HN user

brainpool

137 karma
Posts10
Comments59
View on HN

Your disillusion really resonates with my experience, and likely many others. The thing is, if you had succeeded in all you wanted, you would still be asking the same questions by now.

There are times for disillusion in everyone’s life.

Look at it as an opportunity. A moment in the now - where you are not only open to, but also craving, for a new direction or a different mindset on the direction to move forward.

I strongly believe in correct forward.

That means valuing your previous experiences, valuing feedback from others in the present, and striving for better in the future.

I would say you are two thirds there buddy!

New iPhone SE 6 years ago

If it’s sunglasses with a strong filter, or possibly unfortunate polarization, it may cause some issues I believe.

The world would have looked differently if the Mirasol technology ever took of. It was a large e-ink that could do color and had a refresh rate good enough for video. Most impressively, it could have been produced at existing display plants with some modifications. Unfortunately, the MEMS technology was close but no quite there as the displays degraded. Beautiful displays however, extremely energy proficient, and absolutely splendid in daylight. A bit dull, but very comfortable indoors.

Merry Christmas HN 7 years ago

Yes. Seasons greetings all! This community brightens every day. Wind down, spin up, and roll with next year. It’s going to be fun.

In this case, when there is absolutely no intellectual property to talk about, everyone huddles down and hopes that no one notices their investment. In other cases, the proprietary body attempts to sell the IP to cover debts. Shareholders walk but are usually eligible to pay for the IP at the same rate as any other buyer. Sometimes this is used by shady boards to get control of a company and their IP.

I’m most amazed that they started at all. The whole idea is just bonkers. Why would cinemas give away free tickets to a third party so that they can make recurring revenues that would siphon their own? No, and they didn’t. Even if they would be as stupid as to go along with it, the first mover advantage for MoviePass was so low as they could easily be outcompeted. I would love to see the pitch for this pipe dream in the cloud.

Yah. People will just die. Refugee sort of implies a refuge. There’s not going to be such thing’s around if things go south as we fear they are likely to. It’s gonna play out far more like the Old Testament.

Who Owns Huawei? 7 years ago

I have had the opportunity to visit China multiple times during the last few years. Have met many wonderful people there. However, what makes me uncomfortable is the society. I have been in many countries where you get scorned as a foreigner. China is the only place where I have encountered that people treat you as you do not exist. Obviously, this is not something that only applies to foreigners; it’s a view of humanity that is very far removed from the rest of the world. I find it chilling to be honest.

That’s how it is. When there is a fire however and people get suffocated because of those modifications you did or just because it was a fire. Then you are in for some serious trouble if the changes can be traced back to you. Some jail time possibly, but the litigation from victims and insurance companies is what really is gonna do you in. Possibly also the guilt.

Don’t do it. Those plans and codes are there for a reason.

Who Owns Huawei? 7 years ago

Yes, I have visited China on multiple occasions during the last few years. It has been an utterly chilling experience. I know xenophobia when I experience it, and South Africa during Apartheid was actually better.

Who Owns Huawei? 7 years ago

No. Simply no.

There is no anti-China agenda. There is however an anti-medieval agenda, it has less to do with China as such and more to do with the mindset of the society and the ruling of the state. Most other societies have been through this already. China will also eventually.

Who Owns Huawei? 7 years ago

Not quite. In the USA the corporations own the people. In China the state owns the people (there is not much government to speak of).

Who Owns Huawei? 7 years ago

Spot on. It is really important to understand that China does not have the same value system as the enlightened world. I am not saying that the sino mindset is inferior in any way, but it is important to realize that it is very different and that many premises we take for granted are null and void when it comes to China.

The Chinese state of today is far worse than the most dystopian views the west had of Soviet during the Cold War. Then the western block tried to paint as a dark image as possible of the alleged enemy. Today it seems most try to paint as an rosy picture as possible of the Chinese state when in reality it is something right out Orwell’s nightmares.

Note. I have absolutely nothing against Chinese as individuals and people. It is the state that is scary, and to be honest; intimidating.

Wow, a "more enlightened view of valuations” sounds a bit scary. I hope your founder acquaintance realize that valuation is not all that matters. Accepting more funding from investors that are not that “enlightened” in other matters is a sure way to get in all kinds of trouble.

Steve also managed to keep the company intact at a time when they were very close to get cut-up due to antitrust lawsuits. Also, Steve was probably the only one that could lead Microsoft post Gates as Bill remained in a decisive position pulling strings for quite some time (which in some sense is understandable, but not many could have faced such a situation).

Sorry, but China could invade Taiwan by breakfast and be done by lunch if it was so influens. The only reason it has not happened already has very little with Taiwan to do and more with geopolitical issues and Chinas dependency on oil.

My take is that this was a case of hubris. Can happen to the best of us. Where it really derailed was here:

“Others were not decision makers, so I had to take their feedback with a grain of salt.”

Most users of this kind of product are not decision makers, at least when it comes to selecting the product. But they are the ones that have to use it and their opinions are critically important.

Sounds wrong to me. Hiding chat logs or other business information from the company itself as well as customers (albeit suing ones) seem stupid. How would the company ever be able to audit its own operations? Getting sued is sometimes also not too bad as it can reveal bad practices within an organization. An analogy would be an X-ray, not entirely healthy but very revealing.