Hacker News Reader

keoneflickon Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

The thing is, traditional receivers wanted to be the "brains" of home theater, switching video inputs, managing audio, turning everything on.

That role is no longer sensible when used with smart TVs/Apple TV boxes/Android TV boxes.

As a result, traditional receivers are relegated to be being audio decoders and amplifiers. Honestly, I think there's already more manufactured and lying around than the world really needs. It was inevitable that a few product lines would be consolidated.

keoneflickon Honey has now lost 4M Chrome users after shady tactics were revealed

Isn't the problem that none of this was transparent to the user? That honey takes affiliate commissions and MAYBE gives some of that money back to the user? That honey takes credit for the sale and MAYBE stands down in certain circumstances?

I don't think any of this is transparent to the user. That's the scam.

keoneflickon The 2005 Sony Bravia ad

The San Francisco I experience is full of positive energy. Sure, maybe if you're visiting and stay in Union Square, that's not what you see. But if you live in the residential neighborhoods and work somewhere nice (such as in the Presidio), there isn't another city in the world I would rather be.

keoneflickon Valve releases Team Fortress 2 code

I do not believe CS:GO free tier had any cosmetic drops, only lootbox drops. But I certainly could be mistaken. In either case, any truly free cosmetics were much rarer than other games.

keoneflickon Valve releases Team Fortress 2 game code

I think a few replies have missed a key issue: Valve's CS monetization is the worst in the industry.

Most current monetization for cosmetics allows you to both (1) grind for items without paying anything and (2) if you want to pay, show you exactly what you are paying for.

Even games that still use lootboxes (i.e. don't follow #2) allow you to grind for items.

CS is one of the very few (or only current) game where you can't get a cosmetic without paying (must purchase keys to open lootboxes) and you don't know what you are getting (lootboxes).

It's bad and there is no excuse.

The trading mechanic, which adds a real world value to these cosmetics, and encourages players to pay for lootboxes makes it worse.

People sometimes hate on popular games like Fortnite and COD, but they have way better/more fair monetization practices.