I think there's some context missing here. For those who don't remember, the CIA back in like 2014 or so built out private data centers with classified versions of AWS services and all IC workloads that don't require specialized hardware was supposed to be using. DOD historically used it as well for classified cloud workloads, but wanted its own, and this was the JEDI contract, which was also supposed to go to Amazon, until Trump got into a fight with Jeff Bezos in 2019, canceled the contract, and awarded it to Microsoft instead. Amazon sued, and Biden decided to just award the contract to everyone and split it between all the major cloud vendors. That still doesn't mean anyone can actually use it without FedRAMP approval, but well, there you go.
The alternative was AWS, which has been operating at every classification level for over a decade at this point. It's now split between Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, and Google, which is especially amusing because Google withdrew from the original bid process when they were still pretending to give a shit that their employees don't like working for the military.
Also very tangentially related... I remember the first time I heard a real recorded music (not a chiptune) playing from a computer. It was on my Commodore 64, at home, in 1986: I had a copy of a floppy disk with a partial recording of the song Kung-Fu Fighting.
There is no prefabricated site-work. A house needs foundations, underground utilities, pavements, and landscaping.
If tires had to be manufactured at the car-buyer's home or place of business, cars and buildings would be more analogous.
The premise of the article is that home building is economically inefficient. As a mature industry in a capitalist economy, that requires supporting evidence. That so many people cannot afford market rate homes in desirable locations is not evidence that a free-market profit driven economy isn't working.
Mortgages are the important product produced by the home-building industry. Below market rate housing is by definition not going to be willingly sought by free market actors.
Usually, if you are just starting out you will tend to work for bad clients because good clients are those with regular work that pays well who value stable business relationships.
Bad clients are those (in order) who don't value stable relationships, don't pay well, and who don't have regular work. The best likely good client for a new contractor/freelancer/consultant is someone you can grow your business alongside their growth...and that's a long term relationship.
If you are worrying about your hourly rate, you probably won't make it because relationships are what matters. If you don't have enough resources to build relationships over time, you probably won't make it.
Your job is solving client problems (other than paying you).
Lower wattage can mean higher efficiency, but the evidence in the fine article suggests it is thermal throttling and the laptop is not doing more with less.
For wireless headphones I've gone to bone conduction and open-ear. Started with some cheap models from Ali-Express to see how I liked it. I did.
Shokz had a black friday deal on Open-Run Pros and those are my goto. Admittedly, they are not as convenient as my Airpods were, but my ears appreciate not being bombarded with noise canceling.
Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2 at least just allows varying levels of passthrough. You can have noise cancelling or noise cancelling + sound from the outside mike. You cannot have noise-cancelling off for better battery life or to cope with windy conditions
They're awful in several other ways too, which is sad for what should be their flagship model
The measure of audio is what comes out of the speakers not what is written on the web.
My Airpod Pros are the most convenient personal audio device I have ever used. Sound wise they pale in comparison to my Sony MDR-ZX100 which I bought on sale for $9.99 at Best Buy...unfortunately the new model is about $15 regular price and maybe not as good (but I doubt it).
Sure the Airpod Pros sound better than ordinary Airpods or the wired Airbuds, but that's a really low bar for an audio device.
Building in house.
Outsourcing to consultants.
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