Well, are you going to tell us the story?

Instant Pot was a product so good that customers rarely needed to buy another one. The company went bankrupt.

Bull-fucking-shit. That's just not how any of this works.

There are plenty of companies that make appliances that last a long fucking time, and don't have to rely on fucking DLC micro transaction AI bullshit. The reason Instant Pot went bankrupt is the same reason a ton of popular companies have recently had issues: They got bought by private equity (who also owned Pyrex and fucked them over), saddled with a shitton of bad debt, squeezed of every bit of brand value they had, and then left to fall apart as the PE firm made off with millions.

The fact that the writer correlated "quality, durable good" with "unsuccessful business and bankruptcy" is absolutely one of the worst takes, and really shows just how pervasive this disgusting idea of "must be disposable to be profitable" really is.

So, I'm going to be a voice of reason here, also working for a a major US automaker: there's a 0.0001% chance this would ever be a thing implemented, and is almost definitely just something someone brainstormed and threw in the patent/IP registration system for a nice bonus. We're heavily encouraged to submit ideas, even if there's no real plans to ever implement them, and you can make more than $2k for a couple day's worth of work in some cases.

I've come up with some hilariously dystopian ideas, and I'm more than happy to submit them because I know we'll never bother with implementing them, it keeps other more "ambitious" OEMs from doing it, and the aforementioned monetary bonuses. Just because something is patented, doesn't mean it's going into production next week.

Also, because I know what sub I'm in, before everyone crucifies me here because I work for an automaker, I do so because I want to make a change from the inside, and my job focus is primarily on making vehicles safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

I mean, that's one interpretation. The other one is the reality that the Soviet Union didn't always treat political prisoners particularly well, and being a former/current western spy, he was pretty smart to err on the side of caution in case they were the ones in charge.

It's honestly a great joke just because it can be so multi-layered given the character of Austin Powers being a free-love, hippy-ish, world-class spy. He genuinely could have both genuinely hoped that communism won, but also a smart tactic to potentially avoid being sent to a gulag, knowing that if he was wrong, the potential repercussions would probably be less severe.

Howdy fellas, my name is Kenichi Smith.

I'm a 27 year old Japanese Toonaholic (Cartoon fan for you foreigners). I draw cartoons and comics on my tablet, and spend my days perfecting my art and playing superior American games. (Halo, Gears of War, Call of Duty)

I train with my revolver every day, this superior weapon can shoot straight through steel because it kicks ass, and is vastly superior to any other weapon on earth. I earned my gun license two years ago, and I have been getting better every day.

I speak English fluently, both the American and the British accents, and I write fluently as well. I know everything about American history and their Constitution, which I follow 100%

When I get my American visa, I am moving to New York to attend a prestigious High School to learn more about their magnificent culture. I hope I can become an animator for Nickelodeon or a game designer!

I own several cowboy outfits, which I wear around town. I want to get used to wearing them before I move to America, so I can fit in easier. I keep cool to my elders and seniors and speak English as often as I can, but rarely does anyone manage to respond.

Wish me luck in America!

He was technically a founding member, but left the company. Literally all of this is because he's jealous he can't pull a Tesla and claim all the credit for another tech company.

As an American auto worker, I like our move to EVs and the jobs at the massive new factories we built. But I guess wanting blue collar workers learning new skills and technologies makes me a gay communist.

Seems unrealistic. In reality, they'd be asking how often the seizures occur and would figure out if the increased ad revenue from going to 90% would offset any potential lawsuits.

"It's about sending a message"

My favorite was arguing with a much older (late 70s) friend of my dad's about how Obama ruined the economy and stock market, and when I told him that was objectively not true and the GFC was in full swing well before Obama was even elected, he was like "I know because I owned stocks and stuff, how would you even know?" Even when I pulled up a graph of the S&P 500 and showed the days he was elected and sworn in, he just said "Oh, that can't be right, the graph must be wrong". Showing the DOW and other composites from multiple sources did nothing to convince him. He was absolutely positive his retirement fund was doing great up until Obama was elected.

Yes Jerry, I'm sure that the entire stock market was just wrong, and it's not the fact you consume nothing but FOX News and will only refer to the 44th president as "The N*gger" potentially causing a bit of bias.

Batteries are rated for a certain continuous current draw, and if you try drawing too much, you're going to have a bad time. Some of these flashlights can draw a ridiculous amount of power, and if you're putting a cheap knockoff 18650 in it with no internal protections, it's not going to be a fun time.

It's the same issue people had with vapes exploding. The original included batteries might only be rated for a continuous draw of say, 10A, and they're adding these crazy high wattage coils trying to get 30A from them.

I mean, VR Chat is still a thing. It's not massive, but even 20k daily users isn't nothing.