Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | georgefrowny's commentslogin

This is where China has it right. You can pay 1 yuan by WeChat no problem. Scan the QR code, enter "1", the shop terminal says "1 yuan paid" out loud, job done. And yes some things are 1 yuan, for example picking up a parcel from a parcel locker a day late.

Yes, the entire economy is beholden to two payment portals (WeChat and Alipay) and I'm sure the analytics are off the scale and you're completely fucked if you can't use or get banned from the platform but the actual 99% user experience is exactly the microtransaction dream that people have been unable to solve in the west for decades.


I really don't know why EVs necessitate a new software platform. Car makers are shit at software. Actually nearly everyone is shit at software. I know they want to turn their cars into mobile subscription-based analytics platforms for the money but combining it with the concept of the drivetrain power supply is just unnecessary and it's actually potentially lethal for the future company. Yes it's a nice try to bamboozle people into thinking that it's normal and actually somehow necessary for a car to be a wheeled iPad when it's electric, but that only works if the iPad side actually works.

When people see you your EVs are a bug ridden mess and say no thank you, they're not rejecting your electric cars because they're electric. The answer isn't to retreat from electric and then excrete the same shitty software from the shelved EVs into the legacy ICE models. Now you just made people annoyed by the remaining cars that you do sell.


Yeah, I don't want OTA or "software"... Just make it simple and make it work. For everything complicated that needs"fixing" there's a phone.

You buy a car, and it lasts maybe 10 years, and then you sell it on to someone else and they drive it for maybe another 10 years.

Updates should not be neccesary. An update can affect the resale value of my car by downclocking it "for safety"


If the manufacturer downclocks your car for safety, can't you sue them for the loss of value? Surely they're admitting that they sold you an unsafe vehicle.

Drag with connections is the default in KiCad 9?

Afaik in pcb editor default, as in just mouse click and drag, is Move all selected elements and nothing else. Drag with tracks is on D or right click menu. While dragging tracks does trigger Shove mode dragging components does not :(

He's talking about schematic editor though.

Personally I don't drag single parts with the mouse because it's two clicks for the same thing, so it's irrelevant which action that does. KiCad's best usability innovation is that you press M/G and the thing under the cursor gets selected automatically. And you don't need to keep the button down which is bad for accuracy and for your hand if you do it all day long.

So to drag is not click, release, click, hold, drag but M/G, move mouse.

The last bit is true though.


Binary Cadence import is a big one. You no longer need Allegro Viewer for looking at dev board design files and no more license for exporting either.

Chobukubashi would make being left-handed decidedly annoying.

On the other hand (so to speak), European style (fork stays in left hand) is great for left-handers.

No? Because you use the knife in your dominant hand.

Quite. It will in fact make a lot of problems for you if it gets attacked as then you need to decide if you've just had war declared on you and have to decide what to do about that.

Escorting shipping through the Straight isn't like helping an old lady across the road, it's doing it at a red crossing light while pointing an AK47 through the windscreen of the cars with your finger on the trigger daring them to test your resolve.


As the UK chief of defense staff commented drily: "we have an aircraft carrier, it's called Cyprus".

I suppose in a way it's like saying diesel engines killed passions for sailing.

A career sailor on a sailing ship who finds meaning in rigging a ship just so with a team of shipmates in order to undertake a useful journey may find his love of sailing diminished somewhat when his life's skills and passions are abruptly reduced to a historical curiosity.

Other sailors may prefer their new "easier" jobs now they don't have to climb rigging all day or caulk decking (but now they have other problems, you need far fewer of them per tonne of cargo).

And the diesel engine mechanics are presumably cock-a-hoop at their new market.

(This analogy makes no claim as to the relative utility of AI compared to diesel ships over sailing vessels).


But what are they actually pushing for? Like, what does the UK spiralling into a right-wing basket case actually provide to these people? Is it simply that they reckon they can be the metaphorical kings in hell rather than servants in heaven?

There's so much more money to be made by not trashing everything. Is it just that they don't care if that money didn't go directly to them in the first instance?


It's also incredibly annoying that Amazon slurped up AbeBooks way back in 2008.

Alibris (https://www.alibris.com/) is a great alternative. I do basically all my book buying there.

If anyone’s concerned about the condition of used books, I’ve found their condition descriptions (https://www.alibris.com/popups/glossary/book-condition) to be reliable (indeed, books are often in better condition than indicated - I’ll happily order anything ‘fair’ or above).


I love alibris

Isn't AbeBooks for collecting old books? That's what I use it for. Abebooks and eBay. lots of out of print vintage niche books that way, like early JA->EN translations of novellas.

biblio.org is a good alternative where I am (although personally I don't see the problem with having either the print-on-demand books or buying used from Amazon as an option).

It is annoying, but bookshop.org is a good alternative to both Abe and Amazon, presenting a single shop front to lots of bookshops.

Betterworldbooks.com is my go to. They usually have everything for decent prices. And you can buy used or new for most things.

I checked all of the sites above in the comment tree here and the used books are either 60% of the price of new or 150% the price of new, but used (not including shipping on the latter, oof) so this may be where buying books used online is now awful. Gone are the days you can pickup a book for a few bucks including shipping from USPS and it'd arrive in pretty good to excellent condition I fear

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: