Hmmm, my comments on the article
#3 - Personally I dislike the inherent tracking in card based or app based parking. That said, the convenience factor is quite nice. However, I think it should be illegal for governments to require any commercial system for citizens to make use services - so there ought always be a cash or free government provided "cash card" and reader for these things. You should not be forced to pay Apple or Google, plus Samsung or whoever, plus AT&T or Verizon or T-Mobile plus Visa,Mastercard,Amex etc or even have a BANK to park in public parking in my strong opinion. Options are great - removing legal tender to government for government services is not.
Secondly, while I could approve of "surge pricing" I do not think one entity should set prices then - instead it should be an e-bay auction for each space and unit of time that has a winner a couple minutes before the segment of time is to start if there are multiple people "bidding". This really isn't hard, ebay or the like could be contracted to run it with minor changes. Of course, it should tie into the parking app so what you see is the zone or spot ID you're pulling up to and what it's going for. Geo fence by the app location and enforce the maximum renewal time like the app already does. When you bid, you're bidding for the time you're requesting so the time is variable, but once won, it's fixed for you at the winning price, but it's a new auction if you want to renew remotely (or in person). This should, in theory, actually discourage parking when demand is actually high, but not have some stupid "Mondays are HI DEMAND $50 an hour" or something on a holiday when the entire block and garage are basically empty (but it's "SURGE")...
#5 - Showing a picture that I'm ~ 90% sure is actually a mirrorless camera, but I'm generally going to argue that this idea that it's a new thing for people who "just want a picture" to not buy a DSLR is ... really misleading IMHO. Almost no one who just wanted a "good enough" picture ever used a DSLR or SLR in the past either. They might have had various technologies of point and shoot cameras, but likely never touched interchangeable lenses. And yes, the point and shoot has been dead since 2011 or so, now relegated to hipsters who are getting slightly more modern nostalgia than the film hipsters. I also think for so many things - it's also you don't know what you don't know. If you've never side by side compared random cellphone to APSC or FF interchangeable lens camera pics, you don't know what you're missing. It can be subtle wide angle, but any time you're trying to get shots of things that are moving fast, medium to far away or in more challenging situations - the difference becomes more stark. The amount of times my relatives now come to me and are like, Can you come take a picture of this with your camera - I tried with my phone, but it doesn't do it justice... There's also the fact that it seems like cellphones (like many "trying to be foolproof" solutions) actively make it harder and harder to override the computer in there and learn skills or apply the skills. It's not impossible usually, but it is quite a bit more involved IME than spinning a dial on a camera off of Auto mode.
#6 - yes, digital projectors or large TVs hooked to a computer replaced these in the early aughts. But "Overhead projectors have largely been replaced by interactive whiteboards called smart boards, which are more space-efficient. Plus, the interactive features help to keep kids more engaged than projectors’ static images." I strongly question where and how the authors thought overhead projectors were usually used? I ALWAYS saw them to display slides or writing of some sort - not something teachers really knew how or would want to make "interactive" - it was always a lecture or presentation tool, not like a game or touchscreen predecessor.
#9 - from what I understand, we've now replaced the refrigerant at least twice - we keep finding other issues with the replacement, and the newer ones seem less efficient (space wise at least) But maybe Puron is actually as they say. I still always end up asking myself - where is the cut-over point where something could be repaired, but it's "better" for the environment to throw it away...
#10 - I wonder where this leaves propane? I get the answer is induction, but rather than banning lots of stuff, we really ought to start beefing up the electricity grid for all these bigger loads we want to switch over to vs gas etc. It's also again something that I think we ought to stop leaving people who are poorer to shoulder what would have potentially been a $700 range replacement to instead potentially be a $6,000 refit of the kitchen and potentially rest of the home / apartment electricity refit and replacing their pots/pans etc. I really wish we could do the comparison of tossing a bunch of metal and teflon and whatever into a landfill and the pollution to manufacturer and ship those new pans and such...
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