The hot story in the news this week is Volkswagen's reported brazen cheating in diesel engine emissions testing. This brought to mind a host of similar occurrences, from Samsung/HTC cheating at benchmarks to alleged cheating in SPC enterprise storage performance testing. Cynics say we should just assume we're being cheated, but is this a world in which we want to … [Read more...] about Your Mileage May Vary: Lies, Damn Lies, and Benchmarks
automobiles
Walled Gardens, Gilded Cages, and Right to Repair
Things are getting awfully complicated, aren't they? The custom parallel CPUs, proprietary communications networks, and encrypted data ports require extensive training, special tools, and a computerized reference library to comprehend, much less debug. And the manufacturers, who derive much of their money and differentiation from warranties and authorized repair centers, are … [Read more...] about Walled Gardens, Gilded Cages, and Right to Repair
Who Cares About Copyright? Not Gawker Media’s Jalopnik
Yeah, we live in bizarre world of copyrighted conflicts... It seems like someone is always trying to exercise control over "their content" and using copyright as their bludgeon. First, let me clue you in to a secret. I'm a car nut. More precisely, I love the engineering of cars - and once delighted in documenting esoteric details of engines, transmissions, and chassis on … [Read more...] about Who Cares About Copyright? Not Gawker Media’s Jalopnik