Rather than banning AI, I'm showing students how to use it effectively as a personalized TA. I'm giving them this AGENTS.md file:https://gist.github.com/1cg/a6c6f2276a1fe5ee172282580a44a7acAnd showing them how to use AI to summarize the slides into a quiz review sheet, generate example questions with answer walk throughs, etc.Of course I can't ensure they aren't just having AI do the projects, but I tell them that if they do that they are cheating themselves: the projects are designed to draw them into the art of programming and give them decent, real-world coding experience that they will need, even if they end up working at a higher level in the future.AI can be a very effective tool for education if used properly. I have used it to create a ton of extremely useful visualizations (e.g. how twos complement works) that I wouldn't have otherwise. https://gist.github.com/1cg/a6c6f2276a1fe5ee172282580a44a7acAnd showing them how to use AI to summarize the slides into a quiz review sheet, generate example questions with answer walk throughs, etc.Of course I can't ensure they aren't just having AI do the projects, but I tell them that if they do that they are cheating themselves: the projects are designed to draw them into the art of programming and give them decent, real-world coding experience that they will need, even if they end up working at a higher level in the future.AI can be a very effective tool for education if used properly. I have used it to create a ton of extremely useful visualizations (e.g. how twos complement works) that I wouldn't have otherwise. And showing them how to use AI to summarize the slides into a quiz review sheet, generate example questions with answer walk throughs, etc.Of course I can't ensure they aren't just having AI do the projects, but I tell them that if they do that they are cheating themselves: the projects are designed to draw them into the art of programming and give them decent, real-world coding experience that they will need, even if they end up working at a higher level in the future.AI can be a very effective tool for education if used properly. I have used it to create a ton of extremely useful visualizations (e.g. how twos complement works) that I wouldn't have otherwise. Of course I can't ensure they aren't just having AI do the projects, but I tell them that if they do that they are cheating themselves: the projects are designed to draw them into the art of programming and give them decent, real-world coding experience that they will need, even if they end up working at a higher level in the future.AI can be a very effective tool for education if used properly. I have used it to create a ton of extremely useful visualizations (e.g. how twos complement works) that I wouldn't have otherwise. AI can be a very effective tool for education if used properly. I have used it to create a ton of extremely useful visualizations (e.g. how twos complement works) that I wouldn't have otherwise. When push comes to shove and Multivariate Calculus exam prep needs to happen but you're stuck debugging frustrating pointer issues for your Data Structures project late into the night… well, I certainly would've caved far too much for my own good.IMO the natural fix is to expand your trusting, “this is for you” approach to the broader undergrad experience, but I can't imagine how frustrating it is to be trying to adapt while admin & senior professors refuse to reconsider the race for a “””prestigious””” place in a meta-rat race…For now, I guess I'd just recommend you try to think of ways to relax things and separate project completion from diligence/time management — in terms of vibes if not a 100% mark. Some unsolicited advice from a rando who thinks you're doing great already :) Some unsolicited advice from a rando who thinks you're doing great already :) For now, I guess I'd just recommend you try to think of ways to relax things and separate project completion from diligence/time management — in terms of vibes if not a 100% mark. Some unsolicited advice from a rando who thinks you're doing great already :) This is why I'm going to in-person written quizzes to differentiate between the students who know the material and those who are just using AI to get through it.I do seven quizzes during the semester so each one is on relatively recent material and they aren't weighted too heavily. I do some spaced-repetition questions of important topics and give students a study sheet of what to know for the quiz. I do seven quizzes during the semester so each one is on relatively recent material and they aren't weighted too heavily. I do some spaced-repetition questions of important topics and give students a study sheet of what to know for the quiz. Auditing classes never worked for me.> I do some spaced-repetition questions of important topics and give students a study sheet of what to know for the quiz.Isn't that what the lectures and homework are for? > I do some spaced-repetition questions of important topics and give students a study sheet of what to know for the quiz.Isn't that what the lectures and homework are for? Isn't that what the lectures and homework are for? Competing with LLM software users, 'honest' students would seem strongly incentivized to use LLMs themeselves. Even if you don't grade on a curve, honest students will get worse grades which will look worse to graduate schools, grant and scholarship committees, etc., in addition to the strong emotional component that everyone feels seeing an A or C. You could give deserving 'honest' work an A but then all LLM users will get A's with ease. It seems like you need two scales, and how do you know who to put on which scale?And how do students collaborate on group projects? Again, it seems you have two different tracks of education, and they can't really work together. Edit: How do class discussions play out with these two tracks?Also, manually doing things that machines do much better has value but also takes valuable time from learning more advanced skills that machines can't handle, and from learning how to use the machines as tools. I can see learning manual statistics calculations, to understand them fundamentally, but at a certain point it's much better to learn R and use a stats package. Again, it seems you have two different tracks of education, and they can't really work together. Edit: How do class discussions play out with these two tracks?Also, manually doing things that machines do much better has value but also takes valuable time from learning more advanced skills that machines can't handle, and from learning how to use the machines as tools. I can see learning manual statistics calculations, to understand them fundamentally, but at a certain point it's much better to learn R and use a stats package. Also, manually doing things that machines do much better has value but also takes valuable time from learning more advanced skills that machines can't handle, and from learning how to use the machines as tools. I can see learning manual statistics calculations, to understand them fundamentally, but at a certain point it's much better to learn R and use a stats package. Specifically I want high schoolers to be skilled in the use of AI, and particular critical thinking skills around the tools, while simultaneously having skills assuming no AI. I don't want the school to be blindly “anti AI” as I'm aware it will be a part of the economy our kids are brought into.There are some head in the sands, very emotional attitudes about this stuff. There are some head in the sands, very emotional attitudes about this stuff. That said I agree with all your points too: some version of this argument will apply to most white collar jobs now. I just think this is less clear to the general population and it's much more of a touchy emotional subject, in certain circles. Although I suppose there may be a point to be made about being more slightly cautious about introducing AI at the high school level, versus college. Naturally, that doesn't mean that no one will be using LLMs for coding, given the number of people who have reported their productivity increasing—but it means there won't be a guarantee that, for instance, VS Code will have a first-party integrated solution for it, and that's a must-have for many larger coding shops.None of that is certain, of course! That's the whole point: we don't know what's coming. Naturally, that doesn't mean that no one will be using LLMs for coding, given the number of people who have reported their productivity increasing—but it means there won't be a guarantee that, for instance, VS Code will have a first-party integrated solution for it, and that's a must-have for many larger coding shops.None of that is certain, of course! That's the whole point: we don't know what's coming. Naturally, that doesn't mean that no one will be using LLMs for coding, given the number of people who have reported their productivity increasing—but it means there won't be a guarantee that, for instance, VS Code will have a first-party integrated solution for it, and that's a must-have for many larger coding shops.None of that is certain, of course! That's the whole point: we don't know what's coming. That's the whole point: we don't know what's coming. The genie is out of the bottle, never going backIt's a fantasy to think it will "dry up" and go awaySome other guarantees over the next few years we can make based on history: AI will get batter, faster, and more efficient like everything else in CS It's a fantasy to think it will "dry up" and go awaySome other guarantees over the next few years we can make based on history: AI will get batter, faster, and more efficient like everything else in CS Some other guarantees over the next few years we can make based on history: AI will get batter, faster, and more efficient like everything else in CS Plenty of tech becomes exploitative (or more exploitative).I don't know if you noticed but 80% of LLM improvements are actually procedural now: it's the software around them improving, not the core LLMs.Plus LLMs have huge potential for being exploitative. I don't know if you noticed but 80% of LLM improvements are actually procedural now: it's the software around them improving, not the core LLMs.Plus LLMs have huge potential for being exploitative. I think that Microsoft will not be willing to operate Copilot for free in perpetuity.I think that there has not yet been any meaningful large-scale study showing that it improves performance overall, and there have been some studies showing that it does the opposite, despite individuals' feeling that it helps them.I think that a lot of the hype around AI is that it is going to get better, and if it becomes prohibitively expensive for it to do that (ie, training), and there's no proof that it's helping, and keeping the subscriptions going is a constant money drain, and there's no more drumbeat of "everything must become AI immediately and forever", more and more institutions are going to start dropping it.I think that if the only programmers who are using LLMs to aid their coding are hobbyists, independent contractors, or in small shops where they get to fully dictate their own setups, that's a small enough segment of the programming market that we can say it won't help students to learn that way, because they won't be allowed to code that way in a "real job". I think that there has not yet been any meaningful large-scale study showing that it improves performance overall, and there have been some studies showing that it does the opposite, despite individuals' feeling that it helps them.I think that a lot of the hype around AI is that it is going to get better, and if it becomes prohibitively expensive for it to do that (ie, training), and there's no proof that it's helping, and keeping the subscriptions going is a constant money drain, and there's no more drumbeat of "everything must become AI immediately and forever", more and more institutions are going to start dropping it.I think that if the only programmers who are using LLMs to aid their coding are hobbyists, independent contractors, or in small shops where they get to fully dictate their own setups, that's a small enough segment of the programming market that we can say it won't help students to learn that way, because they won't be allowed to code that way in a "real job". I think that a lot of the hype around AI is that it is going to get better, and if it becomes prohibitively expensive for it to do that (ie, training), and there's no proof that it's helping, and keeping the subscriptions going is a constant money drain, and there's no more drumbeat of "everything must become AI immediately and forever", more and more institutions are going to start dropping it.I think that if the only programmers who are using LLMs to aid their coding are hobbyists, independent contractors, or in small shops where they get to fully dictate their own setups, that's a small enough segment of the programming market that we can say it won't help students to learn that way, because they won't be allowed to code that way in a "real job". I think that if the only programmers who are using LLMs to aid their coding are hobbyists, independent contractors, or in small shops where they get to fully dictate their own setups, that's a small enough segment of the programming market that we can say it won't help students to learn that way, because they won't be allowed to code that way in a "real job". 1) AI companies make money on the tokens they sell through their APIs. The unit economics are very good here; estimates are that Anthropic and OpenAI have a gross margin of 40% on selling tokens.2) Claude Code subscriptions are probably subsidized somewhat on a per token basis, for strategic reasons (Anthropic wants to capture the market). If they lowered the cap, most people with subscriptions would still not max out and they could start making money, but they'd probably upset a lot of the loudest ultra-heavy-usage influencer-types.3) The biggest cost AI companies have is training new models. That is the reason AI companies are not net profitable. 2) Claude Code subscriptions are probably subsidized somewhat on a per token basis, for strategic reasons (Anthropic wants to capture the market). If they lowered the cap, most people with subscriptions would still not max out and they could start making money, but they'd probably upset a lot of the loudest ultra-heavy-usage influencer-types.3) The biggest cost AI companies have is training new models. That is the reason AI companies are not net profitable. 3) The biggest cost AI companies have is training new models. That is the reason AI companies are not net profitable. Our university is slowly stumbling towards "AI Literacy" being a skill we teach, but, frankly, most faculty here don't have the expertise and students often understand the tools better than teachers.I think there will be a painful adjustment period, I am trying to make it as painless as possible for my students (and sharing my approach and experience with my department) but I am just a lowly instructor. I think there will be a painful adjustment period, I am trying to make it as painless as possible for my students (and sharing my approach and experience with my department) but I am just a lowly instructor. They need to learn how agents work at a high level, the limitations on context, that they hallucinate and become sycophantic. How they need guardrails and strict feedback mechanisms if let loose. AI Safety connecting to external systems etc etc.You're right that few high school educators would have any sense of all that. I do know people who would get egregiously wrong answers from misusing a calculator and insisted it couldn't be wrong. Not to mention programming is a meta skill on top of “calculators” This is my exact experience as well and I find it frustrating.If current technology is creating an issue for teachers - it's the teachers that need to pivot, not block current technology so they can continue what they are comfortable with.Society typically cares about work getting done and not much about how it got done - for some reason, teachers are so deep into the weeds of the "how", that they seem to forget that if the way to mend roads since 1926 have been to learn how to measure out, mix and lay asphalt patches by hand, in 2026 when there are robots that do that perfectly every-time, they should be teaching humans to complement those robots or do something else entirely.It's possible in the past, that learning how to use an abacus was a critical lesson but once calculators were invented, do we continue with two semesters of abacus? Will it be a net positive on society to replace the abacus course with something else? I am personally betting that humans in the future, outside extreme niches, are generalists and are augmented by specialist agents. If current technology is creating an issue for teachers - it's the teachers that need to pivot, not block current technology so they can continue what they are comfortable with.Society typically cares about work getting done and not much about how it got done - for some reason, teachers are so deep into the weeds of the "how", that they seem to forget that if the way to mend roads since 1926 have been to learn how to measure out, mix and lay asphalt patches by hand, in 2026 when there are robots that do that perfectly every-time, they should be teaching humans to complement those robots or do something else entirely.It's possible in the past, that learning how to use an abacus was a critical lesson but once calculators were invented, do we continue with two semesters of abacus? Will it be a net positive on society to replace the abacus course with something else? I am personally betting that humans in the future, outside extreme niches, are generalists and are augmented by specialist agents. Society typically cares about work getting done and not much about how it got done - for some reason, teachers are so deep into the weeds of the "how", that they seem to forget that if the way to mend roads since 1926 have been to learn how to measure out, mix and lay asphalt patches by hand, in 2026 when there are robots that do that perfectly every-time, they should be teaching humans to complement those robots or do something else entirely.It's possible in the past, that learning how to use an abacus was a critical lesson but once calculators were invented, do we continue with two semesters of abacus? Will it be a net positive on society to replace the abacus course with something else? I am personally betting that humans in the future, outside extreme niches, are generalists and are augmented by specialist agents. It's possible in the past, that learning how to use an abacus was a critical lesson but once calculators were invented, do we continue with two semesters of abacus? Will it be a net positive on society to replace the abacus course with something else? I am personally betting that humans in the future, outside extreme niches, are generalists and are augmented by specialist agents. I had a discussion with a recruiter on Friday, and I said I guess the issue with AI vs human is, if you give a human developer who is new to your company tasks, the first few times you'll check their work carefully to make sure the quality is good. With AI, you can never be sure at any time. You can discuss with an AI as much as you want, but to me, not checking the output would be an insane move...To return to the point, yeah, people will use AI anyway, so why not teach them about the risks. Also LLMs feel like Concorde: it'll get you to where you want to go very quickly, but at tremendous environmental cost (also it's very costly to the wallet, although the companies are now partially subsidizing your use with the hopes of getting you addicted).. Also LLMs feel like Concorde: it'll get you to where you want to go very quickly, but at tremendous environmental cost (also it's very costly to the wallet, although the companies are now partially subsidizing your use with the hopes of getting you addicted).. I'm concerned about handwriting, which is a lost skill, and how hard that will be on the TAs who are grading the exams. I have stressed to students that they should write larger, slower and more carefully than normal. I have also given them examples of good answers: terse and to the point, using bulleted lists effectively, what good pseudo-code looks like, etc.It is an experiment in progress: I have rediscovered the joys of printing & the logistics moving large amounts of paper again. It is an experiment in progress: I have rediscovered the joys of printing & the logistics moving large amounts of paper again. I suppose this is why we are paid the big bucks. We had this weird class that taught something like security programming in unix. Anyway, all I remember is the first two questions being about security/firewall stuff, and the third question was "what is a socket". So I really liked the first two questions, and over-answered for about a page each. So my answer to the 3rd question was "a file descriptor". I don't know if they laughed at my terseness or just figured since I overanswered on the previous questions I knew what that was, but whoever graded my paper gave me full points. So how do you handle kids who can‘t write well? The same way we‘ve been handling them all along — have them get an assessment and determine exactly where they need support and what kind of support will be most helpful to that particular kid. People who assume that AI can just be thrown at disability support betray how little they actually know about disability support. It's embarrassing to see this question downvoted on here. There's not such thing as "disabled people who can't write well", there's individuals with specific problems and needs.Maybe there's jessica who lost her right hand and is learning to write with the left who gets extra time. Maybe there's joe who has some form of nerve issue and uses a specialized pen that helps cancel out tremors. Maybe there's jessica who lost her right hand and is learning to write with the left who gets extra time. Maybe there's joe who has some form of nerve issue and uses a specialized pen that helps cancel out tremors. Reasonable accommodations absolutely should be made for children that need them.But also just because you're a bad parent and think the rules don't apply to you doesn't mean your crappy kid gets to cheat.Parents are the absolute worst snowflakes. But also just because you're a bad parent and think the rules don't apply to you doesn't mean your crappy kid gets to cheat.Parents are the absolute worst snowflakes. I'm doing a part-time graduate degree at a major university right now, and it's fascinating to watch the week-to-week pressure AI is putting on the education establishment. When your job as a student is to read case studies and think about them, but Google Drive says "here's an automatic summary of the key points" before you even open the file, it takes a very determined student to ignore that and actually read the material. And if no one reads the original material, the class discussion is a complete waste of time, with everyone bringing up the same trite points, and the whole exercise becomes a facade.Schools are struggling to figure out how to let students use AI tools to be more productive while still learning how to think. And until you get to the end-of-PhD level, there's basically nothing you encounter in your learning journey that ChatGPT can't perfectly summarize and analyze in 1 second, removing the requirement for you to do anything.This isn't even about AI being "good" or "bad". But now these AI thinking-calculators are injecting themselves into every text box and screen, making them impossible to avoid. And until you get to the end-of-PhD level, there's basically nothing you encounter in your learning journey that ChatGPT can't perfectly summarize and analyze in 1 second, removing the requirement for you to do anything.This isn't even about AI being "good" or "bad". But now these AI thinking-calculators are injecting themselves into every text box and screen, making them impossible to avoid. This isn't even about AI being "good" or "bad". But now these AI thinking-calculators are injecting themselves into every text box and screen, making them impossible to avoid. In my first year of college my calculus teacher said something that stuck with me "you learn calculus getting cramps on your wrists", yeah, AI can help remember things and accelerate learning, but if you don't put the work to understand things you'll always be behind people that know at least with a bird eye view what's happening. You might end up going quite far without even opening up the hood of a car even when you drive the car everyday and depend on it for your livelihood.If you're the kind that likes to argue for a good laugh, you might say "well, I don't need to know how my car works as long as the engineer who designed it does or the mechanic who fixes it does" - and this is accurate but it's also accurate not everyone ended up being either the engineer or the mechanic. It's also untrue that if it turned out it would be extremely valuable to you to actually learn how the car worked, you wouldn't put in the effort to do so and be very successful at it.All this talk about "you should learn something deeply so you can bank on it when you will need it" seems to be a bit of a hoarding disorder.Given the right materials, support and direction, most smart and motivated people can learn how to get competent at something that they had no clue about in the past.When it comes to smart and motivated people, the best drop out of education because they find it unproductive and pedantic. If you're the kind that likes to argue for a good laugh, you might say "well, I don't need to know how my car works as long as the engineer who designed it does or the mechanic who fixes it does" - and this is accurate but it's also accurate not everyone ended up being either the engineer or the mechanic. It's also untrue that if it turned out it would be extremely valuable to you to actually learn how the car worked, you wouldn't put in the effort to do so and be very successful at it.All this talk about "you should learn something deeply so you can bank on it when you will need it" seems to be a bit of a hoarding disorder.Given the right materials, support and direction, most smart and motivated people can learn how to get competent at something that they had no clue about in the past.When it comes to smart and motivated people, the best drop out of education because they find it unproductive and pedantic. All this talk about "you should learn something deeply so you can bank on it when you will need it" seems to be a bit of a hoarding disorder.Given the right materials, support and direction, most smart and motivated people can learn how to get competent at something that they had no clue about in the past.When it comes to smart and motivated people, the best drop out of education because they find it unproductive and pedantic. Given the right materials, support and direction, most smart and motivated people can learn how to get competent at something that they had no clue about in the past.When it comes to smart and motivated people, the best drop out of education because they find it unproductive and pedantic. When it comes to smart and motivated people, the best drop out of education because they find it unproductive and pedantic. My argument is that when you have at least a basic knowledge of how things work (be it as a musician, a mechanical engineer or a scientist) you are in a much better place to know what you want/need.That said, smart and motivated people thrive if they are given the conditions to thrive, and I believe that physical interfaces have way less friction than digital interfaces, turning a knob is way less work than clicking a bunch of menus to set up a slider.If I were to summarize what I think about AI it would be something like "Let it help you. Do not let it think for you"My issue is not with people using AI as a tool, bit with people delegating anything that would demand any kind of effort to AI That said, smart and motivated people thrive if they are given the conditions to thrive, and I believe that physical interfaces have way less friction than digital interfaces, turning a knob is way less work than clicking a bunch of menus to set up a slider.If I were to summarize what I think about AI it would be something like "Let it help you. Do not let it think for you"My issue is not with people using AI as a tool, bit with people delegating anything that would demand any kind of effort to AI Do not let it think for you"My issue is not with people using AI as a tool, bit with people delegating anything that would demand any kind of effort to AI My issue is not with people using AI as a tool, bit with people delegating anything that would demand any kind of effort to AI If the sole purpose of college is to rank students, and funnel them to high prestige jobs that have no use for what they actually learn in college then what the students are doing is rational.If however the student is actually there to learn, he knows that using ChatGPT accomplishes nothing. Which begs the question why are they even going to college? Surely there is a cheaper and more time efficient way to ranking students for companies. If however the student is actually there to learn, he knows that using ChatGPT accomplishes nothing. Which begs the question why are they even going to college? Surely there is a cheaper and more time efficient way to ranking students for companies. College for the "consumer" student isn't worth much in comparison. But I would have been pretty angry to have been educated in topics that did not turn out to be useful in industry. Schools have been able to say "We will test your memory on 3 specific Shakespeares, samples from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, etc" - the students who were able to perform on these with some creative dance, violin, piano or cello thrown in had very good chances at a scholarship from an elite college.This has been working extremely well except now you have AI agents that can do the same at a fraction of the cost.There will be a lot of arguments, handwringing and excuse making as students go through the flywheel already in motion with the current approach.However, my bet is it's going to be apparent that this approach no longer works for a large population. It never really did but there were inefficiencies in the market that kept this game going for a while. Second, globalization has made it pretty hard for someone paying tuition in the U.S. to compete against someone getting a similar education in Asia when they get paid the same salary. This has been working extremely well except now you have AI agents that can do the same at a fraction of the cost.There will be a lot of arguments, handwringing and excuse making as students go through the flywheel already in motion with the current approach.However, my bet is it's going to be apparent that this approach no longer works for a large population. It never really did but there were inefficiencies in the market that kept this game going for a while. Second, globalization has made it pretty hard for someone paying tuition in the U.S. to compete against someone getting a similar education in Asia when they get paid the same salary. There will be a lot of arguments, handwringing and excuse making as students go through the flywheel already in motion with the current approach.However, my bet is it's going to be apparent that this approach no longer works for a large population. It never really did but there were inefficiencies in the market that kept this game going for a while. Second, globalization has made it pretty hard for someone paying tuition in the U.S. to compete against someone getting a similar education in Asia when they get paid the same salary. However, my bet is it's going to be apparent that this approach no longer works for a large population. It never really did but there were inefficiencies in the market that kept this game going for a while. Second, globalization has made it pretty hard for someone paying tuition in the U.S. to compete against someone getting a similar education in Asia when they get paid the same salary. It adds slightly more friction, but you can still ask the robot to summarize pretty much anything that would appear on the syllabus. This doesn't strike me as being anti-AI or "resistance" at all. Hell, in Italy we used to have an editor called Bignami make summaries of every school topic.https://www.bignami.com/In any case, I don't know what to think about all of this.School is for learning, if you skip the hard part you not gonna learn, your lost. https://www.bignami.com/In any case, I don't know what to think about all of this.School is for learning, if you skip the hard part you not gonna learn, your lost. In any case, I don't know what to think about all of this.School is for learning, if you skip the hard part you not gonna learn, your lost. At this point auto AI summaries are so prevalent that it is the passive default. But we're talking about the activation energy of students (in an undergrad English class, likely teenagers). "TYCO Print is a printing service where professors can upload course files for TYCO to print out for students as they order. Shorter packets can cost around $20, while longer packets can cost upwards of $150 when ordered with the cheapest binding option. "And later in OA it states that the cost to a student is $0.12 per double sided sheet of printing.In all of my teaching career here in the UK, the provision of handouts has been a central cost. Latterly I'd send a pdf file with instructions and the resulting 200+ packs of 180 sides would be delivered on a trolley printed, stapled with covers. And later in OA it states that the cost to a student is $0.12 per double sided sheet of printing.In all of my teaching career here in the UK, the provision of handouts has been a central cost. Latterly I'd send a pdf file with instructions and the resulting 200+ packs of 180 sides would be delivered on a trolley printed, stapled with covers. In all of my teaching career here in the UK, the provision of handouts has been a central cost. Latterly I'd send a pdf file with instructions and the resulting 200+ packs of 180 sides would be delivered on a trolley printed, stapled with covers. Public universities are always underfunded.Universities can get more money by putting the cost on the students and then they cover it with gov grants and loans. Universities can get more money by putting the cost on the students and then they cover it with gov grants and loans. > They don't care about students or education, they care about wasting resources and making a lot of money in the process. This obv isn't a push by parents because I can't imagine parents I know want their kids in front of a screen all day. My only guess is the teachers unions that don't want teachers grading and creating lesson plans and all the other work they used to do.And since this trend kid scores or performance has not gotten better, so what gives?Can anyone comment if it's as bad as this and what's behind it. And since this trend kid scores or performance has not gotten better, so what gives?Can anyone comment if it's as bad as this and what's behind it. The younger one doesn't have any school-supplied device yet.Both kids have math exercises, language worksheets, short writing exercises, etc., all done on paper. I wish they'd spend a little more time teaching computer basics (I did a lot of touch typing exercises in the 90's; my older one doesn't seem to have those kind of lessons). But in general, there's not too much homework, there's good emphasis on reading, and I appreciate that the older one is learning how to plan, research, and create projects using the tool he'll use to do so in future schooling. I wish they'd spend a little more time teaching computer basics (I did a lot of touch typing exercises in the 90's; my older one doesn't seem to have those kind of lessons). But in general, there's not too much homework, there's good emphasis on reading, and I appreciate that the older one is learning how to plan, research, and create projects using the tool he'll use to do so in future schooling. I wish they'd spend a little more time teaching computer basics (I did a lot of touch typing exercises in the 90's; my older one doesn't seem to have those kind of lessons). But in general, there's not too much homework, there's good emphasis on reading, and I appreciate that the older one is learning how to plan, research, and create projects using the tool he'll use to do so in future schooling. * The kids researching things online and word-processing their homework were doing well in class (because only upper-middle-class types could afford home PCs)* Some trials of digital learning produced good results. * The kids researching things online and word-processing their homework were doing well in class (because only upper-middle-class types could afford home PCs)* Some trials of digital learning produced good results. Writing with a word processor that just helps you type, format, and check spelling is great. In some cases it has effectively become a way to tech you to get away with cheating (a lesson this even has some real-world utility).Keeping students from wasting their tuition is an age-old, Sisyphean task for parents. Keeping students from wasting their tuition is an age-old, Sisyphean task for parents. You see a policy, and your clever brains come up with a way to get around it, "proving" that the new methodology is not perfect and therefore not valuable.So wrong. Come on people, think about it -- to an extent ALL WE DO is "friction." Any shift towards difficulty can be gained, but also nearly all of the time it provides a valuable differentiator in terms of motivation, etc. Come on people, think about it -- to an extent ALL WE DO is "friction." Any shift towards difficulty can be gained, but also nearly all of the time it provides a valuable differentiator in terms of motivation, etc. Amazon has done some good work on the UX for this, but nothing is as simple as flipping through a physical book.Android e-readers are better insofar as open to third-party software, but still have the same hardware shortcomings.My compromise has been to settle on medium-sized (~Kindle or iPad Mini size) tablets and treat them just as an e-reader. (Similar to the “kale phone” concept ie minimal software installed on it … no distractions.) They are much more responsive, hence fairly easy to navigate and type on. Second, navigation is also painful compared to a physical book. Amazon has done some good work on the UX for this, but nothing is as simple as flipping through a physical book.Android e-readers are better insofar as open to third-party software, but still have the same hardware shortcomings.My compromise has been to settle on medium-sized (~Kindle or iPad Mini size) tablets and treat them just as an e-reader. (Similar to the “kale phone” concept ie minimal software installed on it … no distractions.) They are much more responsive, hence fairly easy to navigate and type on. Android e-readers are better insofar as open to third-party software, but still have the same hardware shortcomings.My compromise has been to settle on medium-sized (~Kindle or iPad Mini size) tablets and treat them just as an e-reader. (Similar to the “kale phone” concept ie minimal software installed on it … no distractions.) They are much more responsive, hence fairly easy to navigate and type on. My compromise has been to settle on medium-sized (~Kindle or iPad Mini size) tablets and treat them just as an e-reader. (Similar to the “kale phone” concept ie minimal software installed on it … no distractions.) They are much more responsive, hence fairly easy to navigate and type on. I learned many topics without the use of a teacher. I learned many topics without the use of a teacher. Today, it's just bizarre to be spending $150 on a phonebook-sized packet of reading materials. Working with computers is what open-plan offices are for." What could it mean for an "option" to be "required"? This isn't my article nor do I know this Educator but I like her approach and actions taken:https://www.npr.org/2026/01/28/nx-s1-5631779/ai-schools-teac... Instead of putting up all sorts of barriers between students and ChatGPT, have students explicitly use ChatGPT to complete the homework2. If the ChatGPT output is extremely similar, then the game is to critique that ChatGPT output, find out gaps in ChatGPT's work, insights it missed and what it could have done better4.If the ChatGPT output is diverse, how do we figure out which is better? Are all the outputs accurate or are there errors in some?Similarly, when it comes to coding, instead of worrying that ChatGPT can zero shot quicksort and memcpy perfectly, why not game it:1. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority If the ChatGPT output is extremely similar, then the game is to critique that ChatGPT output, find out gaps in ChatGPT's work, insights it missed and what it could have done better4.If the ChatGPT output is diverse, how do we figure out which is better? Are all the outputs accurate or are there errors in some?Similarly, when it comes to coding, instead of worrying that ChatGPT can zero shot quicksort and memcpy perfectly, why not game it:1. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority If the ChatGPT output is extremely similar, then the game is to critique that ChatGPT output, find out gaps in ChatGPT's work, insights it missed and what it could have done better4.If the ChatGPT output is diverse, how do we figure out which is better? Are all the outputs accurate or are there errors in some?Similarly, when it comes to coding, instead of worrying that ChatGPT can zero shot quicksort and memcpy perfectly, why not game it:1. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority Are all the outputs accurate or are there errors in some?Similarly, when it comes to coding, instead of worrying that ChatGPT can zero shot quicksort and memcpy perfectly, why not game it:1. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority Similarly, when it comes to coding, instead of worrying that ChatGPT can zero shot quicksort and memcpy perfectly, why not game it:1. Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority Could we design the input data such that quicksort hits its worst case runtime?3. Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority Could there be architectures where the assumptions that make quicksort "quick", fail to hold true? Instead, something simpler and worse on paper like a "cache aware sort" actually work faster in practice than quicksort?I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority I have multiple paragraphs more of thought on this topic but will leave it at this for now to calibrate if my thoughts are in the minority If so, only the very rich could afford this. I think educations should go back to printed books and submitting you work to the Prof. on paper.But submitting printed pages back to the Prof. for homework will avoid the school saying "Submit only Word Documents". That way a student can use the method they prefer, avoiding buying expensive software. One can then use just a simple free text editor if they want. Does a student need to print out multiple TYCO Packets ? If so, only the very rich could afford this. I think educations should go back to printed books and submitting you work to the Prof. on paper.But submitting printed pages back to the Prof. for homework will avoid the school saying "Submit only Word Documents". That way a student can use the method they prefer, avoiding buying expensive software. One can then use just a simple free text editor if they want. That way a student can use the method they prefer, avoiding buying expensive software. One can then use just a simple free text editor if they want. > TYCO Print is a printing service where professors can upload course files for TYCO to print out for students as they order.

A recent Russian satellite impact fragmentation event rekindles concerns about Kessler Syndrome. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. “Launching a constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers is a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization — one that can harness the Sun's full power — while supporting AI-driven application for billions of people today and ensuring humanity's multi-planetary future amongst the stars,” the company wrote in its filing. A Type I civilization uses all available energy on its own planet, which barely puts humanity and its current technology just below this level. On the other hand, a Type II civilization directly harvests energy from its nearby star, while Type III captures all the energy produced inside its galaxy. While Elon Musk's plans to launch a million satellites into orbit come into view, a former Russian geostationary satellite has reportedly broken up in space. According to Space.com, the Luch/Olympic satellite, which the Russians use to observe other satellites in orbit, has recently been decommissioned and brought up to a graveyard orbit above its former geostationary altitude of more than 35,000 km or nearly 22,000 miles. A short time lapse of the fragmentation event on LUCH (OLYMP) #40258 that took place today, 2026-01-30 from 06:09:03.486 UTC. However, ground observers noticed the unit has fragmented, likely due to an external impact (see time-lapse video, embedded above). This incident produced more debris that is now orbiting the earth, which could collide with other satellites, further exacerbating the space junk problem. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Many experts are concerned about an event wherein multiple space collisions would produce so much debris that it would make it impossible to launch satellites or even keep them operating in orbit. SpaceX's current fleet of 9,000 satellites already has experts concerned, especially as its competitors are also considering launching their own constellations. Moreover, under such a cascade of space debris, humanity could effectively become trapped on Earth for generations, dashing the billionaire's dream of landing astronauts on Mars. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. A computing enthusiast has assembled one of the most bizarre USB drives we have ever seen. Moreover, data saved to this drive is non-volatile (good), but bits are erased during the read process (bad). Despite the drawbacks and impractical nature of this device, created by space science researcher @dyd_Nao on X (machine translation), we applaud the effort. The Japanese tech enthusiast has mixed this curiously old memory tech with modern ICs and interfaces to come up with this bizarre USB flash drive. Built around the central non-volatile core are modern components like driver chips, sense amplifiers, LEDs, and the USB functionality is provided by a Raspberry Pi Pico. Of course, this project was more ‘can I?' rather than ‘should I,' as 128 bytes of kinda-NV-RAM on a very large USB drive is of no practical purpose that we can fathom. Actually, 128 bytes isn't even enough to store the full text from an old-school Twitter Tweet. One of the original post commenters notes that Magnetic Core Memory has good resistance to radiation. You can read more about it at places like Wikipedia, but, in brief, it stored data on tiny ferric rings wrapped in wire. On the plus side, it was non-volatile RAM technology. Intel actually pioneered semiconductor DRAM with its 1103 DRAM ICs in late 1970, commercially debuting cheaper, faster, and denser computer memory tech. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York,

PicoIDE is a convenient alternative to worn out old drives and media priced from $69. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. PicoIDE launched earlier this week, touted as “an open source IDE/ATAPI drive emulator for vintage computers.” This single 3.5-inch bay fitting device can replace those aging optical drives (and media) and HDDs, that your retro-PC relies on, with the convenience and capacity that modern microSD cards provide. It uses an appropriate retro-design aesthetic (in beige or black). You can back this project for as little as $69 for the base model, will free shipping in the U.S. and an expected June 14 dispatch date. At the same time like-for-like hardware replacements are getting scarcer, so a modern retro-embracing, transparent, open-source alternative becomes a compelling project. A killer convenience feature of the PicoIDE is its ability to hold multiple drive images, say with different DOS, Windows, OS/2 and other installations, and on-the-fly switch to load your chosen image at next-boot – all from a single micoSD card. Moreover, PicoIDE emulates a multitude of drive geometries. With all design and source files promised to be available via GitHub before the device begins shipping. In the intro, we mentioned that you can back this project for as little as $69 for the base model, with free shipping in the U.S., and an expected June 14 dispatch date. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York,

All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Gizmodo may earn an affiliate commission. Sure, it makes its share of typical smart home devices, like sensors or robot vacuums. The $140 Lock Ultra works just like other retrofit smart locks if you're using it with a typical deadbolt. You swap it for the indoor thumb turn portion, and Bob is, as they say, your uncle. My detached garage's pedestrian door is outfitted with a jimmy-proof lock—that's the kind with interlocking loops on the door and its frame that are secured by thick bolts which slide vertically through them when they're lined up. I've wanted to smarten it up for years, and SwitchBot's fix is effectively my only option that doesn't involve major door surgery. (As far as I know, my only other option is a questionable adapter for the August Smart Lock Pro I once had on my back door.) A versatile retrofit smart lock with good ideas about modularity but that isn't the best choice for a high-traffic door. I like the Lock Ultra, either as a fix for my weird garage lock or a regular deadbolt thumb turn replacement. Having the smarts only on one side of your door has drawbacks, sure; like that you'll still have to use a physical key or otherwise be patient with fiddly smartphone-based unlocking. But if your needs are simple and you just aren't interested in a full smart lock, you could do far worse. No residential door lock is impregnable, but it's nice to have options, and the Lock Ultra's included adapters let you use it with just about any existing deadbolt, likely including the one already on your door. That means the keys you've already given out to your family and friends still work, and you don't have to advertise to the neighborhood that you're the hoity-toity type who can afford a fancy techno-lock. Maybe a bit nicer than the garage door I tested it on deserves, in fact. It uses a rechargeable battery pack that's easily popped out after sliding the front cover up. SwitchBot says it takes about six hours to charge from fully drained, and that a charge lasts about a year, assuming 10 locks/unlocks per day. For a normal deadbolt, the Lock Ultra requires some disassembly, but is fairly straightforward and involves a mounting plate and whichever of its three adapters fits your specific deadbolt's spindle. I'd worry about that adhesive holding firm in a hot summer, but the lock stayed put over the week-plus of upper Midwest winter I tested it in. From the outside, my garage door worked just as it did before, only now I could tap a button in the SwitchBot app to unlock it. Doing so could take anywhere from one to 10 seconds, depending on whether I was already connected to the lock via Bluetooth. But at least that was reliable; when I tried to use it with Apple Home—using Matter, which is available if you have a SwitchBot Hub 3 or Hub Mini—it was very slow and often failed to work at all, whether I was asking Siri to do it or tapping a button in the Apple Home app. All of that is to say that it makes more sense to see controlling the Lock Ultra with your phone as a backup option when you don't have your physical key with you. The SwitchBot app offers a few nice-to-have configurable settings. For instance, you can set up GPS-based auto-unlocking or have the Lock Ultra make noises when left unlocked for too long. You can also set it to lock itself after a set time, with options like doing so only when it detects the door is closed. I love being able to turn that stuff off. Every device that has lights and makes noises should let you do this. SwitchBot could be a bit more thorough about feature descriptions. Explanations and further options for certain toggles didn't appear until I turned them on, so I had no idea that “Quick Key” would let me tap the Lock Ultra's knob with my elbow to unlock it if my hands were full, or that “Night Mode” let me set up night-specific behaviors. Those are good features, and not every lock has them, but if I wasn't curious I might not realize they were there at all. Annoyingly, you can't actually fiddle with any of the Lock Ultra's features without being connected to it. I suppose that makes sense—this being a Bluetooth lock, if your phone never connects to sync any changes, then those changes won't take. You can add fancier smart lock features to the Lock Ultra by picking up one of SwitchBot's modular keypad devices, including the $100 SwitchBot Keypad Vision that the company also sent me to test. Barring some good firmware updates to fix things, you may find yourself mostly tapping in a passcode to unlock the door. And facial recognition was fiddly as heck, at least for me, a bearded person. Even after successfully registering, the keypad would ask me to step closer or farther away almost every time I approached the door to unlock it. If there was a sweet spot to stand in, I couldn't find it. There's also a goofy HomeKey-like feature that lets you unlock the Lock Ultra by holding your phone up to it. But it's not HomeKey; it uses the Apple Wallet transit card Express Mode feature, which lets you hold your phone up to a subway or bus NFC reader without otherwise interacting with your phone. A clever and amusing workaround, but one that only works with certain Japanese transit cards after you load them up with at least 1,000 yen worth of credit (about $6.30 USD as of this writing). I briefly tried this, but after my credit card was rejected a few times, I decided it wasn't worth the extra troubleshooting effort. Maybe SwitchBot can fix the non-passcode authentication issues eventually, but for now, I wouldn't shell out extra money for facial recognition when the $40 cheaper Keypad Touch, which lacks that feature but does have a fingerprint sensor, is also available. (SwitchBot also sells a $50 keypad option if you want to save another 10 bucks.) Out of curiosity, I let both keep going even beyond that, down to -12 degrees Fahrenheit. They stayed functional, although the Keypad Vision's facial recognition stopped working altogether at that point. Still, neither of these devices is guaranteed for temperatures that low without permanent damage, so bear that in mind if you live in an especially frigid climate. With SwitchBot's $20 Lock Ultra Adapter kit, it's also effectively the only out-of-the-box solution for smartening up jimmy-proof or mortise locks. Plus, it keeps the outside part of your door looking clean. As it stands, I wouldn't put the Lock Ultra on my front door, but it made for a very welcome addition to my garage. If new gadgets are your thing, then there's arguably not a more fruitful month than January. It's got an incredibly bright OLED screen with performance that will keep you from using it for much else than work.

This Fiber Integrated Circuit (FIC) design was inspired by sushi rolls. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. The team from Fudan University in Shanghai says that their Fiber Integrated Circuit (FIC) design can process information like a computer, yet is durable enough to be “stretched, twisted, and woven into everyday clothing.” Use cases touted by the authors of the paper include advancements in the fields of brain-computer interfaces, VR devices, and smart textiles. Flexible electronics have come a long way in recent years, with malleable components for power, sensing, and display readily available. However, so-called flexible electronic devices and the wearables made from them still usually contain components fabricated from rigid silicon wafers, limiting their applications and comfort. The Fudan team says that their FIC can remove the last vestiges of electronic rigidity “by creating a fiber integrated circuit (FIC) with unprecedented microdevice density and multimodal processing capacity.” Like a sushi roll, the Fudan researchers build their complex electronic circuits in thin layers on flexible substrates, then roll them up tightly. That's enough for in-fiber digital and analog signal processing capabilities on a par with “typical commercial arithmetic chips,” and is good enough for “high-recognition-accuracy neural computing,” reckon the Fudan team. Enthusiastic claims by the university blog assert that a 1-meter fiber “could hold millions of transistors, reaching the power levels of a standard desktop computer processor.” But, we had to go back as far as the Intel Pentium III or AMD K6-2 to find PC CPUs with so few transistors. Both those legendary CPUs launched in the late 1990s, and they feature a smidgen under 10 million transistors each. In the paper published by Nature, they claim that the FIC they produced could withstand harsh conditions “such as repeated bending and abrasion for 10,000 cycles, stretching to 30%, twisting at an angle of 180° cm−1, and even crushing by a container truck weighing 15.6 tons.” The research figures include an image of a truck parked on one of the FIC test fibers... Cannily, the Chinese say that they have already found a viable method for mass-producing these FICs. They also assert that FICs will be useful in VR gloves, which look and feel “indistinguishable from ordinary fabric.” Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.

These parts have the least number of failures in Puget System's builds. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Beyond these chip families, one SKU stood out: the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, with a 0.77% failure rate. Asus ProArt and TUF GPUs took the reliability crown last year, but because the company did not sell enough cards from a specific product line this year, Puget Systems chose the most dependable GPU manufacturer instead. Nvidia Founders Edition GPUs are at the top of the list, with a 0.25% failure rate, while Asus and PNY followed closely behind with 0.40% and 0.45%, respectively. Motherboards typically have higher failure rates than CPUs and GPUs, around 5% to 6%, as Puget Systems notes, because they have complex systems with multiple failure points. Nevertheless, two motherboards stood out: Gigabyte B860M Aorus Elite WiFi 6E Ice, which had zero failures (though the sample size was just 100 units), and Asus Tuf B850M-Plus WiFi, which had only a single failure over the year. As for memory and storage, Kingston received the overall reliability award, with its ValueRAM DDR5-5600 32GB reporting a 0.9% failure rate, while its KC3000 SSD failed just 0.22% of the time. Nevertheless, Samsung also received a mention for one SKU—the Samsung 870 QVO 8TB SATA SSD—which reported no failures in 2025 and a 0.19% overall failure rate—significantly below the 0.74% average SSD failure rate for Puget Systems. For power supplies, the company has primarily used Super Flower Leadex units, which have a 0.47% failure rate, except for SFF builds. For these systems, Corsair PSUs had zero failures in both in-house testing and field deployment. Furthermore, every unit it builds undergoes extensive testing, enabling it to detect component failures that would otherwise go unseen and remain unreported. Still, these numbers indicate the quality and reliability of PC components, so if you want to build a desktop computer that is more likely to last several years, consider selecting parts that Puget Systems uses. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.

Marina G.'s first thought, as the floors, walls, and windows of her second-story apartment shook, was that it was an earthquake. Her cat scrambled and hid for hours, while the neighbors' dogs began to bark incessantly. Marina couldn't rely on the typical media outlets that are easily accessible in most other countries to learn more. She didn't bother to turn on the television or radio in search of information about the attacks that began simultaneously at 11 military installations in Caracas and three other states. Her cell phone, however, still had a signal and she began to receive dozens of messages on WhatsApp: “They're bombing Caracas!” During the darkest moments of that confusing morning, there was no team of independent reporters able to go out and record what was happening on the streets. After years of harassment, censorship, and imprisonment of journalists by the government, there were instead only empty newsrooms, decimated resources, and a complete lack of security, which made it impossible to keep the public informed as the crisis was unfolding. The fears felt by journalists were shared by many Venezuelans: the fears of arbitrary detention, of being imprisoned without cause, tortured, and extorted. Whenever possible, they leave their cell phones at home. If they have to take their phones with them, then before going out, they delete all photos, stickers, and memes that could possibly be interpreted as subversive. It is, largely, ordinary citizens who have created this information network. In San Rafael de Mucuchíes, a peaceful village in the Andes in the state of Mérida, a group of hikers tried to keep up with the frantic pace of events with intermittent internet access at 10,300 feet above sea level. They learned the news from telephone calls via operators such as Movistar (Telefónica) and Digitel, not from the instant messaging app WhatsApp. The rumor that President Nicolás Maduro had been captured spread as fast as the videos and messages on social media. At 5:21 am, Trump confirmed on his Truth Social account (a platform that cannot be accessed within Venezuela) that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been captured and transported out of the country. The information blackout on the US military operation that toppled Maduro was circumvented by a collaborative alliance of independent media outlets in Venezuela which sprang into action after the bombings of January 3. For almost 11 hours on YouTube, a group of Venezuelan journalists, some in exile and others within the country, with some hiding their identities for their own safety, jointly broadcast minute-by-minute coverage of an unprecedented event in the country's recent history (video above). Many Venezuelans, however, lost all connectivity that morning and only found out about the momentous events through word of mouth or much later, after they had managed to reconnect to the internet. Some areas of Caracas, especially those near the bombings like Fuerte Tiuna (the enormous military installation where Maduro's home and where he was taken by the Delta Force unit is located), suffered prolonged power and internet outages. Interior and Justice minister Diosdado Cabello said that more than 100 people died, while the army and militia posted 24 obituaries of uniformed personnel on their respective Instagram accounts. They have experienced a common education on how to circumvent censorship, misinformation, and fear so that people can both report on events and stay informed under an authoritarian regime. At the same time that there was a wave of protests against Maduro's regime, many traditional print media outlets were sold to business groups loyal to the government and then changed their editorial stances. Many journalists left to establish digital platforms that would form a new ecosystem of independent media, perhaps with less reach and more limited resources, but with the determination to continue practicing journalism in an environment of growing censorship, threats, disinformation, and repression. Also in 2014, Twitter (now X) emerged as a powerful alternative source of information especially as more than 400 media outlets disappeared over the course of two decades. Internet restrictions in Venezuela, however, threatened this digital boom. According to the latest report from the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), released in 2022, Venezuela had an internet penetration rate of just 55 percent. Furthermore, internet crackdowns are implemented as part of state policy. According to a report by TOP10VPN, Venezuela is the second-most affected country after Russia by this extreme measure of government censorship, resulting in economic losses of up to $1.91 billion and more than 5,900 hours without connection, affecting 17.9 million people. Censorship and digital shutdowns are added to other repressive practices such as arbitrary detentions (journalists arrested without a warrant, often held incommunicado and subjected to trials without due process); forced displacement (threats and intimidation forcing journalists to leave their homes and even go into exile for fear of reprisals); and judicial harassment (arbitrary application of laws to criminalize journalistic work), which have been well documented by organizations such as the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad Venezuela (IPYS Venezuela), in English, the Press and Society Institute of Venezuela. Looking at this history, it becomes clear that Venezuela under Chavismo has become a laboratory for social control by the dictatorship through the domination of communications. (An opposition coalition has presented evidence that González received 67 percent of the vote to Maduro's 30 percent, a figure in line with analyses by the Associated Press and other international media outlets and organizations. According to the organization VE sin Filtro, at least 61 independent digital media outlets remain blocked, affecting 90 domains. This does not include temporary restrictions on key platforms such as Signal, YouTube, TikTok, and Telegram, often imposed during political events such as elections or social protests. Today many Venezuelans rely on a VPN, or virtual private network, to access X. Among the measures taken at the time was to remove X from internet services for “inciting hatred, fascism, civil war, death, and conflict among Venezuelans.” Also in August 2024, Maduro urged his supporters to uninstall WhatsApp from their devices saying it posed a threat to the military, police, and Chavista community leaders. “Say no to WhatsApp,” exclaimed the now-deposed leader at the time, while also calling for people to abandon other platforms, specifically Meta's Instagram and TikTok, which he identified as the main instruments “amplifying hatred and fascism.” Maduro encouraged his supporters to switch to other networks, such as the Russian Telegram. But once again, digital tools soon became available that would allow Venezuelans to circumvent the latest restrictions and access information. In 2024, VPN provider Proton AG offered their services free of charge to Venezuelans, allowing people to circumvent government blocks on social media, at least at times. On that same day Delcy Rodríguez was also sworn in as Venezuela's acting president and 14 journalists covering the official ceremony were arrested and one of them was deported. The Venezuelan journalist Carlos Julio Rojas with his wife, Francisca Hernández, in a church in Caracas following his release from prison on January 14, 2026. The decree took effect immediately in a show of force. Agents from state security organizations and the colectivos (vigilante groups operating with the government's consent) were given license to randomly stop pedestrians and drivers and check the screens of their devices, even though this is technically illegal. On the one hand, 18 journalists were released from prison in a single day but, on the other, colectivos and police alike continue to detain people after checking their cell phones, sometimes even when they don't have any “problematic” content. For now, life has become only more complicated in Venezuela's digital cage. This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and was translated from Spanish by John Newton. In your inbox: Maxwell Zeff's dispatch from the heart of AI Big Story: Your first humanoid coworker will be Chinese Special edition: You're already living in the Chinese century WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.

This started happening for me a few weeks ago. Lately I discovered Firefox with background play and sponsor block extensions still work. If this stops working hopefully tubular will be a good backup. Except for on the TV (where I use SmartTube), all of my Youtube activity is done with web browsers.Otherwise: On both big computers and with my pocket supercomputer alike, that means Firefox and uBlock Origin. It works quite well for navigating Youtube's website and watching videos.An old iPad that I have suffers from Apple's deliberately baked-in lack of choice, but it does handle Youtube's website very well with Safari and AdBlock.It has been a very long time since I've used Youtube's app on any device at all. It works quite well for navigating Youtube's website and watching videos.An old iPad that I have suffers from Apple's deliberately baked-in lack of choice, but it does handle Youtube's website very well with Safari and AdBlock.It has been a very long time since I've used Youtube's app on any device at all. An old iPad that I have suffers from Apple's deliberately baked-in lack of choice, but it does handle Youtube's website very well with Safari and AdBlock.It has been a very long time since I've used Youtube's app on any device at all. It has been a very long time since I've used Youtube's app on any device at all. You can download only the soundpart as mp4 or opus too. Same time, one can appreciate the YouTube business: once you give something away for free, people absolutely loose their fucking minds if you make it paid. Once you set the bar to zero for payment, people will murder in the streets and despise you if you reasonably charge for what could have been a paid product all along. It's the same blocker that cripples "open source" sustainability. People quickly develop an entitlement-callous, and feel cheated if you require payment instead of just continuing to surrender value to them.It reminds of how a group of primates will kill a handler who gives cake to one, but not the group. This "free / paid" tension triggers some kind of deep-rooted human fairness wiring that is really tricky to extinguish once activated. That's why you should never open source your code and never give stuff away for free, if you plan to posslby make money from it somehow or make it paid in future. Because if you ever withhold the siphon of value related to ads or other 'you as a product' models, they will launch a jihad against you.I think it's interesting how the human fairness reflex, often correct, breaks down in the context of "provider / consumer" dynamics. Even if the provider is not some "evil mega corp" but simply a solo software creator, people will still feel you are attempting to rob them of all dignity and debase their honor if you require payment for what was previously gratis.Oh well. It reminds of how a group of primates will kill a handler who gives cake to one, but not the group. This "free / paid" tension triggers some kind of deep-rooted human fairness wiring that is really tricky to extinguish once activated. That's why you should never open source your code and never give stuff away for free, if you plan to posslby make money from it somehow or make it paid in future. Because if you ever withhold the siphon of value related to ads or other 'you as a product' models, they will launch a jihad against you.I think it's interesting how the human fairness reflex, often correct, breaks down in the context of "provider / consumer" dynamics. Even if the provider is not some "evil mega corp" but simply a solo software creator, people will still feel you are attempting to rob them of all dignity and debase their honor if you require payment for what was previously gratis.Oh well. I think it's interesting how the human fairness reflex, often correct, breaks down in the context of "provider / consumer" dynamics. Even if the provider is not some "evil mega corp" but simply a solo software creator, people will still feel you are attempting to rob them of all dignity and debase their honor if you require payment for what was previously gratis.Oh well. If YouTube allowed syndication with other websites, for example, so I could watch videos on whatever website I wanted (with an appropriate portion of the revenue going to YouTube), I would have no problems with them changing their monetization model. Tho does Rumble offer paid subscriptions?A small but perhaps weak counter to your thesis is that if people were really unwilling to negotiate with YouTube over cost/experience, why would they then so vehemently attempt to eradicate ads, rather that accepting them as a lesser cost than the subscription fee?But I guess what you're really saying is that none of the costs YT deigns to levy is felt as fair by those complaining. Were the pricing simply "fair" people would be happy to pay it. But what rational expectation could they have for a fair price? Unless I'm mistaking Disney+, Netflix, HBO, are all more expensive, but IMO provide less range. I'm less convinced "fair price" is it the more I think about it, but there could be something there. How else would you expand that?Good, self contained point overall. Tho I'm going to side with the psychological factor as I've experienced that in other domains where the monopoly is not a factor. And the "merely a fair price" argument hinges on a sense of rationality which appears conspicuously absent from the reactions. A small but perhaps weak counter to your thesis is that if people were really unwilling to negotiate with YouTube over cost/experience, why would they then so vehemently attempt to eradicate ads, rather that accepting them as a lesser cost than the subscription fee?But I guess what you're really saying is that none of the costs YT deigns to levy is felt as fair by those complaining. Were the pricing simply "fair" people would be happy to pay it. But what rational expectation could they have for a fair price? Unless I'm mistaking Disney+, Netflix, HBO, are all more expensive, but IMO provide less range. I'm less convinced "fair price" is it the more I think about it, but there could be something there. How else would you expand that?Good, self contained point overall. Tho I'm going to side with the psychological factor as I've experienced that in other domains where the monopoly is not a factor. And the "merely a fair price" argument hinges on a sense of rationality which appears conspicuously absent from the reactions. But I guess what you're really saying is that none of the costs YT deigns to levy is felt as fair by those complaining. Were the pricing simply "fair" people would be happy to pay it. But what rational expectation could they have for a fair price? Unless I'm mistaking Disney+, Netflix, HBO, are all more expensive, but IMO provide less range. I'm less convinced "fair price" is it the more I think about it, but there could be something there. How else would you expand that?Good, self contained point overall. Tho I'm going to side with the psychological factor as I've experienced that in other domains where the monopoly is not a factor. And the "merely a fair price" argument hinges on a sense of rationality which appears conspicuously absent from the reactions. Tho I'm going to side with the psychological factor as I've experienced that in other domains where the monopoly is not a factor. And the "merely a fair price" argument hinges on a sense of rationality which appears conspicuously absent from the reactions. There is obviously a non-zero cost to infrastructure but their attempts to extract revenue go far, far beyond that, hence people feeling their prices are too high, whether the price is paid in ads or subscription fees. Also I doubt this kind of data is the thing most people reacting with "prices are unfair" or "payment is bad", are drawing on, instinctively or not. So it's hard for me to accept this thesis as the source of ills. Maybe people's innate sense of fairness really does cover this, somehow.I'm not aware of those numbers, so it doesn't seem that way to me, but maybe I'm just not across it. Can you give examples of your claim (A)? I'm not aware of those numbers, so it doesn't seem that way to me, but maybe I'm just not across it. Can you give examples of your claim (A)? Ad views are auctioned and go for different prices based on category, demographics of viewers, etc., and aggregate statistics are not provided, but an ad-view typically tends to be in the range of US$0.01 per ad view. I suspect in reality most people don't see more than 100 ads in a month, so Youtube is likely generating an 8x profit margin over costs of not showing ads to Premium users, give or take depending on how you work out the napkin math. If people had an option to buy an ad-free subscription with none of the other premium features for $1/mo, I suspect the uptake would be significantly higher and feel fair to the general population. *After looking it up, Youtube Premium apparently actually costs US$14.Anecdotally, I used to spend, I believe, ¥480 per month for a Niconico subscription (Niconico is the Japanese domestic equivalent to Youtube). I was content paying this subscription fee for years, until they increased the price up by 50% to ¥720, and about two years ago the price further increased to ¥990. I cancelled my subscription and stopped using the website. The same is likely true for many or most people. *After looking it up, Youtube Premium apparently actually costs US$14.Anecdotally, I used to spend, I believe, ¥480 per month for a Niconico subscription (Niconico is the Japanese domestic equivalent to Youtube). I was content paying this subscription fee for years, until they increased the price up by 50% to ¥720, and about two years ago the price further increased to ¥990. I cancelled my subscription and stopped using the website. The same is likely true for many or most people. Anecdotally, I used to spend, I believe, ¥480 per month for a Niconico subscription (Niconico is the Japanese domestic equivalent to Youtube). I was content paying this subscription fee for years, until they increased the price up by 50% to ¥720, and about two years ago the price further increased to ¥990. I cancelled my subscription and stopped using the website. The same is likely true for many or most people. Small strange nuance for me is when I switch to my corp account, and see an ad, sometimes I really enjoy the ad, because it's novel and creative. But some of the YT ads do seem pretty high quality. They have cheated you in a sense of the opportunity cost of being able to marry someone else.That people might not understand that tells you something about them. Anyway, in this case I think the analogy is a little overblown because the stakes are so different, but is revealing. But, as in marriage, there's a interesting nuance: the stories we tell ourselves about what went wrong are so often one-sided, which lacks empathy for how the other person is probably just doing their best. A similar empahty mismatch with the entitlement of consumers who don't comprehend that the value they expect a person to provide them for free, should actually be compensated. As in, a free exchange.That someone might confuse those could tell you 'something about them.' Or it could just be an honest mistake, on their part. That we're all likely to make.Still the trigger to ape-brained fairness-wiring seems similar, and embodies that same one way empathy. Free and fair exchange, in commerce and relationships, should be based on more of a mutual empahty.Thanks for bringing it up! That someone might confuse those could tell you 'something about them.' Or it could just be an honest mistake, on their part. That we're all likely to make.Still the trigger to ape-brained fairness-wiring seems similar, and embodies that same one way empathy. Free and fair exchange, in commerce and relationships, should be based on more of a mutual empahty.Thanks for bringing it up! Still the trigger to ape-brained fairness-wiring seems similar, and embodies that same one way empathy. Free and fair exchange, in commerce and relationships, should be based on more of a mutual empahty.Thanks for bringing it up! Arranged marriages are unpopular because we value choice. For the same reason we, westerners, abhor monopolies that transform society, wreck age old institutions, remove choice and limit access to what once was free. Aside from that - what age old institutions are wrecked by monopolies, or which ones are you talking about it? It's more sort of monopoly in the digital age and it's pretty coherent what you're saying, From the narrow point of view that you're meaning here, and it is a significant point. I think the only solution in that case is you have to treat them as institutions and they have to be run for the public benefit - but saying that sounds ridiculous and I don't think it could ever work so I guess our societies have to come up with some other solutions. Browsers will “slow down” various aspects of pages when they're not visible, like animations or timers, to save on battery usage on laptops or phones.Even if your remove explicit APIs for backgrounding, pages can still use heuristics to detect anyway. Even if your remove explicit APIs for backgrounding, pages can still use heuristics to detect anyway. That is what it means to have control over your own computing. The hardware you bought; err, licensed; to them, is their playground. As an avid idle game player, I'm tired of opening games in different window and having main window not-fullscreen just for the game to play normallyThis "tab unloading" is great and all, but not giving us users any control to turn it off is awful This "tab unloading" is great and all, but not giving us users any control to turn it off is awful https://github.com/revanced/revanced-managerRossmann's Grayjay app offers the same functionality in a separate standalone client. It has a paid pro mode, but is free software. Rossmann's Grayjay app offers the same functionality in a separate standalone client. It has a paid pro mode, but is free software. If someone is not seeing this writing on the wall, they must be blind. Otherwise the other option is to drag the tab out to a window of its own, they can't know it's not visible, at least that works for Twitch ads. Along the same line is that you can watch any hour long video without interruptions unless it is music where you will get interrupted every couple of minutes with "are you there?" Tell your favourite content-creators to consider alternatives alongside youtube (like peertube), and promote the alternative platforms, until the network effect pays off. This turbo charges uncontrollably down the series of videos.The solution is within seconds remove the &pp= (or go back a few pages and do so) this gives you as much time as you need to solve the captcha. Or remember to copy the search result link instead of clicking on it and clean it up.I wrote to youtube about this bug where playlists don't wait for you to answer the captcha and never heard back from them, which is what I expected, but figured I'd try. Or remember to copy the search result link instead of clicking on it and clean it up.I wrote to youtube about this bug where playlists don't wait for you to answer the captcha and never heard back from them, which is what I expected, but figured I'd try. I wrote to youtube about this bug where playlists don't wait for you to answer the captcha and never heard back from them, which is what I expected, but figured I'd try. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that they can get some money from it, but maybe there's too much money now. Every time I hear about a YouTube creator quitting their job and going pro, I fear for the future quality of their output. As an example: knowing that I won't be able to keep the sound playing for the 5 minutes in between two buses when I need to walk and pay attention, I'll probably just launch a podcast from the beginning of my hour of transportation so that I'm not interrupted. Most of them get almost nothing from YouTube ads, and for those who do, a few of them have no money have multiple revenue sources of which YouTube AdSense is very rarely the main one. Many do in-video product placements, which are not affected by being able to get audio only or having an ad blocker, and many have things like a Patreon, Tipeee, Ulule, of some sort. I pay monthly directly to the creators I watch the most on these platforms and who do not have millions of followers, because that's what they say help them the most.Really, thinking Google worsening our user experience is even remotely something they do in favor of content creators having a hard time at the end of the month is beyond naive. Really, thinking Google worsening our user experience is even remotely something they do in favor of content creators having a hard time at the end of the month is beyond naive. If you want something lighter for Firefox Android. There is also the Background Video Player extension. Alternatively:Termux > proot-distro > set up audio > play in browser like firefox Termux > proot-distro > set up audio > play in browser like firefox a) don't careb) were desperate enough at the time, then, like that damn videogame, it sucked him init's too easy to get carried away by sheer technical complexity of optimization tasks, even if you are optimizing for bad. b) were desperate enough at the time, then, like that damn videogame, it sucked him init's too easy to get carried away by sheer technical complexity of optimization tasks, even if you are optimizing for bad. it's too easy to get carried away by sheer technical complexity of optimization tasks, even if you are optimizing for bad. Is the cleaner regularly removing poop stains from the personal toilet of a big and rich Google shareholder more useful than the qualified Google engineer working hard so a big number is very slightly bigger on one the shareholder's list of numbers? This is where their most brilliant engineers have bested you, because they control the client too. There is no moral high-ground for YouTube to take here. They were also somehow the only ones that offered music videos without being shut down. I guess the only thing you've done is create a massive cognitive dissonance instead of multiverse travel. - fair use was also sot as permissive in that era! Problem is, there's no real alternative for YouTube. It could've been an alternative, but they've recently deleted most old videos. Nice idea in theory, but lack of content. -----> Okay, so list which websites I can use to watch all kinds of content that I can find on YouTube.it serve this purpose. > Okay, so list which websites I can use to watch all kinds of content that I can find on YouTube.it serve this purpose. It is just an oligopoly like most other sectors. And then I realised people primarily consume shorts. Would you feel the same if your phone suddenly updated so that your camera records in half quality unless you start paying monthly? But also I'd just use a different camera app? It means the company has known from the start that they can't offer it for free in the long term, but decided to subsidize it in order to gain a dominant position and get rid of competition. This breaks the conditions needed for a free market dynamics to work. That's why some forms of government subsidies are prohibited under certain agreements, for example. Some multinational corporations have annual revenues larger than the GDP of many countries and can easily subsidize negative pricing for years to undercut competitors, consolidate market share, and ultimately gain monopoly power.Also, the company has hinted false promises to the customer, as it signals that they have developed a business model where they can offer something for free. For example a two-sided marketplace where one side gets something for free to attract users and the other side pays (as it profits form these users). Users can't know something isn't sustainable unless the company explicitly states it in some way (e.g. this is a limited time offer).So from the user's perspective, this is a bait-and-switch tactic, where the company has used a free offer in order to manipulate the market. Also, the company has hinted false promises to the customer, as it signals that they have developed a business model where they can offer something for free. For example a two-sided marketplace where one side gets something for free to attract users and the other side pays (as it profits form these users). Users can't know something isn't sustainable unless the company explicitly states it in some way (e.g. this is a limited time offer).So from the user's perspective, this is a bait-and-switch tactic, where the company has used a free offer in order to manipulate the market. There is a reason for this cat and mouse, and its not ending with youtube banning people.A lot of the current issues i see with it, is that it is treated like the go to service for video hosting...Just consider image hosting... If i see an image in a thread and click it (much like people will do with youtube urls), and block the ad that was on the hosted site, is there this much uproar about it? That image hosting site might charge 5$ to do what an adblocker already does... actually lock it up, and remove the "service" portion of the business, otherwise I don't see any legs to stand on here.Service in my eyes here, is a public service. A lot of the current issues i see with it, is that it is treated like the go to service for video hosting...Just consider image hosting... If i see an image in a thread and click it (much like people will do with youtube urls), and block the ad that was on the hosted site, is there this much uproar about it? That image hosting site might charge 5$ to do what an adblocker already does... actually lock it up, and remove the "service" portion of the business, otherwise I don't see any legs to stand on here.Service in my eyes here, is a public service. If i see an image in a thread and click it (much like people will do with youtube urls), and block the ad that was on the hosted site, is there this much uproar about it? That image hosting site might charge 5$ to do what an adblocker already does... actually lock it up, and remove the "service" portion of the business, otherwise I don't see any legs to stand on here.Service in my eyes here, is a public service. I would hope most people anywhere would see that as a bad thing, especially given the scams and harms that ads are pushing.I am not sure the best way to improve things, but anyone should be able to live a normal day of life without being forced to see any advertisement. I am not sure those who work at Google are all brilliant - but it should also not matter, because they support Evil here. Maybe we should stop with that tired fallacious rhetoric? Their argument isn't new, it's just a rehash of “the most brilliant minds of our generation are working on trying to get you to click on ads”. My criticism was directed at the general argument, which is simply wrong. That comment is based on nothing except those people working at those corporations.It is not a strawman because I am disagreeing with the conclusion as quoted, the reasoning being immaterial. juggling the phone to not only skip ads, but also forcing the phone screen to be active, is a hazard.In my case this loophole being closed, wouldn't make me pay for premium... but it would make a younger version of me certainly more dangerous on the road. In my case this loophole being closed, wouldn't make me pay for premium... but it would make a younger version of me certainly more dangerous on the road. Multitasking is a basic OS feature, no matter what kind of device you're using. Gating it behind a paywall is user-hostile behavior at its finest. I've noticed YouTube likes to A/B test a lot. Then they better have a 'correct' client for all platforms out there because they are filthy dominant at worldwide scale.In my personal space: I don't think they are competent enough to provide a 'correct' set of ELF64 binaries for elf/linux, you know 'wayland->x11' fallback, 'vulkan->CPU' fallback, OLD glibc ABI, etc (BTW, wayland+vulkan = android). In my personal space: I don't think they are competent enough to provide a 'correct' set of ELF64 binaries for elf/linux, you know 'wayland->x11' fallback, 'vulkan->CPU' fallback, OLD glibc ABI, etc (BTW, wayland+vulkan = android). I vote we remove API access to any focus state information.Fuck you google. Shareholders care about maximising profits now, not overall product longevity. Every minute, 500 hours of video are uploaded [1], so the storage growth given 1.5 GB/h is at least (not including compression, duplication across multiple DCs, edge nodes, whatever) 750 GB / minute, 45 TB / hour or 1.080 TB / day.At 10 $/TB (and that is a figure from before the AI boom making all costs explode) they have to spend 10.800 $ per day just in HDD costs, on top of that comes the server hardware, racks, switches, datacenter construction costs, and then the cost of running all of that - electricity for the servers, cooling, internet egress bandwidth (in total, all video sites made up 65% traffic of the entire Internet pre-AI boom).It is estimated that YT makes about 36 billion $ of revenue [3], assuming a split of 50/50 with creators [4] that means 18 billion $ end up in Youtube as gross revenue. And that's... not that much, given that R&D, infrastructure investment, advertising expenses, costs of preferential deals with device manufacturers and phone carriers ("zero rating"), operational expenses (i.e. electricity, bandwidth) and headcount (moderation!) haven't been taken into account.In the end, I think that unlike 2015 [6] Youtube is actually profitable - but barely, nowhere near close to the profit margins of Google Ads. I think what irks Google the most is that individual "influencers" can make millions of dollars in monthly income from sponsorships but Google sees nothing of that money at all. At 10 $/TB (and that is a figure from before the AI boom making all costs explode) they have to spend 10.800 $ per day just in HDD costs, on top of that comes the server hardware, racks, switches, datacenter construction costs, and then the cost of running all of that - electricity for the servers, cooling, internet egress bandwidth (in total, all video sites made up 65% traffic of the entire Internet pre-AI boom).It is estimated that YT makes about 36 billion $ of revenue [3], assuming a split of 50/50 with creators [4] that means 18 billion $ end up in Youtube as gross revenue. And that's... not that much, given that R&D, infrastructure investment, advertising expenses, costs of preferential deals with device manufacturers and phone carriers ("zero rating"), operational expenses (i.e. electricity, bandwidth) and headcount (moderation!) haven't been taken into account.In the end, I think that unlike 2015 [6] Youtube is actually profitable - but barely, nowhere near close to the profit margins of Google Ads. I think what irks Google the most is that individual "influencers" can make millions of dollars in monthly income from sponsorships but Google sees nothing of that money at all. It is estimated that YT makes about 36 billion $ of revenue [3], assuming a split of 50/50 with creators [4] that means 18 billion $ end up in Youtube as gross revenue. And that's... not that much, given that R&D, infrastructure investment, advertising expenses, costs of preferential deals with device manufacturers and phone carriers ("zero rating"), operational expenses (i.e. electricity, bandwidth) and headcount (moderation!) haven't been taken into account.In the end, I think that unlike 2015 [6] Youtube is actually profitable - but barely, nowhere near close to the profit margins of Google Ads. I think what irks Google the most is that individual "influencers" can make millions of dollars in monthly income from sponsorships but Google sees nothing of that money at all. In the end, I think that unlike 2015 [6] Youtube is actually profitable - but barely, nowhere near close to the profit margins of Google Ads. I think what irks Google the most is that individual "influencers" can make millions of dollars in monthly income from sponsorships but Google sees nothing of that money at all. I think what irks Google the most is that individual "influencers" can make millions of dollars in monthly income from sponsorships but Google sees nothing of that money at all. * tangiential rambling old-person side-note: RealPlayer was a weird early example of a piece of software that was actually _better_ on Linux: The windoze version was notorious for also installing a thousand other pieces of spyware/adware and other trash, taking over your system and making it worse, to the point that people avoided it like the plague... But none of that crapware supported Linux, so the Linux version was just this relatively clean player that came as a self-contained, easy to install rpm and worked pretty well. I used to use RealPlayer a fair bit back in my early Linux days.