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mrobins

460 karma · joined March 14, 2010

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mrobins··on 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program
How many people on HN have a James Webb wallpaper?
mrobins··on Ask HN: can Wireless-CarPlay dongles steal your data?
No but I think it’s more likely the data is going back to the original manufacturer and the white labeler has no idea it’s happening.

Despite assuredly rigid QC and security testing /s.

mrobins··on Nordstrom family to take company private
Respectfully disagree. I feel like quality and selection at most Nordstroms I’ve been to recently has been much worse. Salespeople have been less knowledgeable and more pushy. Feels like they’ve moved from upmarket into a space more easily replaced by lower cost online competitors.
mrobins··on Xerox to acquire Lexmark
But seriously, what’s the point of putting out this drivel. Isn’t the point of these statements to excite investors and potential big customers. Who in the publicity chain thinks these statements move anything closer to a goal?
mrobins··on Ars Technica updated the look on their site, calling it Ars 9.0
This is horrible. All of the views are impossible to parse quickly.
mrobins··on A game magazine that spent two years taunting a Final Fantasy VIII hater
I think this sort of thing is much harder to do in the modern digital world.

It’s one thing when it’s one-way, magazine -> audience, and the current edition is off of newsstands in a month or two. Once you throw in forums and social media then the public gets to shape the narrative.

mrobins··on Ask HN: How would you solve this problem?
I think more than tax what you need to be learning about/seeing if you can outsource is KYC.
mrobins··on LTSE shutters cap table management business (formerly captable.io)
Was it? I’m a customer and I didn’t get any emails prior to this announcement.
mrobins··on LTSE shutters cap table management business (formerly captable.io)
Title edited for clarity
mrobins··on New Relic Security Incident – Security Bulletin NR23-01
Feels like it’s the night before Thanksgiving and none of the right people are on call.
mrobins··on In 1886, the US commissioned watercolor paintings of every known fruit (2019)
Changing the name of a landmark or a species may require thoughtful consideration but not an organization. Companies change names all the time and a bad name drags an org doing good work down. Why should employees have to come to work in the name of someone who doesn’t deserve it in the light of history.
mrobins··on Just 1% of Netflix subscribers use this perk
Are any of them any good?
mrobins··on Microsoft now demands to know why you won't use Edge when you download Chrome
Not that MS is the poster child for chivalrous competition…but this level of desoerationjust signifies how important the battle for the branded browser is.
mrobins··on Ask HN: How do I start teaching my 1.5yo nephew math?
Anecdotally noticed the same.l with my 3.5 year old. Also in addition (pun intended) to what she’s learned it’s made her much more curious about a bunch of math concepts.
mrobins··on It's Time to Tax Billionaires
I find the ultra wealthy moving to avoid taxes pretty hilarious. It’s basically saying I have enough money to do whatever anything, except live/be where I’d like to.

Even within the US I know many wannabe New Yorkers who count their days and have to pick and choose what they come “home” for. Obviously to each their own but feels like optimizing for the wrong thing.

mrobins··on People with CarPlay are mostly just listening to AM/FM radio
This article is trash but the data from the research is actually interesting.

Without CarPlay it’s still super easy to stream audio from any app and has been for a decade (sure maybe CarPlay makes it even easier?).

It is interesting and contrary to the headline that people with CarPlay listen to radio 20% less than people without. More so they listen to streaming services almost 10% more if they have CarPlay.

Obviously correlation is not causation. If you can afford a higher end car then you are also more likely to be a premium Spotify/Apple/Sirius subscriber. Regardless it still looks like a good investment on Apple’s part.

mrobins··on 23andMe says user data stolen in credential stuffing attack
$75k. Tell me the government doesn’t take privacy seriously without telling me that government doesn’t take privacy seriously.

> Three weeks ago, genetic testing firm 1Health.io agreed to pay the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) a $75,000 fine to resolve allegations that it failed to secure sensitive genetic and health data, retroactively overhauled its privacy policy without notifying and obtaining consent from customers whose data it had obtained, and tricked customers about their ability to delete their data.

mrobins··on Microsoft cuts ties with the Surface Duo after just 2 Android version updates
Why is it so hard for Android OEMs to keep supporting their devices? I don’t buy that it’s just planned obsolescence. As Apple invests in making devices usable for longer and longer this doesn’t seem like a competitive move.
mrobins··on Got tipping rage? This barista reveals what its like to be behind the tip screen
I always tip well because I get that tips are misplaced wages, but the tip economy is so messed up.

A huge piece is that it's based on an asymmetry of information. I don't know how much a barista makes so I assume min wage and tip accordingly. Consequently a business owner has less incentive to raise wages because customers are accustomed to subsidizing their payroll. Sadly employees are the pawns in all of this and viewed as having their hands out for being greedy as if they have their hands out or are the ones who program the %s into their Square terminals.

I've also seen a few courageous businesses try and move to fair wages + no tipping, and then reverse course because they weren't able to keep employees. I think the only solution is systemic, like getting rid of the tip minimum wage, but that's unlikely.

mrobins··on The Homepage of the Oldternet
I miss the “Under Construction” banners. It was ok to tell your visitors your site was a work in progress! (Also you generally had to publish and debug live.)
mrobins··on SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years
The rebranding really was disastrous. Echoing other comments, as someone who bought 6 packs largely for nostalgia or to reconnect with SF from the east coast the new packaging ruined that.
mrobins··on San Francisco fire chief fed up with robotaxis that mess with her firetrucks
Bare minimum these cars should have the equivalent of a fire service key like elevators.
mrobins··on AWS us-east-1 down
I can think of more times where a whole AZ has had issues than times where just one AZ went dark and failover happened seamlessly.
mrobins··on Searching for Meg White
The White Stripes produced such a tight, complete, profound body of work and then somehow and the awareness and self-control to stop.

Maybe it was just happenstance but it makes their limited catalog that much more timeless.

mrobins··on Mark Zuckerberg on Apple’s Vision Pro headset
Pricing the headset at 7x the Quest seems like an Apple power move. Ordinarily if you’re 2nd or 3rd to a category you’d expect there to be pressure to price in the same ballpark. You want customers to compare but say the new product is worth spending a reasonable amount more than the old product because it has some bells and whistles.

At $3500 Apple invites no comparison. They’re basically pretending Meta doesn’t exist and that they’ve invented the category, as though it’s the iPhone or iPad.

mrobins··on Ask HN: Parents, How do you record special moments and stay present?
For me it was a matter of coming to 2 important realizations:

1) Not everything needs to be captured and preserved. My kids do dozens of things worthy of capturing every week, sometimes every day. While in the moment they all feel unique, “sampling” what I choose to record still results in plenty of content that paints a pretty complete picture.

2) Often taking out the phone causes them to change their behavior and diminishes the moment. Just today I caught my 18 month year old reading to himself making car and animal noises as he flipped the pages. As soon as he saw me with them phone he kept reading but did it much more silently.

Now I capture when I feel it’s right but don’t stress what I don’t catch. No one single moment will matter in the long run.

mrobins··on Ask HN: How do you find new music?
I also feel like my Spotify playlists have gone cold. Once I had 6 covers in a row.

I’ve recently switched to Qobuz which is more editorial and less algorithmic. Overall very happy with their recs.

mrobins··on Ask HN: Should Amazon maintain a canonical location for customer addresses?
Yes and it could be totally optional, or prompted after a certain # of mis-deliveries.

I work in an office building that has a confusing address. I can easily use DoorDash and Uber Eats because they have this feature but GrubHub does not and those drivers always get lost.

Engineering effort to efficiency gotta see this being a win.

mrobins··on Ask HN: What cheaper cities are the best?
Pittsburgh is very affordable and has a high quality of life. It’s transformed a lot from steel and manufacturing to tech and engineering but is still super down to earth. It has great sports, solid arts and culture and is near a lot of beautiful outdoor activities. Over the last 2 decades a solid food scene has emerged and its always been a great place to grab a few beers. The neighborhoods are pretty and it’s possible to have a nice house with a yard walking distance from shops and restaurants.
mrobins··on Ask HN: What cheaper cities are the best?
Also lots of young families and a decent tech ecosystem due to U of R, RIT and a decent batch of tech/engineering companies. The winter is hard but the Spring and Summer are beautiful.
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