I just like calling it “the kill shot”, as though GOG is about to take all of Steam’s market share some time next week.

Even if they got someone to pay the subscription the entire time, that’s like 5% of the value of the car, spread over a length of time that makes it almost worthless.

It’s a revenue stream you can collect after the vehicle is sold. Continuous cash flow means long term revenue stability for the business.

And its the introduction of a model that can scale. Once you’ve got someone’s account information, you can sell them more shit (or just sell their data to advertisers). This is just the tip of the spear. Tesla, BMW, and Mercedes are all experimenting with Vehicle as a Service product models.

Investors love the possibility of revenue growth, and these programs promise the possibility of high margin after market sales for the life of the vehicle.

harmful to the brand image and customer loyalty

Not when everyone is doing it

I’m forever fated to receive unsolicited junk mail for this feature that I have to unceremoniously dump in the recycling bin every couple weeks.

Imagining a future in which I have to tell my YouTube integrated car company that I don’t want to sign up for their music service every time I start my car.

Nobody likes these

Shareholders love them

It is defeatism to shrug our shoulders saying that both parties are fascist

This reeks of Feels before Reals. Refusing to acknowledge a thing because it signals a defeat isn’t a virtue, its a delusion.

the same kind of power tripping neckbeard discord mods

I’ll never understand the intense and visceral anger some people on the internet have towards facial hair. Also really leaning into the 4chan-esque Everyone Online Is Dudes trope.

American is a fascist nation and it’s leaders traffic with other fascists because they see eye to eye.

Visiting the Murdoch-owned Sun was your first mistake. Everything they do to you after that is your own fault.,

Might as well hand your credit card to the MyPillow Guy next and complain about how much money just got charged to your account from the nearest strip club.

The most powerful man in the Western World shaking hands and smiling with a mass murdering despot is fine, just so long as the US can claim some kind of diplomatic advantage out of the visit (spoilers: they didn’t).

But Biden’s done far worse than grab a table with a handful of despotic fascists. He’s put genocidiers on his advisory committees and his VP has taken their endorsements on her path to the White House. Look up

John Negroponte: US installed dictator of Iraq during the occupation. Responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis, both through the brutal massacres initiated by US military officers and deliberate starvation of dissident Sunni communities. He oversaw the helicopter patrols that would become famous in the “Collateral Murder” video, filmed in July 17th of 2007, and released by WikiLeaks. Negroponte endorsed Biden in 2020 and fundraised on his behalf. He’s endorsed Harris four years later.

Elliott Abrams: A participant in the Iran-Contra Affair and an adviser for both Bush and Trump on Latin America. He was appointed to Biden’s “Council on Foreign Relations” and advised the president towards hawkish military policies all through Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Brazil. He’s had his hand in everything from the Cuban Embargo, responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands thanks to restrictions on medical and food trade, to the rape of nuns in Nicaragua.

We can keep going down the list. Jeff Zients, Biden’s Chief of Staff, who was one of the pioneers behind the misinformation hub Cambridge Analytics. This was the tool Russia used to target voters on Facebook in 2016. William J. Burns, Biden’s CIA Director, who served as ambassador to Russia during the Bush Jr administration and the close collaboration between the US and Russia in the War on Terror. Responsible for the kidnapping and killing of an uncountable number of “suspects” swept up in the Bush Era black sites projects in Syria and Jordan. Neera fucking Tanden, Director of the Domestic Policy Council and bag woman for the Clintons going back 30 years. She vocally advocated for the bombing of Libya while working in Hillary Clinton’s Sec of State office. Another mass slaughter, followed by military rule and open slave markets in the shadow of French and US intercession.

Why is Joe Biden surrounding himself with these fascists?

You’ll notice politicians largely stopped doing AMAs back in 2016 when /r/The_Donald completely swamped the system. Given the degree to which Reddit is a system by and for bot-farms, Jill was sticking her foot squarely into a bear trap just by setting this up.

Advertisers don’t need end users. They just need happy bosses willing to cover their salaries.

In that sense, the business marketing team and the Reddit “look at our bullshit numbers” team are on the same side of the field.

A big part of the “Cheney family endorses Harris” push has been corporate flacks racking up favors with the Dem side of the aisle so Harris can replace her cabinet with people who are more business-friendly in the next term.

They’re playing both sides. This isn’t just “Trump Wins: Things Get Worse” / “Harris Wins: Things Stay The Same Amount of Bad”.

Considering

Investigating

Discussing

Will put forward a possibility of

Listen, its this government or we go with the GOP version where its just the MOVE bombing every couple of weeks, while the DOJ issues briefs about busting open a child’s testicles to get information out of his father.

Do Nothing or Do Something Awful. Those are your choices.

Why do people buy stuff from a creepy company like that?

Because its the biggest and most visible one that everyone uses. And because so many Amazon shoppers are Prime Members anyway, as the cost of not being a Prime Member makes it functionally a requirement.

Couldn’t you just stop by at the local whatever shop on your way home?

How much would I pay not to spend an extra 30-60min fighting traffic and waiting in long lines? In that sense, Prime is a steal.

AI comments under an AI generated article being inflated by AI account activity. Who even needs end users anymore? Its a perfectly autonomous system.

Dueling sanctions.

The mainland Chinese SMIC is doing everything they can without access to ASML’s EUV machines, and have gotten further than anyone else has on DUV.

You can’t say that, though, because it implies Chinese engineers and information technology scientists are trailblazers rather than plagarists and IP thieves.

Intel did introduce both technologies in its 20A process (supposedly 2nm class), but then canceled it due to low yield. So they’re basically betting the company on their 18A process, and hoping they can get that to market before TSMC and Samsung hit their stride on 2nm.

And I’ve got a few shares in my retirement account riding on that success. But its more a hedge against my own cynicism than a sincere expectation. Intel, like Boeing, seems far more interested in rewarding investors in the short term than maintaining a foothold in the market long term.

If a WMD is introduced in the first act, it must go off in the third act.

The PCs are just speeding this process along.

Should have waited until he was in the billionaire class before breaking the law.