Hacker News Reader

woobaron Anatomy of a credit card rewards program

> ends up costing 2-3% more than it would otherwise

This is a very simplified view. Cash handling is not free. Fraud levels with cash are different. Overall attractiveness of a small but cash-only business is different.

woobaron Canoo spent double its annual revenue on the CEO's private jet

Great point, I did not know this. OTOH, at the time of grant it was a respectable $5M, and it is not the first one.

woobaron Canoo spent double its annual revenue on the CEO's private jet

CEOs get all kinds of compensation. Business jet travel, security, etc. This line item could be just tax optimization for this guy.

I am not trying to defend him, he is getting paid a lot:

"On May 5, 2023, the Board granted Mr. Aquila an award of 6,884,682 RSUs. These awards vest on May 5, 2024, subject to continuous service." [1]

At current stock price it is ~$20M. Getting outraged about additional $1.7M that was negotiated several years ago is strange. It does make a great headline, but would it change anything if he is paid $22M and pays for the jet out of pocket?

[1] https://ir.stockpr.com/canoo/sec-filings-email/content/00016...

woobaron School lunch breaks in France can be two hours (2012)

As someone pointed out the inflation over the last 20 years wasn't 300%+.

But if you believe that you can sell any meal for 80% profit you should definitely open a restaurant.

woobaron Global Economy Approaches Soft Landing, but Risks Remain

Are you comparing their projection for the World GDP change in one year vs reality of one country over some extended period? I don't think your argument as strong as you believe.

World GDP Change in

2008 +2.1%

2009 -1.4%

2010 +4.5%

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?end=2...

woobaron The True Rate of Unemployment

Are you sure that this chart shows bottom 25% of wages and not the bottom 25% of wage change?

They provide this definition: Wage Growth Tracker is a measure of the nominal wage growth of individuals. It is constructed using microdata from the Current Population Survey (CPS), and is the median percent change in the hourly wage of individuals observed 12 months apart.

Chart 1 plots the time series of the median, along with the mean, and the 75th and 25th percentiles of the individual wage growth distribution

I believe this chart will almost always show little or negative numbers for the bottom 25% of wage growth. By definition.

woobaron Money bubble

> Amazon stock had negative return 10 years between 1999 - 2009.

It did not. You will have to cherry pick very specific days in this time frame (top of the dot com bubble and bottom of the GFC) to get negative returns. But how about 1998-2008 or 2000-2010?

Here is how $10K invested in AMZN performed in 10 years [1]:

1998 - 2008 $102,134

1999 - 2009 $25,124

2000 - 2010 $23,625

2001 - 2011 $111,229

[1] https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&s...

woobaron Coinbase Shows Balance as 0

They did exactly this. I see $0 balance and big red banner on top with the same message as on the status page.

EDIT: looks like a scaling issue. Refreshed the page and balance reappeared. Refreshed again and it is gone, but the chart below with the balance history still has correct data.

woobaron You almost never see a clock at the mall

I don't think that's the reason. First, airlines don't own airports. So they don't benefit from your spending there. Second, they pay to airports directly (as in gate/landing fees) and indirectly by having to hire staff at the airport.

Flights with connection may cost less for various reasons. I'd think route optimization and price discrimination (direct is shorter and more desirable) would be the most popular ones.

woobaron You almost never see a clock at the mall

There was a big deal [1] about Russian hackers reverse engineering PRNGs in older slot machines and then scamming casinos for millions.

[1] https://www.wired.com/2017/02/russians-engineer-brilliant-sl...

woobaron Google to pause Gemini image generation of people after issues

How many images with black background or black clothes are there if you use word "black" in the same query?

woobaron Prime Video cuts Dolby Vision, Atmos support from ad tier–and didn't tell subs

I was skeptical for a while. But I have a friend who is used to a 5.1 setup and moved to a much smaller apartment. He has switched to a soundbar with Atmos and says it is on par. The fact that he "downloads" Dolby Atmos versions of movies even when they are available for streaming added some weight to his opinion. I still did not compare myself so would not go to fight over this.

woobaron I applied for a software role at FedEx and was asked to take a personality test

An alternative take from Venkatesh Rao managed two narrow it down just to 3 types of people in his Gervais Principle [1]

[1] https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...

woobaron Prime Video cuts Dolby Vision, Atmos support from ad tier–and didn't tell subs

Traditional studios was also "propped" by unrelated business. Seagram/Unviersal, Gulf+Western/Paramount, Transamerica/UA, (Time,AOL,AT&T)/WB, Sony/Columbia, News/Fox.

On what grounds a business should not be allowed to buy another unrelated business?

woobaron Prime Video cuts Dolby Vision, Atmos support from ad tier–and didn't tell subs

My guess is a lot of people with bigger TVs are getting soundbars. They are easy to setup and doesn't require wires. I won't switch from 5.1 setup but if I ever move I would give it a try. Built-in speakers I've used in hotels/airbnbs are not great.

woobaron Toyota to invest $1.3B in Kentucky factory to build battery packs and new EV

You are assuming that 100% of Toyota customers want to buy EV vehicles.

woobaron Cable companies, automakers try to derail FTC, FCC quest to kill misleading fees

It is all about priorities. Do you want a feel good law that requires final price, or to pay less? I've just priced same import car in US and Australia. Yes, the manufacturer website in Australia lists all junk fees (Appointment fee???) upfront. But I'd rather deal with a surprise "doc fee" and pay 33% less.

woobaron Full $71M breakdown for The Village by M. Night Shyamalan (2003) [pdf]

It was also one of the first movies for Jesse Eisenberg, but I cannot find his character (Jamison) in the list. I wonder if it was renamed during shooting. There is a small part for Joseph ($8K total), but there is no character with this name in the final cast.

woobaron Full $71M breakdown for The Village by M. Night Shyamalan (2003) [pdf]

Mostly taxes on wages paid as a part of making this movies.

FICA - employer part of payroll taxes

FICA/Medi - employer part of Medicare insurance

FUI/SUI - federal/state unemployment insurance

woobaron Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results

This is a popular conversation topic, but not a great investment strategy.

https://www.crameretfs.com/

woobaron 2013 Airbus A380 for sale in Rolling Hills Estates, California

I don't think they painted it over. Looks like it is airbrushed in photopshop. Check out the top of the tail or the second door.

woobaron Use Midnight Commander like a pro (2015)

When I don't need to copy files even when navigating in a single panel (and just ignoring content of the second one) still have advantages.

- I get a free ls when I navigate directory structure, and with the keyboard shortcuts I can move much faster.

- If the panel is ordered by time the moment I open the folder I see most recent files (in some cases I only care about recent files when opening a folder). If ordered by size you see your biggest files first, etc. And all of this is stateful, you don't need to run a command to identify biggest/latest file, do something with it and then go back to check what as the second biggest/latest file.

- it is easier to check content of the file or an archive

- two panels also work seamlessly with ssh/ftp/archives/etc. You don't need to remember separate commands to copy files from other sources, you will use exactly same pattern for navigating and copying files.

I also understand that people who mastered shell don't see this as a big advantage. But it really helps when jumping between mac/nix/windows.

woobaron Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel

Categorization and review are two different processes. The app I use will download and categorize, but I still have to review/accept each transaction. What is the benefit of manual entry in this case?

woobaron BYD's YangWang U8 launched, can float on water for 30 minutes and sail 3km/h

I am not sure it is such a big deal to have a car that looks like a competitor.

Ford used to advertise Ford Granada that looks like a new Cadillac and costs less. [1]

[1] https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/AdwAAOSw~Chg93LK/s-l1600.jpg

woobaron A Canadian payroll dependency chart

Is this a toy? I get this warning on the English version of that website:

"Calculations are indicative. They are not a substitute for actual statements from Urssaf, the tax authorities or any other organization."

[1] https://mycompanyinfrance.urssaf.fr/developer/iframe?module=...

woobaron Salim Kara stole $2M in coins with a magnet and a car antenna (2022)

(because the tax office has full access to everyone's transaction history, of course)

In what country? It maybe possible for tax agency to request access to the transaction history in case of the audit, but I doubt they just get a feed of all transactions.

woobaron VW is putting buttons back in cars

Mercedes had COMAND, now MBUX.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_COMAND

woobaron VW is putting buttons back in cars

Mazda copied BMW's iDrive. iDrive was derided when it was introduced in 2001 [1], but it has turned out to be a good compromise.

Unfortunately BMW moved to eliminating a lot of hardware buttons in the latest version of the iDrive with a giant curved screen. They still have dial and buttons on the center console, plus few additional buttons under the main screen. But they have removed one of another great features - eight programmable buttons in the center. These are great and you can assign any function from the touch screen to them.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_iDrive

woobaron Figma and Adobe abandon proposed merger

It is not a simple yes/no response from the regulators. First, they will request additional information. That will take some time to prepare. Then they would offer some changes to the proposal. I.e. we cannot approve this deal until some additional requirements are met. Then parties involved evaluate these requirements and counter. At some point business will decide that there are too many constraints and abandon the deal.

woobaron The EPA wants total removal of lead pipes

Looked at my natural gas usage. In the summer it only used for water heating/keeping it hot at 10 therms/month. Total annual gas usage is 700+ therms. 12*10/700 = 17%. And this includes both heating and keeping it hot.

This site [1] quotes 0.0113 therms to heat a gallon of water. 120 therms / 0.0113 / 365 = 29 gals of hot water per day. This place [2] estimates 41 gallons of hot water per day used during peak demand. My estimate is that we use more for showers, less for washers/dishwashers, same for faucets. Looks like I would spend all of my BTUs on heating these 29 gals of water every day. Most likely close to single digits %% for keeping it hot.

[1]https://webbsupplycompany.com/scalesafe/what-does-it-cost-to...

[2]https://michaelandson.com/blog/what-size-water-heater-do-i-n...