The best tool to challenge children is a Raspberry Pi. They can build an entire computer from scratch for less then $100 and an old TV. Price is not what makes a tool great.
Before you put a dime into a business look for the paper. If they can't supply it run like hell. If they have no plan for profit for at least 3 years don't invest. There are some many IPO's filing were the CEO walks away with golden parachute of $50 million whether it succeeds or fails. Its not just Silicon Valley. I've seen it recently in exercise equipment and office space rental.
For tourist location it work. Government gets the money back in sales and other taxes. But in other cities it will be money pit with no possible way to recoup the cost. It can never work in rural areas because there isn't a dense enough population.
They can’t recoup the cost of roads but that doesn’t stop them from building and maintaining a ton of them. Public services don’t have to pay for themselves directly.
There are small towns like Corvallis, Oregon that do this because there's a need for transport around the university. The rest of the ridership might be mainly disabled/elderly who wouldn't pay much anyway. So the cost of administering a ticketing system isn't worth the revenue. Basically systems that don't have working commuters.
https://www.corvallisoregon.gov/cts
I think in rural areas there is still a benefit in running shuttles between towns. For example running an hourly shuttle between two towns of 1k-5k 20mi apart
Dunkerque isn't exactly a tourist location! At least for French people. It's in the north of the north so it has worse weather than most places (the North is notorious for its rain and cold compared to other places, everything is grey.). Every French person will tend to go south to their hometown when going on vacation.
> it will be money pit
This is not a given at all. You have to consider the cost of enforcing the payment system. If transport is free you don't have to maintain the turnstiles and gates, employ verification agents, create cards, print tickets, etc. It's not clear at all that fares are covering this cost by themselves. Public transport is already greatly subsidized and already free or cheap for large parts of the population (elderly, disabled, unemployed, students, children).
The local economist has been ascribing this move to the $15 minimum wage. His take is that the only way fast food can stay profitable, with the higher minimum wages, is automation. Computers cost less than people.
Everyone in the latest YC class working on an automation-like product can now bump up their "cost savings" numbers in their pitch decks. Minimum wage increases work only if companies have to hire people.
It usually comes from a recession or a depression were rewrites are finally deemed necessary. Unfortunately unless people with common sense participate in government and we vote in selfless people a generation will suffer the consequences of our inactivity.
>It usually comes from a recession or a depression...
Don't forget crime and violence. Historically speaking those get laws changed quick. That said, I don't think rent control is going to have a very direct effect on crime and violence.
My dream is simple OS that works kinda like DOS:
* Micro OS - Boot base from floppy drive if need be
* Let me edit a text file to left put in the pieces I wants instead of a hundred pieces I don't
* Includes BASIC language that build build a binary
* Includes text based GUI for a text editor
* Allow me to pick the drivers I want
I like concept of some Linux OS'es but the ecosystem has got some huge it takes an expert to truly understand it. For a server I really only need a network drivers, SSH client, and the server software. I maybe nostalgic but I miss the good old days.
It’s not like Multics or ITS or the Lisp machines or the IBM OSs were simple at all. In fact, they probably were more complicated. What you’re talking about are the toy OSs designed for extremely limited hardware for people who probably couldn’t tell the difference in the first place.
But if you want something simple, try out the base OpenBSD install. No magic, no complexity, just simplicity and elegance.
I've been able to get the same or very similar performance with modern languages that are a lot easier to debug. It just a matter of developers and management letting go of the old ways.
Yes, because it still makes those SEO links. But more so that if you do a good press release you can cross link it on sites with higher SEO ratings. Like here if it makes it to the front page. Even if it doesn't go anywhere beyond the 'new' section a search engine will eventually pick it up.
I wouldn't pay $300 is worth it. Just do it yourself or hire a reputable PR firm. the best path to go to forums like Reddit. Talk about your product, get feedback, and build a community. Thats worth more than any press release.
We have B2B startup, reddit and similar communities are not really our target market. But I hear what you are saying. My question is really: does anybody from the press read those PR?
I believe because of Cyrillic URL spoofing from a about 10-15 years ago most people stay away from UNICODE urls. China's numeric URL's maybe so that tracking URL's are easier, but that's just a guess.
https://shop.pi-top.com/products/pi-top