Like others have pointed out, if phones can certify using batteries with 1000 cycles of charge above 80%, they'll also be exempt, so this will likely only affect very cheap models.

Going back to a pre-ACA system won't lower premiums that much. Medical costs have risen in the last decade, same as any other goods or services, and the way US healthcare is structured, with hospital and doctors negotiating with a profit driven middleman (insurance companies) makes it almost impossible to change the rising premiums.

US healthcare will continue to be a mess until there's a universal healthcare system or single payer system similar to any other developed country on earth.

But the reality of it is that it's probably still to early to say if these devices will have mainstream appeal. I see a lot of people saying "well, i no longer need to take the phone out my pocket", but that has been the case for a couple of years with smartwatches, for example, and it has not meaningfully changed our dependency from the smartphone or the smartphone market dynamics that much.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43314665

Points: 5

# Comments: 1

Again, DOGE operates from the premise that the federal government is bloated. Although this is a very popular message, I'd love to see some more objective data to support this and I doubt that CDC or USAID are the agencies where the bloat is. Like I said, their actions seem vindictive and careless. Also, likely to result in legal cases that will drag for years and end up costing taxpayer more than the supposed savings.

The main con is that once you fire the workers that you thought you didn't need (but that you did indeed need) hiring them back becomes more expensive and a lengthy process. Some of the firings are already causing chaos in vital teams among several agencies and have forced DOGE to try to reverse course (bird flu monitoring, nuclear response...).

And that's not to mention the dire situation you put the people you are firing in. Laying off people from their jobs is never "an experiment" unless you are willing to suspend every trace of empathy.

If you meet an average government worker in the US, you quickly realize how little they make and how understaffed their departments tend to be. People underestimate how complex government work is and how different it is from what you do at a regular business.

Alleged USAID Probe Into Starlink Raises Elon Musk Conflict Concerns.

https://www.newsweek.com/usaid-elon-musk-starlink-probe-ukra...

DOGE has also very specifically targeted the CFPB and, according to The Verge, the team within the organization specialized in understanding Big Tech’s entrance into financial products (Musk is supposedly about to launch X's banking services).

https://www.theverge.com/policy/612933/cfpb-tech-team-gutted...

Source: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61303

In 2023, German households experienced an average of 13.7 minutes of power outages.

Source: https://www.heise.de/en/news/Power-supply-13-7-minutes-of-po...

Not sure if the metrics are 100% comparable (they seem to be?) but points to a huge difference in reliability.