simba-hiiipower

i think hn benefits mainly from the fact its backed by some big-name influencers whose activities are highly relevant to its target audience. their presence is essentially a feature of the site that provides value beyond ‘link aggregation and discussion’.. it’s a differentiating feature, and is one that’s very difficult one for a new entrant, like a subreddit, to overcome. it also probably helps a lot that hn predates reddit..

these other ‘hn-like’ sites have no such differentiating features, and that’s why i don’t see them ever taking-off.. and given that reddit already exists, they’re often competing against subreddits which benefit greatly in terms of visibility.

otherwise, i don't really think so. but i'd argue its related in that reddit has made such sites largely unnecessary. subreddits can be as narrow or broad in topic, and as open or regulated in curation as one wants. i see little value in a 'finance news' (for example) when there's /r/finance and probably around 100 other finance-related subreddits out there..

pretty sure they wont, but i think that's sort of the point, and it speaks to the fundamental difference in how they see the market evolving vs. sony with their ps4.

i get a sense that microsoft views this as the last 'console' (in the traditional sense) they'll release.. everything from the architecture, to the internals, to even the naming, makes me think that this is meant to be just a 'box' - the one and only box you'll need - which will grow (in features and power), with more-and-more of the resources offloaded to the cloud over time...

i think their original policies around 'always on' speak to that vision, but that's just my guess, and is why i'm more excited about the xbox one long-term.

i agree that the increased (functional) life of pcs is a contributing factor to slowing unit sales, but its laughable to attribute it to the idea that people who once would have bought a new pc are now just buying more ram and upgrading internals.

the percentage of people who would have any idea how to do that, or even consider it as a viable option, is far to small to have any real impact on demand..

http://oi43.tinypic.com/1ou543.jpg

my guess would be ease of porting, though that's purely a guess. i am though starting to notice an increase in the number of same-day releases for wp as ios, and in some cases (like disney games recently) ahead of android.

though still small, i really think the platform's gotten to the point where it makes sense for devs to at least consider it, especially as many times the effort to port from ios is sufficiently small to justify the work.

though i'm not technical by any means, i've always sort of got the high-level around how reciprocating/piston-based engines function. wankel engines seem a lot more efficient in terms of design but also weirdly complex. still kind of a mystery to me as to how they work and unfortunately there aren't too many cars around these days that run on em to check out..

and while i'd agree that firms often overpay in the hope of realizing ‘synergies’ that rarely exist, an acquisition is at least an investment in something tangible (ip, product lines, people, ...), which at least has the potential to generate value.. and while it may fail to do so (or do so sufficiently as to offset the costs involved), i view it as a better use of funds than direct returns to shareholders in the hopes (from a macro view) that they are able to efficiently reinvest in value-generating activities.

edit: just want to add that i realize that if one views a firm’s primary function as to maximize returns to shareholders (as many do, a fair view), then m&a, with its high probability of not paying-off, would be considered less favourable than a direct transfer like a dividend. i however tend to view a firm’s function more along the lines of ensuring its long-term survival and growth (which, in-turn, and ideally, should generate significant returns to shareholders, and drive innovation).

and while i'd generally like to see some movement on policy to encourage large us-based multinationals to bring-home more of their offshore earnings (for reinvestment domestically), the current environment does play-out nicely for foreign m&a - which is at-least (in my opinion) a better use of funds than dividends and buybacks.

easytag looks quite similar to mp3tag, though unfortunately it seems the windows version is really out of date. i'm not sure about mp3tag on wine as i've used it exclusively on windows 7/8.

i'm fairly old-school in that i like to download everything and have built and maintain a large collection of digital files. i view it very-much-so as one would a record collection and spend a lot of time ensuring quality (audio fidelity, proper tagging, rich cover art, ...).

discovery: genre-specific blogs (mainly for hip-hop), soundcloud, digitally imported, 8tracks, live shows/concerts, word of mouth

acquisition: direct downloads (you'd be surprised by how much great free, legal, content is put-out on a daily basis, especially in the hip-hop world), beatport, bandcamp, xbox music, amazon mp3, torrents

management: pretty much focused around proper tagging and maintaining a consistent file structure. mp3tag [1] is great little windows utility for batch tagging

consumption: mobile phone via bluetooth audio (in-car, headphones, portable speakers), laptop connected to sound system, xbox connected to home theater system

i've toyed around with various streaming services and never been satisfied with the selection or the overall experience. i've also tried using a number of cloud music solutions but have yet to find anything that can effectively manage my library in an efficient and convenient manner. would love to hear any others' thoughts on these.

[1] http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

i created a tile for it using webapps [1] and it really feels like a native experience (looks good on my start screen too [2]..)

would be great if you ever get round to submitting a wrapped version to the wp store as well. its unfortunately lacking in quality hn apps..

[1] http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/webapps/49e97b4c...

[2] http://i.imgur.com/ak32KWb.png

third-party devs really are the lifeblood of the wp ecosystem and continue to amaze me with the quality of the apps many of them put-out. coupled with an increasing capable mobile web, its made the app gap virtually non-existent for me.

[1] http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/instance/ef18d20...

it was only after going through all the others that i got it. seems my brain is conditioned that in the presence of 'keep' and 'grass' i should remain off.

i find this the most interesting part of the release. it sounds like existing model s' currently on the road will be able to take advantage of these upgraded superchargers.. i always assumed advances in charging tech would require upgrades to both the chargers and the cars themselves. anyone know how this is supposed to work?

..i know its wishful thinking, but this gives me hope that my lowly focus electric may someday see its charging capabilities upgraded as well.

apple represents one extreme by locking-down everything to its ecosystem and connecting devices using proprietary technologies.

i’d say sony's integration, by these means, lies on the opposite end of the spectrum and isn't really integration (by my definition at least) - as it offers no real benefits in using their products together over mixing them with competing ones.

a middle-ground would be to support standard protocols while adding-in some tighter level of integration (more-so in terms of software and services than hardware connectivity) that make owning all sony products better than mixing them with others. if its compelling enough, i feel such integration can create a strong lock-in effect.

that being said, it seems very hard to do. the only companies that appear to have the scale and expertise to build-out compelling ecosystem’s (consisting of an underlying platform, applications, services, and integrated devices) are apple, microsoft, and google.. samsung seems to have realized this, and done quite well leveraging it to the max (nokia as well, though it’s a bit early to judge), but sony seems to have lost its way and is trying to both leverage existing platforms while competing with itself in building-out its own..

i think you hit the nail on the head there. connectivity for connectivity's sake doesn't produce much value. its having everything work together in a way that makes the experience better for the end-user that really matters.

> By the way, Nokia is going down for the same reason.

true, but nokia seems to have realized this early-on and, in fact, has been adapting..

while heavily criticized, their decision to abandon in-house platform development in favour of windows phone for smart devices is increasingly looking to be a wise one. they clearly get that devices (no matter how great they are in terms of build quality and software features) aren’t being measured in the market in isolation. device-specific features are part of it, but how it plays with other devices and services plays a big (and increasingly important) role..

this is what sony doesn't seem to get.. they have their own systems powering playstation-branded products, windows pcs and tablets, android tablets and smartphones, and a bunch of other devices (cameras, tvs, ...) and none of them play well with one another. they like to tout their rebranded 'sony entertainment network' as unifying their devices and leveraging their media assets but i've yet to see it take shape in any meaningful way. i've long been a fan of sony products but this lack of integration among products (and an apparent lack of vision to do so in the future) pushed me away.

> Because the Kinect sensor's motorized tilt mechanism requires more power than the Xbox 360's USB ports can supply, the device makes use of a proprietary connector combining USB communication with additional power. Redesigned Xbox 360 S models include a special AUX port for accommodating the connector, while older models require a special power supply cable (included with the sensor) that splits the connection into separate USB and power connections; power is supplied from the mains by way of an AC adapter

..having purchased by console after the refresh i wan't aware it ever supported standard usb. it seems this will carry-over to the xbox one as well, given it too has a dedicated port for the kinect [2]..

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinect#Technology

[2] http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/05/xbox-one-photos/#slid...

thinning back a few years, the idea that facebook could amass such volumes of personal data based on one's digital activity sparked much the same reaction. in deciding to use their service, there's a clear tradeoff between enjoying the benefits it provides and giving-up (and trusting them with) a lot of personal data - which, naturally, has potential for abuse.

technologies like this new kinect, as well as personal fitness monitors, google glass, smartwatches and other wearable technology, are just a continuation of that trend, now translated more to the physical realm.

it is definitely a leap, as the data being captured is more tangible and the ability to identify one based on it more real, but its still very much the same and feels like a natural evolution as we move more towards a world where everything is connected..

i don't think that's happening. in its lowest power state, described as wake on voice, the device is listening (which is not the same as recording) for a prompt to power-on [1]. it validates what it picks-up locally on the device. only once it confirms (again, checking locally) a command to fully power-on, are other sensors enabled.

[1] http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4353580/kinect-always-liste...

i read somewhere that they're, logically, planning to release a second-generation kinect for windows [1] soon after the console-version ships, which should alleviate that concern.

i always imagined that's what most people use for non-gaming purposes anyway, especially as the console-version uses a proprietary connector.

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/