Tag

Cost

All articles tagged with #cost

local21 days ago•1 min saved

Albuquerque Retires Christmas Eve Luminaria Bus Tour, Eyes Safer Alternatives

Albuquerque’s ABQ RIDE will stop its Christmas Eve Luminaria Bus Tour due to high costs and a history of unused tickets (about 62% on average over the last decade). The tour cost roughly $200,000 to serve 586 attendees (about $341 per person), and as a zero-fare system, ABQ RIDE cannot offset expenses with fare revenue. The city and neighborhood groups are exploring alternatives like a walking tour or a revised bus route, while preserving the luminaria tradition and giving transit staff more holiday time with their families.

via kob.com|

#abq-ride #albuquerque #bus-tour

technology23 days ago•7 min saved

Open-weight AI narrows frontier gap; four-month edge costs five times as much

Mozilla’s State of Open Source AI finds the performance gap between closed frontier models and open-weight models has shrunk to about 4.4 months, with Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 nearly matching Anthropic’s Fable 5 while costing ~30% of a closed model. Paying for closed frontier models buys roughly a four‑month head start at about five times the per‑task cost, worth it mainly for longer, more complex workloads or when out‑of‑the‑box compliance is essential. Open models are increasingly used for routine tasks (e.g., DoorDash using Kimi) and are proliferating on platforms like OpenRouter, but revenue remains dominated by closed models. The piece also calls for a broader, more open ecosystem to prevent concentration of power.

via Ars Technica|

#ai #cost #frontier-models

science1 month ago•12 min saved

From Perseverance to a Mars Colony: Why human missions could cost hundreds of billions

Perseverance cost about $2.7 billion over its life cycle, far less than a crewed Mars mission would require; human missions need a multi-launch, long-duration life-support system with habitats, redundancy, and Earth return, making the total cost highly sensitive to scope and architecture. The $500 billion figure is an old, not fixed NASA price, and hundreds of billions is plausible for a comprehensive, decades-long programme rather than a single voyage.

via Space Daily|

#architecture #cost #mars

politics1 month ago•113 min saved

Kennedy Center Renovation Price Tag Rockets to $560 Million

Internal blueprints reveal the Kennedy Center renovation could cost up to $560 million—more than double the $257 million approved—with two options: a four-year phased on-site upgrade or a two-year shutdown with off-site performances; Congress would cover about 90% of either plan, but a $30 million bridge fund may be needed. The REACH space stays open, staff reductions are possible, and final plans still require federal judicial approval amid ongoing board turmoil tied to Trump-era leadership.

via The Daily Beast|

#cost #kennedy-center #politics

technology2 months ago•6 min saved

Tidal Turbines: High Potential, High Hurdles

Tidal energy could provide strong, near-zero-emission power by harvesting ocean tides with underwater turbines, but faces steep upfront costs, site-specific constraints, and environmental concerns; tides are predictable but intermittent, so tidal power would need storage or backup and is currently viable mainly in a few favorable coastlines (e.g., Sihwa Lake at 254 MW).

via bgr.com|

#cost #environmental-impact #renewable-energy

space2 months ago•4 min saved

Billion-dollar question: repurposing Mars rover hardware for the Moon

NASA is weighing sending PROMISE, a lunar rover built from Mars rover engineering models, to the Moon’s south pole to support a future Moon Base. While NASA officials tout using existing hardware for a quick win, a Planetary Society analysis estimates development and launch could cost roughly $0.7–1.3 billion with readiness in the early 2030s, driven by power, flight-ready instruments, and certification. The plan could affect Curiosity/Perseverance testbeds and hinges on securing a spare RTG, complicating broader mission plans. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman argues costs can stay low if launch costs are restrained and defends repurposing hardware, while questions about nuclear power availability and New Frontiers timing add budgeting uncertainty.

via SpaceNews|

#cost #moon #nasa

health2 months ago•57 min saved

Eight Weeks on GLP-1s: The Price, the Nausea, and the Real Story

Eight weeks of a personal GLP-1 weight-loss trial (like Ozempic) cost about $3,000 and delivered steady weight loss (roughly 15 pounds) but came with severe side effects including prolonged nausea, constipation, brain fog, food aversion, and social isolation. The author notes that appetite suppression and weight loss can be temporary, with potential rebound after stopping, and questions whether the trade-off is worth it. She concludes she wouldn’t do GLP-1s again for weight loss and urges medical guidance and careful consideration of long-term costs and outcomes before trying them.

via buzzfeed.com|

#cost #glp-1 #health

business2 months ago•3 min saved

Cheaper Chinese AIs Reshape Corporate AI Buying

Faced with rising AI bills, major firms like DoorDash, Airbnb, and Siemens are turning to cheaper Chinese models (DeepSeek, Z.ai) over US rivals such as Claude and ChatGPT, bolstered by their open-weight customization. The shift is driven by cost savings and flexibility, even as concerns about data control and trust in US AI leadership persist, reflected in extreme spending per employee and incidents like the Mythos ban.

via Futurism|

#ai #business #china

politics3 months ago•3 min saved

Trump-era Lincoln Memorial pool drained again amid cost and controversy

Crews drained the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington, DC again as part of a Trump-backed renovation, with debris from Independence Day fireworks in the water and plans to repair vandalism before refilling. The project has cost more than $16 million, faced criticism over alleged vandalism and contractor ties to the administration, and officials say no new bids will be sought, with the same company to complete further repairs while lawmakers probe taxpayer funding.

via The Guardian|

#cost #politics #reflecting-pool

politics4 months ago•2 min saved

Trump's $14.2M Lincoln Memorial pool revamp draws mixed reviews

Trump’s $14.2 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool is complete, featuring a blue-tinted pool and a new nanobubbler filtration system. Reactions are mixed: some visitors praise the reflection, others question the high cost and the selection of a contractor via a no-bid process amid reports of algae startup issues.

via The Guardian|

#cost #lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool #no-bid-contract

politics4 months ago•109 min saved

Court Filings Unveil a $60 Million White House UFC Birthday Bash

New court filings reveal the White House UFC event, dubbed UFC Freedom 250 for America’s 250th anniversary, will cost about $60 million and involve hundreds of workers, 20–30 trucks of staging gear daily, and up to 494 portable toilets, with seven federal agencies providing security; organizers expect roughly 125,000 attendees (plus 75,000 ticket requests), as a lawsuit to block the event proceeds.

via The Daily Beast|

#cost #court-filings #donald-j-trump

politics4 months ago•12 min saved

Bees, Books and a Big Price Tag at Obama's Presidential Center

AP News tours the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, highlighting its sizable cost, a library housing thousands of volumes, and a beehive on site that adds a distinctive sustainability and community touch to the museum and research complex.

via AP News|

#books #chicago #cost

tech4 months ago•59 min saved

Gemini Spark impresses in hands-on tests but at a steep cost

Google’s Gemini Spark AI agent proves surprisingly capable in Verge’s hands-on tests, handling multi-step tasks like drafting emails and planning events, but it’s not yet worth the $99.99/month AI Ultra plan due to imperfect results, the need for constant oversight, and notable privacy concerns about data stewardship.

via The Verge|

#ai #cost #gemini-spark

technology4 months ago•4 min saved

Google Bets on Speed and Savings with Gemini 3.5 Flash

Google argues the AI race is moving from sheer model size to cost and speed, pitching Gemini 3.5 Flash as cheaper, faster compute that could save enterprises billions on token usage by leveraging Google’s full-stack control from chips to applications, signaling a flywheel strategy reminiscent of its search dominance.

via Business Insider|

#ai #cost #gemini

business4 months ago•2 min saved

AI sticker shock reshapes corporate tech bets

Corporate AI spending is ballooning with unclear returns as firms face rising IT costs, uncertain productivity gains, and employee pushback. Microsoft canceled Claude Code licenses and Uber’s COO says AI costs are hard to justify, with reports of a client spending about $500 million in a month without usage limits. The industry is moving away from broad, “tokenmaxxing” deployment toward disciplined, revenue-focused AI use, focusing on four friction points—use cases, costs, humans, and data—to drive tangible ROI.

via Axios|

#adoption #ai #business