Use webp :)

sorry for shameless plug: http://minutesworth.launchrock.com

It's a mere launch rock page, but i am gauging interest on the project. I actually have a big portion of ready, and rest under work, but finding people to pick up the idea is tough.

Everybody say they'll pay, but it's different from actually doing.

That's interesting, but from the copy on the page it seems to target micropayments for reading content published on websites. Which is an important and hard problem.

On the other hand, paying a dollar a month to use a service like email doesn't pose a technological problem. But since most services, unlike email, are walled gardens, I can't pay a provider to give me access to e.g. WhatsApp or Facebook without serving ads or collecting my data.

Right. Web is first target, apps is second. Think of an app you install on device, and apps registering as a publisher can talk to this app to get your subscription status, and not show you ads.

The promise is with sufficient adoption by users and pubs, new pubs will have incentive to do this. Except maybe apps by large corporations.

how about paying for content: I am working on this: http://minutesworth.launchrock.com, currently have a chrome extension that keeps track of time you spent on a website. currently in the works is pub payouts.

capital gains tax is lower, no?

Sure, but you still have to pay taxes, whereas if you get a loan you just pay interest (probably a very low rate) and defer the taxes.

I think major shareholders of Kodak, MCI WorldCom, Enron or Polaroid would point out the concentration risk one is incurring.

Put it in a safe iframe, whats the catch?

Everything. iframes can't fuck with you code, but they are 1. displayed in your page (is this a good idea, does this iframe agree with how your page will display it). 2. Is leaking information to this iframe (and consequently, that iframe's server that this email had been opened) a good idea (no. 100% it's not.). 3. Can someone else contrive another vector of page control or information leak that suits their motives and hasn't been considered a priori by you (also yes, 100%. Never underestimate the motivation or creativity of others).

Never, ever, EVER embed an iframe thinking it will make your life better.

Are most of these protected by sandboxed iframes? What kind if leak are you talking about? Referer leak? That is easy to fix, but what else?

I dont think email sender cares about how iframe is rendered. They currently render in a rectangle, and they will keep render in a rectangle.

Curious what opensource stack they will use (like ros), or if they will write their own.

There's even a ros project for that https://github.com/CPFL/Autoware

I am curious how ros plays with real time requirements? Does it have rtos extensions?

I used ros a bit for drone simulations 5 or so years ago, things might have changed these days.

Chances are she has an app on her phone, pulling data for malicious reason, or simply ads. I have seen cases where the ad was incorrectly implemented and went into some form of loop, pulling 10gb in short amount of time