Philips 'unalived' any chances for massive future revenues when they killed off Natlab (in spirit, not just in name). Philips Natlab was the Bell Labs of the Netherlands, even Europe perhaps.
In 1989 Philips introduced a new financing structure that required Natlab to secure two-thirds of its budget through contracts with Philips' product divisions. This marked a major change from its prior model, where funding came directly from the corporate board.
Anything that wasn't "commercially viable" according to the penny-polishers with MBAs was abandoned. The dumbest move ever. Fundamental research can't be outsourced, and never has immediate commercial value.
This. They gave the keys to the management of the business units and layers of managerial hierarchy under.
I did my PhD project in collaboration with NXP research which used to be the semiconductor division of Natlab. At every project meeting there were at least 2 mid level managers from 3 business units funding the projects+ 2 mid level managers from the research department + 1 engineer overseeing the technical work. So, it was 8-9 managers + 1 engineer + 1 PhD student. They were all chill and didn't roadblock anything for me, apart from all business units deciding to do their own development on the same topic because they didn't trust anyone else. So I was mostly left to myself because the money was already given but they lost interest. They were still attending the meetings as a break from the other meetings I thought.
$500? Ours was $2800/mo for a family of three and this was 2018 (Not FANG, big pharma)
Yes the original plan was great. No, we didn't need a plan that great. No we couldn't "downgrade". With the bigger income suddenly gone, coming up with $2800/mo in cash was a huge problem. COBRA is useless for many/most, unless your coverage is shite and the cost to the employer low.
Big Meh. Bad metric.
Phone apps were dead long before Ai came about.
Shovelware double so.
Most users have 40-80 apps installed and use 9 a day, 20 a month(1).
The shitty iOS subscription trend killed off the hobby of 'app collecting'.
Have I created large commercial Ai-coded projects? No.
Did I create 80+ useful tools in hours/days that I wouldn't have otherwise?
Hellz yeah!
Would I publish any of these on public github? Nope!
I don't have the time nor the inclination to maintain them.
There's just too many.
My shovelware "Apps" reside on my machine/our intranet or V0/lovable/bolt.
Roughly ~25% are in active daily use on my machine or in our company.
All tools and "apps" are saving us many hours each week.
I'm also rediscovering the joy of coding something useful, without writing a PRD for some intern.
Speaking of which. We no longer have an intern.
Europe worries about Americans that don't leave the country.
Americans who travel to Europe (have a passport) are rarely the 'T%%' shirt or 'Maggi' Cap-wearing kind. If anything, traveling Americans have always been known for their ample smiles, friendly nature, unbridled enthusiasm, and positivity/sunny outlook.
[Recent actions by the current administration did help unify Europe, but they mostly feel sorry for us. Anyone part of the group stuck in the 'faux news' bubble may have a bad time, because nothing they've been told turns out to be true...]
I haven't had the pleasure to visit this specific museum, but I did manage to visit https://www.homecomputermuseum.nl/en/ in my native country of The Netherlands on my last trip to Europe, and it's a real gem, also allowing hands-on interaction. I also "adopted" my first PC.
(for those familiar with The Netherlands, it's located in Helmond)
The study found that []longer[] time spent in bed (TIB) was associated with significantly []increased[] dementia risk. Those in bed for more than 8 hours were far more likely to show a cognitive decline during a Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE)
[...]
The time individuals went to bed was also highlighted by researchers as a critical contributing factor [...] The research paper stated that “every 1 hour advance in bedtime [before 10 pm] was associated with a 25% increased risk of dementia.”
In 1989 Philips introduced a new financing structure that required Natlab to secure two-thirds of its budget through contracts with Philips' product divisions. This marked a major change from its prior model, where funding came directly from the corporate board.
Anything that wasn't "commercially viable" according to the penny-polishers with MBAs was abandoned. The dumbest move ever. Fundamental research can't be outsourced, and never has immediate commercial value.