Quantum encryption isn’t something quantum computers can even do. It’s not just transforming bits into other bits, it’s about building entirely new security properties based on physical properties of matter.

So, even if it is interesting for end users, they would need dedicated hardware anyway.

https://pixelfed.social/p/sedah/710395721014627367

We used to drive bicycles when we were children. Then we started driving cars. Bicycles have two wheels, cars have four. Eight wheels seems to be the logical next step, why don’t we drive eight-wheel vehicles?

The bot account itself. It appears to have been merely trolling, and the article seems to think it’s actually a bot.

This is obviously fake, but I wouldn’t doubt thousands of such bots actually exist.

They can always buy Premium for 299.95 per month.

The “15 to 17” part is worded somewhat confusingly, but it’s not wrong.

The number of bits contained in a double is equivalent to ~15.95 decimal digits. If you want to store exactly a decimal number with a fixed number of significant digits, floor(15.95) = 15 digits is the most you can hope for. However, if you want to store exactly a double by writing it out as a decimal number, you need 17 digits.

I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you, but that estimate could have been wrong by a factor of 10 easily. The idea of an “average video” being 50MB, for example, is questionable: at typical bitrates of 1080p videos this would amount to about a minute-long video. I don’t think that’s an average video at all. It also doesn’t account for many things, for example the cost of replicating new videos to the CDN.

I also don’t find the idea of YouTube not being profitable ridiculous or hilarious. YouTube definitely wasn’t profitable before monetisation, and Google used to run it for prestige and data collection purposes at a financial loss. They clearly have been trying to make it more profitable, but whether or not they have crossed the break-even point in the past or are still hoping to cross it in the future is not as clear to me as it is to you.

He did some short format writing, but The Martian was his first published novel, I think. He was a software engineer before that.

Artemis follows the same pattern of a capable main protagonist solving problems, so it is not very different from the other books in terms of characters, but it is much better in character depth and development than The Martian.

Just as a general advice that has only occurred to me recently: if you don’t like a book, stop reading it and read another one. There are great books, and there are mediocre, and also you some might work better for you, and some worse. If you start with a book that you don’t like, and power through it anyway, you might be reluctant to try another one.

You’ve mentioned sci-fi, but didn’t mention Robert Sheckley. If you haven’t read any of his stories, drop everything and read Citizen in Space, for example.

If you’d rather go for something more modern, fun, but also a little sad, try The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

For something extremely entertaining, but also mysterious, try Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson.

If you’re into videogames and like drama, try Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. That’s the best book I’ve read in the past 5 years.

This, and Artemis too. Basically anything by Andy Weir at this point.

Despite this design, it is possible to write useful programs.

Interestingly, this applies to C++ too.

to be fair, the way it’s worded I can parse as “a language for web programming”, instead of “a programming language for the web”

Install GnuCash, learn accounting, and start tracking your money and use proper financial language. There is a lot of good financial advice out there (budgeting, investments, debt reduction), and all of that is much more efficient if a) you know where your money goes and where it comes from, b) you are proficient with financial software, and c) you can talk to the banks in their own language.

[…] Sundar Pichai defended the layoffs and claimed that workers sometimes reach out to express gratitude for the cuts.

“It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week.”

From my own standpoint I can understand how a certain amount of responsibility lies on him too. If I were handed something that looks like a gun or a knife, I would probably check to make sure it isn’t a real gun myself.

Especially in the US, where tragic accidental gun-related deaths and injuries happen every day.

Came here looking for these comments

Probably not. But life is full of minor inconveniences like that, and they do add up.

Plastic wrapping that’s easy to open.

Bathroom mirrors that don’t steam up after taking a shower.

Vending machines that are competent at accepting cash. Everywhere else that I’ve been to, you have to smoothen the bill and make sure it has no wrinkles or bended corners, and even then the machine would sometimes give you a hard time. In Japan, you just insert a stack (!) of bills, and the machine will count them within seconds, and also give you change in bills, and not a gazillion of coins.

Gates at the train stations are also better than everywhere else. You don’t have to wait for the person in front of you to pass the gate, you just insert your ticket and go. You also don’t need to look for arrows or notches or whatever on the ticket to insert it correctly.

Electric kettles that are very quiet and keep the water hot for a very long time.

Trains where all seats face the front, so you don’t have to sit against the direction of travel.