Hacker News Reader

applecoreon Apple's Relationship with Pro Music Needs Mending

> Many MBP models with NVIDIA graphics end up needing yearly motherboard replacements, which Apple is providing through a special replacement program. (My previous MacBook Pro has had this done three times.)

I can confirm anecdotally that this occurred with a top-of-the-line MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010). Despite claims that Apple hardware is reliable and holds its value, I'll never buy one of their personal computers again.

applecoreon Apple's Relationship with Pro Music Needs Mending

It's hard for Apple Inc. to care about anything else when 70% of revenue and 90% of profits comes from their flagship product, the iPhone.

applecoreon ‘Sticker Shock’ in Los Angeles Housing

By your definition of the middle class, a healthy U.S. economy would need approximately 4,000,000 domestic maids to satisfy the biweekly maid service requirement.

applecoreon The Verge editor secretly joins Apple, doesn't inform the Verge

The most hilarious aspect of this story is it took nearly two months before anyone noticed he was gone.

applecoreon In Brooklyn, Uber is now bigger than taxis

Uber is profitable in New York.

applecoreon Self-driving trucks threaten one of America's top blue-collar jobs

In a word, redistribution.

With a rising share of income going to robots (capital) rather than humans (labor), there needs to be a stronger social safety net. This means guaranteed health insurance, health care, retirement benefits, and even a minimum income.

That safety net will have to be paid for via some combination of taxes on wealth, profits, and investment income.

applecoreon Self-driving trucks threaten one of America's top blue-collar jobs

You're dumbfounded that people would be interested in their own survival?

Automation eventually leads to a rise in productivity and living standards for future generations. The typical truck driver won't get to reap any of the benefits from the transition.

Sympathy for the Luddites[1] lays out a convincing argument for what actually happens when these jobs disappear.

[1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/opinion/krugman-sympathy-f...

applecoreon How Hampton Creek sold investors on fake mayo

If you prefer, the investigation follows a much more staid article[1] from early August that reveals the company hired a network of contractors to secretly buy back their own product from stores.

[1]: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-04/food-start...

applecoreon North Korea claims success in fifth nuclear test

The example of the turkey in The Black Swan is appropriate: it's fed every single day, right up until an "unexpected" event occurs on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

applecoreon How Spy Tech Firms Let Governments See Everything on a Smartphone

The most secure option would be not to carry a mobile phone at all. Otherwise, iOS is probably the most secure mobile operating system, simply based on the price of remote exploits: a remote exploit for iOS is worth several times more ($500K-1M) than the equivalent one for Android ($100K-200K).

applecoreon Leonard Guarente's Anti-Aging Pill

A few of the molecules mentioned in the article:

Pterostilbene 50mg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterostilbene

Nicotinamide riboside (NR) 250mg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotinamide_riboside

NR is a precursor to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotinamide_adenine_dinucleot...

applecoreon What Makes a McMansion Bad Architecture?

This critique is composed entirely of exterior shots. Maybe the McMansion layout leads to a better interior configuration for a given square footage?

applecoreon Apple should stop selling four-year-old computers

Why did Apple stop making new computers? Is there an underlying business rationale or is it component supply challenges?

applecoreon Why Land and Homes Actually Tend to Be Disappointing Investments

What's disappointing about an investment that holds its value for over a century, keeping pace with inflation, and you can live in it and bequeath to your heirs without a forced sale?

applecoreon Ask HN: Single Person startup/company?

Great stuff! How did you build the community around NomadList early on?

applecoreon Bill Gates Meets Warren Buffett

Interesting use of virtual reality and 360° video on the Gates Notes. I think it's clear that VR is the next big thing in terms of culture.

applecoreon Economic Reality

According to Buffett: "When I see a memo from Howard Marks in my mail, it's the first thing I open and read. I always learn something..."

applecoreon Microsoft to acquire LinkedIn for $26B

Ouch. Reid Hoffman's 11 percent stake in LinkedIn is going to result in a $1 billion tax bill.

applecoreon What Urbit is

Technology aside, this is a masterpiece of clear and concise technical writing for a general audience.

applecoreon Drop jQuery as a dependency from Rails

Omakase implies a certain level of excellence in all the individual choices.

I believe Rails is In-N-Out Burger. While it offers few choices, it's reliable and the hamburger is very good. The fries and frontend framework are acceptable but no one goes to In-N-Out for the fries.

applecoreon Ethereum’s $150M DAO Opens as Researchers Call for a Halt

Does the governance structure of the DAO support permanently shutting itself down? What system of checks and balances exists to govern its behavior if things get really bad?

applecoreon Is the Silicon Valley Real Estate Bubble About to Explode? – Vanity Fair

Real estate slowdowns usually begin at the top.

It starts with the $5M+ homes taking longer to sell. Then, it impacts the homes that are affordable to software engineers costing between $2M and $3M.

applecoreon PG: It's OK to be disconnected from reality

In terms of evolutionary fitness, this statement can only be true if you believe that seeing reality as it is isn't the best strategy for success in all circumstances. (Or, does the term "reality", when in quotes, refer to something other than a reality that exists independently of consciousness?)

applecoreon What to do when you just start making something useful

This short post falls into the common trap of assuming that if you decide not to raise money, your company must be a lifestyle business.

What about all the profitable companies that never need to raise venture capital?

Attention, founders! You can choose to play "small ball"[1] instead.

[1]: http://avc.com/2016/05/small-ball/

applecoreon If Philosophy Won’t Diversify, Let’s Call It What It Really Is

> I wholeheartedly support the noble desire to give things their proper names.

It's ironic that the Rectification of Names is central to the philosophy of Confucius.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectification_of_names

applecoreon Trump Supporters Are Rarer Than Unicorns in Silicon Valley

Of course they're impossible to find. What incentive is there for anyone in Silicon Valley to come forward with their support? It would be career suicide given the obvious statements from Sam Altman, Chris Sacca, and many others in the article.

applecoreon Life Lessons from a Lifestyle Business: Interview with founder of Metafilter

Not to be harsh, but this isn't a lifestyle business. It sounds like this guy just wasn't the best choice to run the company.

Too much was spent on salaries and benefits. Only a month or two worth of cash was kept in the company to handle expenses. Free cash flow was pulled out of the company while it was still a viable growth opportunity. All the warning signs were ignored despite a vast majority of their revenue coming from a single source. Most egregiously, even though their traffic cratered after Google's Panda update in November 2012, they didn't reach out to the head of the web spam team at Google because... they didn't want to bother him.

Still, it's hard to admit mistakes. I have enormous respect for anyone willing to share their experience like this.

applecoreon Why Do So Many Zippers Say YKK? (2012)

Weixing SAB[1] has a good brand reputation if you're sourcing your zippers from China. In my opinion, their quality is better than the lower-end YKK zippers for a similar price.

[1]: http://www.sab-cn.com/

applecoreon San Francisco Torn as Some See “Street Behavior” Worsen

San Francisco is a failed city. The failure of its prosperous element to do anything about it is an indictment of its entire culture.

applecoreon AP Style alert: Don’t capitalize internet and web any more

It's interesting to see both terms genericized. It was Alan Kay who said:

> The Internet was done so well that most people think of it as a natural resource like the Pacific Ocean, rather than something that was man-made. . . . The Web, in comparison, is a joke. The Web was done by amateurs.

http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/interview-wit...