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The benchmarks of a model that hasn't been released yet are definitely suspicious.

I also think Google should stop "releasing" models that aren't actually available. For their own sake, because by the time Gemini 4 Carbon becomes available, nobody will notice. There won't be a new press release or much excitement around it.

The fact is that there are only two real potential competitors to Starlink:

- Amazon LEO (US)

- Qianfan (China)

The European (IRIS) and Canadian (Telesat) satellite systems are relatively small and more specialized.

Telesat is a different product than StarLink. My understanding is that Telestat is for telecom operators and large network providers which cannot run fibre cables to their cell towers.

I wonder what the potential applications of this technology could be for emergency vehicles (fire trucks, rescue vehicles, police cars, ambulance, etc.). And, of course … for the military.

Can somebody tell me which organizations used their services? I would like to independently verify whether any of these organizations are actually promoting violence as a way to advance their agenda.

Here is what I have gathered so far, but none of this has been independently verified:

- There are reports alleging that the burning of 15 Portland police vehicles in May 2024 was organized, coordinated, or promoted through their servers.

- There are also claims that calls to attack ICE personnel, including at their homes, were distributed through their servers (Rose City Antifa / Rose City Counter-Info).

- Some reports also claim that the 2022 firebombing in Madison, Wisconsin, was organized through their servers.

Again, these are allegations, and I have not been able to independently verify them. Does anybody have credible sources who was using their servers? And who is behind this organization?

The San Francisco Bay Area has about 2 million more people than the entire country of Norway.

So, in my opinion, we cannot reasonably extrapolate from policies implemented in Norway to predict whether they would work in California or the U.S.

And AI.

It is an open secret that consulting companies (Tata, Infosys, Capgemini, etc.) are abusing the employee sponsored green cards.

But I'm surprised that Microsoft is accused doing it. I was under the impression that Microsoft will sponsor your green card but is still very strict about whom they hire and retain, regardless of immigration status. But maybe that has changed?

Tata, Infosys, HCL, and similar body shops are definitely a different story.

Where in US and where in Europe?

I think that that Berlin is 100x better than Atlanta. But on the other hand, San Francisco is a million times better than Milan.

The EU has only one company among the world's top 50 companies: ASML, ranked 21st.

In the top 100, there are only 8: ASML, Siemens, SAP, L'Oréal, LVMH, TotalEnergies, Santander, and Seagate Technology.

In 2005, the EU (excluding the UK) had 19 companies in the top 100.

So something is going on.

I do not live in Europe, but I have a lot of friends living there, mostly in Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland. We recently met in Croatia, and after a few beers this topic came up. We came to the conclusion that the following crises caused Europe to start lagging behind the rest of the world:

- 2008 financial crisis. Somehow, the U.S. was able to spend its way out of the crisis, while Europe's strict austerity measures made things quite bad. That was followed by the 2010-2012 debt crisis, the 2013 Cyprus banking crisis, and another Greek debt and banking crisis in 2015.

- COVID: Most European countries, at least those with strong economies, had very strict restrictions and closures. The restrictions were as strict as they were in California. They did not really have any Texas or Florida style "rebellion" states. Sweden was the main exception. But borders and travel restrictions still existed.

- Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Europe was much more economically integrated with and dependent on Russia (especially for energy), than the U.S. or many other parts of the world.

So basically, the world has gone through three major crises in the last 15-20 years, and in each case the U.S. was either less directly affected or somehow managed the economic consequences better than Europe.

What is a common use case for these kind of phones?

May I ask why this is “most depressing thing I have read today”.

Concerns about misinformation? Compute/energy use? Creative work Replaced by AI?

The biggest problem with Europe is the lack of innovation. But that was not an issue before.

Before the 2000s, Europe was very very strong in telecom (Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens, Alcatel), industrial technology, the auto industry, mobile phones, semiconductors, and enterprise software (SAP, Baan, Business Objects, Dassault Systèmes, sage). Europe was definitely much less dependent on U.S. technology back then. In some area I would say it was the other way around.

But Europe's dependence on U.S. technology has accelerated dramatically over the last 10-15 years.

I'm really not sure why. Regulation and bureaucracy did not get worse. And Europe even created the EU, which provided a better "single market" (better than before the 2000s).

I would love to hear some opinions on what changed.