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franl

799 karma · joined December 22, 2012

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franl··on G1 AR Glasses
I thought the same initially but that is demo’ng translation. She’s speaking in one language and the glasses are showing the English translation. Maybe not great UX either way since it is covering her face but that’s another story.
franl··on Ask HN: What are you passionate about at the moment?
Bingo re dopamine!
franl··on Ask HN: What are you passionate about at the moment?
Check out the book Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke to see why this might be happening. I think she also has a YouTube video with Andrew Huberman going over the same material.
franl··on Don't fire your illustrator
Found the video where Russ says he was making around $100k per month before any label involvement: https://youtu.be/OebNTkTfzHU. I know this is the land of “that’s just survivorship bias!” And I certainly agree that luck and timing plays a massive role in billionaire level startup success, but this guy in particular is a few orders of magnitude of success below that (even if he’s still an outlier). I’m sure he still benefited from luck and timing, but he also was methodical about creating music non-stop, getting better at production, rapping, and writing, and marketing himself. My point being show me someone who has worked as hard and as smart as he has, who picked a niche of music that has large audiences (aka high Total Addressable Market), and who released as much content as him, and I will show you someone who is having non-trivial streaming success - again maybe not $1M+ annually - but something material beyond just scraping by. That doesn’t mean Big Tech is absolved of sin in how it distributes profits or exerts monopoly control or whatever, but I think we often overlook the opportunities these networks have provided for people that would otherwise live in obscurity with no audience whatsoever.
franl··on Don't fire your illustrator
Here you go, he mentions it in the first 30 seconds of this video. He says roughly $100k per month before any label involvement: https://youtu.be/OebNTkTfzHU
franl··on Don't fire your illustrator
I can’t find the article from before he signed with Columbia (might’ve been a YouTube interview with him, can’t remember for sure), but yes, I’m fairly certain he was doing well over 5k per month with no major label.

Also note the terms of his deal with Columbia are unlike most major deals in that he has a 50/50 profit split after his advance payment got recouped, retains either full control or 50/50 control of masters, etc.

franl··on Don't fire your illustrator
> Another opinion popular with no one: AI will have on artists the same impact that Spotify had on the music industry that is, it will kill any revenue flow for anyone outside of the publishers and big artists/players.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding you, but how much money do you think the 7500 creators on Spotify making $100k+ [1] would be making without Spotify or other streaming platforms? My guess is closer to zero than 100k.

Also 0.09 percent of 8 million creators making 100k+ [1] sounds horrible, but my guess is that should be taken with a grain of salt. How many folks are included in that 8 million who registered, but uploaded nothing? How many uploaded once or twice? How many uploaded and did ZERO promo of themselves? How many are just plain terrible musicians?

A number of years ago when I stumbled on him, Russ was pulling in a few hundred thousand per year from streaming. Looks like he’s making 100k per week as of a couple of years ago [2]. Yes, he’s probably an outlier. But he works his butt off on his craft, handles production and writing himself, and markets himself well.

Headlines like “Big tech and AI destroying the indie music industry” get more clicks and attention than “Streaming platforms provide income where once there was none” so shrug.

[1] https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2021/02/24/spotify-artist-e... [2] https://twitter.com/russdiemon/status/1325853093074923520

franl··on Don't fire your illustrator
Russ

EDIT: Not making Taylor Swift money, but not many are

franl··on Developers are building communities that act as their own miniature power grids
What are some examples of this type of decentralization scenario playing out before? What you’re saying makes sense to me, but my hope would be that the decentralization would serve more as a supplement than a replacement - therefore still requiring ongoing maintenance and investment to main infra. The alternative without these microgrids and other microinfra is almost guaranteed to result in the half or fully rotten systems you predict as the prevailing recent political climate doesn’t give much confidence in terms of getting such massive projects planned and completed successfully (US-centric response).
franl··on Developers are building communities that act as their own miniature power grids
Rich is obviously very relative, but for many reading on this site, $300-400k is a reasonable home price (the price cited in the article). And the couple in the article paid even less. “The couple, who paid in the low $200,000s for their 1,350-square-foot, three-bedroom home, moved into the community last July.”
franl··on Researchers treat depression by reversing brain signals traveling the wrong way
Which behavioral changes got you there?
franl··on Testing GPT 4's code-writing capabilities with some real world problems
Just wait until XXQ adopts the same AI technology to keep the AI-using company’s business. Then the AI can simply coordinate with one another, and make the appropriate changes faster than currently possible. Microsoft is well positioned to do something like this and already working toward this end to end collaborative AI.
franl··on Discovery could extend battery life by replacing tape that causes self‑discharge
Is it even possible to fully turn off a Kindle anymore? I want to do exactly what you’re saying to prevent the draining of the battery, but the only options that appear after holding the power button are “Cancel” “Restart” and “Screen Off”. Holding the power button longer just seems to restart the device :/
franl··on When Will Fusion Energy Light Our Homes?
Who said anything about a full fuel switch? All I’m talking about is your claim that this technology will never happen. I shared an article with potential workarounds. And sure, it still might not work long term. But that’s impossible for you to say with certainty. I have no horse in this race aside from being a human that would benefit from low cost energy. I know nothing about fusion beyond what I read in that article, and a few others before it. You can call me names all you want, but that doesn’t change how innovation works. Something is impossible until it isn’t. Many have come before you with similar attitudes with other seemingly impossible technologies, and have been proven wrong in unexpected ways. I’m not waving my hands and saying “this will definitely happen!” I’m saying it could happen, vs you saying it’s a certainty NOT to happen. And again, I’m talking about the technology itself, not the geopolitical, infrastructure, economic, etc. issues around it.
franl··on When Will Fusion Energy Light Our Homes?
Your pessimistic take got me researching. Here’s a great article that describes the issue and some potential workarounds: https://www.science.org/content/article/fusion-power-may-run.... Your assumption rests on the fact that the “winning” tech will use tritium. And yes, maybe that’s the most viable path, leading you to your take. But it seems there are viable paths forward with and without tritium.
franl··on Ask HN: Can you crowdfund the compute for GPT?
This one is a few years old, but seems interesting: https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.05799v2
franl··on Ask HN: Can you crowdfund the compute for GPT?
I too would like to go down this rabbit hole. I am going to poke around using the terms “distributed learning” and “federated learning” (They’re different areas, but somewhat related as far as I understand).
franl··on Accelerated forgetting of a trauma event after a single dose of hydrocortisone
Has she looked into EMDR therapy?
franl··on Design the next iPhone
Yeah you might be right. There are “weirdos” like me who power it on and off every day though :) Who knows what their rationale truly was, just seems like a case where the bad physical UX of a huge screen on a phone was compensated for by placing a button in a non-standard location. Oh and the power button is also used to quickly lock the screen, so that’s something probably used more often than turning the device on/off.
franl··on Design the next iPhone
Probably because phones are massive now, and the side is the only place the power button can be pressed while holding the phone with one hand.
franl··on Toyota 'reviewing' key fob remote start subscription plan after blowback
What’s your take on all the new vehicles these days with their auto engine start/stop and cylinder deactivation tech? I can’t imagine these will make for dependable used vehicles. I believe Honda settled a class action suit related to their Variable Cylinder Management tech (https://www.autoblog.com/2013/10/23/honda-settles-class-acti...). Even current owners are still complaining of issues. It was enough to put me off from buying a V6 Honda.
franl··on To be energy-efficient, brains predict their perceptions
I thought excess glutamine was associated with neuroticism, anxiety, depression, etc., and that there was a positive correlation between glutamine levels and depression [1]? Do you think in your case maybe you have naturally very low levels of glutamine, making supplementation helpful?

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-019-0500-z

franl··on Stripe Identity
Yep, makes sense. A little nitpick: I wouldn’t call it a Black Swan because multiple people called out the potential for such a global event to happen (Gates, Taleb, etc.), but to your point it certainly further accelerated the move to online commerce, mainstream remote work, etc. Cloudflare and Stripe are/were both well positioned for that type of world.
franl··on Stripe Identity
I always hear this line of thinking, but there aren’t ever supporting examples presented. Stripe reminds me of Cloudflare. Cloudflare is over 5x what it was at IPO (as of 6/14/21). Maybe what you describe is the case “on average” for most IPOs, but it seems to not be the case for extraordinary companies like Cloudflare (and maybe Stripe). Obviously just an n of 1 but I’m sure others could chime in with similar examples.
franl··on I made a mobile app for my significant other and she won't use it
V2 if necessary, how about a weight sensor under her feeding chair cushion? No button press necessary!
franl··on Ask HN: What home security camera setup do you use?
> I abhor smart wifi devices (Z-wave and Zigbee only)

Are you saying you are only OK with Z-wave and Zigbee?

franl··on The virus that causes the common cold can effectively boot the Covid virus out
I'm not sure I've seen the difference described so clearly and succinctly! How would you describe the seasonal flu in this same regard to receptors?
franl··on Douglas Adams' note to self reveals author found writing torture
> so it should be great all the time right?

For me at least, I think most of my "suffering" has come from expectations like this that are incongruent with reality. Who said it should be great all the time? I'm right there with you. I have add all sorts of expectations like this in life that when put to the test via my own experience, and the experiences of others, just don't add up.

franl··on AMC, GameStop Give Hedge Fund Mudrick Capital $200M in Gains
Assuming this person is legit (which is a huge assumption given it’s a stranger on Twitter), they appear to have sunk 90% of their worth into AMC: https://twitter.com/23michaeljam/status/1356785696959209472?...
franl··on Six Months of Tiny Projects
No offense taken here! I asked from a place of trying to learn what you meant. Part of why I like HN is because I can find posts that go deep in the technical aspects of things, posts that delve more into the product/business side of things, and lots of stuff in between. I think I understand the spirit of your original reply better now!
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