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jasonsyncon Ask HN: Why isn't there a Rotten Tomatoes for consumer electronics?

Perhaps rephrase the Q: Why isn't there an independent Rotten Tomatoes for x ...

Rotten Tomatoes is owned by:

Warner Bros. (25%) NBCUniversal (75%)

If there was a Rotten Tomatoes for consumer electronics, I would suspect that it would be owned by Apple, Samsung, or Sony ...

jasonsyncon Shopify elevated the non-manager career path and ditched meetings

Peter principle? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

jasonsyncon Apple Vision Pro: The MVP for AR

... or the "Pro" label is a hint that this is not an MVP (for the masses). Perhaps over-engineered to the point that they expect early adopter feedback will provide guidance on what can be axed.

Macbook Pro vs. Macbook kind of thing.

jasonsyncon Ericsson to lay off 8,500 employees

We speculate that when Microsoft bought that part of Nokia, somewhere in the process the Sync.com domain name went up for auction (which appeared to be owned by Nokia just prior to the spin off).

As a startup trying to get going with Sync.Us, rebranding to https://www.sync.com really helped us take off.

Thanks to whomever auctioned that off :-)

jasonsyncon The Ethereum merge is done

But doesn't a lot "good tech" have nefarious roots?

The internet got its start as a government weapon in the Cold War?

jasonsyncon Handwritten thank you notes increase sales

We used this tactic as a growth hack in our early days (2016), and it worked great!

It also inspires sharing on Twitter, which helps drive the recommendation flywheel:

https://twitter.com/tdnvl/status/722882182759452675

The trouble is that it isn't easily scalable in-house at high volume. It was great until we realized that we were managing a large scale mailroom. But by then the flywheel was spinning ...

jasonsyncon Ask HN: How long until Google charges for private Gmail accounts?

Perhaps they start adding quality of life micro-transactions?

Some of which provide enough value that a significant portion of the user-base ends up paying for something?

jasonsyncon Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

It's their primary personal email account for everything. Mine too.

jasonsyncon Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

A long, long time ago I registered a domain name for a close group of friends, and the 4 of us have been happily use the free Gsuite for email @thedomain ever since.

From what I can tell we'd will have to start paying CAD $31.20 per month for 4 users. Seems pricy for our use case?

jasonsyncon Dropbox doesn't support Apple Silicon and has no public plans to

We offer high speed email support at that level. It's in-house and fast.

jasonsyncon Dropbox doesn't support Apple Silicon and has no public plans to

Looking for a Dropbox alternative? We were M1 native at launch (https://www.Sync.com).

jasonsyncon Dropbox Sync does not natively support Apple Silicon

Looking for a Dropbox alternative? We were M1 native at launch (https://www.Sync.com).

jasonsyncon The Great AI Reckoning

We once utilized an ad agency that relied heavily on "AI" to pre-test ad creative.

The agency presented regional branding campaign creative with our national flag flying at half mast. The AI predicted success. The ad agency stood by the AI.

Certainly would have generated clicks.

But the ad agency lost a customer. Not sure if the AI would have predicted that!

jasonsyncon M1 Mac mini overtakes entire Japanese desktop market in less than 2 weeks

The Mini in Mac Mini is no longer Mini. But it could be More Mini. Make it Mini.

Storage has been external for years now. None of the upgradable internals need a large footprint.

jasonsyncon Black Screen After MacBook Pro Update to macOS Big Sur

I surprised myself last week!

When one of my older Macs became unresponsive due to that Apple network failure problem issue, I spent countless hours running various system cleaner utilities, uninstalling apps, and blindly running obscure terminal commands from Stack Overflow, even though my own initial console log analysis (and instincts) had more-or-less confirmed that it was an issue with trustd network connection timeouts to Apple's own servers.

Fool on me. This coupled with having to get my 2019 Macbook Air keyboard replaced twice (due to sticky keys) has me thinking out loud about moving away from Apple.

Good coverage of the trustd issue: https://tidbits.com/2020/11/13/apple-network-failure-destroy...

jasonsyncon Working on iPad

This article is bi-polar, which summarizes my feelings on the topic as well.

I'm in the same boat as the author and have been trying (slowly) to move towards using an iPad full time. Compared to a couple years ago the apps and UX have improved significantly, however, (for me) using the iPad still feels more like a very specialized tool, compared to the more general utility of a Macbook.

I realize that for general productivity the iPad works best with a keyboard attached, a mouse, external storage. Adding more hardware. But then you have a MacBook in disguise ...

I'm guessing we'll never get a Macbook with touch screen and Apple Pencil support? But it does seem like the iPad has been slowly optimizing itself to fill that role.

jasonsyncon Apple: Advancements in Game Controllers

I mean my 2019 Mac Mini can just barely run StarCraft (1998) ...

jasonsyncon Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained

https://www.sync.com provides end-to-end encrypted cloud storage options. Disclaimer I work there.

jasonsyncon Thank HN: My SaaS paid my rent this month

I would suggest change "Amateur" to "Starter".

Amateur definition:

"sloppy, not professional looking." https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=amateur

"a person who is not skilled" https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/americ...

"one lacking in experience and competence in an art or science" https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amateur

jasonsyncon Wikipedia Has Cancer (2017)

> that do everything possible to defend their "turf".

In my experience, some of these "little hitlers" appear to be (controlled by) larger corporate entities in some way, shape or form. When the "turf" becomes profitable for some, it becomes very difficult for others to cut the grass so to speak.

jasonsyncon Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

Yes, was looking for this post. I rarely used the markup in the previous editor, but the new editor is so buggy I keep looking for an icon to switch to markup.

jasonsyncon 16-inch MacBook Pro

Sounds so simple.

And you are correct. Just got back from the Genius Bar, they have to replace the entire top case because the R key tends to stick or misfire. 2 week repair because they don't have the parts. Sounds like an expensive repair for a single key.

The person sitting next to me had the exact same issue (but different keys)!

jasonsyncon 16-inch MacBook Pro

The Butterfly mechanism was tainted by a number of design flaws that forced Apple to provide a soft recall: https://support.apple.com/keyboard-service-program-for-mac-n... I'm literally getting my new Macbook serviced today due to sticky butterfly keys.

jasonsyncon Dropbox exposes personal details of viewers of publicly shared Paper documents

The Sync apps provide end-to-end encryption, so the entire file is uploaded when it changes. Agreed differential sync can be a good thing, especially with super large files that change often.

jasonsyncon Dropbox exposes personal details of viewers of publicly shared Paper documents

https://www.Sync.com (full disclosure, I work there).

jasonsyncon Stripe Corporate Card

As long as they don't renege later. Every single cash back card I have jumped on board with started with 2% ... changed the terms a year in to 1% ... then went down to 0.5% even later. And increased fees later as well. Maybe just bad luck on my part.

For example: https://www.reddit.com/r/PersonalFinanceCanada/comments/6164...

jasonsyncon Dropbox silently installed new file manager app on users’ systems

NextCloud is great if you don't mind managing your own VPS. I run a NextCloud instance for some personal projects.

That said, if you're looking for a Dropbox alternative that functions much like Dropbox (but with better privacy and better pricing), feel free to try Sync.com (full disclosure, I work at Sync).

Choice is good!

jasonsyncon Shopify and the Power of Platforms

Isn't the point of the article that the Shopify Fulfillment Network will be available to all merchants (that pay for it)?

Most of the Shopify plugins exist to give a store owner an advantage in sales, conversion or marketing. Sure execution counts, external branding counts, but Shopify is a closed platform. You use their plugins and approved apps. And most store owners rely on these plugins to some degree, to help them build brand awareness etc.

Eg: https://apps.shopify.com/browse/sales-and-conversion-optimiz...

Shopify levels the playing field which is great. But if everyone selling Bananas is on the same field, using the same plugins, switching fields could be a great way to differentiate and possibly optimize beyond what Shopify can help you with.

jasonsyncon Shopify and the Power of Platforms

My beloved brands keep getting eaten up by big brand knock offs like Amazon Basics, or, keep getting bought out by the big brands.

I would love to see this happen with mattresses actually. Buying a mattress is currently ridiculous. Why do I need a guy in a suit showing me around like I'm buying a car?! What's the difference between these mattress brands that I have never heard of. I'm not loyal, because it's a one time purchase every ten years. The brand I purchased last will probably no longer the exist next time.

My latest eye glasses were purchased at the grocery store optical centre, not a mom and pop shop or specialized brand. Much cheaper that way, and good quality. I wouldn't be surprised to see Amazon take over this category as well. Hasn't Walmart already?

jasonsyncon Apple's service program for butterfly keyboard MacBooks, even out of warranty

My report:

I just got a new MacBook Air a few weeks ago, to replace an aging MacBook Air. Retina display is a huge upgrade, and USB C is great (I don't miss the mag safe charger as much as I thought I would). The keyboard though ...

Week 1: For the first week the keyboard was great (although more clacky sounding than the older model).

Week 2: The R key started misfiring. Press the R key 10 times, you only get 8 Rs on screen.

Week 3: I was about to bring it in to get replaced, but then the R key started working again.

Great that Apple has acknowledged the issue, and as soon as the R key misbehaves again, I will be bringing my MacBook Air in for repair.

The misfiring, along with the clacking noise makes the overall experience of the newer keyboard feel "cheaper" than it's predecessors.