HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

arjunrc

56 karma · joined November 21, 2012

submissionscomments
arjunrc··on Behind the Ferrari and Lamborghini rivalry
You seem pretty knowledgeable about this stuff. Any book or other material recommendations detailing the history of both brands? The rivalry is legendary, but seeing results across decades trying to outdo each other and the market is pretty interesting I’m sure.
arjunrc··on Genealogy of Relational Database Management Systems [pdf]
This is incredible to see all in one place. I’m preaching SQL to my Org. and it’s only getting preachier over the years, as I see new technologies come and go (OLAP, NoSQL and it’s many variations including Hadoop, Azure Cosmos DB).

For an Org. of our size, I’m not sure if these new fads make it any easier. Even if they helped with data streaming, we still are having to move it to a SQL warehouse where we can combine it with other Org. data to answer business questions. Not sure if anyone has built out a fully operational reporting architecture without using SQL on HN. Long live SQL!

arjunrc··on The Financial Times’ 404 page
I am interested in this as well. The regular media can be monotonous or driven by agendas. Would be great to find content created by folks paid to write unbiased, say it like it is.
arjunrc··on A secret call to Andy Grove that may have helped Apple buy NeXT (2018)
OP shows up to comment! Love your article! I echo the first comment in your article, about writing a book. There can be never be too many books about 90s era Jobs.
arjunrc··on How to Collaborate with People You Don’t Like (2018)
I just slammed the phone down after a difficult conversation with a difficult person. And then opened Hacker News to see this article.

Its prescient and even though may seem antithetical to me, back in my 20s, gives a good view of what is expected to be in Management going forward.

arjunrc··on Suspending Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group from Facebook
Are you serious, defending Facebook here?

There can't be a single repository of online data, which by design gives the repository owner too much power and control. Blaming the users for falling for it is like saying we can't have regulation because markets can self-regulate themselves.

After the last 3 years, anyone who defends Facebook comes across as disingenuous, naive or for a lack of a better word, a shill in my book.

Saying Facebook wants to protects your personal information is the most hypocritical statement, I've heard yet.

arjunrc··on Vim-db: Modern database interface for Vim
I’m tied to Windows at work. I’ve tried to start a few conversations about offering MacBooks as an option, but that never goes anywhere due to the additional upfront cost.

Given that constraint, I picked up Vim and have used it for the past 6 years. Tried Emacs at first, but it didn’t play well on Windows (not sure if user error!)

So I definitely encourage “reinventing the wheel” on multiple platforms, as long as the platform is popular enough. Competition doesn’t hurt.

arjunrc··on What was your best passive income in 2017?
It’s in his profile.

https://youtube.com/cheveedodd

arjunrc··on John Lasseter taking a leave of absence amid reports of inappropriate behavior
I'm holding on to this single strand of hope that Tom Hanks is above these recent allegations.

If it comes out that he was also a sleaze bag along with Charlie Rose, Al Franken, Jeffrey Tambor, (along with an incredible family movie director in the rumor circles) I don't know what to think of Hollywood and my childhood heroes anymore.

Tom Hanks, if you have to say anything, do so now rather than later!

arjunrc··on Scott's Cheap Flights: Growing a small side project into a booming business
Can you post some of these reddit links?

I'd imagine several small businesses these days would opt for the "vote manipulation" marketing since its easy. (The Silicon Valley TV show had a similar plot point).

arjunrc··on Options vs. Cash
Do you have a link for the comment from Bezos?

It would be good to get some context on what he said.

arjunrc··on SQL is 43 years old – Here’s why we still use it today
This first paragraph applies exactly to us! We're the offshoot now because of a bloated central IT system and now that we have a good thing going, there's a corporate push to modernize IT and bring back all our offshoots to one place.

Loved the vampire/garlic analogy!

arjunrc··on Uber Says Sales Growth Outpaces Losses
Do you have the link to the FT series? I can't find anything on Google.
arjunrc··on Apple Taps Bob Mansfield to Oversee Car Project
I believe the goal here is an electric car with autonomous features, branded similar to the S-Class or the new E-Class (instead of going all the way like Tesla's AutoPilot).
arjunrc··on More Apple Car Thoughts: Money, Design UI, Distribution
Do you have a source to this?

I haven't seen any news regarding this in any of the auto websites or related sub-reddits

arjunrc··on IBM to Acquire the Weather Company
Appreciate the detailed response.
arjunrc··on IBM to Acquire the Weather Company
I'm also interested in this question. Can someone with this expertise answer?

Is there a reason why we haven't seen a thermometer in a phone so far?

arjunrc··on Apple Reports Record Fourth Quarter Results
I hope so!

I mean what would buy apart from a phone and a watch (& a car) thats worth more than $500?

Smart Shoes? :)

arjunrc··on Apple Reports Record Fourth Quarter Results
I think about this a lot, but I can't come up with a single product that has an average selling price of over $600, that pretty much EVERYONE (at least adults) in the world would need, that they would also want to upgrade every two years.

The Watch would be this device as long as its gets more independent of the phone. Maybe a car in the future!

But in the near term, I would imagine their growth would taper off as more and more of the developing world get an iPhone (China still has few more years of growth) & Moore's law means features aren't added as often.

arjunrc··on Google Brain Residency Program
Mind if you share the University you went to?

I'm a Post Grad from Gatech myself, and from what I've seen this wasn't the norm.

Also, I wonder how different the pay/career options are for a PhD in industry vs. having a Masters in the same field.

arjunrc··on An Analysis of the Distribution of Birthdays in a Calendar Year (2001)
I love this inference from the data.

An examination of the histogram shows significant seasonal variations. The months July - October show higher than expected births and March - May show the most significant decline in births. Perhaps the most reasonable explanation is that conceptions are up in the months of October through January and down in June through August. You be the judge.

Wonder if HN has an explanation as to why :)

arjunrc··on Bernie Sanders' 404 page
Does anyone have a transcript for this? For the folks like me, who have access issues at work.
arjunrc··on How baseball’s tech team built HBO Now
I agree that they are two different business models, but the content on both of them are the same, right?

Wouldn't it be easier to have two separate login pages on the same App? (One authenticates with HBO itself & the other with Comcast/Time Warner et al.) Once authentication is done, you get to see the same content.

They could have removed HBO Go on Apple's devices when Now launched & then gradually remove Go, as Now spread to remaining platforms.

arjunrc··on Apple Reports Record Third Quarter Results
God, I wish I could listen to Siracusa talk about Tech more than those 1:30 hours, that he does every week.
arjunrc··on Apple Reports Record Third Quarter Results
I agree with yours & the parent argument very much. I feel like the Watch could usher in Security/Identity features, that no other consumer device is capable of.

Imagine not having to carry your Company ID card, your credit/debit/loyalty/gym card or any home/car/locker keys or your insurance/drivers license whatsoever for the rest of your life.

This combine with tracking your health, could be its USP.

As the hardware evolves (in 2 years - where its hopefully independent of your Phone), all you need is your watch to go to the gym, or take your dog for a walk.

Iteration/Execution is key, of course. As long as Apple realizes its more important to fix bugs & not keep adding broken features to more broken features (like Apple Music & iTunes 12.2 - which have been horrible IMHO) they should have enough of a user base to make the Watch a household product like the Phone.

arjunrc··on Google’s product strategy: Make two of everything
Do you have a reference for this development being in secret?

I think both Jobs' biographies detailed Forstall & Fadell's development, but I thought they knew about each other, working on Mac to Phone & iPod to Phone concepts respectively.

arjunrc··on Stonebraker Explains Oracle's Obsolescence, Facebook's Challenge
According to the article, there are three strategies - Traditional Row based DBMS, Column based ones (Vertica, VoltDB) and MapReduce/Hadoop.

My current employer is making the switch from Row based to Hadoop - which I feel is because of hype & not justified technically, given the size of our cluster. The goal is to reduce speed of data delivery to clients, but I believe a column-based DBMS with an optimized ETL, would be the way to go.

Wonder how it'll look like in 5 years & if others companies' IT are buying into hype too.

arjunrc··on “Just remove the duck” (2013)
This is how corporate life works & it took five years for me to come to terms with it. However, I have done much better as an Employee (in the eyes of my Manager/Company) ever since.

Once you develop a good reputation by playing the game, you can always fix old bad decisions & at that point, your superiors would actually encourage you to do so.

arjunrc··on [dead]
This maybe a ridiculous idea. But if Apple do want to acquire their way in to the Automobile industry, wouldn't it make sense to buy Tesla right now, at about $25 billion market cap.

One big hindrance that I see is Elon Musk, who IMO would not play second fiddle to anyone else.

A traditional automobile company might be a better solution, I would think. Someone like Jaguar-Land Rover given Jony Ive's background. Their market cap seems to be around $15 billion and they seem to lack an electric vehicle program (this could be where Apple comes in, with their battery expertise), unlike BMW, Daimler etc. who already have an electric cars in development/production.

arjunrc··on Porsche: The Hedge Fund That Also Made Cars
Thank you for the link. I found one English one, which dedicates part of it about him.

http://www.amazon.com/Six-Built-Modern-Auto-Industry/dp/B005...

I do wish for a proper English biography, written by someone like Steven Levy or Walter Isaacson.

Page 1 of 2Next →