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patd

883 karma · joined August 16, 2010

Software engineer, based in Brussels, Belgium.

I'm building http://shoptimate.com, http://exactsameroom.com and http://datafeedapi.com

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/patdbe; my proof: https://keybase.io/patdbe/sigs/TLCP0dWwmzpIP5b4uc7PYz63o3sH6I8X4AMcOvuI2rY ]

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patd··on A selfie with Netanyahu turns into an employee and customer exodus
And looking at her activity on X and LinkedIn doesn’t seem to mention anything about the selfie.

It seems very far fetched.

patd··on Untrusted chatbot AI between you & the internet is a disaster waiting to happen
Except that you choose the MCP servers you use and you get to see the answers they give.

To me, it mitigates the problem slightly by making it less hidden.

patd··on Hertz to sell 20k EVs in shift back to gas-powered cars
Assuming it works and has enough stalls. My experience with Ionity has been pretty bad so I’m just sticking with the Tesla Superchargers when I’m driving in a foreign country.
patd··on SpaceX poised for 'mid-November' launch of second Starship test flight
Your own link says that Walter Isaacson retracted the claim.
patd··on 30-year fixed mortgage rate just hit 8% for the first time since 2000
There is no state intervention. Depending on market conditions, a 30 years fixed can have a higher rate than 25 years.

It’s basically hedged with long term bonds (Belgian or European) + a profit margin for the bank + risk based on your profile (age, health, employment history, …)

I guess UK banks are just hedging with shorter term bonds compared to Belgian ones.

patd··on 30-year fixed mortgage rate just hit 8% for the first time since 2000
We also have 20 to 30 years fixed rates in Belgium. It seems to be possible in France, Germany, The Netherlands, …

So I’m not sure that the US is actually an exception.

patd··on Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints
With your system, if I live somewhere flat and I go to the mountains, I will be out of juice during the climb. Tesla has a battery indicator in percentage and the navigation which is pretty accurate. Your ICE car has a gauge for the tank and an estimation of range.

Tesla should probably not allow you to show the battery as range as it will always be inaccurate and people will complain. But if they only show percentages, people complain as well.

patd··on VanMoof encryption key exporter
The team behind Cowboy also has a history of going bankrupt and not doing the right thing. Their previous venture was a Uber Eats competitor and they took the end user’s money until the end but never paid the restaurants nor the deliverers. That’s the main reason why I can’t get myself to buy one their bike. But it seems Van Moof wasn’t any better.
patd··on Was Starship’s Stage Zero a Bad Pad?
I think it will mostly depend on the FAA. It seems SpaceX is still hoping another launch in the coming months.
patd··on Client-side encryption for Gmail in Google Workspace is now generally available
He specifically said Google Workspace which is the non-free version of the Google suite.
patd··on Ask HN: What API's do people wanna buy/pay for?
Not exactly what you need but I think it may be close.

I’m running a SaaS turning affiliate platform content into an API which can be looked up by EAN13 : https://datafeedapi.com

Current users are publishers wanting to display affiliate links on their website but I could probably repurpose it for a more generic product search API without the affiliate links and different pricing. If anyone is interested, you can reach me at patrick_[at]_datafeedapi.com

Doc is here : https://datafeedapi.com/api/v1/redoc/

patd··on Robinhood cuts losses after transaction revenue drops
Indeed, my understanding was incorrect. Thanks for pointing it out
patd··on Robinhood cuts losses after transaction revenue drops
Funded != funding

You may have funded the account last year and did nothing with it. My understanding is you would still count as an MAU even if you didn’t interact with RH.

patd··on 1,300 SpaceX satellite units went offline over funding issues
There are multiple tiers to Starlink (residential, RV, boat, plane, …). I don’t think Ukraine gets the most basic plan with limited bandwidth and meant for stationary dishes.

If I understood correctly some are used as a backbone for their internet infrastructure and some on the field on moving vehicles. The $110 plan wouldn’t cover those use cases.

patd··on Robinhood cuts losses after transaction revenue drops
> or have a Funded Account to be included in MAU

If you have a balance of $1, wouldn’t you be counted as an active user ?

It sounds to me that an active user is someone with funds or that interacted with the app/website while logged in. I’m not sure the second category made much sense to begin with (unless you wanted to inflate the numbers during a bull run)

patd··on Homemade Heat Pump Manifesto (2009)
Some do wall heating or ceiling heating instead of floor heating. Wall heating/cooling would probably not require two systems.
patd··on Homemade Heat Pump Manifesto (2009)
The ground heat pumps are not used in the opposite direction, it doesn't cool down water to the floor but it flows water at 10-15C into your floor. According to the installers I've talked to here in Belgium, all the ground heat pumps devices are capable of doing that.

While this might not be needed in Sweden, it's more interesting further south. I live in Belgium and we had a long heatwave this summer and they predict more of those in the coming years. So cheap efficient cooling might turn out useful here (even if nobody had AC systems 20 years ago)

patd··on Homemade Heat Pump Manifesto (2009)
Ground heat pumps provide free cooling in the summer for a very limited amount of electricity as the ground will be at 10-15C (depending on where you live) so you don't need to use the compressor and just make the liquid flow to cool down your house.

It also has the extra benefit of heating up your ground for the winter period.

patd··on DOE to invest up to $165M to advance domestic geothermal energy
I’m in Europe. 3 drills of 75m was quoted to us at 16k€, enough for a 10kW heat pump.
patd··on Electric vehicle battery capable of 98% charge in less than ten minutes
That car is probably very inefficient as it's not very aerodynamic. If you need that van, you probably need the 75kWh version.

If you don't have many kids, you should probably look at cars that are only electric and designed for it: Tesla, Polestar, VW ID.3/4, Skoda Enyaq, Volva XC40 Recharge, ... You'll get better regenerative break which means that you'll recharge your battery when going downhill and better efficiency.

Without any changes to your home, you can charge your car at 3.6kW and there might be public chargers at 11kW around where you live and shop. I've spent a few weeks with a Tesla Model 3 SR+ (50kW battery) in the mountains of the Val d'Anniviers (Valais) where I couldn't charge at the chalet and I didn't have any issue to drive around and find chargers.

patd··on When I First Saw Elon Musk for Who He Really Is
I honestly fail to see the issue. Running diesel generators to handle peak demand may not be the greenest move but it was likely the best move before they could come up with a better solution. Should they have left users stranded because they couldn't charge ?

What did you expect from Tesla powerwall ? It's another use of the same battery tech they had in their cars allowing them to use the same supply to build two products. Most of the added value of the powerwall is in the software and the battery management, not in the form-factor of the batteries. I suppose most home batteries are just repackaging batteries used in other industries.

patd··on Over 10% of Tesla Model S EVs Fail Germany’s Strict Inspection After 3 Years
Other sources seem to write it the other way around : headlights but also wishbones.

But nobody seems to quote the TUV directly or link to the actual report

patd··on Oh, 2022
Some cities in Europe are already banning old petrol and diesel cars from driving through them. With plans to ban more over time.
patd··on New York City bans natural gas in new buildings
How do you maximise self consumption of the electricity generated by your solar panels ?

Or do you not care because you’ve installed massive batteries?

patd··on Germany is closing half of its reactors before the end of the year
Can you expand on the aggregate CO2 vs marginal CO2 part ?

I’m looking into installing a ground heat pump in a new house (coupled with solar panels) mostly for environmental reasons and all the critics I’ve read so far were about the costs.

patd··on Hertz orders 100k Teslas
are cars really going from one customer to another after an hour or so ?

Otherwise you don’t need to have superchargers, you can just use a normal charger which is a few hundreds dollars, probably less at the scale of Hertz.

patd··on Hertz orders 100k Teslas
Reports are saying Hertz paid close to MSRP so they probably have around 20% margin (as Q3 margin overall was 28%)

Makes little sense for Tesla to sell at low margin when they are supply constrained.

patd··on Hertz orders 100k Teslas
On the automotive side, they are also a worldwide dealership network, a nascent insurance company.
patd··on Data exfiltration in Keepa Price Tracker
As far as I know, Keepa is not an Amazon affiliate. They used to be and got kicked out like many similar tools around 5 years ago.

They moved to the current model of providing an API for Amazon data (which seems to use the extensions users to scrape data).

patd··on Bezos donates $100M each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jose Andres
Isn’t part of the VG business plan to sell cheaper zero gravity time for small experiments ?

At least cheaper than going to actual space and longer than using parabolic flights in planes.

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