raincom

It is a reasonable thing for them to cash out. Of course, for long term investors, it is a different story.

Hamas doesn't rule the West Bank though.

> and it really helps if they're someone who has an existing history of making this size and kind of trade.

This is the strategy many hedge funds used before some of them got busted. Raj Rajaratnam, a HF billionaire, mentioned this somewhere.

Do you need to work as an apprentice for 2 years before you get that electrician license in your country? In many states of US, it ranges from 1 year to four years.

What are the ways to make models work on AMD, Intel, etc faster? Do AMD, Intel, Tenstorrent, Qualcomm (due to their Modular.ai acquisition) combine forces to take on CUDA?

Every ex-Google Deep mind should start a start up, get funding from VCs and Nvidia. Sell the startup back to Nvidia. That's the best play for those who are capable of this kind of AI startup.

Nvidia invested $500M in Firmus a few months ago. It is interesting to note how Nvidia is investing in every start up that deals with AI, data centers, etc in order to keep the train going.

I am not against trades, nor am I against overhead. HVAC trade is something I follow. Many honest HVAC trades people on their YouTube channels say how many companies are ripping off of customers: recommending full replacement instead of fixing it; using tools like ServiceTitan and apps to add more line items to rip off customers; etc. r/hvacadvice on Reddit attests this new phenomenon. This is not about how home owners find trades expensive. Fellow trades people also agree with it.

I understand about overhead. Diesel price, truck depreciation, commercial space lease, dispatcher salary, non-uniform demand, workers comp, taxes, ...

Absolutely, one should charge 200% if they want a service at 3 am or during weekends. I would even charge 50% extra if they have a furnace in the attic, crawl/inaccessible spaces. 100% extra, if their attic/crawl faces have rodent feces. Home owners should better put these stuff in an accessible mechanical room. Accessibility is an important factor, and helps trades people to troubleshoot faster.

Earlier they included Cloudera and Cognizant.

The issue is not about 1%, but one of the cost of hiring trades people. HVAC companies are charging $25k for a three-ton HVAC unit+furnace in California, when the cost of the the unit is 5k. And these trades people don't want to fix any problem instead they want to sell a full replacement. Same with electrical. You call for some issue. a banktrician (PE owned company with 60 month financial plan) comes and sells a full panel upgrade, full rewiring? What is going to happen then?

Any person with a decent STEM education can learn these trades for DIY'ing. They can learn safety protocols too. When HVAC/plumbing/electricals are installed in a way conducive to robots, it is easier for those who can't afford a lot of money, to work and fix these issues.

The world (esp in residential) is not a union of two disjoint sets: (a) robots/AI (b) trades people. In fact, the third world is huge: an average tinkerer without being burdened by gatekeepers of the trade can fix many issues when these installs happen. At least it becomes easy to replace parts by oneself, instead of hiring a technician.

Your average technician is no better than a tinkerer. For instance, look at HVAC symptoms: https://imgur.com/a/FXf3iXf That's what many HVAC techs carry, they even carry apps that just takes the inputs (pressures, temperatures, etc) and spew out what could be the cause. What if a HVAC system is built in such a way that it is easy to replace parts? Right now, to replace compressor, one has to discharge the refrigerant, unbraze suction and liquid lines, vaccum out, then use nitrogen, braze both lines, then charge it back. Can we have a world where it is easy to reduce these steps so that it becomes easier for robots (as well as for humans)

How about having universal VFD boards the way ABB sells VFDs for water pumps and other motors, instead of getting tied with a particular brand?

The real problem is whether average home owner can bear the cost of trades people? Sure, trades is just like Accenture IT consulting: one rock star software engineer with 30 dummies who can jack up the billable hours; same goes for law firms too.

>But what is the incentive for contractors to participate, and how does it overcome the enormous disincentive of "You are training your replacement"?

They don't need any local companies to participate in this program. This company can hire engineers with an understanding of code (even better, engineering/safety principles behind the code) from the industry. Further, they can go and recruit intelligent people who graduated from trade schools but couldn't get that apprenticeship from local unions. That's all they need, as long as home owners are compensated for any screw ups.

The first line 'Partnerships with home-service companies ...' tells the whole story. No local company with decent trades people on their payroll wants to work with home-service companies, it's always the lowest bidder who wants to get that job from home-service companies. Who are these lowest bidders? Someone brand new, who couldn't get enough clients.

If residential HVAC has more monitoring controls, it is easy to diagnose 99% of the time. What needs to be monitored: supply air temp, return air temp, suction pressure, suction temp, liquid pressure, liquid temp, compressor inrush amps, compressor amp draw, blower motor cfm, blower motor amp draw, further info from ECM and VFD modules if ECM blower motor and VFD compressor are used, etc. Many modern HVACs have some kind of error codes to show what is going on; however, every manufacturer wants his own set of codes, and their special communication prototol, their special thermostat, ...

One can extend similar controls to plumbing and electrical too. That requires a total revamp of how residential electrical/plumbing/hvac is done. This is similar to any field where robots have taken over: the field itself changes in order to accommodate robots.

is it instant ACH?

Large companies will take the same route as Meta and Microsoft. Small players will go for local LLMs with the right hardware.

When they take dollars for oil, they would rather swap paper currency with real assets (ownership of firms). If US doesn't want that, they should make moves to remove USD as a reserve currency or preferred currency for global trade.

I know two people who got electrocuted (died). This is in the third world country. They both worked as linemen.

Electrocution = fatal injury (death). Shock = non-fatal injury.

At least in the developed world, electrocutions (deaths) are less than what we see in the third world.

70% of all workplace electrical fatalities are in non-electrical trades: https://www.esfi.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/ESFI-Workpla...

Residential electric stuff is more about fire prevention, prevention of shocks/electrocution, less about how electricity works: junction boxes, wire gauge sizing, cable protection with metal nail plates, anti-short bushings, clamping cables, etc.

For someone like you, you can learn common codes in two weeks. However, this profession is gated by 2000 to 8000 hrs of apprenticeship.

Controls, PLC programming for industrial automation, etc is where you can shine. However, I don't like work with high voltage circuits, even the latter are controlled by low voltage control circuits.

Even in home appliances (washer, dryer, oven, dishwasher, heatpumps, dish washer, etc), we see a lot of control circuits (PCB boards, step down transformers, VFD etc).

That's what solo journeymen do: they would rather work less, get paid more, and rest.

HVAC is a field I am familiar with. 90% of HVAC technicians suck at what they do. They don't install properly. Qualified technicians move to industrial/commercial.

I am not blaming the HVAC technicians. It is the nature of trades: small business owners don't want to train up their technicians. So, they always look for fresh blood. Also, this field is seasonal: summers and winters. In summers, cooling problems; in winters, it is heating problems (furnaces, etc).

HVAC needs three different skills: controls (relays, transducers, contactors), electrical, refrigeration circuit, air flow (duct work, proper cfm settings), etc. In a way, this whole area is covered in multiple semesters of any mechanical engineering program (heat transfer, control systems, electricity).

Do they get 200 days worth of work per year, paying 5K to 10K per day? I think, that's where the problem lies for anyone who runs a business of trades. Whenever there is a work, they have to charge 400% to cover the overhead.

There is a rumor that Apple wants to enter the server market again with new chips for AI.

The corruption elsewhere is of different order. In US, one can bid up four times normal, one at least delivers the quality. Elsewhere, roads fail, buildings fall, bridges collapse, pipes burst upon the first use, ...

It is common to hear phrases such as "Mr 10 percent" as a reference to powerful leaders in various countries. For instance, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is called "Mr 10 percent". 10 percent cut from every contract. This is not unique to Pakistan. In India, many regional party leaders (basically, they and their family own the political party) want 20 percent cut.

When one hears 2-6%, it is just the floor.

Yes, "old city" stories!!

His compensation is tied to the stock price. So, expect him to make changes.

which particular heat pump was it?

AI is great for those who want to learn. Earlier, one has to find all relevant books, search specific forums, or use google in order to find answers to questions that teachers or fellow smart-students find silly. Even if AI gives false answers, it is better than having no answer. At least, the search space to find an answer is reduced.

pressure reducing is a key element here. In HVACs, they use metering devices to reduce the pressure of the refrigerants.

Their refrigeration 101 is a good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U-XG7cY7bI

Indian outsourcing companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant, etc., have a negative impact on contracting rates. These companies just underbid for the onsite contractor roles, so it is a race to bottom. Have you noticed all those emails from recruiters for $55 dollars on W2 in California for some contract role through TCS, Infosys, ..