Interest is a big factor in the slow progress.

And build some half-decent public transit for poor people. They’re trapped in perpetual debt every time they throw money at rust buckets just to get to work, and such vehicles are typically more polluting than newer vehicle too. A lot of them would be happy to free up thousands of dollars a year if they could get some…

Yep and the choices are improving every day. If you’re too tall for a Volt, you can buy the RAV4 Prime.

The metal plate didn’t actually penetrate the cab. It merely knocked the cab off the truck. That’s how the driver survived.

Right hand drive though. It's technically legal but will definitely put off a few customers in the US. 

One of Doug Demuro’s videos features a US version of this. Can’t remember the company name, but it imports the ute’s shell from Australia, and grafts it onto a US-spec Pontiac G8's chassis, which makes it compliant for sale in the US. Not cheap of course.

If automotive engineering was based entirely on “reality”, 99% of the population would drive a Corolla or its equivalent.

I’m sure the Mach-E is a great vehicle. I think it looks much prettier than the Model Y, whose excessively sloped rear reeks of BMW X4/X6. I love how there’s a physical wiper stalk and an actual rain sensor. I love the gauge cluster screen. I own a Model 3 and have my share of obvious quality complaints about it.

Regarding gift cards, a lot of employers will give those out through raffles and the like because gift cards are not considered taxable income. And then some of the cards get re-gifted at Christmas to the employees’ friends/family.

Exactly. This recession makes 2008 look like an economic boom in comparison. Welfare payments are absolutely necessary, more so than ever. I'd rather see a few deadbeats abuse it than see tens of millions of people become homeless. 

Sure in theory you could desolder the internal SSD and completely replace it. After all people have managed to upgrade the OG xbox to 128 MB RAM.

Except that Microsoft’s expansion drives are proprietary and expensive. They never supported internal storage upgrades in previous consoles - you needed to jump through a few hoops using a PC and Clonezilla, something that not every user is comfortable doing. Plus the warranty is voided as soon as you attempt it -…

Blackberry basically is the Sega of the smartphone world.

Technically you can't actually upgrade the SSD, only supplement it. There's an empty M.2 slot that'll be enabled in a future update. 

On the other hand Sony has supported third party user upgrades to internal storage since the days of the PS3. Even the PS5 will eventually get a patch to support a variety of standard M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSDs. That’s not possible on any Xbox without some advanced technical know-how. I'd say that's a huge step in customer…

Could it be some kind of buffer for extracting compressed game installers? On PC a lot of software installers are heavily compressed to help customers avoid exceeding data caps. However that comes at a cost of needing more free space than the installer’s size, otherwise the installer cannot extract. I wonder if Sony…

After experiencing the 360 RROD, I’m now indeed afraid of buying the first manufacturing batch. I generally prefer Slim models anyway. I used to move around a lot and having a console that was almost as thin as a laptop (PS4 slim) was extremely convenient. They also look prettier in my opinion. 

And if it was really possible to create pinprick-sized electronics that can transmit reliably, imagine how many problems that would solve right away. Like the lack of reception from T-Mobile inside some buildings in my area! 

Can’t remember the exact numbers but I had an 08 Ford Fusion with 16" wheels and I think the sidewall was 60? Struck a pothole during a harsh winter and the wheel was perfectly fine and maintained its shape. The tire developed a worrisome impact bubble, but remained usable long enough for me to get to a shop and…

I have a pathological hatred for oversized wheels with stupidly thin low-profile tires, especially on sedans.