Daily Tech News 31 December 2023

Top Story

Disney, Warner, Comcast, and Paramount are contemplating cost-cutting and mergers as losses mount in their streaming services. (Ars Technica)

But not, so far as I can tell, giving much thought to making content people want to watch.

Amazon is propped up by the river of money flowing from AWS - and oh boy di I have a rant there - so they won't feel the same pain until Jeff Bezos decides he wants that money for something else. When the axe finally swings there, it will be swift and brutal.

Plus they have a wide selection of old content that you can get access to for a few bucks a month. I think it's A$5 to get MGM's entire back catalogue on Prime Video, which is how I'm watching Stargate. When I'm done, I just cancel that and pick up a channel with something else.

Or just watch Hololive.

Tech News

How do red flour beetles absorb water through their butts? (Ars Technica)

On second thought, never mind.
Can we build solar power satellites? (CNN)

Maybe.

It used to be completely infeasible due simply to the cost of launching the required material into space. SpaceX has fixed that, and now it's just a very difficult engineering problem.

It does solve the obvious problems with ground-based solar, at least: Put your satellites in the right orbit and the Sun shines all the time.
Why I'm skeptical of "low code". (Scialli)

Because it doesn't work. Basically.

Disclaimer: Farewell, 2023. Or rather, get out, and stay out.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes. Good evening, Pixy.

Posted by: olddog in mo at December 31, 2023 04:07 AM (ju2Fy)

2 Happy New Year's Eve.

Posted by: olddog in mo at December 31, 2023 04:08 AM (ju2Fy)

3 Farewell, 2023. Or rather, get out, and stay out.

2024 says "Hold my beer."

Posted by: olddog in mo at December 31, 2023 04:15 AM (ju2Fy)

4 Good morning, all of you, whether you like it or not.

Posted by: irongrampa at December 31, 2023 04:18 AM (KATBx)

5 Nope. Not going to click on the flour beetle link.

Posted by: olddog in mo at December 31, 2023 04:19 AM (ju2Fy)

6 It used to be completely infeasible due simply to the cost of launching the required material into space. SpaceX has fixed that, and now it's just a very difficult engineering problem.

So instead of a Space Elevator … we’ll build a Space Extension Cord !!!

Or something like that.

Posted by: Adriane the Sci Fi Critic . . . at December 31, 2023 04:23 AM (4Winp)

7 A mere several hours 'til Aussie New Year 2024!

Posted by: m at December 31, 2023 04:25 AM (4UYlo)

8 Weird no Bowl Games on NYE. Guess NFL goes first when it's on Sunday. Rose and Sugar are the semi-final playoff games on New Year's Day.

Posted by: olddog in mo at December 31, 2023 04:26 AM (ju2Fy)

9 Good morning, all of you, whether you like it or not.
Posted by: irongrampa at December 31, 2023 04:18 AM (KATBx)

*folds arms and taps foot*
*sighs*

Good morning to you too, IG

Posted by: Doof at December 31, 2023 04:40 AM (RFPHU)

10
Dallas loses game but wins.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at December 31, 2023 04:41 AM (3qE2b)

11 Oy. 1 more to go, but too tired for detail work, so off to bed.

Happy-ish New Year’s Eve.

Posted by: Adriane the Sci Fi Critic . . . at December 31, 2023 04:41 AM (4Winp)

12 >>> It does solve the obvious problems with ground-based solar, at least: Put your satellites in the right orbit and the Sun shines all the time.

If nothing else it does make the weather more predictable.
Keeping them clean is probably no longer a problem.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at December 31, 2023 04:46 AM (cOq4q)

13 Mornin'

Plan to binge 'The Expanse' NYE and NYD and I just may cut Amazon Prime. I rarely use it. Well, I want to get a 4TB external HD too. Prime is convenient.

Dammit

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at December 31, 2023 04:49 AM (sAmhv)

14 Prime Video's going start running commercials in their movies end of January. They "aim" not to have as many as "vertical" TV.

Posted by: olddog in mo at December 31, 2023 04:54 AM (ju2Fy)

15 The opt out of the amazon commercials is $3 per month extra

Posted by: nckate at December 31, 2023 05:05 AM (EPm6B)

16
Prosecutor Jack Smith to charge Detroit Lions with insurrection for protesting defeat. Donald Trump calls Lions coach and says, "Now you know how I feel."

/s

Posted by: Divide by Zero at December 31, 2023 05:06 AM (3qE2b)

17 Happy New Year's Eve. One of the cable channels is running a Las Vegas series marathon. All the pretty girls, all the beautiful people. Yesterday, I was at the Choctaw Casino and Resort in Pocola OK. No pretty girls or beautiful people. Did see a grizzled character, probably a stockman, lay two bricks of hundreds on the Texas Hold 'Em table. Probably sold the herd figuring Biden will try and run him out of business.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at December 31, 2023 05:07 AM (0EOe9)

18
When I had Hulu the extra dollars to skip commercials was worth it. But I have Hulu no more. I may dump Amazon if I start getting hit with commercials.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at December 31, 2023 05:09 AM (3qE2b)

19 Here's the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys end of game for anyone who hasn't seen it yet:

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=NM_a0iAf_L4

Posted by: m at December 31, 2023 05:09 AM (4UYlo)

20 18 I have a couple free streaming services and Paramount (part of the Walmart delivery deal). Even the truly free ones seem to have less commercials than my now canceled Hulu.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at December 31, 2023 05:11 AM (0EOe9)

21 The opt out of the amazon commercials is $3 per month extra
Posted by: nckate
-----------

I did not know that. Guess I'll wait and see how onerous they are before considering that route.

Posted by: olddog in mo at December 31, 2023 05:12 AM (ju2Fy)

22 Evening and morning to all the satellites in space! To infinity -- and beyond!

The last day of a rocky year, the fourth in a row of bad years. May we all have a better '24.

Miss Linda and I trekked amid the Sugar Bowl and NY Eve Eve crowds in the French Quarter yesterday. It's depressing for me to see what my old home town has become -- as if Andy Taylor were to come back to Mayberry after some years and find Disney has turned it into a theme park. I did visit a cigar & tobacco shop around the corner from my boyhood home. The owner had little pipe stuff, but gave me a sample of an aromatic blend that I look forward to trying.

A New Year's Eve calls for stepping (a little) outside the routine. This a.m. I'll drive up the highway to breakfast at a suburban Waffle House. Howz about you?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 31, 2023 05:14 AM (omVj0)

23 definition of "eligible receiver"

https://www.sports-king.com/
dictionary.php?q=eligible-receiver

Posted by: m at December 31, 2023 05:14 AM (4UYlo)

24 22 Go to one of those shotgun bungalos converted to a restaurant, like down in the ninth ward. Chicken, waffles, and collards for breakfast.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at December 31, 2023 05:18 AM (0EOe9)

25 24 22 Chicken, waffles, and collards for breakfast.
Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at December 31, 2023 05:18 AM (0EOe9)

yum

Posted by: m at December 31, 2023 05:19 AM (4UYlo)

26 A mere several hours 'til Aussie New Year 2024!
Posted by: m at December 31, 2023

***
Instead of setting my GMT watch to Zulu time (+6 from CST), I should set it to Sydney/Melbourne/Canberra time (+16).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 31, 2023 05:19 AM (omVj0)

27 22 Go to one of those shotgun bungalos converted to a restaurant, like down in the ninth ward. Chicken, waffles, and collards for breakfast.
Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at December 31, 2023

***
Brrr. Ninth Ward? I'm liable to have my car vandalized if not stolen, and driving on the streets there is like driving a buckboard on a rocky trail. There were blocks of streets in the Quarter yesterday that looked like a moonscape.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 31, 2023 05:22 AM (omVj0)

28 27 Most of the ninth ward is still waiting for somebody (not them) to fix shit still wrecked from Katrina. Load up trash in truck, take to dump. Repeat. I think I would rather go to Yemen.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at December 31, 2023 05:25 AM (0EOe9)

29 "I can't imagine them having that play in, and him not reporting. Because that would be stressed throughout the week."

Posted by: m at December 31, 2023 05:26 AM (4UYlo)

30
There's video of the receiver running up to the ref. I don't imagine he said, "Your momma" to him. I wonder how much Lost Wages would have lost on the underdog Lions winning.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at December 31, 2023 05:37 AM (3qE2b)

31
Maybe they weren't the underdogs. Close call.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at December 31, 2023 05:38 AM (3qE2b)

32 Ya know what doesn't have commercials? DVD

Good morning.

Posted by: Ben Had at December 31, 2023 05:41 AM (I6hse)

33 My NYE Extravaganza!

I'll wake up this afternoon, order Chinese take-out, watch the Tulsa Shootout (sprint car racing), at midnight I'll watch the fireworks being shot off at the National Harbor in MD (I can see it from my balcony), then binge watch 'The Expanse'. Midway through Season 4.

I live on the edge!

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at December 31, 2023 05:43 AM (sAmhv)

34 hiya

Posted by: JT at December 31, 2023 05:43 AM (T4tVD)

35 Good morning, all of you, whether you like it or not.
Posted by: irongrampa at December 31, 2023 04:18 AM (KATBx)

Hiya IG !

Posted by: JT at December 31, 2023 05:44 AM (T4tVD)

36 I've seen on twitter--but I haven't been able to refind it now--that if/when the ref wrongly announced (to the stadium and to the defense!) that the Lions #70 had reported eligible (instead of #68, who in fact had reported, according to the Lions coach), the Lions coach was required to stop the play and declare that to be an error.

Posted by: m at December 31, 2023 05:45 AM (4UYlo)

37 I set my watch to Time.gov, and set the GMT pointer to UTC+10 -- closing in on ten pm Sydney time. In NZ it's just short of midnight and 2024, about fifteen minutes to go. They're both on Daylight Saving Time, though, so they're 17 and 19 hours ahead of me instead of the 16 and 18 they should be.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 31, 2023 05:47 AM (omVj0)

38
Dennis D ✭
@DenDPT
5h
Replying to @nickbaumgardner
Only 70 was announced as eligible. Seems like Decker was never acknowledged and Detroit never corrected that.

Posted by: m at December 31, 2023 05:58 AM (4UYlo)

39 LOL

Bobby Williams
@bwill38
6h
Replying to @nickbaumgardner @JourdanRodrigue
68 reported for 70

Posted by: m at December 31, 2023 06:00 AM (4UYlo)

40
But not, so far as I can tell, giving much thought to making content people want to watch.

"Look, we built these high capacity sewage systems and we gotta keep 'em full of sewage! It's stupid, but it's what we do -- pump sewage. So, any port in a storm."

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 31, 2023 06:00 AM (xG4kz)

41
Why I'm skeptical of "low code"

"It's so deliciously low. So horribly dirty."

-- Professor 'enry 'iggins

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 31, 2023 06:11 AM (xG4kz)

42
Hell, NZ is UTC+13 when it's on DST, I just see.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (Mzdiz) at December 31, 2023 06:12 AM (Mzdiz)

43 Two hours 'til Aussie 2024!

Posted by: m at December 31, 2023 06:16 AM (4UYlo)

44
Is this going to be a day of watching paint dry (or peel, if that is your preference)?

I need more sleep. Catch all y'all on the book thread.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 31, 2023 06:20 AM (xG4kz)

45
There are a couple of crazy +13 and +14 time zones in Kiritimati. It lines up with Hawaii in longitude, but they wanted to be one day ahead. This makes the international date line crazy.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (Mzdiz) at December 31, 2023 06:21 AM (Mzdiz)

46 mornin yall. It's time for New Year's resolutions again. I like easy resolutions because they are achievable, like Joe in St Croix, who's resolution is "come back next year".

My resolution is to spend less time making resolutions. See how easy that is?

Posted by: fd at December 31, 2023 06:21 AM (vFG9F)

47 Two hours 'til Aussie 2024!
Posted by: m at December 31, 2023

***
EnnZed has already crossed into the new year.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 31, 2023 06:28 AM (omVj0)

48 EnnZed has already crossed into the new year.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 31, 2023 06:28 AM (omVj0)

Aww...who names their kid Enn ?

Posted by: JT at December 31, 2023 06:37 AM (T4tVD)

49 In case no one nooded, Krak's up.

Posted by: olddog in mo at December 31, 2023 06:50 AM (ju2Fy)

50 Just saw the bit about the flour beetles.
Didja know that pogona vitticeps (Australian Bearded Dragon - we’ve hosted 3 over the last 20 years) can do the same thing, especially when they’re brumating.
Thanks for the morning tech report, Pixy. Much appreciated.

Posted by: Coelacanth at December 31, 2023 07:34 AM (P9pDS)

51 Yeah, Amazon is milking the cash cow now...

Going back to old cowboy movies of 60's and 70's and action movies of the 80's and 90's, plus serving as the hub to FreeVee, Starz, etc they seem to be losing money on Amazon Originals.

While WokeFlix doubles down on the unwatchable.
If it weren't for free shipping I'd drop Amazon too.

Posted by: Foo at December 31, 2023 08:24 AM (WaaAj)

52 50 Just saw the bit about the flour beetles.
Didja know that pogona vitticeps (Australian Bearded Dragon - we’ve hosted 3 over the last 20 years) can do the same thing, especially when they’re brumating.
Posted by: Coelacanth at December 31, 2023 07:34 AM (P9pDS)

Did not know!

Posted by: m at December 31, 2023 08:34 AM (4UYlo)

53 welp

12:32 AM
Monday, January 1, 2024 Time in Canberra ACT, Australia

1:32 AM Kingston (GMT+12)
12:02 AM Adelaide (GMT+10:30)
9:32 PM Perth (GMT+

8:32 PM Christmas Island (GMT+7)

Posted by: m at December 31, 2023 08:35 AM (4UYlo)

54 I'm always last to the party. goodbye 2023

Posted by: Cicero skip at December 31, 2023 08:45 AM (4ezYQ)

55 Re: Low Code

Like the informercial all-in-one tools, for a very specific usage case, it may work 'well enough.' But by God, while all are an inclined planes, a pry bar is not screw driver is not a chisel is not a paint scraper is not a screw (helical inclined plane). You MIGHT be able to get away with using a chisel as the first 3, but you will regret it soon enough.

Posted by: Legion of Boom at December 31, 2023 08:46 AM (BsoVM)

56 Amazon is propped up by the river of money flowing from AWS - and oh boy di I have a rant there - so they won't feel the same pain until Jeff Bezos decides he wants that money for something else. When the axe finally swings there, it will be swift and brutal.

I just canceled my Amazon Prime membership today. I'm not paying for internet, and paying for Prime, and then watching ads.

Posted by: Ace's liver at December 31, 2023 08:51 AM (wGeit)

57 Can you imagine trying to maintain "low code" projects ten years after they're written? What a nightmare.

Posted by: Ace's liver at December 31, 2023 08:53 AM (wGeit)

58 "So instead of a Space Elevator … we’ll build a Space Extension Cord !!!"

Right. There is the issue of how to get the power from the satellite to earth. Laser beam? Microwave? If the latter, it better be very tightly focused. And the question of weather doesn't go away, since the transmission beam could be affected by clouds and storms. Like any solution, the power satellite solves one set of problems, only to create ones.

Posted by: Nemo at December 31, 2023 09:56 AM (S6ArX)

59 > t used to be completely infeasible due simply to the cost of launching the required material into space.

Orion! boom, boom, boom.

Posted by: comradearthur at December 31, 2023 11:21 AM (bUnPj)

60 "It used to be completely infeasible due simply to the cost of launching the required material into space. SpaceX has fixed that, and now it's just a very difficult engineering problem."

the problem with spaced base solar is that you now have lots of power in a place you don't actually need it, and transmitting it to the places you need it are hard, and not very efficient...

Using some fancy tech last year they were able to get a whopping 19% efficiency at a distance of 10 meters... another experiment got about 4% at a distance of a mile.

Posted by: JD at December 31, 2023 01:10 PM (2JnDM)

61 The issues with "low code" systems are the same issues I've found with all abstractions that try to hide the underlying logic and only expose a set of functions to be "easy to use". They're great so long as you never want to do anything they don't offer out of the box and don't care about optimization*, but absolute nightmares the instant you have a unique use case or do care about optimization. In other words, they are just bad for most companies.

*I absolutely detest ORMs for this. They tend to make some really convoluted and boneheaded queries, and good freaking luck trying to figure out why or how to fix them. Just writing your own queries is always easier in the long run and far more maintainable. And if the developers you've hired don't know, or know how to learn, the relevant DB query language, the problem is you've hired poor devs.

Posted by: Cortillaen at December 31, 2023 01:41 PM (6kADi)

62 Yeah, hilarious on the "sun shines all the time" bit.

Was driving to a holiday party last week and we went by one of the big solar installations here in central NY. Three quarters of the panels were covered in snow and we haven't even gotten that much snow yet. What a complete waste of money.

Nevermind that in our area, on lake Ontario, there is some 4200 MW of generation between 4 nukes and a co-gen gas plant. We DO NOT need any more electricity generation in this area. None. ZERO.

Posted by: deadrody at December 31, 2023 04:28 PM (9cWJM)

63 >Because [low-code] doesn't work. Basically.

Low code doesn't obviate the number one problem with bespoke solutions: getting people to describe accurately what they want the system to do. If you can do that, everything else is just typing.

>I absolutely detest ORMs for this [...] you've hired poor devs

Maybe it's just me, but it feels like over the last few years there's been an explosion of software companies staffed by devs with mediocre-at-best software engineering skills. I'm currently working at a company that's grotesquely overpaying for its cloud SQL because they insist on using EF Core for everything. The devs are all autodidacts or graduates of two-year diploma programs. None of them even grasp the basics of SQL.

Posted by: Daniel Ream at December 31, 2023 07:14 PM (/0tPK)

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