our TV's!?

I think they have 5-8 hours of life. It has a little usb plug to re-charge. I usually do that while I'm at work.

These are the ones I bought for $30, but there's a ton of manufacturers making similar-priced sets. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GNYFT8E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I think a lot of people go for the ones made by Beats, but I read those don't necessarily have the best sound.

I love these though. Even for something like washing dishes, it's nice not to have a cord dangling.

Woah, man. I don't know where you received your economics education, but everything you said in there is dead wrong. That is not how capitalism works.


>Impossible. For anyone to amass that much wealth, someone else has to suffer for it, there isn't enough to go around for everyone, so for someone to go with so much, someone else has to go without.

The economy grows when entrepreneurs take risk, hire more people, and offer superior products that enrich all our lives. The ability to utilize the savings of others to expand business is the source of wealth creation, not government programs. Individuals looking after their own self-interest, through the powers of supply and demand, benefit society. As someone else already pointed out, that is the zero-sum fallacy.



>It is inconceivable that someone could make that much money while running an honest business.

An overwhelming majority of businesses do make their money honestly. And those that don't are utilizing government power, which as I've already said, needs to be reduced.


>It is inconceivable that someone could make that much money while running an honest business. Someone, somewhere down the totem pole, is getting exploited and shit on. It might be 100% legal, but it sure as hell isn't "earning their money honestly".

This couldn't be more wrong. When an entrepreneur expands his business and needs help, he hires people. Maybe this is someone who had a job, or maybe it's someone who was previously unemployed. Either way, it's an improvement in his or her situation. Otherwise, they don't have to work for them. What happens if that entrepreneur or any other businessmen decided to stop seeking additional profits? Nobody expands their businesses, and nobody gets hired.

Check out Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson

Or maybe Peter Schiff's How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes

I highly suggest reading Free: How Today's Smartest Businesses Profit by Giving Something for Nothing (note: audiobook version is, appropriately, free on Audible and there is a free pdf, I believe, on the author's site).

It demonstrates how free and freemium are viable business models for many areas, especially in music.

Hey everyone! What are some good, reasonably priced ergonomic mice?

I found two mice but cannot decide which is better.


Here is the first one: https://www.amazon.ca/J-Tech-Digital-Endurance-Adjustable-Sensitivity/dp/B00TJ4ZD28/ref=sr_1_9_cpbg?ie=UTF8&qid=1536710895&sr=8-9&keywords=ergonomic+mouse

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Here is the second mouse: https://www.amazon.ca/Anker-Wireless-Vertical-Ergonomic-Optical/dp/B00FGI2QVC/ref=pd_bxgy_147_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00FGI2QVC&pd_rd_r=0ce5695c-b620-11e8-b560-8d045d38d0f1&pd_rd_w=boSsP&pd_rd_wg=wwuW0&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&pf_rd_p=cda2b2aa-f379-4b98-b5ff-b78659186dbe&pf_rd_r=D954DAG2JW1Z6HYSG18A&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=D954DAG2JW1Z6HYSG18A

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Thanks so much for your help!

Hi. So I was trying to help my grandma determine whether a firestick would work on her TV. She tried something similar, but can't remember what it was and it's possible it was a firestick. From what I can tell a firestick will not just work on any TV with an HDMI port because an older TV may not support it. I do not want to make her go through the process of buying it and returning it because it didn't work for her. Should a firestick work on this TV?

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https://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-SV422XVT-42-Inch-Class-Internet/dp/B0036DDHSU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

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I'm trying to figure this out before prime day ends so I would really appreciate quick help. Thanks!

A government agency isn't a part of the free market. The hypothetical free market solution would be having multiple completing licensing agencies (like you have with some goods like plastics/oils) that other companies require to work with them (at the community level or otherwise) and if any of them were to openly violate trust they would be thrown out and one of the other companies would be preferred. Would require very different infrastructure but that's not surprising as you'd have to be a bit confused to call the current system a free market.

It's also not mythical it's a pretty clearly explained and defined thing. Here is a good intro book.

https://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understand/dp/0517548232/

Yea they did. I got a mesh k cup with my keurig as a gift and it won't brew. That was actually the reason I wanted one. Now it barely gets used. I did find some degradeable cups http://www.amazon.com/San-Francisco-Bay-OneCup-Coffees/dp/B007Y59HVM They send you a thin plastic container with the order to store the cups in. They come in biodegradable bags as well. Plus the coffee is pretty good 8)

> I don't think amazon mark up the original MSRPs to trick us. Why is Amazon being targeted?


Because they do.

For games like Elite Dangerous.

Amazon lists it as 33% off. Always.

It is 29.99 at MSRP. Amazon just pretends that it's on sale 100% of the time. It has actually never, once, been sold at 44.99 on Amazon.

I love Amazon, I use them constantly because their customer support is top-notch. However, I feel like they are complete liars when it comes to their sale pricing.

I guess that's why they are being targeted.

Exactly - social business does away with shareholder obligations. The goal of a social business is only impact - monetary gains as a result of the social business are reinvested to increase the impact of the company.

I strongly encourage you to read "Creating a world without poverty" by Muhammad Yunus for a better explanation than I can provide.

You do know that the Rift has M50x's integrated, nicely adjustable and not uncomfortable or sliding around?

I have a separate set and they are probably the nicest headphones I know, especially for that price. It's great for mixing too, so that's a huge boon in my book, but still: being able to cater to your audience so confidently, i.e. knowing exactly what the user is going to hear, that's a pretty overlooked aspect as well. People keep ignoring sound, but VR especially depends on it so badly.

Besides, I keep forgetting where I put my phones with the Vive. It's such a bitch to develop with sound if you have to separately put on the headphones. Rift? Slap on the headset. That's it.

Which is also true for its setup. You don't have to tell any of us that the Vive "isn't that difficult" to install, but it's still way more difficult to setup compared to the Rift that doesn't require you to leverage three additional outlets. Also something we will laugh about in the near future, but hey.

I know several people who have recommended this one, but I haven't bought one myself yet: https://www.amazon.com/Wyze-Indoor-Wireless-Detection-Assistant/dp/B076H3SRXG/ref=sr_1_3

Apparently, you hook it up to your wifi and it uploads to your own personal Amazon bucket. Which would seem to be the ideal combination of properties.

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Oh, on second look, it looks like it's uploading to *their* buckets, and they just don't charge you for it. Maybe I'll get one just to see if it can be configured to use my buckets instead.

> the majority of people would pick the MacBook.

Maybe if they don't know anything about pricing computers

An equally priced PC laptop (regardless of OS) compared to a MacBook would easily play all modern games on ultra. Shit, you can get that for about $1500 these days.

A $2500+ PC/laptop goes a long way which is about what a base model MBP goes for. You're looking at $3000+ if you want additional RAM/CPU.

My work just got us new MacBook pros, and my 3 year old laptop easily performs way better with just about anything.

Reposting since Apple fan boys are clearly part of the "Don't know how to properly price machines" camp.

MBP - $2799 for the base model.

and just a randomly picked laptop on Amazon - MSI $2499 with specs that would cost you at least $1000 more on Apple.

There's no denying Apple is overpriced for the sake of the brand. At all. The 16gb memory upgrade is $400 extra when 32gb of ram as a while doesn't even cost that much.

Higher cost != Better performance.

Most cars with bluetooth pair automatically (and reliably) when you turn your car on. You don't need to take your phone out of your pocket many times. Just hit play to start up where you left off.

I've had 2 cars like this. In one of them, I used one of these: https://amzn.com/B00GJFGE0K

Worked really well, and I liked it more than fumbling with aux cable all the time.

Long overdue recognition for a true genius. If you have an interest in the man who invented the AC motor and generator, radio (you thought it was Marconi, right?), remote control and so much more, you might enjoy this - http://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Nikola-Biography-Genius-Citadel/dp/0806519606

These By Sony are really good, $38 for the blue ones. Amazon

These by Taotronics are pretty good too. They sell for $27-35 on Amazon

Of course this is, just..like, my opinion..man.

He just described America in general. Intellectualism is frowned upon in every facet of life save for other intellectuals.

https://smile.amazon.com/Anti-Intellectualism-American-Life-Richard-Hofstadter/dp/0394703170?sa-no-redirect=1

You should read the Elon Musk book that just came out. It has some real fascinating stuff about his life, and the 3 companies he owns/started. The guy is amazing.

Hey btw I had a similar setup to you/distain for bluetooth transmitters, but I've been using the Titan Himbox for a while and its amazing. Plugs into aux so minimal quality loss. Love it, actually made me stop considering getting a new car.

They were doing that at least back in the 1960's. Kahn documented the practice in his draft for The Codebreakers back in 1967, but as documented in The Puzzle Palace the NSA succeeded in "persuading" the publisher to withhold that page - which was according to Bamford the only time in US history the government had effectively censored someone pre-publication. So though some civilians were aware of it in 1967, it didn't officially come out that the NSA was doing this until 1983.

False. Read up on Elon. He may not be bending the metal to build the rockets, or assembling the batteries that go into Teslas (what CEO does?), but he knows a great deal about the engineering behind all their products.

If you haven't already, I highly recommend you read this.

Jobs, OTOH, had no background in computer science or engineering and never claimed to. His thing was design, which he (obviously) did really well.

There are 97% biodegradable ones on Amazon and they're super cheap as far as k-cups go!

http://www.amazon.com/San-Francisco-Bay-OneCup-Coffees/dp/B007Y59HVM/

He has an autobiography that talks about his intentions called "My Inventions".

But theres certainly some good biographies.

http://www.amazon.com/Tesla-Man-Time-Margaret-Cheney/dp/0743215362/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345616103&sr=1-2&keywords=tesla

http://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Nikola-Biography-Genius-Citadel/dp/0806519606/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345616103&sr=1-4&keywords=tesla

For those of ya'll who aren't familiar with Tim Wu and are interested in learning more about his stance (especially w.r.t. net neutrality), I highly recommend his book, The Master Switch.

OMG. They exist. Which is why articles like this piss me off so much. Why won't anyone provide a solution instead guilt trips? Try this:

http://www.amazon.com/San-Francisco-Bay-OneCup-Coffees/dp/B007Y59HVM/ref=sr_1_1?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1425497186&sr=1-1&keywords=san+francisco+bay+coffee

These are BIODEGRADABLE, CHEAPER, and actually TASTE BETTER.

I read The Master Switch (mentioned in the article) last week and I can't recommend it enough. It's a great look at how we got here.

What's old is new again... 1983 book published on NSA's intelligence gathering The Puzzle Palace. James Bamford has a couple of follow up books from 2007/2008 also.

Here you go - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00GJFGE0K/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1473290194&sr=1-7&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&dpPl=1&dpID=41V1j0H06bL&ref=plSrch

And here you go -
https://www.amazon.com/LG-HBS-730-Wireless-Stereo-Headset/dp/B009A5204K

Fantastic bluetooth car adapter and Bluetooth headphones that last for days on a single charge. I own both. I never liked wired headphones anyway so i bought those just be rid of the tangled chord.

The Master Switch by Tim Wu is a very interesting read.

Basically outlines how all info technologies become ossified and controlled.

A good read with many sources I can't get to directly 1.99 ebook by Bruce Kushnick

I'm not relying on webcomics. Tesla has been largely underappreciated in his lifetime and for many years after it. 5 years ago, most people did not have any idea who Tesla was. Now, he has become a hot topic (through webcomics and things like this post) and more people know about his innovations.

I've done a lot of research on Tesla. Here are some of my sources, if you want them: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

It was my understanding that past injections of federal money to expand infrastructure were misappropriated, AKA "the $200 billion ripoff", which now that I google around has been updated to 300 billion, accounting for ongoing overcharging by ISPs.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070810_002683.html

http://www.amazon.com/The-300-Billion-Broadband-Scandal-ebook/dp/B003EEN1VY

You're right that infrastructure costs money, but the ISPs themselves should not be trusted to do it and just be handed cash. The infrastructure should be owned by the local municipalities if it's built with tax money. Here's an article I found that supports your point about a large investment:

http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2008/01/fixing-us-broadband-100-billion-for-fiber-to-every-home/

Honestly I am far too disgusted with the local monopolies and collusion between ISPs to even consider just handing them money. They've already shown their colors.

> Imagine SpaceX having 100 times larger budget... We probably would have already built a few bases on the Moon and flights to Mars every few months...

We tried that. It's called NASA and their machine of contractors. As it turns out, having 100 times larger budget just means you become a large political target, you get 10x increases in layers of bureaucracy, and your goals are written, changed, thrown away, and written over again every 4-8 years. In other words, if SpaceX had 100 times larger budget, it'd probably come from sources they don't control, and they'd end up getting controlled in the process.

There's a reason why Musk won't take SpaceX public, even though they'd probably receive a massive cash injection. He has a vision for SpaceX, and wants to control that vision with an iron fist. If you read the Ashlee Vance biography about Elon Musk, you'll know that he is regretful of having to take Tesla public, and the last year shows exactly why. When you're trying to change the future, you don't want to spend time, energy, and focus answering to shareholders wondering how you're going to get them a dividend in the next quarter.

I went through three variations on this device before finding one that works well. It's this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GJFGE0K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

5 months in and it's still batting 1000 by every metric I can think of.

$30 and works like a charm. 3rd time in just this thread I've suggested it, and I still can't say enough good things about it.

I'm currently reading a book about how several different tech industries developed, from phone and radio to TV, movies, and the internet. It's called The Master Switch. It's not as much about how the tech was created, but more about how it became mainstream.

There's a company out in california that makes k-kup compatible cups using all biodegradable materials. And they are cheaper than store brand generics. They come out to 37 cents a cup instead of 50 for store brand and 75 for keurig brand

http://smile.amazon.com/San-Francisco-Bay-Coffee-Chaser/dp/B007Y59HVM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393865288&sr=8-1&keywords=fog++coffee

Elon Musk

Here

This one is a must-read

The rest was basically more factual stuff about how Tesla and SpaceX operate, how they get revenue, how they implement changes, what drives them, their marketing & PR, etc.

I hear ya.

My ford was just driving me nuts. Every morning I had to use voice commands to set it to bluetooth and that barely worked. On top of that the car would wait 15 seconds and send a play command so I would start driving away and my podcast would suddenly stop and I couldn't really disable those features. The interface was wobbly as hell.

I went though the trouble to upgrade the firmware on my car and it just introduced more bugs like an audio dropout every 20 seconds.

I finally gave up and bought one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GJFGE0K

The experience was SO much better as my car would stay in Aux and there is a physical button for that and I just hit play on the device and it just plays.

Funny thing is every so often my car will fuck up and it is on some random radio channel and aux no longer functions until I turn off the car, open the door and start over.

Seriously, car manufactures have to fucking clue when it comes to software.

$29.75 for 80 San Francisco Bay Fog Chaser cups is tough to beat.

It's good stuff for Keurig coffee, and the cups are 97% biodegradable, so you don't have to feel like a schmuck for wasting a shit ton of plastic.