glnf

mattinoz said:

So what's in a modem that is different / hard compared to the M1?

Seems an odd statement to just hang out there.

You are (also) dealing with analogue signal processing at incredibly high frequencies. Designing a microprocessor is stacking up Lego bricks, designing a G5 modem is wizardry and magic with thrown in quantum effects. So to speak.

lkrupp said:

substance said:

How is this app that much different any app that has 'everything-and-the-kitchen-sink' built into them (like Facebook had they not broken Messenger out into a separate app)? 

And why is WeChat so popular in China?  What's to prevent the latest and greatest chap app to come around in a year or two to knock it off its pertch?

Why so popular? Probably because the dictatorship wants it to be since it almost certainly has access to all data flowing through it. The Chinese people have no freedom of speech, no right to assemble to petition the government (think Tiananmen  Square), no right to a political opinion (unless it conforms to the dictatorship’s), no real religious freedom. Look what the dictatorship did to Tibet (a cultural genocide) and now the Uighurs (a physical and cultural genocide. Watch the latest PBS Frontline show). The Chinese people are only a half-step above the poor souls who were unfortunate enough to be born in North Korea.  

I live in Switzerland. I started using WeChat when working with a Chinese design company. It is simply brilliant. It is extremely convenient for communication, sharing files and organising work. It handles all sorts of file format, reduces the size and transcodes from one format to the other. You don’t even have to be aware of it. Just post, receive and distribute. It is totally clutter-free, transparent and responsive and there is a great (yet super simple) client for MacBooks. After a while I started noticing that quite a few of my colleges in Switzerland also love WeChat. It is not widely used here, so we (have to) stick to WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. But I wouldn’t mind doing all in WeChat. It really combines simplicity and ease of use in a hugely versatile, powerful and fun application. Shame it is also so problematic. 

apple ][ saidI'm sure glad that Jobs and Wozniak were American, because had they been born European and attempted to create the company over there, then I do not think that any of us would be reading this forum today, or using the devices that we do, because Apple would not exist.

I find it hard to agree with you. I wonder how Jobs and Wozniak would do in the States nowadays. Jobs, the son of a criminal Syrien refugee, Wozniak with clear Eastern European roots. They probably wouldn’t even be allowed to drive an Uber car.