Hacker News Reader

__derek__on Amazon CEO warns remote workers: ‘It’s probably not going to work out for you’

The money quote was literally that people who can't "disagree and commit" should leave the company.

__derek__on Amazon CEO warns remote workers: ‘It’s probably not going to work out for you’

That's not how Amazon's comp works. The sign-on bonus is prorated over the first two years to fill in the "gap" before hitting the normal RSU vesting cadence. Someone hired one year ago leaving today would "only" vest 5% of their RSUs, but they would have received ~35% of their initial RSU value in cash over the last 12 months. Someone hitting their second anniversary would "only" vest another 15% of their RSUs, but they would have received another ~25% of their initial RSU value in cash over the last 12 months.

__derek__on WeWork Raises ‘Substantial Doubt’ About Staying in Business

Less than two years ago, Adam Neumann was taking credit for the WeWork turnaround and SPAC merger.[1] Will he also claim credit now? It's not as though the problems are novel:

> As a result of our losses and our projected cash needs, which have been impacted by the recent increases in member churn, combined with our current liquidity level, substantial doubt exists about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern over the next 12 months.

The same could have been written in the IPO filing.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgp-CM-gQik

__derek__on UPS driver pay and benefits deal in US to be worth $170k a year, firm says

Re: path to the middle class and the warehouse-to-driver gauntlet, the New Yorker had a good piece on the looming strike back in January.[1]

[1]: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/16/can-ups-still-...

__derek__on Threads Has Lost More Than 80% of Its Daily Active Users

Didn't Twitter[1] actually die after Threads launched, though?

[1]: The brand, as Twitter Inc. was merged out of existence back in April.

__derek__on CLEAR led a flyer carrying ammo under a false name to TSA, sparking probe

There's no ID check after passing Clear, so this would be a way to avoid no-fly lists and other restrictions on travel.

__derek__on CLEAR led a flyer carrying ammo under a false name to TSA, sparking probe

https://archive.is/D7u9l

> In total, the TSA raised concerns about almost 49,000 Clear customers who were enrolled despite facial-recognition software flagging them as non-matches, and concluded its broader methods were inherently inferior to how the government checks travelers’ IDs, the people said. Enrollment photos seen by Bloomberg in some cases didn’t show a face at all and instead, for example, a shoulder and ceiling.

This seems like it ought to be a huge story.

__derek__on JPMorgan warns that an AI bubble is brewing

Touché

__derek__on JPMorgan warns that an AI bubble is brewing

The random walk is an emergent phenomenon, though. It arises from the individual movements, but doesn't explain them. That's a bit like saying "Traffic" when someone asks, "Why are all these people out driving today?"

__derek__on JPMorgan warns that an AI bubble is brewing

I honestly don't pay much attention to Apple stock (hello, availability bias!), so I'm curious how often it does that. Assuming that day's move was just noise, though, should we conclude that it's unrelated to the AI bubble? That there is no AI bubble? Something else?

__derek__on JPMorgan warns that an AI bubble is brewing

W/AI/ste Management seems too easy, right?

__derek__on JPMorgan warns that an AI bubble is brewing

Last week, Apple added about $50 billion in market cap after Bloomberg reported that it was working on its own ChatGPT gizmo. Every ad on Marketplace is for stuff like AI-powered recruiting by Robert Half. If it's only brewing so far, I don't think I'm ready for what comes next. An AI beverage company[1] or something?

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Blockchain_Corp

__derek__on Tell HN: CloudFront Is Having an Outage

> Ring was successfully hacked as well.

Wait, do you have more details about this? I see a Vice story[1] about a ransomware crew's claim that it hacked Ring, but it includes this:

> It is not clear what specific data ALPHV may have access to. In a statement, Ring told Motherboard "We currently have no indications that Ring has experienced a ransomware event." But the company added that it is aware of third-party vendor that has experienced a ransomware event, and that Ring is working with that company to learn more. Ring said this vendor does not have access to customer records.

There are similar stories with similar invitations for Ring employees to leak details, but the lack of updates usually indicates that the event isn't as juicy as the gang claimed.

[1]: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjvd9q/ransomware-group-clai...

__derek__on Want to buy a West Texas ghost town? Now’s your chance

This is my favorite bit:

> Jeff Bazo’s Blue Origin spaceport is 40 miles north of Lobo.

I'm not sure which is funnier: honest mistake or intentional dig.

__derek__on Coastal Cities Priced Out Low-Wage Workers. Now College Graduates Are Leaving

Ames is not a gutted Midwestern town, though. College towns centered on large research universities benefit from a similar dynamic as the DMV.

__derek__on Google ordered to pay $500K to Montrealer over links calling him pedophile

Interesting. It seems like this sort of precedent could make ChatGPT's defamation habit[1] expensive for OpenAI.

[1]: https://jonathanturley.org/2023/04/06/defamed-by-chatgpt-my-...

__derek__on POSSE: Publish on your Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere

This seems like a new skin on COPE (create once, publish everywhere), an NPR idea from 10+ years ago. Ironically, it fits to just rebrand someone else's established ideas like this.

Editing to add: I see that they linked to COPE in the See Also section, although the Programmable Web link is broken (irony upon irony!). NPR still has a version up, fortunately.[1]

[1]: https://www.npr.org/sections/inside/2009/02/clean_content_po...

__derek__on Searching for the Spirit of the Midwest

I believe that's a reference to the northern vowel shift.[1] Your family might have been too far west.

There is some "Warshington" out here in the PNW, but I never encountered that growing up in Michigan.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Northern_American_Engli...

__derek__on Amazon now charges fees for UPS Store returns, forcing Whole Foods dropoffs

The Information story in the first reply might be a better link.[1] Either way, this is like sending up the Bezos Signal.[2]

[1]: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/amazon-starts-chargi...

[2]: https://abovethecrowd.com/2015/01/30/ubers-new-bhag-uberpool...

__derek__on Heavy EVs Could Collapse Old Parking Garages: Report

Eh, I'm a Michigan native, and I don't think the two situations are similar.

__derek__on Heavy EVs Could Collapse Old Parking Garages: Report

Not likely. The Washington State Supreme Court has Eyman in check.

__derek__on Heavy EVs Could Collapse Old Parking Garages: Report

It's safe to say that no Republican is going to win city/county/state-wide office around here, so the "attacks" are moot. For example, the state's hurtling towards passing an emergency AWB into law, all while Republicans yell and scream. So, again, the Republicans ain't the problem.

__derek__on Heavy EVs Could Collapse Old Parking Garages: Report

As a Seattleite, I don't think it's fair to blame Republicans in this case: my city, county, and state are dominated by Democrats who promote Vision Zero[1] yet refuse to do anything about these obscenely large (and growing) vehicles.

[1]: https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs...

__derek__on Twitter updates its website logo to Dogecoin

My comment was specifically about the connection to the SEC: if Dogecoin isn't a security, then Musk isn't illegally promoting a security or violating other securities laws. Maybe the CFTC would dislike his promotion, but it's not clearly illegal for someone to use one property they own to promote/advertise their other interests as long as it's disclosed (which, as you note, Musk has done with Dogecoin).

__derek__on Twitter updates its website logo to Dogecoin

AFAIK, Dogecoin isn't a security, so it wouldn't fall under the SEC's purview regardless.

__derek__on The influencers getting rich by teaching you how to get rich

In your analogy, the folks selling these courses are probably more like the people selling claims to gold-less plots. Maybe some gold-finding sticks, too.

__derek__on The influencers getting rich by teaching you how to get rich

Interesting. That up-sell flow appears to be how the Financial Samurai blog works. Ditto Ramit Sethi, whose website/book appears to be the allusion for the article's title despite not being covered in the article.

__derek__on Paris votes to ban rental e-scooters

This line of reasoning has actually been used by Seattle activists to resist installation of traffic cameras.[1] Our city also refuses to enforce any traffic laws generally.

[1]: https://southseattleemerald.com/2023/03/01/opinion-seattles-...

__derek__on I am not afraid of robots. I am afraid of people

TBH, I'm more concerned about their imperfect control. At least if some group of executives has perfect control, then it's possible for someone to force them to turn it off. As with Satya having his team "fix" an issue in 24 hours, though, there's a dog-balancing-plates phenomenon with the current state of development.

__derek__on Maps show how parking lots “eat” U.S. cities

> my suburban town 25 miles away from a major city’s downtown

The article is explicitly about city centers, not suburbs let alone outer ones.