There are actually tools that can unmask spoofed calls and show the true number that a call originates from. I’ve never used them personally, but I worked in computer telephony years ago so I have an understanding of how these tools work.

Caller ID was created so that a company like a bank that might have 100 or more telephone lines could program them so they always show up as “1-555-ACME-BANK” if they wanted to. So it’s trivial to set Caller ID to whatever you want.

But there’s another identification baked into calls that goes way back to the days when long distance calls were expensive and charged by the minute. The telephone companies needed to ensure the calling number was passed along from one phone carrier to another for billing purposes, and since it involved collecting money you can be sure it was accurate and unchangeable. This is called Automatic Number Identification (ANI).

Typically ANI is only passed between phone companies, or over high capacity phone circuits like T-1 lines, so it’s not sent to the person receiving the call. But there’s a feature available to most mobile phone plans that, combined with ANI, can provide for a way to do just that.

Depending on your mobile provider there’s likely a way to forward calls you explicitly ignore to another number. This only happens when you click to ignore/disconnect the call, and not let it time out and go to voicemail. When you sign up with one of these unmasking services then you set up your phone to forward these calls to their service. Then, if you get a spoofed call or even one where the caller id says unknown or unavailable, you click to ignore it. The call gets rerouted to the unmasking service, which has access to the ANI data. It reads the ANI number, replaces the Caller ID data with the ANI, then immediately routes the call back to you again. This time it will show you the number the call originated from and would be billed to.

Tesla Model Y owner here (never again, either). I hate the touchscreen, and also hate the way they’ve shoehorned functionality into the button/scroller controls on the steering wheel to try to address complaints.

When I first got the MY, the only way to control things like the wipers was through menus in the touchscreen. A software update introduced the ability to control them from the steering wheel controls, but even that “solution” sucks. You have to press & hold the control down while simultaneously scrolling it with your thumb. And most times you can’t scroll it from all the way off to all the way on in a single motion, so you press, scroll as much as you can, release & press again then scroll the rest of the way. A real PITA.

Exactly. I know somebody who died when a deer came through the windshield…

When I was a junior dev back in the 90’s one of my primary tasks was to tackle customer bug reports. Basically grunt work. I doubt AI tools could do that kind of task very well, unless the bug was something like a buffer overflow. I would think it would be terrible when it involves business logic flow.

The problem is computer vision has a LONG way to go before it’s truly on par with human eyesight. Musk loves to crow how cameras are sufficient since we use our eyes to drive.

The thing is, eyes have special neural circuits that detect motion. They essentially filter out unnecessary information and send just the motion details to the brain. This prevents the brain from being overloaded with every detail the eye constantly sees.

And being overloaded with everything is exactly what computer vision currently does. It’s just a stream of images that the computer must analyze completely. So it’s working exactly opposite to how the eye & brain works.

I recall when I bought my first hybrid that the dealer said there were something like 15 different computers controlling things, from the ICE engine to the transmission to the charging of the battery, etc. They weren’t networked together.

I also once ran afoul of a software bug in the ECU of a Honda CR/V. That’s the embedded system that manages the whole operation of the engine - from fuel injection to timing to emissions etc. As they progress through model years they use different ECUs that require different software. Even though I work in IT, I wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to update it myself, given the different models, firmware revisions, etc. I was more than happy to take that car to a dealer to have them confirm my car had buggy software and to upgrade it to the right new version.

NHTSA are the ones who investigate safety issues and issue recall notices. Once they have done that then the manufacturer has very specific legal requirements to follow. Hiding data from them would eventually come to light, and that would be very bad. Look at the diesel emissions scandal for one example. Volkswagen payed billions in fines for that, and a dozen or so employees including the CEO have been indicted. A few have pled guilty and been sentenced to jail.

I’ve had software recalls for Toyotas and Hondas, both of which involved physical recall paperwork and required me to visit a dealer to install the new software.

Just because a software recall can be remedied over the air it doesn’t make it any less of a recall. As others have said, there’s a legal definition to a recall. They are issued by the NHTSA and require specific legal responses from the manufacturer.

And then when you have an emergency the response is along the lines of:

“Thank you for requesting to speak with a rider support agent. All agents are currently busy assisting other Waymo customers, but the next available agent will assist you as soon as possible. There are currently 32 other customers in front of you. Thank you for your patience.”

This reminded me of a glass artist named Josh Simpson who is known for his glass spheres he calls “planets” that have amazingly complex scenes in them. For over two decades he’s had what he calls the “Infinity Project” where he encourages people to hide them out in the open where folks are unlikely to find one. If you submit a proposal to him that he likes then he’ll send you two of his smaller planets, one for you to hide and one to keep for yourself.

No, see, piracy is just you downloading movies for yourself. To be like OpenAI you need to download it, put it in a pretty package with a bow, then sell it over and over again. Only when it’s piracy for profit do you get to beg and plead for a pass.

How about a Hunger Games variant where the worlds top 20 billionaires are pitted against each other?

My employer goes so far as to lock down what devices can connect to our network & VPN, and also locks down laptops so that removable media like USB thumb drives won’t work.

No way in hell I’d let them do things like that to my personal laptop.

I’m willing to bet the vast majority of that money is changing hands among tech companies like Intel, AMD, nVidia, AWS, etc. Only a small percentage would go to salaries, etc. and I doubt those rates have changed much…

I doubt it. The liability would be far too great. Ambulance chasing lawyers would salivate at the chance to represent the families of pedestrians struck and killed by buggy self driving cars. Those capitalists don’t want endless years of class action cases tying up their profits.

Not until a self driving car can safely handle all manner of edge cases thrown at it, and I don’t see that happening any time soon. The cars would need to be able to recognize situations that may not be explicitly programmed into it, and figure out a safe way to deal with it.

My wife and I just streamed a movie a few days ago. It had a ton of bloopers intermixed with the end credits.

My wife used to drive an electric Smart Car for her work. It had a range of 60 miles (less in the winter), and she called it a glorified golf cart. But it was perfect for the 20 or so miles she’d drive each day.

It’s 126 miles to Chicago 13.6 kilometers to Alpha Centauri, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack off cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.

Bought my first one probably 20+ years ago at this point.

Bought my second one probably 10+ years ago when traveling abroad and it was more reliable and cheaper to have offline maps of the countries I was going to.

We like to travel to places that often have spotty cellular coverage, if at all.