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edgefield

1,003 karma · joined February 4, 2009

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edgefield··on Alexa is in millions of households and Amazon is losing billions
The UI is hilariously bad. I’m playing a NY Times podcast and say “Alexa, pause.” Two minutes later, I say “Alexa, play” and it starts playing some random news clip from ABC News.
edgefield··on Introducing Copilot+ PCs
Yes, and additionally the Copilot 360 user interface is a mess, processing time is slow, and the quality of results is poor. Using the Chat GPT or Claude interface produces much quicker/better results.
edgefield··on Weekly 1:1s are a staple of management. I hated it and found it useless
In my org, I customize meetings based on the specific report, their function, and their needs. With some reports, I meet with weekly, others biweekly, some monthly, some as needed. We adjust as needed based on turbulence, new projects, approaching deadlines, etc. It’s a very effective model.
edgefield··on Predicted 25% Drop in Search Volume Remains Unclear
I strongly disagree. As a simple example, just this week I was looking for ice breaker questions for a work team event. I started with Google and was wading through a myriad of pages stuffed with ads and noise. I happened to have Claude open for an unrelated work experiment and thought to ask Claude for ice breaker questions. It provided 10 good questions and I selected the first two. It’s just a matter of time until we retrain our brains to first use LLMs before Google and then Google’s usage is going to drop like a rock. LLMs for many use cases is simply better, providing better results with far less noise.
edgefield··on How to Start Google
Yes, and doing a startup involves risk. If you fail, you’ll lose time and likely money. I’m now 10+ years behind on my retirement savings. I’ll likely need to work until 70-75.
edgefield··on Hospitals owned by private equity are harming patients, reports find
Can anyone provide a single case of where a private equity majority owned business thrived, expanded, or at least maintained market share for at least three years? It seems private equity focuses on extracting every bit of value from a business, as quickly as possible, and then walking away via asset divestiture and bankruptcy.
edgefield··on Quality of care declines after private equity takes over hospitals
I’m struggling to understand how the standard PE model works, particularly the debt component. PE firms seem to target mediocre businesses, load them with debt, and then harvest returns and eventually the assets. Why would a bank loan money for such an arrangement, given how often these businesses end up in bankruptcy (Toys R Us as an example)? Is the debt collateralized and bundled with better performing debt or sold off to an unwitting buyer?
edgefield··on Rising Temperatures in the Netherlands
It’s hard to believe how many visitors to HN are climate science deniers. This is equivalent to claiming the earth is flat, denying the value of vaccines, or arguing that we didn’t really land on the moon.
edgefield··on New theory claims to unite Einstein's gravity with quantum mechanics
I’m not a physicist much less an astrophysicist and so take what I’m about to say with a hefty grain of salt. But I wonder if this new approach can also explain observations of distant galaxies. Distant galaxies either redshift because they’re moving away faster over time due to dark energy or redshift because their mass is changing. Can this new theory help explain why older galaxies might lose increasing mass over time?
edgefield··on World’s oceans at record high temperature for 80 consecutive days
Sounds like the MAGA movement in the United States. I share your sentiment of losing hope.
edgefield··on World’s oceans at record high temperature for 80 consecutive days
OP wouldn’t be so skeptical except for the fact that 99% of scientists have been raising the alarm bells about climate change for 50 years and mainly politicians and commentators, often with little to no expertise and significantly biased due to fossil fuel connections and donations, have been questioning and undermining the science.
edgefield··on World’s oceans at record high temperature for 80 consecutive days
How does the earth have a core if it’s flat? Taps head…
edgefield··on World’s oceans at record high temperature for 80 consecutive days
Yes, that’s my understanding.
edgefield··on World’s oceans at record high temperature for 80 consecutive days
Well said. I have two small kiddos and difficult to know how to engage with them on topics like AI and climate change.

As a related experience, I picked up my son from a birthday party and the birthday consisted of a rented massive trailer with big screen TVs and 7-8 different video game consoles for couch coop gaming. All powered by a generator. Very cool and very frightening all at the same time.

edgefield··on Peloton CEO quit after laying off 2,800. A lesson about how not to lead (2022)
I don’t think the peloton is at all equivalent to the ronco(?) or bow flex. It’s an integrated experience with hardware, classes/instructors, and an active community.
edgefield··on Peloton CEO quit after laying off 2,800. A lesson about how not to lead (2022)
Better integration with the classes and metrics and the leaderboard. I use power zone classes only and the metrics are key for that.
edgefield··on Peloton CEO quit after laying off 2,800. A lesson about how not to lead (2022)
You can say what you want but from my vantage point there’s nothing “fad-ish” about the peloton. Do people buy it like the latest kitchen gizmo and then store it away and let it gather dust? Sure. But that’s not at all my experience.

Note, before the peloton I bought a Concept 2 rower. I used it routinely for a few months, then periodically, and then not at all. I still have it and going to try to use it again in conjunction with the peloton rowing classes now that they’re available in the app.

edgefield··on Peloton CEO quit after laying off 2,800. A lesson about how not to lead (2022)
You’re paying the same or more for a regular gym membership. My wife pays $200/month+ for Pilates.
edgefield··on Peloton CEO quit after laying off 2,800. A lesson about how not to lead (2022)
As a peloton owner, I strongly disagree. I have a peloton and went from not working out regularly, despite many attempts and gym memberships, to working out 4x a week (45 min or longer), going on 3 years now. I lost 15 lbs and in the best shape of my life. A $1,500 bike + $49/month subscription fee is a small price to pay for dramatically improved health and well being.
edgefield··on Waymo and Uber partner to bring autonomous driving technology to Uber
This seems to leave Lyft in a bad spot?
edgefield··on Tell HN: Putting mirrors around my desk improved my posture
I thought about trying this exact same idea for my indoor bike. Posture is also key for cycling.
edgefield··on Google employees complain about CEO's pay raise as cost cuts hit company
This is basically every public company —- Prioritize short term stock price gains over long term growth and sustainability. The only exception are founder run companies and perhaps a few public companies with strong culture/mission (e.g., Costco comes to mind). Google is no longer founder led and it threw out its mission several years ago.
edgefield··on Cynthia Rudin and interpretable ML models
I’m pretty sure the field of neuroscience is focused on understanding how the brain works.
edgefield··on Geoffrey Hinton leaves Google and warns of danger ahead
Sorry, you’re correct. Chief scientist not CTO.
edgefield··on Geoffrey Hinton leaves Google and warns of danger ahead
It sounds like you’re biased against academics. Not only did Hinton develop some of the fundamental ideas behind AI (winning the Turing award) but also one of his PhD students is now the CTO at OpenAI.
edgefield··on Peter Gabriel: AI competition statement
I am for the jobs that AI will provide!
edgefield··on Elon Musk’s Twitter labels CBC “69% government-funded media”
CBC is pausing its posting on Twitter and in retaliation Musk labels CBC as “69% government-funded media.” Elon seems hell bent on driving major brands and advertisers away from Twitter and undermining Tesla and SpaceX, by association.
edgefield··on RAM’s New Electric Pickup Truck Aims for Battery Range of 500 Miles
Where does the energy come from to mine the materials and to build the large battery and massive truck? How about the energy needed to charge the large battery each and every day?
edgefield··on RAM’s New Electric Pickup Truck Aims for Battery Range of 500 Miles
Clearly EVs without policy changes aren’t going to move us toward a sustainable planet on any timeline that matters.
edgefield··on The AI Mirror Test, which smart people keep failing
So true. In my family of four, with two small kids, I certainly don’t feel like I have much agency. :)
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