HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

spandrew

422 karma · joined September 15, 2013

submissionscomments
spandrew··on Apple Invites
I, for one, welcome our new Apple overlords. I'd like to remind them as a trusted personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.
spandrew··on Chat is a bad UI pattern for development tools
AI "Agents" that can do tasks outside of the confines of just a chat window are probably the next stage of utility.

The company I work for integrated AI into some of our native content authoring front-end components and people loved it. Our system took a lot of annotating to be able to accurately translate the natural language to the patterns of our system but users so far have found it WAYYY more useful than chat bc it's deeply integrated into the tasks they do anyway.

Figma had a similar success at last year's CONFIG when they revealed AI was renaming default layers names (Layer 1, 2, etc)... something they didn't want to do anyway. I dare say nobody gave a flying f about their "template" AI generation whereas layer renaming got audible cheers. Workflow integration is how you show people AI isn't just replacing their job like some bad sci-fi script.

Workflow integration is going to be big. I think chat will have its place tho; just kind of as an aside in many cases.

spandrew··on The Alpha Myth: How captive wolves led us astray
> Consider how these dynamics manifest in Silicon Valley, where Facebook's infamous "move fast and break things" mantra shaped a generation of tech culture. This emphasis on speed and disruption at any cost has created work environments that mirror the artificial pressures of captivity, where displaying dominance often takes precedence over fostering sustainable innovation. –

Yeaa..... this is a huge stretch. I'm not a hustle culture proponent by any means (Patagonia's 'let them go surfing' seems great to me!), but "Move fast and break things" is a pragmatic mantra that speaks to the nature of enterprises in highly competitive markets.

Laypeople will balk at the idea of "breaking things". But that's hubris. It takes humility to admit that the breaking things part of discovery and invention isn't isn't optional. Fast or slow, you will break things pursuing an idea unknown space. The mantra speaks to the need to adjust risk tolerances in futuristic-leaning businesses.

There are other ways, of course. Bio-med breaks things in controlled trials, for example. But it's also slow as molasses. Rife with in-fighting.

But to equate alpha-male captivity with futuristic pragmatism is a huge reach.

spandrew··on A layoff fundamentally changed how I perceive work
I have a friend who went into full-on overemployment mode during the pandemic and never stopped once RTO became a thing. Somehow he juggled 2, and sometimes 3, jobs at one time. Of course he was staving off a performance-improvement-plan (pip) at one of his jobs at all times.

He didn't care about work. It was all about money. That worked for him short-term, but longer term Jack became a very VERY dull boy.

spandrew··on A layoff fundamentally changed how I perceive work
This is good advice.

People who do good work, and get good at craft, do it as much for their sense of pride as they do for some kind of reward. Rewards are nice, but the joy you get from them are fleeting. Enjoying the work itself is evergreen.

Work is work. Even at a job you like, you'll have days where you'd just rather be out having a day off. Don't get indoctrinated into hustle culture.

But don't get cynical and start being a pleb about jargon or whatever. It's like a person stuck in traffic complaining about traffic as if they aren't... traffic?

spandrew··on TikTok says it is restoring service for U.S. users
Yeah it's just decent strategy on their part (I hate to say). Even if they don't profit directly off of the TikTok deal they look like absolute bosses for being able to "give" Americans what they wanted all along.
spandrew··on Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline
They'll just ban you from the service.
spandrew··on Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline
You can follow accounts, but you don't need to follow accounts. The UX is dead simple: scroll and watch content of interest to you. Tiktok handles the rest
spandrew··on Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline
YouTube essentially does what every big stupid US-based social media algorithm does: If you like cat videos, it serves you more and more cat videos.

Because YT is longform content and the UI isn't a scrolling feed it's OK. I appreciate the different-ness than TikTok (which is why YouTube shorts is kind of annoying actually)

TikTok's algorithm gives you more of what you like, too. But it also feeds you just... random stuff. Content adjacent to your hobbies. Or content that seems to be somewhat popular with people who frequent the niches you frequent. Feeding you a lot of uninteresting videos is low risk; user's still appreciate the variety even when the algo isn't on point.

"My algo has gone off the deep end" is a common trope amongst TikTok users. Bc every now and then TikTok would pull in a lot of new/unrelated stuff for you to check out. And you just scroll by the stuff that isn't of interest. This is how its algo gets good; it's a UX heuristic as much as an algo one.

It's an important distinction because it exposes users to new content, which is fun. YT doesn't do that as much, so YT's content recs can be dull as paint some times.

spandrew··on TikTok says it is restoring service for U.S. users
100% it's what happened. And the craziest part is that it worked because Biden went along with it. It's easy enough to argue Trump played hardball to negotiate for any divestiture that may occur; because that was his goal all along. The narrative/pundits can spin this easily in his favour.

Either because they gave in to the ploy, or because they were unable to close a TikTok deal, the Democrats look incompetent here. And Trump gains favour in the younger demo (that he's already pretty strong in) AND with SMB because he gave TikTok more time.

spandrew··on Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline
They'll be on RedNote within 2 weeks.

Other's have said it; but TikTok was such a nice format for media. It emphasized what the creator can provide its users; what content was legit; entertaining, informative, etc.

Whereas Instagram and FB are more about personal "branding". You post the best version of yourself and it's rewarded with engagement. Where on TikTok the emphasis is on the content; even creators I follow and have seen dozens of videos on I couldn't tell you what their account name was.

On TikTok you put up or you were shut up.

The experience, in the end, was always on point for shortform content. Nothing else like it exists; and I don't think American tech can make it because they benefit too much from being ad networks. Maybe YouTube shorts.

spandrew··on Starship Flight 7
It might not even be about fire suppression. Oxygen and different gases can pool oddly in different types of gravity. If oxygen was leaking, it may be as simple as making sure a vacuum de-gases a chamber before going full throttle.

We know nothing, but the test having good data on what went wrong is a great starting point.

spandrew··on Starship Flight 7
"rapid unscheduled disassembly"

> This marketing jargon speak for explosion is lulz

spandrew··on Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline
I believe the algo is somewhat timezone based, too.

Very common for ppl to be served Chinese or asian influencer content after 12pm (EST). So common, in fact, most of the western users begin posting "whelp, time to go to bed!"

The majority of the content feels regional, though.

spandrew··on Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?
This doesn't make sense to me.

We all get better at a talent by practicing it. We make mistake. We watch others. We determine our own preferences for what we like/don't like. We learn, grow. Kids figure it out.

How does staying at home with just your sibs fair better? You wouldn't get same exposure to the buttload of social interaction and scenarios in a closed system like that.

spandrew··on 1 in 5 online job postings are either fake or never filled, study finds
Disagree.

If you post a job then reneg on it that still leaves folks out in the cold who are, in earnest, looking for work. Mistakes happen, and I don't blame hiring managers for the shifting financial landscapes they often have to face. But that job wasn't solid enough to count as a real position.

Lump them together.

spandrew··on Even Microsoft Notepad is getting AI text editing now
I think this is where it will go inevitably, with only specialized AI tools being features baked into products you like.

A lot of our opinions on AI (like the one you just conveyed) stems from now nascent the design thinking around AI truly is. Like early internet, I suspect 10 years from now the UX of these tools will be much more mature. There'll likely always be a need for what ChatGPT has now, but these do feel like OS features.

spandrew··on The decline of the working musician
I don't think this is it. At least, you're not pointing your ire at the right tech.

Instrumental acts aren't as popular as they once were. In the cities recorded beats make up more than half the gig. These are performed by a musician on a laptop. They might have dancers, for some entertainment. So the gig pool is lessened. The article so much admits the stars, as they call them, made the most money off of Band People. They had more gigs, so they could cobble together a career. Music has always been a precarious living.

Then add in the downturn of nightlife in general. Restaurants and bars tell the same story: young people aren't drinking. Businesses built on already slim margins are getting squeezed beyond break even. Is an indy band going to make up the difference in admission or cost-to-perform to a struggling bar? Dubious. If they have a following maybe; but then those artist aren't struggling anyway.

Young people are also making less money at a time when prices are sky high. A night out drinking even just a couple of beers can easily surge to over a hundred or two hundred dollars depending how hard you go. When I was in college that would've been ~$30-40. For every 3 times I went out with friends, they can afford only 1.

Live music and performance offers an experience that passive consumption, like TV and Radio, just can't emulate. If the prices come down the economics of music will make sense again. Until then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

spandrew··on New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike
I love all the bellyaching about the NYT missing that election coverage money. Perfect time to go on strike. They're only asking for a 2.5% salary increase YoY (which is very inflation-y) and some WFH days. That's a pretty mild ask.

NYT will be signing on the dotted line within a week I believe given the risk to their revenue if they don't cover the second Trump-vs-Kamala. The section vs-Woman-Candidate election in a decade is going to get a lot of eyeballs.

spandrew··on Microsoft Says Apple's 30% Fee Makes Xbox Cloud Gaming iOS App 'Impossible'
I mean... it's Microsoft's service. Both 30% takes are outrageous.
spandrew··on Toasts are bad UX
There are a lot of calendar mods I've made in GCal that I wanted to UNDO, but couldn't because it had evaporated by the time my cursor got to it.
spandrew··on TinyPod – Apple Watch case with scroll wheel
Part of me wants something like this to break my addiction to the back catalog of apps I doom scroll. Part of me knows that it's my own doing.

The UI and industrial design of this is cute and approachable. Love it.

spandrew··on The Objects of Our Life (1983)
Jobs' demanding personality and toxic managerial behaviour are well well well documented. Most of the documovies on him pay special attention to it.

But he also did marvellous things for the advent of human-centric tech design that has been a boon for the regular people.

An article or person is allowed to focus on his genius and invention without having to caveat them alongside his toxicity as well. This isn't intended to be an Art vs. Artist discussion.

spandrew··on Swedish company launches bio-based plastic derived from forest residues
Sounds like their lignin based product is sturdier than the flimsy ones on the market; and they're looking to scale up consumer based uses in a big way.

I don't think there's anything considerably groundbreaking here besides the GTM angle.

spandrew··on FDA denies petition against use of phthalates in food packaging
I think it's pretty clear the microplastics fear-mongering doesn't have a lot of credible evidence to back it. Of course no one wants tiny plastic particles floating around the environment. But the claim here is... does it harm you? Is it toxic? How dense are the particulates per millilitre? Very little to suggest anything substantial.

Just a reminder that the holistic and wellness industry that sells you detoxes for this stuff is worth 4.5 trillion dollars (more than big pharma, even). They are incentivized to drum up fear; plastics are killing you, aspartame is killing you. I've heard them claim even fresh fruit is killing you.

Evidence-based decisions matter.

spandrew··on Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'
Yeah — I liked it in general. But can completely see why artists would hate the concept of a giant weight crushing the artistic object that has fueled their life-long obsessions.
spandrew··on Industrial Design Student Work: "How Long Should Objects Last?"
Ya this was the first thing I saw. It's a student project so we should be open that he's learning, but I wouldn't call this umbrella recyclable if it's constituent parts will likely end up floating in the ocean forever.

If umbrella's were built with repairability in mind I would love it, though. So many I've used were destined to break under the strain of the wind.

spandrew··on No Abstractions: our API design principle
Love the article.

If you love Stripe (and as a designer and tech entrepreneur I do – Stripe's simplicity and front-end skill is incredible) you might look at them and copy their ability to simplify and deliver polished experiences.

But the real mastery of Stripe is that they know their customers — and the simplicity they crave.

By this article is sounds like Increase does as well and has forged a similar laser-focus on what their customers need to build terrific design guidelines for making products. Inspiring to see.

spandrew··on Heinz’s sustainable ketchup cap
This is a weird take? It's not Heinz' job to solve every issue in the recycling supply chain. If more of their products can be recycled; more of their products will be recycled. That's still progress.

Anyone with a modicum of product and process exp. knows progress > perfection.

spandrew··on FDA stands against using smartwatches to monitor blood glucose
The title is more alarming than the substance of the article. Apple is investing in a novel technology that may be able to measure technology using light waves, but the article says it's still in early stages and there's no rush to market with it.

Given Apple's history with ECG and other Apple Watch, FDA approved tech there's no nefarious scheme to deliver anything that doesn't pass approvals.

← PreviousPage 2 of 5Next →