Specifically, VHS had both longer recording times and cheaper VCRs (due to Matsushita’s liberal licensing) than Betamax did. Beta only had slightly better picture quality if you were willing to sacrifice recording length per tape. Most Betamax users adopted the βII format which lowered picture quality to VHS levels in order to squeeze more recording time onto the tape. At that point Betamax’s only advantage was a slightly more compact cassette.
Also to correct another common myth, porn was widely available on both formats and was not the cause of VHS’s success over Betamax.
Yes, weight alone is not that important for fuel economy at highway speeds. Aerodynamic efficiency of a vehicle is determined by the cross section area + drag coefficient. A 90s Honda Civic has a worse drag coefficient but a vastly smaller cross section than the Rivian, so it needs to move less air out of the way to drive forward. Smaller EVs can go farther with smaller batteries, but the American consumer has decided for one reason or another that cars must be tall, and therefore less aerodynamically efficient.
Considering the amount of personal data on people’s phones, plus how commonly people lose them in public, I would say that encryption by default is unambiguously a good thing, and it’s incredible that it took Google until Android 10.
Google can be an excellent place to work, but most of the people working there are not contributing to the company’s profits. Whether or not you think that still has value, leadership is trying to “optimize” by squeezing everyone harder and demanding they show productivity gains using AI. Some teams will adapt and keep being a nice team to work on, but many employees are getting “optimized” out of the company and replaced with vendorization and consultants.
A lot of those individual googlers are longtimers who are now leaving after 15, 20 years. Google has been offering voluntary exit packages this year and I suspect the kind of people who would value Google.com working in Lynx are also the type who have made plenty of money and are disillusioned by what the company has become.
As a subscriber and Patreon member, thank you for making videos with so much substance. You strike a good balance between entertaining and informative, and I’m glad you’re also able to create written records for work like this.
Also to correct another common myth, porn was widely available on both formats and was not the cause of VHS’s success over Betamax.