I don't see myself doing a PhD, it's too much time to commit to something I'm only marginally interested in. (I haven't read the link yet, but just based on the ToC, it doesn't look like it's going to convince me otherwise!)
> Another option is to go into industry and take night/evening classes through an online masters like Georgia Tech or Stanford Online
That sounds really neat! Unfortunately it doesn't look like I'm eligible for the scholarship since I'm not an EU citizen [1]. I also don't know if I would be able to work at all under whatever visa I would get. But tuition is so much cheaper (and food/housing also somewhat cheaper it seems) than in the US, so it still might make financial sense.
I have a preference towards Germany (I did a short-term project working on research at a university there recently), but would be open to somewhere else as well.
My grades from my undergraduate program are good (4.0/4.0 GPA); it's possible my grades could decrease a bit, but I don't expect them to drop significantly in the future (although you never know).
I really do want to learn CS better; I think the opportunity to do that would be good. But the expense / opportunity cost is high enough that it does seem like more of an economic question of "will this help me get a better job?", which there doesn't seem to be a good answer to.
> At least where I am, the level of CS teaching in Universities is not as good as in the US (at least my limited sample of known people/universities).
Would you mind saying where that is? (I can email also if you don't want to here)
The nice part about Germany is, that you don't pay any tuition fee there (except Baden-Württemberg). So doing a Master's there is a lot cheaper than in the US.
As for CS, it is possible to work there with a BA, but generally speaking, you will earn more money and have more job opportunities with a MA.
I have the opposite problem: after signing up for Lyft, it made me "verify my payment method" by adding a second payment method with the same address. My second payment method had the same problem, and the only option left was to directly connect a bank account, which I didn't want to do. Uber took my credit card without a problem.
This just happened to me too - 3 year old Frigidaire, failed compressor. Would be interesting if this really is a trend rather than just anecdotal, but I suppose we'll never know.
What's ridiculous is the lack of reasonably-priced replacement parts. I tried to get the fridge repaired, and the cost of a new compressor + the cost of having someone swap it was more than the cost of an entire new fridge.
> Li-ion battery arrangements inside those devices seem to hold about 80% of their usable capacity and voltage for about six months, with average usage patterns. A year after that this drops to 50% of original capacity, or below. This is known, if a bit too generalized.
What? Taking the example of Apple (since they make their battery ratings easily accessible, but other manufacturers are similar), iphone batteries are rated to hit 80% at 500 charge cycles, and ipad/macbook batteries are rated to 1000 cycles [1]. Assuming you discharge your battery from 100% to 0% every day (which is at the upper end of average usage), iphone batteries should last ~1.5 years, and macbook batteries around 3 years.
Apple also has a pretty good battery replacement service, at least in comparison to other manufacturers. When my iphone battery wore out after ~3 years, I shipped it to Apple and paid $60, and they sent it back a few days later with a new battery. My macbook battery lasted ~4 years of heavy usage, and they did the same thing for ~$200. A user-swappable battery would definitely be easier (and cheaper), but the service they offer is good enough that it's still feasible to get a replacement and keep the device past the battery lifespan.
On the web, Apple has a lot less control over content, and so it would be difficult for them to censor it effectively (and customers perceive it as open, so if Apple introduced mandatory filtering in Safari, it likely would cause a lot of backlash). But in the App Store, where they have more control, creating a device free of adult content absolutely seems to be their goal.
I just read this recently also, and I agree it’s a great book. “dystopian steampunk alternative-Victorian vibe” describes it well - it’s a society with advanced chemistry and materials (“elderglass”), but no gasoline, electricity, computers, etc.
> Another option is to go into industry and take night/evening classes through an online masters like Georgia Tech or Stanford Online
Have you done this before?