AI Limits – ChatGPT could probably write better laws than the ones we are getting though.
Turn It Off and On Again – Turn off your phone for 5 minutes daily for better security.
Secret Browser – Hidden inside Google settings.
Hidden City – Just discovered in Mexico.
Urban Change – More highways taking up space in the Midwest.
The secret browser thing is wild. It has vibes of the old Windows 95 logon bypass using the HP printer drivers. I think that is way over hyped and it has caused people to get the wrong idea about its currently very limited capability. It is cool and useful tech for sure, but it is in no meaningful way “Intelligent”.
I’m not sure what to think about the phone one, though. I mean, it’s not wrong, and it certainly doesn’t hurt, but I think the value is dubious at best. Kind of like saying you should check the oil in your car daily. Not *bad* advice, but probably overkill for most people unless you are particularly at risk. Phones should be rebooting for updates regularly anyway, although clearly not daily.
Urban planning and zoning is complex and difficult, but I do think going all-in on designing everything around cars was (and still is) a big mistake we have made in the US.
Yeah, the whole car design thing in US cities is terrible. It’s one thing I miss about Ann Arbor. We didn’t live in a completely walkable area, but the downtown has lots of pedestrian-friendly areas. Down here in Texas, nothing is walkable where I live. It really sucks.
Where I live in Northern Virginia the schools and a strip mall are close enough to walk to, which is nice. Although that is mostly because I am on the outside edge of a large neighborhood. People further in the neighborhood would have a very long uphill walk to most of that. The worst part for me is the public transportation only comes to the edge of the neighborhood and generally flow the wrong direction so it would take forever to get anywhere useful on a bus. So we are stuck sharing cars at a 2 to 1 drivers to cars ratio now that my kids are old enough to have jobs. We would love another car but used cars are crazy expensive at the moment and we really don’t have anywhere to park it.
I read that prices of cars should be coming down soon. It’s crazy the prices on used cars now. We went shopping for one with someone new to this country, and got a new one because it was cheaper than the used one. It made absolutely no sense.